Dracula Cha Cha Cha

Judgement of Tears (aka: Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha)

Author	Kim Newman
Language	English
Series	Anno Dracula series
Genre	Alternate History, Horror
Publisher	Avon Books
Publication date	1998
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	291 (paperback)
ISBN	0-380-73229-7
Preceded by	The Bloody Red Baron
Followed by	Johnny Alucard

Judgement of Tears (sometimes known as Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha), is a 1998 novel by British writer Kim Newman. It is the third book in the Anno Dracula series.

Plot

In 1959 several of the world's notable vampires gather in Rome for the wedding of Dracula. Nefarious schemes are afoot and being investigated by British Intelligence, the Diogenes Club, and several others, including a British spy on the trail of a sinister madman with a white cat.

Setting

The book is an alternate history novel set in a world where van Helsing never killed Dracula. The version of Rome shown in the book is heavily influenced by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. As always in the series, the novel contains a number of characters from other fictional works, though due to copyright restrictions some are not named or are given aliases.

Some of these indentity shifts are quite clear (such as the character of Commander Hamish Bond, who has a fondness for martinis, drives an Aston Martin, carries a Walther PPK, has the Scots version of the name "James" for his name, and gets to say "the bitch is dead."), while some are more obscure (a Kansas football player named Kent, for example).

Characters From Other Works of Fiction

These characters come from a variety of different sources. Some, mostly those from public domain works, are listed by name. Some of the others are listed by mere descriptions.

(this list is not complete)

• Mr and Mrs Addams - From The Addams Family
• Professor Adelsberg - From the film Der Fluch der Grünen Augen
• Asa Vadja - From the film Las Maschera del Demonio
• Miriam Blaylock - From the novel The Hunger by Whitley Strieber (and the subsequent film of the same name)
• Commander Hamish Bond - Probably James Bond from the works of Ian Fleming. The character drives an Aston Martin, drinks martinis, "Hamish" is the Scottish version of the name "James", he carries a Walther PPK and works for British Intelligence.
• Brastov - From the novel The Soft Whisper of the Dead by Charles L. Grant. There is also a reference here to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, from the "James Bond" novels by Ian Fleming.
• Cabiria - From the film Le Notti di Cabiria
• Lemmy Caution - From the film Alphaville
• Barnabas Collins - From the television series Dark Shadows
• Jonas Cord - From the novel The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins
• Edmund Cordery - From the novel The Empire of Fear by Brian Stableford
• Michael Corleone - From The Godfather movies and books
• The Crimson Executioner - From the film Il Boia Scarlatto
• Vivian Darkbloom and Clare Quilty - From the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• Dondi - From the comic-strip of the same name
• Fantômas
• Hugh Farnham - from the novel Bad Dreams by Kim Newman
• Lord Greystoke - From the Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Dr. Hichcock - From the film The Terror of Dr. Hichcock
• Kent, the football player - Clark Kent, from the Superman comics published by DC Comics. But not as we know him; he is identified as a football player from Kansas, and (although his appearance includes several Superman-related injokes) there is no indication that he is Superman (or indeed that Superman exists in the world of the novel). In a particularly subtle joke, several details from the character's backstory were borrowed from the life story of the actor Steve Reeves, who (unlike George Reeves and Christopher Reeve) never portrayed Superman on screen.
• Count Kernassy - From the film L'Ultima Preda del Vampiro
• Klove - From the films Dracula, Prince of Darkness and Scars of Dracula
• Jeddidiah Leland - From the movie Citizen Kane
• Malenka - From the film La Nipote del Vampiro
• Marcello - From the film La Dolce Vita
• Father Merrin - From the film The Exorcist
• Dr. Pretorius - From the film Bride of Frankenstein
• Tom Ripley - From the "Ripley" novels by Patricia Highsmith
• Irma Vep - From the film Les Vampires
• Edward Weyland - From the novel The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
• Joshua York - From the novel Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

Historical Persons Appearing in the Novel

(this list is not complete)

• Cagliostro
• General Mark Clark
• Salvador Dalí
• Gilles de Rais
• Errol Flynn
• Rita Hayworth
• John Huston
• Senator John F. Kennedy
• The Aga Khan
• Gina Lollobrigida
• Sophia Loren
• Clare Boothe Luce
• Bishop Albino Luciani (the future Pope John Paul I)
• Princess Margaret
• Dean Martin
• Yves Montand
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Carlo Ponti
• John Profumo
• Elvis Presley
• Frank Sinatra
• Simone Signoret
• Gore Vidal
• Orson Welles