The New Dracula

He's ba-aack.

More than 112 years after Dracula first made his appearance, the blood-sucking icon is back for more action. According to a story on CNN.com, a sequel to Bram Stoker's 1897 classic, Dracula, was released this month in the US.

Dracula The Un-Dead was written by Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew, and Ian Holt, a Dracula historian. (Side note: Dracula historian? Are there Merlin or Harry Potter historians, too?). A college writing project sparked Dacre's interest in pursuing his family's legacy, and in 2003, he was approached by Holt about co-writing a novel.

The two drew much of their inspiration for the project from a rare find in Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum and Library: 125 handwritten notes from Bram Stoker himself, which included various bits of information, plot lines and characters that didn't make it into the original book.

Dracula The Un-Dead will include many of the same characters as the original, including Jonathon and Mina Harker and Van Helsing. But this book will also involve another character most readers don't know much about: Bram Stoker himself.

"Part of the plan was to paint a realistic picture of Bram Stoker," Dacre told CNN.com. "Everybody knows Dracula. Not many people know Bram Stoker."

And while some of Dracula's original characters will make appearances, the novel has a decidedly more 21st-century feel to it. (Read: A lot more sex and violence). I guess that's probably necessary to keep up with all those other vampire shows and books out there, like Twilight and True Blood. After all, if pop culture tells us anything, it's that there's nothing sexier than a blood-thirsty vamp.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.