Join Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde as they hunt werewolves and the undead. This is a fictionalized, historical account of their journey to defeat a diabolical plot that threatens humanity. Delivered to the reader via journals, letters, and "historical" documents, you will be taken on a ride that will leave you breathless.

We meet the pair at a gathering where they are quickly set on a mission, under the guidance and direction of Britain's own Captain Burton, to defeat a murderous werewolf attacking Ireland. While the two men absolutely loathe each other, we find that they work well together. Oscar is witty, charismatic, and a bit too much of a free spirit for Bram, who is more grounded and even keel. On their first outing together, Oscar learns Bram is hiding a secret. Bram possesses a special power, maybe a curse? As they both, separately, move to London, their lives keep intersecting as evil attempts to take hold of the city. Their relationship takes a worse turn after they both fall for the same woman, Florence, but they must fight on.

They must find the Black Bishop, but who is he? What is his plan? All they know is that the undead are in London and attacking Bram. But why?

For those of you who have read Bram Stoker's "Dracula" or Oscar Wilde’s "A Picture of Dorian Grey" , you will be introduced to the "real" people and situations these books were based on. As a fan of both authors, it was a joy to be able to pick out certain characters. The format of letters, journals, etc. kept the action going and gives you a better ability to get into each character's heart and mind.

enjoy fresh spins on older stories which is why this book appealed to me. Stoker's Wilde lifts a lot of themes and plot points that fans of Dracula will find familiar. In fact it even draws upon its epistolary tradition by telling the story through journal entries and letters. 

Usually I like to research the background of books that use historical tidbits. However I did not get around to researching the where the stories of Oscar Wilde and Stoker portrayed in the book may have any historical accuracy.  But as this book  relies heavily upon supernatural horror it was clear that a lot of liberties would be taken anyway. So I put aside my more scholarly tendencies to just enjoy it as a story. And as a story I found it wildly entertaining. It had so many components that  kept me entertained such as a vampire seducing Oscar Wilde and Stoker pining after Wilde's wife. I found this book a pure joy to read. I would highly recommend it!

Thank you Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for my advanced readers copy of this book!

When I started to read this book I did not think I would like it, I wasn't wrong. I LOVED this book. Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde team up to fight the supernatural and it is wonderful! I will be looking forward to the next book.

Well this was a genuine surprise... from the fascinating premise of a collection of letters, diary entries and journals the readers is completely immersed in the world and minds of the characters - and these are no ordinary characters! We have Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker as the central MCs! What a fabulous and creative idea - and I was not bored for a second! I imagine it took some in-depth research for the writers to make this such a convincing read.
I love gothic literature and the mythical beings that evolved from it, so I had a great time immersing myself in the hunts for werewolves and vampires! A book not to be taken seriously though, particularly as a portrayal of Wilde, Stoker or the gothic but it plays with the concept and puts the two men in exciting and hilarious situations.

Victorian society, humour, horror, adventure, outrageous antics and secret societies!

My thanks to Flame Tree Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Stoker’s Wilde’ by Steve Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi in exchange for an honest review. It was published worldwide in various formats at the end of May 2019.

This was a total delight for me from start to finish. After beginning to read and realising how much I was enjoying it, I obtained its audiobook edition via Audible. This was narrated by William Hope, who did an amazing job of capturing the spirit of the narrative and the various voices.

‘Stoker’s Wilde’ is an epistolary novel in the same vein as Stoker’s ‘Dracula’. As the archivists of the brilliantly named White Worm Society state at the beginning: “These materials cover the involvement of Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde in the ‘Greystones’ and ‘Black Bishop’ incidents. It has taken many years of painstaking investigation to compile them. ....All letters, journal entries, transcripts and news items have been placed in chronological order where possible.”

So Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde (with various associates) are caught up first in a hunt for a werewolf in a fishing village in Ireland and then a few years later have to set aside their differences to deal with a plague of cultist vampires in London.

The novel is a full-on romp with plenty of adventure and thrills of the penny dreadful variety, as well as a great deal of humour. The humour is expressed through the wit of Wilde and deadpan delivery in other sections, such as the archivist’s wry observations. Integrating horror and comedy can be a difficult balancing act but I felt that the authors did an exceptional job of hitting just the right tone.

There are plenty of real life figures portrayed in its pages as well. I was unaware that Stoker and Wilde had known one another or that Florence Balcombe, Stoker’s wife and literary executor, had been originally courted by Wilde.

Clearly Hopstaken and Prusi have a great deal of love for Stoker and Wilde and their works as well as an understanding and appreciation of the society that they were part of. A great deal of research obviously informed this novel and they also integrated social issues of the period into the narrative.

So a fun and very satisfying read that also had depth that I highly recommend. I hope that other lovers of classic (and modern) horror and Victorian Gothic thrillers will be inspired by the enthusiasm that myself and other readers are expressing for this outstanding novel.

I am also rather hoping there are plans for a sequel and/or an adaptation to the screen.

What a hoot!
Never had so much fun reading a horror novel in my life. This book follows Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde around London on a vampire-killing quest and it is jam-packed with humor and frights.
Written in much the same way Dracula was written, the book uses Dracula and The Portrait of Dorian Gray as sort of its backdrop, so, in essence, it's historical fiction (taking place in Victorian England), but it's also as quirky as them come.
One of the most original ideas I've come across in ages.

What a wonderful way to combine two very important writers of the 19th century, and a wee bit of horror and the supernatural. Hopstaken and Prusi, the writing duo behind Stoker's Wilde, have melded the creativity of both men to create an entertaining read.

The result is a band of merry werewolf and vampire slaying men. It reminded me of old classic horror stories and films. However it still manages to weave the oppressive morality laws and the way society seeks to conform individuals to their own set of standards, into the story. This defined Wilde's writing and thought processes, which of course should have a place in his letters.

The book is set up with diary form and journal entries placed intermittently throughout, which have been collected and are held by The White Worm Society. Oscar writes to Florence Balcombe, his wife and later also his literary executor. There are also extracts from Stoker's journal relating his version of the events. It gives the story an air of historical fiction, of someone wading in a piece of written history, and yet at the same time it has the exuberance of an urban fantasy plot.

It works because the writers know their stuff and have done their research. It's important, when using a real historical figure in a fictional setting, to get the facts right, especially when it comes to being able to portray them realistically.

I came away from this read with a sense of nostalgia, despite the fang-toothed bloodsuckers and the furry moon-stalkers. With a need to pick up and read Wilde and Stoker and embrace their words. It's horror meets urban fantasy with a nod to historical fiction.

I loved every single page of this book and once I started I couldn't put it down.
I'm a fan of both Stoker and Wilde and it was great to meet them as characters of this mix of horror and Gothic genres.
I loved the mix of fictional diaries and letters, how the different historical characters perfectly fits and how well they are written.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This was quite fun! I normally avoid books in the historical literary icons go monster-hunting genre, but the title was irresistible. The epistolary format was a nice touch, and it helps offset the general silliness of the book. The character viewpoints do become kind of indistinguishable, and a couple movie references stick out sorely, but there are clever ideas in here, too. There's a certain pragmatism the heroes (and the villains) take to monster-hunting that I really respect.

I've learned over time it's best not to expect much from sequels. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the pulpy prospect of all these characters coming to America. Maybe to hunt wendigos? Or bigfoots? Whatever it is, I'm down for the silliness..

Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde become involved in hunting vampires, werewolves and more monsters including “human” monsters. When Bram marries Oscar’s fiancé, they are no longer friends. They each go their separate ways. They end up overlooking their dislike for each other when they work together to fight the Black Bishop. I don’t want to spoil this fantastic novel for you so this is all I will say about the plot of the story.

I loved how the novel was written. It is written as if you are reading letters, diaries and transcribed recordings. The novel is excellently written as it tells everything through different eyes. I had thought that this would be difficult to follow but was pleasantly surprised that it flowed from letter to diary to letter without losing the story. It’s a great horror novel! Do read it!

I was intrigued by this book when I first saw it, purely on the title. I’m a huge fan of Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde, so how could I resist reading this.

This book is fantastic, telling a story of werewolves and vampires from the perspective of many different characters. The book is sorted into letters and diary accounts of Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and others connected to the story. I found this an excellent way to convey the story and enjoyed the history between the two. It is obvious that a lot of research went into the writing of this book.

This is excellently written and I found my immersed in the story and the Victorian era, and it is one of the best books I have read this year.

I love this book, as a big fan of the original Dracula by Bram Stoker ( I have visited Whitby and Varna), I was intrigued by the premise of Stoker’s Wilde and I’m not disappointed….

“And sometimes a monster is something that does monstrous things like suck the life out of innocent people”

It’s written in the style of Dracula, with chapters in the form of journal entries and letters, by Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde and even Theodore Roosevelt…

Stoker and Wilde visit a farm in Ireland after a woman had been killed…this eventually leads them to the Black Bishop and a vampire cult….how will they escape and defeat this foe?

“Thieves boarded the merchant ship Demeter around midnight and stole a large crate of unknown cargo”

This has the humour of Wilde and the horror of Stoker in a tense gothic horror tale. The geek in me loved picking up the references to both characters real books from Dorian Gray to The Lair of the White Worm….it has vampires, werewolves and even mention of a dragon….what’s not to love. Stunningly creative writing by Hopstaken and Prusi and an absolute delight to read….This will be an absolute favourite of book clubs as so much to enjoy and share…brilliant. 5*

Thank you to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi
Published by Flame Tree Press and will be out on 30th May 2019
384 pages
Even if you are not a horror lover, you would have heard of Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde. Two successful and popular authors, but where did they get their ideas for their most famous books. This story will hopefully explain all this and more.
As soon as you start reading this book, you notice that the story is told using correspondence, journal and diary entries and even an interview to tell Stoker and Wilde’s adventure. This was a new way for me to read a story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story flowed smoothly and as some scenes were written from a few characters perspective, you get the whole story. Some of my favourite scenes were reading Stoker and Wilde’s journal entries and I did have a snigger to myself reading the entries when they were bitching about each other. In fact, at times you can really tell just how much they despised each other.
From the first page, you are taken on a supernatural adventure where you come across werewolves, visions and nests of vampires. The subject matter was well researched and as I was reading the book I would google every new character I came across, to see if they had any connection to Stoker and Wilde. There are hints to some of their popular stories throughout this book and I loved how these were linked to the hunt for the Black Bishop. The descriptiveness of the scenery had me feeling that I was there, watching the performances at the theatre or following them as they were hunting for vampires.
This was a fast-paced read with some unexpected twists and whilst I read it fairly quickly, I did not want it to end. I hope that the authors will write a sequel as I would love to see where Stoker and Wilde end up. This is a must-read for Horror lovers

A mysterious man called the Black Bishop is using supernatural means to cause murder and mayhem in Victorian England. An unlikely duo...Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde....join forces with an expert on vampires and other supernatural creatures to battle the Black Bishop before he can open the gates of hell itself.

This novel is a sweet mix of supernatural horror and Victorian social commentary. There's a little bit of everything in the mix -- vampires, werewolves, cultists -- not to mention imprisonment under morality laws and forced social conformity. When I first started reading I wasn't sure I was going to like this book....the plot line just seemed a bit too much. But....it didn't take long for me to get totally pulled into the story. This book surprised me! A group of monster hunters formed by two famous authors before their fame took hold, a European expert on supernatural cults, and theater actors is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off -- but these two authors did it well! The story is told through the correspondence of Stoker and Wilde. It was reminiscent of Dracula. Normally I don't really like epistolary novels...but in this case, it works. Loved it!

I will definitely be looking for more by both of these writers. Very enjoyable read! A dash of the truth mixed with a bit of the fantastical smothered in a nice dose of classic monster horror -- very entertaining book!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Flame Tree Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

This is absolutely perfect for anyone who enjoys Penny Dreadful or 'The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen', there are gothic easter eggs galore dotted through this series beginner(yes folks, this is BOOK 1!!!! I am so bloody excited about this!)

I am not widely read in the realm of Oscar Wilde as I am Bram Stoker, but their voices ring through loud and clear as distinct and individual narrators. The book is written in letters and diary entries , between major and minor characters, just as Bram's seminal work, 'Dracula' was.
Erudite and witty Wilde versus earthy and solid Stoker is a winning combination-the historical accuracies and overlapping of these two literary titan's lives is enlivened by a werwolf chase in Ireland...which alerts sinister forces that the band of men which hunted it down may jeopordise their plans to overthrow the British Empire...

The Greystone adventure, was an accidental hunt for a werewolf which brough Bram and Wilde closer than they realised possible to the world of the supernatural but what this does is kickstart the attentions of the Black Bishop whose werewolf Wilde and Co have killed.

I absolutely loved it, it's thrilling, exciting and funny as hell-it's a rollercoaster ride through Victorian values, secret societies and deep, dark secrets ........there is nothing that I did not love about it! Roll on book 2!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an homage to some of our most beloved Gothic writers and their contemporaries. We obviously have Stoker and Wilde, but we also hear about an aunt named Agatha, Walt Whitman is mentioned on several occasions, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry play (see what I did there?) major parts, and Robert Rosevelt wields his Gatlinburg cannon just to name a few. The story of Stoker and Wilde spans many years. They battle paranormal beings such as werewolves and vampires. Their adventure comes to a crescendo when they encounter a dark cult trying to take over London and the world. What can they do to save the day?

The book gave me two things I will remember: nostalgia for great books like Stoker’s Dracula (one of my all-time favorites) and hilarious banter between Stoker and Wilde. Their love-hate relationship is portrayed wonderfully and gave me a few good chuckles. I also enjoyed discovering the many nods to writers, book titles, story plots, and historical events. I am sure I did not recognize them all. This novel was filled to the brim with them. The actual tale is put together from various diary entries, letters between friends, and annotations by a fictional fellowship called The White Worm Society, which is a secret organization to keep dark and sinister forces at bay. I thought this medium is quite smart as we could get insights from distinct viewpoints and get to know many different characters on a more intimate basis.

Sadly, this is the limit of what I liked about this book. First of all, for some reason, it felt very long. I am not sure why, but it seemed I was reading a 100o-page tome rather than a 250-page novel. I kept thinking I surely must be done soon and then looked down to where I was in the book and it still would say 20%! The only reason I can think of is that banter between Stoker and Wilde, letters from Ellen/Henry/Florence/Roosevelt/you name it to their friends, and diary entries eventually just become quite repetitive and made me lose all sense of direction where I was in the novel. Secondly, the plot quickly crossed from a sarcastic take of 19th century England to cheesy. I found myself bored and annoyed quite often. Yes, we get it, this or that vampire or werewolf is bad but then Stoker and Wilde (through barely any cunning doing of their own) finish the job. Thirdly, why and how is it possible that the two main protagonists remain so dense after all their dark encounters with paranormal creatures?! Do they not learn? Do they really think this last kill was ending the thread to society when NO SIGNS pointed that way other than the death of yet another vampire minion of the Black Bishop? Do you think the Black Bishop, this elusive foe, would be so easily defeated the first time you encounter him? And that brings me to my last point. I don’t think it was meant to be so easy for me to figure out who the Black Bishop actually is, but I had my suspicions instantly when I encountered him/her for the first time. It would’ve been a much more suspenseful read had I not known this part. Solely Stoker and Wilde were surprised by the reveal of this villain. And that was only possible because they both remained naive and blind throughout their journey.

All in all, this is nostalgic read to pass the time but I doubt it will make an impact other than that.

With the title alone, it is suggested that not only will this book involve Bram Stoker somehow, but also possibly Oscar Wilde, or quite possibly, Dorian Gray as a character. After being thoroughly intrigued by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker’s collaboration from October 2018, entitled Dracul, it has been interesting to see the newest trend in fiction, of casting authors like Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde as characters. I’m a sucker for most historical fiction, especially if it’s from the eras I like, and I’m a particular fan of Victorian stories, so right off the bat, when the authors started things off with a White Worm Society Archivist’s Note, I felt a good buzz going, signalling that this would be my kind of read. What I wasn’t expecting was how hilarious and entertaining this book turned out to be, which was a nice surprise. I needed to read something light-hearted after such serious fare that started this year off for me, and this novel was a delightful page-turner.

We learn that it has taken many years of investigations to catalogue and put all of this archival material together, and how this society came upon the items in its collection. I loved their notes about punctuation. That was a nice touch, and I appreciated the little digressions they added about history, such as the length of Wilde’s letters.

Things proceed in an epistolary manner with a letter from Oscar Wilde to Florence Balcombe from 1876. I found the Victorian style to be fun to follow. In the letter, Wilde discusses a dinner party that happened with Captain Richard Burton in Dublin. I actually burst out laughing when the letter mentioned that one of Wilde’s older brothers, Willie, attended, and brought along “one of his most tiresome friends, Bram Stoker.”

As it turns out, Burton states that vampires are real, he’s killed them, and he’s now hunting werewolves at the request of the Queen, including a recent killing in Greystones. The main characters form a rag-tag band to investigate the murder of a girl, supposedly by a werewolf. We then get our glimpse into Bram Stoker’s point of view from his journals. Stoker, as it turns out, does not think that a werewolf killed the barmaid. He thinks that it’s just a rabid dog. Adding even more entertainment to the section is that Stoker and Wilde seem to hate each other, with Stoker finding Wilde pretentious and annoying. On a more serious note, Stoker also reveals he has been suffering a fit and it has been many years since he’s experienced one, so he’s worried. He thinks he’s having hallucinations and losing his grip over his sanity.

The action in the novel is excellent. A reader might assume that because of the epistolary format that this might be boring, or long-winded from a pacing point of view, but it’s written with modern readers in mind, while remaining authentic to its Victorian roots, and so I found it to be a fantastic blend of old and new, and rip-roaringly good fun.

The novel also goes into Florence Balcombe and how her relationship develops with both Oscar Wilde and then Bram Stoker. The novel sticks mostly closely to historical events within the context of the fantastical insertions, such as that Bram Stoker is worried he himself may be a werewolf. At first, he writes reviews of plays for the Dublin Mail newspaper until he then gets hired to work at a theatre.

There are some shifty characters on the scene, including Count Ruthven, a mysterious figure known as the Black Bishop, and an actor, Irving, that make this book more interesting the more it continues. On a more personal level, Stoker isn’t happy that Florence is marrying Oscar Wilde, especially as Oscar’s interests lie elsewhere, but he insists he’s only got a platonic thing for Florence although that’s not the case. Eventually, Stoker fesses up, marries Florence, and takes a job at the Lyceum theatre in London.

Adding to our cast is an actress, Ellen, who is friends with Oscar Wilde. He tells her to be wary of Stoker because of their intense discord, but he’s also moving to London soon. The novel fills in some creative details for why Stoker has the gift of Second Sight, and the action/adventure feel of investigating mysteries and secrets makes this an excellent page-turner. At some points, the plot does slow down and plod along, and there were a few scenes I felt could be omitted, but for the most part, I loved reading this novel and felt it was excellent.

Tensions strain between Stoker and Florence while heating up between himself and Ellen, more secret identities are revealed, people turn out not to be who we thought all along, and there are some very interesting spins on the common lore along the way. The climactic scenes are also hugely entertaining.

To sum up, this novel is a very entertaining and highly enjoyable romp through the Victorian era, especially for readers who like a more light-hearted take on some of literature’s favourite authors cast as dynamic characters.

Dracula is one of my favourite books of all time. Having read the premise for Stokers Wilde I was dubious and was half expecting to hate it, but I needn’t have worried, the book is a great, rip roaring adventure story and for horror fans a 2019 must-read.

Similar to Dracula this book is written epistolary style, as a series of letters, diary entries and other documents. You can definitely feel the authors love and scalpel precision research for not only Stoker and Wilde, but other characters of this time period as the book weaves their real life events with fiction. I often found myself reaching for Google for additional background.

From Victorian Dublin to London and Salisbury with werewolves, vampires and secret societies, the book moves at a cracking pace. If blood and gore is your thing there is plenty. However it’s the intelligence of this book that shines through.

Very strong gothic horror ⭐️⭐️⭐️three stars out of five

An entertaining, fun read with drama and adventure, werewolves and vampires!

As soon as I read the synopsis for this one, I was excited, and this book did not let me down, because this book is FUN. It is a fictional tale, intermingling real-life characters, who in their real future, write about events that they have found themselves experiencing within this fictional tale, famous works such as Dracula, The Lair of The White Worm and The Picture of Dorian Grey. I had to sleep on it a few nights to come up with my official star rating, and I stand by my choice.

It is very cleverly written, in its gothic/ Victorian style, and is told from multiple perspectives through diary entries, letters and The White Worm Society's archives, paying homage to Stoker's work, and as a fan of both Stoker and Wilde, I loved it.

Not only do we have the entertaining relationships and connections to Stoker and Wilde's novels, but the adventure that the characters go on is an enjoyable ride. I think some of the 'plot twists' might have been fairly obvious, but I didn’t really mind because I felt such a connection to the story and the journey anyway.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t know all of the history and the politics much behind the characters' real lives, so this review is purely based on my minimal knowledge alone, so apart from the obvious fiction (or is it), plot holes were not obvious to me, if there are any. This opinion is coming from me having read Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Grey, plus having seen various movie adaptations, and that is it.

Since reading this book I find that I keep telling everybody to read it. I feel a huge desire to find Lair of The White Worm by Bram Stoker to see where the connections lie between the two, outside of the naming of the society in Stoker's Wilde.

I give this 4 stars!

Told in a diarists letter style this book was very enjoyable. Enough momentum to keep you wanting to move forward. I love the use of well known characters outside of their literary and factual place. If you liked the tv series Penny Dreadful or Victorian vampires and werewolves this is going to float you very easily. Feels ripe for a series of books on a similar vein.