Author Archive
Welcome to the July 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.
Below is an excerpt from “The Thing on the Driveway,” a humorous Lovecraftian romance in a new anthology titled NECRONOMI-ROMCOM (Where Mythos Meets Cute). Onyx is heroine Eve’s cat. The sparkling, disappearing spiders invaded her garage earlier in the story. The translucent, serpent-like thing of the title belongs to her reclusive, scholarly neighbor. You can buy the book in either Kindle or paperback format. Here’s the link to the “Light” volume, which includes my story; there is also a “Dark” volume.
This month, I’m hosting a return visit from multi-genre author Marla A. White.
*****
Interview with Marla A. White:
Please tell us about your latest forthcoming book.
“Framed for Murder” is the story of ex-cop turned B&B owner Mel O’Rourke being pulled into a murder investigation to save her old nemesis from being convicted of one of the few crimes she didn’t commit.
Mel’s story started in “The Starlight Mint Surprise Murder” where, after a fall during a rooftop chase ends her police career, she must start a new chapter of her life. With the help of her family, she re-opens The Babbling Brook bed-and-breakfast and has to learn on the fly how to run an inn and solve a murder.
“Framed” picks up shortly after that with the arrival of cat burglar Poppy Phillips, the woman Mel was chasing when she fell. She should be pissed, but there’s something about the charming Brit that makes it hard to hold a grudge. Until she finds out the real reason for her visit is that she’s wanted for a murder she didn’t commit. Poppy may be a lot of things, but a killer isn’t one of them, and Mel can’t stand the thought of an innocent person going to jail so she agrees to help.
Their partnership isn’t without conflict, especially when the allegedly former thief meddles in Mel’s potential romance with café owner Jackson Thibodeaux, as well as whatever her relationship is with Deputy Sheriff Gregg Marks. Still, Mel is sure Poppy’s heart is in the right place, a theory put to the test when dark secrets about the Brit come to light.
What I love about this book though, is that it’s not just about finding the killer. It’s about second chances as nearly every character is looking for some sort of renewal or redemption.
Is your town of Pine Cove based on any real location? Do you have a map and “bible” for the town? Do you plan to write future stories in this setting?
It’s loosely based on Idyllwild, CA, but with a few modifications. The bridge that causes poor acrophobic Mel such issues, for instance, doesn’t exist. Neither does Jackson’s café, though it modeled off a delicious existing bakery/breakfast place.
I don’t have a map per se as I’ve been fortunate enough to visit the real place one or two times a year. I do keep a file with a document describing each business that I bring up in a book to be sure to keep them all straight as the series goes on.
My hope is that this is the first of an ongoing series so stay tuned!
How do you research police procedures for your mysteries?
When writing “Cause for Elimination” where some of the characters were actual cops, I was more mindful of getting it right. Part of the joy of writing a cozy mystery is that your detective is an amateur. They won’t necessarily know the rules either, which frees me from having to do a lot of research. Being an ex-patrol officer, Mel is aware of correct procedures, but knows she’s breaking all of them just by investigating anyway.
Still, I hope the police never have a reason to look at my search history. Things like “what does a bear attack look like” and “where do you stab someone to puncture a lung” could start to look pretty suspicious!
What kinds of material can readers find on your blog?
My blog is sadly sparse at the moment, but I vow to do better, readers! I really admire writers like you, Margaret, who find the time to do it all – write, blog, marketing. I got so caught up in writing one day a few weeks ago I forgot all about a lunch with a friend until they texted me, “I’m here”.
Mostly at the moment it’s character interviews with the folks from “Cause for Elimination”, personal anecdotes and my first guest blogger’s book spotlight. I’m getting there!
What are you working on now?
I’ve written the first draft of the next Pine Cove Mystery- title TBD. I’m going to let it breathe for a minute while I work with a dear friend and romance author CJ Bahr on our hockey romance series. It’s my first step outside of my usual lane and it’s been a lot of fun. We’ll be publishing under the name Alisa Jean and already have two completed.
This fall I’m looking forward to releasing the third book in my contemporary fantasy series, The Keeper Chronicles. “The Angel in the Window” brings Gabriel and Lucifer together in a battle to save Michael and Raphael from a social media obsessed, soccer mom, crazy demon. If they fail, the balance of good and evil is shot, leaving the fate of the world up for grabs.
Website: Marla A. White
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
YOU LIKE IT DARKER, by Stephen King. A new story collection to catch readers up on pieces published in miscellaneous venues since the last compilation came out. In my view, King’s short stories don’t hit the mark as consistently as his longer work. It’s very rare for him to produce a novel or novella that doesn’t enthrall me. Fortunately, in addition to short stories YOU LIKE IT DARKER includes five long tales, all first-rate or nearly so. “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” almost qualifies as a brief novel. Danny dreams of a murder victim’s corpse, a vision so vivid he feels impelled to seek out the location from his dream, where he discovers the truth of it. After he reports the body to the police with an anonymous phone call, they soon track him down. The detective on the case, convinced Danny committed the crime, ruthlessly harries him. Danny’s plight fully engages the reader’s sympathy—“No good deed goes unpunished”—as the already neurotic detective spirals down a rabbit hole of obsession even after the real murderer confesses. “Rattlesnakes,” set in Florida, stars the aging, widowed father from CUJO. That novel, although grippingly suspenseful (after mostly getting over with the dreary set-up about the parents’ dysfunctional marriage), disappointed me because it contains no overt supernatural content and only one sympathetic character, the little boy who dies. This story almost makes up for that disappointment. The protagonist meets a woman in her sixties constantly pushing an empty twin stroller in which, according to her, her two small boys are riding. After her sudden death, the stroller and its not-so-imaginary riders start haunting the protagonist. Like Danny, he falls under unjustified suspicion from a police investigator. The narrator of “Two Talented Bastids,” in King’s iconic Maine setting, learns the paranormal secret behind the phenomenal success of his father, a famous author, and his father’s best friend. The narrator of “The Dreamers,” a Vietnam veteran, gets drawn into a mad scientist’s dangerous experiments involving, of course, dreams. The protagonist of “The Answer Man” meets the enigmatic title character three times in his life. At a roadside stand that appears at unpredictable moments, the Answer Man offers replies to questions, for a price after the first free sample. While he won’t give advice—no “Should I. . . ?” questions allowed—he promises truthful responses to others. The protagonist finds that although the answers are technically accurate, they don’t always mean what he assumes. Among the short tales, my favorite is “Laurie,” a sweet story set in the same fictional Florida locale as “Rattlesnakes,” about another widower, whose sister forces a puppy on him. I’d read it online twice already and am delighted to possess it in tangible form. “Weird Willie,” despite its craftsmanship and undeniable creepiness, left me dissatisfied (an attitude doubtless colored by my first reading of it in a magazine issue I bought for what struck me as too high a price). It’s essentially a reworking of “Gramma,” one of my old favorites, but without the Lovecraftian allusions and with uniformly unlikable characters, including the title protagonist, a boy who bonds over his distasteful hobbies with his equally eccentric grandfather. “The Turbulence Expert,” first published in anthology of airplane-related stories, rests on the provocative premise that the title character and his colleagues prevent plane crashes simply through their status as passengers on the otherwise doomed flight, a stressful job indeed. The rest of the volume is worth reading even though I didn’t find all the tales equally absorbing. King’s afterword supplies insight into the backgrounds of some of the stories.
MIND GAMES, by Nora Roberts. Thea, the protagonist of this romantic suspense novel, inherits clairvoyance and telepathy through her female forebears. She learns early to keep this gift to herself for the most part, since new acquaintances to whom she reveals it tend to scorn her as either a liar or a “freak.” When she’s twelve, on the first night of the annual two-week summer visit she and her ten-year-old brother spend with their grandmother in the mountains of Kentucky, she suffers a terrifying vision of her home in northern Virginia. She and her grandmother share the trauma of watching a serial-killer thief break in and murder Thea’s parents. Thanks to the author’s intimate portrayal of Thea’s thoughts and emotions, this intense section of the story brought me to tears. Because the local sheriff, like most long-time residents of the community, knows about and trusts the family’s psychic power, he passes along the information to the appropriate authorities, and the killer gets captured within days. The murderer, Riggs, sentenced to life without parole in a supermax prison, serves most of his time in solitary confinement. Unfortunately, Thea’s vision of him on the night of her parents’ death forges a psychic link between them. After she unwisely invades his mind to gloat over his imprisonment, he repeatedly forces himself into her dreams. With her grandmother’s help, she raises barriers against him that work most of the time—but not always—and the effort causes painful repercussions, including headaches. The only consolation is that he’s in worse condition. Meanwhile, Thea goes on to have a fulfilling life with her brother and grandmother. While the malevolent presence of Riggs lingers in the background, he doesn’t dominate her consciousness. Most of the story follows her from age twelve into the prime of adulthood, with only scattered references to the villain. Spanning so many years in fewer than 200 pages requires a large proportion of “telling” rather than “showing.” Nevertheless, the author manages to keep the reader’s interest engaged at every stage of Thea’s growth from a bereaved preteen to a self-confident woman with a successful career in video game design. As usual, Roberts excels in portraying a small-town atmosphere, with a close-knit community and delicious homemade food, lots of food. Also dogs. The romantic element doesn’t enter until almost halfway through the book, when a single father with a four-year-old son moves into a house he’s inherited within easy walking distance of Thea’s and her grandmother’s homes. I won’t elaborate on the man, his identity being one of the novel’s major surprises. The charming little boy instantly bonds with Thea and her dog. Although Riggs begins to attack her in her dreams more frequently and aggressively around this time, she enhances her own psychic power and trains herself to combat him with computer-game-like strategies. The novel’s “black moment” has no direct connection to Riggs but occurs when Thea accidentally reveals her paranormal ability to her lover. Such harsh words are exchanged that reconciliation is realistically difficult. After that, Thea’s final confrontation with Riggs comes across as almost a foregone conclusion. I had qualms that he might escape in some farfetched way and attack her in the flesh. Fortunately, the combat remains mental, in keeping with the rest of the story.
WILDWOOD DANCING, by Juliet Marillier. This 2007 fantasy combines the fairy tales of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and the Frog Prince in a medieval Transylvanian setting. There are only five girls, ranging in age from five to sixteen, not literal princesses but daughters of a prosperous merchant in a small town. The narrator, Jena, the second oldest, keeps a unique, sapient frog, Gogu, who communicates with her telepathically, as more of a best friend than a pet. Uninterested in romance and marriage, she helps her father with bookkeeping and looks forward to managing the business when he can’t do it any longer. Nine years before the opening of the novel, the girls discovered a portal to the faerie realm in their private suite. Once a month on the night of the Full Moon, they cross over into the Other Kingdom and ride enchanted boats across a lake to socialize and dance with the fair folk. On their first visit in the present time of the story, they encounter guests from a vampiric species known as the Night People. While they know the elven Queen won’t allow the newcomers to harm anyone under her protection—as long as they stay within the designated safe zone—Jena and her eldest sister exercise justifiable caution. One of the other sisters, however, meets and becomes attracted to an enigmatic young man in the Night People’s retinue who may be either one of them or a human fosterling. Back home, the mundane dimension of the girls’ life changes irrevocably when their father falls ill and has to make an extended stay in the nearest large city for treatment. Soon afterward, their uncle dies. His son, Cezar, aggressively claims the head-of-family role in the absence of Jena’s father. Cezar has changed drastically from the companion of her childhood. She remembers little of a terrifying incident when she and Cezar nearly drowned, accepting Cezar’s account of the accident. His older brother’s body was never recovered, and Cezar’s alteration seemed to start then. He developed an intense fear and detestation of the elven folk, which has grown into outright hatred. He wants them exterminated. He’s also determined to take over Jena’s father’s business and marry one of the sisters. Their down-to-earth problems, becoming steadily more desperate as Cezar’s grasp tightens, intertwine with the supernatural plot as Jena tries to protect her impulsive younger sister from the Night People. How can they hide their monthly excursions from Cezar, who becomes increasingly suspicious? What if their father’s illness worsens and he never returns home? Eventually the secret Cezar has concealed ever since his brother disappeared comes out. Fraught relationships among the girls and various inhabitants of the faerie realm build to a crisis. Gogu’s true nature is revealed. Both the characterization and the setting are enthralling. The reader may even pity Cezar when the reason for his detestable behavior becomes clear. We ultimately get the happy ending we expect, but untangling the snarled threads of many years is far from simple. The book includes a glossary with pronunciation guides, and the author’s afterword discusses the history and folklore of Transylvania.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “The Thing on the Driveway”:
Caterwauling from Onyx broke the chain of her ruminations.
She rushed into the living room to find him arching his back like a Halloween cat. His normally sleek fur, solid ebony without a sprinkle of white anywhere, bristled, and his emerald-green eyes made the pose still more impressive.
Three of the glittering spiders scuttled over the carpet. Or maybe two or possibly four. They didn’t hold still long enough for her to focus on them. Onyx pounced on one, which vanished just before his paws would have crushed it. It materialized across the room, unless another identical arachnid had appeared there instead.
Spiders don’t disappear and reappear. Got to be an optical illusion.
On the other hand, could she have been studying intensely enough to cause eyestrain that severe?
Setting aside the question as irrelevant for the moment, she hurried into the kitchen for bug killer spray. When she returned to the living room, Onyx was still leaping at the pests, yowling in obvious frustration when he missed. She squirted the spider nearest her, which vanished. If that really happened, it’s a great evolutionary adaptation.
Just as she directed a random spray at another of the creepy-crawlies, the cat flap in the front door bulged open. The sinuous shape of the translucent, rainbow-hued snake oozed through the gap. A toothless mouth stretched to engulf one of the spiders.
“Get out of here! Shoo!” Having a swarm of spiders vacuumed up might be a plus, but letting a giant whatever-it-was into the house definitely fell on the negative side. Eve shot a blast from the can in the pseudo-serpent’s general direction, with no discernible effect since she couldn’t bring herself to get any closer to it.
-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):
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Facebook
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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
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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
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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 June 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.
N. N. Light’s Book Heaven included my steamy paranormal romance novella “Calling Back Love” in their May “Salute the Military” Bookish Event:
N. N. Light: Calling Back Love
My late-Victorian Christmas story A GHOST IN THE GREEN BESTIARY, part of the “Christmas in a Castle” series from the Wild Rose Press, now has a release date: September 23, 2024. 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 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.
This month’s excerpt comes from a quasi-Lovecraftian paranormal romance novel, SEALING THE DARK PORTAL, set in late spring and early summer. Almost nothing Rina remembers about her life is true. Rather than the ordinary librarian she believes herself to be, she’s actually a sorceress who fled from another world to ours when creatures from an alien dimension devastated her home and killed her family. Now they’ve pursued her to our world, summoned by a sorcerer who plans to open a portal and invite monstrous entities from the void between dimensions to overrun this planet.
In the selection below, Rina has just returned from grocery shopping, and a persistent stray cat that has recently been hanging around defends her from a bizarre attack.
In this issue, instead of an interview, we have an overview of the Baron Blasko vampire mystery series by A. E. Howe, written by Adriana Pena, a contributor to my former fanzine THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT. (Scroll to the end of the newsletter for links to information about the zine and where to download issues.)
Here’s Adriana’s self-introduction:
I am a retired computer programmer and part time local pundit — writing about politics and society, as well as philosophical musings. My life experience and extensive reading have made me the writer that I am today. I was – and still am – a Dark Shadows fan, and, of course, a fan writer. I have written a 51-volume continuation of Dark Shadows (The Collinsport Chronicles) under the name of Maryland Rose. Also wrote several stories where I crossed Kindred the Embraced with Highlander. Which means that I have written quite a bit about vampires – as well as reading a lot about them. I found this series by browsing on the Internet and it sounded interesting. It certainly is. So please, read it and enjoy.
*****
Review by Adriana Pena:
The Baron Blasko mysteries
The Baron Dragomir Blasko has been flying under the radar since 2018. Though the trope of “vampire detective” is well known, Blasko has not been recognized by those who like vampire stories. They are missing a real treat.
The author, A. E. Howe, is known as the writer of mysteries that take place in Florida, with a good sense of place and with three dimensional characters that readers care about. The Baron Blasko mysteries are his foray into vampire fiction, and they too have a good sense of place and three dimensional characters we care about, including Blasko himself.
The story begins with what seems a retelling of “Dracula” with a modern sophisticated character going to the wilds of Transylvania, and meeting superstitious peasants, with a story about a monster that ravaged their villages about a hundred years ago. This protagonist, Josephine Nicolson – is aware of this, because she has read about the monster’s depredations from her grandfather’s writings – but she thinks that the peasants might have magnified some disease or wild animal – a sensible enough explanation. She is not impressed by what she thinks are superstitions.
Circumstances lead her to find refuge in a dilapidated fortress, and it is here that the vampire, Baron Blasko, attacks her.
And then it all changes…
Somehow Blasko and Josephine have become bonded. They cannot hurt each other (except with words) and cannot be separated. So Josephine has to choose, either stay with Blasko in his dilapidated castle or to take him back to her town in Alabama. Guess what she chooses?
Blasko for all of his anger is quite reasonable. He accepts her conditions – which includes not attacking the townspeople but instead drink the bottled blood that she will get for him. So, off they go to Alabama. Josephine swears her maid to secrecy about what they are bringing back from their travels. Blasko is then introduced as the “cousin from Romania”
And now the real story can start.
Blasko in his new home develops a passion for reading detective stories, and then wants to put in practice what he learns. Obligingly their small town provides him with unsolved murders to investigate.
Each book is a murder mystery, solved by Blasko and Josephine, and the writer keeps you guessing to the end. The first one is a regular mystery, but the subsequent ones involve supernatural happenings: Lovecraftian monsters and a werewolf.
Fantastic elements aside, the books show a realistic view of a Depression era town in Alabama (though the author softens the racial attitudes quite a bit, to keep readers from hating several characters). The characters run true to life and so does the setting – The author even takes a dig at American exceptionalism: At one point Josephine says something like “in the US we do not have serfs” only to have Blasko muse about the conditions of black workers – – “they might as well be serfs”.
The author has some original takes on vampirism – Blasko does not turn into a bat, he just keeps a bat as a pet after he rescues it and nurses it back to health. He reflects in mirrors, but he avoids them, because when he looks at them, he sees a rotting corpse (no one else does see that). He needs to be in contact with his earth, and also with gold.
He can live on bottled blood, but it is not enough, so that every now and then he has to attack someone. He is careful when he does that, making sure not to touch the carotid, and leaving his victims alive (he also chooses someone who “deserves” it, and he can leave a hypnotic compulsion to leave their wicked ways). He is the alibi for a murder suspect, but of course he cannot tell the authorities that the suspect was being attacked for his blood and in no shape to commit any crime afterwards.
He needs a henchman, so he chooses the town drunk and uses his hypnotic powers to force sobriety on him – with the man eventually getting a job and a place to stay. He then gives him several tasks.
He is certainly arrogant and ruthless -– because he comes from the Balkans, a place where, as Churchill said, produces more history than they can locally consume. War was a constant in his growing up, and ruthlessness was what kept you alive. He comments that in the world they were living in, when he was turned into a vampire, it could be said that he was given a great gift that allowed him to protect those he cared for. He even remembers when his home was overrun and, being a child then, he had to hide to avoid being slaughtered.
He could not help being arrogant. He was a voivode, a military leader and magistrate, and he always had people to command, and due to his condition, no equals to deal with. He has a sense of duty towards his people and seeks to be fair. He can be compassionate without being maudlin. And he has withdrawn into himself and deals with very few people that he protects in exchange for allowing themselves to be bled.
We may think that he is quite depressed at this stage, and maybe this is why he jumps at Josephine’s invitation.
His relationship with Josephine changes through the books (the covers show this progression – from barely concealed hostility to mutual irritation, to collaboration, to love). She is in many ways his counterpart. Her fortune has remained intact through the Depression. As the major stockholder of the bank, (a bank where everybody has outstanding loans), she is as much an aristocrat in her domain as Blasko was in his, and like him, she shoulders the responsibility of those in need of assistance. She begins to appreciate what Blasko does, and how in the end his influence in the town is a good one, and yet she remains wary of him. It is only in the third book that she has a revelation that changes the way she looks at him, and from then on she thinks of him as Dragomir instead of the baron.
Blasko is less of a vampire than a person afflicted with a condition, and while he handles himself well, he is not comfortable with what he is. He feels shame when he attacks somebody and remembers with embarrassment how early on in his career when confronted with a murder victim, instead of reacting empathetically as he should, his hunger led him to lap on the spilled blood. He has created another vampire, and the experience did not end well, so he is quite unwilling to repeat it (maybe that other vampire will show up).
The other characters are well drawn. The town drunk turned henchman could be a stock character, but we get to know him, and recognize him as another war victim, haunted by the things he witnessed in the butchery that was World War I. Similarly, the black maid of Josephine – sworn to secrecy about Blasko’s secrets — comes first as the stereotypical Scripture quoting poorly educated woman who keeps muttering about that the Baron would kill them all as they sleep. But we get to know what strains a black woman has to endure in the Depression era South, and when she has to be grateful to Blasko she warms up to him saying that she mistook his strange ways for Devil’s ways and is quite willing to discuss relationships with Josephine on an equal’s basis. Then there is Carter, Josephine’s cousin, the scholar from Miskatonic University, who first tries to kill Blasko, and then has to ask him for help when he beings to grow tentacles (Blasko tells him that he deserves pain but not being turned into a squid).
At the end of the fourth book, Dragomir and Josephine are in love, but Dragomir is aware of the pain that awaits them in the future, and that the only way to avoid it is to transform Josephine, and that he is unwilling to do. He wonders if the Necronomicon has any answers for him. And we have to wait for the fifth book to see if there are any answers.
The writers is now thinking of the fifth book, and we should encourage him to write it.
The books are
The Baron Blasko mysteries
FANGS
KNIVES
CLAWS
TENTACLES
By A. E. Howe
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
RING SHOUT, by P. Djeli Clark. This short (slightly over 180 pages), fast-moving novel takes place in an alternate 1922 America where the classic silent film BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) had a greater impact than in our reality. As a result of its racist glorification of the “Lost Cause,” the revived Ku Klux Klan attracted a wider membership and became even more of a threat than in our timeline. Moreover, the forces of evil play a more direct role in the dark side of this world’s history. Some Klansmen get possessed by (or converted into) demons conjured by a literal wizard in a ceremony held shortly after the original release of the movie. The Black protagonist, Maryse, and her fellow demon-hunters call ordinary, human KKK members “Klans” and their demonic allies “Ku Kluxes.” In the opening scene, Maryse, a sharpshooter named Sadie, and a female Great War veteran nicknamed Chef (who had posed as a man to join the army) slaughter a band of Ku Kluxes. After this introduction to the heroines and their demonic adversaries, Maryse’s recollections fill in the setting’s warped history for the reader. She narrates in present tense, a device that doesn’t bug me as much as usual because her Black dialect softens the effect. Although a bit heavy on violent action for my taste, the novel also has plenty of atmosphere and character development. Maryse and her comrades visit a “juke joint” owned by her lover. They consult a Gullah woman with occult gifts. A science-minded friend of theirs dissects body parts of dead Ku Kluxes. In dream encounters that are more than ordinary dreams, Maryse receives cryptic messages from three women who may be the Fates or Black mythic analogues of them. A white man powerful in both the political and magical sense tries to seduce Maryse to the dark side for revenge on those who murdered her family in her childhood. She repeatedly revisits that horror in visions of herself as a terrified girl hiding from the assailants. The villain plots to use a revival screening of BIRTH OF A NATION to open a portal between Earth and a hell dimension. A provisional victory for the heroes doesn’t preclude tragic losses. The “shout” in the title refers to group chants whose origins go back to slavery times and beyond. Tales of “Bruh Rabbit” provide additional depth to Maryses’s cultural background. I especially like the device of having the story punctuated by brief excerpts from interviews with aging Gullah people conducted by one of the book’s secondary characters, a white female researcher.
THE WONDER STATE, by Sara Flannery Murphy. This novel invites comparison to Stephen King’s IT. Of course, fiction about adult characters reuniting with childhood friends in their home town isn’t uncommon. THE WONDER STATE, however, also shares with IT the trope of the one person who never left urgently summoning everyone else to return. Her message consists of only the words, “You promised.” But Murphy’s book isn’t horror, although the story includes dark elements. It’s mainly portal fantasy, except that the sought-after portal remains elusive through most of the novel. Instead of a small town in Maine, THE WONDER STATE takes place in the small town of Eternal Springs, Arkansas, in the Ozark region. I’ve never come across a premise like this one before: An eccentric architect, Theodora Trader, designed and built a group of houses with magical qualities, each one different. Brandi (the character who stayed), Jay (female, her best friend), and their companions searched for Theodora’s houses – at Brandi’s urging – and eventually found all except the final goal, the portal to another world. For instance, in the Truth House nobody can tell a lie. A promise made in one of the other houses can’t be broken. Yet another slows time for people as long as they stay in it, days or weeks inside corresponding to only hours in the outside world. Brandi, living in near-poverty with the boyfriend of her absent mother as a surrogate stepfather, after discovering the existence of the enchanted houses draws Jay and a select group of misfit friends into her quest. Disaster ensues, as one would expect, and in young adulthood all except Brandi go their separate ways. She struggles with addiction and apparently straightens out but then disappears soon after sending her appeal to Jay and the others. Realistically, although they answer the call, they don’t want to be there; all have their own lives and plan to stay only a few days. Naturally, the town’s mystery entangles them again. Like King’s IT, this novel alternates scenes from the present and the past, each chapter with a date heading. Past scenes are told in past tense and current events in present tense, a technique tolerable for me because it helps the reader keep track of which time period we’re in. One aspect of the plot baffles me – Jay’s motivation for yearning to pass through the alleged interdimensional portal. It’s understandable that Brandi, who has led such a difficult life, would feel that way; she may plausibly think any world must be better than this one. Jay, though, has no reason to be desperate enough to plunge into an unknown realm, without any assurance she could even get back. For all she knows, the portal house might open into a hell dimension rather than somewhere like Narnia. Nevertheless, the magic is fascinating, the character relationships convincingly complex, secrets and betrayals emotionally fraught, and Jay’s bond with Brandi warm and deep.
I’M AFRAID YOU’VE GOT DRAGONS, by Peter S. Beagle. At first glance, the whimsical tone of the title of this latest novel by the author of THE LAST UNICORN seems to be reflected in the book’s plot. What if dragons weren’t huge, majestic, terrifying beasts, but household pests the size of small lizards (at least as far as the characters know at the beginning)? The protagonist, Robert (a name he’s chosen for himself in preference to his long, Latinate, rather pretentious actual given name) doesn’t hunt dragons with armor and sword; he cleans them out of walls by the dozens or hundreds like mice or cockroaches. Of course, what he and his friends know at the start isn’t the whole truth, and things soon get much more complicated. The LOCUS review compares the early scenes to THE PRINCESS BRIDE, in my opinion applicable only to Princess Cerise’s hordes of suitors who throng her father’s Great Hall in classic fairy-tale style. She politely listens to each, none of whom appeals to her. That farcical situation changes when Prince Reginald wanders into the kingdom more or less by accident, not even seeking a bride. Cerise falls in love with him at first sight, while he goes along with the courtship in a spirit of amiable cooperation more than grand passion. As for Robert, after the humorous opening scene as he wakes up amid his pet dragons (whose existence he keeps secret from everybody outside his family, to maintain his reputation as successor to his late father’s dragon-exterminating business) we soon learn the depth of his distaste for his vocation. While gathering up the reptilian “pests” for delivery to the dragon market, he can hardly keep from crying. When Cerise insists her parents’ shabby castle needs to be made presentable for Prince Reginald, the only task there’s time for is clearing out the dragon infestation. After Reginald hears rumors of larger dragons a manageable distance into the wilderness, he decides to slay one in order to impress his royal father, a warrior celebrated for battle prowess in his younger days who’s now outspokenly disappointed in his son and heir. Reginald turns for guidance to Robert, the closest thing to a dragon-slayer he knows. Robert agrees to cooperate in exchange for a secret deal with Reginald’s impeccably correct, fiercely intelligent manservant to help him (Robert) become a valet for a prince or nobleman, a career he thinks he’ll enjoy far more than his inherited one. The three of them set out in search of a suitable dragon, accompanied by Cerise, who refuses to stay behind. The expedition becomes more than a knightly adventure when they discover a devastated village. Robert suspects a “King” dragon, a species thought to be extinct if not entirely mythical. Worse, the marauding dragon seems to be under the control of a wizard. The past exploits of Reginald’s father come back to haunt the party, while Robert learns secrets about himself. A bond grows between him and Cerise, and he reevaluates his ambition to become a valet. Destruction, loss, and death loom. Characters change, grow, and gain self-knowledge. Like THE LAST UNICORN, this novel segues seamlessly from bright to dark and finally to hope, with a strong conclusion that foreshadows happiness.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from SEALING THE DARK PORTAL:
Just as Rina slammed the trunk shut, the ground shuddered. She braced herself on the car and let out a yelp. Her stomach quivered. For a second she imagined she was back in the nightmare.
No. She was still in her front yard on a sunny afternoon in Maryland. She stalked to the front stoop and sagged against the wall next to the door. The earth vibrated again. Halfway between the house and the street, a cloud of smoke appeared. The smell of acetone emanated from it.
Swallowing a lump of fear, she set down the grocery bag and fumbled in her purse for the house key, which she jammed into the lock. The cloud, wispy and pale gray at first, thickened, compacted, and darkened. It swirled like a miniature tornado. The funnel shape sprouted pseudopods, four, then six, then seven or eight, absorbing and extruding them at random. A swelling at the top resembled a head only when tusks and crimson eyes materialized on it.
Why doesn’t anybody else notice this? She scrabbled at the doorknob. Her fingers kept slipping. The thing undulated toward her, limbs stretching and retracting, multiple eyes flashing and vanishing. In daylight the creature looked nothing like a dog. Either she was losing her mind, or a monster was attacking her.
The cat sprang on it with his claws extended. As he leaped, his body melted, stretched, and re-formed. It expanded to the size of a pony, while the fur turned sleek instead of fluffy and the claws and fangs enlarged along with the rest of the animal. The plume of his tail lengthened, smoothed out, and lashed like a whip.
Rina stood paralyzed, forgetting the need to escape. A cougar. The cat turned into a cougar. If she wasn’t going crazy, this must be a new nightmare.
Yowling, the tawny mountain lion raked the smoke monster with his claws. The beast’s leg shredded but instantly re-knitted itself. The creature’s talons and jaws ripped at the giant cat, who twisted and dodged fast enough to suffer only glancing scratches instead of lethal wounds. He bit and scratched, tearing holes in the thing’s protean body, but he couldn’t seem to inflict permanent damage. Spitting and hissing, he lunged and retreated over and over. Even in her confusion, Rina could tell he got weaker with every clash.
The smoke monster contracted into a cyclone again. One limb struck out and slammed into the cougar’s flank. The blow knocked him onto the lawn. He lay there stunned.
The cone of darkness whirled toward Rina. Pressure built in her ears. Her head throbbed. Without thinking, overwhelmed by panic, she raised both hands to ward off the thing. “Get away from me!”
Bolts of electricity shot from her fingers. Involuntary sounds welled up in her throat and spewed from her mouth: “Hevatanu, halako, anasoba!” The thing crackled and shriveled. She thrust her hands toward it again, and again sparks radiated from them. The creature emitted a shriek that made her ears ring and vanished.
Panting, Rina leaned on the wall. What just happened? And why aren’t the neighbors running out here? She stared at her shaking hands and flexed her fingers.
A keening meow diverted her attention. Instead of the cougar, the cat lay on the ground in his normal shape. She forced her legs to carry her over to him. His eyes met hers for a second, then closed. She picked up the limp form and staggered inside.
-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 May 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.
In April, my vampire romance CRIMSON DREAMS was featured in the Paranormal Romance Event at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven:
The summer when Heather was eighteen, her dream beast’s nightly visits warded off loneliness and swept her away in flights of ecstasy. Now, returning to the mountains to sell her dead parents’ vacation cabin, she finds her “beast” again. But he turns out to be more than a dream. She meets Devin in the flesh, apparently not a day older.
An excerpt appears below. At this point in the story, Heather knows Devin really exists and is a vampire, a member of a naturally evolved humanoid species. You can find the publisher’s page here:
Please enjoy this interview with YA and women’s fiction author Ally Hayes.
*****
Interview with Ally Hayes:
Thanks so much for allowing me to discuss my latest novella, Spring Market Surprise.
What inspired you to begin writing?
I have always been an avid reader and the desire to write started when I was young and grew out of jealousy and awe that a real live person created worlds I loved.
What genres do you work in?
Mostly women’s fiction, but also young adult.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
Not only do I outline—in longhand—I write the first draft in an old-school spiral notebook. My first edits are me trying to decipher my handwriting as I type it.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
Truly, everything and everyone but my contemporary favorite at the moment is Kristan Higgins. She writes relatable stories and characters that feel authentic. I strive to for those qualities.
Please tell us about your Poppy Lane series and how you developed the setting. Do characters recur from book to book? Do the stories need to be read in any particular order?
The Poppy Lane series started with A Snowball’s Chance, which is part of The Wild Rose Press’ Christmas Cookie series. I loved the characters immediately and knew I would revisit them somehow. When WRP announced a spring series, Jelly Beans and Spring Things, I knew I found my chance to continue the stories and wrote two. Promposal on Poppy Lane picks up a year after Snowball and features a young adult romance. Spring Market Surprise focuses on another Poppy Lane resident and begins on a pivotal day in Promposal. Each story stands alone, but I think reading them in order makes the experience more fun.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
Spring Market Surprise just released on March 25th.
What are you working on now?
My last few books have been novellas, so now I am working on a full-length story about friends that opens at a 30th high school reunion. It seems to be taking me a long time to finish as I got used to novella length, but I’m having fun.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Write what you want, not what anyone—especially on social media, says is popular. If you’re not writing what you want, you won’t enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy writing it, no one will enjoy reading it.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
I’m active on Facebook and X.
Facebook Author Page
@PartlyHazy
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
FANGS, by A. E. Howe. The first book in the Baron Blasko mystery series. I read this 2018 novel on the recommendation of a fellow hardcore vampire fan. First, I must acknowledge that the premise isn’t quite like anything in the genre I’ve read before. In the 1930s, protagonist Josephine travels to Romania to fulfill her father’s dying request by scattering her grandfather’s ashes in the cemetery of the village from which he emigrated. When she reaches her destination – near the Arges River, a location associated with the real-life Vlad Dracula – she meets distant relatives but discovers that the village itself has been abandoned. Nobody will tell her exactly why, much less go near the place. Finally, one local man agrees to guide her, along with a Romanian military officer who has been escorting her through the countryside. After the scattering of the ashes, they come upon an apparently deserted manor or castle. A man who seems to be a guard charges at them and gets into a fight with the officer, whereupon they kill each other. Deserted by her local guide, Josephine seeks shelter for the night in the castle. The lord of the manor, Baron Blasko, jumps to the conclusion that she’s a vampire-hunter bent on destroying him. When he attacks her, she tries to defend herself by biting his wrist and accidentally consumes some of his blood. The unintentional two-way blood exchange creates an unbreakable bond between them. They can’t hurt each other, nor can they stand being separated. (She isn’t destined to become a vampire, which requires a more complicated procedure.) Of course unwilling to stay in Romania, she takes the Baron home with her to Alabama, coffin and native earth included. Here I had to suspend disbelief a bit, considering how readily he accepts this plan. Back home, Josephine allows him to take up residence in her basement, which he remodels into a comfortable apartment, paid for by some of the coinage he brings with him. He drinks bottled blood she obtains for him and makes a pet of a bat that lives in the basement rafters. (That’s another detail I wondered about: How does he deal with all the guano?) Blasko is what I think of as a “movie vampire,” one that sleeps through the daylight hours and can’t endure the sun. He also has the typical vampiric gift of mesmerism but not the ability to transform into bat, wolf, or mist. While he accepts the restriction of consuming “dead” blood, its inadequacy as nourishment eventually becomes a problem. The feasibility of drinking animal blood, oddly, is never discussed. The mystery begins with a murder in the house across the street. Partly to forestall accusations against himself, as a foreigner in a small town, and partly from boredom, Blasko – a fan of Sherlock Holmes – decides to solve the crime. Josephine has no choice but to help and try to keep him out of trouble. The story unfolds with suspense seasoned by touches of humor, particularly the Baron’s attempt to learn to drive. The book vividly immerses us in the era of the Depression, Prohibition, racial caste divisions in the American South, and the rising threat of Hitler (only briefly touched upon, since he hasn’t become Germany’s supreme leader yet). The typical mystery cast of suspects and detectives, official and unofficial, comes entertainingly to life. I found the solution and the climactic showdown convincing. I never felt the bond between Josephine and Blasko as strongly as we’re apparently meant to, though, even toward the end after their attachment has become more than merely obligatory. However, I enjoyed the book enough that I’ll try at least the next volume in the series.
THE DARK LORD’S DAUGHTER, by Patricia C. Wrede. Any fan of Wrede’s DEALING WITH DRAGONS and its sequels would expect a new fantasy novel by her to be excellent fun, and this book doesn’t disappoint. While fourteen-year-old Kayla, her widowed (adoptive) mother, and Del, her ten-year-old brother, are visiting the State Fair, a man in a costume out of a fantasy film accosts them. When he introduces himself as Waylan, second commander of the Dark Hordes of Zaradwin, they assume he’s an actor employed by the fair. The next moment, though, he greets Kayla as daughter of the Dark Lord who died ten years earlier, and she and her family find themselves instantaneously transported to a strange world. Wrede deftly sets up the characters and their mundane background in a few vividly drawn pages before introducing Waylan and his pronouncement of Kayla’s alleged destiny. They waste little or no time in doubting the reality of the alien environment, as some authors’ characters in a similar situation might do. Nor do they spend much if any effort pondering, as the reader might, why they hear the local language as English – magic, I guess. To begin with, naturally, they’re preoccupied with how they can get home. Kayla’s mother, in particular, remains narrowly focused on that goal for most of the book, a mindset similar (as Kayla recalls) to her relentlessly single-minded determination during her husband’s final illness. Del can’t help being excited about visiting a world reminiscent of his favorite movies and video games, where he might turn out to have magic of his own. I started the novel expecting a rather lighthearted romp through a fantasy realm, and the story does include frequent humorous moments arising from the culture clash between twenty-first-century American characters and a preindustrial kingdom pervaded by enchantment. I especially like the feature that objects from the mundane world nonexistent in this one transform into their local counterparts. Kayla’s tablet becomes a monkey-like familiar with a British accent; her mother’s pink cell phone becomes a small, pink-furred, magical creature called a Messenger Mouse. Kayla meets a teenage would-be Dark Lord handicapped by his birth into a Light family and the unintimidating name “Archie.” From mildly suspicious rivals, they develop into allies and eventually friends. (He might settle for becoming one of her evil minions, but he keeps trying on more Dark-sounding names just in case.) Yet as the presumptive Dark Lady Kayla copes with high-stakes issues, some literally life-or-death, she prepares for the vitally important investiture ceremony that will decide her fate as well as that of her family and the people she gradually comes to care for. Meanwhile, she helps to get the run-down, dirty fortress into shape under her mother’s tireless direction, sneaks out at night to explore the castle and the nearby village, discovers secrets and hidden rooms, and studies to master her inherited magic. Appalled to realize the locals actually expect her to crush opposition and consolidate her power by exiling, torturing, or executing people on the slightest pretext, she struggles to maintain her Dark Lady status while remaining a morally sound twenty-first-century teenager on the inside. When it becomes clear even to her mother that they’ll be stuck in this world for months at the least, their predicament becomes seriously dire. Delightful, thrilling, un-put-downable. I do wonder whether a sequel might be forthcoming, given the loose ends that remain (such as whether they ever return to Earth and, if so, how they’ll explain their lengthy disappearance).
THE SPARROW, by Mary Doria Russell. Less recently published than I’d thought (1996), this first-contact novel nevertheless presciently foreshadows twenty-first-century technology and current events (as the author’s twentieth-anniversary afterword mentions). It remains convincing as near-future science fiction, aside from the detail of asteroid mining in 2015. It reads like a response to James Blish’s classic “Jesuits in space” story, A CASE OF CONSCIENCE (1958), yet as far as I can tell from Russell’s recorded statements, she not only hadn’t read Blish’s book but hadn’t even heard of it when she conceived hers. Capsule summary of the plot: In the twenty-teens, the SETI project detects radio signals from the Alpha Centauri system, musical broadcasts clearly of intelligent origin. Under the sponsorship of the Jesuit order, a ship constructed from a hollowed-out asteroid sets off at a high fraction of light speed to discover the source. The trip takes seventeen years one way, although reports beamed back to Earth at the speed of light arrive in a bit over four years. Thanks to relativistic time dilation, the crew of the ship experiences only six months on the journey. I admire Russell’s skill at avoiding the need for any form of hyperdrive, keeping the voyage within the possibilities of known science. In 2060, Jesuit priest Emilio Sandoz returns alone in the ship, programmed by the follow-up expedition to navigate home autonomously. The sole survivor of the original mission, he’s physically, mentally, and spiritually broken. A report from the astronauts who discovered him on the planet Rakhat accuses him of prostitution and child-murder. These events unfold in achronic order, skipping between the present (2060) and the past. Chapters have place and date headings to keep the audience anchored. In the scenes of the earlier time period, the mission doesn’t leave Earth until about halfway through the book, so some readers may chafe at the slow buildup. Engrossed in the characters and the plight of Father Sandoz, I felt the narrative structure didn’t drag but, rather, generated suspense. Along with Sandoz as the protagonist, the mission comprises an ensemble cast of fully realized characters, all good people with individual quirks, flaws, and talents. As far as SF content is concerned, the sciences foregrounded are biology, anthropology, and above all linguistics, Sandoz’s specialty. How did fundamental misunderstandings make the first contact with a planet inhabited by two sapient species devolve from an optimistic beginning into catastrophe? Why are Sandoz’s hands horribly mutilated? How did his companions die? What were the traumatic experiences he refuses to talk about? Did he really commit the crimes of which he’s accused? We don’t learn the full answers to these questions until almost the end. When he recovers enough to confront a formal hearing and the report of the second expedition, he says the assertions are “true but all wrong.” Russell creates the most convincing and harrowing fictional depiction of PTSD I’ve ever read. The story arc fundamentally consists of a classic tragic plot — good intentions and vaulting ambition that produce a catastrophic outcome resulting in the protagonist’s downfall, with large-scale repercussions for two worlds. Father Sandoz’s dilemma is left unanswered: Was the mission truly the will of God, as he originally supposed? If not, it was an act of foolish arrogance. If so, then God is responsible for both the beauty and the suffering; therefore, God is “vicious.”
THE CHILDREN OF GOD, by Mary Doria Russell. Sequel to THE SPARROW. Since it’s almost impossible to discuss this novel without spoilers for the first one, I won’t reveal many specifics about the plot. In brief, a planned new expedition to Rakhat in search of commercially valuable products leads the Pope and the Jesuit Father General to believe that Father Sandoz needs to return to the planet, not only to discover the full truth about what has happened in the decades (planetary time) since he left, but also for the good of his own soul. Not surprisingly, he vehemently refuses. He has resigned from the order, rejected his priestly vocation, and metaphorically washed his hands of the whole matter. He does, however, grudgingly agree to train prospective members of the crew in the culture and languages of Rakhat, in hopes that they can avoid the disastrous errors committed by the first mission. One of the book’s most heartbreaking moments occurs when Father Sandoz, having found love and a measure of peace, is forcibly taken aboard the starship and returned to Rakhat. (This isn’t a spoiler; it’s in the cover blurb.) Meanwhile, a revolution of the low-tech, village-dwelling vegetarian species against the urban, dominant, far less numerous carnivorous species is tearing apart the planet’s society. It becomes clear to the reader and soon to the Earth visitors that this catastrophe was unintentionally caused by the first expedition. The addition of a survivor from that mission who was presumed dead thickens the plot, producing a complex, emotionally fraught story. We learn much more about the culture of the dominant Rakhat species, with extended sequences from multiple viewpoints. We discover that two of those characters presented as irredeemable villains in THE SPARROW have much more nuanced personalities and motives. Like THE SPARROW, CHILDREN OF GOD is narrated out of chronological order, with multiple timelines instead of only two. Russell’s interview at the end of this edition remarks that many readers prefer the second novel over the first, which is her favorite of the two. I agree with Russell on this point, though it’s a close call. CHILDREN OF GOD has, if not exactly a happy ending, a concluding scene of reconciliation, peace, and even serenity. I prefer THE SPARROW, however, for its tighter focus on Father Sandoz and the smaller cast of supporting characters. Anyway, I recommend reading both rather than leaving him trapped in the existential despair of the first novel. Although it would be heretical to do evil in order that good may come of it, nevertheless in the long view the sequel postulates that good can be wrested from the worst of circumstances.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from CRIMSON DREAMS:
Blushing, Heather picked up her spoon. “I thought you didn’t eat food.”
“I can consume liquids,” he said, “though most of them don’t do me any good. Things like gelatin and ice cream are liquids, in a sense–that helps when I get stuck with a dinner invitation I can’t turn down. And I do get nourishment from milk.” He had poured himself a glass, which he sipped while watching Heather eat.
“What we just did,” she said, irritably sensing his amusement at the way she groped for words. “We did that when I was eighteen, when I thought I was dreaming?”
“Not like that, dear one. It’s incredibly different when you’re fully aware of me.” He reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “So much better–I had no idea.”
“But it couldn’t all have been real. Some of it had to be just dreams, fantasies. Zorro and Lancelot and all that.”
“I drew upon whatever scenes would please and excite you the most,” he said. “Manipulative–that’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? Well, yes, but I also aimed to enhance your pleasure.”
“You did that, all right.” Good grief, why can’t I quit blushing? “I remember flying. In fact, I dreamed that again recently. Now, that can’t have been real–unless you’re holding out on me. You can’t turn into a bat, can you?”
“Certainly not. Where do you think the extra mass would go?”
What little she knew of nuclear physics made Heather cringe at the thought.
“However,” Devin went on, “we can fly, in a sense. Levitate, actually–even though our bones are a bit lighter than yours, true flight is impossible for a human-size creature. And we do transform into a winged entity. The wings are needed for gliding and steering.”
“A giant bat?” Heather rubbed her eyes. “That’s even weirder.”
“Our scholars believe it’s an ancestral form imprinted on the DNA, a shape we discarded as we evolved to mimic your species in every outward respect. One of our psychic gifts involves resuming that shape. The older we grow, the better we can do it, and the longer we can maintain it.”
She swallowed a cold lump of ice cream, chasing it with a gulp of juice. “Show me. I’m tired of blundering around in a fog about what’s real and what’s not.”
He finished his milk and gazed thoughtfully at her. “What the observer sees depends a great deal on what he or she expects to see. We can project illusions of whatever monstrous shape we want to assume. But yes, I can show you–without clouding your mind.”
Her eyes challenged him. “No illusions.”
“No. You’ll see only what physically exists.”
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