Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Welcome to the February 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.
Happy Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day!
My vampire duology TWILIGHT’S CHANGELINGS (comprising DARK CHANGELING and CHILD OF TWILIGHT) was featured in the January Book Series Starter Event by N. N. Light’s Book Heaven:
In CHILD OF TWILIGHT, vampire-human hybrid Gillian struggles with early onset of vampire adolescence. In the excerpt below, on an icy December night, she has run away from her vampire mentor, Dr. Volnar, and hitched a ride with an unsuspecting college professor. Roger Darvell (protagonist of these two novels) is her half-human father.
Here’s an interview with prolific, multi-genre author Karen S. Wiesner.
*****
Interview with Karen Wiesner:
What inspired you to become a writer?
Honestly? The library! From the time I started grade school, my favorite place was the library. I’d never seen so many books in one place before! All we had for reading in my home were a very old dictionary (which I read from page one to the last–it was missing both front and back covers as well as a couple of the end papers; a moldy, cloth-bound copy of a Nancy Drew book that was pulled from the well; and weekly editions of TV Guide that I read compulsively, as it was really the only consistent reading material that came into the house). Even in kindergarten, the librarian saw my love of books and stories and reading. She gave me a job working in the library, and I was always allowed the right to check out the brand new books as soon as they came in. Storytime was a special part of every day for me. I would fall into wonder, becoming the main characters in each one, with the varied stories that the librarian (or my mom) read to us. I was in my single digits when I wrote my first story (and illustrated it, too). Fast-forward from my first book being published in 1998, and I’ve now written all the books I ever plan to (156 of them!) and will retire from writing as soon as my publisher and I finish editing the last of them–hopefully this year or shortly thereafter. We have seven last ones to finish up, not including a children’s story I’d like to see reissued. In my retirement, I’m hoping to illustrate the children’s books my sister (author Linda Derkez) and I write either together or separately.
Please tell us about your work. Are they connected among each other in any way? Does the reading order of the novels matter?
My contemporary romance series include Adventures in Amethyst Series, Angelfire Series, Cowboy Fever Series, Gypsy Road Series, Kaleidoscope Series, Wounded Warriors Series. Other contemporary romance single-titles I’ve written include RESTLESS AS RAIN and a 2-in-1 set of novellas. For most of these, there is some overlap in terms of certain characters or locations making appearances in one or more of the other series titles or within the standalones. My favorite among these series: Adventures in Amethyst Series, set in Amethyst, Wisconsin, a small, peaceful town on a pristine lake with an active tourist season in summer. When the air turns chill, the area is transformed into a ghost town with only a handful of lifers who stay. Populated with colorful characters, Amethyst is bursting with mystery, romance, and jealousy. Come and visit a place where anything is possible all-year-round.
As for inspirational/Christian romance, I’ve written Family Heirlooms Series and the spinoff Friendship Heirlooms Series. Peaceful Pilgrims Series is set in the same town of Peaceful, Wisconsin and features some of the secondary characters from the Heirlooms installments. Some of the Peaceful Pilgrims stories are Christian, but not all. Peaceful is a small community with old-fashioned values and friendly people you’ll want to get to know and visit often.
I also write suspense. Denim Blues Mysteries is a cozy mystery trilogy. Falcon’s Bend Series was a long-running series set in my made-up Falcon’s Bend that was more hardcore with police procedurals–including both novels and many shorter offerings collected in “Case Files” anthologies. My romantic suspense/action-adventure series, Incognito, features a covert branch of the government called The Network and deals with the complicated, dangerous lives of its operatives. This award-winning, 12-book series is in the process of being reissued by my publisher (fingers crossed that Books 9-12 become available again this year or possibly next).
I have a romantic science fiction/futuristic series called Arrow of Time Chronicles that features a descendent of my beloved clumsy girl Zoë Bertoletti (from Family and Friendship Heirlooms series) on board the human spaceship Aero. When mankind realized Earth would become uninhabitable, Humans built space habitations. Their first allies arrived in 2073 and shared their technology to power ships through space corridors that fold space and time. Only 58 years into their struggle for survival, an enemy emerges. In the wake of this threat an organic menace is only beginning to be recognized, ensuring the annihilation of every living thing if, together, they can’t find a way to stop it.
Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series includes paranormal/supernatural horror novels all set in the eerie (made-up) town of Bloodmoon Cove. Nestled on Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin is a small, secluded town with volatile weather, suspicious folk…and newly awakened ghosts. Don’t close your eyes…
Woodcutter’s Grim Series has a mix of shorts and novels. These speculative romances contain twists of fantasy and horror that stem from retold fairy tales. For the ten generations since the evil first came to Woodcutter’s Grim, the Guardians have sworn an oath to protect the town from the childhood horrors that lurk in the black woods. Without them, the town would be defenseless…and the terrors would escape to the world at large.
In the single-title realm under the speculative romance umbrella, I’ve written SWEET DREAMS and a 2-in-1 set of novellas.
I’ve also written a smattering of poetry and children’s books, and my seven-volume writing reference collection 3D Fiction Fundamentals is in the process of being published and/or reissued with a brand new offering on the horizon. This how-to course covers the A to Z’s of crafting the highest quality fiction. Each of the main books comes with a Bonus Companion Booklet which has any blank worksheets from the main book provided free in an editable digital file. A print edition is available for a fee. Some of the bonus booklets also contain detailed examples and exercises.
My body of work is undergoing all new covers and manuscript formatting, and this overhaul has resulted in the decision to offer many of my series installments in a single volume. As such, book re-numbering is also being undertaken for several of my series. I hope this huge task will be completed this year, or, at the latest, 2027.
The reading order for all my series is listed on my website on a page called “Suggested Reading Order”.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
My very last work of fiction came out (fittingly, given the supernatural theme) in October 2025, the epic conclusion of Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series, BAD BLOOD, Book 11, which wraps up all the series arcs that have developed over the course of the previous ten installments. George and Rafe, some of the last descendants of the Mino-Miskwi Native American tribe whose elders disappeared 125 years ago after tearing a hole in the veil between worlds, have been featured in all previous books in the series. From the beginning, George has been cautious about anything mystical. But is eldritch justice the only thing that can heal Erie County’s paranormal vulnerability once and for all? In this wrap-up novel, the already thin veil between worlds may be sundered completely.
My very last brand-new book will come out hopefully within the next several months: Volume 4 of my 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection: WRITING THE OVERARCHING SERIES {or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space}. As I’m writing this, my publisher and I are editing Volume 3, which will be the reissue of WRITING THE STANDALONE SERIES, formerly published by Writer’s Digest Books as WRITING THE FICTION SERIES {The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas}. I’ve extensively re-written it to detail how to most effectively write these two very different types of series.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
Website
Blog
Publisher’s Page
Alien Romances Blog
Goodreads
I have a large collection of articles I’ve written, as well as videogame reviews and checklists, which you’ll find on my website. Be sure to check out my blog while there, where I post my sporadic art practice (with the goal of illustrating children’s books), my weekly (Friday) posts including hundreds of my “enriched” book reviews on the Alien Romances blog, book releases, reviews, and other updates concerning the entire scope of my work.
As I head rapidly toward retirement as a writer, this interview feels like a fitting summary and wrap-up of my entire career. Thank you for this opportunity, Margaret.
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
KING SORROW, by Joe Hill. Constant Readers of Hill’s father, Stephen King, particularly the epic-sized, ensemble-cast novels such as IT, will probably find this book as captivating as I did (despite only a couple of the characters being actually likable, in my opinion). KING SORROW resembles IT by following a group of friends in their prolonged interaction with an entity of supernatural evil. While the creature in Hill’s novel isn’t an eldritch Lovecraftian being possibly as old as the universe like King’s It, human victims are almost equally helpless against King Sorrow, who’s unfathomably alien in his own way. Moreover, Hill’s characters, unlike King’s, invite the evil into their lives. Essentially, they make a deal with a demon. They first suffer the fateful encounter in college rather than as preteens. Instead of skipping between childhood and adulthood in alternating scenes like IT, KING SORROW traces their lives chronologically in linear order over the decades into middle age, aside from a few short flashbacks. The story begins with a mundane incident: Arthur Oakes, a student at a small liberal arts college in Maine, visits his mother (a minister) in prison, where she’s serving a manslaughter sentence for an accidental death during a protest. A fight in the visitors’ room gains Arthur and his mother an implacable enemy, a young woman who persecutes him in a combination of revenge and extortion. With threats against his incarcerated mother, she forces Arthur, who works in the college library, to steal valuable volumes from the rare books room. He finally confides in his circle of close friends, ranging from Chris, the cynical, sophisticated child of a wealthy family, to Gwen, the only main character not in college, who works for Chris’s grandfather and eventually becomes Arthur’s girlfriend. From the rare books collection, Arthur “borrows” an occult tome whose author claims he used a dark ritual to create a ghost out of his imagination. The friends reenact this mystical, mind-altering seance to conjure up a dragon, King Sorrow. (Do they summon him from another dimension or will him into existence? The former seems more likely, but we can’t tell for sure.) Although he stops the persecution of Arthur, the amateur magic-workers can’t put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak. The dragon demands a sacrifice in perpetuity, every year around Easter. If they don’t designate a victim, he’ll take one of them. No problem, they think; there are plenty of bad people in the world. They make a list and work their way down it, with the annual choice rotating among them. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. King Sorrow doesn’t avoid collateral damage; he revels in it, feeding on the pain and fear of the numerous innocents hurt and killed along with the chosen sacrifice. The novel traces the emotional and moral trauma the characters suffer over many years. Chris, the self-centered rich guy, has no compunctions about what they’re doing – doesn’t annihilation of truly evil people, preventing untold harm, justify some random deaths? – but the others’ lives are warped in various ways by the destruction they indirectly cause. I wondered whether they’d prove responsible for 9-11; they are, but only by inaction. They’d considered eliminating Bin Laden but relegated him to the bottom of the list. This novel qualifies as tragedy as well as horror, with terrible consequences generated by one rash decision. At the beginning, I thought of Arthur as the protagonist and was somewhat put off by finding each section focused through the viewpoint of a different group member. When I got used to shifting mental and emotional gears, though, I became invested in each major character, even the ones I don’t like. The narrative includes multiple flashbacks to the fateful ceremony, revealing how every participant remembers it differently. Devastating loss, pain, and sadness shadow their lives through the decades, until they finally devise a way to free themselves from King Sorrow’s dominion. There’s no completely “happy ending,” considering what they suffer, but the survivors find a measure of reconciliation and peace.
THROUGH GATES OF GARNET AND GOLD, by Seanan McGuire. The eagerly anticipated annual installment of McGuire’s Wayward Children series. The books roughly alternate between a focus on either Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children or one of the innumerable worlds accessed through the Doors. This novel is school-centered or at least begins that way. Nancy, who found her way back to the Halls of the Dead in a previous volume, has contentedly resumed her role as a living statue in the realm of the Lord and Lady of the Dead. These inhabitants of that world, although alive, have mastered the art of perfect stillness. Their peace is disrupted when an unknown invader starts slaughtering the living statues. In addition to the people who’ve chosen that existence, this world is inhabited by spirits of the dead, awaiting rebirth or whatever else comes next for them. The ghosts are generally harmless – but what if not all are? With the rare ability to access her Door at will and travel to and from our world, Nancy returns to Miss West’s school in search of help from her friends there. Once again, they must violate the school rule of “No Quests.” Joining Nancy are Kade, Miss West’s designated heir (the one resident with no desire to return to the world that sent him back to this one); Christopher, yearning to reunite with his Skeleton Girl and bearing a flute that controls bones and possibly ghosts; Sumi, previously killed and restored to life, destined to return to the land of Confection when her time is right; and a new character, Talia, who loves and communicates with moths. The novel continues this series’s fascinating array of unique worlds and the distinctive backgrounds of the children drawn to them. The land of the Dead, with its pomegranate grove and cool, serene, white Halls, would be profoundly peaceful if not for the inexplicable murders. The Lord and Lady of the Dead (analogous to Hades and Persephone) prove unable or unwilling to take direct action against the killer. Sumi’s blunt-spoken rebuke of their seeming indifference is one of the novel’s most entertaining moments. The story includes plenty of darkness, though, especially with the surprising reappearance of an antagonist from early in the series. The adventurers gain an unexpected ally, also, in a character we might have thought we’d seen the last of. The ghosts are horrifying in a quiet, melancholy way, but no less dangerous for that. And the villain’s self-justifying speech may even evoke a moment of sympathy. Saving the inhabitants of the Halls of the Dead (including Nancy) at the darkest point requires the talents of all the questing students, even moth-loving Talia, who joined the expedition solely because she has noticed people who go on quests often find their own Doors. As a bonus, the epilogue reveals a character’s life-altering decision I didn’t see coming.
THE CYPRIAN, by Mercedes Lackey. This installment of Lackey’s Elemental Masters nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century series reimagines the fairy tale of seven brothers transformed into swans. In this adaptation, the eight siblings comprise four pairs of twins, with protagonist Elena as one of the youngest. The story begins, however, with a variation on legends of shapeshifting women captured as wives by human men who steal their animal or bird skins or cloaks — seal, swan, whatever. One of Elena’s oldest brothers, Ben, accidentally finds his mother’s hidden feather cloak. She immediately dons it and flies away. Ben keeps the truth of her disappearance secret for many years, except to speculate with his siblings that she must have gone back to “her people.” Elena and her brothers share with their mother the power to see small, winged creatures they call fairies, actually sylphs. Their mother has always warned them not to allow their strait-laced, emotionally distant father to know of this gift. The children get no training in elemental magic except what they learn from the sylphs, so they don’t fully understand the nature of their abilities. Not long after their mother’s disappearance, their father brings home a stepmother. Indifferent rather than cruel to the children, she proves to possess elemental magic also, specifically water rather than the children’s air gift. As most readers will suspect, she had used magic to ensnare her husband. When she tries to drown the boys in a frozen pond, they invoke their mother’s heritage to become swans and become trapped in that form. Their father, believing them dead, dies soon after. To the stepmother’s baffled rage, she learns she doesn’t own the estate. She leaves with only her personal property – and Elena, whom she disguises as a boy to serve as her footman. The villainess resumes her previous life as a Cyprian, a high-class courtesan. Elena’s masculine persona can’t last forever, of course, and when her situation becomes precarious, she plots an escape from her miserable situation. The turning point comes when the sylphs reconnect with her. They put her in touch with Elemental Masters whose aid gives her hope at last. Once Elena begins the magical task of restoring her swan brothers to human shape by fashioning shirts from nettles, forbidden to speak throughout her labors, the story adheres fairly closely to the classic tale. Unlike her folklore counterpart, though, she doesn’t have to suffer the ordeal alone and unaided. Overall, the plot has a classic fairy-tale shape, dire catastrophe leading to a dark moment but culminating in a happily-ever-after won by sacrifice. Incidentally, this book displays the same oddity as every Mercedes Lackey novel published by DAW I’ve read in recent years: The cover blurb either consists almost completely of backstory with scant attention to the actual plot or summarizes the entire story up to the climax (this one does the latter). Granted, I’ve done much the same as the second alternative, but reviews and cover copy serve different purposes.
