Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Welcome to the December 2023 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
You can subscribe to this monthly newsletter here:
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
Happy winter holidays to all!
My Christmas story “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary,” set in an English country manor in the 1890s, will be published as an item in the Wild Rose Press’s “Christmas in the Castle” line (release date not yet determined). Spending the holidays with her aunt and uncle for the first time since her father’s death forces Lucy to face Walter, to whom she was once almost engaged. An excerpt, illustrating an old Yuletide folk custom, appears below. (Robbie is Lucy’s little brother.)
My steamy paranormal romance novella “Wizard’s Trap,” the last of my “orphaned” Ellora’s Cave works, will be re-published by the Wild Rose Press on December 13.
Our December guest is Marla A. White, writer of fiction in several genres, including mystery and fantasy. She has a story, “The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder,” in the Wild Rose Press’s Christmas Cookies series.
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Interview with Marla A. White:
What inspired you to begin writing?
Reading. I’ve always loved reading and as the youngest of six, there were plenty of books around. Disappearing into everything from “Black Beauty” to “The Hardy Boys” to “Call of the Wild” inspired me to create worlds of my own to explore.
What genres do you work in?
I’m kind of a weirdo, I play in multiple genres. Mystery is what I’ve written the most and maybe my first love, but I’ve also written a series of books that I would describe as contemporary or grounded fantasy. Magical things happening in the real world. And just recently I started writing a hockey romance with a writing partner, which has been a whole new experience.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
My writing style would be somewhere in between. I like to outline at least in broad strokes first so I know where I’m going, but nothing is ever set in stone. I’m a huge fan of NaNoWriMo because it gives me permission to get messy, to write an outline where I give myself options. I write things like, “Maybe they find a body here. Or wait a few scenes, and put more of the B story here.” I feel sorry for my poor Beta readers when I ask them to read that jumble just to make sure the story as a whole works before I write the real first draft!
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
Author influences would include Dick Francis, his mysteries set in the horse world were an obvious influence for “Cause for Elimination,” my mystery set in the eventing world that I was a part of for many years. But Louise Penny’s wonderful Three Pines books influence me to try and be better, to attempt to elevate my writing in the next book. Robert Parker was a huge part of why my dialogue reads the way it does, with a bit more of an edge than a typical cozy mystery would.
The amazing Jim Butcher is fully to blame for my fantasy books. His Dresden books opened the door to Ilona Andrews’ series of books and Seanan McGuire’s October Daye books. I can only come up with half of the crazy monsters and heroes that they do!
But the biggest influences on my work are the things I experience in life that strike me as funny or interesting. “The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder” was inspired both by The Wild Rose Press’s call for submissions of cookie-themed stories and my abysmal failure at baking that childhood favorite. Both events happened simultaneously and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the featured cookie was terrible?”. I knew I wanted to set it in the fictional quirky small town of Pine Cove because I’d just come back from one of my favorite places on Earth, Idyllwild. My “Keeper Chronicles” series is inspired by the fantastic, historic Mission Inn in Riverside. Even small things, like a friend riding in pink suede half-chaps (totally not cool in the very proper horse set), made an appearance in “Cause” because I like little details like that.
What kinds of research do you do for your mysteries?
I dread the day I take my computer in for a tune-up and my guy looks at my Internet history! I love doing deep dives on weapons, poisons, where do you have to stab someone to puncture a lung. You know, the usual! There’s a wonderful website, “How To Kill Your Imaginary Friends” with articles such as, “If you shock a flatline, I swear I will come to your home and beat you with a wet chicken”. One of my characters is Scottish so I have a ton of websites bookmarked to make him sound authentic, including “The Septic’s Companion” for British slang words and insults.
But I also talk to friends who are nurses about medical questions, I asked my nephew who builds boats about how to blow one up. Some day I’d love to be a member of some kind of police reserve unit to get first-hand knowledge, but right now I’m juggling enough just to find time to write!
How does a mystery author achieve the ideal of “playing fair” with the reader while not making the clues too obvious?
That’s why I need to outline ahead of time. I admire the heck out of anyone who can figure out when and how to plant clues on the fly! I try to include at least one red herring to throw the reader off the scent.
But as a reader, I’m there more for the characters than the mystery of it all anyway. Reading the Three Pines books, I almost blow past the clues to find out the latest flaw Louise Penny has given Jean Guy!
I was really pleased when my editor was surprised at the reveal of the killer at the end of “Cause”, so that was nice.
“Starlight” was my first cozy mystery and honestly, even the reviews that said the guessed the killer right away said they still enjoyed the book.
How do the angels and demons in your contemporary fantasy novels resemble and/or differ from the traditional image of those entities?
My slightly goofy, quirky Gabriel is very different from traditional angels. First, he hasn’t got any wings, or a halo. He barely remembers his life before waking up naked in the desert. All he knows is that his Boss kicked him out of Heaven over some sort of disagreement. He’s just a guy with a messy mop of hair, bespoke suits, and a Scottish accent trying to figure out why he’s there. Is it to protect Abby Campbell, his charge when he was an angel, and if so from what?
“The Keeper Chronicles” aren’t religious by any means, but the plots incorporate questions of faith. Abby hasn’t believed in anything since her mother’s stroke, Gabriel questions why he’s been abandoned. Evie, who works for his brother now, becomes angry when Gabriel’s life hangs in the balance and it’s left to her, a demon, to save him because his angelic siblings are too afraid of the repercussions.
And that’s the heart of the books – family. Oh sure, there’s action and romance, but the beating heart is the family you’re born into and the one you choose. That and Gabriel’s search for a good cup of tea.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
I’m in a bit of a holding pattern for “Framed for Murder,” the next in the Pine Cove mystery series. Hopefully June of next year?
I’ve also got the third “Keeper” book in with an editor now and will self-publish it probably early next year.
What are you working on now?
Despite the lack of a release date for “Framed,” I’ve leapt into NaNoWriMo and am sketching out the next in the Pine Cove series.
My writing partner and I have finished the first hockey romance, “Lincoln,” and are in the middle of the rough draft of the next.
And Lucifer keeps demanding that it’s time for his book now, he’s tired of his do-gooder brother getting all the glory.:D
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
One of my biggest challenges, and I don’t think I’m alone here, was finding the time to write. A long time ago I was fortunate enough to meet Janet Evanovich, another favorite author of mine, and when asked about her writing schedule, she said she got up at five in the morning to write. I figured if it was good enough for her, it was good enough for me. I can’t swear to getting up that early every day, but I always make it my first priority before e-mails or anything else.
I mean, not before coffee, that would be insane, but everything else.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Thanks for asking! My website is http://www.MarlaAWhite.com. I’m also on Facebook as MarlaAWhite and Instagram as Marlawriteswords
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Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE PRIVILEGE OF THE HAPPY ENDING, by Kij Johnson. A story collection by the author of one of my favorite fantasy novels, FOX WOMAN. If, like me, you read the novella “The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe” when first released as a stand-alone book, you might have reservations about the fact that it constitutes almost 100 pages of this 281-page volume. However, the other contents make it well worth buying even if you own “Dream-Quest.” In case you haven’t read that story, it’s inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH, as the title suggests. Johnson approaches the Dreamlands, though, from a feminine and feminist angle. Vellitt Boe, a professor at a women’s college in Ulthar, the city famed for its cats, has to undertake a quest to the waking realm (ours) in search of a student who has eloped with a dreamer from our world. During her journey to one of the rare interdimensional gates, Vellitt spends time with Lovecraft’s protagonist, Randolph Carter, makes an alliance with ghouls, and fends off attacks from less friendly monsters. Her fish-out-of-water arrival in the waking world makes for delightful reading, and the story ends with an unexpected twist. Among other tales, “Noah’s Raven,” a bird’s-eye perspective on the Flood and its aftermath, portrays the event from a more cynical angle than the Bible does. In “Ratatoskr,” a girl sees the ghosts of squirrels all her life and helps them move on from their abandoned bodies. “Tool-Using Mimics” presents multiple alternative speculations about octopuses who mate with human partners or pose as human. Several of the collection’s shorter pieces aren’t exactly stories, consisting of lists and other clever devices instead of narratives, although in some cases hints of plots or character arcs can be inferred – for example, three “Lorebooks” for apartment dwellers, a bestiary, a stavebook, and an alphabetical dreambook; “Mantis Wives,” exploring various ways intelligent female mantises might kill their mates; crows’ skewed attempts at human-style riddles and jokes. Other than “Dream-Quest,” my favorite stories are “The Ghastly Spectre of Toad Hall” and the title novella. Johnson wrote a sequel to WIND IN THE WILLOWS that added two entertaining female characters to the classic cast, THE RIVER BANK. The Christmas-season ghost story in this collection is an equally fun pastiche, a mixture of suspense and humor, with Toad’s friends determined to rescue him from the doom of his family curse, leading to the revelation of what the ghost (a frustrated poetess) really wants. “The Privilege of the Happy Ending,” set in early medieval Britain, begins with six-year-old Ada forced by her parents’ death to live with a widowed, impoverished aunt and three wicked-stepsister-like cousins. When their village falls to the ravages of all-devouring monsters called wastoures, Ada escapes with Blanche, a talking hen. Their long, wandering quest for a safe refuge leads them to encounters with strange places and people, culminating in the revelation that Blanche possesses more magic than just the ability to speak. The omniscient narrator weaves metafictional commentary throughout the tale, reminding us that stories can branch in myriad different directions. Above all, whether they have happy endings depends on the point where we choose to cut the narrative short. I especially enjoyed Johnson’s wide varieties of prose styles in the highly diverse works, ranging from the dry, cryptic paragraphs of the apartment-dwellers’ lists to the Edwardian dialogue of the River Bank denizens and the lavishly multisensory descriptions of the exotic Dreamlands.
UNDER THE SMOKESTREWN SKY, by A. Deborah Baker. The final volume of Seanan McGuire’s pseudonymously published portal-fantasy tetralogy set in the world of the Up-and-Under. This four-part story seems written for a slightly younger audience than McGuire’s open-ended Wayward Children series. I’ll try to avoid critical spoilers, but of course that’s difficult since UNDER THE SMOKESTREWN SKY is the last book in a connected sequence. Fortunately, in the first chapter the omniscient narrator, whose voice resembles the narrator of the Wayward Children books, summarizes the highlights of the previous three novels. Readers who, like me, tend to forget details during waits for sequels will find this introduction a great help. Throughout the book, the author inserts comments about the nature of stories and their beginnings, middles, and ends. Uptight, anxious boy Avery, preoccupied with order and predictability, and free-spirited, adventurous girl Zib lived in the same neighborhood but had never met before forces beyond their control drew them to a wall between our world and the Up-and-Under. That world, ruled by monarchs of the four classic elements (Air, Water, Earth, Fire), suffers from the disappearance of an elemental queen. In this installment, Avery and Zib continue to travel along the quasi-sentient Improbable Road in the company of a drowned girl, the former Crow Girl, and a new companion, Jack, who also has a bird affinity. Their quest for the Impossible City concludes with desperate ordeals and, at the climax, heartbreaking loss followed by eucatastrophe. Secrets come to light, including the true identity of the missing queen. The characters contemplate the meaning of “impossible” and learn to bend impossibility to their purposes. Unlike Dorothy’s quest for a way home in THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, the fulfillment of Zib and Avery’s search is shadowed by ambivalence. While they long to return to their proper world, they mourn the prospect of leaving the Up-and-Under forever, not to mention parting from the friends they’ve made. The narrator hints at future adventures, but of course those remain stories for another time. Zib and Avery don’t enjoy the convenience of “Narnia time,” wherein they’d get home a moment after they left. Their parents and the authorities know they’ve been missing for a month, a disappearance the children can never adequately explain. They return to their mundane lives having forged a lasting bond of friendship, Avery learning to take risks and Zib learning a bit of caution as well as respect for the differences between the two of them. Recommended for not only the ingenious plot with unexpected twists at every stage, but also the cast of sympathetic characters both human and not quite human, the enchanting and terrifying fantasy-world setting, and the narrator’s metafictional encouragement, warnings, and analysis. The Up-and-Under tetralogy is likely to thrill most fans of the slightly different approach to portal fantasy in the Wayward Children series.
THE LITERARY UNDOING OF VICTORIA SWANN, by Virginia Pye. A historical novel set in my favorite period, the 1890s. Boston-area author Victoria Swann (not her real last name), like Louisa May Alcott and Jo March at the beginning of their careers, earns decent money and enthusiastic readers with her thrillers, in Victoria’s case hair-raising adventures in exotic locales. Like Alcott and her heroine, Victoria also decides to change her focus to more realistic stories in down-to-earth settings. Her publisher, however, wants her to stick to the reliably successful formula. She recognizes the risk she’s taking, since she’s tied to a ne’er-do-well, weak-willed, alcoholic husband in a union that has become a marriage in name only. Nevertheless, her ambition to create novels about believable female characters suffering under the social ills of her contemporary society is too strong to renounce. Her new editor, Jonathan Cartwright, admires her latest book and heartily supports her endeavor. When the publisher remains adamant, Jonathan strikes out, along with his best friend, to start a fledgling company with Victoria’s book as its inaugural release. As sole support of himself and five sisters, Jonathan is taking a major risk, too. The title accurately focuses on Victoria’s “literary undoing,” as she struggles with the process of reshaping her authorial persona. How can she write the stories she feels called to create while somehow not disappointing avid fans of her romantic adventure tales and the regular advice column published under her pen name? What happens when she decides to divorce her parasitic husband, thus risking scandal if her real-life identity and a certain incident in her background come to light? A strong bond of friendship grows between her and Jonathan. It’s not much of a spoiler, however, to warn readers who expect them to fall in love that a delightful plot twist occurs instead. Satisfying solutions to Victoria’s problems, yet hard-won and believable, wrap up the story. She and Jonathan come across as strong, sympathetic characters. The physical and cultural details of 1890s Boston are vividly portrayed, obviously researched in depth, and a pleasure to read. I particularly enjoyed watching Victoria wrestle with troubles not unfamiliar to authors in the present century, such as publishers who cheat on royalties and readers who endlessly demand more books just like the previous ones, on an exhausting schedule.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
http://www.simegen.com/reviews/vampires/vamprelm.htm
*****
Excerpt from “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary:
About four-thirty, as twilight was falling, Aunt Eunice knocked on Lucy’s door. “The mummers are here. Will you come down to watch? I’m sure Robbie would love to see them.”
Not having spent Christmas here in many years, Lucy was eager to witness that performance herself. After bundling Robbie into his coat, cap, boots, and gloves, she and her mother donned their own wraps and followed her impatient brother downstairs. When they gathered with family and servants at the top of the driveway, the flurries had stopped, covering the earlier snowfall with a fresh, thin layer. Walter, standing beside his parents, smiled at Lucy. Pulling her cape closer, she tried to convince herself that only the brisk breeze sent a shiver rippling through her.
About a dozen local boys and men, some bearing lanterns, clustered in front of the house. They wore oversize coats or heavily padded outfits to disguise their shapes, and homemade masks fashioned with various degrees of skill concealed their faces. Sacks and pillowcases had eyeholes cut in them and grotesque features painted on. One man sported a papier-mâché horsehead, and another shrouded his head in a veil of white lace. A knight in gray trousers and jacket brandished a wooden sword and wore a helmet made of a cardboard box adorned with silver paint. His crudely carved shield bore a red cross. Beside him stood a four-legged, green dragon with two pairs of boots visible beneath its sagging costume.
Robbie shrank against his mother’s side and asked, pointing at the man with the veil, “Is that a ghost?”
“No, dear.” She patted his shoulder.
“And there’s a dragon.”
Lucy whispered, “It’s two men in disguise. Everybody’s pretending. Now, just watch.”
The mummers sang all the verses of “Deck the Halls,” while the dragon cavorted to the tune, its tail dragging on the ground. Next they belted out a couple of rowdy wassail tunes, a clear hint of the festive reward they anticipated.
After the songs, most of the men drew back to clear a circle around the monster and the knight. The warrior, who was probably meant to portray Saint George, pointed his weapon at the dragon and shouted, “Yield, foul fiend!”
With a blood-curdling roar, the dragon raised its claw-tipped forearms and charged. It slashed at the knight while the latter pounded on the monster with the flat of his sword. After several minutes of hearty combat punctuated by bestial snarls and manly vows of dire vengeance, the two foes thrashed on the ground in a climactic exchange of blows. The dragon, groaning in agony, expired in a burst of gore represented by a gush of fake blood from its chest. Saint George rose to his feet with arms raised in triumph. A second later, the dragon leaped up, too, and the pair took a bow to laughter and applause.
Uncle George’s butler and footman brought forth trays of steaming mugs, spiced cider from the aroma, which they passed around to the performers. Slices of brandy-soaked, fruit-studded Christmas cake followed. Some removed the masks to eat and drink, while others simply lifted the bottoms of their cloth face coverings. When the front half of the dragon pulled off its head, Lucy said to Robbie, “See, just men play-acting.”
-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, 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):
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 2023 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
You can subscribe to this monthly newsletter here:
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
Happy American Thanksgiving!
My short story “The Thing in the Driveway” has been accepted for the Necronomi-Rom-Com anthology, whose theme is just what it sounds like—romantic comedy in the Cthulhu Mythos universe. The target publication date is August 2024. There’s an excerpt from the story below. You can read about the project here:
Necro-Rom-ComJust for fun, I wrote a flash fiction piece about cats, available on my website here:
Here’s another one, playing with a familiar SF trope:
In keeping with the Halloween spirit, this month’s interview showcases Jenna Barwin, paranormal romance author of the Hill Vampire series.
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Interview with Jenna Barwin:
What inspired you to begin writing?
I’ve been writing on and off for years. Like a lot of authors, I’d get an idea, get started on a novel, but never finish it.
Then I read a book series that ticked me off—the main couple at the start of the series didn’t get a happily ever after—and I decided I wanted to write my own vampire romance series focused on the developing relationship of one couple who ultimately get their happily ever after.
What genres do you work in?
Paranormal Romance. I write the Hill Vampire novels, which blend mystery, wine, and romance into a heady combination. Dark Wine at Midnight is the first book in the series, and I recommend starting there.
Please tell us about your Hill Vampire series and its setting.
The Hill Vampire series features an exclusive gated community of winemaking vampires and their mortal mates. They live on vineyard estates in Sierra Escondida, a fictional town in the foothills of Central California. Because the town was founded by vampires in the late 1800s, they have been able to maintain control over the town council and decide who may live there.
The series begins with Dark Wine at Midnight, in which research scientist Cerissa Patel must find a way to save humanity from a vampire conspiracy without revealing what’s hidden beneath her skin. But her cover story isn’t enough to fool vampire Henry Bautista—he’s dark, dangerous, and will do anything to protect his town, including stopping her.
The series follows the romantic relationship of Cerissa and Henry, who, along with other members of their community, try to stop the vampire dominance movement (VDM), a vampire conspiracy that is trying to kill the leaders of Sierra Escondida and take over. The VDM plans a political coup, and once the path is cleared, will turn mortals into blood slaves.
The series is steamy. The first book starts out as more of a slow burn, but the rest of the series is definitely in the four to five steam kettle range.
In particular, are your vampires closely similar to the traditional undead of popular culture or different in some way?
I followed some of the traditional undead traits but varied them a bit. They drink blood and do not eat food for sustenance. Silver or a stake through the heart will kill them. They can’t go out in daylight. They can mesmerize their victims. Mortals don’t know about them, except for those in a relationship with a vampire.
Now, here’s a slight variation: The fang serum their bite injects compels the mortal to not speak of them when among uninitiated mortals and forms a bond. Thus, vampires can have relationships with mortals without fear of disclosure so long as they renew the bond.
Fang serum also contains an aphrodisiac, which leads to all kinds of fun!
Your heroine is identified as a “Lux.” Please tell us about the nature of these beings in your universe.
SPOILER ALERT! For those who haven’t read the first few books, you may want to skip this part. The Lux arrived on earth nine thousand years ago, and their appearance started the rumors about flying angelic beings. The records dating back to their arrival were damaged, and they aren’t sure what their origins are: ancient alien astronauts or angels who fell from heaven. They are able to shapeshift and appear as human or animal.
I like the ambiguity in their origin story as it allows members of the Lux to have different opinions about their purpose for being here.
Your bio mentions “an eclectic range of careers.” How have any of them influenced or been incorporated into your fiction?
All of them have been incorporated in one form or another. In my early twenties, I performed magic in a circus and traveled across the country living in a motorhome. It was a wonderful experience—I wouldn’t recommend it as a lifetime career—but the experience provided insider information that helped me set Dark Wine at the Circus in a circus secretly owned by a vampire.
It also gave me great experience performing in front of an audience. If you like cosplay, check out my TikTok or Instagram account—I try to post one Gaea Greenleaf video each week. She’s a side character in the Hill Vampire series but plays an important part. She’s also a great gossip.
I worked for many years in a newsroom as a video editor, so I’ve had a firsthand view of what it takes to produce a television news program, which allowed me to realistically write a side character who is a news reporter.
I returned to school to get a law degree, then worked as an assistant city attorney. The town council and town attorney who appear in the stories reflect my legal knowledge and experience in that role.
That said, no character is based on anyone I know. My characters may have careers and are placed in settings I’m familiar with, but they aren’t based on any specific person or situation.
What is your latest book?
Dark Wine at Christmas was published in August. Here’s a short tease:
As Cerissa and her vampire fiancé celebrate their first Christmas together…secrets abound!
The surprise Cerissa prepares for Christmas Eve will be everything Henry wants, but the gift he gives her on Christmas night will turn their household upside down with happy chaos.
And while Henry promises to start working with Cerissa on their wedding plans once the holiday is over, something seems to be holding him back.
When Anne-Louise calls with her own unreasonable demands, his maker may very well rip the holiday happiness right from Henry and Cerissa’s hands.
What are you working on now?
The eleventh book in the Hill Vampire series, Dark Wine at the Altar. It’s the series finale, and like the title hints at, there will be a wedding, if not more than one!
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I’m a discovery writer. I’ll envision characters in a plot situation, hear them talk with each other, and then start writing. As I go, I’ll discover new facets of their personalities along with what plot obstacles best challenge them to become the person they were meant to be.
Sometimes I’ll finalize a rough first draft, and then I outline. Depending upon the reason I need to outline, I’ll either use the index cards in Scrivener or the timeline method in Plottr. The index cards work great for me when a plot action issue arises, or when I need to check for continuity, or for pacing. I use the timeline method when I feel the emotional side of the romance isn’t gelling properly. For me, it’s easier to break down the romance beats in Plottr.
When I get really stuck for an idea, I’ll use big sheets of paper and start brainstorming, placing the problem in the center and then writing spontaneous options around the central problem until I hit on one that resonates.
Bottom line: I’m a discovery writer who uses outlining as a diagnostic tool to help me discover what my story is missing.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
- Find your tribe. Visit various writer groups to find one that fits. Whether in-person or online, networking with other writers in your genre will give you a leg up whether it’s with writing or marketing.
- Read a lot of books in the genre you plan to write in. Get to know what readers expect from the genre, particularly the popular tropes and plot twists.
- Take craft classes and read a lot of craft books. Lots of classes and books. Not every technique will fit with how you write—but you will discover techniques that do work for you. But beware of instructors who speak in absolutes. Rarely is a rule unbreakable.
- Read these two books: Wired for Story by Lisa Cron, and GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon. Also, Story Genius by Lisa Cron is excellent.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
For the latest news and special offers, sign up to be a VIP Reader at: Jenna Barwin’s Newsletter
Or find me on social media and join the conversation:
Twitter (@JennaBarwin)
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Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
A STROKE OF THE PEN, by Terry Pratchett. Before his death, Pratchett decreed that his unpublished work be destroyed and no posthumous Discworld fiction be written by anyone else. So this collection doesn’t contain new Terry Pratchett fiction, yet for all practical purposes it does, sort of. Subtitled “The Lost Stories,” the book comprises tales written very early in his career and published under pen names in newspapers. Only a couple of these stories have previously been re-released. All the rest, not identified as Pratchett’s work until collected in this volume, have remained unknown to his readers. The introduction and the afterword, “The Quest for ‘The Quest for the Keys’,” reveal some of the laborious detective work involved in unearthing the rediscovered pieces of fiction. There’s also a foreword by Pratchett’s friend and collaborator Neil Gaiman. No Discworld stories appear herein, although, as Gaiman remarks, the novelette “The Quest for the Keys” has a very proto-Discworld feel, as well as satirizing sword-and-sorcery adventures and D&D roleplaying scenarios. Several pieces involve wacky goings-on in an English village named Blackbury. “The Blackbury Thing,” about an alleged UFO landing, is especially fun. “Dragon Quest,” which has already seen publication in revised form as “Dragons at Crumbling Castle,” will appeal to most fantasy fans. “How It All Began” stars the caveman who invents fire, with some problematic consequences. Among several Christmas stories, my favorites are “A Partridge in a Post Box” (what happens when the suitor in the familiar carol ships his gifts by mail) and “How Scrooge Saw the Spectral Light. ..” My second-favorite story overall, after “The Quest for the Keys,” is “Pilgarlic Towers,” featuring ghosts whose haunted castle faces demolition in the path of a motorway. Some of the very British humor may puzzle the average American reader; I noticed several allusions that were obviously meant to be funny, but I had no clue why. Nevertheless, any hardcore Terry Pratchett fan will enjoy this collection.
STARLING HOUSE, by Alix E. Harrow. A Southern Gothic dark fantasy by the author of THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY, THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES (the only one of these titles I haven’t read), and YA revisionist fairy-tale novels A SPINDLE SPLINTERED and A MIRROR MENDED. Most of STARLING HOUSE is narrated in the first person by Opal, a young woman working a low-wage job and living in a run-down motel with her teenage brother, Jasper, a budding artist and filmmaker. Jasper could have a brilliant future, if only (in Opal’s view) he could get out of their decaying small town and attend the private school for which she’s saving up. Other scenes are told in third person from the viewpoint of Arthur, the reclusive owner of Starling House. The narrative uses present tense, for no apparent reason, although at least the flashbacks are in past tense. Opal impresses me as a rather unlikable character, prickly and foul-mouthed, without the slightest qualms about her habit of petty theft. Yet her intelligence, self-reliance, early loss of her dysfunctional but loving mother, and determination to save her brother (whether he wants her to or not) make her compelling and sympathetic. She has only two sort-of friends, Charlotte, the head librarian at the public library, and Bev, the motel owner, more often grouchy and stingy than affectionate. The setting, a played-out coal-mining town in Kentucky, its prosperous days long past, is dominated by the Gravely family. They hope to revive coal production, if only they can access the mineral rights to the land around Starling House. The mansion’s builder, Eleanor Starling, was a one-book author with an enigmatic past, whose husband, a Gravely, died in mysterious circumstances. Her children’s picture book, UNDERLAND, about a portal to a world much darker than Alice’s wonderland, has creepy illustrations and an ambiguous ending. Did Eleanor base the tale on an actual experience of another realm where she met strange Beasts? (Any Constant Reader of dark fantasy knows the probable answer to this question.) Opal has read her copy of the book innumerable times. For many years, she has dreamed about Starling House, dreams in which she feels at home there. A bold gesture on her part leads Arthur to grudgingly hire her to clean his home, which at this point looks more like the House of Usher than anything fit for habitation. As Opal gradually restores the place to livability, a reluctant rapport grows between her and Arthur. Meanwhile, an agent of the Gravely company pressures her to spy on him for them. If she complies, she’ll be rewarded; if not, the coldly polite woman drops ominous hints of what might happen to Opal and, worse, to Jasper. The Gravelys have money, power, and the aforesaid ruthless agent. Opal has her stubbornness, her devotion to her brother, and her bond with Arthur. By now, she has developed sincere feelings for him. The conflict between her loyalty to him and the welfare of her brother makes the story engaging and suspenseful even before the supernatural element becomes overt. She learns disturbing facts about her own heritage and the dark past of the town, and she hears at least three conflicting stories about Eleanor Starling and the mansion. The final account reveals the truth—maybe. At the climax, Opal and Arthur have to unite to protect themselves and the house, a crisis that culminates in a descent into Underland. Numerous footnotes, often casting doubt on the “facts” stated in the text, probably contributed by Charlotte along with the bibliography, constitute one of my favorite features of this book. The other is the sentient house, cheerful and welcoming when well cared for but dingy and gloomy when neglected, apt to rearrange its rooms depending on its relationship with the occupants or its own inscrutable whims. In the face of seemingly inescapable disaster, Opal, Jasper, and Arthur make it through to a satisfyingly redemptive conclusion that still retains a touch of mystery.
EVE, by Cat Bohannon. Immediately upon starting this massive tome (437 pages of text, not counting notes and bibliography), which surveys the evolutionary history of the human female from the first mammals to Homo sapiens, I felt like a cartoon character on the PBS Kids network who says, “My brain just exploded.” On almost every page, I encountered at least one fact that evokes the same character’s catchphrase, “Well, THAT’S new information.” Moreover, Bohannon’s style is irresistibly lucid, readable, and witty. Each chapter discusses one of many “Eves,” ancestors of our species that exemplify the developments leading to modern woman. After the introduction, the chapters cover the following topics roughly in chronological order of development (aside from the last three, with dates of origin not precisely known): Milk (lactation and breasts), Womb (placental mammals), Perception (the senses), Legs (walking upright), Tools, Brain, Voice (development of language), Menopause, Love (human mating patterns and the social status of women versus men). So many questions arise, with thought-provoking speculation about the answers. Why do human females have breasts, unlike other primates? How did the placenta develop? Is there such a thing as the “female brain”? What are the differences between male and female senses, e.g. hearing the pitch of sounds and seeing colors? Why do women go through menopause? Are human beings “naturally” polygamous, promiscuous, or monogamous? Why do women live longer and, for the most part, healthier than men? Bohannan combines solid facts and scientific hypotheses with occasional personal anecdotes in language both information-dense and engagingly colloquial. Recommended for readers interested in evolution, biology, and/or the mysteries of human development and the differences between the sexes.
THE FRIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, by Jeff Belanger. This author has written numerous books on folklore, legends, and superstition, as well as hosting or participating in a variety of podcasts and TV programs on those topics. This physically beautiful slim volume, printed on sturdy, glossy paper and lavishly illustrated with reproductions (many in color) from paintings, woodcuts, book illustrations, vintage cards, and magazines, even includes an attached red satin ribbon bookmark. Subtitled “Surviving Krampus and Other Yuletide Monsters,” it begins with a background section on pagan winter solstice celebrations, the development of Christmas as we know it, and the life and legends of Saint Nicholas. The large middle section discusses frightful winter “monsters” such as Krampus, Belsnickel, the Yule Cat, the ogress Gryla, Black Peter, and many others. Despite the subtitle, however, some benevolent folkloric characters also appear, such as La Befana, the Tomten (a usually helpful species of house-elves), and of course Santa Claus, whose history is explored at length. Some chapters include anecdotes about the modern-day incarnations of traditional monsters, e.g., the now-popular Krampus. Belanger writes in a breezy but nevertheless fact-dense style that makes THE FRIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS equally appealing as both entertainment and reference work.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
*****
Excerpt from “The Thing on the Driveway”:
Spiders shouldn’t sparkle.
They shouldn’t have a leg span the size of Eve’s palm, either. Or be deep purple, shading to indigo on the abdomen. Most important, they shouldn’t swarm in her garage.
Her black cat, Onyx, dashed back and forth across the concrete floor, pouncing on the spiders. Eve flailed at them with a broom in vain. They vanished and reappeared before the blows could land.
Which is impossible. On the other hand, their materializing out of nowhere was impossible. Yet they’d done that just as she’d started trundling a wheelbarrow out the garage door to collect fallen branches. The debris littered the lawn from the summer afternoon thunderstorm that had swept through an hour earlier.
Granted, Arkham had a reputation for strange phenomena, but she figured most of them for urban legends. And, as far as she knew, the famous Antarctic expedition about a century past hadn’t shipped any sparkly, violet-blue spiders home to the university’s biology department.
She changed tactics, trying to sweep the creatures toward the open door with Onyx in pursuit. He skidded to a halt at the upper edge of the driveway and arched his spine, hissing.
Something wiggled—slithered? oozed?—from the driveway into the garage. It reminded Eve of a huge snake from a rain-forest wildlife documentary. She’d never seen one that looked translucent like an elongated blob of rainbow-hued gelatin, though
.
It gulped down the nearest dozen of the spiders. Most of the others popped out of existence like glittering bubbles.
-end of excerpt-
*****
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the October 2023 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
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For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
Happy Halloween!
In the spirit of the season, below is an excerpt from “The Unvanished Hitchhiker,” which first appeared in a 2007 Halloween anthology that’s out of print. In this scene, Leah spends Halloween night with an older woman, Alice, at her request. The story is now available in my collection LOVE AMONG THE MONSTERS, which you can find here:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Among-Monsters-Fantasy-Supernatural-ebook/dp/B09BXP9Q4B/
Other retailers:
<a href=”https://books2read.com/u/4joWpZ“>Love Among the Monsters at Draft2Digital</a>
To view all my e-books offered on Draft2Digital, please go here:
<a href=”https://books2read.com/ap/nBkAGA/Margaret-L-Carter“>My Books at Draft2Digital</a>
I’ve finally finished updating the “Complete Works” page on my website! Unless I missed something, aside from one paranormal romance novella—“Wizard’s Trap”—waiting for re-release, all the links on this page should point to the current versions of the listed books and stories:
Complete Works
Writers Exchange E-Publishing has adorned the four novels in the Wild Sorceress series with all-new covers:
Continuing the horror theme, this month’s interview features Barbara Custer, publisher of “Night to Dawn” magazine and books.
*****
Interview with Barbara Custer:
How did you come to edit NIGHT TO DAWN magazine?
In the late 90s and early 2000s, I sent work to different magazines, including Night to Dawn, to be published. I also belonged to several writing groups, hoping to market my first book, Twilight Healer. Night to Dawn’s owner ran into financial difficulties and informed all the writers that the magazine would fold unless someone would step up and take over. I was tempted to offer, but I thought I needed more experience. However, my writing buddies convinced me to give it a go. So, the next issue went out on time, but I did the printing. Thankfully, Ginger Johnson, who owned several magazines, walked me through the process.
Why did you switch the magazine’s topic from vampires to general horror? For would-be contributors, please summarize the submission guidelines.
People in my writer’s groups have advised me to go with general horror, including vampires, to appeal to readers with varied interests. Vampires and zombies have been somewhat overdone, so I look for a unique perspective on these stories. Some writers have also expressed an interest in different types of horror. Jonathan Maberry has often said that zombies were hot, especially if you can devise a new twist on the subject. Lee Clark Zumpe sent me a beauty of a tale featuring ghouls. Yes, ghouls. I plan to publish it in the next issue.
That said, I’m still publishing vampire tales that have a unique spin. I open for limited periods because I hate to see people wait years to see their work in print. The best thing an author can do is query me first before sending. You can find the submission guidelines here: Submissions | NIGHT TO DAWN MAGAZINE & BOOKS (bloodredshadow.com)
What inspired you to start the “Night to Dawn” small press for book publishing? Is it open to general submissions? What should aspiring authors know about submitting books to you?
Around 2003, I found small press publishers for Twilight Healer and another book, which I have since pulled from print. Both publishers folded. In the meantime, I got to know some peer authors. They liked my work with Night to Dawn and asked if I could publish their books. NTD is closed to general book submissions as I’m currently formatting a book for someone, and I have two others on the list to read. I’d like aspiring authors to know that much work goes into editing, formatting, and printing the books. About one or two books go to print a year. Regarding marketing, the onus falls on the author, although I have done some promoting with ads and blog tours. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with great artists.
What would you like to tell readers about the latest issue of the magazine?
Night to Dawn 44 has a lot of great work from authors/poets like Lee Clark Zumpe, Marge Simon, and Sandy DeLuca. In particular, Zumpe’s “The Quarantine Station” will remind you of The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which a scientist experiments with raising the dead. Along with other regulars like Hal Kempka, Rod Marsden, Matthew Wilson, Todd Hanks, and Linda Barrett, not to mention the artists listed on the front cover, you’ll find that Night to Dawn 44 has a Halloween theme, complete with a pumpkin on the front cover.
What books has your publishing company recently published and/or will release soon?
I’m currently formatting Michael De Stefano’s The Bohemian, an erotica, humorous tale that challenges the post-Reagan bourgeoisie. It should go live this fall. You can review his work at Michael De Stefano | NIGHT TO DAWN MAGAZINE & BOOKS (bloodredshadow.com)
The most recent release, besides the magazine, is Kevin R. Doyle’s The Anchor, published in November 2022. A suspense tale, it features a newscaster with grand ambitions to make it to the top and a mysterious admirer who kills off her competition. Kevin R. Doyle | NIGHT TO DAWN MAGAZINE & BOOKS (bloodredshadow.com) https://bloodredshadow.com/night-to-dawn-magazine-and-books/kevin-r-doyle/
What’s the latest with your own writing?
In 2018, I released a SF collection, The Forgotten People. When Blood Reigns, the sequel to Steel Rose, was published in December 2016. I then worked on the sequel to those two stories, with Alexis going for another round with the renegade aliens and zombies, but a secondary character ended up taking over the plot. Meantime, life got in the way, so I’m still working on this book. I did make several changes at a developmental editor’s recommendation, and I’m back in the saddle working on this book. I can’t give out the title, though, lest I jinx the process. 😊
Can you offer any tips for writing horror fiction?
Different editors have different specs when it comes to submissions, but here are some general thoughts. If it’s a short story, the action must start on page one. I’d like to see the body by the end of the page. I’d like to see action straight away with a book, too.
The market is glutted with zombie and vampire tales. However, so long as you can give me a unique twist on tropes, I’m up for the game. For example, in Night to Dawn 44, one of the tales features a house as the vampire. One of the tales in my upcoming issue features zombies living in water (I think they might be part ghoul). 😊
This one applies to all fiction: Try to ditch unnecessary words and adverbs. Tightening your work will add to the tension in your fright tale.
Where can we find you on the internet?
You can find me on Facebook: Barbara Custer Facebook; also Night to Dawn Facebook
My website: Blood Red Shadow; you can also see the books available by my authors on the website.
Amazon page: Amazon
Email me for questions on Night to Dawn: ntdsubmissions@gmail.com
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
AFTER DEATH, by Dean Koontz. This near-future science-fiction thriller features a fascinating premise, although one of his wildest yet. As a result of an accident at a top-secret government research lab (what else? — it’s a Dean Koontz novel) experimenting on nanobots and an archaic strain of microbes, a bunch of people die. One man, however, security head Michael Mace, rises from the dead with unprecedented powers. With his mind alone, he can access and manipulate or override any branch of the internet and anything connected to it. In contemporary society, that means almost everything. He has become a human incarnation of the long-awaited Singularity. Fortunately, Michael possesses a deep ethical foundation and wishes only to use this unwanted power for good. First, though, he has to escape from the official forces bent on eliminating him. In the process, he becomes the protector of a single mother, Nina (with whom his one trusted friend at the facility, now dead, was in love), and her son. Most of the novel consists of desperate flight and hair-raising, near-death encounters. Michael avoids omnipotence only by virtue of having to interact with the bad guys in the material world, where he’s no more a superman than any other physically fit, combat-trained human being. Negatives of this novel: First, the assassin devoted to Michael’s destruction is yet another of Koontz’s typical sociopathic villains, all with basically the same personality, all flat caricatures of pure nihilistic evil. In addition, this one is a solipsist, firmly convinced “reality” is a game designed for him to prove his worthiness to ascend to a higher sphere. Second, again Koontz’s recent obsession with the claim that the world is going straight to perdition dominates the book, along with his increasingly author-intrusive, right-wing reasons why (in his opinion) this is so. Positives: Michael’s core goodness, which makes his superhuman gifts engaging even if not quite credible. A courageous heroine with a bright, likable son. The deep bond that develops between Michael and Nina. A golden retriever (are you surprised?) in the epilogue, which charmingly includes a bundle of names borrowed from the Narnia series (the dog is Lucy). Also in the epilogue, how Michael uses his power anonymously but irresistibly to change the world for the better. I wouldn’t recommend AFTER DEATH as an introduction to Koontz’s work, but his long-time fans will probably enjoy it.
HOLLY, by Stephen King. Like King himself, I embrace Holly Gibney as one of my favorite characters. Readers who share that attitude will probably enjoy this latest novel as much as I did. Those who dislike Holly (oddly, judging from online comments I’ve seen, some do) may give up on the book before the story shifts into high gear. In keeping with the title, the latest changes in her personal life occupy as much narrative space as the mystery she’s investigating, possibly more. As King explains in the afterword, in this novel he tackles COVID and the associated social and political developments surrounding it head-on. The previous Holly-centered work, “If It Bleeds” (in the collection of that name) was completed before the pandemic began but published during it. In HOLLY, her mother has just died, and Holly’s partner in the detective agency is hospitalized with COVID. Although in no position to take on a new case, she yields to a desperate mother’s plea to investigate the disappearance of her young adult daughter. Because the victim isn’t a minor, the police tend to think she left on her own. Holly’s investigation turns up other disappearances at intervals of several years between each. Could they be connected? The choice of possible victims (if they aren’t voluntary runaways) shows no pattern, and there’s no apparent link among them except location. Of course, as Holly begins to suspect, they are in fact all victims of the same pair of serial killers. I was mildly disappointed by the absence of any supernatural content, but nevertheless there’s an element of horror. Numerous scenes are narrated from the viewpoints of the kidnappers, a married couple of highly respected, retired, cannibalistic college professors. That’s not a spoiler, since it’s revealed early in the book. Chillingly, they believe so firmly in the alleged benefits of their dietary regimen that they almost convince the reader. This novel falls more into the suspense than the mystery genre, since we know almost from the beginning the identity of the villains and what they’re doing to their captives. The plot focuses on how soon Holly can solve the puzzle and whether the girl whose disappearance triggered the case will survive to be rescued. Aspiring young, Black writer Jerome, Holly’s occasional assistant, and his sister, working on a creative project of her own, play prominent roles in the investigation. It’s always a pleasure to see more of those two characters. King makes the killers almost sympathetic at some points, highlighting the deep mutual devotion within their lifelong marriage. As we get to know them more intimately, though, that trace of sympathy fades. They cherish carefully cloaked racist attitudes, for one thing. As well as the COVID pandemic with its restrictions and the controversies around them, King deals frankly with the overall political turmoil of that period. His own political position is obvious, though he allows space for opposing views in some characters’ dialogue. Since I hold similar opinions to his, from my viewpoint he’s simply writing realistically about current events instead of evading them. Readers with different views may think he’s getting too intrusively “political.” In the afterword, he acknowledges his own bias, which Holly shares, but says he hopes he would be able to present a protagonist with opposite beliefs fairly, should he choose to write about one. It’s heartwarming to watch Holly navigate the upheaval in her life, including the shock of uncovering the lies her mother and uncle—now confined to an institution because of advanced Alzheimer’s—told her about a vitally important family secret. She has evolved through every book since her first appearance in MR. MERCEDES, and I hope for more stories about her, although the final scene of HOLLY would make a fitting conclusion to the series.
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER, by Tim Powers. This book reminds me of THE STRESS OF HER REGARD, though on a smaller scale. This new historical horror novel also features real-life literary figures—in this case, the Bronte siblings before their works were published and won fame—threatened and tempted by supernatural beings from myth and legend. Early in the story, elderly, half-blind clergyman Patrick Bronte reveals to his daughters how in his youth he unwisely brought a strange, dark boy with him from Ireland to England. The curse of that child, actually a demonic, shapeshifting entity, hangs over their family. Around the same point in the book, we learn of a cult that worships a “biune” (two-personed) monstrous werewolf deity and pursues the mission of reuniting its separated head and body. In my opinion, it’s good that the author places these revelations soon after Emily rescues a wounded stranger on the moor, for otherwise we might find their subsequent adventures hopelessly confusing. Alcuin Curzon, member of a secret organization devoted to eradicating lycanthropy, yet a werewolf himself, insists he doesn’t need Emily’s help, and she has no reason to trust him anyway. Nevertheless, circumstances force them to work together against the cult of the werewolf god. Its headless body, as they later discover, lies under Partrick’s church. Meanwhile, his son, Branwell, comes across the dark boy. An alcoholic who repeatedly sabotages his own chances at any kind of success, Branwell, like his sisters, is working on a novel. Ironically, although he dismisses his sisters’ work as probable “scribbles” based on their childhood shared fantasy world, he’s the sibling whose efforts come to nothing. Moreover, he compensates for his outward failures by secretly identifying with the role he played in those childhood stories. Naturally, he’s ripe for possession by the demonic boy, who’s clearly destined to become an inspiration for Heathcliff in WUTHERING HEIGHTS. In addition to that “boy” and werewolves, Branwell and Emily encounter ghosts who suck the breath from living victims. In the climactic confrontation with the werewolf-god cult, Branwell gets a chance to redeem himself. Although this novel doesn’t weave together a grand synthesis of “all myths are true” like THE STRESS OF HER REGARD, the premise of MY BROTHER’S KEEPER still conveys an atmosphere of numinous horror deeply rooted in the folkloric past. On the literary-biographical level, it intriguingly suggests supernatural reasons why the Bronte sisters didn’t publish more fiction than they did and why Branwell and Emily died relatively young. Recommended for fans of Powers’s work in general and THE STRESS OF HER REGARD in particular.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
<Realm of the Vampires“>Realm of the Vampires</a>
*****
Excerpt from “The Unvanished Hitchhiker”:
Watching the other woman out of the corner of her eye, Leah got the impression she was listening for something. Now and then she tilted her head as if straining to pick up sounds over the movie’s dialogue. When a car roared past outside, Alice jumped. Several times Leah considered asking what preyed on her mind but decided against it.
The doorbell rang at about quarter to eleven. Alice drew in a hissing breath. Her left hand crumpled a page of the magazine. She darted another glance at the door but didn’t move.
When the bell rang again, Leah said, “Would you like me to get that?” Alice responded with a rapid, jerky nod.
With the chain still attached, Leah opened the door just far enough to peek out.
The wind had picked up, lending a slight chill to the night, although the half-moon still shone in a clear sky. Dry leaves skittered along the sidewalk. A man stood on the porch holding a length of crimson fabric. “Sorry to bother you,” he said, “but when I dropped off your daughter just now, she left this in the car.”
“Daughter?” Leah shook her head. “You must have the wrong address.”
“Then maybe that girl was visiting here?” He thrust the garment he carried through the crack between door and frame. His hand trembled. “Anyway, this was the house where she told me to stop, no doubt about that. I have to get going.”
Automatically closing her fingers on the piece of cloth, which she noticed was wet, Leah murmured a confused thanks. The man scurried down the driveway to the car he’d left running at the curb.
For a second the air felt icy cold. With a fleeting shiver, Leah closed the door. When she turned toward Alice, the other woman was clutching the edge of the couch cushion like a slippery ledge from which she was afraid of falling.
“It’s nothing,” Leah said, “just somebody who had the wrong address. He left this before I could make him take it back.” She held up the cloth. A silky cashmere shawl.
“He?” Alice whispered. “A man?”
“Yes, just some guy who was lost, I guess.” She sat down, watching Alice with concern.
“No, he wasn’t lost.” She took the shawl and pressed it to her cheek. “I thought with another person here it might turn out different. I thought she might come herself this time.”
“She? What’s going on? Do you know this man? Were you expecting him?”
“Not him, specifically. But I knew somebody would show up. And I knew he’d bring this.” She rubbed the loosely knitted material between her fingers. “If only I could at least keep it. But it always vanishes overnight, even if I fall asleep holding it.”
“Alice, what are you talking about?” Leah was starting to wonder if her friend was mentally unhinged.
With a weary sigh, Alice said, “I’ll tell you about it. You’ll think I’m crazy, though.”
Wincing at this inadvertent echo of her own thoughts, Leah shook her head. “Of course I won’t.”
“I haven’t talked to anybody about it since my husband left.” She wrung the shawl between her hands. A few drops of water trickled from it. “You probably heard I had a teenage daughter who died.”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Joanne was seventeen. We had a fight, actually a marathon series of fights, about the boy she was going with. I knew all along he was bad news.” Her lips tightened. “Her dad and I ordered her to stop seeing him. I even took away the bracelet he gave her. She disobeyed us and sneaked out to meet him at a Halloween party. He drove her home drunk. It was raining hard. The car crashed on a curve about a mile from here. You know the one?”
Leah nodded. Every town had at least one “dead man’s curve,” and the main drag into this neighborhood had earned that nickname.
“The boy was killed instantly. Joanne fell into a coma she never woke up from. She died on the third night after.”
“I’m sorry,” Leah whispered again. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“She took my shawl for her gypsy costume, without permission. This one.” She held up the twisted length of fabric. “Out of spite, I think, because I confiscated that bracelet.”
Before Leah managed to stifle her reaction, she knew her friend must have noticed the look of horror and pity on her face.
“Don’t worry, you won’t offend me if you decide I’ve lost my mind. My husband had the same idea. That’s why he left. After the second year, he couldn’t handle what he called my obsession.” Alice’s eyes glazed over for a few seconds. “It started on the anniversary of Joanne’s death. A strange woman came to the door with this shawl and claimed a girl she’d picked up had left it in her car.”
-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, 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):
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