Thank NetGalley and Innsmouth Free Press for a copy of the eArc in an exchange for an honest review. First off, the Introduction (by Silvia Moreno Garcia), the new prologue (by the author) and the afterward (Poppy Z. Brite give much needed perspective on the novel and are perfect bookends to a haunting story. If I jumped into this book without reading the Intro, I wouldn't have known this book was a prelude to Bram Stoker's Dracula (a book I read nearly two decades ago). The prologue gives you a sense of who the author is and how his life shaped the story. The afterward provides the much needed analysis.

The book follows the captain of the Demeter. The ship that arrived at an English port with all hands missing and nothing but a cargo hold filled with crates of dirt. The first half of the book is from the captain's private journals where he romanticizes the notion of bringing crew back to his own quarters, and the second half of the book is directly from the captain's log where he remains chaste and closeted. The first half of the book is hopeful with a sense of happiness shrouded in fear as the captain is allowed to be himself in his private log but there is every bit of fear of being found out what he truly is. The second half brings the horror elements while the parallelism between the two sections becomes apparent.

this was quite the interesting read. i have not read dracula so i do not know if a familiarity with the original text would have been more beneficial to my reading experience. the writing/translation was atmospheric and lush, but almost to a fault. at times, i found the lush writing to be bloated and distracting to the plot. for me, the writing would work better in an audiobook format. i also enjoyed the steady increase of tension throughout the novel as something sinister makes itself known of the ship. some things that did not work for me were the wild and graphic dream sequences and depictions of sexual acts. i understand the examination of literature using vampirism as an allegory for homosexuality, but i felt that that idea was not challenged enough for my liking. it definitely toed the line of perpetuating that idea and critiquing it. with that being said, this is a work of fiction that was written ~20 years ago and understand that the social commentary may be more appropriate for the time it was released.

A little bit of a mixed bag here. On the one hand, the atmosphere is incredible: both the descriptions that were just to do with describing life on the sea, and the descriptions of the growing unease on the ship were wonderfully done. I could have honestly done with more of the voyage just to see Zarate pull out all the stops. But then that might have disturbed the pacing, which was likewise excellent: the short, staccato chapters in the middle did a hell of a job of adding to the tension and the surreal quality of what was going on.

What undercut some of that tension and surrealness, however, was Zarate's insistence on constantly reminding the reader that the Captain is hot for his crew. Now, I get that a huge part of this story is about delving into queer desire, but at the same time I really don't think scene after scene was needed of the Captain's horndogness. The book is already so short, it didn't really need all that much repeating: we get it. If Zarate had wanted to give us more of a grounding of the Captain's relationship with Mikhail then that would have been another story; that definitely need more space. But vague, aimless desire (with liberal mention of "tumescence") is just...kind of dull as a concept. And, I don't know, if he's going to be eye-banging these guys, couldn't we have at least gotten to know more of them better? But then maybe that would've made the final scenes with them even more cringy (again with the "tumescence"). His relationship with Mikhail was way, way more interesting, as were his ultimate revelations. For me, the book could've definitely benefited from more of that.

That said, this is definitely an interesting read, and considering that it's so short I don't think you can go wrong trying it out, particularly if you're a Dracula fan.

This was interesting, not at all what I was expecting! I went into it mostly blind, besides just the basics: a queer vampire novella, originally written in 1998, translated from Spanish & published by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the author of Mexican Gothic.

I haven’t read Dracula, which I think put me at a disadvantage, because the story follows the voyage of The Demeter to England. I know a couple of other reviewers had said you don’t need to read it before going in, but I was a little lost sometimes and didn’t really understand the context of what was happening until the end. That said, it was still an enjoyable read for me and I think anyone who’s a fan of Dracula, vampires or gothic horror would probably like this.

The writing is rich and incredibly descriptive. I obviously can’t compare it to the original because I don’t know Spanish, but for an English-speaker this feels like a great translation. The language builds in a way that gave me a growing sense of dread, where I was afraid to continue but also had to get to the end. It was genuinely scary at times, which I think is a credit both to both Mr. Zárate and Mr. Bowles.

Much of The Route of Ice and Salt focuses on desire that borders on a craving or hunger, which I believe is supposed to symbolize vampirism. As both the author and publisher have said, the fact that this featured a gay main character struggling to rein in his sexuality in a novella published in Mexico in 1998 is significant. The text was a good deal more erotic than I was expecting, sometimes abstractly and sometimes more explicitly, if that’s something that will impact you’re enjoyment of the story.

In all, I’m glad I read this. It makes me want to go and read Dracula now that I understand how one fits into the other. It probably says something about modern fiction that my first introduction to vampires was the sparkly variety, but I’m glad there are authors who are putting out and making accessible the types that exist in this story. I don’t think this is going to be appealing to everyone, but for a specific type of reader it’ll probably resonate strongly.

“Voices like dust, covering everything, hiding the immutability of the world. I am at the helm of a dead ship. ...The voices are alive, surrounding me as my men once did.”

My thanks to Innsmouth Free Press for an advance digital copy via NetGalley of ‘The Route of Ice and Salt’ by José Luis Zárate in exchange for an honest review.

This novella was originally published in Mexico in 1998. It was considered unorthodox for being a take on ‘Dracula’ and its queer themes and subsequently gained cult status. It has now been translated into English by David Bowles with an introduction by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, who is also its publisher, a new prologue by the author, and an afterword by Poppy Z. Brite.

As for the story itself it is a reimagining of Dracula’s journey from Wallachia to Whitby aboard the Demeter and told in epistolary form as a series of entries from both the official log and private journal of its doomed captain. In addition to the strange happenings on board, the captain is struggling with his desires for his crewmen.

While the captain’s fantasies weren’t really my thing, I appreciated the context. My focus was more upon the pervasive influence of the vampire upon those on board, including the rats. You would have thought the Count would have been more discreet during his passage to England.

Brimming with Gothic imagery, the writing was lyrical throughout. As events reached their dramatic conclusion, the tension was palatable including the encounters between the captain and his preternatural passenger.

The extra material provided additional context for the novella, including Poppy Z. Bright’s essay that highlighted aspects of the writing of ‘Dracula’ that I hadn’t previously encountered.

Overall, it proved a short yet fascinating read and one that I am pleased to add to my library.

Zárate’s The Route of Ice and Salt, a narrative interpretation of the classic Dracula, chronicles the Demeter’s fated journey by sea to England. The Captain has taken as cargo 50 boxes of earth. As the passage turns toward terror, he is increasingly tormented both by vivid memories of past events and the nearness of his sinewy crew.

Zárate’s novella is dark, gothic, sultry; the writing lyrical and smart, and at times poetic in its beauty. It easily holds its own for those who have not read Dracula recently, or ever. Elements of queer pining thread throughout, mixing inextricably with the pressing terror. The book is challengingly stimulating and fully engaging. At least for me, not something I could mindlessly escape to, but most definitely worth the effort it took to tear my focus away from whatever else was on my mind.

My thanks to Netgalley and Innsmouth Free Press for a free review copy of this book!

TW: Graphic descriptions of sex and sexual fantasies, homophobia and homophobic violence, self harm, death, gothic horror

"I sleep well, thinking of nightmares"

The Route of Ice and Salt is a literary gothic horror novella inspired by thoughts of what happened on the trip that Dracula took from Wallachia to England.

José Luis Zárate contemplates thoughts and connections between hunger, desire and thirst and what they might be reduced to when encountered with fear and isolation. The allegories between vampirism and homosexuality have often been discussed and this novella overtly links the two in a very graphic manner.

I would like to thank Innsmouth Free Press for publishing the translation of this novel, translated by David Bowles, so that I was able to experience this cult vampire novella.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting when I requested this galley as I was sold by the pure fact that Silvia Moreno-Garcia was involved in the publishing of the novella and spoke so highly about it, however what I received when reading this was an introduction to a world that was foreign to me that felt both voyeuristic yet invited. The weaving of yearning for what you cannot touch and the fear from what you cannot see or understand was done so hauntingly that I was on the edge unsure what would be coming next.

If you appreciate literary re-imaginings, lyrical prose and gothic horror then this is the book for you.

*thank you to Innsmouth Free Press and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Innsmouth Free Press and Netgalley for providing me an advance reader's copy.

"At night: the smell, the weight, the feel of salt." And so begins this novella by José Luis Zárate, translated for the first time in English by David Bowles, reimagining the intimate life of the nameless schooner captain who died in Bram Stoker's Dracula. The book's language has a tensile presence, the sentences trembling under the weight of unnameable horrors and desires—and in Zárate's mutinous work, we see how fear and pleasure become one. It's seldom that I find books whose writing easily captivates me, where words are no longer just words but a siren-song, drawing me into the waters, the sharp waves like fingers beckoning me, branding me with its secrets. I could only imagine the musicality of the words in its mother tongue, the secrets it refuses to give away in another language.

