Author Archive
Welcome to the August 2025 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
The Wild Rose Press has accepted my YA ghost novella “Her Death Was Doubtful” for their “Haunting of Pinedale High” shared-world series. It will be released on September 29 of this year.
My light paranormal romance novella “Summertide Echoes” was published by the Wild Rose Press on July 7. Here’s the blurb:
Joyce Walton wants to sell the vacation cabin she and her childhood best friend, Mark Girard, inherited together. The money will make her long-cherished business plan come true. To her shock, he’s determined to hang onto the place. Although they’ve drifted apart in recent years, she still cares for him. She’s always counted on his support, so why can’t he understand the urgency of her need? Mark believes his younger sister, who died in her teens, lingers on the property, visiting him in dreams at the cabin but nowhere else. He struggles with severing this last remaining tie. Yet he doesn’t want to hurt Joyce, especially when his old feelings for her reawaken. After encountering the ghost of their old Saint Bernard and dreaming of Mark’s sister, Joyce accepts the reality of the supernatural manifestations. Why are the two spirits haunting the cabin? On top of that, she’s falling in love with Mark. How can they settle the clash over their shared property without ruining any hope of a shared life?
The book’s page:
“Summertide Echoes” was featured in a Book Heaven Wednesday spotlight by N. N. Light’s Book Heaven on July 9:
You can read one more excerpt from the story below. After sharing a dinner at the cabin, Joyce and Mark encounter their aunts’ long-dead Saint Bernard.
Issue 48 of vampire and horror zine NIGHT TO DAWN includes my short, funny story “Interview with a Reluctant Vampire”:
By the way, Night to Dawn Magazine & Books also published my collection of three humorous tales about vampire-human crossbreed psychiatrist Roger Darvell, DOCTOR VAMPIRE:
Here’s a follow-up interview with YA fantasy author Mark Rosendorf.
*****
Interview with Mark Rosendorf:
What inspired you to become a writer?
To be honest, this is actually my second writing career, and I call myself a Born Again Author. Let me explain this term I coined:
As a child, I always enjoyed writing and knew that writing books was in my future. I achieved that dream in 2007 when my first book, “The Rasner Effect” was picked up by the publisher, L&L Dreamspell. It was an adult suspense/thriller which was followed by two sequels, a sci-fi book, and a short story. The truth is, I knew nothing about how to navigate the book industry and how to get my work out there for fans all over the world to read. By the time I learned my way around the literary world, I was burnt out. I decided to be happy with the fact that I achieved my dream of becoming a writer and settle on an early retirement as a writer. To show how little of an impact I made on the writing industry, no one else even realized I retired.
Two quick facts about me: I am a high school guidance counselor working with students with special needs. I was also a professional magician (which predates my writing career) and, to this day, I teach magic to my students as part of our performing arts program. A few years had passed since I quit writing books and just focused on working with my students and putting together the shows for the program and teaching them magic.
One night, at about 3:00 am, I was thinking about how much work we put into the magic, yet to the audience, it may as well be witchcraft. Suddenly, the idea hit me for a book I had to write. Over the course of a number of nights, the characters, the plot, and the entire story flashed in my head like a bullet to the brain. I was up for hours those nights writing it all down, under my blanket with a flashlight, trying my hardest not to wake up my wife. This is how The Witches of Vegas, a five book fantasy series written for young adult readers, was born.
So, using all I learned from my first writing career, I have now written and still write a new and completely different series in a different genre (fantasy and sci-fi) for a different audience. That is why I call myself a Born Again Author.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
My best ideas come at the most inopportune times. They hit me while I’m in the shower, at three o’clock in the morning, or when I’m driving. When they hit, they’re like lightning, one bright flash, then it’s completely gone. This is why I keep notepads in the shower and next to my bed with a flashlight. I use a recording app on my phone in the car.
I then take all of my notes and write out the chapter in a notebook. I’m not worried about grammar or sentence structure, just the story. I then take that and type it out on the computer where I’m now focused on grammar, sentence structure, as well as the creative story itself. In essence, my first time typing it out is my second draft.
What would you describe as the special challenges of writing YA fiction?
The biggest challenge is creating a YA story which will appeal not just to teens today but to teens in future generations. Teen slang and interests change almost by the day. I’ve produced published articles and podcasts on the set of rules I’ve created and follow on keeping stories timeless, and much of that advice is geared toward YA books. I call them my “Back To The Future” rules.
The last thing you want is to turn off a future generation of readers because they just can’t relate to the characters in the story. A fifteen-year-old today may enjoy a specific YA story, but what you don’t want is a fifteen-year-old picking up the book in the far future and saying, “the teen in this story sounds like my grandpa.”
Here’s a podcast where I present my “Back To The Future rules that I hope will help any aspiring writers out there: How to Make Your Writing Timeless
Please tell us about your “Witches of Vegas” series.
The Witches of Vegas series features everything you could want in a story. Fantasy, sci-fi, suspense, action/adventure, humor, romance, and starting in the third book, time travel and a unique take on alternate timelines.
The Witches of Vegas revolves around two main characters. One is fifteen-year-old Isis Rivera, the adopted daughter of The Witches of Vegas, a family of witches and their vampire mentor, Walter, who hide in plain sight as magicians on The Vegas Strip. Their show becomes the number one show in Vegas due to the amazing “illusions” they create on stage and the low cost for props and illusions since they’re creating their magic out of thin air in order to train and practice their witchcraft.
The second main character is a teenage magician’s apprentice, Zack Galloway. Zack is raised by and works for his uncle, “The Amazing Herb Galloway,” who used to be one of the Vegas greats. Now, with The Witches of Vegas’ show sending every other magician running for greener pastures, Herb and Zack’s show barely keeps an audience and is in danger of being cancelled. Unfortunately, their failed attempt to keep up with The Witches of Vegas has left them without money to relocate. Their next home could be the streets.
Isis and Zack should be enemies. But, when a threat from Walter’s past comes to Vegas with a vendetta against the entire world, it will be up to these two teenagers to somehow bring their families together. But will even they be enough to stop the threat of Wiccan vampire, Valeria, who has had hundreds of years to prepare?
While The Witches of Vegas series’ two main characters are teens, there are also enough adult characters with different personalities. Guaranteed, there’s a character in this book that will appeal to any and all readers.
As the author of GHOST THERAPY in the “Haunting of Pinedale High” series, please tell us about the background of that novel and what it’s like to write in a shared world.
As far as writing a shared world, I had a huge advantage over other writers in the series in that I went first. I was able to set the tone, create the town of Pinedale, and create the school where the hauntings take place. I did communicate with a lot of other authors in the series, and placing their needs into my presentation of the town (for example, one author wanted a diner near the school, so I implemented that). But everyone else, for the most part, used Ghost Therapy as a reference point for their stories in “The Haunting of Pinedale High” series.
Ghost Therapy revolves around Sam Anderson, a fifteen-year-old student at Pinedale Central High School who is constantly tormented by a bully in the school. He doesn’t have friends at school, until he meets Jessica, a ghost who has been haunting the school for over a century with no way to leave. Jessica convinces Sam to stand up to his bully, advice that proves disastrous when Sam is inadvertently killed in the confrontation.
From that moment, Sam becomes a ghost in Pinedale Central high school. Sam is unable to be seen or heard, not by the living or even by other ghosts. That is, until a brand-new guidance counselor for the school can see and hear him.
Mr. Copeland is a former special forces soldier who has retired from military service and has come to Pinedale to begin his job as a counselor. Soon after discovering Sam, the two form a bond created out of Copeland’s determination to help Sam find his way to the afterlife. Their efforts, however, have consequences…some good, some not so good, and one that could put the lives of everyone in the school at risk.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
I don’t have specific authors who influence me, but rather specific books, specific works. The one book which had a huge influence on me was Stephen Baxter’s “The Time Ships.” It was a sequel to one of my favorite stories, HG Wells’ “The Time Machine.” What stuck out most to me about “The Time Ships” was that each chapter was relatively short and they each ended on a cliffhanger that excited me to read the next chapter and find out what would happen. I use this technique whenever possible in my own writing.
Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series was also a huge influence on me. As a kid I loved those books mainly because, beyond the humor, it was an intelligently crafted story with clever anecdotes throughout. Mostly, it was an original concept which made me think, and that’s what I like to bring to my readers.
Outside of books, my biggest influences in my current writing career are my students. I always try to think in terms of characters they’d relate to and embrace when creating these stories as they are a microcosm of all my potential readers out there.
One unique example of my students influencing my writing is that Sam, the main character of Ghost Therapy, is based on one of my students. He is young man who has difficulties with reading. I gave him a copy of Ghost Therapy knowing he would relate to the character; after all, he had a huge influence on Sam. Each day, he would read a few pages with his teacher who would help him break down the words he struggled with. It took almost the entire year, but he finished the book (it was the second book we worked with him on as he had one of a lower grade level the previous year) and he genuinely enjoyed the story. This is a huge statement for a young man who avoided reading at all costs because a page filled with words was too overwhelming for him. When we tested him at the end of the year, his reading levels had jumped up by two and a half grades in one year. That came from reading.
It’s Summer vacation now, but I look forward to letting him know when he comes back to school that the story he read, with a main character he influenced, has won the National Excellence in Storytelling for 2025.
What are you working on now?
I am in the middle of a new and unique YA story called “The Sub.” It’s a futuristic sci-fi adventure revolving around a group of teens who are thrust into an unusual and overwhelming situation they can’t possibly be ready for. This story, like The Witches of Vegas, takes a new and unique take on time travel and paradoxes that also promises to have characters that will emotionally invest their readers. I don’t have a set date as to when it will come out, but it will definitely be worth watching out for. But, until then, I invite all your readers to enjoy The Witches of Vegas series and The Haunting of Pinedale High series starting with Ghost Therapy.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
My advice is to get ready for a long, frustrating, and exhausting process, and that’s after the book is written. Whether you’re looking for a traditional publisher or you want to self-publish, you have a lot of work ahead of you. But nothing worth doing is ever easy. When you finally see your book in print, when you look at your cover for the first time, all that hard work is well worth it.
One thing to keep in mind: when your book finally becomes real, that is not the goal…that’s the starting line. It doesn’t mean you won your race, it means you are now entering the race, a race that never ends because there are always people out there that haven’t read your book yet and you want them to know about it.
My second piece of advice: keep reading. The more you read, the better of a writer you become. Good luck, and enjoy the ride.
Check out my website: Mark Rosendorf
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
A FAR BETTER THING, by H. G. Parry. In A TALE OF TWO CITIES, why does Sydney Carton, the assistant to Charles Darnay’s defense lawyer, look uncannily similar to Darnay? Mere coincidence? Not in Parry’s book, a retelling of Dickens’s novel narrated by Sydney Carton. Darnay is a fairy changeling, substituted for Carton in infancy. Like all children abducted by the fairies, at puberty Carton faced the choice of either transformation into one of the fae or a lifetime as a human servant to the fairies. Having chosen the latter, he lives in the mortal world and carries out assignments for his fae masters (for example, stealing bones from graveyards) whenever ordered to by his contact, a fairy he calls Shadow. He shuns close connections with other people, dulling his emotions with habitual drunkenness. Human servants usually aren’t told the reasons for the tasks imposed on them. They aren’t allowed to learn the true names bestowed on them at their human births, nor are they ever supposed to meet their changelings. Carton knows coming face-to-face with his fairy doppelganger in the courtroom can’t be a random accident. Even stranger, Lucie Manette (Darnay’s future wife) proves to be the changeling counterpart of Carton’s beloved childhood friend Ivy, who died in an alleged accident in the fae realm before reaching the age of decision. His first impulse upon meeting Darnay is to hate him, even though the situation isn’t the fault of the changeling, who has no idea of his true nature. Yet Carton develops true friendships with Darnay, Lucie, and Dr. Manette. Even fully aware that Lucie isn’t Ivy, Carton grows to care deeply for the changeling woman. He also becomes close to an eccentric stage magician who augments his act with genuine magic and ardently desires to enter the fairy realm, a wish Carton regards as madness. He longs for revenge against the beings who stole his life and made him a slave – in vain, until he clashes with a fairy he calls Bartholomew (female, oddly, as far as can be discerned). Bartholomew hatches a plot to open forbidden gates between the realms, overthrow the fairy king, and invade the mortal world. Carton cherishes ambitions to destroy both Shadow and Batholomew, but killing fairies is almost impossible. All these supernatural machinations comprise the main plot, while the story of A TALE OF TWO CITIES as we know it unfolds mostly in the background. Parry’s clever interweaving of the mundane and magical plotlines forms a riveting tale. Carton ends up forced to bargain with Shadow, despite the dire risks of making deals with fairies. It’s fascinating to watch him embrace his humanity as his fate irrevocably progresses toward the climax we know to expect from the original classic novel. We never find out, by the way, the fairies’ exact motive for the changeling custom. If they steal human babies to replenish their own dwindling ranks and/or to gain mortal servants for tasks in the human world, why not just take the children? Why bother to leave changelings? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of increasing the fairies’ population? Maybe in the context of Sydney Carton’s own viewpoint, though, this omission makes sense. After all, the fae seldom if ever bother to explain their actions and demands to mortals. That behavior is just one aspect of their terrifyingly enigmatic nature.
THE WINDS OF FATE, by S. M. Stirling. The second volume in Stirling’s “Make the Darkness Light” series about time travel to the Roman Empire in the middle of the second century. In case you’ve read L. Sprague de Camp’s classic LEST DARKNESS FALL, the homage in Stirling’s title will be obvious. In my opinion, however, his fictional development of the premise is better. Like the protagonist of LEST DARKNESS FALL, Stirling’s twenty-first-century characters introduce technological and social innovations to Roman society in an attempt to alter history for the better. They have more knowledge and resources to work with, though. Appreciating THE WINDS OF FATE requires having read the first book, TO TURN THE TIDE; they comprise parts of one continuing story. (Needless to say, I recommend that any fan of time-travel fiction do so.) The set-up: Professor Arthur Vandenberg, now known as Artorius, and four of his graduate students were tricked into participating in a desperate temporal experiment. At the beginning of TO TURN THE TIDE, they and a literal ton of useful baggage were sent to Roman-ruled central Europe in the 160s, seconds ahead of Vienna’s destruction by a fusion bomb in the near-future twenty-first century. (The inventor of the time machine didn’t survive the one-way trip.) Of course, that means all the events of the series after they arrive in the past belong to an alternate history. In that novel, they had the good fortune to be found by a highly intelligent, scrupulously honest Jewish merchant and later to win the patronage of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, plus the friendship of Galen, the greatest physician of classical antiquity. The travelers, under the guise of refugees from a technologically advanced country called America far across the Atlantic, destroyed by a cataclysmic war – more or less the truth – began to introduce what Artorius calls “Type A” innovations. They can be built or implemented, e.g. stirrups, agricultural improvements, gunpowder, vaccination, and anti-disease sanitation measures, among many others, with technology already available in the second century; the Romans need only to be taught the concepts. By THE WINDS OF FATE, set six to eight years after the Americans’ arrival, they’ve begun to advance to “Type B” inventions, requiring new kinds of tools to make the tools. Meanwhile, with gunpowder weapons the Roman Empire has conquered barbarian lands that took many years and much bloodshed to subdue in the original timeline, and a devastating smallpox epidemic has been averted through vaccination. Now they’re directing the godlike weapons against the other great empire of that era, the Parthians. Hidebound traditionalists in the Roman Senate disapprove of the “new things” and the influence of the upstart from nowhere who has the Emperor’s favor. Most people, however, welcome the advances with awe. But a graver danger is brewing on the other side of the world. The Chinese Communist regime also dispatched travelers at the same time, trained and prepared, with their leader bent in the long run on global domination. Now the two groups have become aware of each other, with an inevitable clash set up for the forthcoming next installment in the series. I like the Chinese viewpoint character, a historical linguist added to the team as a last-minute replacement. I was glad to find that feeling justified as the plot unfolds. The five American characters are individualized and likable, even the young man who’s somewhat empathy-challenged. Two of them marry each other, and the other three form marriages or marriage-like unions with people they’ve met since their arrival. The narrative makes it clear the travelers haven’t callously forgotten the horrific would-have-been future from which they were involuntarily rescued, but in the ensuing years they’ve become adjusted to their new situation, even if they still sometimes have to remind themselves it’s actually real. The story’s main emphasis, though, focuses on the monumental changes they’ve introduced to the Roman world, with more to come. Caution: To fully enjoy this book, you have to like reading detailed exposition on technological and sociological topics. I love a well-written expository lump, and Stirling is a consummately lucid explainer. Therefore, the multiple, lengthy passages of explanation, whether in dialogue between characters or in straightforward exposition thinly disguised as internal monologue, delighted me. On the other hand, the major battle against the Parthians went on way too long for me, although I know many Stirling fans glory in that kind of thing. The author’s afterword also provides an overview of his approach to the time-travel premise and the changes made by his characters.
HOW TO FIND A NAMELESS FAE, by A. J. Lancaster. A re-imagining of “Rumpelstiltskin” with aspects of “Beauty and the Beast.” The protagonist, Princess Gisele, was destined to fulfill her mother’s pact with the mysterious creature who spun straw into gold. In Gisele’s infancy her parents carefully kept her separated from her younger twin brother, heir to the throne, for fear the “beast” would take him by mistake. However, neither of them was claimed. Now, at the age of forty, Gisele continues to wait in vain for the claimant to show up. Over the years, the curse that’s a byproduct of the magical bargain has grown more extreme. Nobody can stand to be near her for long, and her presence changes gold to wood or straw. With the latter effect spreading, to the potential ruin of her parents’ kingdom, she decides to take matters into her own hands by crossing into the faerie realm in search of the “evil sorcerer” who holds her debt. Instead, she finds a curmudgeonly but handsome, youthful-looking male fae with red hair and feline eyes, ears, fangs, and tail. Their acquaintance starts badly when she stabs him with a poisoned dagger, offering the antidote only if he releases her from the bargain. To her dismay, he can’t do that without recovering his true name. The tale her family believes, he explains, is based on a misunderstanding. He never required Gisele’s mother to guess his name; he entrusted it to her as a means of protection from his archenemy. The firstborn child part of the deal was a mere formality, required by the nature of faerie magic. He expected to clear up the matter within a year. When things went wrong, he became a recluse. He’s mildly surprised to learn of Gisele’s plight, having lost track of the time that has passed in the mortal realm. Besides, he had no idea his failure to claim her burdened her with a curse. In effect, the nemesis who has overshadowed her entire life basically forgot about her. Gisele must put aside her outrage and cooperate with him in the quest for his lost name in order to free herself. She discovers she has no choice, being now so intimately bound to the sorcerer she can’t even leave his warded property without him. Since he interacts with other people so seldom, he hasn’t bothered to adopt a use-name, so she calls him her Malediction, “Mal” for short. By the way, can’t he just arbitrarily choose a new name? No, true names don’t work that way. She makes a game of running through alphabetical lists of names in remote hope of stumbling on the right one by accident, while they delve into his voluminous library in search of a solution. Gradually and believably, the relationship between Gisele and Mal evolves from hostility to alliance, then friendship, then sensual attraction exacerbated by erotically fraught shared dreams. Gisele finds herself less eager to escape their magical bond and return home, wondering whether the deepening attachment between them will survive the bond’s dissolution. Meanwhile, she becomes friendly with a few odd – people – who visit the borders of Mal’s land. Aside from Gisele and Mal with their intense emotions and lively dialogue, the most engaging characters are his sentient house, constantly rearranging its interior and contents according to the inhabitants’ needs or its own whims, and a supercilious talking cat (communicating telepathically, not aloud). The astonishing revelation of where Mal’s true name is hidden leads to a devastating battle with his enemy. A surprising but credibly foreshadowed eucatastrophe produces a heartwarming conclusion. To my delight, the denouement satisfyingly ties up loose threads rather than rushing directly from the plot’s climax to the final page. Although completely happy with the ending, I became so enthralled with Gisele and Mal I felt half sorry to reach that last page.
THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE, by Sarah Beth Durst. While this cozy fantasy is part prequel to and part spinoff from THE SPELLSHOP, the two books can be read independently. Aside from the setting, they’re connected by the sentient spider plant, a major secondary character in THE SPELLSHOP, whose creation triggers the events at the beginning of THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE. The two heroines, both librarians, reverse-mirror each other in personality. The protagonist of THE SPELLSHOP is an introvert perfectly content to live in her corner of the library without speaking to anyone except the spider plant for weeks at a time. Upon returning to her home island, she shrinks from meeting people and tries in vain to discourage her obtrusively friendly nearest neighbor. Terlu in THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE, on the other hand, expected that as a librarian she would meet scholars and other patrons every day, helping them find the perfect books for their needs. Instead, she works in unwelcome isolation. In her loneliness, she casts a spell to bestow sentience on the spider plant, violating the harsh law against magical activity by non-sorcerers, just to have someone to talk to. She ends up alone on an island with a handsome but antisocial gardener who communicates mainly by grunts and shrugs. The story begins with the trial that condemns her to transformation into a wooden statue as an example to other would-be lawbreakers. Six years later, she reverts to human form, awakening amid a snow-covered landscape on the aforesaid island. The only inhabitant, Yarrow, the caretaker for a complex of enchanted greenhouses, petitioned the capital of the Empire for a sorcerer to stop the gradual degradation of the magic that keeps the greenhouses functional. Instead, he received Terlu along with instructions on how to break her punitive spell. From him, she learns the sorcerer who ruled the island died some time ago, and ever since, greenhouses have failed at regular intervals. Glass cracks, and the spells that maintain their internal environments stop working. The structures house a fascinating variety of plant life, both magical and mundane, in a wide array of micro-climates. Terlu also meets miniature dragons, a winged cat, a talking rosebush, and a roomful of other sentient, ambulatory plants (after she wakes them). One feature of this world I especially like is its diverse population of multiple human races, humanoids, and human-animal hybrids (although in this book we don’t see much of them until the island gets re-settled at the end). Terlu, for instance, has lavender skin, and nobody thinks anything of it. It’s also a delightful novelty to see a “pleasingly plump” heroine with a face resembling a cheerful chipmunk’s. The initially grumpy, withdrawn Yarrow nevertheless helps her as much as possible and invites her to stay in his own cottage, even though he clearly thinks she talks too much. As they work together researching the books and notes left by the dead sorcerer, who became increasingly paranoid with age, to figure out the cause and cure for the failing magic, Yarrow unbends toward Terlu. They become friends who soon share, naturally, numerous moments of awkward romantic attraction. Their growing bond is endearing and believable. It’s also credible that Terlu fears the potential consequences of meddling with magic at a far more serious level than her original transgression. She’s torn between her dread of being discovered by imperial investigators and her longing to save the greenhouses and their precious plants. Of course, we know what she’ll choose, but the suspense is genuine, as is the difficulty of finding out what went wrong and how to fix it. Meanwhile, Yarrow struggles to face his fraught relationship with his extended family who left him alone on the island – even if the sorcerer gave them little choice – while Terlu questions whether she dares to let her own family know she’s alive. All those factors, along with the heartwarming conclusion, made this another story that I hated to see end.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Summertide Echoes”:
Joyce took one stride toward the edge of the porch and peered into the darkness. “Bruno? Bruno, are you here? Come, boy!” Thunder peeled. She glanced at the sky. “What’s with the dramatic sound effects?”
