College librarian. Enthusiast for Vikings & Victorian literature. Connoisseur of and apologist for the pulps. I want to know everything about everything.
Richard Potter's tours took him across the length and breadth of the United States, and at the height of his career, he was a national icon, more famous than presidents.
Unfortunately, thanks to centuries of misinformation in scholarly histories and in popular culture, most people suffer from a variety of misconceptions about the Vikings, from who they were to when they were active to what, exactly, they did.
One serialized novel changed everything and gave us the hip, hawt undead bloodsuckers we know and love today. That penny blood was Varney the Vampire (1845-1847), and without it the modern vampire would look a lot different.