THE CHANGELING QUEEN, by Kimberly Bea. “Tam Lin” is my favorite traditional ballad. Among the several novelizations of it I’ve read, this one is unique in not being told from the viewpoint of Janet, who rescues her lover from the seductive, wicked Faery Queen holding him captive. Instead, it’s narrated by the queen herself. Rather than ending with the liberation of Tam Lin, THE CHANGELING QUEEN begins there. The queen tells Janet her story in hopes of convincing the girl that the very survival of the Faery realm depends on the sacrifice of her lover. The queen recounts her history in past tense, with the story’s current scenes in present tense. The other uniquely riveting aspect of this novel consists of the revelation that she began life as a healer/midwife’s alleged daughter in an ordinary human village. From earliest childhood, mentored by her mother the cunning woman, “Bess” has known she was a changeling, half mortal and half faery, substituted for the real Bess. Her “mother” calls her a cuckoo, yet treats her with fondness and teaches her well. After the healer’s death, Bess takes on that role but faces the same suspicion her “mother” did. Surely, the priest and some others believe, her skills must come from the Devil? Bess falls in love with a shepherd and enjoys happiness for a while, although her peace is troubled by a faery lord who often crosses her path. Her life changes when her relationship with her shepherd lover ends in tragedy. Moreover, she learns she’s the presumed dead child of the late Faery Queen. Despite her mortal “taint,” Bess has to assume her mother’s throne. The author beautifully conveys the enchantment and peril of that realm, as strange to the new queen as to the reader. By no means are all her subjects prepared to accept her as ruler. She must navigate the hazards of faery politics while learning about her obligations to the realm, which is dying. Faery requires periodic sacrifices, the fate from which Janet saves Tam Lin. It’s fascinating to watch the queen grow from a half-mortal, heartbroken young woman into the ruthless creature she becomes, willing although not glad to choose victims for the sacrifice. We can’t help sympathizing with her need to save her realm, yet of course we know how the ballad ends and don’t want Tam Lin to die. The author offers a surprising solution to the quandary, with a bitter choice that feels like a completely appropriate culmination of the queen’s life story.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from CHILD OF TWILIGHT:
Professor Grier glanced at her, taking his eyes off the tight curve he was negotiating. At that moment the tires skidded on the ice-glazed pavement. The professor spun the wheel wildly from side to side. Gillian heard his heartbeat shift into overdrive. Her own pounded out of control. The van slid across the curve and onto the shoulder. Its right front bumper collided with a sapling and rebounded.
Gillian felt her safety belt strain against her chest. Grier’s panic flooded her. She couldn’t gather her wits to brace against the jolting of the car. She felt the brakes catch. The van fishtailed, plowed into a leafless clump of bushes, and stopped.
Gillian’s vision went dim. Something more than the wind howled in her ears. Her skin felt on fire. She leaped up, lunging against the belt and barely noticing it snap. Her bones were cracking open, her body turning inside out, her very essence boiling up from her heart and bowels.
She doubled over, forehead on the dashboard. Abruptly the burning pain metamorphosed into a convulsion of ecstasy immeasurably beyond what she’d absorbed from Grier’s touch.
It ended too quickly. Her eyes cleared. Meeting the professor’s dumbfounded stare, she glimpsed in her peripheral vision what held him transfixed.
She saw the tips of her wings.
What did he see? Only wings? Or also dark fur sprouting on her skin, the fangs and pointed ears of some feral creature from legend?
His terror pierced her between the eyes. Or was it her own? This can’t be—I’m too young—I don’t know how! And then a still more terrible thought hit her: He saw me change!
She fumbled for the door handle, jumped down from the van, and launched herself into the air.
Fear-driven instinct made up for her ignorance. Buffeted by wind and sleet, she soared above the trees. Blindly she flew northward until exhaustion forced her to the ground. Landing in a wooded area a few miles from Interstate 95, she huddled in the midst of a stand of evergreens with her head buried in her arms, shuddering with tearless sobs.
When her panic ebbed enough to allow thought, she sat up and craned her neck to look over her shoulder. The wings were gone. I’m too young for the change! Dr. Volnar was supposed to teach me—later. A mocking inner voice reminded her, You chose to run away from him, remember? Isn’t there a proverb about making beds and lying in them?
The back of her blouse hung in shreds, for only a very mature member of her race could include clothing in the rearrangement of molecules. She ached all over. Even though her “flight” was mostly levitation, since the silken wing membrane could not support her weight—despite her being both lighter and stronger than a human girl of the same size—she still had to use hitherto unexercised muscles for balance and steering.
She struggled to bring to mind all she’d been taught about the change. Among their other psychic powers, her people could alter the external shape of their bodies. The change involved no loss or gain of mass, no reshuffling of internal structures. And the shape assumed was fixed in the genes, a cellular memory, apparently, of an ancestral form. What the observer saw, however, depended partly on what he expected to see. And someone with experience and control could project an illusion, making the shapeshift appear more radical than it really was.
This abstract knowledge wouldn’t do her much good now. She needed practical instruction. Go back to Volnar and beg his pardon? Dark Powers, no! Absolutely not! She’d rather ask her father for help.
Assuming he would help, if he knew how. She’d told Professor Grier the truth about not contacting her father ahead of time. Knowing Roger Darvell hadn’t wanted her to be born and hadn’t shown any interest in her since, why should she expect him to worry about her now?
I’ll face that problem when I get to Annapolis.
Meanwhile she had to get there. Several hours of night remained; she’d better travel while she could. The sleet had changed back to freezing rain and slacked off to a drizzle. She would have to walk, staying away from highways and towns. Hitching another ride was out of the question. She knew her ripped blouse would inspire too much curiosity. Besides, the thought of being seen by anyone else terrified her. Suppose the change seized her without warning again? So much for adventure!
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
All issues are now posted on Dropbox, where you should be able to download them at this link:
All Vampire’s Crypt Issues on Dropbox
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links:
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
Facebook
Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble
Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books
Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon
The Fiction Database displays a comprehensive list of my books (although with a handful of fairy tales by a different Margaret Carter near the end):
My Goodreads page:
Goodreads
Please “Like” my author Facebook page (cited above) to see reminders when each monthly newsletter is uploaded. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to be shown posts from liked or friended sources in my Facebook feed when I’ve “Liked” some of their individual posts, so you might want to do that, too. Thanks!
My Publishers:
Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press
You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the January 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.
Happy New Year!
If you read romance fiction, please consider taking a few minutes to fill in the State of Romance Reader Survey here. Free books are available for respondents to download if desired. It’s offered in association with the Romance Writers of America, but anybody can participate:
My Victorian Christmas romance novella “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary” was featured in N. N. Light’s Christmas and Holiday Book Festival:
Below is an excerpt from that story, in which heroine Lucy watches the traditional Christmas mumming performance while trying to avoid a serious conversation with Walter, to whom she had almost become engaged. (Robbie is her little brother.)
My first interviewee of 2026 is multi-genre romance author Margaret Izard.
*****
Interview with Margaret Izard:
What inspired you to become a writer?
People often ask what sparked my writing journey, and the truth is—it wasn’t one big moment, but a steady pull I felt my entire life. I grew up surrounded by the performing arts, completely in love with storytelling and the escape it offered. I started writing in my thirties, took a long pause to raise and tutor my triplets through college. Then, about six years ago, I put my foot down and told my family I would start a new project.
Once I picked up the pen again, the worlds, the magic, and the romances poured out. Writing became a way to blend everything I love: history, mythology, emotion, and that sense of wonder we all chase. I chose writing, even if it took a while to find me. I’ve been happily lost in these worlds ever since.
What genres do you work in?
I primarily write paranormal romance—rich, immersive worlds filled with Fae, dragons, magic, mythology, and epic love stories. That’s where my heart lives, and it’s the foundation of the entire Stones of Iona mega verse and the upcoming Dragons of Tantallon saga.
I’ve also begun writing contemporary romance, exploring grounded, modern love stories with emotional depth and a touch of wit. But no matter the setting—historical, magical, or modern—romance is always at the center. It’s the thread that ties all my books together and the genre I’ll always return to.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I’m absolutely a plotter—a heavy one. My outlines can run more than 200 pages, complete with detailed beats, character arcs, and even snippets of dialogue. Planning the story helps me address developmental issues early, so when I sit down to draft, the writing flows much more smoothly and quickly.
That said, I always leave a little room for discovery. Even with a meticulous plan, my muse has a way of surprising me, and I love giving her space to do that. While the roadmap is solid, the journey still holds a bit of magic.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
My work blends the things I love most: romance, mythology, history, and escapism. I’ve studied the performing arts my entire life, so storytelling has always come naturally to me.
Scotland itself has been one of my biggest influences—its landscapes, history, folklore, and the sense that magic that runs through the land. Those elements have shaped the heart of the Stones of Iona mega verse.
How has your background in theater and dance affected your writing?
My lifelong background in theater and dance influences my writing in more ways than I ever expected. Performing arts trained me to think in movement, emotion, and rhythm—all things that naturally slip into my storytelling. I approach scenes the way I once approached choreography/directing: every step, every gesture, every pause has purpose.
Theater taught me character motivation, how to feel a scene from the inside out, and how to create tension you can almost breathe. Dance taught me physical storytelling, the way bodies move through emotion—desire, fear, longing, heartbreak—and that translates directly into the intimate, sensory style of my romances.
Because of that background, my books often read like staged moments: visual, atmospheric, and full of emotional choreography. I don’t just write what characters say—I write how they stand, breathe, lean, hesitate, and collide.
In short, theater gave me voice, dance gave me movement, and together they make my stories feel alive on the page.
Please tell us about your “Stones of Iona” series. And how do you research your historical fiction?
The Stones of Iona series is the beating heart of my entire mega verse. It begins with Stone of Love and follows a sweeping romantic and magical journey woven between modern Scotland, ancient history, and the hidden realms of the Fae. At the center of everything are the enchanted Stones themselves—the Good Stones: Love, Hope, and Faith, forever pursued by the darker Stones: Fear, Lust, and Doubt, all of which ultimately point toward the most powerful of them all: the Stone of Destiny.
Each book follows a new couple facing a new emotional battle. Yet, all the stories connect through family ties, Fae intrigue, dragon-shifter lore, and a mythology that expands with every generation. While each book can stand alone, reading them in order reveals a detailed tapestry.
When researching history for these stories, I take a multi-layered approach. I rely on period newspapers, letters, and broadsheets, as well as academic works on Highland culture and folklore. Architectural studies and sketches of the era often ignite inspiration as strongly as a scene itself.
One of my most meaningful research moments happened during my 2023 trip to Scotland, when I stood behind Glasgow Cathedral on the hill that is now the Necropolis, Scotland’s City of the Dead. Later, I found drawings from that same spot, created long before the graveyard existed. Knowing that people centuries ago stood where I had stood, taking in the same view, shaped Alex MacDougall’s emotional landscape in my recent release, Highlander’s Holly & Ivy, and became a quiet but powerful influence on his journey.
For me, history and magic are never separate—they breathe together. The research grounds the world, and the magic Stones unlock their wonder.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
My Next Book: Stone of Destiny, releases February 9, 2026.
Stone of Destiny is the epic conclusion to the Stones of Iona series—the final piece of the seven-book arc and the long-awaited fulfillment of the prophecy that has threaded through every story. This book follows Kat MacArthur—still grieving her brother’s loss to another time—and Ceallach, the Fae warrior she loved in secret from the start. Their connection has simmered through the series, and now, as the Gathering of the Stones approaches, their bond grows impossible to ignore.
But destiny has never been simple for the Fae. Ceallach fights the pull between duty, prophecy, and the mortal woman who has stolen his heart. His soul binds him to the Iona Stones during the Gathering, and he knows that choosing Kat could bleed her for a price she never agreed to pay. Kat refuses to stand aside—she needs to help her family, the Stones, and Ceallach himself. Even if doing so, puts her directly in the path of fate.
Stone of Destiny brings every thread together: the Good Stones—Love, Hope, Faith.
The dark Stones—Fear, Lust, Doubt, and the final, deciding power that binds them all—Destiny.
Readers can expect sweeping romance, sacrifice, high stakes, and the most emotional and magical moments of the entire series. Every choice Kat and Ceallach make echoes through both realms, and love becomes the one force strong enough to confront destiny itself.
This book is deeply meaningful to me—not only because it completes the journey I began with Stone of Love, but because it ties together years of worldbuilding, research, and the heart of the Iona mythos. It is the finale I’ve been writing toward from the very beginning.
I can’t wait for you to return to Stones of Iona mega verse one last time.
What are you working on now?
Now that Stone of Destiny is complete and preparing for its February 2026 release, my focus has shifted to my next major series: The Dragons of Tantallon. This saga spins out of the Stones of Iona mega verse and follows three dragon-shifting brothers featured in Stone of Love, Book 1 Stones of Iona. Dameon, Magnus, and Tiberius—each cursed, each powerful, and each destined for a soulmate who can break their father’s ancient spell.
Cursed by their father, Balor, the exiled Formoire king, the brothers carry a legacy of danger and desire. Their only hope lies in completing the soul-bonding ritual—seven steps that test trust, emotion, magic, and fate. Failure entombs them in Fae crystal for eternity. Succeed, and they will reclaim their freedom, their future, and a love powerful enough to challenge realms.
The series blends everything I adore writing—sweeping romance, deep emotional arcs, Scottish atmosphere, dangerous Fae magic, and the intensity of fated mates. Each book follows a different brother with a unique love story, unique wounds, and unique battles to face.
The dragons are part of a world I’ve poured my heart into for years, since I drafted the first book shortly after Stone of Love, and I’m thrilled to bring it forward as its own full series.
Expect magic, heat, heartbreak, redemption—and dragons.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Just start writing. Put the words on the page—even if they’re messy, imperfect, or not quite what you imagined. You can’t revise a blank page, but you can shape, polish, and refine words once they exist.
I always encourage new writers to read widely, write often, and don’t do this alone. Community matters—other writers, critique partners, or even one trusted friend who cheers you on. Writing can feel solitary, but storytelling thrives when shared.
And finally, feedback is a gift. I reread and edit my work many times. Each pass sharpens the emotional arc, deepens the characters, and strengthens the story’s heart. Improvement doesn’t happen in one draft—it occurs through persistence.
Start. Write. Rewrite. And keep going. The story you’re meant to tell will find you on the page.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
SNAKE-EATER, by T. Kingfisher. The third Kingfisher novel in 2025 (with another forthcoming in March)! In her afterword, she describes the “platonic ideal” of her horror fiction as “a woman and her dog alone in a house full of creepy family secrets,” which encapsulates her first horror novel, THE TWISTED ONES. While her others don’t necessarily include dogs, the protagonists do tend to be women returning home in emotionally fraught circumstances, for a certain value of home. In the case of SNAKE-EATER, Selena flees with her black Lab, Copper, from her overbearing long-time lover, Walter – who dominates and criticizes her only for her own good, of course – to her aunt’s home in the tiny town of Quartz Creek, an arid western milieu totally different from anything Selena has known. For decades her only contact with her aunt has come through occasional postcards. Still, a vague invitation to visit sometime makes Quartz Creek Selena’s only possible refuge. The shock of learning her aunt died the year before devastates her, but she can’t consider returning to Walter. He would indulgently take her back, and her abortive escape would become one more time “Selena Had Done Something Foolish and Walter Saved Her.” Selena plans to stay in her aunt’s vacant home, “Jackrabbit Hole House,” for one night, then for a few days, then maybe for a few weeks, while she decides how to move forward. Meanwhile, she meets quirky local characters including Jenny, mayor as well as postmistress, fire chief, and police chief; Grandma Billy, who keeps a flock of chickens and a guard peacock; and Catholic priest Father Aguirre, who’s surprisingly respectful toward the local desert gods/spirits (the distinction is fuzzy). Selena, as more than one person points out to her, apologizes too much. She’s paralyzingly afraid of doing the wrong thing and certain her new neighbors, who gift her with fresh produce and (in Grandma Billy’s case) a daily bounty of eggs, will perceive her as a “moocher.” She’s even reluctant to “impose” on the weekly community potluck dinner. At first I thought her need to memorize “scripts” for every social interaction depicts her as mildly autistic, but it soon becomes clear that she simply lacks any shred of self-esteem. Over a lifetime, her confidence was systematically beaten down by a domineering mother and a gaslighting fiancé. Reluctantly getting used to life in Quartz Creek, she soon realizes she wants to stay. True, the local people’s matter-of-fact belief in supernatural entities strikes her as peculiar, and she suspects Grandma Billy of being downright crazy. Moreover, as we learn later in the story, Father Aguirre has his own secret. Selena begins to accept the truth only when she witnesses such things as a timid squash spirit in the vegetable garden – unless she’s losing her mind. But she has to accept the reality of the spirit realm when she learns of her aunt’s relationship with Snake-Eater, the roadrunner god. As both the narrative and the author’s afterword emphasize, real-world roadrunners don’t resemble the cartoon bird. They’re more like two-foot-tall dinosaurs, as Selena discovers when she balks at taking on her aunt’s former role, and Snake-Eater won’t take “no” for an answer. Similar to the heroine of THE TWISTED ONES, Selena (with the help of Grandma Billy and Father Aguirre) follows her dog through a portal into another realm, where she has to face the gods of the desert. Ultimately, she triumphs over Snake-Eater not through combat, physical or magical, but through open-mindedness, friendship, her bond with Copper, and her kindness to creatures such as the squash god in the garden and scorpions in the house. The denouement includes a delightful confrontation that sends the insufferable Walter packing. I do have one reservation about the novel, in agreement with a review I read: Its setting around or soon after 2050 seems irrelevant and unnecessary. Aside from passing allusions to near-future technology, little of which reaches Quartz Creek, we learn the approximate year only from the age of Father Aguirre’s truck. Why does the author include this pointless distraction? Her afterword doesn’t say.
BRIGANDS & BREADKNIVES, by Travis Baldree. Sequel to cozy fantasies BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST and LEGENDS & LATTES, starring rat-person Fern, the bookstore owner in the former. The author’s afterword expresses a reluctance to write the same book over and over, as if “fantasy small-business ownership is the answer to all of life’s woes.” Thus, he acknowledges that this novel turned out less cozy than the other two, yet he still means it to be “affirming” – as, in the end, it is. Restless in her situation at the beginning of the story, Fern divests herself of the store and sets out to join retired orc mercenary Viv, from the two previous books, in Viv’s new home. Fern plans to make a fresh start by opening a new bookstore near Viv’s coffeeshop. Viv joyfully welcomes her and introduces her to friends glad to help with the project. Upon the grand opening, though, Fern finds herself let down rather than excited about the culmination of the shared work. Dismayed by her own ingratitude, she tries to work up the courage to tell Viv how she feels. Drunkenly wandering the streets by night, she accidentally stows away in a cart belonging to the legendary elven warrior Astryx Blademistress. By the time Fern wakes up, they’re far down the road. Astryx, in her role as bounty hunter, is escorting a goblin captive to the client who commissioned his capture. Fern bargains with the elf for transport to the nearest large town by offering her services as a translator of the goblin’s language, of which in fact she speaks only a few words, all of them obscenities and curses. She also makes herself useful as an entertainer, reciting the plot of an adventure novel along the way. So she ends up on a road trip with a famed swordswoman out of practice with company or conversation, a cart-pulling donkey, a goblin oddly casual about his alleged captivity, and a pair of magical Elder Blades, one in the form of a breadknife and prone to frequent complaining about its plight. Along the way, Fern makes multiple attempts to write a letter to Viv explaining her disappearance but can’t find the right words to apologize. Traveling across sparsely inhabited country, the party confronts both natural hazards and hostile attacks. This story, which would make an excellent Dungeons and Dragons campaign, also features midlife crisis character growth. Fern’s disappointment with the move into which she’d put so much effort evokes sympathy. Personally, my first reaction was to wonder what was wrong with her, since living in a bookstore near a coffee shop sounds to me like the ideal existence. She herself, however, wonders the same thing. By the time she returns where she started, to reconcile with Viv, Fern has developed insight into herself and what she really wants. While foul-mouthed characters usually put me off, I had little trouble adjusting to her verbal tic of constant obscene language; it comes across as just part of her personality. The strangely accommodating goblin prisoner and the self-aggrandizing magic breadknife provide comic relief between life-threatening crises. As in the two previous novels, I thoroughly enjoy the multi-species culture of this invented world.
LETTERS FROM AN IMAGINARY COUNTRY, by Theodora Goss. Most of the tales in this collection were new to me, but not the first, “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter,” which ultimately evolved into the enthralling Athena Club trilogy, starring the daughters (begotten or created) of the famed mad scientists of nineteenth-century fiction. To my delight, many of the other stories also expand upon characters from classic works. My favorite, naturally, is “The Secret Diary of Mina Harker,” original to this collection, not the same version of Mina as in the Athena Club series. Likewise, the title character of “Frankenstein’s Daughter” isn’t identical to Justine in those books. “Lost Girls of Oz” portrays an alternate reality in which Oz actually exists, but it’s cut off from the rest of the world, so you can’t get there – unless you’re a girl recruited for Dorothy’s army. In “Child-Empress of Mars,” the latest of many heroes from Earth arrives on a Red Planet that resembles Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom. The witch in “England Under the White Witch” isn’t explicitly identified as Jadis, but that’s obviously who she is; the protagonist, for a long time a devoted follower of the witch-queen, eventually becomes disillusioned with a world of perpetual winter. “Estella Saves the Village” takes place in a shared-world community inhabited by people from classic Victorian novels. In “Pug,” Goss brings to life a character from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE so minor she doesn’t have any dialogue, Lady Catherine’s sickly daughter. “A Letter to Merlin” revisits the Arthurian mythos through Guinevere’s multiple reincarnations. To mention a few stories on other themes, Goss pays tribute to her native Hungary in “Dora/Dora: An Autobiography” and “To Budapest with Love,” while speculation that imagined countries could become real is explored in the title story, “Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology,” and “Pellargonia: A Letter to the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology.” The collection includes an introduction by Jo Walton and the author’s notes on the backgrounds of the stories. Fascinating.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “A Ghost in the Green Bestiary”:
About four-thirty, as twilight was falling, Aunt Eunice knocked on Lucy’s door. “The mummers are here. Will you come down to watch? I’m sure Robbie would love to see them.”
Not having spent Christmas here in many years, Lucy was eager to witness that performance herself. After bundling Robbie into his coat, cap, boots, and gloves, she and her mother donned their own wraps and followed her impatient brother downstairs. When they gathered with family and servants at the top of the driveway, the flurries had stopped, covering the earlier snowfall with a fresh, thin layer. Walter, standing beside his parents, smiled at Lucy. Pulling her cape closer, she tried to convince herself that only the brisk breeze sent a shiver rippling through her.
About a dozen local boys and men, some bearing lanterns, clustered in front of the house. They wore oversize coats or heavily padded outfits to disguise their shapes, and homemade masks fashioned with various degrees of skill concealed their faces. Sacks and pillowcases had eyeholes cut in them and grotesque features painted on. One man sported a papier-mâché horsehead, and another shrouded his head in a veil of white lace. A knight in gray trousers and jacket brandished a wooden sword and wore a helmet made of a cardboard box adorned with silver paint. His crudely carved shield bore a red cross. Beside him stood a four-legged, green dragon with two pairs of boots visible beneath its sagging costume.
Robbie shrank against his mother’s side and asked, pointing at the man with the veil, “Is that a ghost?”
“No, dear.” She patted his shoulder.
“And there’s a dragon.”
Lucy whispered, “It’s two men in disguise. Everybody’s pretending. Now, just watch.”
The mummers sang all the verses of “Deck the Halls,” while the dragon cavorted to the tune, its tail dragging on the ground. Next they belted out a couple of rowdy wassail tunes, a clear hint of the festive reward they anticipated.
After the songs, most of the men drew back to clear a circle around the monster and the knight. The warrior, who was probably meant to portray Saint George, pointed his weapon at the dragon and shouted, “Yield, foul fiend!”
With a blood-curdling roar, the dragon raised its claw-tipped forearms and charged. It slashed at the knight while the latter pounded on the monster with the flat of his sword. After several minutes of hearty combat punctuated by bestial snarls and manly vows of dire vengeance, the two foes thrashed on the ground in a climactic exchange of blows. The dragon, groaning in agony, expired in a burst of gore represented by a gush of fake blood from its chest. Saint George rose to his feet with arms raised in triumph. A second later, the dragon leaped up, too, and the pair took a bow to laughter and applause.
Uncle George’s butler and footman brought forth trays of steaming mugs, spiced cider from the aroma, which they passed around to the performers. Slices of brandy-soaked, fruit-studded Christmas cake followed. Some removed the masks to eat and drink, while others simply lifted the bottoms of their cloth face coverings. When the front half of the dragon pulled off its head, Lucy said to Robbie, “See, just men play-acting.”
Walter murmured in her ear, under the surrounding chatter, “The fellow with the veil hasn’t made a sound except to sing. He seems familiar, but he couldn’t be who I think. That person hasn’t shown up for the festivities in years.”
Lucy turned with a start. She hadn’t noticed Walter edging closer to her. She tried to answer lightly, “Well, it’s Christmas. Everyone is welcome, aren’t they?”
He nodded, holding her gaze with disturbing intensity. “Yes, everyone.” He offered his arm. “Walk with me, please.”
She hesitantly rested her fingertips on the crook of his elbow. Even through his coat and her glove, heat radiated over her skin. Their feet left faint prints on the thin layer of new-fallen snow as they strolled around the right wing of the H-shaped manor to an arbor festooned with winter-dormant climbing roses. After he used his handkerchief to wipe melted snow from a bench under the trellis, she sat there with him as many inches apart as the space allowed.
“I understand why you didn’t answer my letters at great length right after your father’s death,” he said. “But why have your replies been so brief and cool for most of the past year?”
Straight to the point, then, whether she was ready or not. She studied his profile, faintly visible in the moonlight. With his wavy, dark-chestnut hair and swoon-worthy brown eyes, he could pose for a portrait of the hero in a Gothic romance, aside from his scholarly-looking spectacles.
This is not what I should be thinking now! Nor could she bear to think about the humiliation of explaining that her less than ardent letters were connected to her family’s reduced circumstances. She didn’t have to, she decided, unless he made an explicit proposal of marriage.
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
All issues are now posted on Dropbox, where you should be able to download them at this link:
All Vampire’s Crypt Issues on Dropbox
A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links:
For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):
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Carter Kindle Books
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My Publishers:
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You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com
“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the December 2025 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.
Best wishes for all the winter holidays you celebrate!
Below is an excerpt from one of my early vampire novels, CHILD OF TWILIGHT (sequel to DARK CHANGELING), which takes place around the Christmas season. Although there isn’t much overt holiday content, part of the denouement occurs on Christmas Eve. In this scene, twelve-year-old vampire-human hybrid Gillian has run away from her ancient mentor. Out of nowhere, she shows up at the home of the half-human father she’s never known (Dr. Roger Darvell from DARK CHANGELING). You can read these novels in an e-book duology, TWILIGHT’S CHANGELINGS, available here:
This month’s interview presents mystery and thriller author Henry James Kaye.
*****
Interview with Henry James Kaye:
What inspired you to become a writer?
The honest to God truth is – I received an F on a writing assignment in 8th grade. We were supposed to write a five-page story. I got so involved with my story, so carried away with the assignment, that the story wound up being twenty pages. The teacher gave me an F. She told me that I didn’t follow instructions, so she didn’t even read it. I had so enjoyed writing that story, developing the plot, even putting a red herring in the story (but had no idea it had a name). I was heartbroken. For years after that, I only wrote the bare minimum. Then, about twelve years ago, I don’t recall the exact event, but something happened, and the memories, particularly the feelings, associated with that F resurfaced. My disappointment morphed into anger. Mrs. X (name deliberately withheld) wouldn’t even read my story, well, I decided to prove she made a big mistake. As they say, the rest is history. So, Mrs. X, look at the plaques I’ve won, the awards and compliments bestowed on my work products, the published stories and novels that people have paid money for the opportunity to read. I can tell a good story, but you won’t know because you refused to read mine.
What genres do you work in?
I primarily write Mystery, Thriller, Suspense. However, I’m dabbling in the Cozy world and struggling with it. It’s hard for me to kill people off the page. Just to do something different, break the monotony, I’ve even written a couple of Sci-Fi short stories, but I need a lot more practice before I enter any of them in contests.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
If I put a label on it, I suppose it would be ‘something in between’. I start a story with a crime in mind, the reason the bad guy must succeed, the reason the good guy must prevail. I then produce an outline (max of one page) of major scenes along with the obstacles the two primary characters must overcome to achieve their respective goals. From there, I let the characters drive the story, always keeping an eye on word count.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
I’ve always enjoyed puzzles, figuring out how things work, and understanding why something happens. This has translated into reading a lot of mysteries. I have to admit, when reading, if there’s not much for me to figure out, if I’m not kept guessing, I normally return the book to the shelf and look for something else to read. Consequently, in my writing, I try to keep the reader wondering what’s going to happen next, how he’s going to do that, how he’s going to be stopped, etc. Every chapter needs to have tension. I suppose that’s why I like reading Jeffrey Deaver, Meg Gardiner, Declan James, Lisa Black, Debbie Baldwin, and Bruce Coffin.
How did your previous careers affect your writing (if they did)?
I started my career as a computer programmer. I wrote a lot of code. As part of my transition into supervision at the bank I was required to take a Writing For Business course. The instructor (Jim P) told us to write like we were telling a story, having a conversation, had someone sitting across the table from us. Jim made some of the most boring things sound interesting, and I admired that. Ever since then, I’ve tried to follow Jim’s advice in both my business writing and my fiction. To this day, when I’m struggling with something, I’ll remember Jim’s directive and resume writing as though I were speaking to an audience.
What are the differences (if any) between how you approach the writing of fiction and nonfiction?
To me, there’s no difference. I write as if the reader were sitting across the table from me and I’m telling them a story. Whether I’m describing an assassin placing the crosshairs of his rifle’s scope on the target, or explaining the difference between Tiered and Graduated interest rates, I use words they can relate to, and give them understanding.
Could you please tell us about your Malcolm Gee series? And what kind of research did you do to make your depiction of FBI procedures authentic?
In a nutshell, the Malcolm Gee Mystery Series is set in various Florida small towns and is based on an FBI agent who specializes in hunting serial killers. Unfortunately, Malcolm is tired of the blood, gore, and death that he encounters in his job and is thinking about leaving the Bureau. However, he recognizes he has the ability to visualize how the murders were committed as well as think like the murderer. Both of these help avenge the voiceless victims. His girlfriend refers to his ability as a God given gift, but Malcolm doesn’t believe in God or any higher power. Their on-again, off-again relationship provides comfort and consternation.
I’m fortunate to have a number of close relatives in law enforcement (deputy sheriff, police officer, retired FBI agent, and prison guard). I’m also a member of my community’s Citizens On Patrol academy, and have cultivated numerous connections in local law enforcement, emergency response, and fire departments who are always anxious to meet for lunch and bounce around ideas, share information, and often hands-on experiences in their respective training facilities.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
The second novel in the Malcolm Gee Mystery Series, Victim’s Voice, is under contract with The Wild Rose Press. I expect it’ll hit the market in the Spring of 2026. This one starts when Malcolm, assisting his real estate agent girlfriend at a house showing, finds a severed head in a kitchen cabinet. The chase leads to government corruption and a Colombian cartel.
What are you working on now?
I’m about 20,000 words into book #3 of the Malcolm Gee Mystery Series, working title is Bonnie Isle. This novel starts with a lady being murdered while cataloguing turtle egg nests on Florida’s west coast. Malcolm’s gut tells him her death is connected to other bodies, but he struggles to find the connection. It’s all complicated by someone messing with his girlfriend’s belongings while she’s house-sitting for her mother.
I’m also gathering notes and ideas for a new cozy series featuring a businessman who becomes involved in embezzlement, kidnapping, and burglary schemes.
Simultaneously with novel writing, I enjoy short stories and entering them into competitions. I’m currently working on two that feature Malcolm and Valerie, plus two others for anthologies.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Read. Read. Read. Read other authors. Read other genres. Read novels and short stories. By reading what others have written, you’ll learn techniques, concepts, and find plot ideas. Besides, sometimes it’s good to take a break from your own writing and see what’s happening in the rest of the world, sort of like a vacation.
What is the URL of your website?
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
KILL THE BEAST, by Serra Swift. Contrary to what the title might bring to mind, this story, set in an invented world where supernatural creatures exist openly, is sort of an anti-“Beauty and the Beast” tale. The overarching quest of Lyssa’s life for the past thirteen years has been to slay the titular Beast, which slaughtered her brother, along with a crowd of other people, at a circus they visited in childhood. Estranged from her widowed father and holding most people at arm’s length, she became a professional hunter of faerie-created monsters – Hounds — as a means of support while she searches for the secret lair of the Beast, where it hibernates except when it emerges for fresh rampages only a few times per year. It’s generally assumed that good and evil faeries exist. Even the “good” ones, however, can be capricious and easily offended. As far as Lyssa is concerned, they’re all evil. The closest she has to a friend, the witch Raghild, who dwells in a between-realms Wood accessible only by magic portals, tries in vain to convince her of a more nuanced perspective. The existence of an ex-lover who’s a Hound-warden – an ally of faeries and occasional defender of Hounds – only hardens Lyssa’s hostility toward all inhuman creatures. Her cherished goal of revenge seems in sight when she’s hired by Alderic to kill the Beast, whose hiding place he claims to know. He also possesses a severed claw from the creature, a weapon that can destroy it. The cover blurb aptly describes Alberic as “a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain.” His insistence on wearing ridiculously flamboyant outfits is one of his least annoying traits. Yet it soon becomes clear there’s more to him than appears on the surface. For one thing, contrary to her first impression, he can hold his own in a fight. For another, he heals with remarkable speed. She eventually learns he has suffered trauma as horrible as her own. Her attitude toward him evolves from toleration to friendship to something like love. Thus the revelation of the truth he has hidden from her comes as a bitter blow. Their path toward that black moment includes twists and narrow escapes amid the search for the various elements needed to confront the Beast with any hope of winning. Their quest would make an excellent Dungeons and Dragons campaign, but with deeper darkness and more heartrending emotion than most D&D adventures. Although Lyssa is far from likable, one can’t help sympathizing with her. The ultimate solution to the characters’ seemingly insoluble dilemma has an appropriate fairy-tale tone.
ROAD TRIP WITH A VAMPIRE, by Jenna Levine. Third novel in a loosely connected trilogy, after MY ROOMMATE IS A VAMPIRE and MY VAMPIRE PLUS ONE. Although characters from the first two novels show up in this one, ROAD TRIP WITH A VAMPIRE can be enjoyed on its own. While the title and cover illustration suggest a paranormal rom-com, and the book does include occasional moments of humor, it has a serious plot premise and ultimately gets rather grim before the heroine and hero come together at last. That said, the author takes full advantage of the humorous possibilities of forced proximity. Glimpses of heroine Zelda’s past escapades preceding some chapters also provide funny moments. Centuries-old witch Grizelda Watson, who used to delight in spreading exaggerated rumors about her own fearsomeness, now runs a yoga studio. She uses her magic as little as possible, only enough to keep it from building up to a dangerous level. Getting involved with charming vampire Peter Elliott upends her quiet life. At the beginning of the book, her main concern is her staff’s insistence on a goat yoga program, until an old friend asks her to help Peter, who has unaccountably lost his memory. With his journal in his possession, he has a record of where he’s been for the past few months, but the entries are so cryptic they aren’t much help. Zelda agrees to the titular road trip in hopes backtracking his own travels will restore his memories. The novel’s linear present-day narrative is interrupted by occasional flashbacks to scenes leading up to the incident that caused Peter’s amnesia. Thus we learn, in teasing fragments, more about his past than he currently knows. It soon becomes clear that someone threatens the lives of Peter and Zelda, but why? And why do people they encounter who’ve met him before seem so afraid of him? When the truth about his past comes to light, it shatters the closeness developing between them. The bitter break is heart-wrenching, while Peter’s earnest but inept attempt to make up with Zelda is touchingly amusing. We’re left feeling the two of them thoroughly deserve their happy ending.
MY BIG FAT VAMPIRE WEDDING, by Jessica Gadziala. Young vampire Pandora (well, young for her species, almost 125 years old) has a serious problem. To inherit her share of the family fortune, she faces a looming deadline to get married by her birthday, only three months away. Without the money, she has no hope of fulfilling her dream of owning a bookstore. The suitors her parents approve of leave her cold. Her solution – the time-honored romance trope of a marriage in name only, to end in divorce after a year. All she needs is a co-conspirator willing to go through with such a farce in exchange for half of her inheritance. At present, she works in a coffee shop with her best friend, a werewolf. At her friend’s urging, Pandora approaches Victor, a disturbingly attractive regular customer at the shop, the man of her fantasies, in fact. A PhD candidate working on his thesis, he carries a huge burden of student debt and faces the prospect of having to drop out. As crazy as Pandora’s scheme strikes him at first, she manages to persuade him. Convincingly enacting all the courtship, engagement, and wedding rituals won’t be easy, of course, especially since letting humans know vampires exist – not to mention the many other paranormal creatures living secretly among human society — is forbidden. To make matters worse, Pandora learns Victor is writing his dissertation on Victorian vampire literature, making potential missteps a constant hazard. From his first meeting with her eccentric family, when she has to explain the archaic clothing and mannerisms of some of her relatives, confusion, hilarity, and narrow escapes from discovery ensue. Dracula even shows up toward the end, although that’s not exactly his name, and he wishes those silly books and movies would get the facts straight. Meanwhile, Pandora’s brother begins acting strangely with a secret of his own, and a malicious cousin of hers is determined to sabotage the engagement. As readers will expect, the “engaged” couple’s fake attraction becomes real, with the inevitable devastating crash when the truth about Pandora’s nature comes out. The eventual reconciliations (with both Victor and her parents) and denouement are hard-won and believable. With the engaging characters, entertainingly complicated situations, and snappy dialogue, I found the story delightful. One detail early in the book, however, almost shattered my suspension of disbelief so thoroughly I struggled to get re-immersed: When Victor tells Pandora the topic of his PhD project, he says, “I don’t know if it’s been done before.” He DOESN’T KNOW? Apparently, the author doesn’t know an essential step in getting a dissertation topic approved is a review of the existing research on the subject. Even if unaware of that fact, she should have taken the basic step of fact-checking whether academic study of vampire fiction has “been done” before putting that remark in the hero’s mouth. A brief internet search would have revealed hundreds of scholarly books and articles on vampire literature. Sheesh.
A HONEYMOON OF GRAVE CONSEQUENCE, by Stephanie Burgis. Sequel to A MARRIAGE OF UNDEAD INCONVENIENCE, in which heroine Margaret reluctantly married vampire Lord Riven, who promised to ensure she always had a supply of excellent tea. Now the two share a strong bond of companionship as well as erotic passion. Interestingly, though, Margaret doesn’t yet admit to herself she’s in love with her mate. At this point, her “obscure scholarly piece on the physical aspects of vampire intimacy” has resulted in a degree of popular notoriety unfamiliar and unwelcome to an introverted researcher. Her previous articles, after all, had been noticed only in academic journals. What she intended as a serious work of scholarship was publicized as delightfully salacious by ignorant journalists. A honeymoon at an isolated inn in the Black Forest sounds to her like an excellent escape from the demands of society. She expects time to work in peace, even after discovering their host is a ghost. She hopes to possibly find the mysterious “Seed of the Forest,” a rumored magical object comparable in power to the Rose of Normandy destroyed in the previous novel. Unfortunately, all the other inhabitants are also supernatural creatures, who resent and fear the intrusion of a mortal into their refuge. Margaret’s attempt to bond with a female corpse-eating undead who loathes her own existence goes particularly badly. Margaret comes to realize she needs to surmount her social ineptitude and interact with the inn’s residents on a personal rather than an academic level. A threat to their collective safety draws them together, while she convinces them of her desire and ability to help. In order to save her new allies and rescue her husband, she has to endure a dreaded session of small talk in addition to more conventional hazards. As in A MARRIAGE OF UNDEAD INCONVENIENCE, the villain of the tale turns out to be human rather than paranormal. Awkward moments and witty repartee alternate with suspense and desperate danger to make this novel as engaging as the first. Along the way, Margaret realizes she truly loves her vampire husband. Considering the friendships she forms with the ultimately welcoming inn’s diverse tribe of supernatural denizens, I think this book merits the label of “cozy fantasy” in spite of the dire threat the characters confront.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from CHILD OF TWILIGHT:
At once Roger knew who the pale, thin girl with gleaming eyes—the eyes of a wild creature poised for flight—had to be. “Come in, Gillian.” Before she could think of disobeying, he grasped her arm, drew her inside, and bolted the door.
He felt a quiver in the cold flesh under his hand. She boldly met his stare, though. “Good evening, Dr. Darvell. Or should I call you Father?” The tone of the question verged on insolence.
Roger tried to barricade his emotions as he replied, “Since that relationship doesn’t exist in your subculture, I don’t think it would be appropriate.” The girl flinched, a reaction she quickly suppressed. Roger felt a stab of guilt.
Britt said icily, “Well, I hope you aren’t planning to make her keep calling you by your title!”
Gillian cast another apprehensive look at Britt.
“This is my associate, Dr. Britt Loren,” said Roger, maintaining his grip on the unexpected guest. “She knows about you. Now, isn’t Volnar here?” He knew better but hated to concede the fact.
“You want to talk in front of an ephemeral?” Gillian still looked prepared to dash off into the night at the faintest provocation.
Roger struggled to control his impatience with her. “I trust Dr. Loren implicitly. You may discuss anything in her presence.”
“But not standing in the middle of the kitchen,” Britt interrupted. Roger felt her pity for the child. “Can’t you make her comfortable before you start grilling her?” She lowered her voice as she turned to Gillian. “I’ll bet you ran away from Dr. Volnar, didn’t you?” Roger sensed Britt fighting the desire to touch the girl. A young vampire who knew almost nothing about ephemerals wouldn’t readily accept comfort from one.
Gillian nodded, keeping her eyes on Roger. “Are you going to send me back?”
“Not right this minute,” said Roger. He led her to the living room.
At the sight of Eloise, Gillian tensed again. “Relax,” Roger said. “My brother, Claude, and his wife, Eloise Kern.”
Surprise displaced Gillian’s fear. “You’re married to an ephemeral?” She scanned Eloise more closely. “And she’s pregnant!”
Roger strove to hide his amusement at Gillian’s shock. Claude didn’t even try. “Well, mon enfant, you must be my niece. Why does that disturb you so much? You’re a product of a similar union yourself.”
“I never asked to be!” She glared at Roger, then at Britt and Eloise. “Do you expect me to talk about myself in front of your pets?” Eloise radiated a rueful humor that echoed Britt’s.
Roger squelched his impulse to slap Gillian. “Understand, young lady—Dr. Loren and Dr. Kern are not pets. They are our lovers, friends, and equals. You will grant them the same respect you give us.”
Gillian visibly wilted. “Yes, sir.” She evaded his eyes and turned to Claude, who showed no threatening anger. “What should I call you—Uncle Claude?”
He switched off the television. “No, that title belongs to the mother’s brother. The father’s has no official status. You may as well keep things simple and address us all by our first names.”
“Very well, I suppose that’s best,” Roger said.
“If that’s settled,” said Britt with an impatient frown at Roger, “can you stop badgering her for the moment? Sit down, Gillian.”
Eloise made room on one of the love seats for Gillian, who gazed at Eloise across the foot of space separating them as if the human female were some sort of exotic beast. As if involuntarily, Eloise’s hand stretched out toward Gillian. The girl edged farther away. Projecting disappointment, Eloise backed off.
Britt said, “How long have you been running?”
“Two days and two nights. I left Dr. Volnar in Atlanta.” And she looked it. Melting snow plastered her wet hair to her head. Under the damp, mud-splashed jacket, which she had unzipped, her blouse hung in shreds. Her tennis shoes were soaked through.
“How did you get here?” Roger asked. “Did you have money?”
“Not enough.” She was beginning to relax now. “I took the bus part of the way and hitchhiked part.” A shadow of remembered fear flickered in her eyes. “It was harder than I expected. I slept in the woods today—or yesterday, I suppose.”
Britt got up from the other love seat. “Poor kid, you must be exhausted. And starving.”
“Dr. Volnar has always told me not to exaggerate,” said Gillian. “I am extremely hungry, yes.”
She made no attempt to keep from broadcasting her hunger. Roger’s stomach cramped in sympathy. Britt was already kneeling beside the couch, pushing up the sleeve of her caftan.
Roger’s hand closed on her shoulder. “Britt, no!” In response to Britt’s outraged glare, he elaborated, “She’s too young for human blood. Aren’t you, Gillian?”
Gillian nodded. “I have never tasted it. Dr. Volnar says I shouldn’t need it for another two years or more.”
“And that’s starting young,” said Claude. He perched on the arm of the couch next to Eloise, who leaned toward Gillian as if she, too, would open her veins if it were allowed.
Britt stood up, moving toward the kitchen. “Then how about a nice bloody chunk of raw dead cow?”
A flash of injured pride shot through Gillian’s exhaustion. “I’m much too old for that. I’ve had my adult teeth for over a year.” She bared them, displaying deceptively human-looking incisors and canines.
“Yes, I see,” said Britt gravely. “Do you eat vanilla ice cream? Have mine, while I whip up something more substantial.”
Since she was thoroughly familiar with the contents of Roger’s kitchen, he let her proceed with the job alone while he pulled up a straight-backed chair to Gillian’s side. He tried to study her profile unobtrusively. Did she resemble him in any way? All he could see in her so far were Juliette’s sharp features and Irish Setter red curls. “Now perhaps you’ll tell me why you ran away from your advisor.”
After taking a spoonful of ice cream, Gillian said, “He ordered me to bond with him—to exchange blood.”
“You knew that would happen eventually,” said Claude. “Aren’t you rather young for it, though?”
She licked chocolate sauce from the spoon and scooped up another bite. “Yes. I started—seeing—seeing auras, feeling emotions. It came upon me suddenly, in a theater—” She broke off, as if the memory choked her.
Roger felt an unwilling surge of sympathy. He recalled with painful vividness how terrifying his own first experience of psychic perception had been. Would knowing about it in advance make the transition much less traumatic?
Claude said in an even, soothing tone, “Most unfortunate for you, especially since you shouldn’t have begun this early. But didn’t you realize that bonding with your advisor would ease the discomfort? How else can he teach you to shield against that flood of impressions?”
“Maybe it works that way for real vampires,” she said. The bitterness in her voice surprised Roger. “I have human genes. Suppose I can’t stand the touch of his mind? Suppose I’m not strong enough?”
“Where the—” An unexpected spasm of anger momentarily silenced Roger. He forced himself to speak calmly. “Where the blazes did you get an idea like that? From Volnar?”
“Of course not. Some of the other elders—I couldn’t help overhearing them, sometimes. The ones who don’t believe I ought to exist. They think I’m contaminating the gene pool. They are waiting for my—defects—to show. And Dr. Volnar’s mind is very ancient and powerful.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter