In “The Supernatural Horror in Literature” H. P. Lovecraft selects three novels as the offspring of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: “…Dracula evoked many similar novels of supernatural horror, among which the best are perhaps The Beetle, by Richard Marsh, Brood of the Witch-Queen, by “Sax Rohmer” (Arthur Sarsfield Ward), and The Door of the Unreal, by Gerald Biss. The latter handles quite dexterously the standard werewolf superstition…”
Lovecraft is correct in his assertion, in that all three concern a group of people under attack by an outside evil force. In Dracula, the last half of the book largely focuses on Van Helsing and Co. battling the Count for the possession of Mina Harker. Locked inside their home, surrounded by crosses and garlic bunches, Dracula lurks outside, waiting for his chance to turn Mina to the darkness. Van Helsing and his young friends must go all the way to Transylvania to save her and defeat the Count. Richard Marsh would not have agreed with Lovecraft. He claimed that The Beetle had nothing to do with Dracula.
A serial version of The Beetle started The Peril of Paul Lessingham: The Story of a Haunted Man in Answers, on March 13, 1897. Dracula was released on May 26, 1897. Marsh might be believed. His book outsold Dracula but has not won the fame of Stoker’s classic. I think we can remove Marsh from this discussion, because it is going to focus the other two novels, clearly showing Stoker influence. Let’s begin with a novel that has influenced films, if not fiction. Brood of the Witch-Queen.
If you’d like to read the rest, please check out Monster 3:From the Pages of Dark Worlds Quarterly