Friends, this poor, neglected, repeatedly rebooted and then abandoned blog is a certified mess. But! It still comes in handy for days like today. I’m thrilled beyond words, except for these words here, to announce the release of my first work of long-form fiction, Saving the World on $50 a…

Happy World Dracula Day (May 26th) to those who celebrate! On this most solemn of occasions, isn’t it time you learned the horrifying, true history of Vlad “The Impaler” Dracula, who somehow managed to be a psychopath and a national hero? (Hint: The answer is “yes.”) Buy or gift Backpacking…

It’s almost Halloween and you know what that means; a new round of manufactured urban legends to distract and scare simpleminded people into ignoring that their Republican elected officials probably wouldn’t stop to pee on them if they were on fire. But! It also means a reliable uptick in interest…

Though it feels like a lifetime ago, it’s been five years since I recorded this interview with Rick Steves, talking about Vlad “The Impaler” Dracula. It was one of the maybe three or five instances in my whole life where I benefited from exquisite timing. Steves had recently returned from…

Can you identify the real Dracula’s Castle from these pictures? This week marked the 124th anniversary of the novel Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. (The 125th anniversary is going to be a real banger, I bet.) To mark the occasion, I’m going to provide you with priceless information that will make you…

Since its release in late-2016, it’s become a welcome tradition that I do an in-bookstore reading from Backpacking with Dracula each year around Halloween. That’s not happening this year, due to the U.S. transforming into a belligerent, failed, plague state, so I decided to do a reading via my very…

The landmark novel, Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, has proven to be as immortal as its vampire antagonist. May 26, 2017 marks the 120th anniversary of the novel’s publication, during which time it’s never been out of print, sparking a wildly prolific, vampire-fixated century in literature, stage, cinema and television. Eventually. [Large…

I’ll just leave this here. BUY THE BOOK!

A travel book investigating Vlad “The Impaler” Dracula and the vampire monster he inspired   The book is out now!   The undisputed A-lister among Transylvania’s cabaret of supernatural blood-drainers and face-eaters, Count Dracula is both a publicist’s dream and nightmare. Like Justin Bieber, despite unremitting horrifying behavior, the public…

Tim Cahill once said “In good travel writing, something on the trip always has to go wrong.” If this is true, then after my most recent Lonely Planet research trip in Romania and Moldova, I should have a book deal landing on my desk any second. At least I hope…