Author Archive
Welcome to the October 2022 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.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
You can subscribe to this monthly newsletter here:
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, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
Happy Halloween!
My erotic paranormal ghost romance novella “Heart Diamond” (another lightly edited former Ellora’s Cave publication) was released in September:
After losing her fiance to a car accident, Roseanne has one thing to remember him by—a ring with a gemstone made from his ashes. Anchored to the jewel, he returns to her from the other world. But the ghost of a love isn’t enough. An excerpt appears below.
Diamonds made from cremains are a real thing, by the way.
In November my next re-release will come out, a Christmas erotic paranormal romance novella titled “Merry Twinness.”
For the month of horror, I’m interviewing poet, artist, and fiction author Marge Simon. She created many illustrations for my former fanzine THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT, and she’s a frequent contributor in fiction, verse, and artwork to the vampire and horror zine NIGHT TO DAWN. She also writes a column on dark poetry for the Horror Writers Association monthly newsletter. Moreover, she’s the cover artist for my story collection DOCTOR VAMPIRE, available here:
*****
Interview with Marge Simon:
What inspired you to begin writing?
As soon as I mastered writing my name, which is the same as yours, I figured I might as well learn some other words to write. At the time, it seemed that “Margaret” was as long as the alphabet. I couldn’t saddle my daughter with a long name. My daughter’s name only has 5 letters.
What genres do you work in?
Everything except Romance, Mystery, Detective and Westerns.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
Depends, but I usually have an idea where I’m going with a poem or flash. I’m not sure what I’ll find along the way, for it’s not a cut-and-dried deal.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
For my vampire stories and poems, I gained inspiration experience from Ann Rice’s series that begins with Interview with the Vampire, the Sonja Blue collection by Nancy Collins and Robert Steakley’s VAMPIRE$. Of course, I read Carmilla. These are the main influences on my imagination as I began writing on the subject. I knew the story of Dracula, and have read Dracul, by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker.
How does the writing of horror-themed poetry differ from the creation of other types of poetry, if it does?
It doesn’t. If you are a good poet, you can turn a mainstream poem like Frost’s “Stopping Through Woods on a Snowy Night” into a full blown horror story and have ideas left over for more.
Please tell us about the background and content of your collaborative Dracula-themed book, THE DEMETER DIARIES.
Dr. Bryan Dietrich asked me about collaborating on this set of poems one bright morning in spring of 2018 at an ICFA conference. We didn’t know what would happen, or how it would take shape – but we soon found our places, as if this were foreordained. Working on it was like writing a play that needed no rehearsal.
For the space of time it took, we assumed the identity of our characters while writing. It was amazing how Mina responded to Vlad, and vice versa – with very little discussion. I remember needing to know where Vlad was and how close, and how much longer the voyage would take. Things that happened in Mina’s life while Vlad was en route came so naturally for me to convey. I felt the days of Mina’s life were more discovered, than invented. Of course, I researched aspects of the Victorian era, including the pastimes and fashions, popular opinions, medicines, etc. Bryan’s poems gave me clues and in response, Mina would often perceive what Vlad was going through or thinking about. It was a work of unique harmony.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
Sifting the Ashes (with Michael Bailey)
What are you working on now?
A short sf story about a time traveler with Shikhar Dixit.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
READ, READ all kinds of works, from non-fiction to mainstream, contemporary to the classics, and don’t stop! You will never regret it.
What is the URL of your website?
What about other internet presence?
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
I CONTAIN MULTITUDES, by Ed Yong. Subtitled “The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life,” this nonfiction book deals with a broader subject than the microbial life within human beings. It discusses a wide range of animals and other creatures as well. The first chapter (after the prologue), “Living Islands,” sets the tone. Every multicellular life-form is an “island” inhabited by millions of organisms in addition to its own cells. In the sentence, “Symbiosis hints at the threads that connect all life on Earth,” Yong (a Pulitzer-Prize-winning science writer) encapsulates the theme of the entire book. Chapter 2 briefly surveys the history of microbiology, beginning with Anton van Leeuwenhoek’s first glimpses of “animalcules” through his lenses in 1632. For a while after the germ theory of disease became accepted, there was a negative attitude toward “germs” in general. The more sterile, the better, it was believed. We now know that most microbes in our environment and our bodies are neutral or beneficial. Children brought up “too clean” are more susceptible to allergies. Many of the bacteria in symbiosis with us occupy niches that would otherwise be infested with harmful organisms. A robust internal ecosystem—microbiome—supporting the right kinds of symbionts is essential to overall health. Some insects and animals wouldn’t be able to digest the foods they live on without the help of certain gut microbes. In an engagingly readable style, Yong’s ten chapters explore these and many other roles, vital to life on Earth, played by microscopic organisms. The text’s structure varies between anecdotes about scientists studying the role of microbes in the web of life, often in remote regions scarcely touched by human development, and in-depth explorations of how those hidden connections work, sometimes with intricate discussions of biochemistry. (I confess I occasionally skimmed the more technical parts of those passages.) As a bonus, there are several pages of color photographs in the center of the book. The bibliography is huge and the index highly detailed.
