The story of the writing and publication of Bram Stoker’s masterpiece, Dracula, in many ways is as interesting as most fiction.

Here is at the basic information of the publication of Dracula:

First edition details 

• The first edition had 3,000 copies
• The author profited from 1,500 copies
• The other 500 copies were given to family, friends, and critics
• True first editions have a blank last page and no ad for The Shoulder of Shasta

Changes to the text 

• The first 101 pages were cut
• The epilogue was shortened, changing Dracula’s fate and that of his castle
• Tens of thousands of words were removed

Original manuscript 

• The original manuscript was discovered in a barn in Pennsylvania in the 1980s
• It is now owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen

In Stoker’s Manuscript writer Royce Prouty takes the history of Stoker’s manuscript and reimagines its history.

The plot of Stoker’s Manuscript centers on Joseph Barkeley, a renowned expert in rare manuscripts, is commissioned to authenticate and acquire Bram Stoker’s original Dracula manuscript and notes. Unbeknownst to him, the reclusive buyer is a member of Transylvania’s oldest family.

Upon delivering the manuscript to the infamous Bran Castle in Romania, Barkeley, a Romanian orphan himself, discovers he’s now a prisoner of Vlad Dracul’s descendant. His only hope for freedom lies in deciphering cryptic messages concealed within the Dracula manuscript, messages that reveal the locations of Dracul family graves. Barkeley must remain useful to his captor long enough to escape. However, he soon uncovers shocking secrets about his own heritage, suggesting his selection for this task was no accident. This knowledge could be his salvation—or his undoing. He now faces a terrifying choice: flee in fear or confront an ancient and deadly enemy.

Stoker’s Manuscript is an example of another novel that is hundreds of pages longer than is necessary. The plot, for the most part, is a great one.

What I imagine when I read most novels published these days is that the writer had a great novella that needed to be inflated to the page length that literary agents want to have to be able to sell a manuscript to a publisher.

What that means from a plot point of view is dozens of extraneous scenes, conversations, and descriptions, as well as unnecessary diversions and a few extra characters. What it means for the reader is having to make a decision: skim, skip, or abandon. The plot was interesting enough, for this reader, for me to skim.

Overall, despite my qualms about its length, I enjoyed Stoker’s Manuscript and do recommend it.