Author Archive
Welcome to the October 2026 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 September, my ghost novella “Her Death Was Doubtful” was featured in N. N. Light’s Middle Grade and YA promo event:
Her Death Was Doubtful Spotlight
Have you heard of vampire pumpkins? My story “Night of the Living Gourd,” in NIGHT TO DAWN No. 50, introduces one into a modern suburb. There’s an excerpt below. You can buy the magazine here:
Please welcome mystery and romantic suspense author M. S. Spencer:
*****
Interview with M. S. Spencer:
What inspired you to become a writer?
I have been writing since my chubby 4-year-old fingers could hold a piece of sidewalk chalk. Like any sane tweenie I wrote reams of self-indulgent, metaphor-heavy poems while racked out on my bed staring out the window. I confess I still indulge in a little iambic composition to this day. I grew more ambitious as an adult and hammered out a novel which my loving husband threw out by mistake, then ground out another one which was mercifully taken out of my hands and edited into the splendid novel it is today. Once you get that first acceptance call, you are validated. After that, you’re not just a writer; you’re an author. As of September 30, I’m the proud creator of 19 books.
What genres do you work in?
I write murder mystery and romantic suspense. Some might call my mysteries “cozy” but to me that conjures up the doughnut lady or the knitting circle who solve crimes while crocheting baby blankets or frosting Berliners. Mine are more like Agatha Christie’s stories—puzzles to be solved by remarkably tenacious and perspicacious amateur sleuths. The romantic element is strong but not dominant. What can I say? I like happy endings.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I start with a story line of a few paragraphs which is almost totally scrapped by the third chapter. After that comes a first draft, which is more or less a detailed outline of about 30,000 words. Once the bare bones are set I can fill out the characters and add lots of red herrings and straw men. Since they are complicated mysteries, I literally memorize the story in order to recognize glitches and inconsistencies. The book isn’t usually ready for submission until the ninth or tenth draft.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
When I was young I read everything. Everything, that is, except novels with girls’ names in the title, which I spurned as wussy. That included Little Women and even Nancy Drew. I read all the classics (because I figured they were classics for a reason), and every dog, horse, outdoors, pirate adventure I could find. I also devoured biographies. The authors that had the most influence on me were English—Austen, Hardy, the Waughs, the Brontës, Iris Murdoch—plus Thomas Mann, Rilke, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Euripides. Of course the great mystery writers—Marsh, Christie, Sayers—had a huge influence.
Your mysteries are set in numerous different locations. What kinds of research do you conduct for them?
I don’t use settings with which I’m unfamiliar. Most of my books are set in Maine, the DC area, and Florida. The most autobiographical of my stories follows my adventures in Europe and the Middle East. Still, I augment my memories with major research to ensure accuracy. Being a librarian helps.
Please tell us about your poetry. What inspired the continuing character of Zelda?
I didn’t know you saw my poetry! Very gratifying. I’ve been writing poetry all my life but a few years ago I took up with Zelda who is not an alter ego. She is a fascinating, irritating, frightening, impressive and impressionable, over-sized pixie who definitely keeps me on my toes. Let others decide where she comes from.
What will readers find in your blog?
I use the blog as a newsletter. You will find media kits for all my books; my calendar and links to all my interviews and guest posts; news about my writing; and information on where to find the books. I don’t often write an actual blog.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
Fair Winds and Foul Play: An Amity Landing Mystery, released September 30. Here’s the blurb:
What do a government official, a loony environmentalist, and a batty old lady have in common?
Zoe’s run-in with the newcomer in Albion Cottage is hardly promising, but his gunmetal gray eyes and air of mystery stick with her. Why is he hiding? Who is he? His prickly attitude grates on the neighborly—well, to be honest, nosey—folks of the village of Amity Landing, but when he confesses to Zoe that he is the witness to a gruesome murder, she jumps at the chance to help the handsome stranger.
Two more corpses make their appearance in quick succession, but their connection to the first body is murky at best. Is it simply a series of unfortunate incidents? Has Amity Landing become a hotbed of homicide or is there a pattern to the madness? Do more have to die before Zoe and the stranger can fit the puzzle pieces together?
And here are the buy links (you can use either the universal link or the others; once the book is published Books2Read adds any new links).
Books2Read (universal link)
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
The Wild Rose Press
Apple
Google
What are you working on now?
This is fun! I’m working on a mystery set on Anna Maria Island (south-central Florida, Gulf Coast). It starts in the aftermath of the two hurricanes of 2024. The heroine and hero check out a severely damaged house and discover a young girl suffering from amnesia. She clutches a diamond brooch in her hand, which the hero recognizes as from the Napoleonic crown jewels recently stolen from the Louvre in Paris.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Edit, edit, edit till your brain bleeds. Correct inconsistencies, watch out for favorite phrases or words. It’s not how many words you write; it’s how well those words are put together.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence? (If there are a huge number of possible links, please limit them to five or so.)
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
BookDNA
GoodReads
BookBub
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
HORROR TROPES (And What They Tell Us), by Rick Wood. The author has written numerous novels, edited several anthologies, and produced other nonfiction books about writing and the horror genre. This one should more accurately be called “Horror Film Tropes.” Books are mentioned very rarely, only as sources for a few movies. Better yet, the title should be something like “Horror Tropes in Contemporary Films,” but I suppose that would be a bit cumbersome. The vast majority of movies cited were produced in the twenty-first century, although the eighties and nineties aren’t neglected, some works from the seventies are included, and a very few from the fifties and sixties appear. The foundational classic and vintage productions of Universal and Hammer studios aren’t mentioned at all. Also, from my viewpoint the author concentrates too heavily on the slasher subgenre. I expected more analysis than he provides, although there’s some – that’s where “what they tell us” comes in – and he’s clearly an expert in the field. In fairness, he’s writing for a popular rather than academic audience. If you seek an exhaustive listing of almost every possible horror film trope and motif, thematically classified by chapter, here’s the book for you. I do wonder, though, why the well-known motifs of “kill your gays” and “women in refrigerators” are omitted. For me, the main drawbacks of the book are lack of a table of contents and, worse, lack of an index. It needs an index of tropes and a separate one for movie titles. The reader can browse for pleasure but has no way to perform a targeted search. I recommend the book for entertainment and for discovering new movies to track down and watch. Don’t count on it as a reliable reference work, though. In one chapter, Wood consistently writes “sanctity” where he means “sanctuary”; at another point he refers to Shirley Jackson’s classic novel THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE as “The House on Haunted Hill”; and those aren’t the only errors I noticed. So if you want to cite any of his titles or dates, check against a different source in case those contain typos, too.
LITTLE MONSTERS, by Maire Roche. This has to be the most unusual retelling of LITTLE WOMEN I’ve read. Granted, others have transmuted the classic novel into dark fantasy, e.g., LITTLE VAMPIRE WOMEN and LITTLE WOMEN AND WEREWOLVES, but those stick pretty close to the plotline of Louisa May Alcott’s work, along the lines of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES and SENSE AND SENSIBILITY AND SEA MONSTERS. Roche’s adaptation, although set in Massachusetts like the original (specifically Salem), takes place in the present day. While the principal characters have the names and personalities of their classic counterparts, the plot doesn’t duplicate that of LITTLE WOMEN. The March sisters have lost their parents and lived in a succession of foster homes. Marmee, their current foster mother, works long hours but treats the sisters kindly. Protagonist Meg, as the oldest, takes responsibility for her sisters and tries to ensure the four of them cause as little trouble as possible. If they remain helpful and well-behaved and don’t ask for anything – including money for Halloween costumes or even regular clothes – maybe they won’t lose the best home they’ve had. She does her best to supply their nonessential wants by part-time work for the affluent family of Jo’s (male) best friend, Laurie. Staying out of trouble can’t be guaranteed, since Beth has cute bat wings, Amy is a part-mermaid shapeshifter, and Meg and Jo sprout fur, fangs, and claws under stress. As Meg eventually learns, Salem is one of a few “seam” cities, places that attract supernatural events and “monstrous” people. At the beginning of the story, though, she knows only that she and her sisters must hide their abnormal traits. While aware that she leaves the house at night, she can’t remember where she goes or what she does. Could she be the monster killing chickens and even attacking people? As neighbors and schoolmates become more suspicious of her, she becomes increasingly isolated, even from her sisters. She’s afraid to ask Marmee for help. Meg’s feeling of betrayal when she discovers their foster mother hides an apparently sinister secret makes things worse. Even the obligatory “rich mean girl” antagonist and her status-obsessed parents turn out to be much more than they seem. Meg’s increasing desperation as she clings to the belief that her family’s welfare depends completely on her makes her a deeply sympathetic character. Many of us, “monstrous” or not, can identify with the theme of feeling like an outsider and misfit. The denouement enlightens Meg as well as the reader about the hidden truth of Salem and its inhabitants.
DEMONS AND DIPLOMACY, by Megan Frampton. Reminiscent of series by such authors as Patricia Briggs, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Jim Butcher, in this alternate-history fantasy novel numerous species formerly thought to be imaginary and/or legendary have become publicly known in the recent Great Revelation. The set-up also brings to mind Kim Newman’s superb alternate history ANNO-DRACULA; in both works, Queen Victoria is a vampire. Unlike Newman’s version, however, Frampton’s Victoria is a ruthless monarch rather than a thrall to an undead lord. Prince Albert, a dhampir, appears definitely subordinate to her rather than essentially co-ruler as in real-life history. As far as I can tell, in DEMONS AND DIPLOMACY vampires belong to a different species rather than being former humans. The term “species” is consistently used for them, and there’s no mention of vampiric transformation. Their kind, though, play little onstage role in the story, Victoria being the only one the protagonist interacts with, and only in a few scenes. As the title suggests, the plot centers on demons. It’s set in the context of Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition. The ruler of Hell, the actual Devil, makes a royal visit to meet the Queen and spend a month in England before the opening of the Exhibition. Narrator Cora Hastings works as the government’s species ombudsman, who mediates disputes among members of various supernatural species, as well as between them and the human majority. She faces the monumental task of orchestrating the satanic visit to keep the Devil in a good enough mood that he won’t inflict his wrath on anyone or anything. Cora acts as liaison to His Satanic Majesty’s entourage, represented by Marcellus, Marquis of Hell, highest ranking of the Devil’s many offspring. Frampton’s Victoria and Albert bear little resemblance to their historical counterparts; in my opinion, they might as well be different people with the same names. (Granted, though, maybe we don’t see enough of them to judge.) While avoiding disastrous interdimensional incidents, coping with religious zealots who vehemently protest allowing demons in the human world, and investigating assassination attempts, Cora and Marcellus become closer than she’s comfortable with. After all, he’s a demon, however charming, with a moral code – or lack thereof – incompatible with human values. Anyway, no matter how friendly they become, after a month or so he’ll be returning to Hell. I can believe in Cora’s falling in lust with him. But love? That moral mismatch would seem insurmountable, a problem that continues to bug me even after a happy ending that strikes me as a bit too facile. Moreover, Cora never develops, for me, much depth of character. Her friendship with her two housemates, a fairy and a succubus, feels more believable than her attachment to Marcellus. As for the constant references to her obsession with tea, maybe they’re intended as comic relief, but to me they just make her seem annoyingly frivolous. The topic might work better as a character-defining trait if she spent onstage time fussing over the proper way to brew the genial beverage (as Elizabeth Peters’s heroine Amelia Peabody calls it) or discussing the merits of different varieties. As it is, although I know practically nothing about tea, much less the British nuances related to it, I could have written those frequent throwaway allusions myself. Nevertheless, the worldbuilding is fun, even if the mystery and suspense don’t rise to Agatha Christie levels of complexity. I especially like the excerpts from “An Incomplete Guide to Navigating Supernatural Species in the Post-Revelation World” that precede each chapter, delivering expository tidbits in an entertaining, colloquial style. A glossary of such species follows the text of the novel. The book’s subtitle implies that it’s the beginning of a series. A fun, fast-paced but not frenetic read, enjoyable despite the above-mentioned imperfections.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Night of the Living Gourd”:
“Mom, there’s a dead squirrel on the porch.”
At Dan’s yell, Lynn, in the kitchen, glanced up from rifling through his previous night’s trick-or-treat bounty in search of chocolate. Halloween having fallen on Friday, he’d collected a larger haul than usual and would hardly miss any candy she sneaked for herself.
When she emerged onto the front porch, she found her son pointing at a furry, flattened corpse. From behind the screen door, Wagner, their dachshund, barked furiously.
The carved pumpkin, which she’d posed on the topmost of the three front steps, now sat on the edge of the porch. “Hey, who moved the jack-o-lantern? And how did the squirrel’s blood get on it?”
Dan poked at the carcass. “Maybe the pumpkin tried to eat it.”
“Don’t touch that. And don’t be silly.” Wasn’t seven too old for such a flight of fantasy?
His thirteen-year-old sister, Ashley, ambled onto the porch, munching on a granola bar while nudging Wagner out of the way. The dog, apparently having gotten his second wind, launched into another barking fit. “What happened?” She raked the fingers of her free hand through her auburn, sleep-tousled hair.
“No idea,” Lynn said. “Unless it’s a Halloween prank by one of your friends.”
“Really, Mom.” Ashley heaved a sigh expressive of long-suffering exasperation. “What kind of friends do you think I have?”
“Okay, I concede the point for now. Anybody volunteer to get rid of the dead squirrel?” With faint hope, Lynn glanced at each of her children in turn.
“Eww.” Ashley retreated into the house.
“Dan?”
“You said not to touch it. Can I go watch my cartoons?” Not waiting for an answer, he hurried inside, too.
Lynn resignedly scuffed through a layer of autumn leaves to the garage for a shovel to scoop up the corpse. If Craig were home, she could count on him for the unpleasant chore. Unfortunately, his ship was deployed to the Mediterranean and wouldn’t return until December. “Glamorous life of a Navy wife,” she muttered as she dumped the dead squirrel in the garbage can.
What could have killed it? None of the neighbors let their dogs run free. A fox, maybe? Remembering Dan’s remark, she laughed aloud. “Vicious pumpkin attack, right.”
Hours later, when she took Wagner out for his afternoon stroll around the block, he lunged to the end of the leash, barking as he charged the jack-o-lantern.
“What’s gotten into you today?” She tugged him down the front steps. Once on the sidewalk, he seemed to forget about his newfound feud with the pumpkin.
-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:
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Facebook
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Barnes and Noble
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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):
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Goodreads
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Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
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You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the September 2026 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.
As summer “lingers through September” (like in Camelot, except theirs doesn’t have to endure thunderstorms), below is an excerpt from my paranormal romance novella “Summertide Echoes,” set at a cabin in the Shenandoah Mountains. After the hero’s folk music performance at a lodge in the National Park, he and the heroine are reminiscing about their teen years, including their marathon Dungeons & Dragons games. The conversation shifts to their disagreement about whether to sell the vacation cabin they co-own.
This month’s interview introduces H. B. Berlow, author of historical crime fiction and other genres.
*****
Interview with H. B. Berlow:
What inspired you to become a writer?
The story I always tell is of the assignments in first grade where we had to place each newly learned vocabulary word into a sentence. There was some degree of fascination to that which stuck in my mind. Of course, it didn’t hurt that my parents had books in EVERY room of the house. Reading, art, and culture were big in my family.
What genres do you work in?
My current focus is on Midwest historical crime fiction. However, I have written literary fiction, metafiction, and Transgressive fiction. There was also an intensive period in the early 1990s when I was involved in the Boston poetry scene.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
Ah, the Plotter / Pantser inquiry. Well, as far as that goes, there is a brief outline which, after I’m done, seems like I took the bypass instead of the highway. Interestingly, I came up with a different expression a few years ago: the Sculptor vs. the Potter. One takes a big block of stone and chips away at it until the image forms. The other takes pieces and constantly builds it up until it becomes an identifiable item. I’m typically the latter.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
As far as authors go, I harken back to the original hardboiled guys: Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. For darkness, I sprinkle in Cornell Woolrich. For pure pulp, nothing beats Jim Thompson. As for contemporary, Dennis Lehane is from my hometown of Boston so I “get” what he’s doing.
Now, I recently retired after 43 years in customer service, which I’m quite certain informed my, shall we say, need to write crime fiction. I don’t think I need to elaborate.
How has your experience in filmmaking affected your fiction writing?
Fantastic question, given my studies in the early 1980s focused on how film was made until all these technological advances. Storytelling was always the key. My screenwriting classes were the guide in that regard. Since I write historical crime fiction, there is less attention paid to computers and CSI-type episodes. My work is character driven. The main character uses intellect, thought, instinct, experience, and whatever other personal tools he can grab onto. Story and character are predominant.
What kinds of research do you do for your historical novels?
Short answer: whatever is needed. Here’s an example from the first book “Ark City Confidential.” It was the second chapter and I had the antagonist, a gangster from Chicago, being told to leave town to avoid Capone’s vengeance. He would hide out in Kansas.
Now I had to figure out: how he would get down there (since there was no interstate system); what kind of car he would drive to determine how many miles per gallon that car got in order to calculate how long it would take to reach his destination; figure out what kind of lodgings he could stay at and where he would eat.
Nearly a full day’s worth of research for about three-quarters of a chapter. But if you don’t do it, you’ll sound foolish and lose your reader.
Please tell us about your podcast on “the writing life.”
Brian Johnson and I have been friends for about twenty odd years (as opposed to an odd twenty years!). He had a podcast prior, his co-hosts didn’t want to expand upon their original format, and it ended. I had bugged him for a while and he acquiesced.
Despite the fact that we write in different genres, the basic notions we discuss are about “creatives” more than just writers. We discuss craft, passions, activities, and offer a chance to promote. In so doing, we promote ourselves.
On the other hand, my blog, The Tikiman Says…, has been up and running since 2010. I discuss more personal aspects of “the writing life” and intertwine it with my cooking/baking adventures. They happen to be my other creative passions.
Just out of curiosity, what’s the source of your screen name “Tikiman”?
I started buying, shall we say, less expensive Hawaiian shirts from thrift stores. Out of the blue, my wife got me a birthday present of an authentic Aloha shirt from Hilo Hatties, one of the finest purveyors of Hawaiian wear at the time. Back then, those things cost $50. I stopped buying the thrift store ones after that.
Throw in a love of lounge music (because nobody beats Frank and Dean) and a passion for martinis and craft cocktails, the Tikiman emerged from the beach just as Aphrodite came from the foam of the sea. (Okay, a LITTLE melodramatic!)
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
The Time of Judgment, Vol. 4 of The Wichita Chronicles, is scheduled for release on August 19, 2026. In this book, Jewish private detective Harold Bergman is drawn into the search for a Nazi war criminal roaming around somewhere in Kansas. Given the nature of the series thus far and the development of the main character, it feels like where the story was going to wind up all along.
What are you working on now?
If you recall earlier, I mentioned recent retirement. Therefore the question is how much I am working on now. Book Five of The Wichita Chronicles is complete and will be presented to my publisher later this year. Book One of a new series is complete. I am querying a literary metafiction, pulling a couple of WIP out of mothballs, attending book fairs, book festivals, and book signings. Oh and baking bread and making sausages Naturally, there are honey-dos sprinkled in between.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Two invaluable words: Patience and Persistence. That’s the start. Read anything you can get your hands on that intrigues you, whether it’s in your genre or not. Attend a meeting of an authors’ group or, better yet, join. Go to conferences, festivals, author and book events. Talk to authors. (Trust me, they love it!) It has to be your passion, not a “side gig.” It has to be what feeds your soul, not something to supplement your income. Writing is far too personal a venture.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
The Tikiman Says is my blog.
Facebook: hb.tikiman
You can give a listen to Tikiman and the Viking Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple, and wherever the cool podcasts are located.
Threads: @rabbi_dude
Instagram: rabbi_dude
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE EVERLASTING, by Alix E. Harrow. Author of bestselling portal fantasy THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY, in this secondary-world fantasy Harrow presents a complex story in which the “portal,” a magic book, sends the protagonist to multiple alternate pasts of his world rather than different worlds in a multiverse. Here the author uses the rare technique of second-person narration. The protagonist and the title character, Una Everlasting, recall the multiple iterations of their relationship by each telling the other, addressed as “you,” events they may have forgotten due to the nature of the time-travel magic. One later section, however, switches to third person, referring to the pair as “they,” but it’s still the protagonist(s) writing the story. Excerpts from the classic work THE DEATH OF UNA EVERLASTING appear in bold. The LOCUS review of the novel compares its present-day setting, an empire called the Dominion, to post-World-War-II Great Britain. Owen Mallory, a faculty member in a university history department, is a stereotypical introverted, bespectacled scholar who, although a war veteran, was thoroughly unsuited for military life. He came home with emotional and physical scars as well as a medal won by accident. He has a strained relationship with his single father, a radical pacifist opposed to the present government. Owen has little hope of tenure or even academic respect, with his work on the mythic figure of Una, the legendary knight who raised the first queen of Dominion to the throne, regarded as derivative at best. His adventures begin when he receives, from an unknown sender, a copy of THE DEATH OF UNA EVERLASTING, a lost work some historians had believed never to exist in the first place. It brings him under the sway of the empire’s new Chancellor, a ruthless manipulator determined to shape the country’s history according to her own vision for the greater good. Upon meeting her, Owen embarks on the first of multiple involuntary trips through time. He encounters Una again and again, always under the same ancient yew tree from which (like a female Arthur) she drew her magical sword. In the first visit to the past, he accepts his mission to ensure that her triumphant career and heroic sacrifice unfold as history records. Having gotten to know the disillusioned, battle-scarred woman behind the legend, however, during later iterations he strives to spare her from her destined fate. Every time, although the magic that originally made both of them forget their earlier meetings has faded, their foreknowledge doesn’t enable them to thwart the inevitable. For the reader, the inexorable repetition of the tragedy can become emotionally exhausting. Even when Owen and Una acknowledge their mutual love and believe they’ve found a path toward a normal, more or less happy life, the reader knows better. Our metafictional awareness of the number of pages left in the book warns us against complacence. Have their lives been shaped by some outside force from the beginning? Are they nothing but puppets? Is everything they experience aside from the indestructible enchanted sword (if even that) staged? Layer upon layer of history and myth are stripped away, revealing the truth about that yew tree as well as the depth and scope of the Chancellor’s involvement. Time loops multiply and fold upon themselves, with Owen destined to write the book that inspired him to pursue Una’s legend in the first place. The heart-rending plight of the protagonists and the head-spinning plot twists culminate in a denouement that makes the ordeal worth the journey.
Soon after finishing this novel, I read one of Harrow’s earlier works, THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES. That book also explores the function of stories. In its alternate-history 1890s American setting, witches are known to exist but believed to be almost extinct, thanks to systematic legal persecution and burnings. Witchcraft has dwindled to minor household charms, with its deeper truths covertly handed down among women and hidden in songs, nursery rhymes, folklore dismissed as trivial, and fairy tales (aka “witch-tales”). It’s these sources that three estranged sisters, brought together by a dramatic magical event, draw upon to revive the ancient words, works, and ways. They summon the long-lost Way to Avalon, which turns out to be a multi-level library tower. Perhaps they may somehow connect with the mythic Last Three, Crone, Mother, and Maiden, while they half-consciously grow into those roles themselves. Meanwhile, the eldest sister, a librarian, strives to record every fragment of lore and spells they can find. Resurgent witchcraft and resulting persecution unfold against the background of the suffragist movement. The hostile, mainly masculine powers-that-be conflate suffragettes, prostitutes, civil rights workers, and labor organizers with witches as embodiments of evil. Witchcraft becomes a symbol of women’s oppression and reclamation of power. THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES, fraught with danger, sacrifice, and tragedy, ends with a eucatastrophic epilogue that doesn’t in any way cheapen what the characters have suffered.
ONCE-UPON-THYME, by Celine Jeanjean. Another secondary-world fantasy grappling with the nature of narrative. At first glance, this appears to be a lighthearted fairy-tale parody, but darkness deepens as complications arise. The kingdom of Once-Upon-Thyme, somewhat like the 500 Kingdoms created by Mercedes Lackey, operates under the control of an almost sentient force of storytelling. While members of the middle class are generally exempt, royalty, nobility, and simple villagers and country folk tend to get shaped into roles dictated by the standard “storylines.” Furthermore, the authorities sometimes help the magic along by intervening to straighten out inhabitants who veer from their traditional paths. Otherwise, vaguely defined but dire disasters might result. As the first page explains, in the tiny realm of Once-Upon-Thyme, far larger on the inside than it appears from outside, queens are supposed to die in childbirth, peasants regularly win thrones regardless of qualifications to rule or absence thereof, all stepmothers and stepsisters must be evil, and curses are “more prevalent than the common cold.” Princess Adrianna, who has so far failed to snare a princely bridegroom, doesn’t fit the archetypal pattern. Her stepmother, a washout in terms of wickedness, is obsessed with gardening and constantly quarrels over it with their gardener, one of only two servants in the dusty, disorganized castle. Adrianna gets along fine with her gentle, animal-loving stepsister. Adrianna’s live-in fairy godmother lolls around drinking way too much, and Adrianna herself tends in that direction. Meanwhile, Prince Charming (his real name) prefers libraries to balls or his domineering mother, who’s pushing him to fulfill his destiny. He can barely stand the thought of marrying one of the relentlessly flirtatious princesses who swarm around him. At the ball in the opening scene, he accidentally meets Adrianna’s stepmother, Queen Petunia, in the garden. Delighted by a lady who discourses nonstop on a substantive topic (flower cultivation) without expecting any response from him, he decides he’s in love with her. From a storyline perspective, his ignoring Adrianna and proposing to her stepmother portends disaster. Also, his role in the pattern requires him to prove his worth by slaying the last dragon in the kingdom. The novel’s tone shifts from amusing to foreboding when Adrianna learns the truth about how her stepmother was unwillingly shaped for her place in the story. Furthermore, if Adrianna doesn’t fulfill her destiny of marrying a prince, their family’s predetermined structure will collapse, forcing a grim fate on the “evil stepsister.” Since Adrianna hasn’t succeeded in winning her prince, can she perhaps thwart destiny? She accordingly rides forth to seek the dragon along with her fairy godmother and Sam, a freelancer hired to help her steal the dragon’s egg in order to lure the beast into a trap. When Adrianna realizes the dragon is an innocent creature only trying to protect her child, though, the plan becomes problematic. To complicate matters, romantic tension grows between Adrianna and Sam, which the reader recognizes, naturally, long before the two of them do. Trying to save both the dragon and her stepsister, Adrianna finds herself so far out of any prescribed script that she must create her own story. With the reader wondering how the crisis can possibly be resolved, the author attains a happy ending by a surprising route. Despite the dark scenes, moments of comic relief pop up throughout. The author’s forthcoming variation on “Snow White” should prove equally entertaining.
SEA OF CHARMS, by Sarah Beth Durst. A third book in the series that began with THE SPELLSHOP. Not exactly a sequel, since the timelines of the three novels overlap. In the background of all three looms the revolution against the empire and the resulting upheaval in the capital city. The author does an admirable job of weaving interlace connections among the three stories. While one doesn’t need to have read the first two to enjoy this installment, it’s fun to catch glimpses of characters from previously published books. For instance, a sapient plant from the enchanted greenhouse of the second novel figures as a prominent secondary character. Can a story taking place mostly at sea qualify as a “cozy” fantasy? I’ve always considered a strong sense of place, a safe haven such as a coffee shop or bookstore, an integral part of that emergent subgenre. In this case, however, although the protagonist, Marin, has a strong relationship with her parents and enjoys returning to visit them, she considers her boat and the ocean her true home. As for the “low stakes” component of the definition (which I don’t fully agree with), the overthrow of the empire entails very high stakes, but (as mentioned above), that’s background. The foreground of the series features characters whose main connection with the revolt is an urgent desire to stay as far from it as possible. In her island home and at sea, Marin hears only rumors that have no direct impact on her. Her “stakes” start out low, consisting of an overbearing ex-fiance and a massive loan her parents contracted to buy her a new boat. While she works hard as a seagoing courier to earn enough money to pay off the debt, she believes she has plenty of time left. Until she doesn’t, when the personal stakes for her suddenly become dire. Meanwhile, wary of relationships after her ex’s vile betrayal, she’s content with a friendly sea monster as a sailing companion. Nevertheless, she accepts Ree, the plant, as an apprentice, yielding to his fervent wish to sail with her and see the world. The thrill he gets from new skills, experiences, and discoveries is a delight to read. Marin also finds a winged cat stowed away on her craft. After rescuing a friendly acquaintance, the musician Dax, from the conservatory in the devastated capital, she agrees to let him stay on board, learning new songs on the islands they visit, at least until the harvest festival for which she’s promised to come home. In return, he’ll pose as her boyfriend to reassure her parents and forestall neighbors’ pitying curiosity. Genre-savvy readers, of course, know how this familiar romance trope will turn out, despite Marin’s and Dax’s very different lives. The sea is her element, while he belongs in the conservatory as a master musician. After adventures, dangers, dark moments, and risk of losing her boat and her parents’ house, we can confidently anticipate resolution of both the external and emotional crises. The fun, as usual, is watching how the characters overcome seemingly insurmountable problems. Happily, there’s another volume forthcoming in this fantasy world, THE MAGICAL CHEESE EMPORIUM, in January 2027. Also, Durst has just announced the sale of volumes five and six!
DAGGERBOUND, by T. Kingfisher. Sequel to SWORDHEART, which you don’t absolutely have read before this one, but doing so would enhance the experience. The books take place in the same world as the Clocktaur duology and the Paladin series. It’s a pleasure to encounter familiar characters from earlier novels in DAGGERBOUND, including the paladins (brief cameo), badger-like gnoles, Bishop Beartongue, cursed sword warrior Sartis and his wife introduced in SWORDHEART, and Zale, levelheaded, logical, humane, keenly intelligent lawyer from the Temple of the White Rat, my favorite of Kingfisher’s secondary characters. DAGGERBOUND offers an accessible introduction to this world as well as a treat for fans of the other novels. Edmund, first seen as a naïve, cloistered young scholar on his maiden foray to the outside world in the Clocktaur duology, is the primary protagonist of this new work. About eight years later, deeply disappointed that he can’t get the hidebound, misogynistic priests of his god to listen to what he learned on that expedition, he decides to leave the order. On a journey to deliver some books and an ancient sword to a distant city, he plans to complete his assignment and not go back. He’ll be technically stealing the mule, Sweetness (almost a character in herself, whose personality totally belies her name), but he manages to square the deed with his conscience. Attacked by bandits, he accidentally separates the sword from its sheath. In a burst of silver light, a warrior with silver eyes appears. After some confusion, Edmund learns the Dervish isn’t an angel, as he thought, but a fighter trapped in the enchanted weapon. The magic compels the Dervish to guard the wielder’s life at all costs. He’s functionally immortal; reversion into the sword whenever it’s sheathed heals all injuries and even restores him from death. The silver marks that Edmund mistakes for tattoos are in fact scars of the Dervish’s many wounds. A hardened cynic who has hated all his wielders, with good reason, he’s prepared to take the same attitude toward Edmund. The scholar, though, displays such an irresistible combination of intellectual curiosity, encyclopedic knowledge, innocent tendencies to believe the best of everyone, and sheer kindness that the Dervish can’t help liking him. For instance, when Edmund discovers the magic enables the servant of the sword to speak the language of his wielder, Edmund immediately gets excited about the translation possibilities. (He’s disappointed to learn it won’t work that way.) The sword-cursed warrior has to keep reminding himself that Edmund isn’t his type. On the way to Edmund’s destination, they encounter bandits and villagers in the habit of sacrificing people to a dragon, among other hazards. They pick up two companions, a gnole and a giant, sapient pill bug, who was captured while on a diplomatic mission to the capital. She carries a device that translates her words into human speech, since neither species can physically pronounce the language of the other. Unfortunately, the sociopathic necromancer-smith who bound the Dervish and two comrades into swords centuries earlier has become revered as a saint by a small cult. Its fanatical members will go to any lengths to possess the enchanted weapon. As always, the worldbuilding is fascinating. (For instance, many different deities coexist, with amicable relations among most of their worshipers, but not all. Males in the pill bug’s species are non-sapient and much smaller than females. Gender in the gnole language signifies caste, not biological sex. There’s a perilous region that randomly shifts around and tends to trap travelers who wander into it.) I love the secondary characters, engaging dialogue – which often injects humor into even dire situations – and the developing relationship between the two protagonists, each of whom changes and adapts in his own way. I hope we won’t have to wait another five years or more for the next volume in the trilogy.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Summertide Echoes”:
“Seeing those miniatures on the shelf in the cabin brought it all back. I was a little surprised they were still on display.”
“Of course they are.” In a more tentative tone, Mark asked, “Does that mean you don’t have the stuffed dragon I gave you anymore?”
Joyce echoed his words. “Of course I kept Tiamat.” She didn’t think it necessary to mention that she placed the toy in its traditional spot on her pillow every morning when she made the bed. “Where in the world did you get a red, three-headed, stuffed dragon? You never told me.”
“Never will.” He flashed a teasing smile. “Think of it as magic.”
Noticing her glass empty, he signaled for another round of drinks, switching from beer to ginger ale himself. “Speaking of surprises, it threw me when you texted you’d already set up a visit from a realtor. I thought we were in the early stage of considering what to do.”
“What else would we do? We can’t hang onto the place forever.” To his silent, blank stare, she said, “Wait, is that what you planned?”
“Why not? I spend an occasional weekend there. It’s convenient for overnight when the weather’s not safe for driving all the way home.” He glanced sideways, then down at his drink. “And, frankly, if we let go of it, I’d miss it more than I can explain.”
“I’ll miss it, too. I realized that when I saw it this afternoon. But we have to be practical. We’re not kids anymore. It’s obviously what the aunts intended.”
He looked up at her. “How do you figure that?”
She swirled the straw in her glass, reluctant to meet his challenging stare. “From the terms of the will. They left most of their savings and the rebate from the continuing care community to Glenn because he wouldn’t have any use for the cabin, what with moving around the country every couple of years.” Now an Air Force officer with a wife and two children, her brother was currently stationed in New Mexico. “So they clearly meant for us to make up the financial difference with the value of the cabin. The realtor told me there’s a hot market for mountain vacation property in this area.”
“Is that a good reason to sell right away, just because we can? I don’t need the money that much.”
“Well, I do,” Joyce shot back. Catching herself raising her voice, she turned to scan the room, hoping she hadn’t drawn attention from the few other people who still occupied tables and barstools. More quietly, she said, “You know I’ve been collecting vintage comics since college, right?”
He nodded. “You’ve mentioned you wanted to start a mail-order business in comic books and graphic novels. You’re finally going to take the leap? Not too risky?”
Hoping she didn’t hear sarcasm in the last sentence, she answered straightforwardly. “I’ve done everything I could to minimize the risk. I’ve rented a storage facility big enough to hold as much stock as I’m likely to have anytime soon. I’ve opened a business account and incorporated myself as an LLC. I’ve set up a website.” She swallowed a lump of anxiety, reflecting on the one “risky” step she had dared. “I bought the entire inventory of a comic shop going out of business when the owner retired. Thing is, I had to get a personal loan to pay him, and the only type the bank would give me has a final balloon payment. It’s due in seven months.”
“Oh, I see. That’s why you need your half of the sale proceeds.”
“Right.” The tightness in her chest loosened. Maybe he would yield to practicality after all. “There’s one alternative to putting the cabin on the open market. If you’re so anxious to keep it, you could buy out my half.”
“That would be the ideal solution, except I don’t have that kind of money. Not even if I used the total amount of the advance I’ve received so far. As you might not realize, it comes in installments, not one big lump. Not to mention that I do need it as a cushion, like I said earlier.”
She drew a long breath and exhaled slowly, trying to stay calm. “What about a mortgage?”
“I’m already carrying one on my condo, my primary residence. No way would the bank lend me the cost of a vacation home on top of that. Especially considering how loan officers feel about freelancers in any field. From their viewpoint, I don’t have a stable income.”
Well, nobody told you to quit your day job. Even in the midst of her frustration, she knew better than to make that cutting remark aloud. Besides, it seemed unlikely that a bank or mortgage company would’ve approved his community college salary to cover a second real estate loan anyway.
“There’s another alternative, though,” he said.
At least he was thinking in terms of finding a solution instead of flatly rejecting her position. “What’s that?”
“I could lease the cabin from you, pay a monthly rent.”
She clenched her fists in her lap. “What good would that do me? Don’t you get it? I need the lump sum in less than a year, or I lose everything I’ve invested in the comic business project.”
He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I do understand that, but if I can’t get the money, I can’t.”
“Then we’re back to selling the place. Speaking of financial cushions, your half of the proceeds would give you more time to establish your writing career. If you’re worried about having somewhere to stay after performances in bad weather, couldn’t you make some permanent arrangement with the lodge? If you could afford to pay me rent, you could afford to reserve a regular room.”
“It’s not that simple. They fill up fast during the peak season.”
She glared at him, fighting the urge to shriek in exasperation. “That sounds like a lame excuse to me.”
He sighed. “Okay, I admit that’s not all there is to it. I’m not ready to let go.”
“Can you at least explain why?”
He folded his arms. “I have my reasons. If you don’t feel the same way, it’s too hard to explain.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the August 2026 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
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For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
In the spirit of summer, below is an excerpt from “Spooky Tutti Frutti,” my novella in the “One Scoop or Two” ice-cream-themed series published by the Wild Rose Press. Celia, searching for a new flavor to promote her shop at the upcoming waterfront festival, meets a prospective temp worker who impresses her as a bit strange, along with a dog that seemingly appears out of nowhere.
Please enjoy this month’s interview with contemporary romance author Maria Imbalzano.
*****
Interview with Maria Imbalzano:
What inspired you to become a writer?
I love to read, but I never liked to write until I got to law school. Writing legal briefs and memoranda of law worked for me. But legal writing is very different than creative writing. One night, after working all day and getting the kids into bed, I was reading a Danielle Steele book and something was bothering me about it. I said to myself “I bet I could do this.” Why I ever thought I could write a book is beyond me, but I decided to try. A short fifteen years later, my first book was published (which was not the first manuscript I wrote – it was the fifth). In my case, persistence was key. My eleventh novel was just released on June 1st.
What genres do you work in?
I write contemporary romance, but several books in my Sworn Sisters Series would be considered women’s fiction with a strong romance.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I am a plotter to the nth degree. There is no winging it here. I blueprint my entire book, scene by scene, chapter by chapter, before I sit down at my computer to write the book.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
My favorite romance author back in the day was Judith McNaught. Her books made me fall in love with the romance genre. My favorite of hers is called “Perfect” and I often go back to it to try to learn from a master.
Did your experience in legal writing in any way prepare you for writing fiction? Any overlap in the required skills?
Legal writing is very linear and analytical. An issue is raised, you give your opinion on that issue, then you back it up with case law and arguments using that case law to bolster your position. This in no way prepared me to write fiction. I had to learn everything from scratch—writing dialog, exposition, point of view, characterization, conflicts. It was a whole new language and a very different way of writing. The only thing that helps me as a creative writer from my days as a lawyer is that I’ve always been a crazy mad editor. I don’t let anything go out until I’ve read it and fixed it at least ten times.
Please tell us about the Sworn Sisters series.
The Sworn Sisters Series is about four high school girlfriends, now in their early to mid-30’s. Each of them has their own book, (so they are all stand-alones) but the friends are in each other’s stories. Life events such as divorce, broken engagements, adoption, heartbreak, affairs, work-life balance, ambition, and betrayal all crop up in these emotional stories. A secret from the past affects their relationships with each other as well as with their love interests.
SWORN TO FORGET – Nicki’s story – career vs. relationship
SWORN TO REMEMBER- Sam’s story – reunion story, unrequited love
SWORN TO FLY – Alyssa’s story – fish-out-of-water, opposites attract
SWORN TO COLLIDE – Denise’s story – emotional betrayal and second chances
You contributed a novel, RETURN TO WYLDER, to the Wylder West multi-author series. What was it like to write in a shared-world series, and how did you ensure consistency with books by other authors?
I absolutely loved writing for a multi-author series. Reviewing the map of the town with its restaurants, bars, streets, and buildings and placing my characters there was so much fun. (I had also written a book for the Deerbourne Inn Series called “A Song for Another Day”). There were specific rules that our publisher established for the series, but nothing that was difficult to deal with. Most books in the Wylder series were historical—taking place in the late 1800s. But since I write contemporary romance, I asked if I could write a story that took place now, and my idea was approved. I believe I was the only author to write a contemporary in that series, so my story didn’t overlap or deal with any of the story lines in the other books. And best of all, that book won the Book Buyers Best Award and finaled in the NJ Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest, the NEXT (National Excellence in Story Telling) contest, and the Carla Crown Jewel of Books contest.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
The book that was just released in June, 2026, is the fourth and final book of the Sworn Sisters Series called SWORN TO COLLIDE. This emotionally complex story is about a marriage in crisis, identity reclamation, ambition vs. family, betrayal and second chances. My experience as a divorce attorney certainly helped me with this one, since I have spent decades sitting across the table from couples navigating the same issues that Denise and Ben face in this novel.