But more importantly, I loved the exploration of hunger and desire, especially of queer desire. One thing that always captivates me in queer stories is how the sacred infuses itself in the mundane: the graze of a finger becomes an image of heaven, the taste of salt from human skin becomes a holy partaking of wine from chalice. An ordinary touch, an earthly possession, is granted a kind of incandescent fire, becoming something divine. That is one of the rebellions of queerness: earth is not dirty, the soil is not a stain, flesh is not a sin—the grime under the fingers, the fiery heat and sweat of skin, the erotic twist of joints and sinews, is bliss and sanctity manifested.

This is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2021.

trigger warning
<spoiler> homophobia, internalised homophobia, trauma, lynching, suicide, mention of child prostitution </spoiler>

I am sure you know the story: Count Dracula travels via ship from Rumania to England, hidden in boxes filled with earth. This version is told by the ship's captain.

The captain is gay and troubled because on one hand, he picks sailors he finds attractive, on the other he picks those from colder climates so they'll cover themselves so they won't burn. He wants them, but is afraid that showing this might result in a deadly mutiny, so he tries to hide himself while having to interact with them daily. There is no escape - they're stuck with each other on board of the ship.

And then things happen. First, the rats go missing, which raises the question if they have plague on board, and if the animals are dying in hidden corners.

We only have the captain's thoughts - and his dreams. For this ace person, there was too much sexual content, but I am sure it'll appeal to other readers.

I found it interesting to read a story from this point of view, and yes, I have pondered what might have happened on this sea voyage in the past. Additionally, I want to mention that there is no need to have read Dracula before reading this one.

According to the foreword by Silvia Moreno-Garcia this is one of the few Mexican speculative novels we have, because the market appears to be saturated by works in translation, especially from the Englisch, so I was glad to have the chance to peek in there.
Because let's be honest, I may want to read novels from all the different countries, but I really want to read speculative stuff from all the different countries.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

I tried, I really tried to like this book. Book started out well Great writing, great descriptions. Then it got weird. Not weird in a good way but weird. I stayed with it for about 3/4 of the way then I had to stop. Not really sure what was going on. It was hard for me to follow what was happening. The writing was beautiful and I wanted to follow the premise. It was a great idea for a story but it went way of track. I may revisit the story at a later date but it wasn’t for me at this time.

TW: internalized homophobia, homophobic violence, graphic sexual content, blood and violence

The Route of Ice and Salt is about the captain aboard the Demeter struggling with being a gay man and the mysterious happenings on board as they travel from Varna to Whitby.

The author took a concept used in literary analysis before and turned it into a novella; that vampirism can be a metaphor for homosexuality, that that the themes of forbidden desire and outsiders considering them “monstrous.” It’s also important to keep in mind that this was written in the 1990s, so the “monstrous” angle shouldn’t be taken as outdated.

While this is a novella, I still didn’t expect to read this entirely in one day. I started it kind of late and expected to read maybe a third or half of it one day and the rest another day. But I was so caught up in the story, even though I’d already read Dracula and knew most of what was going to happen, I needed to know. There were parts where I was properly creeped out or grossed out.

Speaking of Dracula, you don’t necessarily need to have read the novel to understand this novella, but it wouldn’t hurt to know some key aspects.

Also, this is am extremely sexual novel. A lot of the captain’s internalized homophobia and guilt have to do with being gay is his sexual attraction to men. He has very sexual dreams and feels bad about it after, he can’t take his eyes off his crew if they remove clothing, so he requires them to keep it buttoned up.

There were parts were the writing was so lush, I just didn’t know what the author meant. I could still follow the story, but some of his thoughts were lost on me.

I rated this 3.5 stars. This is a really excellent retelling of one section of Dracula, it kept me on my toes, and it tackles the “vampirism as a metaphor for being gay” very well.

This is a weird, queer little novella, and I love everything about it.

It's a new translation of a tale released by a now-defunct Mexican indie publisher in the late 1990s. The novella apparently has a cult following in Mexico; it was published when queer literature was much rarer and popular opinion tended to be much more homophobic. Despite that rather specific cultural context, the novella grapples with concepts of shame and monstrosity in ways that feel timeless and adapt well for a modern audience. It's especially remarkable as an explicitly queer turn on a genre that too often only plays with queerness, invoking it as a subtextual horror.

The translation, from David Bowles, is lyrical and horrifying. This new edition comes from Silvia Moreno-Garcia's micropress with a beautiful foreword from the author and an excellent post-script essay from trans horror novelist Poppy Z. Brite; those essays alone are worth the paperback purchase price. (I received this one as a review copy, but I loved it so much that I've since purchased a physical edition.)

There's a lot of disturbing and fraught sexual elements in this, though none of it is particularly graphic, so this might not be for everyone. But if that doesn't bother you as a reader, this novella is well worth your time.

The book follows the crew of the Demeter, which took Dracula to England. In Dracula canon, the ship arrives mysteriously devoid of its crew -- except for the captain, whose corpse is tied to the wheel and grasping a crucifix.

Worth noting that the book does not rewrite the captain's fate. Instead it recounts his fight against the vampire, and recontextualizes his eventual death as an act of self-sacrifice in honor of his dwindling crew.

The Route of Ice and Salt asks "what happened *there*" and gives one hell of an answer through the captain's private diary. He normally dedicates the space to a secret log of all his secret shames and sexual fantasies about his crew. The diaries at first just contain notes of pression, trauma, loneliness, guilt, and shame. The ocean he describes feels vast and gray and empty. The captain struggles with the power he holds over his men, and its implications in context of his desires.

But the longer the Demeter carries mysterious boxes of dirt, the captain begins recording events that become increasingly odd, and violent, and terrifying.

Soon, he realizes that something is hunting his crew. The voyage grows more and more fraught as crew disappears and mysterious problems crop up -- complete with a plague and vampiric rat infestation.

As the tale unfolds, the captain is also haunted by his memories of a lost love, who was murdered in a homophobic hate crime. Zárate uses this backstory to explore the tension between the eroticism of the gothic genre and the treatment of gay men as monsters (even when there are literal monsters about). This is perhaps the most compelling aspect of the book, though it's harrowing.

The book as a whole is feverish, and Gothic, and haunting. I'll likely be revisiting it, as there's a lot going on. I'm very glad it's been translated for English readers for the first time, and I hope I'll see similar pieces from the publisher.

This was a slow unraveling book. I wasn't sure what to expect but I cannot resist vampires and queer stories. We follow the ship captain of the Demeter. I really enjoyed the horror in this novella. You are shown that something is not quite right and how the crew deals with this.

Please check out other reviews for TWs!

A reimagining of Dracula's Voyage, told by the captain of the ship, with his queer and sometimes predatory desires towards his sailors. Until nightmares and peculiar things start to happen on the ship too.

The story is short and intriguing, but I couldn't feel so much involved because of the writing style. I don't know if it was the translation, but the writing style seemed too peculiar for me.

I really enjoyed this book! A very unique spin on vampire tales! My first by this author, and it definitely wont be the last. I loved the translation, and i felt the author's voice was able to shine through. The nightmares were so vivid and the characters made the sea journey such an spine tingly setting.

This writing was terrifying and beautiful at the same time. Such a unique take on the Dracula story, and I appreciated the queer reimagining of it.

The genres I read tend to be all over the spectrum, but it is rare I dabble in horror despite a love for it in film. I was excited to remedy that with this ARC of The Route of Ice and Salt. Now, having read it, I can say I have never encountered any other novel where the character’s unique psychological experience was so intimately and surreally part of the world building.
The Route of Ice and Salt takes elements of internalized guilt over taboo lust and perceived sin to justify external happenings. Psychologically the monster, or “thin man,” isn’t really supposed to be a manifestation of that guilt. Instead those internal emotions make the protagonist, the Demeter’s Captain, more expectant and accepting of death or punishment. In addition to that, the body gore is so well woven into ornate descriptions of pleasure and lust that, as a reader, you feel a personal horror at having enjoyed the language. This parallels the Captain’s fear and revulsion over his own sexuality and desires, offering a unique perspective which allows you to understand him better as a character.
The result is a novel that is not frightening in any sort of overt slasher-flick kind of way, but is eerie and deeply unsettling.
The only thing I am sort of on the fence about is the identity of the thin man. I read the synopsis prior to reading the novel, which spoils who he is. However, had it not, there is no point in the novel itself beyond the foreword and afterword that actually plainly says his name, though it is pretty easy to figure it out through contextual clues. I think I would have vastly preferred leaving the reveal of it to the narrative as I think it would have heightened the suspense. That aside, I wholly recommend this book.

Thank you thank you thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this!

I have not read Dracula (looks like you don't have to for this story), and I don't know how this translation compares to the original as I have not read it. I assume it's translated near accuracy as David Bowles does not take these things lightly. That's my disclaimer.

I enjoyed this story. We see Dracula's voyage to England on The Demeter. We have a nameless Captain as the main character of this story. He is a gay man set in Dracula's time period, so that in itself is a big deal. He grows to love himself and yearns to fulfill his desires and fantasies. But he also has to deal with taking care of his crew in The Demeter and that itself is hard. He makes it to his destination, but it is most certainly a journey for everyone on The Demeter. It's a short book, but it isn't a breeze. You definitely have to pay attention to what the Captain is saying. The writing is superb. It's poetic, philosophical, horror, queer, and romantic. I'd definitely recommend this story!

This is probably one of the most fascinating books I have read all year. I'm having so much trouble with this review because the experience of reading it is so hard to describe - this novella is less of a story, more of a feeling. Not that there isn't a story here, there is. It tells of Dracula's voyage to England on the Demeter from the perspective of the nameless captain. It's short, it's gothic, it's full of fear and death.

But more than that it is a book full of longing. Longing to love and be loved, to want and be wanted, to accept oneself and be accepted by the world for who one is. The captain is gay and has only ever experienced hatred as reaction to homosexuality, which is why he hides it from everyone including his crew. The first half of the novella especially focuses on his sexual desires that he knows would get him killed if people knew. It's such strong, intoxicating and poetic writing that you cannot but feel with him, for him.

The prologue already talks about the connection between vampirism and homosexuality in literature, and the novella plays with this in a very intense way. Vampirism is often used as an allegory for homosexuality, with both vampires and gays being considered monsters by society, both of them ruled by a forbidden, monstrous thirst and desire that bring only sin and death. The captain's journey from this belief instilled by the society he lives in and the experiences he went through to the realization that actually, there is no comparison to be made between the two, he is no monster, there is nothing inherently wrong with being gay is fascinating and hits hard. His choices at the end that tie in directly to what we know of the voyage from Stoker's Dracula is chilling, the imagery both horrific and strangely sensual.

This novella won't be for everyone - it's a strange little thing, very graphic when it tells of the captain's sexual desires, and it has a tendency to lose itself in its own poetic language which makes it hard to follow at times - but it is a unique reading experience. Knowing its history and its importance makes it even more of a joy to be able to read it in English now. And both the prologue and the epilogue are incredibly informative and interesting and deserve to be read as well.

In Bram Stoker's Dracula, a mysterious ship docks in England with no crew, only the captain-- dead, tied to the ship's wheel by his own hand. A bottle with a ship's log is found on board, recounting strange happenings on the ship.

The Route of Ice and Salt is the journey for the captain of the Demeter from Bulgaria to England, carrying only a few boxes of soil as far as they know. It was published in 1998 in Mexico and is just now being translated into English by David Bowles, and beautifully so. The writing is gorgeous and gothic. There is very little dialogue, just the internal thoughts of the captain. He remembers his affair with a man named Mikhail who was then persecuted and killed, he pines sexually for his crew but knows he cannot reveal his desires-- he is obsessed with his sexual thoughts. He has strange dreams, and weird things slowly start happening on the ship. Rats act odd, is it the plague? There is a lot of mist.

There is a lot of longing in the book, and toward the end quite a bit of contemplation of consent for gay lovers as well as vampires. It's a political commentary on both Bram Stoker's Dracula as well as homophobia surrounding it and in Mexico in the 90s.

"My ephemeral pleasures are not a stain; the fact that [Dracula] sacrifices others, anyone and everyone else, just to satisfy his Thirst... most certainly is."

and

"Sleeping together, seeking mutual pleasure in our bodies, should not have ended in blood.
'I'm not a monster,' I told the Demeter, gripping the helm in the midst of the fog.
I wasn't like him, like it.
And to prove it, I had to save my men."

The writing is gorgeous, edgy, dream-like, surreal, gothic, and fever-dream horny. It's absolutely worth a read, I highly recommend it and I'm glad it's available in English!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free ARC. My opinions are my own.