Welcome to the September 2024 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
My Christmas romance novella “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary,” set in the 1890s in rural England, will be published by the Wild Rose Press on September 23. You can read a bit of the opening scene below.
N. N. Light’s Book Heaven featured the duology of my first two vampire novels, TWILIGHT’S CHANGELINGS (comprising DARK CHANGELING and CHILD OF TWILIGHT) in their August “Backlist Bonanza” promotion:
This issue features a follow-up interview with Jean Lorrah, co-author (with Jacqueline Lichtenberg) of the far-future SF Sime-Gen series, as well as many solo books, including one of the very best professional STAR TREK novels, THE VULCAN ACADEMY MURDERS. To learn about the Sime-Gen universe, go here:
*****
Interview with Jean Lorrah:
For readers who might not be familiar with the Sime-Gen universe, please summarize the basic premise.
The sf question this universe is based on is “What if compassion were a survival trait?” Sime~Gen posits a human mutation that produces exactly that situation. As the mutation, a fairly complicated twist on the vampire archetype, happens in the near future, very few humans can summon compassion when their lives are threatened—let alone the fact that no one has yet discovered that that is the solution. Civilization collapses and centuries pass in typical post-apocalypse scenarios that Jacqueline Lichtenberg and I skip, to get to the good parts. If you want horror stories about civilizations collapsing, there are plenty of Zombie Apocalypse scenarios available.
Instead of depicting the collapse of human civilization in despair, Sime~Gen focuses on the rebuilding of the world in hope.
S~G begins when humanity has figured out some means for Simes and Gens to end their perpetual warfare, and live in relative safety. But it’s a kludged solution, and over sixteen books (so far) covering several centuries, we watch people working toward the true solution. Reuniting the human race begins in a sort of wild west era, the restoration of agriculture and trade, and communities larger than a handful of families. The books are quest stories, love stories, family dynasty stories, war stories, coming of age stories—every kind of personal adventure set against the history of a well-established ongoing universe.
What are the current developments in the Sime-Gen series? What will be the next book, and does it have a scheduled release date?
The most recent S~G books make up the Clear Springs Trilogy, completed in 2023, which brings the series into the era of flight. The plan is eventually to take S~G into the space age, where Jacqueline originally intended it to move rather quickly. So the move into space will be her book. However, her life is currently on hold because of her family situation, so at this moment there is no title and no date for that book.
Meanwhile, I have two books to write, one in the Unity era and one just after the Trilogy, which will set up the human situation that makes space navigation possible. However, my creativity is going into art right now, something completely unexpected which I have finally recognized to be the product of my third Saturn Return. It’s all going to come together somehow, but at this moment I don’t know how.
I believe there’s a Sime-Gen computer game – how was it developed, and is it publicly available?
It never happened. We had several years of development talks with the producer, and two iterations of prototype games, but it all fell through in the end. We haven’t heard from the producer in years. If any game developers out there are interested, contact us! You can find a much fuller explanation of S~G than I can give here at Sime~Gen.
How did you become an official STAR TREK author? What was the process of writing the novels like?
It was forty years ago, yet all the books are still in print and paying me (small) royalties after all this time. My first two (TOS) novels, The Vulcan Academy Murders and The I.D.I.C. Epidemic, went like every fangirl’s dream. I submitted a synopsis through my agent, it was approved, I wrote the book, it was approved with two or three requests to change a phrase, and it was published. Paramount and Pocket Books basically wanted well-written books based on what they at that time saw as a dead TV series. The only concern was that the stories not violate what had been seen on TV, but authors were free to invent new history, new planets, new species and cultures, whatever, because no one (except ever-hopeful fans) thought there would ever be more official Star Trek than already existed.
Then Trek was revived, with Next Gen and movies. I watched Next Gen, and wanted to write something about Data, but fully recognized that so would every other Trek writer. But then in one of the early episodes we learned a few tantalizing facts about Tasha Yar’s origin story. I was intrigued, and proposed a story that would include how she escaped from that situation and ended up in Starfleet. Paramount passed on it, saying they did not want to establish backstories on continuing characters.
Okay, I had other books to write—but a few months later Denise Crosby asked to leave the series, and Paramount decided to kill off her character. The fangirl’s dream kicked in again—before I had time to resubmit my proposal, Paramount called my agent with approval for what became Survivors! Even better, I was able to rewrite to include Data’s point of view.
Survivors was a huge success, and on its basis I was able to propose Metamorphosis, in which Data gets a taste of what it means to be human. The dream continued: the book would be the first giant Next Gen novel, would have a hardcover edition, and the audio book would be narrated by Patrick Stewart. I wrote the book, I turned it in—and heard nothing. Weeks passed with no response from Paramount or Pocket Books.
And then we learned what had happened. While I was writing, the dream had come crashing down, not only for me, but for all the Trek fiction writers who wrote the character-driven books fans loved. A new person had been put in charge of approving the books who hated these kinds of books—and this person had the ear of Gene Roddenberry. This was in the time period when Roddenberry suffered a stroke, and there were rumors of his disrupting production of the TV series by demanding massive changes in ongoing storylines. Sadly, the producers had to ban him from the set in order to meet the production schedule, and someone had the bright idea of steering him to work with his friend who had the job of approving the books.
We book writers had no idea what hit us. As the character-driven books sold best, Pocket editors had been choosing more of them as time passed. But Gene Roddenberry’s friend hated such stories, and not only approved only plot-driven stories for the future, but started going through the contracted but not yet published books looking for ones he disapproved of. Of course he got nowhere with Pocket Books on books already in the pipeline—until he suddenly had the backing of the creator of the universe.
Numerous contracted books were canceled, and the single thing that saved Metamorphosis was that Pocket Books had it in production, with advertising already in progress. Roddenberry absolutely did not want a book published in which Data became (temporarily) human. He refused to read it—the subject matter could not be published.
You understand that I got all this second hand, from people fighting to save their publication schedule for the next year or so, with practically the whole of one of their best-selling lines being ripped out. But over the years other sources have confirmed in print the same sad story I was told. And I was the lucky one whose book was not canceled.
However, the hardcover edition of Metamorphosis was canceled, as was the audiobook. Roddenberry was persuaded that it was impossible to stop publication of the paperback, or to make massive changes to it at that stage. So he settled for insisting that one line be added—without reading the book with its very carefully crafted ending in which Data is returned to his former existence via means well established in the series, he insisted that it had to be “all a dream.” Yeah. The one ending guaranteed to sink any story.
So, assuming (correctly) that Roddenberry would not read the edited book, I agreed, left everything the same as I already had it, and found a place to insert a line in which Data feels *as if* his experience was a dream. Absolutely no one at Pocket Books “noticed.” The book was published and was a great success, but of course not the spectacular introduction to the giant novels that it could have been.
And that was the end of my writing Star Trek novels.
How did you get into visual arts? Please tell us about your painting projects.
I am a life-long learner. Even during my teaching career, I often studied abroad during the summers, and sometimes I took courses on interesting subjects at my own university. When I retired, I started taking one course each semester, auditing most of them. Then a few years ago something interesting happened.
I had all my life been one of those people who did not know how to draw. Any number of times when I had tried to explain to a cover artist an idea to represent the content of a book, I would try to sketch my idea and end up with an incomprehensible scribble.
I really don’t know what made me decide to purchase a book that promised to teach me how to draw in 30 days, but it was the beginning of summer, and I decided I would take the half-hour every morning to do the day’s exercise, and see what happened. I did it, faithfully, for thirty days—and to my astonishment, at the end I could actually draw a building that looked like a building, a ribbon that looked like a ribbon, a rose that looked like a rose, etc. Now you have to understand that I was in no way an artist, and that I was basically just copying the author’s sketches—but I actually ended up with tools I could use to show a real artist an idea of what I wanted!
I guess I went a little crazy, because with half the summer left, I saw an online course that promised to teach me to draw portraits in just 21 days, and decided to take it. Well ….
Oh, gawd, was I awful! But so were most of the other students, and a wonderful online workshop came along with the course, where both tutors and fellow students commented and encouraged and offered suggestions. That workshop is permanent, btw, and we were not held to the 21 days to complete the course. Almost nobody even comes close, although most finish all the exercises in a few months. It took me two years, but I completed it. Was I a portrait artist? Of course not—but I have a sketchbook showing my progress, which for someone of my (lack of) natural skill, is just amazing. I learned several things in that course that have kept me going: 1) drawing is not a talent but a skill, 2) practice makes progress, 3) if I can see it I can draw it (IOW a big part of learning to draw is learning to see in a new way), and 4) push the darks!
So I enrolled in Art 101, Basic Drawing, at my university. I came in as easily the worst prepared student in the class, but I left with another set of immense improvements and a much better idea of how to train my artist’s eye. All four principles from the online portrait class were repeated, and again when I took Life Drawing the next semester. I guess in the next three years I put in the 10,000 hours to actually become an artist, because I improved in every course, never, ever even close to the top of the class (some of these kids come in as freshmen with both talents and skills to go pro immediately), but successful in my own way.
Two years ago I dared to show some of my work to an artist friend, who took me to the PAPA gallery in Paducah and insisted that I join. I did, I started displaying my work … and it started to sell! I entered a local art contest and came away with 2nd prize in drawing. I entered a juried show for a local museum and got juried in.
Since then I have entered every local contest available, and usually earn some level of recognition, if only an honorable mention. Last year I had the amazing experience of taking first prize in the professional division of the Paducah Women’s Club art show—my first, and so far only, first place.
In other words—I am an artist! I’m not sure quite how it happened, as I was really just going on through the courses for the fun of actually being able (sometimes) to draw and paint what I saw in my mind’s eye. I am still learning, but I’m getting just enough recognition to believe I should continue. I have now been juried into three museum exhibitions, in one of which I won the Members’ Choice prize, and in another of which I had not just one painting but an installation of two paintings and a PowerPoint presentation—and that one was in an international exhibition in Estonia!
Last Spring I reached the point at which demands for my artwork were competing with the demands of studio classes, so for now I have stopped taking studio courses. However, I am auditing an art history class this semester, for further inspiration.
I’m trying to work on a standalone artist’s page, but website building has become incredibly more complicated since the last time I tried, and I can’t seem to find time to work on it. So for now I’m using my page at the PAPA Gallery, The PAPA Gallery. I also have Facebook pages, Jean Lorrah and Jean Lorrah, Artist.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Write. Take workshops. Write. Write fanfic in whatever thing you’re interested in. Do not jump into self-publishing until other people have consistently chosen to publish your work. If you publish before you are ready (and it is VERY hard to know), you’ll just be lost in the gigantic cloud of self-published authors.
Make a reputation being published by other people, so you have a following before you self-publish. Even better, make a reputation as a blogger and/or vlogger before you attempt to sell your work. Become part of a group of online people who encourage one another. Interview other authors and review their work. Become part of a community.
And write, write, write.
But don’t wait to be discovered. Today the online community is where you have to go. Find YOUR community—it’s out there, and you will know them because they’re interested in the same things you are. Comment on their work and build your own reputation. Contribute anywhere you can, and have a good time. Be honest but kind. If you’re the one with the snarky comments, that’s what you’ll get when other people review your work.
And write, write, write. Write reviews. Do a little research and write some history on the topic your community is interested in. If you have an opinion, write an opinion piece—but don’t try to score points by cutting down everyone’s favorite. Again, be honest but kind. Any time you are writing about somebody else’s work, imagine it’s your work when you do that last readthrough before posting. How would you feel if someone said that about your work?
And write, write, write.
Jean Lorrah, Author: Facebook Author Page
Jean Lorrah, Artist: Facebook Artist Page
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
TO TURN THE TIDE, by S. M. Stirling. Science fiction about time travel to the Roman Empire in the second century CE, the first volume of a new series. It’s partially inspired by L. Sprague DeCamp’s vintage novel LEST DARKNESS FALL, but Stirling’s book is better, with deeper characterization, far more detail, and a more complex plot. In LEST DARKNESS FALL, an archaeologist is accidentally thrown into the past by a lightning strike. The journey in TO TURN THE TIDE is meticulously planned, although not by the people who take it. In 2032, a Harvard history professor named Arthur Vandenberg and four graduate students, lured to Vienna under false pretenses, are introduced to the top secret time-travel project just as the world totters on the brink of a nuclear war. A passing mention of the U.S. President’s illicit third term in office, by the way, hints that the characters inhabit a history not identical to ours. (On the other hand, since it’s eight years into the future, who knows?) The device that sends five and a half people (the inventor gets bisected in his attempt to dash into the transport circle after setting the controls) to central Europe in 165 CE is stationary, not a vehicle like the machine in H. G. Wells’s classic tale. Therefore, the protagonist and his companions necessarily take a one-way trip. Whether the changes they’ll cause create a new timeline or alter their own history, they’ll never find out. In either case, everyone they’ve ever known is effectively dead to them. Along with them comes a literal ton of supplies, books, medications, drawings, scale models, crop seeds, gemstones, authentic-looking coins, etc., as well as a laptop and a solar-powered charger. The travelers are found by a highly intelligent and scrupulously honest Jewish merchant who introduces them into society. Starting slowly with “Type A” changes, things the inhabitants of that era and locale can implement with available tools and materials once they’re given the concepts, “Artorius” and his students rapidly build momentum. In the approximately two years covered by this first book, the evolution of the Roman Empire has already been irrevocably altered in small but critical ways. “Type B” inventions, those that require inventing the tools to make the tools, will come later, as discussed by Stirling in his afterword. The characters are likable but believably imperfect. Their attitudes and behavior strike a nice balance among grief for the world and people they’ve lost, awe at finding themselves in an environment previously known only from history texts, cognitive dissonance and attacks of homesickness as they adjust, and competence at mastering the skills they need to thrive in a preindustrial society. I avidly consumed the lengthy, detailed, heavily researched accounts of what they’re doing, why, and how. As always, Stirling renders colorful, multisensory descriptions of the setting and its details large and small. Admittedly, to enjoy this novel, a reader has to like exposition. I love a well-written expository lump and delight in scenes where characters explain things to each other. Like Robert Heinlein, Stirling excels in that kind of dialogue. For readers who like action scenes, on the other hand, they’ll relish the battle that extends over the final chapters, going on a bit too long for me. I had to embrace a certain suspension of disbelief to accept the amount of progress the characters achieve in a relatively short time span, but the author portrays the people and events in such vivid and convincing detail that I never seriously doubted the plausibility of the story.
THE LIGHT EATERS, by Zoe Schlanger. The title refers to plants, and the author, a science journalist, discusses cutting-edge discoveries about the remarkable abilities of those organisms. As the book’s blurb states, she explores their capacity “to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.” Plants, of course, don’t communicate by voice; they emit chemical signals. Are these signals in some sense deliberate? Without brains, how can they “store memories” and make choices? When they adjust to the behaviors of animals, insects, fungi, and other vegetation, are they doing something more than just responding automatically to environmental conditions? In short, are they intelligent? Even conscious? Farfetched as these ideas sound when phrased so bluntly, this book abounds in examples grounded in exhaustive research. Schlanger intersperses the biological and botanical information with anecdotes from her own conversations and adventures with many of the scientists working in the field. She defines intelligence as “the ability to learn from one’s surroundings and make decisions that best support one’s life,” a criterion plants fulfill. However, the temptation to anthropomorphize them should be resisted, as she cautions. Yet readers may get the impression she herself doesn’t resist that temptation strongly enough. As much as I enjoy the idea of sentient and even sapient plants, some passages struck me as overly sentimental or mystical. Nevertheless, the book is packed with solidly factual, extremely detailed material that will fascinate anyone interested in the subject. It’s supported by lengthy endnotes and index but, alas, no illustrations.
A SORCERESS COMES TO CALL, by T. Kingfisher. A full-length novel (over 300 pages) set in a quasi-Regency society and inspired by the fairy tale of “The Goose Girl.” Although the book doesn’t follow the plot of the traditional story to any significant extent, they share several elements: The magical and eventually decapitated horse Falada; a heroine and villainess, neither of whom is quite what she seems, moving into a wealthy household; and geese — as the LOCUS review puts it, attack geese. The first chapter introduces Cordelia, a fourteen-year-old girl trapped in an appalling situation by her subtly abusive mother. The opening scenes and Cordelia’s despairing reflections make painful reading. Her mother, Evangeline, exercises only one kind of magic so far as we witness, but it’s a terrifyingly powerful one. As punishment or sometimes apparently at random whim, she makes Cordelia “obedient.” In that condition, the girl has no control over any voluntary physical actions except blinking and moving her eyes. Her mother operates her body like a puppet, keeping Cordelia in that condition for hours or occasionally longer. Moreover, Cordelia has no privacy aside from her rides on Falada; her mother doesn’t allow her to close any doors in the house. (Contrary to the book’s blurb, the rooms do have doors.) Evangeline, of course, claims she loves her daughter and inflicts this control for her own good. Cordelia manages to make one friend during her horseback rides, a consolation ruined by the discovery that the friend’s father is Evangeline’s “benefactor.” After the sudden, violent termination of the “benefactor” relationship, Evangeline captures the interest of a generous country squire, who invites her and her daughter for an extended visit. Evangeline intends to trap him into marriage, but she can’t achieve that goal with magic because certain elements of the wedding ceremony cancel spells. She can, however, use her powers to manipulate him indirectly. She has already demonstrated her ability and willingness to inflict horrible consequences on people who offend her, compelling victims to maim or kill themselves or others. Because everyone who believes in sorcerers at all thinks they’re capable of only weak effects such as illusions, nobody suspects her involvement in those crimes. Thus Cordelia contemplates what her mother might do to the squire and his innocent household with helpless terror. Here’s where one of Kingfisher’s most engaging secondary characters (and that’s saying something) comes in. The squire’s middle-aged, unmarried sister, Hester, a goose fancier, takes an instant aversion to Evangeline but at first doesn’t know what to make of Cordelia. When Hester learns the truth about Cordelia’s plight and her mother’s evil, the aging spinster recruits a former suiter who’s still a dear friend, plus her closest female friends, each with her own entertaining quirks, to combat the sorceress. In addition to fascinating character interaction and development, the story features library research into arcane lore, scintillating dialogue, desperate confrontations, and moments of bone-chilling horror. Codelia grows into an independent person and discovers her own hidden strength. After narrow escapes, dark moments, and twists designed to surprise even the most genre-savvy fans, the good guys attain a well-deserved victory. A satisfying experience for devotees of T. Kingfisher’s fantasy and horror as well as a worthy stand-alone introduction to her work for new readers.
THE LOST STORY, by Meg Shaffer. Naturally, I couldn’t resist a novel advertised as inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia. Shanandoah (sic), the world beyond the portal in THE LOST STORY, isn’t quite like Narnia, but not nearly so dark as Fillory in Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS. In the prologue, fifteen years before the main action, two boys who’d vanished in a West Virginia state forest six months earlier miraculously return. Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell have aged more than six months can account for but not enough to cast doubt on their identities. As we later learn, magic has altered their memories. Rafe remembers nothing about their experiences during that lost time. For reasons ultimately revealed, Jeremy (who’s forbidden to tell Rafe what happened to them) remembers everything except how to find the portal again. In the present, Rafe, an eccentric artist, lives alone in the woods. Meanwhile, Jeremy’s clairvoyant gift has earned him a high-profile career as a finder of missing persons. The main story begins when Emilie Wendell tries to enlist him to search for the long-lost half-sister she never knew, kidnapped by a serial rapist and presumed dead but with no trace of a body. Jeremy adamantly refuses when he learns the girl disappeared in the same area where he and Rafe were lost. The mention of Emilie’s sister’s name, however, changes his mind. Now he must repair his strained relationship with Rafe to persuade his former best friend to cooperate in the quest. Flashbacks show how their youthful friendship developed, with Jeremy offering Rafe a refuge from his semi-impoverished household and a harsh father who disapproved of his art. In the present, the gradual build-up to the team’s departure from our world deepens the reader’s understanding of the characters and intensifies curiosity about the boys’ missing months. It’s about a third of the way into the book when Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie finally cross through the portal into Shanandoah. Numinous and perilous fantasy-realm excitement, emotionally fraught encounters, and a quest into a darkness both material and psychological follow. A deeply moving, bittersweet denouement reminds us that although fairy tales typically conclude with “happily ever after,” those consummations often require sacrifice. Interludes by an anonymous, omniscient narrator, the “storyteller,” appear throughout the novel to provide metafictional commentary on the heroes’ adventures. The storyteller, her identity finally revealed, has the last word, reminding us that “books are magic. Maybe the strongest magic there is.”
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary”:
Four men hauled the Yule log up the broad, tree-lined drive toward the house, three young servants with Walter Griffin, the landowner’s son, in the lead. Lucy caught herself watching him with rapt attention and quickly looked away. True, he carried the front end of the huge segment of tree trunk with an ease that belied his slender build, but that was no excuse to stare like a lovesick girl. Nor was the fact that until today they hadn’t seen each other for over a year. She hoped if he glanced her way, he would attribute the flush on her cheeks to the crisp winter wind. Or that even with his spectacles, he couldn’t make out the details of her expression from that distance.
A light dusting of snow covered the ground. Shivering, Lucy pulled her fur-lined cape tighter around her shoulders. Along with the rest of the family and staff gathered outside the front entrance to the circa-1600 Tudor manor with its half-timbered facade, she joined the log-bearers in a hearty, off-key rendition of “The Holly and the Ivy.” The men dragged their burden inside to the original great hall, now the main parlor. Trailing after them, Lucy stuck close to her mother, who kept a firm grip on six-year-old Robbie’s hand.
Lucy’s little brother grinned up at her, skipping as he tried to break free and race ahead. The family’s Irish setter bounced and wagged at his side. “Does the Yule log mean Father Christmas will come tonight?”
She shook her head. “Not tonight. Christmas Eve is tomorrow night, remember? Two more sleeps until Christmas.”
Walter and the other men shoved the gigantic log into the vast, stone fireplace, where it barely fit. The mantel already bore garlands of greenery. The servants had previously stacked up kindling and coaxed it into a steady burn. Under the supervision of Walter’s father, Lucy and Robbie’s uncle by marriage, the men arranged the log atop the pile. Everyone watched with bated breath until it became clear the flame had caught. In celebration, they sang all the verses of “Deck the Halls” they could remember. See the blazing Yule before us… Soon the scent of wood smoke blended with the evergreen aroma of the fir tree standing in the nearest corner.
Uncle George rubbed his hands with a satisfied smile. “Good choice, lads. This one is sure to burn until Twelfth Night.” He glanced down at Robbie. “Maybe tonight we’ll sit around it and tell Christmas ghost stories. Would you like that?”
After a moment of hesitation, the boy said, “Oh, yes.”
As the servants began to disperse to their duties, Lucy grasped his free hand. “You must be cold. How about a cup of hot cocoa?”
“I’m not cold,” he said, “but I still want cocoa.”
Over his head, Lucy and her mother exchanged amused smiles at his boyish indifference to the weather. Spotting Walter heading in their direction, Lucy quickened her steps toward the corridor that led to the kitchen.
Her mother’s puzzled frown made it obvious she noticed Lucy’s eagerness to evade Walter, but she didn’t remark on it. In the almost stifling warmth of the spacious kitchen, with another antique fireplace large enough to stand in, alongside modern furnishings such as the newest model of cast-iron, coal-burning stove, they watched the cook heat milk for Robbie’s cocoa. Meanwhile, he knelt on the flagstone floor to pet the gray tabby who guarded the pantry from mice. When the chocolate was ready, Lucy carried the mug while she and her mother escorted Robbie up to his room to drink it there.
They had a suite of three connected bedrooms, his a cramped nook between his mother’s and sister’s chambers. As soon as he got settled for the moment, Lucy’s mother followed her into her room to launch the interrogation Lucy had been dreading. “Why are you avoiding Walter? Before he went medical school in London, you had an understanding, didn’t you?”
Lucy couldn’t deny she and Walter had established that “understanding.” Cousins could marry, and anyway the two of them were only step-cousins, if that word existed. “That was then. Things have changed.” She hadn’t met him in person since her father’s funeral, when they’d exchanged only brief remarks.
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
All issues are now posted on Dropbox, where you should be able to download them at this link:
All Vampire’s Crypt Issues on Dropbox
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links:
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
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Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
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Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
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Goodreads
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My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter