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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Local author Mark Dawidziak keeping company with Dracula<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cuyahoga Falls resident Mark Dawidziak, the television
critic at the <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:
italic'>Cleveland Plain Dealer,</span></i> will be giving a series of talks in
the area about his 11<sup>th</sup> book, <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span
style='font-style:italic'>The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to
Dracula</span></i>, just released by New York publisher Continuum. Among the
places he’ll also be signing copies of the book are the Akron Woman’s City
Club, Border’s Books in Cuyahoga Falls, the Nordonia Hills Branch Library and
the Cuyahoga Falls Library.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>This <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span
style='font-style:italic'>Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion</span></i>
to the world’s most famous vampire looks at all aspects of the Dracula
phenomenon in often unexpected ways. Illustrated with dozens of photographs,
sketches and maps, the painstakingly researched book includes entries
on the psychological and sociological implications of the novel and the
stage plays; the movies; television versions; actors, and, of course, the
historical Dracula, Vlad the Impaler.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“So many books have been written about <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Dracula -- </span></i>analytical academic tomes,
pithy trivia lists, coffee table beauties -- that my shelves groan under their
weight,” wrote <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:
italic'>Rue Morgue </span></i>magazine. “So why would anyone need yet another
one detailing Bram Stoker's life, novel, all the stage, film and television
adaptations, the legacy of the Count from Aurora models to cereal boxes? In the
case of Mark Dawidziak's latest, it's so you don't have to read all the rest.”</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Published in 1897, Bram Stoker’s <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Dracula </span></i>was the last of the nineteenth
century’s three major horror stories. It followed Mary Shelley’s <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Frankenstein </span></i>and Robert Louis Stevenson’s <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</span></i>,
but Stoker’s novel had the greater impact on our culture and our nightmares.
Count Dracula has been called the king of the vampires, but, in truth, he is
the king of all the monsters, and his influence can be seen everywhere today:
in everything from the number-obsessed count on <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>Sesame Street</span></i> to the vast
fandom for vampire novels appealing to all ages.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Corny pun ahead: If you're at all into vampire lit,
you'll wanna sink your teeth into it,” <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span
style='font-style:italic'>Bookgasm </span></i>said of Dawidziak’s <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>Companion to
Dracula. </span></i>“It helps when an author like Dawidziak harbors enormous
enthusiasm for the subject, because it's infectious.”</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> “So you think you know all there is to know
about Bram Stoker’s <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Dracula? </span></i>Mark
Dawidziak knows more,” raved Zacherley's Review! (zacherley.com). “If you can’t
get your fill on Dracula after reading this book you're already undead.”</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mark Dawidziak has been the television critic at the <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>Cleveland
Plain Dealer</span></i> since July 1999. During his fifteen years at the <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>Akron Beacon
Journal</span></i>, he held such posts as TV columnist, movie critic and
critic-at-large. Also an author and playwright, his many books include the 1994
horror novel <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:
italic'>Grave Secrets</span></i> and two histories of landmark TV series: <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>The Columbo
Phile: A Casebook </span></i>(1989) and <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span
style='font-style:italic'>The Night Stalker Companion </span></i>(1997). A
recognized Mark Twain scholar, his acclaimed books on the author include <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>Mark My
Words: Mark Twain on Writing</span></i> (1996) and <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>Horton Foote’s The Shape of the River:
The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain </span></i>(2003). </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>He is currently collaborating with Paul Bauer on <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>Broken
Shadows, </span></i>a biography of “hobo writer” Jim Tully, a</span></font><span
style='mso-bidi-font-family:"Courier New"'> forgotten author hailed as
“America’s Gorky” and as a literary superstar in the ’20s and ’30s. </span>It
will be published in 2010 by the Kent State University Press.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:"Courier New"'>Dawidziak and his
wife,</span> actress Sara Showman, founded the Largely Literary Theater Company
in 2002. Dedicated to promoting literacy and literature, the company has staged
his three-person version of Charles Dickens’ <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>A Christmas Carol, The Tell-Tale Play </span></i>(poems
and stories by Edgar Allan Poe)<i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span
style='font-style:italic'> </span></i>and his two-act play based on sketches by
Mark Twain, <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic'>The
Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated</span></i>. In addition to
directing the Largely Literary plays, he portrays Twain and Dickens. He lives
in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, with his wife and their daughter, Rebecca “Becky”
Claire.</font></p>
<p class=MsoListBullet style='margin-left:0in;text-indent:0in;mso-list:none;
tab-stops:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>LIST BOOK TALKS AND SIGNINGS:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoListBullet style='margin-left:0in;text-indent:0in;mso-list:none;
tab-stops:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoListBullet style='margin-left:0in;text-indent:0in;mso-list:none;
tab-stops:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Monday, September 29, 7 p.m.:<br>
North Canton Public Library, 185 North Main Street<br>
Please register at 330-499-4712 (ext. 323 or 320)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thursday, October
9, 7 p.m.:<br>
Akron Woman’s City Club<br>
732 West Exchange Street<br>
Windows of the World Film Series (dinner & movie, or just the movie)<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Dracula </span></i>(1931) film screening<br>
Reservations: 330-762-6261</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Friday, October
10, 7-8 p.m.:<br>
Border’s Books<br>
335 Howe Avenue<br>
Cuyahoga Falls<br>
330-945-7683</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Saturday, October
18, 11 a.m.-4p.m.:<br>
GhoulardiFest<br>
Holiday Inn, Cleveland/South<br>
Rockside Road, Independence</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thursday, October
23, 7 p.m.:<br>
Nordonia Hills Branch Library<br>
9458 Olde Eight Road<br>
Northfield<br>
330-467-8595</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Monday, October
27, 7 p.m.:<br>
Cuyahoga Falls Library<br>
2015 Third Street<br>
Cuyahoga Falls<br>
330-928-2117</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tuesday, October
28, 1 p.m.:<br>
Akron Woman’s City Club<br>
732 West Exchange Street<br>
Book talk after luncheon</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thursday,
October 30, 7 p.m.:<br>
Joseph-Beth Booksellers <br>
Legacy Village<br>
Lyndurst<br>
216-691-7000 </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Saturday, Nov. 1,
9:30 a.m.-4p.m.:<br>
Buckeye Book Fair<br>
Fisher Auditorium<br>
OARDC Campus<br>
Wooster<br>
<a href="http://www.buckeyebookfair.com/">www.buckeyebookfair.com/</a></span></font></p>
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