Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Welcome to the December 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.
Wishing you joyous winter holidays!
No interview this month.
Below is an excerpt from my 2021 Christmas e-book novella, “Chocolate Chip Charm,” which you can find here:
Stacy hears that her old boyfriend, Rob, has broken up with her best friend, whom he was dating. Wanting the best for them, she playfully decides to try a love potion recipe, which she adds to the dough of the cookies she’s baking for the church choir Christmas party. Although it probably won’t work, it can’t hurt, either, can it?
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
EMORY’S GIFT, by W. Bruce Cameron. I’ve enjoyed all of Cameron’s dog adventures that I’ve read, especially the trilogy beginning with A DOG’S PURPOSE. Emory, however, is a grizzly bear. Unlike the dog novels, this book doesn’t include any scenes from the animal’s viewpoint. At the age of thirteen, Charlie, whose mother has recently died, meets a bear that appears more than an ordinary beast, almost preternaturally so. The narrative begins, however, with a framing prologue set twenty-five years later, when Charlie has grown up to be a professional zoologist with an ursine specialty. Without this perspective, I would have found the early chapters of the main story almost too sad to continue reading. The prologue and epilogue let us know that (1) Emory definitely doesn’t behave like a typical bear, and (2) in the long run Charlie and his father will turn out all right. In the summer before Charlie starts the eighth grade, shortly after his mother’s death, his dad withdraws into depression and barely interacts with the boy. While walking alone in the woods, Charlie runs across a grizzly bear and remembers wildlife-encounter strategies he learned from his father in happier times. This animal, though, doesn’t act threatening. After Charlie introduces himself to the strangely docile beast and writes his own name with a stick on the ground, the bear scratches the name “Emory” in the dirt. As days and weeks go on, Charlie progresses from feeding the bear to sheltering him in an unused storage shed. Meanwhile, in addition to keeping this secret, Charlie copes with his strained father-son relationship and the school bully who persecutes him. Evidence of Emory’s uniqueness accumulates, eventually convincing Charlie’s father that the bear is no ordinary animal. I found it hard to suspend disbelief in a sapient grizzly bear until the introduction of a paranormal element that makes the premise plausible, at least on its own terms. When Emory’s presence becomes known to the neighbors and the sheriff, wildlife officials appear on the scene, determined to relocate the bear or even euthanize him. He becomes a local celebrity. At the climax, a newsworthy standoff develops between Emory’s defenders and the authorities trying to take him away. After he’s gone (I’m being deliberately vague to avoid spoilers) and the excitement dies down, prevailing opinion holds that Emory must have been an escaped circus bear or that the entire long episode was an elaborate hoax. Only Charlie and his father know the truth. In later years, even Charlie has occasional doubts, but not enough to undercut his faith in the miracle that got him through the worst period of his life, bridging the chasm between his father and himself. His suffering the loss, in a sense, of both parents at once and finding comfort in his strange bond with a wild animal make the story deeply moving. The vivid descriptions of their semi-rural home and the surrounding landscape enhance the emotional intensity.
MY THREE DOGS, by W. Bruce Cameron. This variation on the “lost pets finding their way home” trope contains so many heart-wrenching incidents that I sneaked a peek at the final pages to make certain everything turns out right in the long run. No worries, Cameron never lets his readers down in that respect. Still, the book puts the titular dogs through a series of harrowing ordeals. With a bachelor owner named Liam, the dogs are Australian Shepherd Riggs, Jack Russell Terrier Luna, and Labradoodle Archie, a half-grown puppy rescued by Liam from a neglectful caretaker. When the main story begins (after a prologue introducing Liam and his brother), Liam lives with Sabrina, the first woman he’s been truly in love with, Luna’s special person. Liam’s brother, Brad, who has basically taken care of his younger sibling from their dysfunctional childhood on, doesn’t trust Sabrina not to let his brother down like every other relationship in the past. Liam buys fixer-upper houses, which he remodels and resells. Sabrina, discontented with this unsettled lifestyle, longs for stability. Just as Liam decides to make a certain house a permanent home and propose marriage, a catastrophic event derails his plans. This much we learn from the cover blurb. Again, I’m leaving the details vague because they’d involve too much of a spoiler. Suffice it to say that the dogs end up in a shelter and eventually get adopted into different homes, some less successful than others. Through the heroic efforts of Riggs, determined to reunite the “pack” and return to their person, the dogs find each other. Making their way back to Liam, however, proves even more difficult. The narrative’s alternation among various human and canine viewpoints provides a nice balance between the dogs’ naïve, limited, yet emotionally gripping concept of their plight and the broader perspective we get from the human characters’ experiences. Some readers may feel the plot depends a bit too much on coincidence, but it never stretches far enough to destroy suspension of disbelief. I got the sense that the setting is geographically compact enough to make the dogs’ ability to sniff out each other and their old home credible. In this new novel, Cameron gives us another of the realistically difficult yet ultimately feel-good adventures his fans expect, with his customary deep dive into a canine view of the world.
DARK CARNIVAL, by Ray Bradbury. This book is Bradbury’s first story collection, published in 1947, long out of print, and virtually unobtainable for most of that time. The one exception, a 2001 limited edition from Gauntlet Press, is almost entirely sold out, and the publisher’s website lists a price range of $500 to $1,000. The new release from HarperCollins is an affordable trade paperback. My one disappointment consists of the absence of any editorial material – no introduction or other commentary, not even bibliographic information about the individual stories’ original publication dates and venues. Still, I was thrilled to finally obtain this long-coveted, almost mythical work. Many of the twenty-seven tales, but not all, were reprinted in THE OCTOBER COUNTRY, the collection that made me a Bradbury enthusiast in my early teens. Some stories in DARK CARNIVAL were completely new to me. My favorite in this volume, however, remains “The Homecoming,” the debut of the delightfully creepy Elliott clan of vampires, werewolves, and witches. Like the Addams family, they share a strong kinship bond and project an impression that they consider themselves, rather than mundanes, the normal ones. To my surprise, this originally collected version contains unfamiliar material deleted from the reprint in THE OCTOBER COUNTRY. DARK CARNIVAL includes several other Elliott stories (but not one of the most poignant, “April Witch”). Every Bradbury fan will want to own it, and most devotees of the supernatural and fantastic unfamiliar with his short fiction will surely find something to please them here.
SOUTHERN FRIED CTHULHU, edited by James Palmer. As you might guess, this is an anthology of Lovecraft Mythos stories set in the American South. From the title and the cartoonish cover illustration, I expected mostly humorous tales. On the contrary, very few are, although many of the dark stories contain quirky touches. “The Dukes of Azathoth County,” by Michael Gordon, is one of the funny pieces. Another is “Off the Eatin’ Path,” by Mark Finn, in the form of a restaurant review. An installment in the “Bubba the Monster Hunter” series, by John G. Hartness, set in a sewage-treatment plant, is apparently meant to be funny; I found the scatological alleged humor more disgusting than amusing. Among the dark stories, I especially like “Deep Roots,” by Clay Gilbert, a variation on the archetypal Gothic trope of inheriting a strange old house with dark secrets. I was mildly surprised not to find a single work based on the Louisiana portion of Lovecraft’s ‘Call of Cthulhu.” Two complaints about the format of this trade paperback: Oddly, the authors’ names aren’t listed with their stories in the table of contents, and the typeface, in my opinion, is both too light and too small. However, most HPL fans would probably find this anthology worth reading.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Chocolate Chip Charm”:
The page was labeled, “To Awaken Love.” She scanned the list of ingredients. Nothing harmful or likely to ruin the taste of the cookies, just ordinary kitchen supplies such as cinnamon for heat, ginger for spiciness and protection, honey for sweetness, and cardamom to allegedly make the user irresistible. Sounds like flavoring for a mince pie. In fact, it sounded too simple to be magic, if there was such a thing. Reading on, she found a note at the bottom stating that passionate intention and a firm will were the most important components. The instructions finished with a charm to recite while mixing the potion. For best results, she should brew it in spring water. Okay, she had a plastic jug of that on hand.
The directions admonished the spellcaster to work with pure motives, seeking the best for the other person, not applying coercion. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m not trying to force them into anything. I only want what’s best for them.
With that mindset, trying a magic spell couldn’t be evil, could it? Besides, her grandmother wasn’t the type to dabble in anything morally dubious.
Stacy reread the whole thing once more, searching for any hidden trap of the kind that always seemed to lurk in fairy-tale enchantments. From all she’d read or heard, magic, like gaming, law, and computer programming, followed rules. This example of it looked safe enough, guaranteeing that the one who consumed the potion would fall in love with the next suitable person he or she saw. Suitable. Good, she’d run no risk of Rob’s developing a mad crush on the church office’s resident cat, like Titania and donkey-headed Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream. On the farfetched assumption that this enchantment worked, it couldn’t do any harm. Furthermore, the spell manual claimed the charm would wear off after seven days. In that time, the magical kick-start, if any, should revitalize Rob and Doreen’s mutual affection.
The recipe said to heat the water and pour it over the other ingredients to steep them. Unfortunately, the directions failed to include amounts. Filling a one-cup measure with bottled water, Stacy wondered how much of each spice went with a cup of liquid. I’ll just have to guess and hope the exact proportions aren’t critical. While the water heated in the microwave, she returned to the cookie dough. By the time she’d combined the dry ingredients and chocolate chips with liquid components, then stirred the mixture to even, lump-free thickness, the water for the potion was near boiling.
Deciding on a teaspoon of each flavoring, she scooped them into a sturdy mug and poured in the hot water. The aroma of the spice blend blossomed in the air. After stirring in a spoonful of honey, she inhaled a deep breath of the fragrance.
Pure intentions, she reminded herself. Strong will. She stared into the receptacle with the fiercest concentration she could muster. Okay, I will this magic to give Rob and Doreen the happiness they deserve.
With both hands cupped around the mug, she recited the prescribed incantation, altering the pronouns to invoke the charm on her friends rather than herself: “Be still, clear water. Bring tranquility to their love. Send them understanding of their true wills. Immerse them in the depths of their oneness, so that their troubles may end. So mote it be.”
A wave of lightheadedness swept over her. Her vision blurred, and her fingertips tingled. Rob’s image floated before her mind’s eye…tousled black hair, blue eyes with laugh wrinkles at the corners. A glow like noonday sunlight on a hot beach at midsummer suffused her, with a melting sensation in the pit of her stomach. Whoa! Just good friends, remember? Seconds later, her head cleared. She carefully set the hot cup on the counter. Did something just happen? Glancing around, she saw only the same old cream-colored walls, which needed repainting, the twenty-year-old stove and refrigerator, and the water-spotted sink. Doesn’t look a bit magical, does it? Those sensations must have come from the steam blowing in my face.
-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):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
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
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
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):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
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
Welcome to the November 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.
Happy American Thanksgiving!
YOKAI ENCHANTMENTS, my three-novella collection of paranormal romances featuring creatures from Japanese mythology, was featured in N. N. Light’s Book Heaven’s Trick or Treat Bonanza event:
Below is an excerpt from one of the included stories, “Kappa Companion.” Heidi, a young widow with one child, Adam, has recently bought a house previously rented by a Japanese family.
No author interview this month. Instead, here’s a Halloween-appropriate character interview originally posted on the Compelling Beasts blog in 2015, with Dr. Roger Darvell, my human-vampire hybrid psychiatrist. The best works for getting acquainted with Roger are the e-book duology TWILIGHT’S CHANGELINGS (comprising full-length novels DARK CHANGELING and its sequel, CHILD OF TWILIGHT):
Twilight’s Changelings from Amazon
Twilight’s Changelings from Other Retailers
And DOCTOR VAMPIRE, an e-book collection of three lighthearted stories reprinted from the NIGHT TO DAWN horror zine:
*****
Interview with Roger Darvell:
Vampire Specific Questions:
How long have you been a vampire?
Technically since birth, because I am a human-vampire hybrid, not a demon-possessed walking corpse as in those absurd folk legends. In a sense, however, I became a vampire when I learned my true nature and origin at the age of forty. Previously, I thought I was afflicted with an aberrant fetish for blood-drinking—a mutant of some sort, perhaps, because of my psychic talents, but essentially an ordinary man.
Do you drink blood or are you a psychic vampire?
Mainly blood, but a bit of both. The bulk of our nourishment consists of animal blood and occasionally milk. (After all, that’s a bodily fluid too.) We need human blood to thrive, however, although the amounts aren’t large, and it’s the emotional energy carried on the blood that satisfies us. If we’re deprived of that for too long, we go insane.
What’s the worst thing about being a vampire?
The inconvenience of that blasted sunlight sensitivity. Daylight doesn’t kill us, and I’m slightly less bothered by it than a purebred vampire, but direct sun gives me a headache, and prolonged exposure has an effect similar to heatstroke. Also, being naturally nocturnal, I find it uncomfortable to maintain the diurnal waking hours required of a practicing psychiatrist.
What is the best thing about being a vampire?
The ecstasy of sharing blood with my beloved.
Are there many others like you?
Vampires? No more than 10,000 in the world. Like myself, part vampire and part human? I personally know of only three others, one of whom is my own daughter. Interbreeding in nature (as opposed to deliberate hybridization) has been an extremely rare accident.
Are you a magical creature or are you a different species?
A different species living secretly among humankind, extremely long-lived and hard to kill.
Do you enjoy being a vampire?
Yes, now that I have a human partner who freely offers her blood, saving me from the guilt of preying on unwitting victims.
General Questions:
Where are you from?
I was born in France to a female vampire and her human lover, who were murdered when I was about a year old. I was taken to Boston and privately adopted by a human couple, who weren’t aware of my true background, which was why I didn’t know it myself for the first four decades of my life. I earned a medical degree at Harvard; I chose psychiatry as my specialty mainly because the abnormal mind fascinated me on account of what I thought to be my own mental illness.
Do you have a love interest?
Yes, my partner in my psychiatric practice, Dr. Britt Loren. Early in our association as colleagues, she deduced there was something unusual about me, and when she learned of my vampiric nature, she embraced instead of fearing it.
What makes you happy?
Britt’s love, which even after many years together feels like an undeserved miracle. Because of the guilt that plagued me during the decades before I learned my blood-thirst was natural rather than a grotesque aberration, I freely admit that I am—in layman’s terminology—a neurotic mess.
Do you have a code of honor?
In general, I try to follow the moral precepts of my faith, like any man with a strong religious background. (I’m a practicing Catholic.) If I have a vampire-specific code, it’s to refrain from harming anyone in the process of getting the blood I need.
What makes you angry?
Any threat to Britt’s life or welfare.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would travel back in time and ensure that I knew about my true heritage all along, instead of spending all those years in confusion, guilt, and misery.
Name one person you trust.
Aside from Britt, my half-brother, Claude, a purebred vampire who hides in plain sight as an actor in horror films.
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
JULIA, by Sandra Newman. This uninformatively titled novel (unless you happen to look at the cover image and note the date “1984” above the protagonist’s name) is an authorized retelling of NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR from the viewpoint of Winston Smith’s lover. Its flipped perspective opens up numerous aspects of the classic work’s dystopian society not revealed through Winston’s eyes in the original. It also answers the reader’s natural question of why Julia would have initiated a love affair with a rather stuffy, far from outgoing man significantly older than herself. Experiencing life in Oceania from her angle, we learn that the Party isn’t the omnipotent, omniscient, inexorable entity Winston makes it seem. It’s as corrupt and inefficient as the bureaucracy of any other dictatorship in history. For Julia, guarding one’s words, actions, and facial expressions is a routine part of everyday life, ingrained from her childhood in a slightly looser but still dangerously fraught rural environment. Flashbacks reveal tragic elements of her past such as her own role in the death of her mother. However, Julia has a “cheerfully cynical” (as another review puts it) attitude toward the Party’s propaganda and the adjustments required to survive under its rule. She takes pride in her skill as a mechanic. In addition to working on novel-writing machines in the Fiction department of the Ministry of Truth, she informally repairs equipment such as the frequently clogged plumbing in her dormitory, which has only two lavatories for all the resident women. Her facade of devotion to the Anti-Sex League doesn’t stop her from enjoying as many casual affairs as she can manage, despite the risk of arrest for sexcrime. I wondered why pregnancy isn’t more of a worry, since contraceptives are illegal. Answer: Many single women who suspect they’re in the early stages of pregnancy seek artsem (artificial insemination). If they’ve actually conceived already, they’re covered; if not, the procedure didn’t “take.” And it seems to be common knowledge that some women volunteering to bear children for the Party are already pregnant. In general, most comrades seem to be acting a role rather than sincerely embracing fervent devotion to the Party. Everybody knows about bribery and the black market, and in relaxed moments they joke about the intricacies of Newspeak. Scenes in the prole neighborhoods reveal how the non-Party working class regards life in Oceania (they despise the Party yet adore Big Brother and mainly just try to get along day to day). From Julia’s viewpoint, Winston comes across as an odd blend of intellectual pretension, naïve idealism, and fatalistic despair. His fascination with forbidden political, philosophical, and literary topics bores her, although she maintains a facade of enthralled interest. While JULIA reads as slightly less dark and claustrophobic than NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, it’s still set in a dystopian dictatorship pervaded by telescreens and other surveillance devices, where no one can’t afford to trust anybody completely. Nevertheless, it does answer some questions Orwell’s original leaves as nebulous mysteries: Does Big Brother, as an individual, literally exist? (Yes.) Is there really an anti-Party underground, and was its demonized alleged leader, Goldstein, a real person? (Yes.) Is Oceania really at war? Yes, we witness the bombed sections of London, though we never find out if the enemy is Eurasia, Eastasia, or neither. In this grim setting, Julia can’t remain unscathed forever, and readers can’t expect a truly happy ending. However, unlike Orwell’s, this novel’s conclusion offers hope for the future.
