Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Welcome to the September 2019 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.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
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, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store. These items include some of the short stories that used to be on Fictionwise:
Barnes and Noble
Go here and scroll down to “Available Short Fiction” for a list of those stories with their Amazon links:
Kindle Works
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
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
“Yokai Magic” received an excellent review from Manic Readers:
The reviewer says, “This engaging tale is a great combination of contemporary challenges and fantasy elements.”
There’s an excerpt below from “Foxfire,” one of the stories in my animal-bridegroom collection BEASTS AND THEIR BEAUTIES, a contemporary paranormal romance featuring a kitsune (fox shapeshifter) hero. The heroine, Tabitha, has asked Kenji, the kitsune (whose true nature she doesn’t know yet), to help find her runaway sister, Chloe. The collection can be found here:
This month’s interview features historical fiction author Diane Scott Lewis.
*****
Interview with Diane Scott Lewis:
What inspired you to begin writing?
I’ve always told tales, even before I could write. I’d illustrate the story and ask my mother to write the words. I wrote my first novel at age ten, a story set in ancient Rome. Later, I wrote a western, which I never completed. I had a short story (which I’ve since lost) submitted to a literary festival from my high school. I let writing go when I married and had children, but picked it up again when my children were in high school.
What genres do you work in?
Historical fiction mostly, with romantic elements. I like a love interest but weave it into the plot and try to make it ‘natural’ and not Sudden Attraction. I wrote one historical time travel, which was fun.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I mostly ‘wing it’. That can lead to complications. A novel that rambles, or is too long (my first efforts). I’ve tried to outline to some extent, but my characters often take over and send me in different directions.
What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
All of that. I read popular historical novels and authors, to see what their style is, how can I improve on mine, etc. Phillipa Gregory’s early novels inspired me. I like Susanna Kearsley, too. Deanna Rayburn. My travels around the US inspired my current release, Her Vanquished Land. A novel set during the American Revolution. I’ve visited battlefields from that conflict.
Did your naval service affect your development as an author, and if so, how?
I love to travel; my one duty station was in Greece, where I met my husband. We had a navy reunion in Greece in June, and I’ve recently begun a novel set in 1950s Greece.
What attracted you to the historical periods you write about?
At first, I knew I didn’t want to do Victorian novels since so many were writing in that era. I chose the eighteenth century, researched extensively at the Library of Congress (no internet then), and England in the time of the French Revolution, 1780s thru 1790s caught my interest.
What kinds of research sources do you use for your historical fiction? Please tell us a bit about the “Research Links” page on your website.
At first, libraries were my go-to places for research. I was lucky to have the huge collection of the Library of Congress (we lived near Washington, DC) and the Library of Virginia. I got library loans for rarer books. Now the internet is very handy for research. I do double check the sources there.
My research links, I need to add more, are interesting sites I’ve come across in researching the French Revolution, Napoleon, and Cornwall, England. Also important links to the Eighteenth Century.
What is your latest-released or soon-forthcoming work?
My just released novel is Her Vanquished Land. Here is a blurb: In 1780, Rowena Marsh decodes messages for the British during the American Revolution. When the rebels overrun her home state of Pennsylvania, she flees with her family. Are the people loyal to England welcome anywhere in the burgeoning United States? Rowena struggles with possible defeat and permanent exile, plus her growing love for an enigmatic Welshman who may have little need for affection. Will the war destroy both their lives?
What are you working on now?
My Greek story, A Spark to the Ashes, a Mary Stewart inspired suspense novel set in 1955.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Perfect your craft. Not only the creative part of style and plot, but the basics of grammar, and how to write and punctuate dialogue. Attend writers’ conferences, network with other authors, and take workshops to improve your craft.
What’s the URL of your website? Your blog? Where else can we find you on the web?
Diane Scott Lewis Website
Blog
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE BIG BOOK OF CLASSIC FANTASY, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer. This new anthology, a trade paperback over 800 pages long (but reasonably priced), presents tales exemplifying the broad field of fantastic fiction from the early nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth-century advent of fantasy as a marketing genre. In chronological order of their writing, it begins with a story published in 1808 and ends, appropriately, with Tolkien’s metafictional “Leaf by Niggle.” The word “Classic” and the book’s subtitle, “The Ultimate Collection,” imply (to me, at least) that the reader should expect an encyclopedic compilation of high-profile stories that shaped the concept of “fantasy” and exerted strong influence on works that followed them. That’s not what we get. The editors, in fact, explicitly state that they often avoid well-known stories in favor of highlighting more obscure ones, partly because the familiar works are so readily available elsewhere. A college instructor wanting to assign a text that traces the mainline history of fantastic fiction and brings together the “must read” sources, therefore, wouldn’t choose this one. It includes numerous well-known tales, of course (e.g., Poe’s “Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” Forster’s “Celestial Omnibus,” Hawthorne’s “Feathertop,” Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market,” E. Nesbit’s “The Aunt and Amabel,” Grahame’s “Reluctant Dragon,” etc.), but many that will be new to most readers. A few, never before translated into English, or even published here for the first time, can’t have influenced the modern fantasy genre as we know it. One, Herman Melville’s “The Tartarus of Maids” (an account of the dismal working conditions of female employees in a paper mill), doesn’t even belong here, in my opinion; despite its Gothic tone, it’s in no way fantasy. A nineteenth-century omission that surprises me, by the way, is the absence of a selection from the “Uncle Remus” tales. Also, the editors’ choices are weighted more than I like toward surrealistic works. That said, the book is packed with remarkable stories in a variety of styles from predominantly Anglophone authors but also quite a few who wrote in other languages, including some non-European writers. The editors supply a summary of the author’s background and literary career before each story. Most lovers of fantasy will find many hours of enjoyment in this volume.
TRACE, by Pat Cummings. The thirteen-year-old, black protagonist of this new YA ghost novel, Theodore, nicknamed Trace, lives with his aunt in a New York City brownstone because his parents died in a car crash he barely escaped. He’s vague on how, exactly, he got out of a submerged car with closed windows, and he doesn’t want to talk about the accident or his parents to anyone, including his therapist, or even to think about them much. He also suffers recurring nightmares about the wreck, for which he blames himself (for a reason we learn well into the story). One positive feature of the novel is that it doesn’t lapse into the cliché of a cold, distant guardian who makes the orphaned hero’s life even more miserable. Trace’s Aunt Lea, retaining her hippie spirit into middle age, is an affectionate, madly creative person who opens her home to all sorts of people. Even when Trace’s grief makes him unresponsive to her, aside from everyday courtesies and earnest attempts to cause as little inconvenience as possible, he acknowledges that she’s “cool.” He does, however, have to cope with the usual new-kid problems at school. Because of his general withdrawal from life, he makes only one friend, Ty, essentially by accident. Trace’s circle expands when he has to work on a history assignment with Ty and two girls, one who makes it clear that she thinks Trace and the project are beneath her, the other a brilliant, younger student who peppers her conversation with multisyllabic words. She turns out to have a bit of psychic ability, a factor that becomes important to the plot. The group has to present a report on the 1860s; not surprisingly, Trace gets tasked with researching the race-related events of the period. In the public library, he blunders into a basement level he shouldn’t be able to access and meets the sad ghost of a little boy who, he eventually learns, died in a fire that destroyed an orphanage for black children. Trace’s investigation of the fire and the ghost leads to revelations about his own ancestors. Meanwhile, he gradually opens up to the world and learns to enjoy life again, as well as confronting instead of avoiding the loss of his parents. The novel develops into a warm and realistic (aside from the ghost) story of family and friendship with a satisfying conclusion.
OUT OF TUNE, edited by Jonathan Maberry. An anthology of original stories based on traditional folk ballads. Some are closely faithful retellings, others loosely inspired by their models. In one of my favorites, “Wendy, Darling” by Christopher Golden, the heroine of PETER PAN, grown up and about to be married, appears as the infanticidal protagonist of “The Cruel Mother.” A dark exploration of loss and grief, Seanan McGuire’s “Driving Jenny Home” retells the urban legend of the vanishing hitchhiker with echoes of “The Unquiet Grave.” Some other songs referenced in this volume include “Tam Lin,” “Sweet William’s Ghost,” “The Mermaid,” “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” “Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight,” and “John Barleycorn.” Nancy Holder combines “Barbara Allen,” Poe, and a touch of Lovecraft in “In Arkham Town, Where I Was Bound.” Additional contributors include Jeff Strand, Kelley Armstrong, Del Howison Jack Ketchum, Simon R. Green, Gary Braunbeck, and Lisa Morton, among others. Most of the tales tend toward the darker end of the spectrum, and almost all fall into the fantastic rather than strictly realistic realm. Each author supplies an afterword commenting on his or her story, the history of the source ballad, and the connection between them. Readers don’t have to be familiar with the ballads to enjoy this anthology, but the tales will appeal particularly to those who do recognize their sources.
SNOW, GLASS, APPLES, by Neil Gaiman. Wow! A graphic novel adaptation of Gaiman’s short story, illustrated by Collen Doran. Decades earlier, in “Red as Blood,” Tanith Lee portrayed Snow White as a vampire from birth and the queen as a good witch; Gaiman, using the same premise, created an even darker version of the fairy tale. This hardcover graphic novel faithfully reproduces Gaiman’s plot and language. Doran’s art, inspired by late nineteenth-century artists such as Aubrey Beardsley, uses mostly black backgrounds, with contrasting lush, vivid color (especially splashes of red for iconic images such as apples and blood) for the figures and objects. Characters wear exotic, medieval-style garb. The erotic scenes convey a blend of sensuality and revulsion through nudity without over-explicitness. Most of the pages teem with fantastic and Gothic details that will reward multiple viewings. The images of the nonhuman “forest folk” are especially fascinating. After the story, the artist spends several pages explaining her creative process and some of the choices she made. If you’re familiar with the original story, you won’t want to miss this lavish adaptation. For fans of Gaiman, vampires, or fairy tales who haven’t read “Snow, Glass, Apples” before, this is definitely a must-have book.
*****
Excerpt from “Foxfire”:
As soon as he reached the shelter of the trees, Kenji stripped naked and prepared to search. He would have to backtrack toward Tabitha’s house in hope of crossing the girl’s trail. Since Tabitha’s and Chloe’s should be the only human female scents in the area, finding the spoor shouldn’t pose a problem.
Tucking his clothes into the fork of a branch for safekeeping, he wondered what had possessed him to agree to this quest. He couldn’t fool himself that he just wanted to do the neighborly thing. He liked Tabitha and didn’t want to see her worried and scared. He lusted after her and wanted to make a good impression, regardless of the impossibility of a relationship. Neither of those impulses justified putting himself in the risky position of having to explain how he could find a teenage girl in the woods in the middle of the night. He groaned to himself at the memory of the lame excuse he’d given Tabitha for making her stay behind. With luck, she’d feel so relieved to have her sister safe that she wouldn’t think to ask for details right away, and he wouldn’t give her a chance to ask later. They wouldn’t see each other again except for their usual chance meetings on the trails.
Why did that prospect depress him so much? Until tonight, he’d thought he’d become resigned to his solitary life.
Naked, he crouched on all fours and willed the change.
He transformed more smoothly than when strong emotion made him shift involuntarily. Now his bones and muscles melted into their new shape with a sensuous pleasure like hot water flowing over his bare limbs. The fur that enveloped him felt more natural than skin, as if he’d awakened from a dream of bipedal awkwardness and returned to his true self, with the claws of all four feet denting the soft loam. Darkness became shades of gray and silver in the moonlight. When human, he could see in the dark better than normal people, but nothing like this. His whiskers twitched at random puffs of wind, and his nostrils flared to absorb the odors of the forest. Rabbits, squirrels, and raccoons crouched or crawled in the underbrush and tree branches. Ordinarily, he might hunt one of them for the sport even though he’d already fed on a rabbit earlier that night. Now, though, he had a job to do.
He shook his head, aware of how quickly his human purpose had escaped his mind. Getting distracted by animal sensations and appetites was always a hazard when he changed. Normally it wouldn’t matter if he let instinct sweep thought into the background. But he couldn’t succumb to that temptation at the moment.
He trotted uphill in the direction of Tabitha’s house. His ears twitched at every sound. He heard no human noises, only an owl hooting overhead and small animals scurrying out of his path. Along the way, he disturbed a doe with a pair of fawns, who bounded through the trees to avoid him. He scented the footprints of a bear, left over from at least a day ago, nothing to worry about now. At the bottom of his neighbor’s driveway, he circled, sniffing the ground, in search of human traces. His plumed tail lashed with pleasure at Tabitha’s aroma, permeating the area. He forced his mind back to the reason he’d come here. Casting a little farther from the house, he picked up the scent of another female. With a low bark of satisfaction, he followed the track downhill.
In the daytime even human eyes could probably have tracked the girl. She’d left footprints in the damp soil and broken twigs on bushes. Shortly, she’d stumbled onto one of the narrow trails and followed that in the general direction of the road. For most of its length, this trail stayed on level or gently sloping ground. Farther on, though, it bordered a steep bank on one side. That was where he heard labored breathing from human lungs. A broken thorn-bush and scuffed dirt showed where the girl had tripped and failed to catch herself. The breeze carried the scent of blood.
He edged around the spot until he reached an easier point to climb down into the ravine. He conjured a ball of foxfire to augment his night vision in the shadowed hollow. The girl lay on her back with her left shin bleeding. A flashlight, still glowing, had rolled out of her reach. An occasional whimper punctuated her rasping breaths. She didn’t catch sight of him until he’d approached close enough to touch. With a shriek, she snatched up a small rock and flung it at him. It bounced off his flank.
He growled at the sting and dodged the next stone. He couldn’t do anything for her in this shape. Extinguishing the foxfire, he clambered up the bank and trotted along the trail to its juncture with one that led in the direction of his house. Able to make good time on the cleared surfaces, within a few minutes he reached the place where he’d left his clothes. After dressing, he hurried back to the spot where Chloe had fallen. Cutting through the brush and climbing down the bank to reach the girl gave him a few scratches on arms and legs, but no discomfort he couldn’t ignore.
-end of excerpt-
*****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Whiskey Creek: Whiskey Creek
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 August 2019 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.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
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, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store. These items include some of the short stories that used to be on Fictionwise:
Barnes and Noble
Go here and scroll down to “Available Short Fiction” for a list of those stories with their Amazon links:
Kindle Works
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
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Barbara Custer included an excellent review of my Kindle book VAMPIRE’S TRIBUTE in issue 36 of NIGHT TO DAWN magazine:
Also in that issue, the second half of my story “Therapy for a Vampire,” featuring Roger and Britt from DARK CHANGELING and CHILD OF TWILIGHT, appears. You can read about the magazine and buy a copy here:
“Yokai Magic,” my light paranormal romance novella published in January, received a wonderful 4.5 review from Long and Short Reviews:
I’ve just released a compilation of five of my former Ellora’s Cave works, lightly revised to make the love scenes less graphic. All of the stories feature heroes with some type of animal traits, so it’s titled BEASTS AND THEIR BEAUTIES:
The novellas and short stories in this collection: “Dragon’s Tribute” (shapeshifting dragon); “Virgin Blood” (Rapunzel with a vampire “prince”); “Foxfire” (contemporary kitsune romance); “Lion’s Bower” (heroine becomes captive of a lion-like beast-man); “Bear Hugs” (bear shapeshifter under a curse). An excerpt from “Virgin Blood” is below.
Hope you enjoy this interview with romance author Charlene Namdhari:
*****
Interview with Charlene Namdhari:
What inspired you to begin writing?
I still can’t believe I’ve published a book. So, I have to get used to the idea of being called an author. To answer the question though, English and Art were my two favorite subjects in school. In English it was the literature and comprehension and in Art it was drawing. I guess the creativity and love for writing essays in school combined itself to make try my hand at writing.
What genres do you work in?
Steamy Romance
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
A bit of both actually. It all depends on my mood, the storyline, and when characters take on a life of their own and then dictate the twist and turns in a story.
What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
My absolute favorite series growing up was Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. When I got older I moved to the Perry Mason cases. Each time I read a book I would imagine myself writing a scene or coming up with silly changes in the storyline. And when I was introduced to sweet romances, I wanted to create my own book boyfriend. I guess all this had an impact on my desire to write.
What is your latest-released or soon-forthcoming work?
Undercover Affection released in May 2019 and features a tough cop and a sexy billionaire. My current WIP will hopefully release sometime soon.
Has your background in law affected your fiction?
Not really. Fiction is escapism, something people need to escape reality filled with crime riddled streets. The last thing someone needs is the dictates of actual law. Obviously a far stretch of the truth may be questioned.
What kind of research did you do for DAREDEVIL’S MISTRESS?
I’ve never been to the USA let alone on an actual ranch so I needed to research certain words and way of life on a ranch.
What are you working on now?
Book 2 of the Fire and Ice series.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Don’t procrastinate, believe in yourself, and write, write, write, everything else will fall into place
What’s the URL of your website? Your blog? Where else can we find you on the web?
Email: charlene@cybersolutions.co.za
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Bookbub
Goodreads
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
EYE SPY, by Mercedes Lackey. I’ve been a fan of Lackey’s Valdemar series for a long time. The most recent sub-series, set in the early years of the Heralds’ Collegium as we know it in the chronologically later novels, focuses on Mags, an enslaved orphan who becomes a Herald and eventually the King’s Spy. EYE SPY and the previous novel, THE HILLS HAVE SPIES, star Mags’s children (who aren’t Heralds), as they follow in his footsteps by helping him deal with mysteries and crises that threaten the realm. The protagonist of EYE SPY, his daughter Abidela (Abi) discovers that she has a unique Gift, sensing stresses and strains in inanimate objects. This ability surfaces in a dramatic manner in the first chapter, when she realizes a bridge is about to collapse just in time to save many lives. As a result, Abi gets a much-coveted spot in the Artificers’ training college, where she finds out she enjoys math and has a flare for design and construction. While continuing her close friendship with the King’s daughter, Abi makes new friends among her classmates, as well as a bitter enemy whose influence pops up later in the story. The narrative time-skips past much of her classroom education to the point when she begins her Master Work, the design of a bridge to replace the destroyed one. Having proven herself, she joins an expedition to visit and help towns in a region that’s considering whether to request annexation by Valdemar. The narrative structure is rather episodic. Until the climactic events of the final challenge, each incident could almost stand alone, although some details provide connecting threads among the events. This novel constitutes, more than anything else, the story of Abi’s coming-of-age.
FIRE AND BLOOD, by George R. R. Martin. Set about 300 years before the “Song of Ice and Fire” saga, this book is a prequel, sort of. Not exactly, because FIRE AND BLOOD isn’t written as a novel but in the form of a history text. It begins with the career of Aegon the Conqueror, founder of the Targaryen dynasty, and his rise to power over the Seven Kingdoms. The book covers roughly the first half of the Targaryens’ domination, with a second volume to come (presumably to end with the fall of their dynasty shortly before GAME OF THRONES). Like a history text, the narrative consists more of “telling” than “showing,” although it does contain some dialogue passages and dramatized scenes. The Archmaester who recounts these events, like a real-world historian, identifies his sources, evaluates their reliability, and highlights episodes where historical memories and records contradict each other. There’s no shortage of scandalous and gory incidents. Even the longest, most peaceful reign in the covered period suffers its share of upheaval. The volume includes a list of rulers (with dates measured from the Conquest) and a family tree. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, written in a lively style that makes it almost as captivating (to a fan of Martin’s work, at least) as the novels, I confess to being confused at some points by the complex history. There are two other features I wish it contained: First, maps. Why aren’t there any maps? Second, a timeline of events, especially considering the huge cast of characters, many with the same or similar names (like real-life nobility and royalty, but they’re still confusing). Both of these items would help readers find their way again when they get lost in the story’s complexity. FIRE AND BLOOD, of course, is meant for fans of the main series; anyone unfamiliar with “A Song of Ice and Fire” would be lost from the beginning.
THE LADY’S GUIDE TO CELESTIAL MECHANICS, by Olivia Waite. This unusual historical romance, set in 1816, stars Miss Lucy Muchelney, whose astronomer father has recently died. A passionate devotee of the science herself, she had been doing most of his calculations during his last few years of life. Her artist brother thinks of her interest as a mere hobby that she, as a woman, can never do anything serious with, and he even suggests selling her telescope. Lucy receives a letter from the widow of one of her father’s correspondents, Catherine St. Day, Countess Moth, whose late husband was a famous globe-traveling astronomer. Catherine wants, if possible, to hire a protege of Lucy’s father to translate a French astronomical and mathematical treatise Catherine’s husband was scheduled to work on. Lucy travels to the Countess’s home in person to propose herself for the job. Impressed by the fact that Lucy had been doing much of the work attributed to her father, Catherine agrees to the proposition, but will the all-male Polite Science Society accept a female translator? Not surprisingly, they laugh at Lucy, so Catherine decides to finance the publication of Lucy’s proposed translation herself. Meanwhile, Lucy, although she’s heartbroken by the recent marriage of her female best friend and lover, finds herself attracted to Catherine. The slightly older Countess, at last free from her cold, domineering husband, discovers she has romantic feelings for Lucy, despite never having had a relationship with a woman before. Catherine is helped to recognize her newly awakened sexuality by the realization that her honorary “aunt,” her late mother’s dearest friend, was actually her mother’s lover. The text alludes several times to the fact that two men in the same position would be in actual danger, because male homosexual activity is a felony at this time. Since there’s no law against lesbianism, female lovers have no such problem as long as they remain discreet. (Though the novel doesn’t mention this fact, in the nineteenth century lavish expressions of affection between female friends were common enough that the polite fiction of “just dear friends” would have been easy to maintain.) The novel, however, deals realistically with the interpersonal problems generated by the differences in age, social status, and wealth between the two women, as well as the delicate situation of Catherine as Lucy’s financial patron in the translation project. The position of women in the sciences at that period is explored, with emphasis on the erasure from the public record of those educated, accomplished women who did exist. There’s also a black man from the Caribbean in the Society, whose presence highlights the position of people of color in intellectual circles in nineteenth-century Britain, much better than in the United States but still not equal in status to white men. Another entertaining feature of the story is the portrayal of Lucy’s difficulties and quandaries in translating the French text. Should she keep her version as literal as possible or expand upon the original to make it more accessible to non-specialist readers? The Society’s eventual meeting with the French author reveals a delightful surprise (delightful for the reader if not for the Society membership). Lucy and Catherine impress me as believable, likable characters, and this is an intelligent, engaging novel. I’ll probably keep a lookout for the second installment of Waite’s “Feminine Pursuits” romances.
A DOG’S PURPOSE, by W. Bruce Cameron. After watching the film of this bestseller, I read the novel almost immediately and found it interesting to note the changes from book to movie. As you may know, the story follows a dog through several reincarnations as he seeks the purpose for his existence through relationships with his various owners. (If you have a strong objection to spoilers, skip to the end of this paragraph, but I’m giving merely an outline of what you’d pretty much expect from reading a blurb for the book.) He’s first born to a stray, feral mother. After a short life ending in euthanasia, he is reborn in a puppy mill, almost dies of heatstroke in a car, and gets rescued by the mother of a boy named Ethan. Named Bailey, the dog has a long, happy life with his beloved boy. Next, “he” becomes a female German Shepherd who serves as a K-9 police dog. In the final life narrated in the novel, he spends a short time with an indifferent owner whose husband takes the dog into the countryside and abandons him. At last, he finds his way back to the place where he’d spent so many happy times with his boy and rediscovers Ethan, now a lonely, middle-aged man living on his late grandparents’ farm. The dog, now called Buddy, brings happiness back into Ethan’s life. The dog-narrator remembers all his lives, so things he learns in earlier incarnations enable him to help people along the way. The story is unashamedly sentimental, yet realistic in displaying the author’s careful research into the way dogs experience the world. The movie, while also narrated by the dog, includes direct exposure to the human characters’ viewpoints, which in the book we receive only as filtered through the dog’s often imperfect comprehension of what’s going on. The adaptation changes some plot elements, but not enough to alter the essentials of the story. For example, the dog’s first life is significantly shortened in the movie compared to the novel. The film makes the second half of his / her incarnation as a police dog into an entirely new life, in which the dog belongs to characters with the same names as those in the book but otherwise different. Finally, the movie has a more upbeat ending than the novel, though both are satisfying. Essentially, this story is BLACK BEAUTY with a dog instead of a horse. In both, the animal hero spends a long period of his early life with a loving owner from whom he gets separated, undergoes good and bad experiences with a variety of masters, and at last regains happiness with his beloved humans.
*****
Excerpt from “Virgin Blood”:
Mother Selene didn’t linger. It had been years since she had made any pretense that she and her ward got pleasure from each other’s company. Still, as Rapunzel fetched the empty baskets from the previous visit, she almost wished she could think of a topic to detain her guardian for a few minutes. Talking to the witch would be more interesting than talking to herself or the sparrows she sometime lured to the window with crumbs.
After giving her a cool kiss on the cheek, Mother Selene spoke the words that transformed Rapunzel’s hair once again into a shimmering net of gold. She descended to the ground, reversed the magic, and got into her waiting carriage, drawn by a single horse. A word of command, with no need for a hand on the reins, spurred the animal into motion. Rapunzel watched until the carriage disappeared into the woods.
Tired from her role in the ceremony, even though it drained only a few drops of her blood, she hung her ritual gown in the wardrobe and lay down, naked, on the bed. The breeze from the open window caressed her flesh, still warm from the magical energies. Her palms grazed her nipples, then stroked down over her chest and stomach to her thighs. She let her eyes drift shut.
Abruptly a voice broke into her half-dreaming state. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel!”
Her eyes snapped open. “Mother Selene?” No, the witch would have no reason to return. And the voice was a stranger’s. A deep voice that reverberated through Rapunzel like the peal of a huge bell.
“Who’s there?” she whispered. No one else ever came near the tower.
The voice called her again. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, answer me!”
She snatched her dressing gown from a chair by the bed and shrugged into it. She rushed to the window and looked down.
A tall, cloaked figure stood there, taller even than the witch, who towered over Rapunzel. It pushed back the hood of the cloak and stared up at her. Its eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
A man!
He flashed a smile. “Lovely Rapunzel, let me come up to you.”
“How do you know my name?” she called down.
“I overheard the witch speaking to you. May I come up?”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “You can’t, unless you have magic like hers. Do you?”
“Not exactly, but I can reach your window if you’re willing. You have to invite me.”
Mother Selene’s warnings raced through her mind. The outside world was not safe for young women. Rapunzel was cloistered here for her own protection. Men, especially, were little more than wild beasts on two legs. On the other side of the question, a flutter in the pit of Rapunzel’s stomach argued in the man’s favor. She told herself the excitement came from meeting someone new after all this time. She would risk any number of phantom hazards for a few hours of conversation with this stranger.
“Very well, I invite you. Come in.”
The man spread his cloak. It swirled around him like a windblown cloud. A second later, it shrank inward, and his body with it. Human limbs became wings. A huge, ghost-white owl soared up and flew in circles just outside the window.
Rapunzel’s breath caught in her throat. She backed away, one hand pressed to her mouth, the other to her pounding heart. The bird swooped in through the open shutters. It expanded to a column of dark mist, then shifted to man-shape.
-end of excerpt-
*****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Whiskey Creek: Whiskey Creek
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 January 2019 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.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
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, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store. These items include some of the short stories that used to be on Fictionwise:
Barnes and Noble
Go here and scroll down to “Available Short Fiction” for a list of those stories with their Amazon links:
Kindle Works
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
I’ve cleaned up the “Links” page on my website. As far as I know, now all the links are accurate and active:
My paranormal romance novel LOVE UNLEASHED, featuring a man cursed into the shape of a St. Bernard, aside from reverting to human form during the hours between sunset and midnight, has been re-released on Kindle under the new title ENCHANTMENT UNLEASHED (with the level of graphic sex toned down). There’s an excerpt below. (Nick is heroine Vicki’s brother.)
Recently, I’ve also combined my stories from the Marion Zimmer Bradley “Sword and Sorceress” anthologies, most of which have gone out of print, into a collection called PERILOUS MAGIC. It also includes two other previously published tales, “Manila Peril” (exotic vampire) and “Prey of the Goat” (Lovecraftian).
The only one of my S&S contributions not included is the oldest one, “Sorcerer’s Pet,” from SWORD AND SORCERESS 5, because I don’t have the file anymore. If you’d like to read that story, though, you can find reasonably priced used copies of the anthology on Amazon.
Please enjoy the following interview with mystery author Jo Hiestand.
*****
Interview with Jo Hiestand:
What inspired you to begin writing?
Probably my love of books in general. I grew up reading Dumas, Twain, duMaurier, Dickens and the Brontes. I loved the atmosphere of those books. Add the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies, and the moods of 1940s/50s movies like Brief Encounter, Night Must Fall, and The Thirty-Nine Steps, and I knew I wanted to write mysteries, and the books had to be set in Britain. That was a must even though I knew only what I’d seen in the movies and read in the novels. But the British pull was tenacious.
This feeling was all well and good, but I needed to immerse myself in the British countryside and villages for my books. I needed the ‘feel’ of the locations. England beckoned and I bee-lined to Derbyshire, feeling it was the ‘home’ of my books. Derbyshire also bestowed the essential English police contacts and transformed me into an Anglophile. The bond was made stronger when a retired Detective-Superintendent of C.I.D. and a working Detective-Sergeant agreed to read my manuscripts for police procedure accuracy and to provide investigation techniques. With everything more or less in place, I took a deep breath and wrote my first novel, A Staged Murder, which was published in 2004.
What genres do you work in?
Mainly mystery. I have two British series out. The Peak District mysteries feature a Derbyshire Constabulary CID Team, and The McLaren mysteries feature ex-police detective Michael McLaren, who investigates cold cases on his own. I also write an amateur sleuth series set in Missouri. Those are the Linn House mysteries, and feature Rona Murray, who owns a bakery/events center in Klim, MO. She and her ex-husband, Johnny, become embroiled in mysteries. They’re not as serious as the British series.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I start with paragraphs of the plot, scene by scene, snippets of dialogue. As I write, something usually occurs to me, so I add that to what I’m writing in the first (or even second!) drafts or to the plot scenes. It’s a combo of structure and zaps from out of the blue.
What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
By far, I’ve been influenced greatly by Golden Age mystery author Ngaio March. Then, perhaps, Josephine Tey. Nature also plays a large part in my writing, as does the ‘feel’ of places. I try to write so the reader sees or smells or hears the scene my protagonist is in. I think this brings the story alive, and the reader can experience what’s happening to my characters. Of course, the other influence has been my trips to Britain, mainly England and Scotland. I’ve used many of the places that I’ve vacationed at or lived in as locations for my stories. Physically being there and later on recalling those experiences really helps with my writing.
Would you classify your detective stories as “cozy” (along the lines of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers) or more “gritty”?
The term cozy seems to be changing from what it initially was, so I guess I’d term my amateur mystery series books as cozy. My two British series have cozy elements such as closed group of suspects, no graphic violence, occurs in a village, personal motives instead of terror or world domination… But I’d classify the two British series more as classic mysteries because the focus on the story is the solving of who, what, when, where, how and why. They could be a cozy with police procedural bits, though, instead of thrillers. And definitely not suspense.
How do you carry out research for the background of your British mysteries (e.g., on police procedures, settings, local customs)?
Wow, I’d say research is about half of my writing. I’m lucky in that I have three English police friends (in England) who answer my emails about procedure et al. Once I asked one friend what the road was like from a specific town to a specific village—I’d been there and driven it, but it was years before I wrote the book, so I wasn’t certain if the bridge was concrete or steel or if the road rose to it. He told me the specifics. One of my friends is a retired Detective Superintendent, so he was very high rank in the CID. He reads my manuscripts when they’re finished to see if I have procedure correct and if any American words have unintentionally crept in. I do a lot of online research, such as what time is sunrise or sunset, the moon phases for the month of my books, the rate of the incoming tide in Morecambe Bay, what things are smuggled into Britain… Some information I need, such as river flow rate and water depth, is lacking (or I can’t find the right place). I then email a person in what I hope is the correct agency or society or whatever, and ask. I’ve contacted employees in the Peak District National Park Authority, a nature reserve, a university professor, a castle curator… They’ve all been extremely helpful. I know I will have mistakes in my books, but I try to lessen them.
For local customs (they form the backbones of the plots of The Peak District mysteries), I was fortunate to have visited Derbyshire many times, so I know a few things. But I own some books on British customs: those come in handy to look up a majority of customs. It’s fun to discover a tradition I knew nothing about, and then figure out how I can create a mystery around it. For instance, in The Stone Hex, the custom is turning the devil’s stone. The famous event is in Devon but I have my fictitious villagers do their own version. They use crowbars and ropes to turn over a one-ton boulder once a year because to ignore it is to bring calamity upon the villagers. For Searching Shadows, the custom is watching the church porch. Again, this is a real custom in which participating villagers take assigned times to sit in the church porch at night. They’re looking for the spirits of the villagers to march past the church. The sighting of a person’s spirit foretells that person’s death within the year. In the upcoming book, An Old Remedy, I use May Day customs as the pivotal point of the plot. Some customs are really odd: how in the world did some of them start? All are real customs. Some are still practiced. Those that have fallen by the wayside are resurrected in my books!
You’ve published a book of Groundhog Day carols, which sounds like great fun. Please tell us about that.
That is a very good selling book, believe it or don’t! Copies even sell throughout the year! I love groundhogs. At a previous house I owned, a succession of groundhogs waddled up to my back deck. I started feeding them because I wanted them to stick around so I could photograph them. Again, tied in with my Peak District mystery series, I love customs. I’ve celebrated Groundhog’s Day throughout my life. I thought it was an overlooked holiday and it didn’t have any carols, at least I never heard any. So I wrote some! Actually, I wrote the lyrics. The tunes are public domain folk songs and Christmas carols. Besides the songs, I’ve also included ideas for hosting a Groundhog’s Day party: decoration and recipe ideas, as well as games suggestions.
What would we find in TEA IN A TIN CUP, your book of memoirs, and what inspired you to write it?
I’ve loved to cook and bake ever since childhood. It recently occurred to me that many of the major or fun events in my life incorporated food in some way. The more I thought of this tie-in, the more I recalled that most of the events were quite humorous. The few people who knew some of them thought they were funny and unique. So, I wrote them down and they gradually became a little book. They’re very short reminiscences, such as being bitten by a rabid skunk, making egg cups from an egg carton so the members of the Scottish folk singing group The McCalmans could eat their breakfast, baking cakes to celebrate Broderick Crawford Day (the movie/TV actor), how I met my future folk singing group members through a spaghetti fight, a visit to a gold rush-era New Zealand town where I first tasted reindeer meat… Things like that. It’s a fast, easy read.
What are you working on now?
I’ve just finished the second draft of the eleventh McLaren mystery, Black Moon. The editor now has it. The next Peak District mystery, An Old Remedy, should be seeing the light of day very soon, if it hasn’t already. With those in the finishing stages, I’m a lady of leisure. But I have the kernel of an idea for the twelfth McLaren book. I just have to flesh it out.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
I think I’d say don’t stop writing. Each book sharpens your skill; you’re constantly learning how to express ideas. You learn this only through writing. Realize you’re in this for the long haul and stay at it. If you quit, you’ll never succeed, so please keep writing.
What’s the URL of your website? Where else can we find you on the web?
My website: Jo Hiestand
Other places on the web where I can be found: BookBub, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads and I have book trailers on YouTube.
Thanks for including me in your newsletter, Margaret. This was fun!
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
LENT, by Jo Walton. From what I’ve read of Walton’s work, every novel or series she’s written is different from every other. LENT follows that pattern; in fact, among fantasy novels in general, I’ve never read anything quite like it. A fictionalized life of Girolamo Savonarola, the brilliant monk who shaped the destiny of Florence for a few years in the late fifteenth century, LENT at first appears to have only two fantasy elements: Girolamo can see and cast out demons, and he receives valid revelations of future events. The story begins in 1492 and continues until his execution as a heretic in 1498. All the principal characters are historical persons, such as Lorenzo the Magnificent and Count Pico della Mirandola, a close friend of Girolamo. Girolamo aspires to transform Florence into the Ark, the City of God, the new Jerusalem. For a brief period, he almost succeeds. Then, halfway through the novel, he dies. Here’s where the book turns uniquely strange. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal the devastating truth that death reveals to Girolamo, because it would be too much of a spoiler. I can say, since it’s hinted in the cover blurb, that he lives those years over and over. Because of a magical green stone (probably jade) that he finds in the first chapter, he can now recall past iterations. Each time he dies and returns, he tries different paths to change the future from what he remembers. He has to face the sorrow of starting over every time with people who had become dear friends in past lives. He also has to decide whom to share the truth with and try to convince them of its reality without terrifying them. Girolamo is a vivid, sympathetic character, whose agony over the state of his soul is believable and moving. Walton does an excellent job of immersing the reader in the culture and mindset of Renaissance Italy, brimming with artistic, philosophical, and scientific energy while still dominated by the Church and pervaded by heartfelt belief in Christian theology.
MARVEL YEAR BY YEAR: A VISUAL HISTORY, by Cefn Ridout, et al. If you’re a devoted fan of the Marvel Comics universe and don’t mind the expense (although I found a reasonably priced used copy in good shape), check out this exhaustive, lavishly illustrated volume. It follows the company’s history all the way from its founding as Timely Publications in 1939, and the release of MARVEL COMICS #1, through 2016. Every year has a one-or-two-page spread highlighting the significant characters, plots, and magazine issues of that time span. Each annual section also includes a sidebar listing important real-world events as well as memorable movies released that year. So we get an overview of how the Marvel publications fit into the culture of the various eras through which they’ve developed. Being only a casual fan, I’d had no idea of the many different genres of comics the company had produced in addition to their superhero universe(s), especially in the early years. Needless to say, a major appeal of this massive tome for most readers will be the reproductions of covers and other illustrations from the magazines. Because the book focuses on the history of the comics, films and TV series are mentioned only briefly. Also, be warned that this thing is heavy! I had to rest it open on a flattish surface to read it without hurting my wrists. It’s worth the trouble, though. 😊
THE LAST TSAR’S DRAGONS, by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple. In this relatively short (180-page) novel, Yolen and her son offer a unique account of the Russian Revolution—with dragons. The tsar keeps a stable of black dragons, which he uses to exterminate Jewish communities when the whim strikes him. Unfortunately, the beasts don’t reliably discriminate among targets, perpetrating significant collateral damage, either unknown or unimportant to the tsar. The population’s only defense is to hide underground and wait for the devastation to pass; the few who possess a detection device called a drachometer have a better chance of taking refuge in time to survive. The dragons are often compared to Cossacks, the former being essentially a deadlier variation on the latter. The social and institutional contempt for Jews forms a constant background theme, so it’s not surprising that the heavy Jewish participation in revolutionary movements is also emphasized. One Jewish Marxist conspirator secretly acquires a supply of dragon eggs and hatches a swarm of red dragons to support Lenin’s uprising. Meanwhile, other major viewpoint characters include the mad monk Rasputin and the tsar’s wife. Not fully accepted by the Russian court (courtiers nickname her “German Alix”) even after years in her position and the birth of several children, the tsarina struggles to fulfill her duty as empress despite her distaste for many features of her adopted country. The only first-person narrator as well as the only invented major figure in the book, a nameless bureaucrat whose overriding goal is his own professional and personal survival, pulls the story together with his behind-the-scenes observations. His opening and closing monologues, thirty years later when he’s been condemned to death for corruption and treason, frame the narrative. Intelligent and cynical, he’d had no compunctions about switching sides when it became clear that the revolution would triumph. The story involves dragons in Rasputin’s demise and gives the deposed tsar and his family a swift, fiery death by dragon attack. To me, no characters come across as terribly likable except maybe the royal princesses and the well-meaning but not too bright tsarina. Knowing the ultimate destiny of the nation and the combatants on both sides, I felt pity for the characters rather than deep emotional engagement. The authors conclude the book with an absorbing eight-page commentary about the history behind the fiction.
*****
Excerpt from ENCHANTMENT UNLEASHED:
Nick slowed the car on the curve just before the strip mall where Vicki worked as a veterinary technician. “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing, leaving Phil this way without telling him in advance? He doesn’t seem like the type to accept that too calmly.”
“Yeah, I know I’m taking the coward’s way out, but I couldn’t face another argument. I left a note along with the spare key he gave me. He’ll get the idea.”
“What if he comes after you?”
“To do what? He may be a jerk, like you said, but he isn’t dangerous.”
“I’m not so sure about that. He never paid much attention to anything you said. How do you know he’ll accept that you really mean it about breaking up?”
“He’ll believe I’m serious when he sees I’ve moved my stuff out, that’s what. Don’t worry about it.” Sometimes she appreciated big-brother protectiveness, but other times it felt more constricting than comforting. Since their mother’s death, Nick tended to treat Vicki as if the age gap between them were more than the actual four years. He looked more like a twin than her elder, with his chestnut hair and neatly trimmed beard still free of gray. She had hair of the same color, except for her auburn highlights, and they both had blue eyes.
“Maybe you should get another dog, just in case.”
“To protect me from the big bad beltway bandit?” she said, referring to Phil’s job with a defense contracting firm in Washington. She laughed at the idea of any danger from uptight, super-civilized Phil Garrett. He favored sarcasm rather than violence as a weapon.
“Trixie has been dead almost a year. You need a dog around the house. There are other dangers for a woman on her own, you know.”
“Come on, I don’t live in the rough part of town or anything like that.” She brushed aside the wistful memory of the old Border Collie she’d inherited from their folks along with the house.
“Annapolis isn’t that big a town. The rough part is only a couple of miles from the safe part.”
“Mom and Dad lived in that house for most of their lives and never had any trouble.” She glanced ahead at the vet’s storefront office, where they were going to pick up her paycheck before driving back to her home to unload the SUV. “Maybe you’re right about a new pet, though. Symbolic fresh start, first day of the rest of my life and all that.” If she didn’t fall in instant love with a puppy at the SPCA, the doctors she worked for could steer her toward a local breeder. Or maybe she should get a cat, which would take less trouble. Phil claimed to be allergic, so she hadn’t been able to consider a kitten before now. There were lots of things she could do now that she didn’t have to worry about his quirks.
Just as Nick turned into the parking lot, a huge, brown-and-white blur hurtled toward Vicki’s window. She let out a screech. Nick slammed on the brakes, and the thing rammed into the passenger door.
Vicki jumped out, her heart hammering, and fell to her knees beside the animal. It lay on its side, apparently stunned. Nick hurried around the car to join her. “Good grief, a kamikaze dog,” he said.
The creature was the biggest Saint Bernard she’d ever seen. When she touched its head, the chocolate-brown eyes flickered open for a second. “We have to get him into the office right away.”
“I’m not about to carry him across the parking lot. Help me lift him into the car.” After pulling out of the path of traffic, Nick shifted boxes to clear a space in the back of the SUV. Meanwhile, Vicki felt over the dog’s legs, hips, and rib cage.
“I don’t think anything’s broken.” She cradled the animal’s head and neck, while her brother handled the bulk of the weight. Together, they hefted the half-conscious dog into the vehicle.
“See, it’s an omen,” Nick said. “Practically the minute I said you needed a pet, a dog came along and threw himself at you.”
“Well, I can’t keep this one. I’m sure he belongs to somebody. He’s wearing something around his neck.”
Nick drove the car up to the vet’s office, luckily finding a parking space only two slots from the door. Vicki ran inside to ask for help. Fred, a vet tech in his early twenties with curly hair and one gold earring, was covering the front desk. Stressful though the argument had been at the time, she almost giggled at the memory of Phil’s accusation when he’d picked her up after work the other day and spotted her chatting with Fred. As Nick had implied, her young co-worker was a nice enough guy but one of the last people she’d consider fooling around with. He glanced up when the bell above the door rang. “Hi. You’re here for your check, right?”
“Yeah, but I also brought a patient. A dog ran into Nick’s car. Could you help us bring him in?”
On the way out, Fred asked, “Don’t you mean the car ran into the dog?”
“Not exactly.”
Fred and Nick lugged the animal inside. The only other patient in the waiting room was a caged cat, who hissed at the sight of the dog. When they laid him on the floor, he opened his eyes, started panting, and gave a feeble thump of his tail. Vicki knelt down and stroked his head. His tongue flicked out to brush her hand. “I didn’t want to take the time to drive him all the way across town to the emergency vet. Do you think one of the docs can fit him in?”
“I’ll check.” Fred went into the back room and returned almost immediately with the reply that Dr. Brodie, the senior partner, had a few minutes free. “Big one, isn’t he?” he said, eyeing the dog. “Might as well try to weigh him.”
When they started to lift the dog, he struggled to his feet, still panting. With Vicki’s fingers twined in his neck fur, he wobbled over to the flatbed scale. He stood quietly while they waited for the digital readout to appear. Fred whistled. “Almost a hundred and ninety pounds. You are a big one, aren’t you?”
While Nick waited out front, the two of them managed to get the dog to stagger into the examining room under his own power. Fred coaxed him onto the table, then operated the hydraulic lift to raise it to a comfortable level for the examiner. The dog’s droopy eyes shifted to follow Vicki’s every move. She fondled the black velvet of his ears and rubbed the back of his neck. “What in the world is this?” Her probing revealed a chain of fine silver links. When she worked it over his head, it turned out to be a necklace with a disk about the size of an old-fashioned silver dollar, embossed with a five-pointed star, dangling from it.
Fred stared at the thing when she held it up. “Why would anybody put jewelry on an animal?”
“I have no idea. And no collar, just this.” The dog turned his head to follow the movement of her hand and whined, as if he wanted his ornament back. “Sorry, it looks too valuable. I’d better hang onto it for you.”
-end of excerpt-
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Whiskey Creek: Whiskey Creek
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter