Necroscope Reading Order
Qiana Thieklin
My history with the Necroscope, if we are to be quite literal, goes back to just after I started reading the horror genre. I really started to embrace horror, and enjoy being scared, after I watched The Shining in a cinema class. I then proceeded to read Desperation, then Bag of Bones, and despite my not enjoying that one quite so much, I borrowed It and then I was a King devotee for life. As I went to browse bookstores for more King, or other future possibilities, I came across the Necroscope series. The only reason I delayed really was because it took me a while to look up and confirm the correct reading order.
The books that really caught my attention were the covers and stories of the Vampire World trilogy, books six thru eight. However, there was the debate about committing, at least in theory, to a series that long. Then I did. The first two books are brilliant; absolute masterpieces of the horror genre. Further on down the line there are still strokes of genius. For as good as the beginning is that section, which I did eventually get to, is very strong. And the most recent book, a short novel entitled The Mbius Murders, is by far the strongest installment in The Lost Years chronology.
UPDATE: I recently saw a link to a Necroscope fan group on Facebook, joined, and it seems Glenn Hetrick messaged the group Admin with an update on the status of the project. It reads as follows:
The ESP Cold War is heating up. England, the United States, France, Israel and Russia have all devoted special branches of their governments to exploiting the psychic talents of some unique individuals. Russia and England are the most serious about developing these resources, having seen the spectacular results that the people involved can bring about. There are the far seers, who can see in their minds whats happening at distant points around the world; there are the people who can detect where every nuclear weapon is around the world; there is one in Russia (Igor Vlady) who can use his power of the evil eye to kill people, making their deaths appear to be the result of heart attacks. And there are those who can discover the secrets of the dead. The ones like Boris Dragosani, the necromancers, ravage dead bodies, tearing them apart, ripping their secrets out of their organs, their brains, their very blood. The dead even willingly talke to one special man, Harry Keogh, teaching him their own special talents. He is the necroscope of Brian Lumleys intensely riveting horror novel of ESP, espionage, spies, and vampires.
Necroscope was first published in 1986. Its a modern vampire classic, selling millions of copies world-wide inspiring an almost cult-like following, and several bestselling sequels. The Orb Books reissue from TOR Books is beautifully done, with superbly drawn pictures by the late Hugo Award-winning artist Bob Eggleton, long identified with Lumleys blood-sucking monsters, as a press release that came with my copy of the book says. Necroscope transcends the horror genre, mixing elements of science fiction and spy novels with traditional horror novel subjects like blood-thirsty vampires and the dead rising from out of their graves.
I couldnt help but think as I was reading Necroscope of the excellent thought-provoking new television series by J.J. Abrams, Fringe. Both deal with phenomena on the fringes of science, and its possible Abrams might have read and been influenced by this book, though I dont know for sure. At any rate, the highly original protagonist, Harry Keogh, and antagonist Dragosani of Necroscope are memorable literary creations that will haunt your dreams and soul long after the book is put down.
Dragosani is Romanian born and thinks of himself as a proud Wallachian. He works for the Soviets as a necromancer, learning his skills from the vampire Thibor Ferenczy, trapped in unlife, neither alive nor dead, hungering for freedom and revenge as well as blood. Dragosani wants to discover all of the secrets of the wamphyri, or the vampire, not only necromancy - but without having to become a vampire, himself. As a boy, he explored a cruciform-shaped mountain range and stumbled upon the ancient grave of Thibor, chained into the earth with iron and silver chains and buried alive - or, to be more accurate, undead. The boy heard the voice of a being he thought of as the Thing from the ground. It scared him, but he came back to year after year. The expectation of growing powerful under Thibors tutelage overcame any fears, and his knowledge earned him his eventual job working for the Russians.
Harry Keoghs mother, a medium, passed on her talent of communicating with the dead to her son, who comes to greatly surpass her abilities. His stepfather, Victor Shukshin, possesses the ability to see and feel emanations from other people with psychic talents. However, being around them pains Victor physically and mentally, enraging him and causing him to murder Harrys mother, though Harry doesnt learn this until later in his life.
Necroscope is difficult to summarize. Its a complex and engaging work of fiction with many extremely cool characters in it, each with his/her own motivations. Its told by a mysterious ghostly figure to Alex Kyle, who is employed by Englands ESP branch. He writes it all down over the space of several hours, and the pages he composes are the novel we read. Visiting the grave of Mobius, the mathematician and creator of the Mobius strip, is one of the many cool parts of the novel, a turning point that aids Keogh in his battle with Dragosani and the entire Russian ESPionage branch. If you enjoy horror and sci-fi, you owe it to yourself to get Necroscope today.
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