THE FOREST OF LOST SOULS, by Dean Koontz. One positive feature of Koontz’s latest thriller: Near-absence of the cartoon-villain sociopathic geniuses bent on destroying the world for their own gain that have tended to dominate his recent novels. Most of the antagonists in this book act out of plausible greed, self-preservation, and/or sadistic pleasure in others’ pain and death. The one sort-of exception, head of a corporation determined to establish a wind farm on a sacred plateau, is a miserably paranoid, perpetually angry multibillionaire obsessed with extending his life by centuries; still, he’s mainly driven by lust for money and power. While Koontz’s fixation on the idea that the world is headed straight for perdition lurks in this novel as in all his recent work, it doesn’t hit the reader over the head so hard as in some of his books. Annoyingly, though, the whole thing is narrated in present tense, including the flashbacks, for no apparent reason. The heroine, Vida, lives alone in the middle of the woods, in a house inherited from the loving, wise great-uncle who became her guardian after the death of her parents in an accident (genuine, no conspiracy involved). For both artistic expression and income, she cuts and polishes gemstones gathered at an abandoned mining site. The locale is an unspecified western state, with wolves and mountain lions roaming the forest. Koontz’s style shows itself to best advantage in the lyrical, elaborate, multisensory descriptions of plants, animals, and landscape. Vida, who once heard from an enigmatic fortune teller that she was destined to become a champion of the natural world, has a quasi-mystical bond with the surrounding terrain and wildlife. A dominant male wolf she has named Lupo frequently visits her with his pack. Another supernatural feature, or perhaps a touch of magical realism, consists of a seldom-seen white mountain lion widely believed to be an incarnation of the angel of death. And of course there are dogs – not Golden Retrievers this time, but a pack of German Shepherd search dogs, whose handler arrives on the scene rather late in the story. Sam is an Afghanistan war veteran with a horribly disfigured face but a kind heart. Outraged by the work the bad guys expect of him, he joins Vida in opposing them. As told in flashbacks, months earlier her fiancé, one of the town’s most influential opponents of the corporation’s project, died in what looked like an accident. He left behind a cryptic note and a gift she hasn’t opened yet. When she discovers the truth of his murder and who was behind it, she becomes a target of conscienceless men who’ll stop at nothing to feed their avarice and guard their power. Her victories against successively escalating attacks are hard-won and satisfyingly plausible. Her final destruction of the Big Bad, however, strikes me as too quick and easy. I didn’t really mind, though, being more than ready for the unrelenting danger to end and for Vida to find peace with Sam and his dogs (no spoiler, any reader of Koontz knows she will).
A CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY, by Kim Newman. This short novel is as absorbing as one would expect of a story by the author of ANNO-DRACULA. For an American reader, in addition to its other qualities it delivers the slightly exotic (to me) pleasure of very British folk horror. It also includes elements of urban legend. Mystery author and single mother Angie lives with her teenage son Rust (short for Russell) on the outskirts of a small town in Somerset. He produces a monetarily successful paranormal podcast for which he conducts meticulous research, eschewing the sloppy sensationalism of many self-styled ghost hunters. The story begins on December first, as they prepare for the Christmas season. They follow their long-established family traditions, e.g., the Advent calendar with chocolates behind the doors, singing parodic Christmas “cruels” in lieu of carols, replacing Rust’s cherished action figures on the mantel with the seasonal cards they receive. This year, though, Rust discovers the first Advent chocolate tastes “off” and unsettles his stomach. That minor disappointment proves the harbinger of strange events that escalate into quiet horror. A new creepy card with a disturbing or downright threatening message, unsigned, arrives in the mail every day. The pictures of snow-covered woods change from a merely gruesome dead-looking robin on a branch to the Holly Child, a “twiggy” snowman accompanied by ominous stick figures, growing gradually more distinct and closer. Angie soon realizes this phenomenon duplicates the plot of a TV Christmas ghost story that terrified her in childhood. However, nobody else remembers this episode of the horror anthology series, and Rust’s online research can’t find any reference to it. Although a true ghostlike apparition doesn’t show up until near the end, the fear of persecution by some unknown force slowly builds day by day. Amid futile and increasingly desperate attempts to intercept the mail carrier and learn the source of the cards, Angie’s mental state deteriorates from upset to practically unhinged. Tension mounts even higher when a snowstorm knocks out the electricity, exacerbating fear with isolation and privation. At the climax, passage into a dreamlike realm reveals the truth about the “ghost” and the surprising origin of the cards. Unfolding the mundane and the supernatural in parallel, this story intertwines a fraught mother-son relationship with a delightfully twisted variation on a traditional Christmas in a modern English village.
HERE THERE ARE MONSTERS, by Amelinda Berube. Like Berube’s YA vampire novel THE ONES WHO COME BACK HUNGRY (reviewed last month), this book focuses on a pair of teenage sisters, in this case in a more overtly love-hate relationship. Sixteen-year-old Skye begins her story on “the night my sister disappears,” with her narrative of current ongoing events in present tense and flashbacks in past tense. Her parents blame her for falling asleep and failing to notice when thirteen-year-old Deirdre left the house, and naturally Skye also blames herself. At the same time, she hates being held responsible for the sister who, as Skye sees it, has dominated and messed up her life for years. Deirdre has a fantastic imagination. She invented an elaborately detailed fantasy kingdom that she rules with Skye as her champion, the Queen of Swords. For years Skye enthusiastically joined in this game, but she’s tired of it and of serving as her sister’s protector from real-life bullies as well as playing an imaginary knight in shining armor. Deirdre clings to her created world with a fierce insistence on its reality more like that of a much younger child. Her emotional volatility makes her seem younger than her chronological age, too. With the family’s recent cross-country move, their parents hope a fresh start in a new school will straighten out Deirdre. Skye regards the relocation as a chance to establish an identity of her own separate from her weird kid sister, since they’ll now be attending different schools. Adhering to the “script” of how teens are supposed to act with and speak to each other, Skye manages to make a few friends, but she’s always on guard. Meanwhile, Deirdre continues to demand participation in the old game and shows sulky resentment of Skye’s new companions. The days and weeks after the disappearance, with a pile of leaves and twigs left in Deirdre’s bed reminiscent of the stick figures she was constantly building, are pervaded by real-world fearful events: Police and other searchers swarm the neighborhood and repeatedly question the family. Friction and mutual blame haunt interactions among Skye and her parents, alternating with futile attempts at normalcy. Awkward relations with her peers become severely damaged by mistrust. Skye keeps secrets about the past with Deirdre at their old school, especially one unpardonable thing she did to defend her sister, which is hinted at but not revealed until well into the book. Forbidden to search for the missing girl, Skye sneaks into the woods and of course gets caught. As in THE ONES WHO COME BACK HUNGRY, the protagonist knows her lost sister is out there somewhere, but she can’t tell the adults the basis for her belief. In another parallel to the vampire novel, Skye alienates her friends and must struggle to regain their trust in order to rescue Deirdre. Here’s where the supernatural element comes to the fore. “They” – entities in the woods, creatures born of Deirdre’s powerful imagination – have taken her, and they demand a terrible price to consider returning her. Is rescue possible? And if Skye manages to restore Deirdre, can fractured relationships ever be repaired? This novel is true horror, arguably even darker than THE ONES WHO COME BACK HUNGRY.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Kappa Companion”:
Heidi woke to a bloodcurdling yowl. Heart pounding, she sat up in bed. After a second, she realized the noise wasn’t a remnant of a monster in a nightmare, but a cry from the cat. She’d never heard Ebony make a sound like that before. Maybe she’s protecting us from a wild, fierce mouse. She hoped not. The pre-sale home inspection hadn’t reported any pests. The caterwauling receded along the hall and down the stairs, then stopped.
Heidi lay back and closed her eyes, waiting for her breath and pulse to slow to normal. Now that Ebony had fallen silent, though, a different sound wafted from the hallway. Singing.
Sitting up again, Heidi strained her ears. A child’s soprano voice sang in a language she didn’t recognize. “Adam?” No answer. The voice grew fainter and faded away.
She extracted a flashlight from the nightstand and crept to the closed bedroom door. Leaning against it, she didn’t hear anything. She stepped into the hall and switched on the flashlight, not wanting to wake Adam with the overhead light if he’d slept through the cat’s cries and the song, assuming he hadn’t done the latter himself.
Tiptoeing toward his room, she glanced at the floor, which showed traces of water at regular intervals. At first sight, they looked like child-size wet footprints. Had Adam made the tracks after his bath? Surely she would have noticed them before, though, and anyway they would have dried by now. She nudged his partly open bedroom door farther ajar and peeked in. In the faint glow of the night light, he lay sprawled on his side, breathing deeply and evenly, with no sign of faking sleep. Also, when she thought to check the floor inside his room, that space showed no wet marks. Withdrawing into the hall, she found the tracks already drying.
After going downstairs to check all the doors, which were locked the way she’d left them, she returned to her own bed, shaking her head in bewilderment. If he wasn’t singing, what did I hear? The TV? She didn’t think she’d become so absent-minded at the age of thirty-four that she would leave the set on and forget doing it. Maybe the cat had stepped on the remote control in the living room just long enough to switch the TV on and off. And if she’d been pawing in her water bowl and then taken a stroll upstairs, that could explain the wet spots. Sure, blame it all on the cat. Considering the hypothetical identification of “Zashi” as the name of a ghost child, she emphatically preferred blaming the cat over suspecting a mischievous spirit.
She’d poured every dollar she could spare into the house. What would she do if it was actually haunted? Sue the home inspector for missing that problem? Abandoning her investment like a hysterical heroine in a horror movie wasn’t an option. She dismissed the whole idea with a shaky laugh. This place is our fresh start. There can’t be anything wrong with it. No way would I accept that—even if I did believe in ghosts, which I don’t.
-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):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
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
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
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):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
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
Welcome to the October 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.
Happy Halloween!
My Victorian Christmas romance novella “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary” was published in September:
Spending the Christmas season at her aunt and uncle’s country manor for the first time since her father’s death, Lucy both yearns for and dreads reuniting with Walter, to whom she’d almost become engaged. In her present financial straits, Lucy feels she’s no longer a proper match for a wealthy gentleman’s heir. How can she let Walter down gently without destroying the friendship she still treasures? On the night before Christmas Eve, Walter tells a tale of a long-ago daughter of the household who eloped with her forbidden lover, a simple farmer. After his violent death in the mansion’s topiary garden, his spirit supposedly lingered. When Robbie, Lucy’s little brother, claims to glimpse the ghost among the animal-shaped bushes, she joins Walter in investigating the apparition—forcing them to face their shared past and the challenges of the future.
In the excerpt below, Walter tells his ghost story.
This month’s interview features Dena Weigel, author of historical fiction and other genres.
*****
Interview with Dena Weigel:
What inspired you to become a writer?
Being a writer was something I feel I was always meant to do, but it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I realized it was something I actually could do.
The town I grew up in was so small it didn’t even have a bookstore, but my mother was the local librarian, so I was always surrounded by books and I had a pretty active imagination. (I was known as the “daydreamer” in class throughout my school days.)
Years later, when my husband and I were on a trip in Italy we were on a train and I was looking for something to keep me occupied, so I started doodling around with an outline inspired by one of my favorite movie characters–Indiana Jones. My husband thought it was a good start to a story and encouraged me to keep going with it. After many years learning about what it takes to write and publish a novel, I’ve combined my three loves of travel, art, and history into The Byzantine Cross.
What genres do you work in?
My debut novel is historical fiction with a lot of action/adventure, and a little romance and paranormal themes thrown in. I love history and am very inspired by courageous women in history, especially the women who were spies and journalists during World War II.
I’ve also written some poetry and have started a science fiction series. I enjoy the freedom science fiction provides a writer. You can write about anything, jump time to whenever you like, and there’s so many fascinating technical possibilities to incorporate into the story.
I have a couple of ideas for memoirs, too. I would love to record the stories of the women in my family and the journey my own family went through when we adopted our daughter. We only had two weeks notice, so it’s a bit of an action/adventure story, too!
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I create a general outline to make sure the story doesn’t veer too much off course when I’m writing, but the content in the scenes develops organically. I find that if I get too specific in my outline it can constrict the creative flow when I’m writing. And dialogue comes easiest for me when I allow the characters to develop on their own, too. I try to stay out of my characters’ way as much as possible.
What is your writing process like?
I start out knowing I have a three act story, with strong hooks at the end of each act that I’ll need to lead up to. With that in mind, I start researching to find interesting locations and important art and history to incorporate into the plot. I’ll find other bits and pieces, too, to connect the plot points or give the story depth. I keep these gems in a mental “bucket” as I put the plot together, but not necessarily in any kind of order. I only know they are 1) interesting enough to be a good addition to the story, and 2) they make sense within the confines of the plot.
Then, I write–or, as I think of it, I put the puzzle pieces together. I try not to get too caught up on the first draft and, instead, just power through, but that is a challenge for me. Being new to the fiction writing life, I edited my book a lot on my own right up until it went to the publisher, but with the next book I’ll be relying on editors more throughout the process.
I also really enjoy connecting unexpected things together and throwing in a paranormal element to add an unpredictable spark into the plot, so sometimes the outcome of the story is a surprise for me.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
Dan Brown, Gayle Lynds, and Steve Berry are all at the top of my list of influences. They are great with putting in the immediacy and high tension needed to make a story thrilling. Also, Stephen King is such a great writer and I’ve used his book “On Writing” to help me develop the craft, along with a lot of other teachers. I’ve also read just about everything Hemingway ever wrote and love how effective his phrasing is in conveying a strong emotional response in a poetic, but very relatable way.
The Sarah Kraft series, of which The Byzantine Cross is the first book, is heavily inspired by the Indiana Jones and the early James Bond movies. Because I was new to writing fiction when I started writing The Byzantine Cross, I relied heavily on the plotting in those movies to set up my own plot, changing some aspects of it to represent a modern woman’s life.
What kinds of research do you do for your historical fiction?
I’ve read quite a few biographies about female spies in World War II, as well as a journalist named Martha Gelhorn and a World War I diplomat named Gertrude Bell who was instrumental in shaping the Middle East alongside T.E. Lawerence. I pulled aspects of their personalities and ideas from their activities to use as inspiration for my character, Sarah Kraft.
I also read a lot about the Romanovs, World War II, and the Cold War. I focused on areas that aren’t as well known, such as the Battle of Montecassino in Italy when the Allies were pushing into Axis territory. There’s a wealth of great stories during that time that can add so much to a plot!
I’ve also been fortunate enough to visit several of the locations mentioned in the story, so I pull from those memories and the photos I’ve kept. For instance, there is a scene in my book where Sarah and a double-agent are running through the Kremlin’s Grand Palace in Moscow. I was able to re-create a path through the royal apartments based, in part, on what I saw when I toured it.
Your website mentions that you’ve studied in over thirty countries. How has this experience affected your writing career?
Travel provides me with endless inspiration! I write about the places I’ve been, things I’ve seen, my impressions of the people, and the history and cultures I was exposed to. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey is a great example of that! It was the perfect place for a high-intensity foot chase where the twists and turns and hidden spots in the bazaar allow for a lot of improvising by my characters.
Also, travel articles were some of the first pieces I sold, and I think it’s because being in a new environment is a freeing experience for me and helps me think in different, interesting ways. All good things needed to write a compelling story!
How do the skills required to write for businesses and nonprofits resemble or differ from those used in writing fiction?
Writing for a business is all about strategy–projecting the right image, providing insight into a product or service, and motivating people to respond to some sort of call-to-action. Non-profits require a similar but softer approach, and one that carries a stronger emotional impact to motivate people to act. They are fun to write because the topics are oftentimes so compelling on their own, but they can be heartrending stories to process as you write them.
Fiction allows you much more freedom of thought and experimentation and allows for the kind of free-flowing writing that lets your characters speak for themselves through you so the story can develop naturally. It is much less strategic during the first draft, but as you edit you have to rein it in, and that’s where experience in writing for business helps out.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
I’m working on another Sarah Kraft novel to follow The Byzantine Cross. It’s tentatively called The Argentinian Affair and connects the world’s first empire (ancient Mesopotamian’s Akkadian Empire) with post-WWII escaped Nazis. And there is a love triangle, too, which I think will be really fun to write!
I want my main character, Sarah, to continue to develop throughout the series. I like the idea that when we first meet her in The Byzantine Cross she feels disconnected from who she really is and is forced into a role that doesn’t exactly fit. Then, as she gets back to doing what she’s really great at, her true self emerges.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
I have two pieces of advice that really helped me.
The first is to become part of writing communities. When I started writing this book I didn’t know I could come up with a good story and write it well. Surrounding myself with people who were better, more experienced writers than myself and hearing what they were doing and what they found good about my writing gave me the confidence stay focused and start believing that someday I could be a published author, too!
The second piece of advice is to trust your instincts when it comes to your plot. I find that if I’ve written something that doesn’t feel right to me, it’s typically because it’s not the right direction and there is a better way to go that will eventually come to me. You can always go back and change it if you need to, but, typically, if it feels right–it is right. Sometimes your gut instincts are more knowledgeable than your logical mind.
Title: The Byzantine Cross
Pre-order now: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google, Hoopla, Scribd, Kobo, Overdrive, and Ingram.
Pen name: Dena Weigel
Release date: November 11, 2024
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok: @denaweigel
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE BRIGHT SWORD, by Lev Grossman. I’ve often wished for a fantasy novel about the immediate aftermath of the fall of King Arthur and the ruin of Camelot (ideally as a sequel to THE MISTS OF AVALON written by Marion Zimmer Bradley or her literary heirs). Now the author of THE MAGICIANS has written one, which is mind-blowing. The orphaned protagonist, Collum, never knowing his father and barely remembering his mother, grows up in an insignificant village on a small island in the northern region of Britain. His stepfather places him in the household of the local lord, supposedly to become a squire and knight. Instead, Collum is ignored when not actively abused. Eventually managing to induce the arms master to train him, the boy shows a gift for swordplay and hand-to-hand combat. In his late teens, he runs away to chase a dream: To join the court of Arthur, the legendary Christian high king of Britain. We learn Collum’s backstory gradually, first meeting him on his journey to Camelot, during which he more or less accidentally kills an anonymous knight in a duel. This end to what he’d envisioned as a glorious encounter like those in the tales he’d heard proves to be only the first of many disillusionments. As revealed in the cover blurb, he finally arrives at the nearly deserted Camelot just a bit too late. Arthur and Mordred have slain each other, and the associated battle has wiped out most of the Round Table. The few embittered survivors have little time for a naïve would-be knight, even though Collum exaggerates his background (or, bluntly, lies about it) in an attempt to fit in. Still, he serves as a catalyst to goad the remnant of the Round Table into trying to save what’s left of the kingdom. If Arthur truly rests, not quite dead, on the fabled isle of Avalon, can he be awakened to rule anew? If not, who should become king? Flashbacks to the shining past told from various secondary characters’ viewpoints relieve the mood of despair overshadowing much of the present-day narrative. Among other episodes, we learn about Arthur’s astonishing revelation as the chosen one who drew the sword from the stone, how Palomides and several other knights made their way to Camelot, the truth about the relationship of Lancelot and Guinevere, the outcome of the Grail quest, and how Nimue defeated Merlin (who’s a much more unpleasant person than depicted in most versions), all from Grossman’s unique angle. As he discusses in his afterword, in the grand tradition of Arthurian tales THE BRIGHT SWORD blends the historically realistic setting of the British Isles after the withdrawal of the Romans with anachronisms (e.g., plate armor, the Muslim knight Palomides), magic, and myth. Tensions between the pagan adherents of old Britain and the Christian Romanized Celts are complicated by the threat of invading Saxons. The atmosphere segues between mundane and numinous, between a slowly disintegrating realm of petty domains in frequent conflict and the mystical Otherworld of the fairies and gods, where time and the rules of nature flow differently. Readers should prepare for devastating emotional peaks and chasms. More often than not, a spark of optimism is followed by a twist that upends the characters’ hard-won beliefs about the truths of their world. In the end, though, questions are answered, including secrets about Collum’s past he never suspected. While he isn’t quite the hero he fantasized becoming, neither is he the worthless nobody he has always feared. And even if the “one brief, shining moment” of Arthur’s Camelot can’t be recreated, the epic tale concludes with hope.
SAVING SUSY SWEETCHILD, by Barbara Hambly. Her third “Silver Screen Historical Mystery.” By now, I’ve gotten over my initial disappointment with this series for being an alternate-universe version of BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD instead of sequels to it. Although straight mystery with no fantasy element, these novels captivate me with their vividly drawn characters, witty style, and clearly well researched 1920s, Prohibition-era Los Angeles setting. Emma Blackstone, a war widow transplanted from England to California as companion and Pekinese-minder to her sister-in-law, glamorous and flighty silent film star “Camille de la Rose,” aka Kitty Flint (not her birth name either), still often wonders what she’s doing in the modern Babylon. She has a friend and lover in cameraman Zal, however, and a challenging part-time job writing scenarios (the silent movie equivalent of scripts) while fighting in vain against anachronisms and other story oddities. As in the first two novels, she’s a sympathetic, intelligent protagonist who’s a pleasure to spend time with. The title character, a proto-Shirley-Temple, lives up to her stage name, but her mother displays the worst traits of a stereotypical Hollywood parent. When Susy almost gets trampled by a horse during a stunt gone wrong, her mother barely glances away from the interview she’s giving. As Emma notices, little Susy proves herself a consummate professional, a real trouper, displaying only a brief flash of terror. She can’t rely on her weak, alcoholic father for protection, and her employers, of course, regard her mainly as a human gold mine. Shortly thereafter, she gets kidnapped for ransom. Is the villain one of the gangs that dominate the blatantly open market for illegal alcohol? An agent of a rival studio? Somebody with a more personal motive? Or could the incident be a publicity hoax? And how much will the studio pay for the return of a child star whose peak cuteness phase won’t last much longer? (They’re already passing her off as younger than she really is.) Meanwhile, two sets of mercenary relatives launch a custody battle for the missing girl and her money. Family secrets are unearthed and hidden facets of various characters’ personalities revealed. Emma and Zal investigate the crime, narrowly evading life-threatening perils, while Kitty displays unexpected flashes of perceptiveness. Action, mystery, and suspense are balanced by plenty of the quieter scenes I most enjoy, heavy on characterization and dialogue. Details of early Hollywood subculture and the technical aspects of silent cinema are fascinating to read. A surprising and satisfying twist at the end gives the title a double meaning.
A MARRIAGE OF UNDEAD INCONVENIENCE, by Stephanie Burgis. An arranged marriage romance with a vampire bridegroom and a hint of “Beauty and the Beast,” in an alternate-reality Regency setting. When Lord Riven awakens from a prolonged Sleep (sic), his business manager informs the vampire that he faces the confiscation of his entire estate, real and personal, unless he marries a living woman. A recently enacted law forbids vampires, being legally dead, from owning property (a clever premise I don’t recall reading anywhere else). In the opening scene, we find Margaret Dunhaven, having just been coerced into that marriage, in the kitchen of Lord Riven’s mansion trying to brew a potable cup of tea. The fact that the lack of decent tea looms foremost in her mind during this crisis immediately alerts the reader that this novel will be a light paranormal romance, not a tale of Gothic horror. Her unwanted husband proves to be relatively harmless, subsisting mainly on animal blood, though we eventually learn vampires also need human blood for optimal health. Margaret’s aunt and uncle, who control her inheritance, forced her out of her university studies and into wedlock with no warning. Since both she and Lord Riven believe they were extorted into this union, sparks fly between them. The spirited argument that comprises the first scene provides an entertaining set-up for the romantic attraction we know will develop. It turns out that Margaret’s rapacious relatives lied to her about their debts being paid by Lord Riven and simultaneously demanded a priceless family treasure from him in exchange for the bride he needed: The Rose of Normandy, a magical gem responsible for the origin of both werewolves and vampires. Also at issue is a rare grimoire Margaret has been studying, the source of information on how to use the Rose. She and Lord Riven join forces to solve their mutual problems, a quest involving scholarly mysteries and narrow escapes. A dramatic clash with her obnoxious and rather thickheaded academic rival climaxes the story. Throughout the book, lively repartee and reluctantly acknowledged but inexorably growing attraction transform the couple’s relationship. Margaret’s occasional blood donations to Lord Riven turn into sensual interludes. A quick, delightful read.
THE ONES WHO COME BACK HUNGRY, by Amelinda Berube. This YA horror novel is a very different kind of vampire story. I’ve rarely come across a fictional work that features a vampire so similar to the authentic revenants of folklore, an animated corpse irresistibly drawn to prey on the people he or she was closest to in life. The author has obviously done conscientious, in-depth research. Her prefatory “Note About Content” warns of “sibling death, grief, anxieties about germs and infection, graphic descriptions of dead and decaying human bodies” among other real-life horrors, culminating in “graphic violence.” Narrator Jo’s late sister, Audrey, was the “golden girl,” popular and accomplished, immersed in multiple extracurricular activities, around which the family’s schedule revolved. Jo, an artist, sees herself as insignificant in comparison. Her contemporaneous narrative is in present tense, with flashbacks in past tense. On the first page, she struggles with how to break the news of her sister’s sudden end to her (Jo’s) texting contacts. Audrey’s apparently mild symptoms escalated to an unknown, virulent infection followed by hospitalization and death over a span of twenty-four hours. She’s buried promptly without embalming. Soon afterward, Jo notices footprints around the outside of the house. When she encounters Audrey, who has been lurking in the backyard shed, Jo naturally jumps to the conclusion that her sister didn’t really die. But enough doubts linger that it seems impossible to tell their family or anyone else. As it becomes progressively clearer that Audrey has returned from the grave, Jo clings to a tenuous hope of “curing” Audrey of her condition or, if she’s actually dead, restoring her to life. The undead girl’s gradual deterioration comes across as both poignant and horrific. Then they discover Jo’s blood can temporarily enable Audrey to revert from near-zombie to a semblance of a living person. There’s no hint of glamour or eroticism; the bite hurts. Jo keeps this secret while grappling with family trauma and the grief of Audrey’s friends. Jo’s attendance at the memorial gathering of the latter is a painfully fraught scene. Reaching out to Audrey’s former boyfriend, Jo finds herself developing unexpected feelings for him. Mundane teenage problems such as these intertwine effectively with the supernatural plot. The relationship between the living and undead sisters fractures as past sibling conflicts erupt afresh. As Audrey gradually loses more of her “real” self and devolves into a self-centered, obsessive predator, Jo realizes this situation can’t continue indefinitely. She’s forced to seek help and share the dark secret. The teens’ research on vampire legends, an interlude with moments of dark humor, uncovers a confusing array of superstitions and alleged methods of destroying the undead, most of which prove useless. The one that does work leads to a couple of gruesomely graphic scenes. The isolation Jo endures through most of the book is relieved only in the direst way, by bonding with a few of her peers over how to deal with what’s left of her loved yet resented sister. Which was the real Audrey, the dearly missed girl or the monster? The ultimate resolution, though heartbreaking in its way, allows Jo’s family to begin healing and her to make a new beginning, through her art, as someone besides Audrey’s inferior sibling. This searingly emotional novel foregrounds the archetypal conflict between love and fear of the dead in a way that pierces to the original roots of the vampire myth.
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”:
Walter said, “I do have a story to tell, but I wouldn’t want to scare anybody so close to bedtime.”
He looked straight at Robbie, who responded with a vigorous shake of his head. “I won’t be scared. I like ghost stories.”
“Very well.” Walter met the expectant gazes of each person in turn before beginning.
“This happened right here, once upon a midnight a very long time ago, a night in the Christmas season much like this one.” He lowered his voice to a solemn, resonant tone.
“With snow, like now?” Robbie piped up.
“More than now. It fell for hours and piled in drifts against the sides of the house. It was so cold the woodland animals shivered in their burrows and birds’ feet froze to the branches of trees. The oldest daughter of the family—our family—sat up in her chamber long past dark, yearning for her beloved.”
“What’s her name?” Robbie asked.
Walter hesitated as if unprepared to supply this detail. “You know, it was so long ago nobody remembers. We’ll call her Madeline. Her parents had forbidden her to marry the man she loved because he was a simple farmer.”
Of course they did. Social standing mattered then even more than now. Lucy forced herself to shake off the thought and focus on the story.
“She was determined not to let money come between them, though. They plotted to elope. Near midnight, when everybody in the house should have been in bed, the young man slipped out of the woods and sneaked through the garden of green beasts to the kitchen entrance at the rear of the manor. Knowing the risk that someone might wake up and catch him, he had a plan to deal with that problem. He had visited a witch who lived alone in a cottage in the forest.”
Naturally, Robbie had another question. “Was she a wicked witch?”
“Not at all. She was a good witch, who was glad to help a pair of young lovers. She gave the lad a charm to cast an enchanted sleep on everybody in the house except Madeline.” Walter paused to sip from his drink. “He whispered the magic words the witch had taught him. Moments later, Madeline put on her winter wraps, picked up the bag she’d packed, tiptoed down the back stairs, and unbarred the door. It turned out she didn’t need to be so quiet, for the entire house was deep in slumber, from her parents and brother in their bedchambers to the servants in their attic rooms. Even the cat lay curled up asleep by the kitchen hearth.”
Sounds like “Sleeping Beauty,” Lucy reflected.
“Shutting the door behind her, she followed her sweetheart through the windswept snow. In her bag, she carried an emerald necklace, the most valuable jewelry she owned. They didn’t have any money to speak of, you see, so she thought once they ran away to a big city, she could sell the necklace to support them until they were married and settled. But it didn’t end that way. Can you imagine what happened next?”
Robbie shook his head, his eyes wide.
“The green animals came to life. They were determined to protect the honor of their house. They charged at the young man. He ran as fast as he could, but they surrounded him and blocked his path right before he reached the exit that led to the forest. The peacock and the griffin flew at his head and battered him with their wings. The lion pounced on him and knocked him down. The elephant and the bull trampled him.
“Realizing she couldn’t save him, the girl fled into the woods. She disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again, and nobody knows what happened to the emerald necklace. From midnight until dawn, her family and all the servants tossed and turned with nightmares, but they didn’t wake up until the sun rose. The next day, they found the man’s body face down in the middle of the garden with all the animal sculptures in their usual places.
“Ever since, sometimes on snowy December nights his ghost wanders through the garden, trying to find a way out.”
-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):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
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
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
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):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
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