References in The Vampire Affair by David McDaniel

Title

The Vampire Affair

Jean Marie Stine says that McDaniel's original title for this book was The Carpathian Vampire Affair.

4

[no dedication]

The dedication was supposed to say, "To Owen, Will you ever forget the bloaters." Owen was Owen Hannifen/

The bloaters are a reference to The Unstrung Harp, or, Mr. Earbrass Writes A Novel by Edward Gorey. http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~village/295/unstrung-harp.pdf Mr. Earbrass finds a presentation copy of his second novel at a bookseller's; it's inscribed: "For Angus—will you ever forget the bloaters?" He thinks, "Bloaters? Angus?"

But McDaniel got a nosebleed, and decided that, a little blood would fit with the title of the book... Apparently someone at Ace Books decided was disgusted and threw out the page.

5

It had begun to snow.

The first words of The Unstrung Harp as shown in an illustration.

12

Rumania

nowadays Romania (but still including the central principality of Transylvania)

13

Miss Carmichael

???

13

Carl Endros

???

13

hemospasia

defined as "The drawing of blood to a given part of the body by means of a suction cup."

14

two busy months along the south coast of Spain keeping a misplaced H-bomb out of unfriendly hands

On January 17, 1966 Palomares B-52 a US Air Force SAC bomber collided with a tanker during mid-air refueling off the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Of the four hydrogen bombs the SAC bomber carried, three were found on land near the small fishing village of Palomares (wikipedia article), in the Almería province of Spain. The fourth bomb fell into the sea and was recovered intact after a 2½-month-long search.

14

The weather had been warm in Almeria, and the weather had been cool in New York when he had returned. But now it was the middle of April...more than three consecutive weeks of inaction...

Almeria, Spain Climate:
January: high 63°; low 46°
February: high 64°; low 48°
March: high 68°; low 50°
That's about 20'F warmer than NYC in those months..

15

Los Angeles

McDaniel lived in Los Angeles when writing this book.
Los Angeles climate (November): average monthly high 73°, average monthly low 50'.

16

Carlo Amalfi

???

17

Eclary the technician (page 36 Hilda Eclary) (page 129 a code clerk: "So they gave me a provisional promotion to the rank of Technician,....)

Hilda Clare Hannifen née Hoffman, who would later change her name to Eclare Hannifen, pronounced with three syllables as if Eclary

17

two small puncture marks at the base of the throat...[r]ight over the large vein

This appears to refer to the external jugular vein.

17

the little village of Pokol

"Pokol" is Romanian for "Hell" according to Bram Stoker's Dracula. See Wikipedia article "Peckols."

17

Brasov

see Wikipedia

21

Vlkoslak

"Servian for something that is either werewolf or vampire" according to Bram Stoker's Dracula

21

a girl named Gütter who had shared action with them over a year ago....Copenhagen

???

22

Djelas Krepescu

???

24

Rosul Pass

said to be in the Transylvanian Alps between Sibiu and Ramnicu-Valcea; also said to be another term for Tihuţa Pass connecting Bistriţa (Transylvania) with Vatra Dornei (Bukovina, Moldavia) which Bram Stoker in Dracula referred to as the Borgo Pass.

24

Prahova Valley

The valley where the Prahova river flows between the Bucegi and the Baiu Mountains, in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania, about 100 km north of Bucharest.

25

"There's a good ski resort at Poiana Brasov."

Poiana Brasov is the most popular Romanian ski resort and an important tourist centre preferred by many tourists not only from Romania, but also from Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and other European states.

26

Elena, their secretary-guide

???

30

Zoltan (page 57: Count Zoltan Dracula)

Bram Stoker's "Count Dracula" was based on the historical figure Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, also known as Vlad Dracula, posthumously known as Vlad Tsepes (Vlad the Impaler in Romanian).

33

Alföld

The Great Hungarian Plain including southern and eastern part of Hungary, some parts of the Eastern Slovak Lowland, southwestern Ukraine, the Transcarpathian Lowland, western Romania, etc.

33

Curtici

see Wikipedia article

34

Securitate

the popular term for the Departamentul Securitătii Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of Communist Romania: see Wikipedia

35

"Hungary is on the same time as the rest of Europe, but Rumania is on Turkish Standard."

Romania is still Eastern European Time just like Turkey.
Hungary is still Central European Time.

35

Cluj

Cluj-Napoca, commonly known as Cluj, the second most populous city in Romania, after Bucharest: it's the unofficial capital of Transylvania .

36

Domnul, Domnisoara

Mister, Miss (in Romanian)

37

Poboda (sic)

This may be a typo for a GAZ-M20 Pobeda, a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958.

37

toward the mountains

Jonathan Harker was going to enter the Carpathians in Bram Stoker's Dracula on St. George's Day ° and his landlady wanted him to wait because "when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway". St. George's Day is April 23rd.
Someone who's been counting the days carefully since Solo & Kuryakin left New York on April 15th can figure out if they're doing it on the same date, but I suspect they are.

41

"Satul Contru" (City Hall)
"Gradatul Hanevitch" (Chief of Police, Head of the Securitate, Head of the Fire Brigade, Communist Party Leader, Judge, Postmaster)..."As Chief of Police, my title is Colonel ° I prefer it to Gradat."

Literally "Village Control"?
Gradat means "Graduate."
This is a reference to Owen Hannifen.

43

"groom of the second floor front"

a reference to Pooh-Bah's titles in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado: "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Back Stairs, Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord Mayor, both acting and elect, all rolled into one "

43

"Ce?"

"What?"

43

mititei and a glass of tuica

a traditional Romanian dish of grilled ground meat rolls and a traditional Romanian spirit that usually contains 40-45% alcohol by volume, prepared only from plums.

43

Gheorghe the innkeeper

???

45

Tokarev

a Russian semi-automatic pistol.
Wikipedia says, "It served [the Soviet military] until 1952, when it was replaced by the Makarov pistol.... Romania produced a...copy as the TTC, or Cugir Tokarov well into the 1950s." This was made without a trigger-blocking safety.

53

pipe and deerstalker hat...play detective...look the part

Sherlock Holmes props

55

ciorba

Romanian word describing a sour soup of vegetables and meat.

58

"But not in the south."

Stephen Potter: "Yes, but not in the South", with slight adjustments, will do for any argument about any place, if not about any person. [The Theory And Practice Of Gamesmanship; Or, The Art Of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating]

58

Constantine Sherba

Wikipedia lists him as Constantin II Şerban, Prince of Wallachia between 1654 and 1658, illegitimate son to Radu Şerban.

59

Stobolzny

???

59

"the castle was rebuilt in 1897"

This seems to be fictional, not an allusion to Bran Castle or any other Transylvanian castle.

59

"...accursed Englishman, Stoker chose to make the name of Dracula known to the world as the name of a demon"

Bram Stoker, born in Dublin, Ireland.
McDaniel was very proud of being of Irish heritage.

59

Voivode

Lord, Prince, Duke (see Wikipedia)

60

dwarf owl...sound like a chiming clock

Probably the little owl (Athene noctua), whose female has a somewhat chimish call. But might be the elf owl, an American breed, or the Eurasian pygmy owl, Glaucidium passerinum, the smallest owl in Europe.

65

green eyes

A mature Wolf's eyes are often amber/brown or gold, but also commonly come in hues of brown, gray, yellow, and green.

67

"Iertati-ma. I beg pardon."

"Forgive me."

68

"Multumesc...."

"Thanks."

70

Vlad Tsepesh Stobolzny

???

70

"Mr. Solo, they were the footprints of a gigantic wolf."

See A. Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, the end of Chapter 2: "Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!""

74

Famous Monsters of Filmland

see Wikipedia, started in 1958; Ackerman was editor and principal writer

75

Forrest J Ackerman...Forry

see Wikipedia

78

"'Sips of knowledge intoxicate the brain while deeper drinking sobers it again,' as some English poet or other put it."
"You're close enough," Napoleon said....

78

"Yes, my second and third fingers are of quite different lengths....You will also find my canine teeth to be normal, and my face to be reflected quite clearly in the rear-view mirror. Nor have I any aversion to silver crucifixes or garlic."

Negating the traditional signs of the werewolf and vampire.

84

"Cine-i?...Who's There?"

"Who's?"

89

"Bozhe moi."

Russian for "My God." People say it in shock or surprise.

96

an old poem...about a group of people claiming to have come from northern Germany to Transylvania

Robert Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin":
And I must not omit to say
That in Transylvania there's a tribe
Of alien people that ascribe
The outlandish ways and dress
On which their neighbors lay such stress
To their fathers and mothers having risen
Out of some subterranean prison
Into which they were trepanned
Long time ago, in a mighty band
Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick

97

"The only way out is through"

This is one of catchwords of Scientology, which McDaniel dabbled in.

100

"Further up and further in."

C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle

122

"The Vampire Has Been Dead Many Times."

Walter Pater on the Mona Lisa, in The Renaissance: "...like the vampire, she has been dead many times, and learned the secrets of the grave..."

125

Doctor Crippen

see Wikipedia

129

Orjud

???

132

"...we will dispose of our little following on Russian Hill."

Russian Hill is a neighborhood slightly north of Nob Hill and east of the intersection where US 101 makes a sharp turn from Lombard to Van Ness.
Lombard Street west of Van Ness is a six-lane divided road. After crossing Van Ness, Lombard narrows to two lanes and begins to climb the hill, getting gradually steeper until it reaches the top of the hill at Hyde St., then narrows to a single lane and becomes the crookedest street in the world, exactly as described in the book, including the cable car route on Hyde St.

137

"a highly independent organization of consulting technicians"

no use of the acronym

139

"Thrush-helicopters and Thrush-trucks. And I suppose you call this your Thrush-cave?"
Napoleon leaned towards Peter, lifted the flap of his coat, and looked intently at his waistband...."What are you doing, Mr. Solo?"
"Looking for your utility belt."
The Thrush [who's been disguising himself as a vampire] scarcely batted an eye. "Oh," he said, "I only wear that when I'm in my bat costume."

Batman references

142

Franz...Klaus...

Hans and Fritz

???

The Katzenjammer Kids.

145

Channel L

I think this was Local, as opposed to Channel D which was Distant.

157

14-cycle note....This frequency causes an instinctive fear reaction.

mythically supposed to cause fear or an eerie feeling.
See the Wikipedia article on "brown note."

158

"There are things which man was never meant to..."

"There are things which man was never meant to know" is a catchphrase used in SF Fandom, especially about the H. P. Lovecraft mythos and related works (e.g., Clarke Ashton Smith, August Derleth)

159

It was still snowing.

The last words of The Unstrung Harp