OLLIE’S ODYSSEY, by William Joyce. This children’s chapter book with rather creepy illustrations was made into an excellent miniseries on Netflix, LOST OLLIE. I didn’t know it was a book until after watching the film, and contrary to my usual position, in this case I recommend reading the novel first. As good as the novel is in its way, I felt slightly let down upon reading it because I think the TV series made some improvements. Ollie is a homemade stuffed animal—a rabbit in the film, a bunny-bear hybrid in the book—sewn by Billy’s mother when he’s a baby. Inside the toy’s chest, she sews a bell that is the only remnant left from a doll she loved in childhood. Billy and Ollie become inseparable from the beginning. One outstanding feature of the novel is the way Ollie’s comprehension of the world clearly reflects and grows with Billy’s. They communicate with each other in their imaginative play, since children can understand the speech of anthropomorphic toys. In the film, adults (with one poignant exception at the end) can’t hear Ollie talk or see him move even when he does it right in front of them. In the book, not only toys but all inanimate objects imbued with life through being constantly used by humans can move, speak, and interact with children. It would be fair to say the film echoes TOY STORY in that respect, while the book, with its motley crew of animated things (including a pet rock, who can talk but not move independently), feels more like THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER. In both media, the antagonist, ZoZo, begins life as a toy clown in a carnival booth. As the carnival gradually goes downhill and eventually closes, a dancing doll, Nina, whom ZoZo loves, is taken away by a little girl. She pronounces Nina her new favorite toy. In the novel’s present day, ZoZo has conscripted a gang of minions who steal favorite toys for him to imprison and torment, not only out of malice toward all “favorites” but with a remote hope of finding his beloved again. The minions kidnap Ollie out of Billy’s backpack while Billy attends a wedding with his parents. Billy searches for Ollie and eventually becomes ZoZo’s prisoner. Ollie, who has meanwhile escaped from ZoZo’s underground lair, finds his way to a junkyard, where he wins a band of allies—toys and other discarded household objects—to help him rescue his boy. Wild, dangerous adventures ensue, culminating in a battle in ZoZo’s sinister underworld, with heroism, sacrifice, and love prominently on display. The limited and sometimes quirky view of the world held by household items and especially toys is vividly rendered. Ollie never steps out of character as a stuffed animal who understands his environment on the same level as the child he grew up with. A thrilling, heartfelt story for children, the novel also contains numerous cultural references and bits of humor designed to appeal to adults. Still, on the whole I prefer the film adaptation. It adds the illness and premature death of Billy’s mother, shown in flashbacks, which infuse the story with extra emotional depth. Instead of being stolen, Ollie gets lost in the aftermath of Billy’s mother’s death, as a result of Billy’s own despairing actions. By the time Billy remorsefully sets out in the night to search for his lifelong friend, Ollie has been picked up as abandoned and offered for sale in a secondhand shop. He meets ZoZo on the shelf where ZoZo ended up during his long, vain quest for Nina. In the series, ZoZo undergoes more complex character development, in my opinion. He bargains, apparently sincerely, to help Ollie search for home and Billy, if Ollie will help to find Nina. ZoZo finally snaps only when he notices Nina’s bell in Ollie’s heart. A character invented for the film, an old friend of ZoZo’s, adds another layer of complexity. The film device of revealing the backstories of Billy, Ollie, ZoZo, and Nina through a nonlinear structure, in flashbacks sprinkled throughout, enhances suspense. It also leads to a shocking, yet deeply moving zinger at the end as we abruptly have to revise our impression of the story’s time scale.
FAIRY TALE, by Stephen King. My favorite novel by King in a while. A fitting tagline might define it as a merging of “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” (a story in the IF IT BLEEDS collection, boy makes friends with an eccentric old man), 11/22/63 (protagonist inherits a magical portal), and THE TALISMAN (a quest for the means of saving a beloved life, through a fantasy landscape in an alternate dimension). King states in his afterword that he tried to keep FAIRY TALE separate from the Dark Tower universe, but stray references crept in. The most striking, for me, is the line, “There are other worlds than these.” The adventure begins with the unlikely friendship between the narrator, Charlie, a high-school athlete, and Mr. Bowditch, reclusive owner of the town’s archetypal decaying, spooky house, a borderline hoarder with no family or friends. After Charlie’s mother died, run over while walking across a dangerous bridge, his father sank into alcoholism and eventually lost his job. Charlie spent a long time taking care of his father as well as himself. Now that his father has been in recovery for several years thanks to the AA program, their lives are stable and their relationship strong. Fortunately, Charlie has long since pulled himself out of a threatened slide into juvenile delinquency. This background helps to account for his strong sense of responsibility. The present-day adventure begins with Mr. Bowditch’s female dog, Radar, who has acquired a perhaps undeservedly fierce reputation among the local kids but is now old and feeble. As Charlies is passing the house one day, she runs out, howling for help, and leads him to her master, lying on the ground with a broken leg. After Charlie calls 9-1-1 and the paramedics arrive, Mr. Bowditch, although he doesn’t trust anybody, has no choice but to let Charlie take care of Radar during his hospital stay. On his daily visits, Charlie becomes attached to the dog and also does what he can to mitigate the rundown condition of the house. By the time Mr. Bowditch comes home, the seeds of friendship have begun to sprout, and eventually Charlie wins the old man’s full trust. Thus, when Mr. Bowditch dies, Charlie inherits not only his property but a tape cassette revealing secrets of his friend’s longevity and financial status. Below the shed behind the house, a staircase leads to a portal into another world. The lure of mystery and gold draws Charlie, of course, but his main purpose in crossing over to the other dimension is to heal Radar’s infirmities and extend her life. Achieving this goal, of course, proves to be only the beginning of the adventure, as a larger quest pulls him in. Like the protagonist of THE TALISMAN, Charlie is mistaken for a promised savior. He does end up saving the kingdom, although far from singlehandedly. The realm is plagued by a disease that causes gray skin and other, more serious effects. The members of the royal family are immune to it but suffer from a cruel curse conjured by their treacherous brother, afflicting each of them with a different handicap. Charlie stands out because of his rarity as a “whole” (non-diseased) person. One feature of FAIRY TALE that especially appeals to me is the style of the chapter headings. As in many Victorian novels, the title of each chapter lays out an overview of the events to come. My one reservation about the book concerns the prevalent association of evil with ugliness and deformity. On the other hand, almost all the good people suffer some kind of physical defect, too, given the curse on the kingdom. Echoes of “Rumpelstiltskin” and THE WIZARD OF OZ permeate the story, along with numerous references to other fairy tales. Through Charlie’s first-person narrative voice, King manages to make him both a believable teenager and an obviously kindhearted, heroic person, as much as he resists being labeled a hero.
*****
Excerpt from “Heart Diamond”:
Roseanne’s eyes snapped open. A man’s shape lay beside her. A neon-blue glow surrounded it. Tim’s face and body, translucent except for the gray-blue eyes. His hand flowed over her like cold water. A shudder coursed through her.
“Roseanne? Don’t be afraid, love. I’m sorry I scared you at first.” The voice sounded so real, exactly like her memory of Tim’s.
“Of course it sounds the way I remember it,” she muttered, “because it’s coming from my imagination.”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “I’m really here.”
She gasped and sat up. When the apparition’s fingers trailed down the valley between her breasts, she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them to shield herself.
He reached for her again. She let out a half-stifled scream.
He blinked in and out of visibility like a failing light bulb. “Please don’t.”
A chill enveloped her. “What are you?” she whispered.
“It’s me. Honest.”
Shaking her head, she squeezed her eyes shut then opened them. He hadn’t vanished.
“Why are you afraid?” Lying on his side, he leaned on one elbow and gazed into her eyes. She noticed his elbow and hip didn’t dent the mattress. With one finger he touched the diamond. At the moment of contact, his outline momentarily became sharper.
“Are you kidding? Because if you aren’t a dream, you’re a ghost.”
“Well, yeah,” he said with a sad smile. “Considering I’m, you know, dead and all that.”
Her throat constricted so that for a few seconds she couldn’t choke out any words. “Why? How?”
“Why? Because I couldn’t stand being torn away from you. I’m able to reach you now because of the diamond.”
She stared at the gem, which glimmered in the eerie light he radiated. “You’re haunting the ring?”
“If you want to put it that way.”
-end of excerpt-
****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the September 2022 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.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
You can subscribe to this monthly newsletter here:
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, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
My dark paranormal erotic romance novella with Lovecraftian elements “Crossing the Border” was published by the Wild Rose Press in August. A horror author’s widow learns why he urged her not to publish his final book—because the terrifying alternate dimension in his fiction is real.
An excerpt from the heroine’s memory of her husband’s final night appears below.
My erotic paranormal ghost romance “Heart Diamond” will be re-released by the Wild Rose Press in September.
In this issue I introduce mystery and suspense author Randy Overbeck.
*****
Interview with Randy Overbeck:
What inspired you to begin writing?
I’ve been a writer most of my life, one way or the other. During my high school years, I had dreams of becoming a novelist, but real life intervened and I became an educator instead. Over almost four decades, I served children as a teacher, college professor and school leader and loved it. I also found there was a good bit of writing in all these roles, especially as an administrator, so my work kept nurturing my writing gene. As I was completing my career in education, I returned to my first love and began doing creative writing again. Now four, almost five novels later, I’m definitely an author now.
What genres do you work in?
As with most things in my life, I like to push myself, always looking for new challenges. My first novel, published in 2012, LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND, is a thriller about a terrorist cell which takes over a Midwest high school and the teacher who fights the terrorists. My three most recent titles, the Haunted Shores Mysteries, are paranormal mysteries featuring a ghost-whispering teacher and coach. I’m currently shopping my newest work, HARD LESSONS, an amateur sleuth mystery about a rogue drug in 1995 responsible for the death of five middle school kids. And I’m hard at work on my newest writing project, a historical suspense novel about colonial spies in the Revolutionary War.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I clearly straddle the middle between these two camps. In order to write with clarity, when I starting, I need to have some basic organization—murder, ghost, larger crime, primary suspects and of course location—all laid out and planned. I usually use some kind of basic outline—though it looks nothing like the outline taught in school—to guide me through the first 40% of the narrative. Once I’m well into the manuscript, I let the story evolve as it develops. BTW this might be interesting to your readers. I don’t decide on the murderer until I’m almost finished the narrative. As I write, I place clues for several characters to be the murderer. “They all could have done it!” Then, as I’m nearing the climax, the “perfect” culprit comes to me and voila! I have my killer. It’s a little unorthodox but it works for me.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
While several factors have influenced my work, my experience as an educator has had the most impact, but I’ll address this in the next question. From my travels I gained inspiration and an appreciation for the culture, people, natural beauty of other places. For example, my return trips to the magnificent Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay inspired me to craft a mystery there for the first entry in the series, BLOOD ON THE CHESAPEAKE. Early on, I was fortunate to attend a few great writing conferences and met several major authors like Hank Philippi Ryan and William Kent Kreuger. I found them to be rather down to earth and very much like me when they started out. They gave me the courage to move forward with my writing.
What impact has your career as an educator had on your fiction?
One of maxims for writers is “Write what you know.” Over my almost forty years in education, I was blessed to meet and work with thousands of teachers, administrators, parents, students and board members. This experience has given me a tremendous respect for those who toil quietly and without fanfare to give our children the best chance at happy, successful and productive lives. I interacted with them in all kinds of situations from mundane to crises and believe educators are truly the unsung heroes of our country. And I’ve seen them at their best and their worst. This has given me a wealth of experiences to draw on to craft engaging and believable fictional stories. I write what I know. It should be no surprise that the heroes in my tales are and will continue to be educators.
What kinds of research do you do for your mysteries? Have you visited all the locations featured in your novels?
Research was one of the skills that transferred well from education to writing. In my school career, I was the person responsible for research on curriculum, on technology, on grants. So when I began writing in earnest, I used the same researching skills to make sure my tales were authentic. Not only did I visit the location for each entry, I spent time with the locals, completed on-the-ground research at the local library, met and worked with town and Chamber representatives. I worked to learn the idioms and culture of each area. Plus each story required new areas of research—sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, learning about the lives of migrant workers, discovering the unique history of the area. I have to admit I love the research almost as much as I love the writing.
I notice your blog covers a wide variety of topics. Please highlight a few for the benefit of our readers.
I view my blog as a conversation between my readers and me. At times, I share a bit about my writing or some writing advice I’ve found quite helpful. Other times I’ll blog about some of the social issues exposed in my novels. For example, January is Human Trafficking Awareness month. Since the second title in my series, CRIMSON AT CAPE MAY, exposes the horror of this crime, I do a post that month sharing some important information. My recent posts in December, the giving season, have shared organizations and non-profits particularly deserving of our support. Oh, and since ghosts play an important role in my series, I share a post about the spirit world every few months. In fact, I have another ghost blog post coming up next month.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
My latest book is the third entry in the Haunted Shores Mysteries, SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER. In the tale, my teacher hero, Darrell, is taking his new bride on their honeymoon to a quaint small town on the Gulf coast of Florida. But their newlywed celebrations are interrupted by the ghosts of two murdered children, who plead with Darrell to help them find justice. (And of course, only he can see them.) Even though it is third installment, SCARLET can be read separately from the first two, and is a Christmas mystery as well. The novel has already earned three national awards and scores of 5-star reviews.
“Author Randy Overbeck intrigues the reader with a tantalizing mystery, cleverly drawn characters, haunting paranormal activity, and a great story steeped in contemporary social issues and interests.”
Review of Scarlet at Crystal River
What are you working on now?
As I mentioned earlier, I’m currently deep at work on a new manuscript of a historical suspense about the Culper spy ring which helped Washington win the Revolutionary War. The preparation and execution is requiring the most extensive research I’ve ever done for a novel, but I’m excited to be doing it. It’s still early but it’s coming together well and shows promise. And guess what? The hero, er I should say heroine, is a teacher. Big surprise.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
The only advice I can give is what has worked for me. Make sure to attend one or more writing conferences. Most good ones may require some travel and come at a cost, but the benefits are worth it. New writers get to mingle with and learn from both veterans and those who may be a little ahead of them on the learning curve. Conferences also enable newbies to build a network of support, in addition to all they learn at the sessions. Second, if they are serious about their writing, aspiring writers should participate in a strong writers’ critique group. Even though writing is at its essence a solitary experience, emerging writers can benefit tremendously by getting feedback from colleagues on their writing…and learning from the feedback.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Here are the details:
Website: Author Randy Overbeck
Facebook: Facebook
Twitter: Twitter
Instagram: Instagram
BookBub: BookBub
Amazon: Amazon
Goodreads: Goodreads
Podcast: Podcast
Also my latest project is a new podcast, GREAT STORIES ABOUT GREAT STORYTELLERS, where I share the unusual and weird backstories about famous authors, poets and directors. The podcast is available wherever listeners get their podcasts—Spotify, iHeart, Apple Podcasts or they can also get them at this link on my website
Great Stories Podcast
Dr. Randy Overbeck is a best-selling author of the award-winning series, The Haunted Shores Mysteries, each a cold case murder mystery wrapped in ghost story served with a side romance, set in a beautiful resort location. He is the author and voice of a new podcast, “Great Stories about Great Storytellers,” which reveals the unusual backstories of famous authors, directors and poets. He is also a speaker in much demand, sharing his multi-media presentations, “Thanks Still Go Bump in the Night” and “A Few Favorite Haunts” with audiences all over the country. More info about his novels, programs and podcast can be found at his website:
Author Randy Overbeck
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
BITCH: ON THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES, by Lucy Cooke. The author, a British zoologist and documentary filmmaker, presents a fascinating survey of the long-neglected status of females in biologists’ studies of the animal kingdom—or should that be “queendom”? As Cooke describes the state of the field until recent decades, zoologists regarded males as overwhelmingly the primary drivers of evolutionary change, with females dismissed as “passive” and boring. She takes on the mission of demonstrating how wrong those scientists were. She begins at the microscopic level, with gametes, revealing flaws in the image of the female’s egg as passively floating around waiting to be penetrated by one of the active sperm cells. In fact, the ovum has ways of controlling which sperm will be allowed to fertilize it. Chapter One, “The Anarchy of Sex: What Is a Female?” covers the development of the embryo, what determines its sex, and many examples of ambiguous sex among animals. Cooke goes on in subsequent chapters to explore the “mysteries of mate choice” (in which females are much more active than had been assumed in the past), the assertiveness and competitiveness of females of various species, female-dominated animal social groups, how mating patterns can function as competition between male and female, sexual behavior in supposedly monogamous species, nonreproductive sexual encounters, the complicated nature of maternal behaviors, females who devour their mates, “primate politics,” parthenogenesis, and the vital importance of older females in the societies of animals such as elephants and orcas. The final chapter, “Beyond the Binary,” discusses intersex phenomena, animal homosexuality, and creatures who change sex. Some species can switch back and forth, and one fish is known to change sex up to twenty times in a day for optimal reproductive efficiency. The author writes from a feminist perspective, justifiably if the masculinist bias in biology continued to dominate research as recently as she suggests. But this slant on the theme doesn’t in any way overshadow the abundance of concrete information she entertainingly provides.
PALADIN’S GRACE, by T. Kingfisher. This fantasy romance is the first in the “Saint of Steel” trilogy, connected novels starring three different characters in the same order of paladins. Their god, the Saint of Steel, suddenly and inexplicably died, leaving them with a void in their souls. As berserkers, often possessed by the god in combat, they’re now at risk of being overcome by the “black tide” of battle madness with no divine force to channel it. Those who survived this catastrophe now live as best they can under the patronage of the White Rat God, whose domains are healing and law. The trilogy takes place in the same world as SWORDHEART, and Zale, a legal advocate who plays a major role in that novel, also appears in PALADIN’S GRACE. Paladin Stephen more or less accidentally rescues Grace, a gifted perfume-maker. They feel an instant mutual attraction, which both resist, Stephen because of the unpredictable battle madness and Grace because of experiences with the emotionally abusive husband from whom she fled. Nevertheless, as one would expect, their paths keep crossing. Grace receives a commission to create a perfume for a foreign prince, a job that gets her unwillingly entangled in the hazards of court politics. By the time she falls under suspicion of poisoning and witchcraft, she and Stephen are so deeply involved that he risks everything to save her. The Temple of the White Rat comes to their aid, as, in a more subtle and problematic way, does Grace’s landlady and best friend, who turns out to be a professional spy. In addition to the devotees of the White Rat (of whom I can’t get enough), these books include an entertaining nonhuman species, gnoles, three-foot-tall, badger-like humanoids who perform a variety of jobs. One of their common sayings, “Humans can’t smell,” encapsulates their perception that most humans are so oblivious we can hardly be blamed for our ignorance. The gnoles’ own language applies gender pronouns according to class rather than biological sex. In the human tongue, though, they hardly ever use pronouns or proper names at all (except when very rarely being unusually formal and precise). A gnole refers to itself in the third person as “a gnole,” other creatures as “a human,” “an ox,” etc. The author’s afterword states that she wanted to write a fluffy fantasy romance in the world of SWORDHEART and the Clocktaur duology. By the time she finished, she realized fluffy romances don’t usually contain so many severed heads. The other two books in the Saint of Steel trilogy star two of Stephen’s comrades in their own love stories. In PALADIN’S STRENGTH, the love interest is a bear-shapeshifter lay sister of the Order of St. Ursa on a mission to rescue a group of kidnapped werebear nuns. In PALADIN’S HOPE, it’s a lich-doctor, this society’s equivalent of a medical examiner, who has the secret ability to view the final moments of any dead person or animal he touches. All these novels display Kingfisher’s irresistible wit and sparkling characterization.
CLOCKWORK BOYS and THE WONDER ENGINE, by T. Kingfisher. These two novels, which actually comprise a single book split into two volumes because of its length, predate the Saint of Steel trilogy. The author’s afterword to CLOCKWORK BOYS explains that she conceived the story in reaction against the brooding, guilt-ridden paladin with a dark past too common in fantasy games. While her paladins are burdened by dark pasts and specialize in guilt, they offset their brooding tendencies with sardonic self-reflection and Kingfisher’s trademark snappy dialogue. Sir Caliban, to a reader already familiar with the other books in this world, foreshadows the traumatized Saint of Steel paladins. He serves the Dreaming God, whose devotees specialize in vanquishing demons. We meet him in prison after he committed mass murder while possessed by a demon he was trying to exorcise. Only the possession kept him from being sentenced to death, but he was expelled from his order anyway, and the decaying remnants of the dead demon still haunt his soul, while he feels himself cut off from his god. Slate, an expert forger, lock-picker, and document thief, imprisoned after she committed an inadvertent act of treason, recruits Caliban to join her and her best friend (really, her only one, for a certain value of “friend”) and former lover, assassin Brenner, on a potential suicide mission. Both she and Caliban wear magical tattoos that will come to life and painfully bite them if they stray from the assignment. They’re sent to an enemy city to investigate and, if possible, eliminate the Clocktaurs or “Clockwork Boys,” an incongruously playful-sounding nickname for terrifying, gargantuan, unstoppable, magically animated war machines. Unfortunately, Slate has grave reasons to fear returning to that city, a backstory not revealed to either her companions or the reader until well into the novel. Along with them goes Learned Edmund, a naïve, young scholar of an order traditionally suspicious and disdainful of women. Edmund, naturally, learns better as he travels and fights alongside Slate. A gnole also joins the group, and we get glimpses of gnole culture. The story would make an excellent Dungeons & Dragons campaign, with an oddly-assorted party of reluctant allies, side adventures that tie into the main quest in surprising ways, and an epic final showdown in which the skill sets of all the characters play vital roles. The climax goes to very dark places, yet the second book ultimately reaches a satisfying conclusion in which the overarching mystery is solved, while Slate and Caliban achieve the romantic fulfillment they and the reader have been impatiently anticipating. Again, if you decide to read the Clocktaur duology, be sure to get both volumes because they make up one continuous story.
THE EASTER RISING: A GUIDE TO DUBLIN IN 1916, by Conor Kostick and Lorcan Collins. Basically a printed counterpart to the authors’ 1916-themed walking tour of Dublin, this book covers dozens of sites associated with the Easter Rising. Since it’s organized by location rather than dates, it doesn’t lay out the progress of the rebellion in strict chronological order. However, a timeline at the beginning lists important events from 1884 to Easter Monday, 1916, and the book’s introduction provides an overview of the background that led up to the Rising. The final chapter, “Dublin Castle Courtyard,” summarizes the aftermath. So there’s a chronological framework for the site-specific historical facts. Also, despite the unavoidable skipping around in time, a rough impression of forward movement remains. The book is profusely illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Each chapter includes biographical sidebars about the significant people discussed therein. An appendix offers more detailed information about the seven men who signed the Proclamation of Irish independence. There’s also a selected bibliography for further reading. Anyone seeking information about the 1916 Rising or the history of modern Ireland in general will find this book of absorbing interest.
*****
Excerpt from “Crossing the Border”:
Paula quickly realized Kyle was headed for the labyrinth. He’d shown her the place right after they’d moved in, and she’d avoided the trail to it ever since. Not because she feared a plain patch of ground, of course, just that the barren clearing looked so dreary. A labyrinth was supposed to provide a peaceful space for meditation, but this one made her nerves twang. By the time she reached it, her fingers and toes felt chilled, as if the temperature had fallen ten degrees since she’d left the house.
Stopping at the edge of the clearing and turning off the flashlight, she hid among the trees to watch Kyle pace along the spiral to the center. In the moonlight she could make out his moving silhouette but no details. When he stepped into the heart of the labyrinth, though, a glow suffused the spot.
Paula stifled a gasp. A violet-blue aura surrounded Kyle, expanding as she watched. Had he lit some kind of lamp? No, by the unnatural light she saw that he wasn’t holding anything, and no such device sat on the ground next to him. He stretched his arms over his head and took one more step.
And vanished.
A second later, the glow blinked out of existence. She rubbed her eyes, sparks flashing behind the lids. He’s got to be here somewhere. She ran to the edge of the labyrinth and aimed her flashlight beam at the center. Nothing. She swept the beam over the entire clearing. He couldn’t have dashed out of sight that quickly. “Kyle, where are you? Stop scaring me.” No answer.
She paced the perimeter of the clearing, certain in advance that she wouldn’t find any sign of him. Shivering even though the air couldn’t be much cooler than sixty degrees, she retraced her steps to the house. This time she wouldn’t let him escape without an explanation.
For over an hour, she sat on the bed watching the office cottage from the window. Oh, God, what if he never comes back? The moment the office light switched on, she rushed downstairs, outside, and across the yard to the little building.
When she burst in, Kyle, slumped in the desk chair, looked up with that stunned, dazed expression. “Paula?”
She gripped his arms. The heat of his skin seared her palms. “What happened to you? Where have you been?” She fingered the red marks. “And what’s this?”
“The blob. It got me when I let go of the talisman.” He nodded toward the desk.
-end of excerpt-
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the August 2022 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.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
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“Chocolate Chip Charm,” my story in the Wild Rose Press Christmas Cookies series, can now be bought in paperback. This light paranormal romance novella about a love potion that goes wrong, or maybe unexpectedly right, is included in the new anthology A HINT OF VANILLA:
My novella “Crossing the Border,” a former Ellora’s Cave erotic dark paranormal romance with Lovecraftian elements, lightly revised, was released today by the Wild Rose Press. Paula, a bestselling horror novelist’s widow, discovers his fiction was based on a terrifying alternate dimension he stumbled into through a labyrinth in the woods on their property. Right before his death, he warned her not to publish his final work in progress. However, Doug, his agent and literary executor, their best friend from their college years, urges Paula to get her husband’s posthumous work into print. Together they cross over into the eldritch realm, while coming to terms with their mutual attraction. The opening paragraphs appear below.
This month I’m interviewing multi-genre author Babs Mountjoy.
*****
Interview with Babs Mountjoy:
What inspired you to begin writing?
It’s something I always had to do. My mother was a painter; my creativity came in stories. Even in elementary school, I remember I wrote this story about how my cat caught and killed a rabbit. Ugh, right? Maybe that foreshadowed my newspaper career. 🙂
What genres do you work in?
As Lyndi Alexander, I write fantasy, space opera, and science fiction romance. As Alana Lorens, I write romance, suspense and combinations of the two,
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
Usually I wing it for the first half of the book. I’ve got a general idea where I’m going, and I see what the characters generate. Then I outline vaguely for the next quarter, then the last 25% I outline closely to get where I want to end up.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?
There is some bit of my life experience in everything I write. The Clan Elves come from my time in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana. Such a beautiful area, and very old. I imagine all sorts of secrets are hidden in those forests. Setting is extremely important for most of my work, and becomes part of the action thread. Whether you’re in New Orleans, Miami, rural Pennsylvania or deep dark mountains, your story is going to evolve differently and hopefully organically from the places the characters find themselves,
How have your careers as a journalist and a lawyer affected your writing? Journalism and fiction are different, of course, but what crossover, if any, have you found in the skills required for those two types of writing?
My years as a news reporter helped hone research skills, so I have definitely benefited from that time. One of my heroines, in LOVE ME, KISS ME, KILL ME, is in fact a reporter, so she did for sure. My 30 years as a family law attorney are more useful in my romance and suspense books, many of which feature a lawyer as the main character. I also learned by practicing law that you can never know exactly how far one human can push another. It gives me freedom to reach for the stars.
Are your elves inspired more by fiction, folklore, or a bit of both?
A bit of both. They’re not cute little fairy type beings. They are human-sized, and every bit as politically savvy as Game of Thrones type skullduggery–a parallel line of development alongside humans of the area. The Native Americans in the area have deep roots in those forests–who’s to say their “spirits” might not be this sort of supernatural?
Please tell us about your work with shelter cats.
When I moved to Asheville, NC six years ago, some of the first social contacts I made were through foster organizations for cats. My daughter and I housed sick cats who needed to be out of shelter to heal, as well as taking on batches of kittens during the very real “kitten season,” spring through fall. We provided much-needed socialization for several weeks, then the kitties would go for adoption. We placed many–but we also “foster-failed” with Ziggy, Reba, Clarice, Daisy Mae, Korben Dallas, Dilly, Twilight Sparkle, Terra and lastly 21 year old Kitty Lou. Our house and hearts are full.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
PROPHECIES AND PROMISES, an historical romance with pirates! From the Wild Rose Press, Tamsyn McKiernan thinks her dreams have come true. She’s engaged to a dashing Key West bachelor and finally in her widowed father’s good graces. But in her heart, she knows something’s wrong. She loves the ocean and the quiet pleasures of nature—so what does the aristocratic life she’ll lead truly hold for her?
Mercenary captain Drake Ashton is neck deep in preparations for the Spanish-American War, running guns and other supplies to Cuban natives who want out from under their Spanish masters. He and his brother Freddie risk their lives daily, focused on saving his friends on the island. Nothing else matters but his mission.
A chance encounter with a spiny sea urchin brings the two together, and neither of their lives will ever be the same again.
Tag Lines: When the ‘good’ man is bad, and the ‘bad’ man is good, how’s a young woman to choose?
Buy Links
Paperback Amazon
B&N Barnes & Noble
What are you working on now?
A thriller set in 1996 Miami, where the main character, a lawyer, wakes up next to a burnt-out car in the Everglades with a dead body in it. She has no memory of how she got there or who the dead person is.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
It’s so simple it sounds trite, but it’s true. LEARN and WRITE. I had my first piece published for money when I was 18, short stories and articles until I was 40. I was 42 when my first non fiction book was published, and then 43 when my first novel was picked up, THE ELF QUEEN. Since then, l’ve had 23 more novels published by mostly small press. I’ve gone to many conferences, taken classes online and in person and have a fantastic crit group in Fellowship of the Quill out of Pennwriters. But the hardest and most productive this is just to keep writing and getting better,
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Author Links
Website and Blog: Lyndi Alexander
Facebook: Facebook
Goodreads: Goodreads
Amazon Author Page:
Amazon
BookBub: BookBub
Smashwords — Lyndi Alexander: Smashwords
Instagram: Instagram
Twitter: Twitter or @AlexanderLyndi
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE CALL OF POOHTHULHU, edited by Neil Baker. Yes, believe it or not, ten authors wrote stories crossing the Lovecraft Mythos with the world of Winnie the Pooh. Imagine hunting a heffalump and finding a shoggoth. Baker’s introduction states that the idea for the anthology was spawned when Milne’s original WINNIE THE POOH entered the public domain. (When I began to wonder why Tigger doesn’t appear in this volume, it occurred to me that he doesn’t arrive until THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER, published later.) Some tales that, for me, merge the two fictional universes particularly well: “The Celery at the Threshold,” by John Linwood Grant, reveals what happens when Pooh and friends decide to search for the South Pole and encounter a very Small Elder Thing, separated from its family, and help it to find them. In “The Very Black Goat,” by Christine Morgan, Pooh and company barely escape the clutches of a devious girl (with goat) who turns out to be one of the children of the Goat with a Thousand Young. “Back to the Black Bog,” by Lee Clark Zumpe (a frequent contributor to the vampire and horror zine NIGHT TO DAWN), in which a Cosmic Lump lands in the Hundred Acre Wood, pastiches Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space.” I particularly enjoyed a direct Lovecraft parody, Eeyore’s report of his friend’s fatal descent into forbidden depths, “The Statement of Eeyore Carter,” by Kevin Wetmore. (“You fool! I already told you—Pooh is dead!”) A weakness of some stories, in my opinion, is that the characters speak and behave too maturely, out of keeping with the tone of Milne’s fiction. Eeyore is a valid exception, since he doesn’t act very childish even in the original, and as the introduction points out, his personality fits well into a Lovecraftian universe. A couple of pieces verge on metafictional, with the inclusion of Christopher Robin as a young man. The book’s final selection, “Acrewood,” by Jude Reid, although delectably creepy, is an anomaly. It’s straightforward folk horror with nothing distinctively Lovecraftian, aside from the motif of a cult in a rural setting. Moreover, it takes place in the primary world, not Milne’s fantasy realm, and readers could easily overlook the subtle allusions to the Pooh series if encountering the work somewhere other than this anthology.
NO ORDINARY PEOPLE, by Joel D. Heck. Subtitled “21 Friendships of C. S. Lewis,” this book takes its title from Lewis’s essay “The Weight of Glory,” in which he says we have never met an “ordinary” person, for every human being was created for eternal glory. The high value Lewis placed on friendship (as particularly highlighted in his THE FOUR LOVES) makes it appropriate to devote a book to his relationships with friends and colleagues not necessarily well know to the general public or even to Lewis devotees. The two main exceptions, his brother Warren and Mrs. Janie Moore, extensively discussed elsewhere, do make me wonder about the exclusion of Lewis’s wife, Joy Davidman Gresham, a dear friend for years before he married and fell in love with her (in that order). Granted, however, several entire books have already been written about that relationship. The author stretches the definition of “friendship” a bit, in my opinion, since a few of the people profiled seem more like cordial professional acquaintances than friends in the full sense of the word as defined in THE FOUR LOVES. Nevertheless, the breadth and depth of Heck’s research are impressive, as he delves into exhaustive detail about Lewis’s relationship with each person. We also get a thorough overview of the background of each subject, exploring them in terms of their own lives and careers, not just their importance in connection with Lewis. The extensive bibliography highlights the author’s care and diligence. Most hardcore Lewis fans will want to read this book, especially those who enjoy biography for its own sake.
TOUCHSTONES, by Stephanie Burgis. It’s not necessary to have read any of Burgis’s fantasy novels to enjoy this collection of stand-alone stories, but after reading them, you’ll probably want to explore her other works. While most of the tales display a light touch—although, of course, the characters’ plights are serious to them—a few darker pieces are included. “The Wrong Foot” introduces a girl whose foot coincidentally fits the glass slipper, but she didn’t even dance with the prince, whom she has absolutely no desire to marry. In “Undead Philosophy101,” vampires mingle unobtrusively among the residents of a university town, and the narrator, an outwardly nondescript girl from the wilds of northern Michigan, knows how to deal with them. The title character of “Dreaming Harry” is a boy whose dreams literally come to life, so his parents have to monitor his reading material carefully. In “Good Neighbors,” later incorporated as the first section of a novel, the heroine has to cope with a necromancer who moves to town and persists in sending her his zombies for repair. “The Disastrous Debut of Agatha Tremaine” stars a young woman happily studying magic until her overbearing aunt moves in and takes over her life for more sinister motives than immediately apparent. A queen decides to renegotiate her dynasty’s pact with a dragon in “A Cup of Comfort.” “Love, Your Flatmate” explores the protagonist’s tribulations with a fae roommate she unwillingly hosts. In one of the darker stories, “House of Secrets,” the narrator is summoned to the home of the father she’s never met and must face the grim truth that he wants her for reasons totally unlike the welcome she expected. Those titles comprise only a sample of the delightful contents. Since most of the stories were new to me, I found the book a satisfying addition to my library.
WHAT MOVES THE DEAD, by T. Kingfisher. Kingfisher’s two previous horror novels (both reviewed in previous newsletters), THE TWISTED ONES and THE HOLLOW PLACES, enthralled me. Both are modern-day sequels or spinoffs to classic stories, Arthur Machen’s “The White People” and Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows,” respectively. WHAT MOVES THE DEAD, inspired by “The Fall of the House of Usher,” approaches its model differently. Kingfisher’s novel retells Poe’s tale in the 1890s in an imaginary middle-European country. The narrator, a friend of Roderick Usher (and, in this case, of Madeleine also, having known the twins in childhood) as in Poe’s original, marks an intriguing departure from the contemporary female narrators of the two previous horror novels. Alex Easton is a “sworn soldier” from the also imaginary Ruritanian country of Gallacia, a land inhabited by a “fierce warrior people” who happen to be very bad at warfare. Gallacian, a language with complexities difficult for foreigners to master, has at least two gender pronouns in addition to masculine and feminine. Priests, nuns, and preadolescent children are referred to as “va” rather than the Gallacian equivalent of “he” or “she.” (Applying the latter to a child may cause native speakers to suspect you of pedophilia.) Sworn soldiers go by the nonbinary “ka.” Some who’ve left the military revert to gendered pronouns and lifestyles. Many others, such as Alex, retain their nonbinary persona and pronouns for life. Alex has received a message informing kan that Madeleine is very ill, perhaps dying. When ka arrives at the Usher mansion, it turns out to be infested with fungi, as is the land surrounding the ominous-looking tarn. Roderick looks almost as sick as his sister. In addition to the Usher twins and their few remaining servants, Alex meets a brilliant amateur mycologist, Euphemia Potter. This fictitious spinster aunt of Beatrix Potter ultimately helps to solve the mystery of the “cursed” mansion. The dry wit of Alex’s narrative voice, even in the midst of the most dire events, kept me enthralled. Kingfisher always delivers a satisfying experience in that department. The major plot points unfold much the same as in Poe’s tale, but with a quasi-scientific rationale. The organisms infesting the landscape and the house prove to be far more than ordinary fungi. The fascinating Author’s Note at the end elaborates on her inspiration for the story and the decisions she made in writing it. My only complaint about this novel is that it’s too short (less than 160 pages not counting the afterword). By the way, the title has a gruesomely literal significance.
*****
Excerpt from “Crossing the Border”:
“Why haven’t you answered any of my messages? I’m not lying, crazy, or putting you on. The stars are coming right soon. The danger’s real, and I can help. My number is—”
Paula deleted the voice mail without bothering to listen to the rest. Why wouldn’t that nutcase take the hint and leave her alone? It’s time to call Doug. I’ve put this off too long already.
She shook her head in irritation at the way her hand trembled as she picked up the phone. Her pulse accelerated when she punched the speed-dial number for Douglas MacNair, her late husband’s agent. Why would the prospect of talking to Doug make her breath quicken and her stomach flutter? She’d seen and spoken to him often enough in the year since Kyle’s death. Doug is just a friend. Always was, always will be. A close enough friend that he wouldn’t mind getting a call at home at nine in the evening.
When he answered, his bass voice flowed through her like molten honey. She’d often thought he should have become a singer or actor instead of a literary agent, with that voice. “It’s always great to hear from you, Paula, but what’s wrong?”
Damn, do I sound that shaken up? She swallowed and drew a deep breath to steady herself. “What makes you think anything’s wrong?”
“Come on, as if I didn’t know you well enough to hear it in your voice.” She imagined him lounging in the overstuffed chair by the window in the living room of his New York high-rise condo, doodling on a notepad the way he always did during conversations. “Besides, if this were some routine thing, you’d call in the daytime or send an email.”
“I’ve decided it’s time to go through Kyle’s unpublished stuff. How soon can you make it down here?”
“And this was too urgent for email? Let’s hear it—what brought on this decision all of a sudden, after I’ve been trying to talk you into it for the past six months?”
She twisted a lock of hair around an index finger the way Kyle had found so annoying. She almost stopped, then mentally snapped at herself, Kyle isn’t here. “There’s a guy who’s been bugging me with emails and phone messages. He’s got some kind of bat in his belfry about that unpublished novel Kyle posted excerpts from.”
Tension hardened Doug’s tone. “How long has this been going on?”
“Well…since the week after Kyle died.”
“And you didn’t say a word to me about it.” He sounded halfway between angry and hurt. “What am I here for anyway, if not to help with problems like that?”
“It wasn’t worth bothering you with. Not until he started phoning instead of just emailing. I decided the message he left a minute ago was the last straw. He keeps babbling about some kind of danger.”
A long sigh gusted over the phone. “Okay, who is this person?”
“Somebody named Gary Furness. He edits a webzine called Scribes of Darkness.”
“Sure, I know it. Won a couple of awards. He interviewed Kyle once. He didn’t seem crazier than anybody else in the field.”
“Yeah, that’s him. He must have tipped over the edge after that. We met him at a horror con the month before Kyle died. Furness trailed us around the hotel, harassing Kyle with his obsession over that unpubbed novel.” She had a vivid mental image of a weedy young man with rapid-fire speech, who wore his brown hair tied back in a ponytail.
“You can tell me all about it when I get down there.” After a brief silence, Doug went on, “Okay, I’m logged onto the ticket site. Looks like I can get a flight day after tomorrow. I’ll clear my schedule and stay as long as it takes.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter