Wherefore the Poppy?

Decoration Day, renamed Memorial Day beginning in 1882, was first celebrated in the United States following the Civil War; it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military. One of the most famous parts of Memorial Day, however, arose during World War One.

The practice of red poppies on Memorial Day originated in 1918 with Moina Michael, who was inspired by Canadian John McCrae's famous poem, "In Flanders Fields" (1915). The tradition spread from the United States to France via Anne Guerin, who poineered the selling of poppies, real or facsimile, as a way to raise money for various causes to benefit veterans and the victims of war. Through her advocacy, the sale of poppies for charitable causes spread to The United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

White poppies are sometimes worn in this context, and symbolize looking forward to peace, rather than back at sacrifice.

"Cramped in that Funnelled Hole," Wilfred Owen

Cramped in that Funnelled Hole

Cramped in that funnelled hole, they watched the dawn
Open a jagged rim around; a yawn
Of death's jaws, which had all but swallowed them
Stuck in the bottom of his throat of phlegm.

They were in one of many mouths of Hell
Not seen of seers in visions, only felt
As teeth of traps; when bones and the dead are smelt
Under the mud where long ago they fell
Mixed with the sour sharp odour of the shell.

--Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)

Booths at BEA10

These are some of the more visually interesting booths I saw at BEA 2010.

More BEA 2010 Photos

More photos I took at BookExpo America 2010.

The Image Comics booth.


Osprey Books! I used many titles from their "Men-at-Arms" series for World War One research. I, umm, visited them twice. A sales and marketing person found me (and my uses for their books) quite amusing, I think. Since their main audience is usually wargamers and historical reenactors.


Upcoming books from Small Beer Press. The Kathe Koja historical is out in October. It's set in a brothel. I'm also looking forward to the collection of Karen Joy Fowler's newer stories.


Cleis Press. I sold my first story to a Cleis anthology.

Final BEA 2010 Report

Today I had the happiness of introducing people to each other because they ought to have known one another already but didn't. (I think I got those tenses right...I'm really tired!) I first met up with erotica writer Sacchi Green, whom I met many years ago at a reading for Best Lesbian Erotica, in which we both had stories. We wandered the floor and I got to see things from a different perspective: she owns two stores, that sell some books but also a lot of subsidiary items such as stuffed animals, magnetic poetry, and novelties. I got to see a little of how her buying decisions were made and learn how those companies (such as Folkmanis, makers of stuffed animals and puppets) operate. We had an early lunch and I introduced Sacchi to Meredith Schwartz; both of them have edited erotic anthologies, and both write erotica as well. Later, I introduced Sacchi to a publishing friend who lives near her, and who's actually been to her store; they'd never managed to meet before.

After leaving Sacchi, I met with my agent for a drink and then wandered the floor for a while with friend Cecilia Tan; we went together to visit a mutual friend, Keith DeCandido, who was signing comics. I hadn't realized some of Cecilia's books that were coming out in print this fall actually had a display! So we walked over to the Red Wheel booth and I took pictures of her with them (you can see one in the previous post).

Now, I'm off to dinner with some local friends. It's been a fun conference!

BEA 2010 Pictures, Thursday

Sculpture of a typewriter. I think it was the Abrams booth.


Poster for Lucienne Diver's new book Revamped.


Delia Sherman and publisher Gavin Grant of Small Beer Press, signing copies of Interfictions 2 in the autograph area. The chutes are less scary when friends are at the end of them!


Cecilia Tan with some of her upcoming books from Red Wheel.

BEA 2010 Photos

Megan Frampton and Kwana Jackson near the exhibition halls. Alas, they cannot tell you what the story is on Google Books.


Sarah Beth Durst and Laura Anne Gilman in the Harlequin booth. (Isn't that the perfect slogan to headline a picture? What aren't they telling us? Heh.)


The unobscured poster:


The autographing area.


Checked bags full of free books.

More Live from BEA 2010!

My feet are starting to hurt. I planned to stop by the autographing session with Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier, to say hi, except when I saw the cattle-chute arrangement and the vast hordes of people signing and waiting for signatures, I retreated in terror.

I continue to have good luck finding people I know. On my way from visiting Laura Anne Gilman and Christine Merrill at their Harlequin signing, I ran into Ellen Kushner, whom I hadn't seen in a while. We chatted for a while, exchanged looks at our new projects, and then wandered over to visit Small Beer Press, which was part of a Consortium. I spent a pleasant while chatting with Gavin Grant, someone else whom I haven't seen in quite a while, and was introduced to Juliet Ulman of Pugilist Press. On my way to the autographing, I ran into Esther Friesner.

Exciting exhibitor booths I found: Osprey Press! Home of all those lovely focused, detailed World War One books I use for research! And I visited the Cleis Press booth, and was able to tell them how happy I was to be published by them over the years. I also visited the Feminist Press of City University of New York, and got a free button with their logo.

Yes, my quest to remain schwag-less has failed. I have one category romance (signed), a Harlequin tote bag (I can't turn down my own publisher!), the button from Feminist Press, and an ARC from Small Beer, intended for a friend who often reviews.

I did hand out a few cover flats. So far, the response to the new cover has been very positive.

Live from BEA 2010!

Just a quick report.

I was a bit overwhelmed for a few moments when I first stepped into the Javits, but soon realized that Book People were all around me. I keep thinking I recognize people whom I've never seen before, because they have that aura of Book about them!

I visited the RWA booth and also Harlequin's booth, delivered some free chocolate I'd brought for the booth staff, snapped a bunch of photos of the large crowds of people, and then, purely by chance, ran into a Twitter friend, whom I'd never met in person before. Much wandering ensued, including me refusing many free books, tote bags, chapsticks, flyers...everything, in fact, since I didn't want to carry anything around, and I figured the freebies would serve a better purpose going to booksellers and librarians, anyway. I did get a free comic from the Image Comics booth.

So far, I've run into writer friends Christine Merrill, Sarah Beth Durst (actually, Sarah found me!), Laura Anne Gilman, and briefly, Holly Black. I am debating attending a Harlequin party tonight. It's offsite, and I suspect I will be too tired and overstimulated to really enjoy myself.

I did hand out a few of my cover flats for The Duke and the Pirate Queen. I have to remember I'm carrying them! Hopefully, I'll do better with that this afternoon, now that I have a better feel for the show and where things are.

I'll post photos either tonight or tomorrow morning.

My Crosstown Constitutional

I made it into New York last night only a little late. Amid the rush hour of people leaving work, I checked in to my hotel and took a leisurely crosstown stroll to meet friends for dinner.

Here are some of the photos I took on my walk. I tried to choose things I'd seen many times, but rarely or never photographed. For example, the Empire State Building.


Old architecture is my favorite.


I love water towers! I took more than one picture of water towers, but am sparing you.


The Chrysler Building is my favorite New York City skyscraper.


Now I'm off to the Javits to register for BEA and actually begin my conference!

BEA 2010

I am at BookExpo America today and tomorrow, so if you're there, feel free to say hi! That is, if you can find me in the surging maelstrom of publishing and bookselling folks.

My publisher, Harlequin, will be in booths 3922, 3923, and 4023. Romance Writers of America are in booth 3484. Cleis Press and Viva Editions are at 4324b. You actually do have a realistic chance of catching me at one of those places.

You can probably also find me at Muji some of the time, as it's conveniently nearby and full of Tiny Cute Things I Cannot Resist. If you have a weakness for tiny containers, it's a place of bliss.

Here's the event schedule.

And here's the Exhibitor search page, where you can find the various exhibitors and their booth locations.

I'll try to post from the conference if I have time. Failing that, I'll post a report when I return.

Top Three Things to Do At BEA

I leave for BookExpo America 2010 this afternoon, so thought it would a good day to post my top three things to do at BEA.

This is my first trip to BEA, so these are sort of theoretical, but from my experiences at other conferences, I am pretty sure they're all Really Good Things.

1. Make sure I have the cell phone number of everyone I want to see while I'm wandering the vast wilderness of exhibitor booths. Before I leave home.

2. Carry extra business cards. Lots of extra business cards. Also, don't forget the cover flats of The Duke and the Pirate Queen.

3. Don't spill anything down the front of my shirt before I go and hobnob at the Harlequin Booth.

Oh, and hope events don't fall out like in Murder at the ABA!

Your suggestions are of course welcome.

Related Posts:
Five Ways of Thinking About Writers' Conferences.

Top Ten Reasons to Attend a Writing/Reading Conference.

A Little History With Those Vampires, Ma'am?

I absolutely adore historical fantasy, and that carries over to vampire novels that happen to be historical fantasy.

Moonshine by Alaya Johnson just came out this month; I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy in April, due to running into the author at a convention and, umm, begging. Moonshine is set in 1920s New York City, and is one of the most original vampire books I've ever read. Vampires and various other "Others" are common and known in the novel's world; Others are part of a growing social problem, as some vampires feed on humans indiscriminately, usually turning them against their will. Another group of vampires restrict themselves to blood banks and try to fit in with humans, becoming yet another underclass, mirroring and emphasizing experiences of the various immigrants, non-white people, and working class inhabitants of New York City.

Johnson ties these themes in with the first-person narrator, Zephyr, a young woman who teaches night school to Others and immigrants on the Lower East Side, participates in demonstrations, and works with various social activist organizations, resulting in a lot of realistic social diversity that's inextricable from the plot. There's also an excellent romance element between Zephyr and (literal!) hottie Other, Amir. I am really hoping this becomes a series, as there are numerous interesting secondary characters and more than enough scope for many, many books.

My favorite long-running vampire series is P.N. Elrod's Vampire Files. In this case, mystery and fantasy blend with a 1930s Chicago setting and a great first-person voice, leaving me willing to settle in with volume after volume. If you like Jim Butcher's (more recent) Dresden Files books, you'd probably like these.

Despite the setting, I wouldn't call the series noir, except for numbers ten and eleven, Cold Streets and Song in the Dark. They're detective novels on the lighter side. Jack Fleming, the protagonist, is at heart a moral and good-hearted person, with a hyperintelligent sidekick named Escott and a sweet girlfriend named Bobbi. Unlike in vampire romance novels, whether Jack will turn Bobbi is not a major issue between them; it's just another part of their relationship, which they talk over now and then. (This might also be because they're series characters.)

The Vampire Files, Volume One and The Vampire Files, Volume Two collect the first six novels in the series.

Barbara Hambly is one of my favorite fantasy writers ever, and her vampire novels set in the early twentieth century are no exception. Those Who Hunt the Night and its sequel, Traveling with the Dead, portray a world in which vampires are not-so-nice; the heroes of the first book are James Asher, an Oxford professor (and former spy) and his wife Lydia, a physician with a powerful intellect. An intriguing and ambiguous vampire character, Simon Ysidro, approaches them to find out who is murdering vampires all over London. The second novel focuses more on Lydia, who has to seek Simon's help to aid her husband, which leads to even more moral/ethical exploration of vampires in that world.

What are your favorites?

Related Posts:
Historical and Paranormal.

Science Fiction Vampire Books I Like.

The photos are from the 2002 silent film Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary, featuring the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

"The Metamorphoses of a Vampire," Charles Baudelaire

The Metamorphoses of a Vampire

Meanwhile, from her red mouth the woman, in husky tones,
Twisting her body like a serpent upon hot stones
And straining her white breasts from their imprisonment,
Let fall these words, as potent as a heavy scent:
"My lips are moist and yielding, and I know the way
To keep the antique demon of remorse at bay.
All sorrows die upon my bosom. I can make
Old men laugh happily as children for my sake.
For him who sees me naked in my tresses, I
Replace the sun, the moon, and all the stars of the sky!
Believe me, learned sir, I am so deeply skilled
That when I wind a lover in my soft arms, and yield
My breasts like two ripe fruits for his devouring-both
Shy and voluptuous, insatiable and loath-
Upon his bed that groans and sighs luxuriously
Even the impotent angels would be damned for me!"

When she drained me of my very marrow, and cold
And weak, I turned to give her one more kiss-behold,
There at my side was nothing but a hideous
Putrescent thing, all faceless and exuding pus.
I closed my eyes and mercifully swooned till day:
Who seemed to have replenished her arteries from my own,
The wan, disjointed fragments of a skeleton
Wagged up and down in a new posture where she had lain;
Rattling with each convulsion like a weathervane
Or an old sign that creaks upon its bracket, right
Mournfully in the wind upon a winter's night.

--Charles Baudelaire; translation by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Non-European Vampire Linkgasm

In keeping with my run of guest posts on vampires, this is a special edition of Linkgasm focusing on our bloodsucking (and lifesucking) friends outside of Europe.

Vikram and the Vampire, translated by Richard R. Burton (1870). More about the Baital Pachisi. A more academic essay on the Baital Pachisi.

Article about Chinese vampire movies, "Horror, Humor and Hopping in Hong Kong," by Ian Whitney.

Vampire Anime Wiki.

The pontianak and the langsuir, from Malaysian and Indonesian folklore.

From the Carribean, the soucouyant.

Bonus vampire movie links!
Vampire Movie Database, with brief summary information. Searchable. Everything from Vampire Vixens to Sodium Babies.

The Top 70 Vampire Movies of All Time at Snarkerati.

Bonus vampire book review link!

Dead Sexy by Kimberly Raye at Read React Review.

Related Post:
Werewolves All Over The World.

Suzy McKee Charnas - Guest Post

Please welcome my guest, one of my favorite writers ever, Suzy McKee Charnas!

#

Delighted to be invited here -- since I'm just fresh off a new vampire story, and, er, "sparkling" with stuff to say! I'll be be on a panel at the local SF convention this August, Bubonicon, called "Bite Me: when did vampires get sparkly and romantic, and why?"

Here's a warm-up:

For me as a reader, the vampire has always been not just old (and therefore wise and sophisticated as well as, probably, decadent) but grown up (and male -- but that's another story). If he wasn't going to be just a well-barbered werewolf in a tux (or some other popular monster, prettied up), then he needed at least some of the qualities of his great popular prototype, Count Dracula. And there was always a strong sexual allure-- but it was edgy, not all warm and cuddly, because death -- and "worse than death" -- was always a strong possibility.

And that's the way I wrote my own first vampire, Dr. Edward (yes, Edward -- I got there first!) Lewis Weyland, in a "cult classic" (whatever that means): The Vampire Tapestry. He's brilliant, attractive, an occasional (and remorseless) killer, and NOT looking for a soulmate to come live with him forever (like that's something anybody sane would want -- ETERNITY, with someone who'll eventually be about as sexy to you as your college roommate).

But -- the possibility of the romantic angle was always there, too, as it is with all sexy monsters, for very good cultural and psychological reasons (some of you may know this essay). And lately, as sexual activity has become the norm earlier and earlier for modern kids, youth's romantic idealism ("my one and only true, perfect love") and sentimentalism ("my lovely puppy that bites, but only to protect his beloved me") has over-whelmed dangerous old vampire and coated him with fairy-dust. Presto: the sparkly vampires of what sometimes looks to me like our very own cultural Twilight. He's broody, handsome, not interested in anything or anyone but Me, and he's in High School.

So, there came along a challenge -- to write a vampire story for a collection to be called Teeth (YES, I hope they change the title!) aimed at the Young Adult market and due out next year. The idea is to catch the attention of young readers stuck on Twilight and show them that the greater world of written vampires is wider than Sparkleworld.

I bit. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do, but it was definitely going to minus the fairy dust.

So I'm visiting a local antiques mall that a friend runs in her "retirement", and all of a sudden I get it -- my story's setting: my vampires were going to show up at the mall, avid seekers of collectibles among the "trash and treasures" typical of these places; and my late-adolescent hero, Josh, working there for the summer, will have to deal with them, up close and oh-so-personal.

And -- well, you'll have to read the story ("Late Bloomer") to find out, but I can tell you this much: I loved writing modern vamps who are obsessed not with "Ooohh, oh, me so lonely and angsty" but with a vigorous, fiercely competitive kind of Antiques Roadshow life (well, without the "life" part). The research for this story was wonderful to do -- hanging out at the antiques mall people-watching (plus the behind-the-scenes goodies). I also had a great excuse to interview my grandkids (both finishing high school) about music, so that I'd know who this boy would be listening to, and who he'd be desperate to be.

Which, thanks to my stepson giving me an iPod for my last (70th) birthday, has brought me into a whole new world of great music, to listen to while on the treadmill at the gym!

I love vamps; I never come away from writing about them with empty hands. Takers they are by nature, but they also keep on giving -- they can't seem to help themselves.

#

Thanks, Suzy! I can't wait to read "Late Bloomer."

"Cold, Brooding and Dead" - Cate Hart - Guest Post

Please welcome my guest, Cate Hart, blogging on some of her favorite vampires in movies and books.

#

Cold, Brooding and Dead: Vampires and Why We Love 'Em

I think I can pinpoint when my love of vampire stories began. I'd have to blame it on the movie Lost Boys. After that, I was obsessed. I think what made Lost Boys so popular was that the vampires were edgy, young and looked like rock n roll stars with motorcycles. And Jason Patrick and Kiefer Sutherland.

The first vampire novel I read, ironically, was Dracula by Bram Stoker. There's a reason the novel has become a classic. The love story is timeless, and Dracula is the original, misunderstood bad boy. Dracula wants what he cannot have, Mina and to live in London among society, craving for normalcy.

When I venture into a bookstore, I gravitate toward the paranormal stories, and generally, I walk out with one that has a vampire in it. I find myself comparing the author’s world or creature against the original, Dracula. He set the par – a member of the nobility, a remote castle, extremely rich, handsome, powerful...well, you get the picture. I love reading new twists on this, and sometimes, it’s just a modern update. For instance, Carlisle Cullen is handsome, rich, and member of an elite profession – doctor.

The Historian is one of my favorite books. It’s wonderful tale that reintroduces readers to Dracula but with the current trend, even on the History Channel, to take a well known story or event and bring scientific truth or historical accuracy to it. Though, The Historian isn’t a romance, it’s a great vampire read that solidifies Dracula as the reigning monster.

I never had a chance to read Anne Rice’s vampire series--I was in college at the time. But I did see the movies Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned. Anne Rice introduced us to the brooding vampire with a conflicted conscious. Before Louis, readers accepted that the vampire was the monster. Anne showed us that the monster might have a heart.

These days, a blog post about vampires cannot not mention the phenomenon known as Twilight.

Two years ago, I was sucked into reading the book. I didn't think I would like it, and it took several weeks after a friend recommended it for me to finally buy it. But once I started, I couldn’t read the series fast enough. Then of course Robert Pattinson happened, and the rest is history. But I still wonder what it was about Twilight that made the story so compelling. Many people, including myself, don’t like the way the heroine was written--appearing weak, infatuated, and easily controlled. But I think it’s the actual love story that has moved so many people. That and perhaps the unique spin on the actual vampires.

I just started reading PC and Kristen Cast's House of Night series. This YA series has such a unique take on the vampires. I really like the world they have created. Yet another spin on the traditional vampire lore. In the House of Night, the teenage vampires are fledgling and more human than vampire. But each student has some special ability, and the heroine has been chosen to be the next leader.

I also love the Vampire Diaries, written by LJ Smith about a decade before Twilight. I love the two brothers, Stefan who wants to be normal and doesn't feed on humans, and Damon who is deviant and does drink human blood. I also like that Smith used most of the traditional lore about vampires, like sunlight burning them, a stake through the heart, and compelling people to do their bidding. But Smith put a spin on the Salvatore brothers. They both have a ring that allows them to walk around in the daylight. I’m a Team Damon fan more than Stefan, perhaps, because Damon is the bad guy. But underneath that, Damon is proving to be just as good as Stefan when it comes to helping the heroine Elena. Both brothers are brooding, but Damon is certainly the bad boy.

Someone, an agent perhaps, mentioned what happened to the good ol' days when vampires were evil and must be destroyed? When did we start to want the bad guy to really be the good guy? I think the switch must have come somewhere around the time of Buffy and Angel, Stephan and Elena, and Louis's brooding. Before then, literature and film portrayed vampires as the monster, those horror story creatures out to upset the balance in humanity. But with Interview there was a different vampire, one with remorse for he was doing. So if vampires could have remorse, then maybe they had other feelings? And why not be able to want to love. Isn't that what we all want, to fall in love and be loved in return? Loved no matter what we are, or have become. For me that is the draw to vampires to see that inner struggle against “their true nature.” And to see the heroine grapple with what their hero truly is and still love them in return, vowing to be able to change their ways.

#

Thanks, Cate!

Anyone have any favorites she didn't mention?

Gemma Files, "Everything Old is New Again" - Guest Post

Please welcome my guest, Gemma Files!

#

Everything Old is New Again
By Gemma Files

Back when I was a kid, in much the same way that I would have been utterly startled to be told that even an incredibly mainstreamed version of Rap music would eventually occupy most slots on a computer-file equivalent of the Billboard Top 100, the idea that vampires would have become the go-to monster of the Milennium's turn would have amazed me beyond measure. And yet: Everywhere you look, these days, it’s a cornucopia of fangs--though usually coming firmly attached to a very specific type of vamp, ie the pale, sexy, mournful, conflicted kind so stringently popularized by books, movies and TV series like Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and True Blood.

Oh, every once in a while you get a throwback to the pre-Anne Rice tropes—-Steve Niles' 30 Days of Night graphic novel springs to mind, along with the movie it inspired. But in my chosen genre, the vampire--once a Horror mainstay--has become so much of a joke that when guidelines routinely warn against submitting anything featuring the "classic" monsters, vampires are assumed to go right up the very top of that list. Vampires, like werewolves (and, increasingly, fairies), have been relegated to the ever-expanding Paranormal Romance sub-genre, with categorical emphasis falling extra-heavy on the latter part of that compound, rather than the former.

So the question becomes not "Can one still write vampires and succeed?", because obviously, one can...but rather "Can one still write vampires which startle, discomfit, surprise, let alone scare?" Can one possibly keep the vampire fresh as both a monster and as a character, even now it's become so amazingly ubiquitous?

My thesis is that the best way to break free from the Bram Stoker/Anne Rice/Stephanie Meyer paradigm is by re-examining the roots of the legend--a creature neither dead nor alive, which subsists on something stolen from human beings, possibly conjured to explain the effects of various natural occurences and diseases--and simultaneously opening yourself up to alternate visions of "the vampire" from around the world: The Gaki of Japan, the Strix of Ancient Rome and the Bruxsa of Portugal, the Lamia of Ancient Greece, the Jiang Shih of China, the Baital of India, the Ekimmu of Ancient Mesopotamia, the Langsoir, Pontiannak, Polong, Pelesit and Penanggalen of Malaysia, the Civatateo of Mexico, the Obayifo of Africa and the Loogaroo of the Caribbean, etc.

What is it they take from us, and how do they take it? Maybe blood is too easy a substance, too intimate, to actually scare us anymore. In the Philippines, for example, the Aswang is a shapeshifter that delights in sucking unborn children straight out of their mothers' wombs using a long proboscis; ironically, an Aswang is often the result of a botched attack by another Aswang, which only succeeds in robbing the foetus of its humanity. But what if the vampire in question robs you instead of memory, or time, or ability--like the Leannan-Sidhe of Ireland, which inspires poets to do their best work while simultaneously sucking their life-force from them? And how are their table manners? The Ekimmu tears its prey apart, arriving and leaving through solid walls, while the work of the Lamia, Jiang Shih, and even the Strix or Obayifo can easily be mistaken for that of simple wasting diseases, tropical or otherwise—the same impulse which once conflated tuberculosis, or "consumption," with vampirism.

One way or the other, there's no mistaking any one of these alternate forms of vampirism for the pseudo-civilized, almost "expected" tropes of Sookie Stackhouse’s universe. Even something as apparently simple as the Bruxsa, a vampire-witch hybrid which seals its transition from human to monster by killing its own children, then becomes a type of night-flying bird like an owl or raven--think about the horrific impact of a woman sitting at her kitchen table whose head suddenly swerves ninety degrees, so she can confront the person sneaking up on her. Or the Langsoir, who also often travels in an owl's shape, whose beautiful black hair parts to reveal a "feeding mouth" on the back of her neck; in order to defeat her, her nails must be cut and stuffed into this same orifice. Sort of beats a stake all to hell for originality, doesn't it?

Each of these "new" types of vampire is actually A) not new at all and B) fairly easy to research, especially in the age of Google. So look around, and go to town; no one ever lost points for originality, that I know of. And the norm was made to deviate from...as all good vampires certainly know.

#

Thanks, Gemma!

Gemma Files is an award-winning horror author who’s published two collections of short fiction and two chapbooks of poetry. Her first novel, A Book of Tongues: Volume One in the Hexslinger Series, is available from ChiZine Publications.

"Not Your Grandma’s Vampires" - M.K. Mancos - Guest Blog

Please welcome my guest, M.K. Mancos!

#

Not Your Grandma’s Vampires
By MK Mancos

Since childhood, I’ve loved the idea of vampires. I sat in front of the television in glazed-eyed wonder as the Universal Monsters wreaked havoc on mankind. Bela Lugosi brought such class and panache to the undead that for a long time he was a hard act to follow.

Over the years, there have been many who have portrayed the Count in all his fiendish glory; Frank Langella and Gary Oldman to name just two. Or how about the hot and sexy star of the short-lived series Moonlight, Alex O'Loughlin, as he played Mick St. John? But no matter who has played a vamp on screen, they have all brought something unique to the role.

Should it be any different with written characters?

When I sat down to write a vampire novel, I knew I wanted to step out of the box--or coffin as the case may be. No matter my love for the classic, the tried and true tropes just didn’t tempt me enough to want to go there with my own characters. I wanted something fresh and different.

Enter the hosts.

To me, sci-fi is the perfect vehicle to place a vampire. Not sci-fi as in "the world is a product of technology run amuck" or "people go around in Jeston-mobiles courtesy of Spacely Sprockets," but rather the mechanics of turning vamps is not that of damnation, rather experiments gone afoul.

Well, I guess it’s more fantasy since my scientists are alchemists and the journey started during the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Anyhow, I digress. What I wanted was something totally different than anyone else out there had written to date. Really, my vamps are pseudo-vampires and not your garden variety blood sucker, though they do suck down quite a bit of the old O positive.

The Hosts are the vehicles for entities who were pulled across a dimensional gateway during an alchemical rite. Not even they know or understand the nature of the symbiotes who have adhered to their souls. Not all of the entities are the same, save for the power to make the host immortal and the need to consume blood. They are a mysterious species whose true nature I may or may not ever reveal.

Here’s a blurb to the first book, The Host: Shadows:

Sometimes the things that go bump in the night are there to protect the innocent.
Four hundred years ago, Tristain St. Blaise worked as an apprentice for alchemist Benito Achilles. An experiment went terribly wrong, fusing an entity to Tristain's soul, turning him from an enlightened man of reason to one of dark passions. Now, to find some measure of redemption, he wears the mantle of a hired killer, protecting innocents and ridding the world of men like Achilles.

Angelia Lightheart has worked hard to purge her life of unhealthy relationships. One night in a dark Manhattan alley, she is saved from a would-be rapist by a man who seems able to look through her very soul into the weary heart she hides from the world. As Angelia and Tristain fall in love, his work as a contract killer brings him face to face with the one responsible for his immortal state, endangering not only their love, but Angelia's life.

(Available from Samhain Publishing, Nov. 2008)

As I write the second book, The Host: Bloodlust, I find my hosts’ powers are expanding and growing, which is good. There is nothing worse than a stagnant vampire. Tends to make the blood congeal.

Like I said in the title: these aren’t your grandma’s vampires. But they are sexy and lots of fun.

#

Thanks, Kat!

Lydia Parks - Guest Post

Please welcome my guest, Lydia Parks!

#

Thank you, Vickie, for inviting me to be your guest. I'm thrilled to be here, even if only virtually.

I know readers and aspiring authors like to hear how published authors got started. (I know this because I've been both! Yes, and I'm still a reader.) I'm happy to tell you my (semi-goofy) story.

I didn't start out to be a writer. Actually, I'm an engineer. One fateful night, I sat down to watch television--it was a cold winter night in Alaska, so it seemed like the thing to do--and I caught the first episode of "Forever Knight." Yow! Talk about a show before its time! I was a fan of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, and this show was created just for me. It had all the sexual conflict and darkness with a cast of wonderful Canadian actors. I was hooked. Big time.

This happened in 1992 when the Internet was a new thing. My DH was one of the first people I knew who managed to hook in. As the Net grew, I discovered a group writing fanfiction for Forever Knight (stories that use the show's characters--the "episodes that were never filmed" concept). I jumped in and started writing. We all shared our stories with others online we'd never meet (or so we thought, but that comes later). When the show was cancelled after three seasons and most of the characters killed off, we all went into mourning. Then a couple dozen of us got together and wrote "Season 4." It was a blast, and I was picked to write an episode. I can't remember the name of it at the moment…maybe it'll come to me. Anyway, each "author" was assigned an editor, and mine turned out to be a real editor from New York. Once we'd finished the episode, she suggested I write a romance novel, so I did. I wish I knew who that editor was. I'd like to thank her.

There's more to the story--hours of heartache, a hundred or so "dear author" rejection letters, the long, hard road of learning to write a novel, the excitement of selling, etc.--but I won't go into all the details. I managed to sell some romance novels and a couple of mysteries, and then was asked to try my hand at erotica. "Erotica?" I thought. Hmm. Hot sex, dark alpha characters…vampires! Of course! So I started with the Nathan Cotton series (published by eXtasy Books), then sold some hot, juicy vampires to Aphrodisia (Addicted and Devour Me). I also have a vampire in a Nocturne Bite ("Shadow Lover") from Silhouette.

Maybe because of where I started, I'm a semi-purist when it comes to vampires. I'm not into the Nosferatu kind of vampires, all warty and pointy-eared, but definitely the Nick Knight version. My vampires can't go out in the sun and they aren't part-anything-else. A stake through the heart definitely does them in. And most of them can't stand garlic. They exist in the normal world, not a fantasy place filled with other super-naturals. One thing they all want is human blood, and it's always a very sexual experience for both vamps and humans when they take it. I just love the angst-ridden vampire image, even if he isn't always full of angst. It's all about the Hunger.

My latest story out from Nocturne Bites, "Marked" – which is available right now on eHarlequin.com – isn't about a vampire, but a shape-shifter. It's set in New Mexico and has a Native American flavor (thanks to a good friend who agreed to be my advisor). I really like the story. Maybe because it, too, has the hunger factor. He doesn't want to drink her blood…he just WANTS HER!

What I've realized about vampire (or shape-shifter) erotica is that it's no different than any other writing. If there's no conflict, it isn't interesting for me as either an author or a reader. I'm not saying that reading hot sex isn't fun, it's just that I can't read 200 pages of hot sex without a good story in there, too. Vampires present an automatic element of conflict; he wants her but he might kill her if he gives in to his desires. That's pretty strong conflict. However, if you can give the conflict a twist, you'll have a much stronger story. He's a vampire…if he takes her, he loses his only chance to see the sunlight again…she's actually a vampire hunter…she thinks he killed her father…get creative! What's the worst thing that could happen to him? The answer should be "her." Romance is a great basis for erotica, with or without vampires.

Oh, and I promised you the rest of the story. For my 39th birthday (I'm not telling you how long ago it was, but the photos are fading), I got to meet my favorite vampire: Geraint Wyn Davies who played Nick Knight. What a hunk, and an absolutely fabulous person! A good friend and I went to a crazy weekend event with 80 women and Ger. I must admit, I had a blast, but it was kind of a strange thing to do. Several of us got together to swap stories about what we'd told our friends and family we were spending the weekend doing: business meeting, friend's wedding, therapy. Too funny. Anyway, I met a bunch of the people I'd been sharing fanfiction with. I even got to sign a few stories--my first autographs! I'll always remember that weekend more than just a little fondly.

One thing I got from that event was an important lesson: know that the people reading what you're writing are real, they're out there somewhere, and you just might meet them! [toothy grin with fangs]

If you want to find out about any of my vamps or other creatures, please visit my website. I love to hear from readers!

Thank you again, Vickie! [hugs]

"He was brought across in 1228...preyed on humans for their blood..."

#

Thanks, Lydia!

Any other fans of television vampires out there? And do they inspire you to write?

This is the first post in a little Vampire Blogging Festival I'm hosting. My upcoming guests include:

5/18 - M.K. Mancos
5/19 - Gemma Files
5/20 - Cate Hart
5/21 - Suzy McKee Charnas
6/2 - Anna Katherine
6/4 - Evie Byrne

Jane Eyre in the Carnival Mirror

Finally, I'm going backwards to the scenes surrounding Jane and Rochester's wedding day, and tying those into the repeated reflections of Jane in Bertha and in Rochester himself.

Several times throughout the novel, Jane's true feelings escape the barriers she sets around them; she first lets her true feelings free when she expresses her anger at Mrs. Reed, forms barriers under the influence of Miss Temple, then has a surge of emotion after Miss Temple leaves Lowood to marry, and then much later when she weeps in the orchard at Thornfield. Jane describes this as "I said—or something in me said for me, and in spite of me…." I'm not the only one to make a connection between this and Bertha's insanity! I also think you can make a connection with Rochester, who is constantly battling between what society says is required of him, and what he needs to survive with a whole soul. "It would not be wicked to love me," he says, and she replies, "It would to obey you." This is reinforced, later, with St. John Rivers--it would be wicked for her to marry him when he did not love her, and when he would allow only obedience from her. Jane is right when she decides that would result in her death, either physical or of the soul.

Jane and Rochester both have turbulent needs, and need the other both for self-mastery and to allow freedom of their souls. Rochester says, "You master me," and Jane makes of him "an idol" while still struggling to maintain her selfhood. They understand each other very well, particularly in their flaws; more than once Rochester expresses Jane's thoughts, and she reads his motives and moods with uncanny skill. They're both very manipulative! The ultimate expression of Jane's selfhood is when she leaves Rochester, reinforcing that she cannot let him compromise her principles, which to her are equivalent to sanity. She says, "I care for myself." (It's interesting that she is physically opposite to Bertha. Jane is tiny and pale, Bertha is big and corpulent, and compared to Blanche Ingram, who is "dark" with olive skin and dark hair.)

Mirrors: when Bertha appears in Jane's room to destroy the fancy wedding veil Rochester had bought, Jane sees Bertha's reflection in the mirror. Back in the Red Room where her Uncle Reed died, child-Jane notes that the mirror world looks "colder and darker." On the morning of the wedding, Sophie makes Jane look in the mirror. Jane sees "almost the image of a stranger" in dress and veil, the plain veil Jane had made herself. She dreams of the Red Room again, and of the Moon as a Mother; perhaps in the mirror's other world?

After Bertha's existence is revealed to Jane, and Rochester is telling his story, it's a really long monologue at times, very tell not show! That section gives a different pov on many preceding events; the Male Other reveals his thoughts so he's no longer a "romantic" mystery, ironic because in most other ways Jane already knows him so well. They are so close, in fact, that the supernatural event of her hearing his heartfelt cry of "Jane! Jane! Jane!" is believable. (Jane attributes this event to Nature itself, which I find interesting; it could possibly be linked to the Moon as mother.)

Rochester and Jane being separated for a time is repeated often in romance novels that follow; the couple must be severed for a time, reminded of their solo selves, before they can truly be together as equals.

Finally, near the novel's end, when Jane is walking through the forest towards Ferndean, I couldn't help but think the description of the path was very vulvic, oe perhaps symbolic of the deep emotional depths of the psyche: "grass-grown track descending the forest aisle, between hoar and knotty shafts and under branches arches...it stretched on and on, it wound far and farther...all was interwoven stem, columnar tunk, dense, summer foliage--no opening anywhere." Deep within Jane is her connection to Rochester, and his to her. It's a good thing they end up together.

Comments?

All of the tagged Brontë posts, in reverse order.