iDRAKULA

Dracula is coming, but he’s arriving on the shores of 2010 New York instead of 1897 England, with cell phones and laptops replacing the letters and newspaper clippings of Stoker’s era. Forget the modern vampire, who sparkles in the sunlight and struggles with the desire for blood. Black brings Bram into the modern age with e-mails, smart phones and websites, all while preserving the brooding heart and vicious nature of Dracula, the literary ur-vampire. Presuming readers have a familiarity with the classic tale, the plot and characterization are understandably thin, though the restrictive page layout moves the narrative along at a brisk pace--this design-heavy book doesn't satisfy itself with simple IM transcripts; browser "screenshots," "attached" jpegs and smart-phone–framed text conversations (complete with those cute little speech balloons) alternate with more conventional-looking e-mails. There are nods to vampire lore in both URLs and webpage titles, and Mina’s heartfelt final e-mail to Lucy blends a traditional goodbye with the ephemeral nature of today’s digital technology. While not for the Gothic scholar, this bite-sized retelling of the seminal vampire novel won’t drain anyone’s attention span. (Horror. YA)