Author Archive
Welcome to the October 2024 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
Happy Halloween!
My Victorian Christmas romance novella “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary” was published in September:
Spending the Christmas season at her aunt and uncle’s country manor for the first time since her father’s death, Lucy both yearns for and dreads reuniting with Walter, to whom she’d almost become engaged. In her present financial straits, Lucy feels she’s no longer a proper match for a wealthy gentleman’s heir. How can she let Walter down gently without destroying the friendship she still treasures? On the night before Christmas Eve, Walter tells a tale of a long-ago daughter of the household who eloped with her forbidden lover, a simple farmer. After his violent death in the mansion’s topiary garden, his spirit supposedly lingered. When Robbie, Lucy’s little brother, claims to glimpse the ghost among the animal-shaped bushes, she joins Walter in investigating the apparition—forcing them to face their shared past and the challenges of the future.
In the excerpt below, Walter tells his ghost story.
This month’s interview features Dena Weigel, author of historical fiction and other genres.
*****
Interview with Dena Weigel:
What inspired you to become a writer?
Being a writer was something I feel I was always meant to do, but it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I realized it was something I actually could do.
The town I grew up in was so small it didn’t even have a bookstore, but my mother was the local librarian, so I was always surrounded by books and I had a pretty active imagination. (I was known as the “daydreamer” in class throughout my school days.)
Years later, when my husband and I were on a trip in Italy we were on a train and I was looking for something to keep me occupied, so I started doodling around with an outline inspired by one of my favorite movie characters–Indiana Jones. My husband thought it was a good start to a story and encouraged me to keep going with it. After many years learning about what it takes to write and publish a novel, I’ve combined my three loves of travel, art, and history into The Byzantine Cross.
What genres do you work in?
My debut novel is historical fiction with a lot of action/adventure, and a little romance and paranormal themes thrown in. I love history and am very inspired by courageous women in history, especially the women who were spies and journalists during World War II.
I’ve also written some poetry and have started a science fiction series. I enjoy the freedom science fiction provides a writer. You can write about anything, jump time to whenever you like, and there’s so many fascinating technical possibilities to incorporate into the story.
I have a couple of ideas for memoirs, too. I would love to record the stories of the women in my family and the journey my own family went through when we adopted our daughter. We only had two weeks notice, so it’s a bit of an action/adventure story, too!
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I create a general outline to make sure the story doesn’t veer too much off course when I’m writing, but the content in the scenes develops organically. I find that if I get too specific in my outline it can constrict the creative flow when I’m writing. And dialogue comes easiest for me when I allow the characters to develop on their own, too. I try to stay out of my characters’ way as much as possible.
What is your writing process like?
I start out knowing I have a three act story, with strong hooks at the end of each act that I’ll need to lead up to. With that in mind, I start researching to find interesting locations and important art and history to incorporate into the plot. I’ll find other bits and pieces, too, to connect the plot points or give the story depth. I keep these gems in a mental “bucket” as I put the plot together, but not necessarily in any kind of order. I only know they are 1) interesting enough to be a good addition to the story, and 2) they make sense within the confines of the plot.
Then, I write–or, as I think of it, I put the puzzle pieces together. I try not to get too caught up on the first draft and, instead, just power through, but that is a challenge for me. Being new to the fiction writing life, I edited my book a lot on my own right up until it went to the publisher, but with the next book I’ll be relying on editors more throughout the process.
I also really enjoy connecting unexpected things together and throwing in a paranormal element to add an unpredictable spark into the plot, so sometimes the outcome of the story is a surprise for me.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
Dan Brown, Gayle Lynds, and Steve Berry are all at the top of my list of influences. They are great with putting in the immediacy and high tension needed to make a story thrilling. Also, Stephen King is such a great writer and I’ve used his book “On Writing” to help me develop the craft, along with a lot of other teachers. I’ve also read just about everything Hemingway ever wrote and love how effective his phrasing is in conveying a strong emotional response in a poetic, but very relatable way.
The Sarah Kraft series, of which The Byzantine Cross is the first book, is heavily inspired by the Indiana Jones and the early James Bond movies. Because I was new to writing fiction when I started writing The Byzantine Cross, I relied heavily on the plotting in those movies to set up my own plot, changing some aspects of it to represent a modern woman’s life.
What kinds of research do you do for your historical fiction?
I’ve read quite a few biographies about female spies in World War II, as well as a journalist named Martha Gelhorn and a World War I diplomat named Gertrude Bell who was instrumental in shaping the Middle East alongside T.E. Lawerence. I pulled aspects of their personalities and ideas from their activities to use as inspiration for my character, Sarah Kraft.
I also read a lot about the Romanovs, World War II, and the Cold War. I focused on areas that aren’t as well known, such as the Battle of Montecassino in Italy when the Allies were pushing into Axis territory. There’s a wealth of great stories during that time that can add so much to a plot!
I’ve also been fortunate enough to visit several of the locations mentioned in the story, so I pull from those memories and the photos I’ve kept. For instance, there is a scene in my book where Sarah and a double-agent are running through the Kremlin’s Grand Palace in Moscow. I was able to re-create a path through the royal apartments based, in part, on what I saw when I toured it.
Your website mentions that you’ve studied in over thirty countries. How has this experience affected your writing career?
Travel provides me with endless inspiration! I write about the places I’ve been, things I’ve seen, my impressions of the people, and the history and cultures I was exposed to. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey is a great example of that! It was the perfect place for a high-intensity foot chase where the twists and turns and hidden spots in the bazaar allow for a lot of improvising by my characters.
Also, travel articles were some of the first pieces I sold, and I think it’s because being in a new environment is a freeing experience for me and helps me think in different, interesting ways. All good things needed to write a compelling story!
How do the skills required to write for businesses and nonprofits resemble or differ from those used in writing fiction?
Writing for a business is all about strategy–projecting the right image, providing insight into a product or service, and motivating people to respond to some sort of call-to-action. Non-profits require a similar but softer approach, and one that carries a stronger emotional impact to motivate people to act. They are fun to write because the topics are oftentimes so compelling on their own, but they can be heartrending stories to process as you write them.
Fiction allows you much more freedom of thought and experimentation and allows for the kind of free-flowing writing that lets your characters speak for themselves through you so the story can develop naturally. It is much less strategic during the first draft, but as you edit you have to rein it in, and that’s where experience in writing for business helps out.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
I’m working on another Sarah Kraft novel to follow The Byzantine Cross. It’s tentatively called The Argentinian Affair and connects the world’s first empire (ancient Mesopotamian’s Akkadian Empire) with post-WWII escaped Nazis. And there is a love triangle, too, which I think will be really fun to write!
I want my main character, Sarah, to continue to develop throughout the series. I like the idea that when we first meet her in The Byzantine Cross she feels disconnected from who she really is and is forced into a role that doesn’t exactly fit. Then, as she gets back to doing what she’s really great at, her true self emerges.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
I have two pieces of advice that really helped me.
The first is to become part of writing communities. When I started writing this book I didn’t know I could come up with a good story and write it well. Surrounding myself with people who were better, more experienced writers than myself and hearing what they were doing and what they found good about my writing gave me the confidence stay focused and start believing that someday I could be a published author, too!
The second piece of advice is to trust your instincts when it comes to your plot. I find that if I’ve written something that doesn’t feel right to me, it’s typically because it’s not the right direction and there is a better way to go that will eventually come to me. You can always go back and change it if you need to, but, typically, if it feels right–it is right. Sometimes your gut instincts are more knowledgeable than your logical mind.
Title: The Byzantine Cross
Pre-order now: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google, Hoopla, Scribd, Kobo, Overdrive, and Ingram.
Pen name: Dena Weigel
Release date: November 11, 2024
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TikTok: @denaweigel
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE BRIGHT SWORD, by Lev Grossman. I’ve often wished for a fantasy novel about the immediate aftermath of the fall of King Arthur and the ruin of Camelot (ideally as a sequel to THE MISTS OF AVALON written by Marion Zimmer Bradley or her literary heirs). Now the author of THE MAGICIANS has written one, which is mind-blowing. The orphaned protagonist, Collum, never knowing his father and barely remembering his mother, grows up in an insignificant village on a small island in the northern region of Britain. His stepfather places him in the household of the local lord, supposedly to become a squire and knight. Instead, Collum is ignored when not actively abused. Eventually managing to induce the arms master to train him, the boy shows a gift for swordplay and hand-to-hand combat. In his late teens, he runs away to chase a dream: To join the court of Arthur, the legendary Christian high king of Britain. We learn Collum’s backstory gradually, first meeting him on his journey to Camelot, during which he more or less accidentally kills an anonymous knight in a duel. This end to what he’d envisioned as a glorious encounter like those in the tales he’d heard proves to be only the first of many disillusionments. As revealed in the cover blurb, he finally arrives at the nearly deserted Camelot just a bit too late. Arthur and Mordred have slain each other, and the associated battle has wiped out most of the Round Table. The few embittered survivors have little time for a naïve would-be knight, even though Collum exaggerates his background (or, bluntly, lies about it) in an attempt to fit in. Still, he serves as a catalyst to goad the remnant of the Round Table into trying to save what’s left of the kingdom. If Arthur truly rests, not quite dead, on the fabled isle of Avalon, can he be awakened to rule anew? If not, who should become king? Flashbacks to the shining past told from various secondary characters’ viewpoints relieve the mood of despair overshadowing much of the present-day narrative. Among other episodes, we learn about Arthur’s astonishing revelation as the chosen one who drew the sword from the stone, how Palomides and several other knights made their way to Camelot, the truth about the relationship of Lancelot and Guinevere, the outcome of the Grail quest, and how Nimue defeated Merlin (who’s a much more unpleasant person than depicted in most versions), all from Grossman’s unique angle. As he discusses in his afterword, in the grand tradition of Arthurian tales THE BRIGHT SWORD blends the historically realistic setting of the British Isles after the withdrawal of the Romans with anachronisms (e.g., plate armor, the Muslim knight Palomides), magic, and myth. Tensions between the pagan adherents of old Britain and the Christian Romanized Celts are complicated by the threat of invading Saxons. The atmosphere segues between mundane and numinous, between a slowly disintegrating realm of petty domains in frequent conflict and the mystical Otherworld of the fairies and gods, where time and the rules of nature flow differently. Readers should prepare for devastating emotional peaks and chasms. More often than not, a spark of optimism is followed by a twist that upends the characters’ hard-won beliefs about the truths of their world. In the end, though, questions are answered, including secrets about Collum’s past he never suspected. While he isn’t quite the hero he fantasized becoming, neither is he the worthless nobody he has always feared. And even if the “one brief, shining moment” of Arthur’s Camelot can’t be recreated, the epic tale concludes with hope.
SAVING SUSY SWEETCHILD, by Barbara Hambly. Her third “Silver Screen Historical Mystery.” By now, I’ve gotten over my initial disappointment with this series for being an alternate-universe version of BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD instead of sequels to it. Although straight mystery with no fantasy element, these novels captivate me with their vividly drawn characters, witty style, and clearly well researched 1920s, Prohibition-era Los Angeles setting. Emma Blackstone, a war widow transplanted from England to California as companion and Pekinese-minder to her sister-in-law, glamorous and flighty silent film star “Camille de la Rose,” aka Kitty Flint (not her birth name either), still often wonders what she’s doing in the modern Babylon. She has a friend and lover in cameraman Zal, however, and a challenging part-time job writing scenarios (the silent movie equivalent of scripts) while fighting in vain against anachronisms and other story oddities. As in the first two novels, she’s a sympathetic, intelligent protagonist who’s a pleasure to spend time with. The title character, a proto-Shirley-Temple, lives up to her stage name, but her mother displays the worst traits of a stereotypical Hollywood parent. When Susy almost gets trampled by a horse during a stunt gone wrong, her mother barely glances away from the interview she’s giving. As Emma notices, little Susy proves herself a consummate professional, a real trouper, displaying only a brief flash of terror. She can’t rely on her weak, alcoholic father for protection, and her employers, of course, regard her mainly as a human gold mine. Shortly thereafter, she gets kidnapped for ransom. Is the villain one of the gangs that dominate the blatantly open market for illegal alcohol? An agent of a rival studio? Somebody with a more personal motive? Or could the incident be a publicity hoax? And how much will the studio pay for the return of a child star whose peak cuteness phase won’t last much longer? (They’re already passing her off as younger than she really is.) Meanwhile, two sets of mercenary relatives launch a custody battle for the missing girl and her money. Family secrets are unearthed and hidden facets of various characters’ personalities revealed. Emma and Zal investigate the crime, narrowly evading life-threatening perils, while Kitty displays unexpected flashes of perceptiveness. Action, mystery, and suspense are balanced by plenty of the quieter scenes I most enjoy, heavy on characterization and dialogue. Details of early Hollywood subculture and the technical aspects of silent cinema are fascinating to read. A surprising and satisfying twist at the end gives the title a double meaning.
A MARRIAGE OF UNDEAD INCONVENIENCE, by Stephanie Burgis. An arranged marriage romance with a vampire bridegroom and a hint of “Beauty and the Beast,” in an alternate-reality Regency setting. When Lord Riven awakens from a prolonged Sleep (sic), his business manager informs the vampire that he faces the confiscation of his entire estate, real and personal, unless he marries a living woman. A recently enacted law forbids vampires, being legally dead, from owning property (a clever premise I don’t recall reading anywhere else). In the opening scene, we find Margaret Dunhaven, having just been coerced into that marriage, in the kitchen of Lord Riven’s mansion trying to brew a potable cup of tea. The fact that the lack of decent tea looms foremost in her mind during this crisis immediately alerts the reader that this novel will be a light paranormal romance, not a tale of Gothic horror. Her unwanted husband proves to be relatively harmless, subsisting mainly on animal blood, though we eventually learn vampires also need human blood for optimal health. Margaret’s aunt and uncle, who control her inheritance, forced her out of her university studies and into wedlock with no warning. Since both she and Lord Riven believe they were extorted into this union, sparks fly between them. The spirited argument that comprises the first scene provides an entertaining set-up for the romantic attraction we know will develop. It turns out that Margaret’s rapacious relatives lied to her about their debts being paid by Lord Riven and simultaneously demanded a priceless family treasure from him in exchange for the bride he needed: The Rose of Normandy, a magical gem responsible for the origin of both werewolves and vampires. Also at issue is a rare grimoire Margaret has been studying, the source of information on how to use the Rose. She and Lord Riven join forces to solve their mutual problems, a quest involving scholarly mysteries and narrow escapes. A dramatic clash with her obnoxious and rather thickheaded academic rival climaxes the story. Throughout the book, lively repartee and reluctantly acknowledged but inexorably growing attraction transform the couple’s relationship. Margaret’s occasional blood donations to Lord Riven turn into sensual interludes. A quick, delightful read.
THE ONES WHO COME BACK HUNGRY, by Amelinda Berube. This YA horror novel is a very different kind of vampire story. I’ve rarely come across a fictional work that features a vampire so similar to the authentic revenants of folklore, an animated corpse irresistibly drawn to prey on the people he or she was closest to in life. The author has obviously done conscientious, in-depth research. Her prefatory “Note About Content” warns of “sibling death, grief, anxieties about germs and infection, graphic descriptions of dead and decaying human bodies” among other real-life horrors, culminating in “graphic violence.” Narrator Jo’s late sister, Audrey, was the “golden girl,” popular and accomplished, immersed in multiple extracurricular activities, around which the family’s schedule revolved. Jo, an artist, sees herself as insignificant in comparison. Her contemporaneous narrative is in present tense, with flashbacks in past tense. On the first page, she struggles with how to break the news of her sister’s sudden end to her (Jo’s) texting contacts. Audrey’s apparently mild symptoms escalated to an unknown, virulent infection followed by hospitalization and death over a span of twenty-four hours. She’s buried promptly without embalming. Soon afterward, Jo notices footprints around the outside of the house. When she encounters Audrey, who has been lurking in the backyard shed, Jo naturally jumps to the conclusion that her sister didn’t really die. But enough doubts linger that it seems impossible to tell their family or anyone else. As it becomes progressively clearer that Audrey has returned from the grave, Jo clings to a tenuous hope of “curing” Audrey of her condition or, if she’s actually dead, restoring her to life. The undead girl’s gradual deterioration comes across as both poignant and horrific. Then they discover Jo’s blood can temporarily enable Audrey to revert from near-zombie to a semblance of a living person. There’s no hint of glamour or eroticism; the bite hurts. Jo keeps this secret while grappling with family trauma and the grief of Audrey’s friends. Jo’s attendance at the memorial gathering of the latter is a painfully fraught scene. Reaching out to Audrey’s former boyfriend, Jo finds herself developing unexpected feelings for him. Mundane teenage problems such as these intertwine effectively with the supernatural plot. The relationship between the living and undead sisters fractures as past sibling conflicts erupt afresh. As Audrey gradually loses more of her “real” self and devolves into a self-centered, obsessive predator, Jo realizes this situation can’t continue indefinitely. She’s forced to seek help and share the dark secret. The teens’ research on vampire legends, an interlude with moments of dark humor, uncovers a confusing array of superstitions and alleged methods of destroying the undead, most of which prove useless. The one that does work leads to a couple of gruesomely graphic scenes. The isolation Jo endures through most of the book is relieved only in the direst way, by bonding with a few of her peers over how to deal with what’s left of her loved yet resented sister. Which was the real Audrey, the dearly missed girl or the monster? The ultimate resolution, though heartbreaking in its way, allows Jo’s family to begin healing and her to make a new beginning, through her art, as someone besides Audrey’s inferior sibling. This searingly emotional novel foregrounds the archetypal conflict between love and fear of the dead in a way that pierces to the original roots of the vampire myth.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary”:
Walter said, “I do have a story to tell, but I wouldn’t want to scare anybody so close to bedtime.”
He looked straight at Robbie, who responded with a vigorous shake of his head. “I won’t be scared. I like ghost stories.”
“Very well.” Walter met the expectant gazes of each person in turn before beginning.
“This happened right here, once upon a midnight a very long time ago, a night in the Christmas season much like this one.” He lowered his voice to a solemn, resonant tone.
“With snow, like now?” Robbie piped up.
“More than now. It fell for hours and piled in drifts against the sides of the house. It was so cold the woodland animals shivered in their burrows and birds’ feet froze to the branches of trees. The oldest daughter of the family—our family—sat up in her chamber long past dark, yearning for her beloved.”
“What’s her name?” Robbie asked.
Walter hesitated as if unprepared to supply this detail. “You know, it was so long ago nobody remembers. We’ll call her Madeline. Her parents had forbidden her to marry the man she loved because he was a simple farmer.”
Of course they did. Social standing mattered then even more than now. Lucy forced herself to shake off the thought and focus on the story.
“She was determined not to let money come between them, though. They plotted to elope. Near midnight, when everybody in the house should have been in bed, the young man slipped out of the woods and sneaked through the garden of green beasts to the kitchen entrance at the rear of the manor. Knowing the risk that someone might wake up and catch him, he had a plan to deal with that problem. He had visited a witch who lived alone in a cottage in the forest.”
Naturally, Robbie had another question. “Was she a wicked witch?”
“Not at all. She was a good witch, who was glad to help a pair of young lovers. She gave the lad a charm to cast an enchanted sleep on everybody in the house except Madeline.” Walter paused to sip from his drink. “He whispered the magic words the witch had taught him. Moments later, Madeline put on her winter wraps, picked up the bag she’d packed, tiptoed down the back stairs, and unbarred the door. It turned out she didn’t need to be so quiet, for the entire house was deep in slumber, from her parents and brother in their bedchambers to the servants in their attic rooms. Even the cat lay curled up asleep by the kitchen hearth.”
Sounds like “Sleeping Beauty,” Lucy reflected.
“Shutting the door behind her, she followed her sweetheart through the windswept snow. In her bag, she carried an emerald necklace, the most valuable jewelry she owned. They didn’t have any money to speak of, you see, so she thought once they ran away to a big city, she could sell the necklace to support them until they were married and settled. But it didn’t end that way. Can you imagine what happened next?”
Robbie shook his head, his eyes wide.
“The green animals came to life. They were determined to protect the honor of their house. They charged at the young man. He ran as fast as he could, but they surrounded him and blocked his path right before he reached the exit that led to the forest. The peacock and the griffin flew at his head and battered him with their wings. The lion pounced on him and knocked him down. The elephant and the bull trampled him.
“Realizing she couldn’t save him, the girl fled into the woods. She disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again, and nobody knows what happened to the emerald necklace. From midnight until dawn, her family and all the servants tossed and turned with nightmares, but they didn’t wake up until the sun rose. The next day, they found the man’s body face down in the middle of the garden with all the animal sculptures in their usual places.
“Ever since, sometimes on snowy December nights his ghost wanders through the garden, trying to find a way out.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
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All Vampire’s Crypt Issues on Dropbox
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Carter Kindle Books
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the September 2024 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
My Christmas romance novella “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary,” set in the 1890s in rural England, will be published by the Wild Rose Press on September 23. You can read a bit of the opening scene below.
N. N. Light’s Book Heaven featured the duology of my first two vampire novels, TWILIGHT’S CHANGELINGS (comprising DARK CHANGELING and CHILD OF TWILIGHT) in their August “Backlist Bonanza” promotion:
This issue features a follow-up interview with Jean Lorrah, co-author (with Jacqueline Lichtenberg) of the far-future SF Sime-Gen series, as well as many solo books, including one of the very best professional STAR TREK novels, THE VULCAN ACADEMY MURDERS. To learn about the Sime-Gen universe, go here:
*****
Interview with Jean Lorrah:
For readers who might not be familiar with the Sime-Gen universe, please summarize the basic premise.
The sf question this universe is based on is “What if compassion were a survival trait?” Sime~Gen posits a human mutation that produces exactly that situation. As the mutation, a fairly complicated twist on the vampire archetype, happens in the near future, very few humans can summon compassion when their lives are threatened—let alone the fact that no one has yet discovered that that is the solution. Civilization collapses and centuries pass in typical post-apocalypse scenarios that Jacqueline Lichtenberg and I skip, to get to the good parts. If you want horror stories about civilizations collapsing, there are plenty of Zombie Apocalypse scenarios available.
Instead of depicting the collapse of human civilization in despair, Sime~Gen focuses on the rebuilding of the world in hope.
S~G begins when humanity has figured out some means for Simes and Gens to end their perpetual warfare, and live in relative safety. But it’s a kludged solution, and over sixteen books (so far) covering several centuries, we watch people working toward the true solution. Reuniting the human race begins in a sort of wild west era, the restoration of agriculture and trade, and communities larger than a handful of families. The books are quest stories, love stories, family dynasty stories, war stories, coming of age stories—every kind of personal adventure set against the history of a well-established ongoing universe.
What are the current developments in the Sime-Gen series? What will be the next book, and does it have a scheduled release date?
The most recent S~G books make up the Clear Springs Trilogy, completed in 2023, which brings the series into the era of flight. The plan is eventually to take S~G into the space age, where Jacqueline originally intended it to move rather quickly. So the move into space will be her book. However, her life is currently on hold because of her family situation, so at this moment there is no title and no date for that book.
Meanwhile, I have two books to write, one in the Unity era and one just after the Trilogy, which will set up the human situation that makes space navigation possible. However, my creativity is going into art right now, something completely unexpected which I have finally recognized to be the product of my third Saturn Return. It’s all going to come together somehow, but at this moment I don’t know how.
I believe there’s a Sime-Gen computer game – how was it developed, and is it publicly available?
It never happened. We had several years of development talks with the producer, and two iterations of prototype games, but it all fell through in the end. We haven’t heard from the producer in years. If any game developers out there are interested, contact us! You can find a much fuller explanation of S~G than I can give here at Sime~Gen.
How did you become an official STAR TREK author? What was the process of writing the novels like?
It was forty years ago, yet all the books are still in print and paying me (small) royalties after all this time. My first two (TOS) novels, The Vulcan Academy Murders and The I.D.I.C. Epidemic, went like every fangirl’s dream. I submitted a synopsis through my agent, it was approved, I wrote the book, it was approved with two or three requests to change a phrase, and it was published. Paramount and Pocket Books basically wanted well-written books based on what they at that time saw as a dead TV series. The only concern was that the stories not violate what had been seen on TV, but authors were free to invent new history, new planets, new species and cultures, whatever, because no one (except ever-hopeful fans) thought there would ever be more official Star Trek than already existed.
Then Trek was revived, with Next Gen and movies. I watched Next Gen, and wanted to write something about Data, but fully recognized that so would every other Trek writer. But then in one of the early episodes we learned a few tantalizing facts about Tasha Yar’s origin story. I was intrigued, and proposed a story that would include how she escaped from that situation and ended up in Starfleet. Paramount passed on it, saying they did not want to establish backstories on continuing characters.
Okay, I had other books to write—but a few months later Denise Crosby asked to leave the series, and Paramount decided to kill off her character. The fangirl’s dream kicked in again—before I had time to resubmit my proposal, Paramount called my agent with approval for what became Survivors! Even better, I was able to rewrite to include Data’s point of view.
Survivors was a huge success, and on its basis I was able to propose Metamorphosis, in which Data gets a taste of what it means to be human. The dream continued: the book would be the first giant Next Gen novel, would have a hardcover edition, and the audio book would be narrated by Patrick Stewart. I wrote the book, I turned it in—and heard nothing. Weeks passed with no response from Paramount or Pocket Books.
And then we learned what had happened. While I was writing, the dream had come crashing down, not only for me, but for all the Trek fiction writers who wrote the character-driven books fans loved. A new person had been put in charge of approving the books who hated these kinds of books—and this person had the ear of Gene Roddenberry. This was in the time period when Roddenberry suffered a stroke, and there were rumors of his disrupting production of the TV series by demanding massive changes in ongoing storylines. Sadly, the producers had to ban him from the set in order to meet the production schedule, and someone had the bright idea of steering him to work with his friend who had the job of approving the books.
We book writers had no idea what hit us. As the character-driven books sold best, Pocket editors had been choosing more of them as time passed. But Gene Roddenberry’s friend hated such stories, and not only approved only plot-driven stories for the future, but started going through the contracted but not yet published books looking for ones he disapproved of. Of course he got nowhere with Pocket Books on books already in the pipeline—until he suddenly had the backing of the creator of the universe.
Numerous contracted books were canceled, and the single thing that saved Metamorphosis was that Pocket Books had it in production, with advertising already in progress. Roddenberry absolutely did not want a book published in which Data became (temporarily) human. He refused to read it—the subject matter could not be published.
You understand that I got all this second hand, from people fighting to save their publication schedule for the next year or so, with practically the whole of one of their best-selling lines being ripped out. But over the years other sources have confirmed in print the same sad story I was told. And I was the lucky one whose book was not canceled.
However, the hardcover edition of Metamorphosis was canceled, as was the audiobook. Roddenberry was persuaded that it was impossible to stop publication of the paperback, or to make massive changes to it at that stage. So he settled for insisting that one line be added—without reading the book with its very carefully crafted ending in which Data is returned to his former existence via means well established in the series, he insisted that it had to be “all a dream.” Yeah. The one ending guaranteed to sink any story.
So, assuming (correctly) that Roddenberry would not read the edited book, I agreed, left everything the same as I already had it, and found a place to insert a line in which Data feels *as if* his experience was a dream. Absolutely no one at Pocket Books “noticed.” The book was published and was a great success, but of course not the spectacular introduction to the giant novels that it could have been.
And that was the end of my writing Star Trek novels.
How did you get into visual arts? Please tell us about your painting projects.
I am a life-long learner. Even during my teaching career, I often studied abroad during the summers, and sometimes I took courses on interesting subjects at my own university. When I retired, I started taking one course each semester, auditing most of them. Then a few years ago something interesting happened.
I had all my life been one of those people who did not know how to draw. Any number of times when I had tried to explain to a cover artist an idea to represent the content of a book, I would try to sketch my idea and end up with an incomprehensible scribble.
I really don’t know what made me decide to purchase a book that promised to teach me how to draw in 30 days, but it was the beginning of summer, and I decided I would take the half-hour every morning to do the day’s exercise, and see what happened. I did it, faithfully, for thirty days—and to my astonishment, at the end I could actually draw a building that looked like a building, a ribbon that looked like a ribbon, a rose that looked like a rose, etc. Now you have to understand that I was in no way an artist, and that I was basically just copying the author’s sketches—but I actually ended up with tools I could use to show a real artist an idea of what I wanted!
I guess I went a little crazy, because with half the summer left, I saw an online course that promised to teach me to draw portraits in just 21 days, and decided to take it. Well ….
Oh, gawd, was I awful! But so were most of the other students, and a wonderful online workshop came along with the course, where both tutors and fellow students commented and encouraged and offered suggestions. That workshop is permanent, btw, and we were not held to the 21 days to complete the course. Almost nobody even comes close, although most finish all the exercises in a few months. It took me two years, but I completed it. Was I a portrait artist? Of course not—but I have a sketchbook showing my progress, which for someone of my (lack of) natural skill, is just amazing. I learned several things in that course that have kept me going: 1) drawing is not a talent but a skill, 2) practice makes progress, 3) if I can see it I can draw it (IOW a big part of learning to draw is learning to see in a new way), and 4) push the darks!
So I enrolled in Art 101, Basic Drawing, at my university. I came in as easily the worst prepared student in the class, but I left with another set of immense improvements and a much better idea of how to train my artist’s eye. All four principles from the online portrait class were repeated, and again when I took Life Drawing the next semester. I guess in the next three years I put in the 10,000 hours to actually become an artist, because I improved in every course, never, ever even close to the top of the class (some of these kids come in as freshmen with both talents and skills to go pro immediately), but successful in my own way.
Two years ago I dared to show some of my work to an artist friend, who took me to the PAPA gallery in Paducah and insisted that I join. I did, I started displaying my work … and it started to sell! I entered a local art contest and came away with 2nd prize in drawing. I entered a juried show for a local museum and got juried in.
Since then I have entered every local contest available, and usually earn some level of recognition, if only an honorable mention. Last year I had the amazing experience of taking first prize in the professional division of the Paducah Women’s Club art show—my first, and so far only, first place.
In other words—I am an artist! I’m not sure quite how it happened, as I was really just going on through the courses for the fun of actually being able (sometimes) to draw and paint what I saw in my mind’s eye. I am still learning, but I’m getting just enough recognition to believe I should continue. I have now been juried into three museum exhibitions, in one of which I won the Members’ Choice prize, and in another of which I had not just one painting but an installation of two paintings and a PowerPoint presentation—and that one was in an international exhibition in Estonia!
Last Spring I reached the point at which demands for my artwork were competing with the demands of studio classes, so for now I have stopped taking studio courses. However, I am auditing an art history class this semester, for further inspiration.
I’m trying to work on a standalone artist’s page, but website building has become incredibly more complicated since the last time I tried, and I can’t seem to find time to work on it. So for now I’m using my page at the PAPA Gallery, The PAPA Gallery. I also have Facebook pages, Jean Lorrah and Jean Lorrah, Artist.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Write. Take workshops. Write. Write fanfic in whatever thing you’re interested in. Do not jump into self-publishing until other people have consistently chosen to publish your work. If you publish before you are ready (and it is VERY hard to know), you’ll just be lost in the gigantic cloud of self-published authors.
Make a reputation being published by other people, so you have a following before you self-publish. Even better, make a reputation as a blogger and/or vlogger before you attempt to sell your work. Become part of a group of online people who encourage one another. Interview other authors and review their work. Become part of a community.
And write, write, write.
But don’t wait to be discovered. Today the online community is where you have to go. Find YOUR community—it’s out there, and you will know them because they’re interested in the same things you are. Comment on their work and build your own reputation. Contribute anywhere you can, and have a good time. Be honest but kind. If you’re the one with the snarky comments, that’s what you’ll get when other people review your work.
And write, write, write. Write reviews. Do a little research and write some history on the topic your community is interested in. If you have an opinion, write an opinion piece—but don’t try to score points by cutting down everyone’s favorite. Again, be honest but kind. Any time you are writing about somebody else’s work, imagine it’s your work when you do that last readthrough before posting. How would you feel if someone said that about your work?
And write, write, write.
Jean Lorrah, Author: Facebook Author Page
Jean Lorrah, Artist: Facebook Artist Page
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
TO TURN THE TIDE, by S. M. Stirling. Science fiction about time travel to the Roman Empire in the second century CE, the first volume of a new series. It’s partially inspired by L. Sprague DeCamp’s vintage novel LEST DARKNESS FALL, but Stirling’s book is better, with deeper characterization, far more detail, and a more complex plot. In LEST DARKNESS FALL, an archaeologist is accidentally thrown into the past by a lightning strike. The journey in TO TURN THE TIDE is meticulously planned, although not by the people who take it. In 2032, a Harvard history professor named Arthur Vandenberg and four graduate students, lured to Vienna under false pretenses, are introduced to the top secret time-travel project just as the world totters on the brink of a nuclear war. A passing mention of the U.S. President’s illicit third term in office, by the way, hints that the characters inhabit a history not identical to ours. (On the other hand, since it’s eight years into the future, who knows?) The device that sends five and a half people (the inventor gets bisected in his attempt to dash into the transport circle after setting the controls) to central Europe in 165 CE is stationary, not a vehicle like the machine in H. G. Wells’s classic tale. Therefore, the protagonist and his companions necessarily take a one-way trip. Whether the changes they’ll cause create a new timeline or alter their own history, they’ll never find out. In either case, everyone they’ve ever known is effectively dead to them. Along with them comes a literal ton of supplies, books, medications, drawings, scale models, crop seeds, gemstones, authentic-looking coins, etc., as well as a laptop and a solar-powered charger. The travelers are found by a highly intelligent and scrupulously honest Jewish merchant who introduces them into society. Starting slowly with “Type A” changes, things the inhabitants of that era and locale can implement with available tools and materials once they’re given the concepts, “Artorius” and his students rapidly build momentum. In the approximately two years covered by this first book, the evolution of the Roman Empire has already been irrevocably altered in small but critical ways. “Type B” inventions, those that require inventing the tools to make the tools, will come later, as discussed by Stirling in his afterword. The characters are likable but believably imperfect. Their attitudes and behavior strike a nice balance among grief for the world and people they’ve lost, awe at finding themselves in an environment previously known only from history texts, cognitive dissonance and attacks of homesickness as they adjust, and competence at mastering the skills they need to thrive in a preindustrial society. I avidly consumed the lengthy, detailed, heavily researched accounts of what they’re doing, why, and how. As always, Stirling renders colorful, multisensory descriptions of the setting and its details large and small. Admittedly, to enjoy this novel, a reader has to like exposition. I love a well-written expository lump and delight in scenes where characters explain things to each other. Like Robert Heinlein, Stirling excels in that kind of dialogue. For readers who like action scenes, on the other hand, they’ll relish the battle that extends over the final chapters, going on a bit too long for me. I had to embrace a certain suspension of disbelief to accept the amount of progress the characters achieve in a relatively short time span, but the author portrays the people and events in such vivid and convincing detail that I never seriously doubted the plausibility of the story.
THE LIGHT EATERS, by Zoe Schlanger. The title refers to plants, and the author, a science journalist, discusses cutting-edge discoveries about the remarkable abilities of those organisms. As the book’s blurb states, she explores their capacity “to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.” Plants, of course, don’t communicate by voice; they emit chemical signals. Are these signals in some sense deliberate? Without brains, how can they “store memories” and make choices? When they adjust to the behaviors of animals, insects, fungi, and other vegetation, are they doing something more than just responding automatically to environmental conditions? In short, are they intelligent? Even conscious? Farfetched as these ideas sound when phrased so bluntly, this book abounds in examples grounded in exhaustive research. Schlanger intersperses the biological and botanical information with anecdotes from her own conversations and adventures with many of the scientists working in the field. She defines intelligence as “the ability to learn from one’s surroundings and make decisions that best support one’s life,” a criterion plants fulfill. However, the temptation to anthropomorphize them should be resisted, as she cautions. Yet readers may get the impression she herself doesn’t resist that temptation strongly enough. As much as I enjoy the idea of sentient and even sapient plants, some passages struck me as overly sentimental or mystical. Nevertheless, the book is packed with solidly factual, extremely detailed material that will fascinate anyone interested in the subject. It’s supported by lengthy endnotes and index but, alas, no illustrations.
A SORCERESS COMES TO CALL, by T. Kingfisher. A full-length novel (over 300 pages) set in a quasi-Regency society and inspired by the fairy tale of “The Goose Girl.” Although the book doesn’t follow the plot of the traditional story to any significant extent, they share several elements: The magical and eventually decapitated horse Falada; a heroine and villainess, neither of whom is quite what she seems, moving into a wealthy household; and geese — as the LOCUS review puts it, attack geese. The first chapter introduces Cordelia, a fourteen-year-old girl trapped in an appalling situation by her subtly abusive mother. The opening scenes and Cordelia’s despairing reflections make painful reading. Her mother, Evangeline, exercises only one kind of magic so far as we witness, but it’s a terrifyingly powerful one. As punishment or sometimes apparently at random whim, she makes Cordelia “obedient.” In that condition, the girl has no control over any voluntary physical actions except blinking and moving her eyes. Her mother operates her body like a puppet, keeping Cordelia in that condition for hours or occasionally longer. Moreover, Cordelia has no privacy aside from her rides on Falada; her mother doesn’t allow her to close any doors in the house. (Contrary to the book’s blurb, the rooms do have doors.) Evangeline, of course, claims she loves her daughter and inflicts this control for her own good. Cordelia manages to make one friend during her horseback rides, a consolation ruined by the discovery that the friend’s father is Evangeline’s “benefactor.” After the sudden, violent termination of the “benefactor” relationship, Evangeline captures the interest of a generous country squire, who invites her and her daughter for an extended visit. Evangeline intends to trap him into marriage, but she can’t achieve that goal with magic because certain elements of the wedding ceremony cancel spells. She can, however, use her powers to manipulate him indirectly. She has already demonstrated her ability and willingness to inflict horrible consequences on people who offend her, compelling victims to maim or kill themselves or others. Because everyone who believes in sorcerers at all thinks they’re capable of only weak effects such as illusions, nobody suspects her involvement in those crimes. Thus Cordelia contemplates what her mother might do to the squire and his innocent household with helpless terror. Here’s where one of Kingfisher’s most engaging secondary characters (and that’s saying something) comes in. The squire’s middle-aged, unmarried sister, Hester, a goose fancier, takes an instant aversion to Evangeline but at first doesn’t know what to make of Cordelia. When Hester learns the truth about Cordelia’s plight and her mother’s evil, the aging spinster recruits a former suiter who’s still a dear friend, plus her closest female friends, each with her own entertaining quirks, to combat the sorceress. In addition to fascinating character interaction and development, the story features library research into arcane lore, scintillating dialogue, desperate confrontations, and moments of bone-chilling horror. Codelia grows into an independent person and discovers her own hidden strength. After narrow escapes, dark moments, and twists designed to surprise even the most genre-savvy fans, the good guys attain a well-deserved victory. A satisfying experience for devotees of T. Kingfisher’s fantasy and horror as well as a worthy stand-alone introduction to her work for new readers.
THE LOST STORY, by Meg Shaffer. Naturally, I couldn’t resist a novel advertised as inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia. Shanandoah (sic), the world beyond the portal in THE LOST STORY, isn’t quite like Narnia, but not nearly so dark as Fillory in Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS. In the prologue, fifteen years before the main action, two boys who’d vanished in a West Virginia state forest six months earlier miraculously return. Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell have aged more than six months can account for but not enough to cast doubt on their identities. As we later learn, magic has altered their memories. Rafe remembers nothing about their experiences during that lost time. For reasons ultimately revealed, Jeremy (who’s forbidden to tell Rafe what happened to them) remembers everything except how to find the portal again. In the present, Rafe, an eccentric artist, lives alone in the woods. Meanwhile, Jeremy’s clairvoyant gift has earned him a high-profile career as a finder of missing persons. The main story begins when Emilie Wendell tries to enlist him to search for the long-lost half-sister she never knew, kidnapped by a serial rapist and presumed dead but with no trace of a body. Jeremy adamantly refuses when he learns the girl disappeared in the same area where he and Rafe were lost. The mention of Emilie’s sister’s name, however, changes his mind. Now he must repair his strained relationship with Rafe to persuade his former best friend to cooperate in the quest. Flashbacks show how their youthful friendship developed, with Jeremy offering Rafe a refuge from his semi-impoverished household and a harsh father who disapproved of his art. In the present, the gradual build-up to the team’s departure from our world deepens the reader’s understanding of the characters and intensifies curiosity about the boys’ missing months. It’s about a third of the way into the book when Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie finally cross through the portal into Shanandoah. Numinous and perilous fantasy-realm excitement, emotionally fraught encounters, and a quest into a darkness both material and psychological follow. A deeply moving, bittersweet denouement reminds us that although fairy tales typically conclude with “happily ever after,” those consummations often require sacrifice. Interludes by an anonymous, omniscient narrator, the “storyteller,” appear throughout the novel to provide metafictional commentary on the heroes’ adventures. The storyteller, her identity finally revealed, has the last word, reminding us that “books are magic. Maybe the strongest magic there is.”
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary”:
Four men hauled the Yule log up the broad, tree-lined drive toward the house, three young servants with Walter Griffin, the landowner’s son, in the lead. Lucy caught herself watching him with rapt attention and quickly looked away. True, he carried the front end of the huge segment of tree trunk with an ease that belied his slender build, but that was no excuse to stare like a lovesick girl. Nor was the fact that until today they hadn’t seen each other for over a year. She hoped if he glanced her way, he would attribute the flush on her cheeks to the crisp winter wind. Or that even with his spectacles, he couldn’t make out the details of her expression from that distance.
A light dusting of snow covered the ground. Shivering, Lucy pulled her fur-lined cape tighter around her shoulders. Along with the rest of the family and staff gathered outside the front entrance to the circa-1600 Tudor manor with its half-timbered facade, she joined the log-bearers in a hearty, off-key rendition of “The Holly and the Ivy.” The men dragged their burden inside to the original great hall, now the main parlor. Trailing after them, Lucy stuck close to her mother, who kept a firm grip on six-year-old Robbie’s hand.
Lucy’s little brother grinned up at her, skipping as he tried to break free and race ahead. The family’s Irish setter bounced and wagged at his side. “Does the Yule log mean Father Christmas will come tonight?”
She shook her head. “Not tonight. Christmas Eve is tomorrow night, remember? Two more sleeps until Christmas.”
Walter and the other men shoved the gigantic log into the vast, stone fireplace, where it barely fit. The mantel already bore garlands of greenery. The servants had previously stacked up kindling and coaxed it into a steady burn. Under the supervision of Walter’s father, Lucy and Robbie’s uncle by marriage, the men arranged the log atop the pile. Everyone watched with bated breath until it became clear the flame had caught. In celebration, they sang all the verses of “Deck the Halls” they could remember. See the blazing Yule before us… Soon the scent of wood smoke blended with the evergreen aroma of the fir tree standing in the nearest corner.
Uncle George rubbed his hands with a satisfied smile. “Good choice, lads. This one is sure to burn until Twelfth Night.” He glanced down at Robbie. “Maybe tonight we’ll sit around it and tell Christmas ghost stories. Would you like that?”
After a moment of hesitation, the boy said, “Oh, yes.”
As the servants began to disperse to their duties, Lucy grasped his free hand. “You must be cold. How about a cup of hot cocoa?”
“I’m not cold,” he said, “but I still want cocoa.”
Over his head, Lucy and her mother exchanged amused smiles at his boyish indifference to the weather. Spotting Walter heading in their direction, Lucy quickened her steps toward the corridor that led to the kitchen.
Her mother’s puzzled frown made it obvious she noticed Lucy’s eagerness to evade Walter, but she didn’t remark on it. In the almost stifling warmth of the spacious kitchen, with another antique fireplace large enough to stand in, alongside modern furnishings such as the newest model of cast-iron, coal-burning stove, they watched the cook heat milk for Robbie’s cocoa. Meanwhile, he knelt on the flagstone floor to pet the gray tabby who guarded the pantry from mice. When the chocolate was ready, Lucy carried the mug while she and her mother escorted Robbie up to his room to drink it there.
They had a suite of three connected bedrooms, his a cramped nook between his mother’s and sister’s chambers. As soon as he got settled for the moment, Lucy’s mother followed her into her room to launch the interrogation Lucy had been dreading. “Why are you avoiding Walter? Before he went medical school in London, you had an understanding, didn’t you?”
Lucy couldn’t deny she and Walter had established that “understanding.” Cousins could marry, and anyway the two of them were only step-cousins, if that word existed. “That was then. Things have changed.” She hadn’t met him in person since her father’s funeral, when they’d exchanged only brief remarks.
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
All issues are now posted on Dropbox, where you should be able to download them at this link:
All Vampire’s Crypt Issues on Dropbox
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links:
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
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 August 2024 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
If by any chance you’ve tried the Dropbox link for THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT (at the end of the newsletter) and had trouble with it, check out the current one, which should work.
My paranormal romance novelette “Chocolate Chip Charm” was featured by N. N. Light’s Book Heaven in their “Christmas in July” promotion:
Just before their church choir’s Christmas party potluck, Stacy learns her former boyfriend, Rob, has broken up with her best friend, whom he was dating. Stacy got over Rob a long time ago, or so she thought. Shouldn’t she try to repair her friends’ fractured relationship? A love potion recipe she finds in her grandmother’s old notebook of magic spells might fix the problem. On the wild chance that it could work, Stacy mixes it into a cookie. But the charm misfires, and now Rob insists he’s been in love with her all along. The spell will wear off in seven days. But does she really want it to? There’s an excerpt below.
This month, we welcome Amy Hahn, author of historical fiction and nonfiction as well as other genres.
*****
Interview with Amy Hahn:
What inspired you to become a writer?
I’ve always been a writer. I can’t remember when I wasn’t. I was a very early reader and wrote stories at a young age. I filled notebooks with stories. I carried those notebooks everywhere. Stories came easy for me. Writing stories was a natural thing for me.
What genres do you work in?
I’ve written paranormal, contemporary and historical. I’ve also authored nonfiction history. And The Duchess Egg Hunt is a cozy romance mystery. I enjoy reading and writing many different genres.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I keep a notebook where I write down my book ideas. I sometimes write a general summary of the story with short character descriptions. And sometimes I’ll make notes about what I envision happening in each chapter. But I usually know how the story will evolve from beginning to middle to end. Once in a while there’s a twist or surprise I didn’t expect which changes the narrative, but most of the time the plot remains the same as the first time I imagined it.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
I can’t specifically pinpoint influences on my work. I’ve been writing since childhood and I have story ideas come easily and endlessly (it’s just finding the time to put them to paper!). But often after I read or see something interesting, such as a documentary, an original story related to that topic pops into my head. I do have many favorite authors that have most likely inspired me in some way. In the classics, I love Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Louisa May Alcott, Maud Lovelace and L.M. Montgomery. The beloved characters of Jo March, Betsy Hart and Anne Shirley, all passionate dreamers and writers with independent personalities, certainly offered inspiration. In contemporary, I enjoy Kate Morton, Sarah Addison Allen and Wendy Webb. And I’m a big fan of historical nonfiction by Erik Larson, David McCullough and Nathaniel Philbrick. I’m constantly amazed by the talent it takes to write historic nonfiction that reads like fiction narrative. Incredible.
What sparked your “Jelly Beans and Spring Things” book, THE DUCHESS EGG HUNT? What kind of research did you do for it?
I’ve read a lot of cozy mysteries and I do enjoy them, but I’ve never written one. So, when the “Jelly Beans and Spring Things” series was announced, I decided I wanted to give writing a cozy romantic mystery a try. But it had to have a historic story weaved into it. Contemporary mysteries surrounding a historic artifact, such as a painting or manuscript or photos, are a favorite of mine. And in addition to being a writer and editor, I am also a historian. With this series and its spring theme, I thought about the decorated porcelain eggs Tsar Nicholas Romanov gave his wife and mother every spring. These were extravagant creations. Many were designed with beautiful gems. So, I had an idea of having a story revolve around the lost jeweled eggs given to the four Romanov daughters who were known as Grand Duchesses. These decorative eggs are completely fictional. There is no record of the girls receiving their own eggs. But it sounded like a fun idea for a story. Add a museum curator who specializes in Imperial Russian art (and is especially knowledgeable about the lost eggs), a skeptic detective, an art heist by an elusive art thief, and a mysterious heiress with a family connection to Imperial Russia and a fun and interesting story developed.
MR. JACK FROST has the possibly unique premise of *the* Jack Frost as a romantic hero. What inspired you to choose him for that role?
That was my first book with The Wild Rose Press. It’s been a while since I wrote that one, but I remember wanting to write about winter and how beautiful it can be and that Jack Frost would be the perfect name for the hero, a magical hero, made of out snow, arriving to help the heroine rediscover joy in the holiday season and to be open to new love after experiencing tragedy.
Is the Ice Carousel in your story of that title based on a real-life counterpart somewhere?
That would be wonderful. I’d love to see a carousel made of ice. What a beautiful thing it would be! Even though I don’t know of a carousel carved in ice, there are many ice and snow sculpting contests across the world, including one in my home state of MN. That one takes place during the winter carnival in St. Paul. And the creations are amazing. Images and descriptions of these unique ice creations gave me inspiration for my icy carousel.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
My most current is The Duchess Egg Hunt. I’m not sure what my next published book will be.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on several different manuscripts at the moment. I’m sure many authors do the same. A couple are paranormal romances and another is a historical romance Christmas story. I also have a couple ideas for historical nonfiction, focused on regional MN history, that have been percolating for a while. And I’d like to write historical fiction about a few of my ancestors, and put together a collection of family history essays.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
1. Don’t compare yourself to other published authors. Focus on you and your own writing abilities and goals. Do what works best for you. Give energy to that.
2. Don’t stop writing. If you stop, you’ll never realize your dream to be published.
How has your career in journalism and TV affected your fiction writing (if it has)?
Working as a news producer for a television newscast definitely offered great exposure to a variety of interesting people and fascinating stories. I’d say my work as a journalist has certainly impacted me in many ways and there could always be a future book that is heavily influenced by my experience in news. And I believe my journalism education and my work as a professional journalist, writing and crafting news stories, has certainly helped improve my writing and editing skills.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Author Website
Facebook
Instagram
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA, by Christina Dodd. A historical mystery narrated by the oldest daughter of Romeo and Juliet. Yes, really. Without retconning any elements of Shakespeare’s play except the tragic ending, Dodd postulates that Romeo and Juliet botched their respective suicide attempts and survived to remain married, thereby reconciling their repentant parents. (Not that minor feuds among other families don’t continue in Verona.) Having married in their teens, Romeo and Juliet are still fairly young (by today’s standards if not those of Renaissance Italy) and passionately in love. Their daughter Rosaline, Rosie for short, observing their tempestuous relationship and dealing with her resultant brood of siblings, has no interest in marriage. She disposes of the suitors her parents foist on her by matchmaking them with more suitable girls. Rosie would rather spend her time studying herbs and potions with the elderly Friar Lawrence. Now in her twenties, she thinks she’s home free because she’s practically a confirmed spinster in the view of her contemporaries—until her parents betroth her to a notoriously debauched older nobleman who has already buried more than one wife. To make matters worse, at her engagement ball she falls in love, or at least infatuation, at first sight with a young man from a family hostile to her own. How embarrassing to find herself in the same plight as her impulsive parents in their youth! Then her prospective husband gets murdered. Rosie falls under suspicion, a quandary not improved by her potion expertise, a skill that some people regard as the next thing to witchcraft. To clear her name, she investigates the man’s death and uncovers secrets about what really happened to his earlier wives. The plot thickens into an amateur-detective romp from which the reader never really believes Rosie won’t emerge mainly unscathed. Well, for one thing, she’s the narrator! Fast-moving, clever, and witty, the mystery includes multiple twists and a solution I didn’t see coming. While I like Rosie as a character, I never felt a deep emotional connection to her. I do sympathize with her apparently hopeless crush on the boy from a rival household, though, and feel some curiosity about their eventual fate (not enough to motivate me to buy the sequel, but your mileage may vary). I don’t mind the breezy narrative style, with the language of Romeo and Juliet’s Verona “translated” into modern American colloquialisms. I did wince, however, when Rosie scoffs at the concept of the Earth’s being round, a fact all educated people have known since antiquity. But I suppose I can give the author the benefit of the doubt and accept this detail as part of the humor.
WILDFIRE, by Peter Sartucci. Post-apocalyptic, near-future science fiction, first volume in a trilogy (continued in FIRE BREAK and BACK DRAFT) that will remind S. M. Stirling’s fans of his “Emberverse” series, beginning with DIES THE FIRE. Indeed, Sartucci’s saga is effectively fanfic inspired by Stirling and was written with that author’s full approval. The triggering phenomenon in WILDFIRE, an enigmatic extraterrestrial entity labeled the Visitor that has hovered over Earth uneventfully for some time before the fateful day, differs slightly from the set-up in Stirling’s series, but they lead to the same fundamental premise: In a single instant, the laws of physics change so that no advanced technology functions. No electricity, no explosions, no steam power capable of doing work. As far as the characters and readers ever discover, this change is permanent. While Stirling’s long-running series portrays the growth of a new society over the course of two generations, Sartucci’s trilogy focuses on the first few months after the Rupture (as the triggering event comes to be called). The protagonist, Sam Hyatt, teaches martial arts. He and his wife, Ellie, have two children. They live in Montana, but when the catastrophe hits, they’re in Denver with his team for a regional competition. As soon as they realize things won’t immediately return to normal, they set out with their team, bicycles for transport, whatever portable supplies they can gather, and a few other people they pick up on the way. They head for Ellie’s parents’ rural home, a small Colorado town in a comfortably remote, easily defensible location. Yes, of course they have the necessary skills, knowledge, and resources to survive, plus a relatively safe place to retreat to. A post-apocalyptic story about people without those advantages would be awfully short. Various other viewpoint characters are introduced along the way, some only walk-ons, others destined to become important later. The most significant secondary character outside the Hyatts’ personal circle turns out to be a Catholic priest serving as a hospital chaplain. A paranormal element arises, involving cryptic visions of each other experienced by him and Sam Hyatt. We await their eventual meeting in real life and aren’t disappointed. They’re also visited by mystical epiphanies that hint at the source of the Rupture, although Sartucci’s trilogy (unlike Stirling’s series) never offers specific details of the cause and motive for the event. In addition to the deities who reveal themselves to Sam and the priest, demonic forces have broken into the world. By the third volume, a spiritual battle between good and evil parallels the desperate physical clashes that end the lives of some characters. Alongside the attacks of gangs and organized armies determined to conquer the protagonists’ home, the internal politics of the town generate their own stress and hazards. While the books contain more battle scenes than I would have chosen, the author held my attention throughout, and I seldom had trouble understanding the action. My favorite sections are those where the heroes struggle to cope with the logistics of a suddenly pre-industrial world. Sartucci goes into deep and convincing detail about the problems and solutions. All the characters, both heroes and villains, are portrayed with lifelike vividness, and the good guys engage our full belief and sympathy. Their dangers and triumphs strike me as consistently plausible. The writing flows smoothly, with lucid exposition and lively dialogue. However, the text could have used another proofreading pass, with the repeated misplacement of apostrophes in plural possessives especially glaring. That glitch, though, didn’t prevent me from being captivated by this trilogy and not wanting it to end.
WICKED MARIGOLD, by Caroline Carlson. A fun middle-grade fantasy deconstructing a familiar fairy-tale and fantasy trope, good and bad princesses. All her life, Princess Marigold has heard about her perfect sister, Rosalind, who was kidnapped by the evil wizard Torville before Marigold was born. Rosalind was beautiful, kind, sweet, and virtuous – magically so. Animals loved her, and flowers instantly sprang up in her vicinity. Inquisitive, impulsive Marigold, aside from her cleverness at inventing “contraptions,” is an ordinary girl with a normal tendency to get into trouble. When she’s eleven years old, out of nowhere Rosalind escapes from Torville’s castle and comes home. For Marigold, the lavish festivities highlight her own flaws in contrast to her idealized older sister. When she accidentally-on-purpose dumps a bucket of water on Rosalind, Marigold decides – in accordance with fundamental fairy-tale principles – that if Rosalind is good, she herself must be the wicked one. Marigold runs away to the lair of wizard Torville. He and his imp assistant, Pettifog, after all those years of Rosalind’s incorrigible sweetness, want nothing to do with another princess. When Marigold insists she’s wicked and begs to become Torville’s apprentice, he gives her seven days to prove herself. Failure will result in a dire penalty, probably transformation into a beetle. Torville’s home is a delightful example of everything an evil sorcerer’s lair should be. Rummaging through spell books and scouring the “dank and dismal fortress” for ingredients, Marigold manages to squeak through the trial period. We learn along with her about the contentious atmosphere of the evil wizard community, including Torville’s far from civil relations with his own brother and sister. When Marigold’s best friend, the kitchen boy Collin, shows up in search of her, he informs her of Rosalind’s grand project, a peace conference to change the Cacophonous Kingdoms into the Harmonious Kingdoms. The evil sorcerers, of course, prefer that the realms continue hiring wizards to cast curses on each other. In the midst of the crisis, Marigold’s experimental spell work changes Torville into a blob of glop. She and Pettifog, with Collin’s enthusiastic help, have to conceal this disaster as the political situation grows more and more tangled. The clever contraptions she makes out of found objects contribute to solving the problems almost as much as magic does. The cranky Torville and disdainful, fastidious Pettifog develop into interestingly rounded characters who aren’t nearly so bad as we and Marigold thought at first. Ultimately, she even discovers Rosalind to be a likable person who’s more than one-dimensionally “good.” Is Marigold wicked or not? Even though her heart never shrivels up like Torville’s, can she be wicked in her own way? In the end, she becomes appreciated for who she is rather than forced into the mold of what either a princess or an evil wizard “should be.”
THE SPELLSHOP, by Sarah Beth Durst. Marketed as a “cozy fantasy,” this novel reminds me of another specimen of that subgenre, Travis Baldree’s LEGENDS & LATTES (reviewed in the April newsletter, No. 223). In both books, the female protagonist settles in a small town where she opens a store offering wares otherwise unavailable to the locals and forms unexpected friendships. Baldree’s retired orc mercenary Viv, however, has meticulously planned her peaceful retirement, while Durst’s protagonist is fleeing a violent revolution. Kiela, on the staff of the Great Library of Alyssium, lives in a suite in the library and hardly ever speaks to another human being, a lifestyle she’s perfectly happy with. She doesn’t actively dislike people, but she likes books more. When revolutionaries attempting to overthrow the emperor start burning the city, including (to her shock and horror) the library, she collects all the rare spellbooks she can transport and escapes from the city. Private possession of these tomes is forbidden, but she has to “steal” them or abandon them to probable destruction. She has one companion, her assistant Caz, a sapient, talking spider plant, a unique being who’s the most delightful secondary character I’ve encountered in a fantasy novel in a long time. In search of a refuge remote and obscure enough that imperial agents won’t follow her there, she travels to her island-based home town. Her late parents left for the big city when Kiela was a child and had no interest in returning, so she no longer has social ties there. She does own a house, though, which can provide a home for her and Caz if it hasn’t fallen into ruin or been coopted by squatters. Fortunately, the cottage and its grounds need a lot of work but are livable. Most of the villagers remember her mother and therefore tentatively accept Kiela, including a nosy and intrusively over-helpful—from her viewpoint—male neighbor, Larran, a caretaker of merhorses. To survive, she has to interact with people, however reluctantly. She decides to make jam from a family recipe to sell to the local baker as well as individual customers, a process that requires her to learn the technique from scratch. Her new acquaintances include a variety of nonhuman persons as well as humans from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and colors (including some unknown in our world, such as blue). All the species and races intermingle freely, with no trace of prejudice. Suspicion falls only on outsiders. Meanwhile, Kiela notices how impoverished the town has become. Learning the cause, the failure of imperial wizards to visit and replenish the island’s magic as they used to, she realizes her cache of forbidden spellbooks offers the potential for restoring fertility, prosperity, and protection from magical storms. If, that is, she can learn to use the spells. After all, she’s a librarian, not a sorcerer. Also, when she does manage to cast a few spells by trial and error, she has to pass off the resulting potions as “old family remedies,” since it’s illegal for laypersons to perform magic. Her jam shop not only supplies tasty treats but also serves as a front for the titular spellshop. Naturally, her safe haven can’t remain so indefinitely. Fallout from the rebellion and the threat of imperial investigators find their way to the island despite its insignificance. Although Kiela ends up forming strong ties with the locals, especially Larran, she remains a confirmed introvert, with whom I can heartily identify. Regardless of how deeply she comes to care for her new neighbors, she can endure only so much company at a stretch. This novel contains irresistible humor, pathos, and fantasy worldbuilding, as well as suspense. All the characters have their individual quirks, including Caz the spider plant, with his hyper-cautious, Eeyore-like outlook on life, and the new companion he bonds with, an accidentally created sentient cactus. It’s not much of a spoiler to reveal that Kiela and her newfound friends overcome the threats and that she eventually feels she has truly come home. The fun lies in discovering how she reaches that point. This is another book that I didn’t want to see end and will certainly reread.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Chocolate Chip Charm”:
The following night around eight, when Stacy had just inserted one of her favorite animated Christmas specials into the DVD player, the doorbell rang. She opened the door to find Rob standing on the stoop. Well, so much for the spell-cancellation ritual. He instantly burst into song. For a minute or two, she watched, stunned, as he sang about strolling through snowy lanes and getting married by a snowman, who surely couldn’t legally perform such a ceremony under existing state law.
The front door on the other side of the duplex opened. Mrs. Hermann, the female half of the elderly couple who lived there, stepped onto the porch in a quilted, rose-pink bathrobe. After a stern glance at Stacy, she glared at Rob.
“Sorry,” Stacy blurted in a feeble squeak. After her neighbor retreated inside with a slam of the door, Stacy folded her arms, summoning up a frown although an impulse to laugh bubbled inside her. “Quiet! Do you want to get me evicted?”
“That couldn’t happen, could it?”
“No, not really, but I get along fine with the Hermanns, and I want to keep it that way.”
Before she could recover her equilibrium, he stepped inside the open door and closed it behind him. He peered over her shoulder at the cartoon paused on the TV screen. “Remember how we used to sing along with the music and recite the dialogue with Boris Karloff?”
“How could I forget? Cocoa and popcorn on the couch in my parents’ basement, making snarky remarks at the dialogue in all the Christmas classics.”
He said with a sly grin, “Yeah, when you weren’t trying not to cry over them. I’ve missed that in the past four years. I’d love to watch Christmas movies with you again, not to mention all the other stuff we used to do together.” In his right hand, he displayed a bouquet of green leaves and white berries she hadn’t noticed before. “Meanwhile, I come bearing mistletoe.”
Holding the sprig above his head, he wrapped his free arm around her waist. When his lips tentatively nibbled hers, she didn’t dodge as she knew she should. Instead, she let herself savor the shivers of pleasure that coursed through her. She broke contact only when he tried to deepen the kiss.
“We can’t do this. You were going with Doreen up until a few days ago.”
“That doesn’t matter. She knew all along that I’d never gotten over you.”
Stacy wiggled out of his loose embrace. If only she could believe that claim, but of course it was a magically induced delusion. “I don’t want to talk about it. You have to leave.”
He sighed. “If that’s what you really want.”
“I do.” She forced herself to speak in a firm tone that wouldn’t expose the assertion as a lie.
“Okay, but I’ll see you again tomorrow.” He opened the door and stepped out.
The instant it closed behind him, she locked the latch and deadbolt so she’d be less tempted to call him back.
-end of excerpt-
*****
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter