Peter Berresford Ellis (born 10 March 1943 in Coventry) is a historian, literary biographer, and novelist who has published over ninety books to date either under his own name or his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published ninety-five short stories. As Peter Tremayne, he is the author of the Sister Fidelma mystery series. as well as a number of horror novels. His work has appeared in twenty-five languages.
The horror novels of Peter Tremayne appeared in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and adopted a pulp pastiche style. His best known horror novels are his trilogy of Dracula books, which began with Dracula Unborn (written in 1974, published in 1977). Also known as Bloodright, the book establishes the style for the series, with Tremayne setting up an introduction where he is handed a manuscript that reveals a hitherto unknown part of the Dracula story. In this first volume, the manuscript tells the story of Mircea Dracula, as written by Abraham Van Helsing, and mixes Bram Stoker with Vlad Tepes.
The Revenge of Dracula (1978) blends Egyptian mythology with the Dracula story in a Sax Rohmeresque romp, whilst Dracula, My Love (1980) is a gothic romance between Dracula and a Scottish woman, with Countess Bathory thrown in for good measure.
The other Tremayne horror novels follow a similar pulp fiction line, including Hound of Frankenstein (1977), The Ants (1978), The Vengeance of She (1978 – unrelated to the Hammer film of the same title, but also set up as a sequel to H. Rider Haggard’s She), Zombie! (1981 – although published at the height of the post-Dawn of the Dead zombie boom, the story takes a more traditional voodoo slant), The Morgow Rises! (1982), Snowbeast (1983 – again unrelated to the film of that title), Kiss of the Cobra (1984), Swamp! (1984) and Trollnight (1987).