A sidelong look showed her Mark in the glow of the porch light, rigidly staring as if he did think she’d lost her marbles. She called the dog’s name again. This is pointless. Why would a dead pet’s ghost, if that’s what it is, come when I call? About to give up, she glimpsed a four-legged shape, surrounded by a faint glimmer, frisking up the front path. “Bruno?”
The dog climbed the steps to her, his tail wagging. Hesitantly she touched his ruffed neck, and again her hand passed through him. She felt as if she’d reached into a freezer.
Mark got to his feet. “Are you saying this actually is Bruno?”
She swallowed hard. “Try for yourself.”
He stepped to her side and started to pet the dog. When Mark’s arm sank into the furry bulk, he snatched it back, staggering. “Oh, my God. Maybe I’m asleep now.” His voice quavered.
“Not unless we’re sharing the same dream.” She clutched his arm when the dog silently sniffed both of them in turn.
“We’re seeing Bruno’s ghost?” He spoke in a monotone, as if stunned by a blow to the head.
“Unless it’s a mindless psychic trace, like I suggested.”
He brushed his fingers over the insubstantial figure. “This is a whole different level from seeing my sister in a dream.”
Lightning flashed again, and the Saint Bernard vanished.
Mark covered his eyes for a second, then said, “That happened, right? If you saw him, too, it must have, because you’re the practical one.”
Joyce shivered at a gust of wind. “Well, he’s gone now. Let’s go inside.”
“Seconded. It’s getting chilly.”
Another thunderclap sounded. His arm wrapped around her waist, and she leaned against him, trembling.
An unexpected wave of pleasure swept over her. She inhaled his aftershave, the same lime fragrance he’d worn ever since he first started shaving. His heartbeat hammered in her ear, and her own pulse sped up. She pulled away, blushing, scooped up the empty bowls, and scurried into the house.
“How about I start a fire?” he said as he followed her in.
“Great idea.” While he stepped outside again to fetch wood, she lit four thick, pine-scented candles, two for the kitchen table and two for the coffee table. Although the generator should automatically kick on if the power grid failed, it couldn’t hurt to prepare backup light sources. She drew deep breaths to calm herself while until he entered with an armful of logs. Sitting on the couch, she watched Mark ignite the kindling with wads of newspaper. She relished his display of masculine competence, not to mention the flexing of his arm muscles as he arranged the wood on the andirons over the embryonic flames. Sure, she could have accomplished the same task herself, but why not enjoy the show? Purely aesthetic appreciation, she told herself.
Just as the blaze began to catch properly, another burst of lightning strobed in the dark. A crash of thunder followed seconds later. The next moment, the sky unleashed a torrent of rain outside the living room window. She walked over to stare through the pane. Aside from her own dim reflection on the glass, she couldn’t see anything except a sheet of rain, like a giant waterfall.
As she turned toward Mark, who’d just stood up from the hearth, the lamps on the end tables blinked off. She froze, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness relieved only by the fire and a pair of candles. Seconds later, the lights sputtered, then shone steadily again.
He released a long sigh. “Great, the generator’s doing its job.”
Picking up her phone from the coffee table, she navigated to the weather app, mildly surprised to get a signal. “This storm is supposed to hang around until almost midnight. You can’t drive anywhere in that.” She gestured at the window. “You’d better stay over.” At the realization of what that remark might imply, she hastily added, “You can crash in your usual room. I’ve already put my stuff in the other one.”
“Okay, makes sense. In that case, we might as well finish the wine.”
After an uncertain pause, she said, “Sure, why not?” That amount on top of a full meal wouldn’t be intoxicating enough to provoke her to do anything dumb. She fetched the bottle and glasses from the kitchen. They sat on the couch facing the fire, and he poured each of them a fresh drink.
“Seeing Bruno and reaching right through him was—incredible,” he said. “If you hadn’t confirmed that, I wouldn’t have believed it was real.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
All issues are now posted on Dropbox, where you should be able to download them at this link:
All Vampire’s Crypt Issues on Dropbox
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links:
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Joyce Walton wants to sell the vacation cabin she and her childhood best friend, Mark Girard, inherited together. The money will make her long-cherished business plan come true. To her shock, he’s determined to hang onto the place. Although they’ve drifted apart in recent years, she still cares for him. She’s always counted on his support, so why can’t he understand the urgency of her need? Mark believes his younger sister, who died in her teens, lingers on the property, visiting him in dreams at the cabin but nowhere else. He struggles with severing this last remaining tie. Yet he doesn’t want to hurt Joyce, especially when his old feelings for her reawaken. After encountering the ghost of their old Saint Bernard and dreaming of Mark’s sister, Joyce accepts the reality of the supernatural manifestations. Why are the two spirits haunting the cabin? On top of that, she’s falling in love with Mark. How can they settle the clash over their shared property without ruining any hope of a shared life?
Order from the publisher
Order from Amazon
Welcome to the July 2025 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
My light paranormal romance novella “Summertide Echoes,” set in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia and featuring the ghosts of a St. Bernard and a teenage girl, will be published on July 7. There’s another excerpt below. Joyce, the heroine, is cleaning the mountain vacation cabin she jointly owns with the hero, Mark, who disagrees with her about selling it.
Order links:
This month’s interview features Roni Denholtz, author of romance in multiple subgenres, as well as children’s books and other types of works.
*****
Interview with Roni Denholtz:
What inspired you to become a writer?
I was an avid reader even as a child. I devoured the Nancy Drew series and wanted to write my own books. I was always making up stories and acting them out with my Barbies.
What genres do you work in?
Romance (sweet, spicy, paranormal and historical–in other words, many different kinds). I have also published over a hundred articles, stories and poems in magazines and newspapers and 9 children’s books.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I used to outline completely. Then I began winging it at the beginning of a story, and outlining toward the middle.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
I love so many authors I can’t list them all. But when I was about 14, I started reading the works of Phyllis A. Whitney, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart and other “gothic” romance authors. They probably had the greatest influence on me. I actually corresponded with Phyllis A. Whitney, who wrote articles and books on writing. She was very encouraging!
How has your teaching career affected your writing?
I taught special ed students and also an adult school class on writing. Reading students’ works made me aware of common mistakes we all make, so it was easier to avoid those mistakes.
What would you describe as the main differences between writing for adults and writing for children (aside from the ages of the readers)?
It is difficult to make a story that is short contain the basic elements of plot and characters; also to make it interesting in fewer words, while making it easier to read.
Please tell us about your “Lightning Strikes” series.
I have always been fascinated by the occult and paranormal. I had the bizarre idea, what if people were struck by lightning and developed psychic abilities? What if there was a center to study those people? So The Lightning Center was born. I thought I’d call the series the Lightning people series but my editor suggested the “Lightning Strikes” series and I liked that name.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
My latest is “Lightning Strikes Anew” which is a second-chance romance which features a psychic researcher at the Center and her former love, who was struck by lightning as a teenager.
What are you working on now?
A new Hanukkah novella. I have several ideas for more books in my Lightning Strikes series. which has been nominated for, and won, awards such as the NJ Golden Leaf.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Read a lot. Also listen to criticism and get a good editor. Just because someone is good at grammar doesn’t mean they can tell you how to improve your story. And don’t give up!
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Please find me under Roni Denholtz and Lightning Strikes series on Facebook and Roni Denholtz on Instagram.
Thank you, Margaret!
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
NEVER FLINCH, by Stephen King. Latest mystery novel featuring Holly Gibney, now running the Finders Keepers agency on her own after her partner’s retirement, with occasional help from her young friends Jerome and Barbara Robinson. After her introduction in MR. MERCEDES, Holly soon captivated me, and I always look forward eagerly to seeing her in a new story. She has grown in confidence and competence over the series, yet with no distortion of her essential personality. She still sometimes second-guesses herself and hears her mother’s admonishing, demeaning voice in her head. In this book, she shares the viewpoint role with other characters, notably police detective Izzy Jaynes, with whom she developed a true friendship after the horrific case depicted in HOLLY, and a serial killer who calls himself “Trig.” This novel, like HOLLY, has no supernatural content, although NEVER FLINCH does include the uncanny element of a character with dual personalities. Izzy asks Holly’s advice on an anonymous letter threatening to kill thirteen innocent people and one guilty one. Although Holly has no official connection with the case, she’s intrigued and pursues it on her own time. It soon becomes clear that the villain murders randomly targeted victims as surrogates for members of the jury that convicted an innocent man recently killed in prison. Meanwhile, Holly reluctantly accepts a job as temporary bodyguard for a high-profile women’s rights advocate whose current lecture tour will culminate in Holly’s home city (named here for the first time in the series). As well as enthusiastic supporters, Kate McKay attracts rabid protesters who label her a baby-killer. She’s a charismatic speaker but not very likable, domineering to her assistant and often resistant to Holly’s reasonable precautions. Kate presents an excellent example of the truth that “good” isn’t necessarily “nice.” A religious fanatic plotting to assassinate her proves Holly’s meticulous protectiveness is justified. The timing of a show by famed soul and gospel singer “Sista Bessie,” who takes Barbara Robinson under her wing, almost overlaps with Kate’s speaking engagement. The two celebrities form a striking contrast, especially between Kate’s treatment of her assistant and Sista Bessie’s of Barbara. The two murder-suspense plot streams, although completely unconnected aside from Holly’s involvement in both, cleverly merge at the climax. King delves deeply into the minds of the two killers, especially Trig, yet legitimately manages to withhold their identities from the reader until Holly unearths that information. Deviating from his usual, more spontaneous writing method, King acknowledges he had to plot this novel in advance – no wonder, with so many threads to weave together. While this isn’t my favorite Holly Gibney book (that would probably be THE OUTSIDER), I’ll definitely reread it.
GREENTEETH, by Molly O’Neill. This novel has been compared to the work of T. Kingfisher, for sound reasons. The narrator, whose voice resembles that of a typical Kingfisher first-person character, reminds me of Toadling, the amphibious fae protagonist of her THORNHEDGE. GREENTEETH begins with a splash (so to speak) when the townsfolk throw an accused witch into Jenny Greenteeth’s pond. While Jenny, contrary to popular belief, seldom eats humans, she doesn’t associate with them either. Not sure what to do with the shackled, drowning witch, Jenny drags her into her (Jenny’s) underwater cave lair to avoid having a corpse befoul her carefully tended pool. Naturally, when the witch revives, she’s terrified and attempts to cast a defensive spell. Jenny manages to make her harmless intentions clear, though, and they become acquainted. The witch, Temperance, has served her neighbors with benign magic all her life, like her mother before her. But now a newly arrived, fire-and-brimstone pastor has turned them against her, convincing them witchcraft is evil. After some conversation, Jenny decides to help Temperance flee the area, even giving her money. After all, a Jenny Greenteeth has no use for the hoard of coins in her cave. Discovering she enjoys the friendly interaction, she’s almost sorry to see Temperance leave. When the witch returns, determined to stand up for herself rather than abandon her lifelong home (which her husband, she realizes, wouldn’t want to leave), Jenny agrees to help gather ingredients for a spell to erase the villagers’ memory of Temperance’s “evil.” With the aid of Brackus, a goblin peddler, they collect the needed items. Temperance’s magic, however, fails. She realizes some dark force, not merely a fanatical preacher, is working against her. To defeat an ancient evil known as the Erl King, a threat not only to the village, Temperance, and Jenny but to all of Britain, the three oddly assorted allies appeal to the king and queen of the High Fae. The long middle section of the book has the narrative structure of a fairy tale. Assigned three seemingly impossible tasks by the capricious faerie king, Jenny, Temperance, and Brackus embark on the Wild Roads in search of the quest objects. Through hardships and perils, alliance grows into genuine friendship. Their battle against the Erl King leads to the expected dark moment when all seems lost, followed by eucatastrophe at the climax. A delightful twist intertwines their quest with Arthurian legend. It’s especially satisfying that Jenny doesn’t emerge unchanged from the ordeal, having learned to value the human community around her as well as her formerly solitary water home.
THE ADVENTURES OF MARY DARLING, by Pat Murphy. A spinoff from J. M. Barrie’s classic that could be titled “PETER PAN on the Home Front.” After Wendy, John, and Michael disappear from the nursery, what does their mother do? In Murphy’s novel, Mary Darling doesn’t wait at home fretting by the open window. As an intrepid Edwardian heroine, she embarks on a globe-spanning adventure, armed with skills gained during her unorthodox Australian childhood. With the help of unusual friends, including a semi-retired smuggler, she returns to Neverland where she, too, was taken as a child. This novel portrays Neverland as a physical island to which one can sail if one knows the way. Murphy’s version of the tale envisions Peter Pan, not as a runaway child, but as some sort of ancient nature spirit wearing the body and personality of a self-absorbed little boy. If a Lost Boy dies or leaves, Peter forgets and replaces him, giving new children the names of previous ones. Hence the island hosts a succession of multiple Curlys, Tootleses, Twins, etc. The Lost Boys are ragged, dirty, and more often than not hungry. (Peter, in keeping with his changeless existence, doesn’t need to eat.) Boys who start to grow up are “thinned out.” As for girls, Peter regards them purely as “mothers,” a role in which child-Mary had no interest. Murphy complicates adult Mary’s quest by making her the niece of Dr. John Watson, although Watson’s celebrated friend proves less help than one would expect. Aside from the annoyance of his arrogant personality, Sherlock Holmes persistently devises scientific, rational explanations for all apparently magical phenomena. Fairies? A previously unknown species of bioluminescent insects. In another surprising departure from the source material, George Darling, the children’s father, reveals hidden depths beneath his conventional, rather timid middle-class-businessman surface. Also, this is the only Peter Pan retelling I’ve read in which James Hook is quite nice, his fearsome reputation a deliberately cultivated artifice. He, too, turns out to be a friend of Mary’s from her childhood sojourn in Neverland. The presence of non-white characters as fully rounded people rather than stereotypes helps to further deconstruct the worldview of the original, described by the author as “a boys’ adventure book in the spirit of British imperialism.” Her afterword quotes several passages from Barrie’s novel to illustrate the underlying grimness of Neverland. She also lists numerous details in her story based on real people and events in the Victorian and Edwardian eras — for instance, an orchid-hunting aristocratic lady voyaging around the world in her private steam yacht. The only blatant anachronism Murphy perpetrates, as she acknowledges, concerns the pirates flourishing out of their proper time period.
VESPER GLEN, by Coryn Noble. A fresh take on my favorite subgenre, scientifically explained vampirism. Like many small towns, Vesper Glen, Vermont, has a secret – in this case, vampires. But not the horror-movie supernatural type. They host a symbiotic organism that requires them to consume blood, usually from animals. They need human blood only in case of severe injuries. Like typical vampires in most fiction, they heal preternaturally fast, have enhanced strength and senses, can’t endure UV radiation such as direct, unfiltered sunlight, and can live for centuries (although not truly immortal). Infection with the symbiont occurs only through a deliberate act of blood-sharing. Most of them identify with one of three factions: Hounds, who believe in coexistence with the human population; Wolves, who claim a right to feed on humans, often forcibly converting them with a long-range goal of dominating the “inferior” mortals; and Foxes, willing to exist in peace but skeptical of revealing themselves to mortals. In Vesper Glen the small population of V’s, as they’re known, lives openly and harmoniously with the ordinary human majority. Children receive initiation into the town’s secret at the age of fifteen. As the story begins, Charlie Pike, a police detective in Boston, accepts the invitation to return to his home town as the new police chief. After he manages to convince his wife, Abbie, of the reality of vampires, she’s reluctant to move to Vesper Glen but goes along with Charlie’s plans. The first one-third or more of the book is episodic, introducing us to the inhabitants and customs of Vesper Glen by way of a miscellaneous sample of Charlie’s police work there. Everybody we meet, both human and V, turns out to be thoroughly nice, a refreshing change from the common horror-fiction trope of having supernatural evil mirrored by mundane malice and corruption. It does feel a little strange, though, to read a novel with no interpersonal conflict among the main characters, aside from Abbie’s hesitance to fully embrace the human-V relationship and her distress over the interest her teenage daughter displays in possibly turning V at some future time. Midway through the novel, a violent incident draws unwanted attention to the town. Fanatical vampire-hunters who subscribe to all the superstitions and pop culture beliefs about demonic bloodsuckers begin to endanger the peace and safety of Vesper Glen. Attacks by members of the “Wolves” faction complicate the crisis. Charlie faces the problem of dealing with the FBI and the military while hiding the truth about his not-quite-human neighbors. Suspense and action scenes alternate in a satisfying balance with character interaction and background lore. It’s gratifying to read a generally happy denouement that restores the status quo of “normal for Vesper Glen.” The novel could have used a bit more editing, though. For instance, almost all of Charlie’s conversations with new people end with handshakes. Sure, that act of courtesy highlights the reasonableness of most of the outsiders he meets, but the same gesture over and over, narrated in nearly identical words, becomes obtrusive if not outright tedious. On the whole, however, the author gives us likable characters in credible predicaments (credible for an SF novel about vampires, anyway). The specificity of detail enhances suspension of disbelief. She has created a language for the V’s, derived from Slavic roots, with a glossary several pages long, very helpful for the reader encountering untranslated phrases in the main text. My favorite part of the book is the six-page appendix describing the origin and biology of the symbiont, a species of slime mold.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Summertide Echoes”:
Fuming over the argument with Mark, Joyce spent half of Saturday afternoon dusting and scrubbing surfaces that hardly needed cleaning. After discharging most of her anger with physical exertion, she washed up, turned on her laptop, and opened the file of her current freelance editing project. Never mind the vacation she was supposed to be taking. She needed something to get her mind off the impasse about the cabin. Furthermore, if she couldn’t talk Mark into selling, she had no alternative but to increase her income enough to augment her savings and cover that balloon payment when it came due. I’ve poured too much time and money into the comic business plan to turn back now. If I have to double my workload, so be it.
Two hours later, when she started doubting her own corrections and developing a headache from eyestrain, she closed the file and shoved her chair away from the kitchen table. Rubbing her neck to ease a cramp, she mentally scolded herself for hunching over the keyboard. Her stomach grumbled. Although residual tension made food less than appealing, she realized the sandwich she’d slapped together for lunch had been a long time ago. After clearing the computer out of the way, she served herself a packaged salad with grilled chicken slices from the supplies she’d stashed in the refrigerator upon arrival. She grudgingly acknowledged that she felt more relaxed after the meal. She poured a glass of bottled iced tea and settled in a lawn chair on the front porch with the paperback mystery she was currently reading.
Her attention wandered from the page only when fading daylight made it hard to focus. As she glanced up to rest her eyes, she caught sight of movement among the trees. An animal? A doe strolled into view, picking her way around the edge of the clearing, with occasional pauses to nibble leaves on low-hanging branches. Joyce held still to avoid scaring her, although this close to the national park most deer didn’t tend to be wary of humans. Seconds later, though, the doe’s head shot up, and she dashed into the woods.
Joyce caught her breath in surprise when the Saint Bernard she’d seen twice before emerged from the undergrowth, chasing after the deer. He disappeared under the trees but reappeared in less than a minute, apparently giving up the pursuit. He ambled up the path toward the cabin.
She moved cautiously from the chair to the top step, stretching a hand toward the dog. “Hi, there. Nice of you to visit. I wonder where you live.”
Instead of veering away this time, he walked straight to her, tail wagging and tongue hanging out. Strangely, she didn’t hear panting. Nor did she feel warm breath on her skin as she reached for his collar to check the tag.
Her hand passed through him as if he were a hologram. Or a hallucination.
He couldn’t be. Ms. Ortega and Mark had seen him, too. She snatched her hand back. “Bruno?” Hesitantly Joyce fumbled for the collar again. Again she touched nothing. The dog licked her, but she didn’t feel a wet tongue. Instead, a dry chill enveloped her fingers.
This can’t be happening. She squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, he was still there. A second later, though, he vanished. He didn’t run into the woods and fade out of sight among the trees but blinked out of existence like a popped bubble.
Her legs wobbled, and she folded into a heap on the porch steps. Did I dream that?
She didn’t bother with the pinch test. She smelled the mountain laurel blossoms. A breeze rustled the trees and cooled her skin. The boards of the wooden steps felt rough against her thighs. “Bruno? If you’re really here, come back.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
All issues are now posted on Dropbox, where you should be able to download them at this link:
All Vampire’s Crypt Issues on Dropbox
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links:
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter