OCCULTURE 110: Chris Knowles // Synchromysticism, Jack Kirby & Black Magick LARPs

Happy Halloween or Samhain or Day of the Dead or whatever you may be celebrating this time of year.

And we have a show that’s apropos this time around. Dacre Stoker and JD Barker are in the house. They are the co-authors of the recently released novel Dracul, the official Stoker-family endorsed prequel to the original Dracula story. Very cool, very excited to have them here for our annual Halloween episode.

As you will hear in the chat, Dacre is the great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker, the author of that original Dracula story. Dacre is a former teacher and athletics coach; he even coached for Canada during the Olympics. But he’s made the transition to full-time writer and speaker. He gives presentations about Bram and Dracula, takes folks on tours of sites related to the Dracula mythos as well as the real-life inspiration for the character, Vlad the Impaler. And, along with his wife, manages the Bram Stoker Estate.

JD is an international best-selling author whose work has been broadly described as suspense thrillers, often incorporating elements of horror, crime, mystery, science fiction and the supernatural. His first novel Forsaken was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Best Debut Novel and won a handful of others including a New Apple Medalist Award. Any occult fans out there would definitely enjoy that novel. And that Bram Stoker nomination is what led to this Dracul collaboration.

So let’s close our eyes and hope that this vampire thing is just imagination, but something tells me sooner or later you’ll hear that creature creepin’ up behind. And when it does--well, no mere mortal can resist.

PATREON EXTENSION

Listen at patreon.com/occulture

• The importance of eyes and eye colors in Dracul and the work of James Joyce
• The Hellfire Club’s inclusion in the story
• Scrying as a scientific method of locating people
• Bram’s view of the occult
• The roots of traditional vampires and vampire tropes
• Capturing the Victorian/Gothic aesthetic and atmosphere on the page
• The pacing of the book mirroring the lure of the vampire

RESOURCES

• Dracul on IndieBound
• Dracul on Amazon
• Dacre’s website
• Dacre on Twitter
• Dacre on Instagram
• JD’s website
• JD on Facebook
• JD on Twitter
• JD on Instagram

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MUSIC

Vestron Vulture - “I Want to Be a Robot (Tribute to Giorgio Moroder)”

Nightmare Before Christmas - “This Is Halloween (Ponzoo Trap Remix)”

Rezo - “Horror Music Mashup Remix - Halloween Special”

PRODUCTION & LICENSING

This podcast is produced in the Kingdom of Ohio and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.

Executive Producers: Mike K., Carter Y., Mauricio G., Alyssa S., Daniel R., Kelly C., Kaleb H., Bruce H., David B., Corey T., David G., Jeremy V., Marcelo T., Christopher B., Leonidas, Timothy W., Caleb C., VH Frater RC’s Hermetic Study Group, Nick F., Michael Q., Jamaica J., Mute Ryan, John W., Paul S., Andy E., James B., Colleen F., Ed O.

REMINDER

Love yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.