Here is the blurb:
After devoting eleven years of marriage to Ben, her high school sweetheart, and stepping off the corporate ladder to raise their three children, Denise is ready to seize the reins of the career she always dreamed of. But as soon as she commits to step back into the professional world, Ben drops a bombshell that disrupts everything.
Suddenly, this once rock-solid couple finds themselves in a battle over ambition, identity, and whose turn it is to shine. As personal choices draw them further and further apart, they must confront their widening rift—a threat to the love they thought was unshakeable.
Can they rediscover the passion they once shared, or will their divergent paths pull them apart for good?
What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m working on the second book of the Sunrise Island Series. The stories take place at an environmental school in the Florida Keys—at a junior year away program for high school students. The main characters in these books are the teachers who work at Sunrise Island School and the people they meet. The first book in the series, ISLAND DETOUR, is an enemies to lovers, fish-out-of-water story. The book that I’m working on now is about two artists who are each escaping a painful incident in their not-too-distant pasts. Their instant attraction to each other and their love of creating art bond them, but their temporary break from their real lives does not bode well for a future together.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Keep writing, even in the face of rejection. It took me 15 years to get my first contract, and that was for the fifth manuscript I wrote. During that time I went to seminars and writing conferences, read how-to books, and spoke to dozens of published authors, editors and agents. You can never learn enough about this craft, so my other piece of advice is to keep educating yourself. It’s the only way to get better—and that’s the goal.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Website
Maria Imbalzano
Instagram
Mariaimbalzano_author
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE THREE COFFIN PROBLEM, by Lavie Tidhar. A connected series of stories about Judge Dee, a vampire magistrate traveling through medieval Europe, and ultimately to London, with his hapless human assistant, Jonathan. Most were originally published on the Reactor site (formerly Tor.com), while two pieces are original to this collection. I’d previously read some of the online selections but not all, so the majority of the contents were new to me. A brief flashback reveals that Dee saved Jonathan’s life in the aftermath of a battle, but it remains unclear (even to Jonathan himself) why Jonathan sticks with him, much less why the ancient vampire keeps him around. As provider of human perspective on the secret world of the undead, Jonathan comes across as a particularly clueless Sancho-Panza-like figure. When not cowering in fear from other vampires – entirely justified, given that they label him “food,” and only Dee’s protection keeps him alive – he’s more often than not cold, wet, exhausted, and hungry. Judge Dee tends to forget about human weaknesses in his own preoccupation with answering the latest summons to enforce justice, so Jonathan spends a lot of time wondering when his next meal will arrive. Vampire law mandates not drawing mortal attention to the existence of the undead and, above all, not killing other vampires without a demonstrably good reason. Like an extremely dim Watson, who nonetheless sometimes manages to come up with helpful observations, Jonathan tags along while Dee solves crimes and deals with malefactors. It’s fun to watch Dee unravel mysteries and intimidate other vampires. Although a cool observer of events with the incisive intellect of an undead Sherlock Holmes, he does have some vulnerabilities. We discover he was once in love in the remote past, still bearing scars from that traumatic event. Moreover, he actually displays apprehension upon meeting one class of vampires – librarians. Despite Jonathan’s revolting table manners and incurious attitude toward anything outside his immediate needs, one can’t help sympathizing with his plight. I enjoyed seeing him involved in a romantic relationship with the human female servant of another vampire. While the tales proceed in internal chronological order, each can be read independently with no great loss. The collection is open-ended, with plenty of room for future installments.
EVERYBODY’S PERFECT, by Jo Walton. The title of this fantasy novel set in an alternate-world counterpart of Venice seems ironic, for everybody we meet has common human flaws and weaknesses. The significance of the title becomes apparent only in the final chapter. The Serenissima, as the cover blurb puts it, is a shadow city “built from mist and belief.” Its inhabitants, of a variety of humanoid species, come from multiple worlds. They refer to all Earth-human people as Venetians, since only Venice harbors a portal from Earth into the Serenissima. Each chapter is narrated in the first person by a different character, the in-universe reason for this structure being revealed at the end of the book. Through their distinctive voices, we learn about their species and the others they interact with, as well as the society and culture of the Serenissima. In this city, belief literally shapes reality. Objects, and perhaps even people, sometimes fade into nothing unless diligently observed. If you leave your boat tied to a dock, for instance, you’d better pay someone to watch it so it can’t vanish before you return. Conversely, if you need something urgently enough, a strong enough belief in its existence can sometimes cause it to materialize. Not that this ubiquitous magic makes life easy, though. Every character has problems to struggle with. The overarching plot is quite simple. A certain otherwise obscure person’s dream foretells two impending major changes: The city will acquire a doge to lead its council, like the mundane Venice, and a cure for a lethal sexually transmitted disease known as “blight” will be found. Meanwhile, circles of sufferers from blight gather under the care of gifted people who temporarily guide them into higher planes of existence, retarding the progress of the disease. The true interest of the novel (for me, anyway) lies in the individual crises faced by the various characters. Therefore, I found the multi-narrator structure frustrating. Just as I got deeply absorbed in one person’s story, the chapter would end, and I’d get thrown into yet another new character’s viewpoint. Granted, the concluding section gives us brief denouements for most of them, but that gesture toward closure didn’t completely satisfy me. Only a gifted author such as Walton could pull off that plot structure while keeping the reader’s attention riveted throughout.
THE CHILDREN, by Melissa Albert. Fans of the Hazel Wood books might wonder, as I did for most of this novel, where the fantasy element is. Don’t worry; there is one, but we have to wait quite a while for it. Guinevere and Ennis Sharpe grew up in the shadow of their mother Edith’s bestselling portal fantasy series for children. The protagonists share the names of Edith’s offspring. As a result, readers tend to conflate the real children, even as adults, with the fictional adventurers in the magical realm of the Ninth City. Moreover, the series was left tantalizingly unfinished, with the final expected book remaining unwritten. In the opening scene of THE CHILDREN (after a prologue in the form of a brief excerpt from one of Edith’s books), Guin prepares for a TV interview publicizing her memoir of her childhood and parents. Its ghost-written status incites disdain from some quarters. However, she meets many fans eager to confide how much the Ninth City series meant to them as children, conversations for which Guin has a prepared script. She offers sanitized replies to questions such as, “What was it like to grow up in the legendary Farmhouse?” Meanwhile, her estranged brother, a renowned artist who has consistently rejected all public questions about his family background, prepares to unveil an immersive installation titled “Mother.” Over the course of the novel, flashbacks reveal the truth of Guin and Ennis’s far from idyllic past. Edith married their much older father in her teens. As a result, her parents rejected the errant couple. Guin and Ennis’s early childhood consisted of a nomadic lifestyle, moving from one large city to another. When they finally settle in a remote Vermont farmhouse grudgingly donated by their grandfather, the rustic, rambling structure amid acres of forest and crammed with fascinatingly quirky things to discover does at first seem idyllic, if reclusive. Fragmentary flashback revelations, though, disclose conditions better described as eccentric and chaotic. Their parents’ marriage turns dysfunctional, including serial adultery on the part of their father. With Edith’s increasing fame, the celebrated Farmhouse develops into a sort of combined artist’s retreat and commune. We don’t learn until nearly the end how Edith lost a finger and what really happened on the night a catastrophic fire orphaned and separated the children. The narrative unfolds in three timelines – the present, in the weeks before Ennis’s mysterious “Mother” exhibit opens; the distant past of the children’s formative years at the Farmhouse; and Guin’s life between those two periods. Upon the opening of “Mother,” Ennis at last reveals to Guin the truth he’s known for many years – the supernatural origin of Edith’s stories, his own artistic gift, and Guin’s suppressed talent. The novel doesn’t have exactly a happy ending, but a satisfactory one, in which the former children take control of their own destinies at last.
GIRL OF LORE, by Melanie Dale. Perfect for fans of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, which the author name-checks in her acknowledgments. The small town of London, Georgia, may not sit on a Hellmouth, but it swarms with rumors and urban legends about weird, maybe supernatural occurrences. Unexplained sinkholes constitute only the most mundane of the phenomena. Although high-school sophomore Mina doesn’t believe the tales, she becomes intrigued with the idea of starting a Lore Club to study local history and, well, lore. Maybe getting involved in school activities in addition to serving as her class’s student council representative will reassure her single mother that Mina is becoming better adjusted. The older of two adoptive daughters, Mina has only one real friend. At home, her relationship with her sister displays constant friction and occasional open hostility. Like the author herself, Mina copes with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The book debunks common misconceptions about OCD, especially that it manifests as compulsive neatness. The worst part, for Mina, consists of obsessive thoughts about harming herself or others. Her therapist reassures her that her horror of such thoughts proves she’s not at risk of acting on them. The therapist assigns her homework of writing one of the obtrusive fantasies in detail. When her little sister reads and gossips about that private document, Mina’s reputation at school worsens. Fortunately, her Lore Club companions, developing into friends, offer support. At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about so many characters bearing names derived from DRACULA. Once I accepted the implicit premise that this story takes place in an alternate universe where Stoker’s novel doesn’t exist, though, I had fun spotting the allusions – not only Mina Murray but Jackie Seward, her best friend (female); new student Quincey Morris from Texas; Jonathan Harker, source of belligerent sexual tension; Buddy Swales, obviously destined to be a victim; an abandoned, dilapidated mansion called Carfax House, whose owners vanished over a decade earlier; and many more, plus a few inspired by other classic horror literature. For example, Mina interviews an elderly resident named Grace Poole about the mysteries in the town’s past. Soon afterward, the old lady dies suddenly. After that incident, an encounter with an enigmatic woman in the public library, and the discovery of a very strange book, Mina begins to contemplate the possible reality of the supernatural. Yes, London does harbor vampires. Jonathan’s family hides a secret heritage. Mina’s version of the Scooby Gang unites to combat the monsters, not only the undead but an Old One lurking beneath the town, awaiting its chance to rise. The conclusion begs for a sequel, with an obvious hook in the fact that the Lore Club has only begun to explore the revelations in the occult tome Mina discovered. I hope the author plans a series. Mina comes across as a vividly three-dimensional character with whom it’s easy to sympathize.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Spooky Tutti Frutti”:
Inside, the chill of the air conditioner sent a delightful shiver over Celia’s bare arms. She surveyed the interior with satisfaction despite her worries. She’d lavished money on redecorating in a vintage 1950s style dominated by chrome and fire-engine red. Linoleum in a black-and-white checkerboard pattern covered the floor. Six high stools at the counter and four small, round tables provided seating for customers who didn’t want their cones or cups to go. She sold bottled soft drinks from a refrigerated case next to the cash register. Posters of singers and movie stars from the period adorned the walls. To coordinate with the décor, Celia wore bright red slacks and a red-and-white blouse on the job. Fortunately, the color scheme vividly set off her dark hair and olive complexion. Tying on her apron, she waved up at the iconic photo of a blonde star’s skirt billowing in the draft from a sidewalk grate. “Time to get back to work.”
She laughed at herself as she headed for the kitchen. *Maybe Blair has a point that I’m working too hard. I’m talking to movie posters.* Humming a rock ballad stuck in her head from the fifties playlist she ran on a continuous loop all day, she loaded and switched on the dishwasher. After cleaning the ice-cream makers and doing other routine chores in the kitchen, she began scrubbing the counter and tables in the front room.
She started at a rapid clicking behind her. Turning toward the entrance, she came face-to-face with the source of the noise. A huge, black, hairy dog — a Newfoundland. He panted and wagged his tail at the sight of her.
“What the heck are you doing in here?” She glanced at the door — securely shut, of course.
The dog sat in the middle of the floor and stared up at her with a goofy, tongue-lolling expression. When she offered her hand, he sniffed it. “Wherever you came from, you can’t stay.”
As she leaned over to look at his collar, a feminine voice said, “Oh, neat, you found Nigel.”
Once more Celia flinched in surprise. She whirled around to discover a girl who looked no more than twenty, at least fifteen years younger than Celia herself, leaning against the counter.
*Where did she come from?* Again Celia checked the door, which was still definitely closed and locked. “How did you get in?”
“I saw your sign about needing help.” Which wasn’t an answer. The intruder, petite and lightly freckled, had flame-red hair in a pixie cut with fringed bangs. Dressed in white capri pants, a loose, white, V-necked blouse trimmed in red and blue, and canvas deck shoes, she looked as if she’d just come from a boating excursion.
“Is this your dog?” Celia frowned down at the girl, whose delicate frame made her feel even taller than she normally did. “He can’t stay in here. It’s against health regulations.”
“Oh, sorry.” The girl opened the front door and shooed the dog outside. “Go on, Nigel.” A second later, the door closed again, and the dog was gone.
*I didn’t see her turn the deadbolt or the knob either time. I must be falling asleep on my feet.* “Wait, will he be okay? You can’t just let him wander the streets.”
“It’s cool. My boyfriend will take care of him.”
Celia marched to the entrance and peeked through the glass. She didn’t see any sign of the animal by the glow of the nearby street lamp. The alleged boyfriend must have whisked him away instantly.
She turned back to the visitor. “You’re interested in the temporary job? I’d rather you’d have come during regular hours, but since you’re already here…” She gestured for the girl to take a seat at the nearest table. “I’m Celia Rossi, the owner.”
“I’m Suzie Conroy. Making ice cream is my hobby, so I’d love to work however long you need me.” She scanned the room. “It’s so different from before.” She spoke softly, as if to herself.
“Oh, you used to come here when the previous owner had the place?”
“Longer ago than that.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter