Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Welcome to the November 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 Halloween, and happy American Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!
One of my publishers, the Wild Rose Press, now has a page where readers can sign up to find out about new releases:
N. N. Light’s Book Heaven featured my nonfiction book DIFFERENT BLOOD: THE VAMPIRE AS ALIEN in their Trick or Treat promo event:
Do you crave a deep dive into one intriguing stream of vampire science fiction? Or do you just want a resource with an amazing number and variety of vampiric novels and stories to check out? Either way, this is the book for you, written to appeal to researchers, fans, and/or avid readers who combine both.
NIGHT TO DAWN magazine accepted my story “The Case of the Vampire Groupie” for their issue 52. It features my recurring characters Dr. Roger Darvell, a vampire-human hybrid, and his human professional and romantic partner, Dr. Britt Loren. The opening scene appears below.
Here’s an interview with mystery and suspense author J. D. Webb.
*****
Interview with J. D. Webb:
What inspired you to become a writer?
In my high school days, I was known for creating mischief. As punishment for one of my episodes, I was thrown into a creative writing class. Two things I quickly discovered: 1. I love to write and 2. Mischief can be rewarding. I continue to delve into each of these attributes.
What genres do you work in?
Mystery and Suspense/Thrillers. Seems to me that the genres have begun to overlap and merge. Used to be only seven and now over one hundred are identified. As such it makes it harder to define what genre your story fits into. Good lord, I ended a sentence in a preposition. I see more and more authors breaking the so-called rules of writing. I confess. Could this be considered mischief.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I’m a true pantser. I have an idea of a story, and I type away trying to find out what happens next. My characters usually tell me. I don’t outline, but I do organize and fully develop my main characters. I keep a strict chapter timeline, so I know what I’ve included in each. Eight of my novels have been published and none of them ended the way I had first intended.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
I voraciously read authors in my genre(s). Lee Child, Mark Greaney, Vince Flynn, Tom Clancy, John Gilstrap, William Kent Krueger, and the list goes on. I read for pleasure and as a learning experience. I analyze how they plot, use dialogue, develop red herrings, etc. I steal from them, their techniques, their pacing, how they put their story together.
How have your previous careers in the Air Force and as a linguist affected your writing (if they did)?
I served as a linguist in Air Force Security Service. I had a full top-secret clearance, and I use some of that experience in my Suspense novels. Not a lot because after sixty years, I’m positive things have changed drastically. I do have contacts I develop for each book. Whether police or military I go to the public relations offices for information I need. Most are super cooperative. For my book Bayou Chase that takes place in Lake Charles LA, I contacted the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s office, and I still have that officer’s phone number. I have never been to Lake Charles.
What kinds of background research do you conduct for your novels?
I research as necessary. If I use a city for location, I make sure the streets are accurate and go the correct direction if they are one-way. If I use a certain weapon I know as much about it as their website details. The book I’m working on has a 250-foot yacht. I know the dimensions, how much fuel it uses, the crew size and what is included in each of the three decks. I printed out the schematic, and it rests in my notebook.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
On Oct 7 my latest story, a noir mystery Shepherd’s Pie, became available. Mike Shepherd is self-described as Chicago’s best P.I. who attempts to capture an escaped fugitive. That man becomes incensed and begins a killing spree targeting Mike’s friends and Mike himself.
What are you working on now?
The sequel to Shepherd’s Pie will be out in early 2027. Working on final galley. Her Name Is Mommy has Mike trying to rescue a tot’s mom from kidnappers despite being told by the authorities to stop. He doesn’t.
I’m 80% done with a sequel to Frequent Flier (released April 2026) titled Frequent Flier – Savannah. Ex-military pilot Matt Pearson and his buddy Paul try to rescue a seventeen-year-old immigrant girl kidnapped by human traffickers who then sold her to an Arabian sheik. (He owns the huge yacht.)
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Best advice I ever got was to put your butt in the chair and write. So many things pop up in life to distract us. Carve out time to write. Read and steal from your favorite authors. See how they do it.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
My website is J. D. Webb
Facebook and Goodreads are Author JD Webb
Thanks again, Margaret.
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
ASTARION, by T. Kingfisher. A media tie-in fantasy novel by one of my favorite authors, set in the world of the “Baldur’s Gate” computer game. Although I’ve never played the game, as predicted I had no trouble following the story. Over forty years of playing tabletop Dungeons & Dragons more than adequately prepared me for the setting. In fact, probably any fan of sword-and-sorcery fantasy would understand this novel even without D&D experience. I gather Astarion, the protagonist, is a major character in Baldur’s Gate, but prior knowledge of him isn’t needed to enjoy the book, either. Kingfisher smoothly fills in the reader on essential elements of his past. Formerly a magistrate, Astarion was attacked in revenge for an adverse trial judgment. The vampire lord Cazador “saved” him by transforming him into a vampire spawn. We learn from flashbacks to Astarion’s human past that he wasn’t a bad person when alive, though already cynical and hedonistic. Becoming undead has embittered him without eliminating his sardonically humorous view of the world. Spawn, not being full-fledged vampires, suffer all the limitations of the undead condition but don’t possess all its powers yet and are compelled to obey their makers. As a thrall to Cazador along with several others, Astarion leads a mostly miserable existence, but at least he enjoys some freedom on the nights he goes out to lure victims for his master. The spawn aren’t allowed blood from human victims, for that would elevate them to full vampire status. Instead, they’re restricted to animal prey. Cazador is capricious with his favors and creatively sadistic in punishments. The only thrall who gets much leeway is his pet alchemist. Any spawn with treasured possessions must hide them from the master (difficult in itself, given his power to read their minds over a limited distance), who would confiscate them. The thralls don’t trust each other, with good reason. Astarion has only two almost-friends, the alchemist and an older woman who’s his occasional sexual partner, and even with them trust remains only provisional. The inciting incident of the plot occurs when Cazador announces a contest: Whoever brings him a sample of the most exotic and delicious blood will get changed into a true vampire. Of course, they know he’ll probably invent a reason not to bestow the award on anyone, but they have to try. Astarion decides to seek the blood of a dead god from the shrine of the deity’s obscure underground (in both senses) cult. In the process, he accidentally picks up a paladin imprisoned by the cult along with him. They agree to a reluctant truce. A paladin has a duty to destroy undead, yet they need each other to complete their escape. Astarion convinces Hahn den Suriel the latter won’t be breaking his vows if he resolves to kill the vampire at the first opportunity after they escape from the caverns and their truce ends. To add to the inconvenience of their alliance, not only does Suriel bear powers and magical objects harmful to the undead, he can cast truth spells. The only saving grace is that within the spell’s area of effect the paladin can’t lie, either. And Astarion has great skill at giving evasive replies. Readers of books in the author’s world of the White Rat will be familiar with her talent for portraying paladins. Suriel, a devotee of the order of the Argent Badger, which hardly anybody has ever heard of, is as delightful a specimen as one would expect. The snappy dialogue between him and Astarion injects dark humor into even the direst of plights, as they battle cultists, animated skeletons, and soap mummies (not a typo) in the process of escaping. Naturally, the two become strongly attracted to each other, much against the principles of both. Back at Cazador’s lair, the double-crossing and hostility we’d expect ensue. However, Suriel’s obligatory mission to slay the vampire lord concludes with a twist that surprised me. As Kingfisher mentions in her afterword, writers of media-based fiction labor under strict constraints. They can’t alter the status quo established in canon. Therefore, since this novel takes place before the events of the game, Astarion can’t get a happy ending. Yet Kingfisher manages the difficult feat of not only winding up the quest plot in a satisfying way but allowing Astarion some measure of acceptance as he moves forward into the next phase of his undead existence.
THE GATES OF MIDNIGHT, by Helene Wecker. Third and final volume in a series that began with THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI, a book that enthralled me. Although I’d forgotten many events in its immediate sequel, THE HIDDEN PALACE, Wecker skillfully feeds backstory information throughout the present novel, so I never felt lost. The golem, Chava, created as companion for a young man from a small central European village, set out with him to America, but he died on the voyage. The jinni, Ahmad, turned up in New York when accidentally released from the copper flask in which he’d been imprisoned for centuries. These two creatures, one of earth and one of fire, both trying to pass for human, found each other amid New York’s foreign population. They eventually discovered a sinister connection between them: The wizard who created Chava was the latest reincarnation of the one who trapped Ahmad (who, as a result, still wears an iron wristband that limits his powers). While the vivid depiction of the American immigrant experience in the early twentieth century would be riveting in itself, the fantasy element adds extra layers of fascination. THE GATES OF MIDNIGHT skips around chronologically, which doesn’t cause a problem for the reader, because the author includes dates and locations at the head of each chapter. The main story, interwoven with flashbacks, takes place in 1930. Chava, with a golem’s drive to be of service, tends the garden of her New York home while trying to prepare a refuge for other supernatural beings. Ahmad works as an architect in Chicago. Once a week, they converse by long-distance telephone. Frustrated by the subtle racism that denies him meaningful jobs in his company, Ahmad decides to join Chava in New York. Meanwhile, the wizard he captured and confined in the aforesaid copper flask, buried in the Syrian desert, manages to escape. With magical mind-control, he lures an unsuspecting dupe to dig up the receptacle, then leaps among flask-bearing hosts until he arrives in New York to search for Chava. Aside from the golem and the jinni, the novel includes several other viewpoint characters, including the wizard himself. Kreindel, a Jewish woman friend of Chava’s who, against traditional custom, studies Torah and teaches it to girls at a Jewish orphanage, stumbles upon a dangerous spell. Thomas, a young man with the uncanny gift of making himself unseen, travels from the Middle East to North America and finds work on the incomplete Empire State Building. Once a boy named Matthew, whom Ahmad accompanied across the ocean and turned over to the grandmother five-year-old Matthew had never met, at the age of nine he got his memory wiped by an exorcist his grandmother consulted to cure the jinni “taint” in the boy. When he and Ahmad meet in New York, Thomas feels only fear and hostility toward the strange man who seems to know him. Meanwhile, all of them, along with Chava’s other human friends, unwittingly face the threat of the evil wizard’s scheme. Misunderstandings, interpersonal conflicts, and even estrangement complicate relationships among the potential targets of magical malice. I became emotionally invested in the characters and rejoiced in the epilogue’s satisfying resolutions for most of them, won through danger, trauma, and growth.
MAZYWOOD, by Tananarive Due. The two timelines of this novel, in the present day and the silent film era through the golden age of Hollywood, comprise sequel and prequel, respectively, to a pair of previously published stories, “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge” and “Return to Bear Creek Lodge.” The contemporary protagonist, Black filmmaker Johnny Washington, was the viewpoint character of the two short pieces. His grandmother, an embittered, abusive old woman in those stories, is the protagonist of the vintage Hollywood timeline. The book’s structure intertwines the two narratives. Readers don’t need prior knowledge of Johnny’s childhood visits to Bear Creek Lodge to appreciate the novel, since his brief flashback memories provide all the necessary context. In the immediate post-World-War I period, Mazelle Washington begins her long acting career as a child star in a series of movies similar to the “Little Rascal” films. Mazelle, like those kids, has a cute dog as a co-star. After making a magical wish for a friend, she found him loose in the woods, and he revealed almost preternatural intelligence. Scout the Wonder Dog appears to understand anything she says and obeys her commands but nobody else’s. He makes her a star even though she has only average singing and dancing talents. Unfortunately, like all child actors she begins to age out of the role, and at that time Scout vanishes as mysteriously as he arrived. Without him, offers of work dry up. As an adult, Mazelle resumes acting, now as a stereotypical caricature of a Black maid, “Lazy Mazy,” in a series of comedies. She’s a big hit but yearns for serious roles. Her long-time director strings her along with promises that don’t materialize, while declaring, “You’ll always be Lazy Mazy.” Although she has many friends in the industry, including Black stars such as Hattie McDaniel, she can’t escape that stereotype. With her accumulated wealth, she establishes a ski lodge retreat, called Mazywood until her loathing for her Lazy Mazy past impels her to rename it “Bear Creek Lodge.” Just when she needs him most, Scout reappears, but he no longer looks quite like a dog. An instrument of her pent-up rage, he grows less like a natural animal over the years. He lurks in the woods, known only to Mazelle. In the present, Johnny Washington encounters a severe setback in his film career. Moreover, he and his wife, Tasha, have just learned she’s pregnant, a shock to their pleasant anticipation of an empty nest in a few years. Their two daughters are respectively thirteen and almost college age. He’s planning to rent out his late grandmother’s mountain property as a ski lodge. With his bad memories of the place, he’d as soon never see it again, but Tasha and their daughters love idea of spending a few days there. Tasha contemplates writing a book about Mazelle, and the girls look forward to snowboarding on the slopes. All horror fans know the perils of staying at an isolated house in midwinter. Despite the lack of internet and cell phone service, Johnny’s wife and daughters enjoy the place at first. He has convinced himself the creature that terrified him as a preteen was just a fox tunneling under the snow. So what if his grandmother secretly fed the animal? By then she was probably half crazy, anyway. His confidence in natural explanations is shattered when the family gets attacked by Mazelle’s monster, now large enough to drag Tasha away. Johnny and the girls set out, separately, to track down and rescue her – if she has survived. The long search, chase, and combat sequence maintains genuine suspense as to who will live or die. The characters, though flawed, are sympathetic, even Mazelle. The sections presented from her viewpoint reveal how the girl and young woman with talent and cherished dreams warped into the grandmother Johnny remembers with fear and revulsion. Discovery of the creature’s lair reveals family secrets from the distant past, one of my favorite fictional tropes. The “monster” formerly known as Scout proves to have unexpectedly complex motives. The ending includes a twist that surprised me. A fascinating exploration of generational trauma and the history of Black Hollywood.
OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE, by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Follow-up to THE TALISMAN and BLACK HOUSE by King and the late Peter Straub, this novel completes a trilogy. I’ve always suspected the Talisman in the book of that title and the Dark Tower, intersection of all planes of reality, were the same entity in different forms. BLACK HOUSE, with its Dark Tower connection, reinforced that belief for me. I’m not at all surprised to read in interviews and the afterword to OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE that King has always considered Mid-World in the Dark Tower saga to be the Territories from THE TALISMAN under another name. Now he has explicitly united the two in a work that draws both series to an epic culmination. (Not that I wouldn’t expect Dark Tower connections to continue popping up in King’s future fiction.) Jack Sawyer, a boy in THE TALISMAN and middle-aged in BLACK HOUSE, is now about sixty. He lives in Mid-World because, having been mortally wounded at the end of the previous novel and healed in Mid-World, he can survive for only a few days at a time on “America-side.” While other travelers need portals, such as used by Roland in the Dark Tower books, Jack can still “flip” between dimensions at will but has to be careful in doing it. Fans who haven’t reread THE TALISMAN and/or BLACK HOUSE recently shouldn’t have much trouble catching up, since necessary backstory is unobtrusively interwoven through the story. Jack’s memories of important past events rise to the surface of the narrative in smooth, plausible ways rather than appearing forced. King also uses the device of a memoir the widowed Jack Sawyer wrote for the benefit of his wife during their marriage, but he rereads selected passages in small doses at plausible moments to jolt his own memory along with the audience’s. As for the “Dark Tower” Mid-World setting of the novel, familiarity with the Dark Tower saga isn’t absolutely necessary, but readers of OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE who haven’t read any of the former books would miss interesting resonances. As the novel opens, Jack, occasionally experiencing the presence of his late wife, lives in the major city of Dezi (pronounced “Deez-eye”). It’s ruled by a “governor,” more like a petty dictator, who’s obsessed with collecting pulp fiction paperbacks and miscellaneous kitschy objects from our world. Jack runs errands for him to acquire this stuff. Among the Big Kahuna’s acquisitions are several other people from American-side, all kidnapped by the BK’s chief henchman (eventually revealed as much more than he seems) in 1976 of our timeline. They eventually become Jack’s ka-tet – a fellowship brought together by fate – although they don’t get along all that well among themselves, and he doesn’t particularly like some of them. In the present day, a male-female pair of young thrill-killers on the rampage stumble from the U.S. into Mid-World. In the process of passing through an interdimensional void known as the Gullet, they become possessed by a demonic entity, perhaps the supposedly destroyed Crimson King itself. The homicidal evil proves contagious, spreading to hordes of teenagers and young adults. Jack and his ka-tet of misfits are tasked with trekking to the Gullet, stopping the wanton slaughter, and closing the portal. Along the way, his initially unappealing companions grow on him and us, especially the seeress Mary, a former fortuneteller occasionally gifted with flashes of true precognition. Jack also picks up a billy-bumbler, a vaguely doglike animal with high intelligence and fierce loyalty, reminiscent of the bumbler Oy in the Dark Tower series. While we know time runs differently between our Earth and Mid-World / The Territories, it surprised me to notice how profound this fracture seems. Either that, or Mid-World society has a pretty short collective memory. In BLACK HOUSE, this-world action seems simultaneous with the climax of Roland’s quest for the Dark Tower. From Jack’s relative age, not much more than thirty years could have passed. Yet in Mid-World Roland and his ka-tet have become legendary, almost mythical figures, and some people doubt the Tower ever existed. Many of the less skeptical, though, insist on viewing Jack as a reincarnation of Roland, a status he vehemently rejects. However, “echoes” of correspondence among Roland’s ka-tet, Jack’s band, and features of Earth and Mid-World abound. King’s Constant Readers will notice callbacks to the Dark Tower books and THE TALISMAN, such as Slow Mutants and the humanoid Wolfs (not “wolves”). Brace for horror in the devastated, blood-drenched towns the murderers have passed through, as well as poignant scenes of pain and loss among the heroes. They’re on a mission to save not only Earth and Mid-World but perhaps the entire multiverse. We can’t expect everybody to win through unscathed; after all, this is a Stephen King book. As always, he makes us care about his flawed but courageous characters. I reacted to the epilogue with deep ambivalence. I find it profoundly moving, yet in its way frustrating. Readers with negative emotions about the end of Roland’s quest may feel the same way about the conclusion of this one. (Okay, this is an unusually long mini-review. But the complicated novel itself is almost 700 pages long!)
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “The Case of the Vampire Groupie”:
“My newest patient claims she’s a vampire.”
From an armchair opposite his office desk, Roger Darvell gazed at Dr. Britt Loren, his professional and romantic partner, seated on the couch. In the late-afternoon light of September in Maryland that filtered through the closed window blinds, the roseate glow of her aura shone clearly.
With a skeptical arch of his eyebrows, he asked, “Is she?”
“Unlikely. She says she was turned — ‘sired,’ as she puts it — about a month ago.”
Unless the patient was a delusional vampire, then, she certainly wasn’t one of any kind. Vampires weren’t made. Like Roger himself, they were born, members of a very rare humanoid species sharing the world with Homo sapiens. The oddity of the case intrigued him, a stimulating change from their usual routine. Nowadays, insurance constraints meant they spent more time writing prescriptions than conducting old-fashioned psychoanalysis. “Why is she seeking treatment, then? Looking for a cure?”
“Not exactly. She just wants help fighting the urge to drink human blood. She’s been living mainly on animal blood sourced from butchers, plus milk and other liquids.”
Another proof that the patient was an ordinary ephemeral laboring under a delusion. Any vampire deprived of sustenance from live human donors for more than a week or so would risk psychosis. Emotional energy from a sapient source was as essential to their health as the blood itself.
“Still, since I can’t be a hundred percent sure she’s human,” Britt continued, “I asked her permission to call you in. You’ll be able to tell the difference at a glance.”
“It’s barely possible she isn’t an ephemeral with delusions of being a vampire, but a vampire who thinks she’s formerly human.”
Britt nodded. “I thought of that, which is why I want you to confirm my impression. But, again, it doesn’t seem likely. She doesn’t look like one of your kind. Not that my mental template comes from a very large sample size, but still…”
“Of course I want to meet her, either way. When are you seeing her again?”
“Next Wednesday at two. Can you be available?”
Roger stepped to his desktop computer and opened the scheduling software. “As it happens, my patient for that time slot canceled this coming week.” He got the alleged vampire’s name from Britt and entered it on the spreadsheet.
“You know how Janine reacts when we fool with the schedule instead of going through her,” she said.
“Yes, but I trust Janine knows who’s in charge of this practice.”
“Sure. She is. Remember how much trouble we had finding her when our last admin retired?”
“Granted,” Roger said with a wry smile. “I’ll send a very apologetic e-mail alerting her to the change.”
-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 October 2026 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
In September, my ghost novella “Her Death Was Doubtful” was featured in N. N. Light’s Middle Grade and YA promo event:
Her Death Was Doubtful Spotlight
Have you heard of vampire pumpkins? My story “Night of the Living Gourd,” in NIGHT TO DAWN No. 50, introduces one into a modern suburb. There’s an excerpt below. You can buy the magazine here:
Please welcome mystery and romantic suspense author M. S. Spencer:
*****
Interview with M. S. Spencer:
What inspired you to become a writer?
I have been writing since my chubby 4-year-old fingers could hold a piece of sidewalk chalk. Like any sane tweenie I wrote reams of self-indulgent, metaphor-heavy poems while racked out on my bed staring out the window. I confess I still indulge in a little iambic composition to this day. I grew more ambitious as an adult and hammered out a novel which my loving husband threw out by mistake, then ground out another one which was mercifully taken out of my hands and edited into the splendid novel it is today. Once you get that first acceptance call, you are validated. After that, you’re not just a writer; you’re an author. As of September 30, I’m the proud creator of 19 books.
What genres do you work in?
I write murder mystery and romantic suspense. Some might call my mysteries “cozy” but to me that conjures up the doughnut lady or the knitting circle who solve crimes while crocheting baby blankets or frosting Berliners. Mine are more like Agatha Christie’s stories—puzzles to be solved by remarkably tenacious and perspicacious amateur sleuths. The romantic element is strong but not dominant. What can I say? I like happy endings.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
I start with a story line of a few paragraphs which is almost totally scrapped by the third chapter. After that comes a first draft, which is more or less a detailed outline of about 30,000 words. Once the bare bones are set I can fill out the characters and add lots of red herrings and straw men. Since they are complicated mysteries, I literally memorize the story in order to recognize glitches and inconsistencies. The book isn’t usually ready for submission until the ninth or tenth draft.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
When I was young I read everything. Everything, that is, except novels with girls’ names in the title, which I spurned as wussy. That included Little Women and even Nancy Drew. I read all the classics (because I figured they were classics for a reason), and every dog, horse, outdoors, pirate adventure I could find. I also devoured biographies. The authors that had the most influence on me were English—Austen, Hardy, the Waughs, the Brontës, Iris Murdoch—plus Thomas Mann, Rilke, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Euripides. Of course the great mystery writers—Marsh, Christie, Sayers—had a huge influence.
Your mysteries are set in numerous different locations. What kinds of research do you conduct for them?
I don’t use settings with which I’m unfamiliar. Most of my books are set in Maine, the DC area, and Florida. The most autobiographical of my stories follows my adventures in Europe and the Middle East. Still, I augment my memories with major research to ensure accuracy. Being a librarian helps.
Please tell us about your poetry. What inspired the continuing character of Zelda?
I didn’t know you saw my poetry! Very gratifying. I’ve been writing poetry all my life but a few years ago I took up with Zelda who is not an alter ego. She is a fascinating, irritating, frightening, impressive and impressionable, over-sized pixie who definitely keeps me on my toes. Let others decide where she comes from.
What will readers find in your blog?
I use the blog as a newsletter. You will find media kits for all my books; my calendar and links to all my interviews and guest posts; news about my writing; and information on where to find the books. I don’t often write an actual blog.
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
Fair Winds and Foul Play: An Amity Landing Mystery, released September 30. Here’s the blurb:
What do a government official, a loony environmentalist, and a batty old lady have in common?
Zoe’s run-in with the newcomer in Albion Cottage is hardly promising, but his gunmetal gray eyes and air of mystery stick with her. Why is he hiding? Who is he? His prickly attitude grates on the neighborly—well, to be honest, nosey—folks of the village of Amity Landing, but when he confesses to Zoe that he is the witness to a gruesome murder, she jumps at the chance to help the handsome stranger.
Two more corpses make their appearance in quick succession, but their connection to the first body is murky at best. Is it simply a series of unfortunate incidents? Has Amity Landing become a hotbed of homicide or is there a pattern to the madness? Do more have to die before Zoe and the stranger can fit the puzzle pieces together?
And here are the buy links (you can use either the universal link or the others; once the book is published Books2Read adds any new links).
Books2Read (universal link)
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
The Wild Rose Press
Apple
Google
What are you working on now?
This is fun! I’m working on a mystery set on Anna Maria Island (south-central Florida, Gulf Coast). It starts in the aftermath of the two hurricanes of 2024. The heroine and hero check out a severely damaged house and discover a young girl suffering from amnesia. She clutches a diamond brooch in her hand, which the hero recognizes as from the Napoleonic crown jewels recently stolen from the Louvre in Paris.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Edit, edit, edit till your brain bleeds. Correct inconsistencies, watch out for favorite phrases or words. It’s not how many words you write; it’s how well those words are put together.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence? (If there are a huge number of possible links, please limit them to five or so.)
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
BookDNA
GoodReads
BookBub
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
HORROR TROPES (And What They Tell Us), by Rick Wood. The author has written numerous novels, edited several anthologies, and produced other nonfiction books about writing and the horror genre. This one should more accurately be called “Horror Film Tropes.” Books are mentioned very rarely, only as sources for a few movies. Better yet, the title should be something like “Horror Tropes in Contemporary Films,” but I suppose that would be a bit cumbersome. The vast majority of movies cited were produced in the twenty-first century, although the eighties and nineties aren’t neglected, some works from the seventies are included, and a very few from the fifties and sixties appear. The foundational classic and vintage productions of Universal and Hammer studios aren’t mentioned at all. Also, from my viewpoint the author concentrates too heavily on the slasher subgenre. I expected more analysis than he provides, although there’s some – that’s where “what they tell us” comes in – and he’s clearly an expert in the field. In fairness, he’s writing for a popular rather than academic audience. If you seek an exhaustive listing of almost every possible horror film trope and motif, thematically classified by chapter, here’s the book for you. I do wonder, though, why the well-known motifs of “kill your gays” and “women in refrigerators” are omitted. For me, the main drawbacks of the book are lack of a table of contents and, worse, lack of an index. It needs an index of tropes and a separate one for movie titles. The reader can browse for pleasure but has no way to perform a targeted search. I recommend the book for entertainment and for discovering new movies to track down and watch. Don’t count on it as a reliable reference work, though. In one chapter, Wood consistently writes “sanctity” where he means “sanctuary”; at another point he refers to Shirley Jackson’s classic novel THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE as “The House on Haunted Hill”; and those aren’t the only errors I noticed. So if you want to cite any of his titles or dates, check against a different source in case those contain typos, too.
LITTLE MONSTERS, by Maire Roche. This has to be the most unusual retelling of LITTLE WOMEN I’ve read. Granted, others have transmuted the classic novel into dark fantasy, e.g., LITTLE VAMPIRE WOMEN and LITTLE WOMEN AND WEREWOLVES, but those stick pretty close to the plotline of Louisa May Alcott’s work, along the lines of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES and SENSE AND SENSIBILITY AND SEA MONSTERS. Roche’s adaptation, although set in Massachusetts like the original (specifically Salem), takes place in the present day. While the principal characters have the names and personalities of their classic counterparts, the plot doesn’t duplicate that of LITTLE WOMEN. The March sisters have lost their parents and lived in a succession of foster homes. Marmee, their current foster mother, works long hours but treats the sisters kindly. Protagonist Meg, as the oldest, takes responsibility for her sisters and tries to ensure the four of them cause as little trouble as possible. If they remain helpful and well-behaved and don’t ask for anything – including money for Halloween costumes or even regular clothes – maybe they won’t lose the best home they’ve had. She does her best to supply their nonessential wants by part-time work for the affluent family of Jo’s (male) best friend, Laurie. Staying out of trouble can’t be guaranteed, since Beth has cute bat wings, Amy is a part-mermaid shapeshifter, and Meg and Jo sprout fur, fangs, and claws under stress. As Meg eventually learns, Salem is one of a few “seam” cities, places that attract supernatural events and “monstrous” people. At the beginning of the story, though, she knows only that she and her sisters must hide their abnormal traits. While aware that she leaves the house at night, she can’t remember where she goes or what she does. Could she be the monster killing chickens and even attacking people? As neighbors and schoolmates become more suspicious of her, she becomes increasingly isolated, even from her sisters. She’s afraid to ask Marmee for help. Meg’s feeling of betrayal when she discovers their foster mother hides an apparently sinister secret makes things worse. Even the obligatory “rich mean girl” antagonist and her status-obsessed parents turn out to be much more than they seem. Meg’s increasing desperation as she clings to the belief that her family’s welfare depends completely on her makes her a deeply sympathetic character. Many of us, “monstrous” or not, can identify with the theme of feeling like an outsider and misfit. The denouement enlightens Meg as well as the reader about the hidden truth of Salem and its inhabitants.
DEMONS AND DIPLOMACY, by Megan Frampton. Reminiscent of series by such authors as Patricia Briggs, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Jim Butcher, in this alternate-history fantasy novel numerous species formerly thought to be imaginary and/or legendary have become publicly known in the recent Great Revelation. The set-up also brings to mind Kim Newman’s superb alternate history ANNO-DRACULA; in both works, Queen Victoria is a vampire. Unlike Newman’s version, however, Frampton’s Victoria is a ruthless monarch rather than a thrall to an undead lord. Prince Albert, a dhampir, appears definitely subordinate to her rather than essentially co-ruler as in real-life history. As far as I can tell, in DEMONS AND DIPLOMACY vampires belong to a different species rather than being former humans. The term “species” is consistently used for them, and there’s no mention of vampiric transformation. Their kind, though, play little onstage role in the story, Victoria being the only one the protagonist interacts with, and only in a few scenes. As the title suggests, the plot centers on demons. It’s set in the context of Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition. The ruler of Hell, the actual Devil, makes a royal visit to meet the Queen and spend a month in England before the opening of the Exhibition. Narrator Cora Hastings works as the government’s species ombudsman, who mediates disputes among members of various supernatural species, as well as between them and the human majority. She faces the monumental task of orchestrating the satanic visit to keep the Devil in a good enough mood that he won’t inflict his wrath on anyone or anything. Cora acts as liaison to His Satanic Majesty’s entourage, represented by Marcellus, Marquis of Hell, highest ranking of the Devil’s many offspring. Frampton’s Victoria and Albert bear little resemblance to their historical counterparts; in my opinion, they might as well be different people with the same names. (Granted, though, maybe we don’t see enough of them to judge.) While avoiding disastrous interdimensional incidents, coping with religious zealots who vehemently protest allowing demons in the human world, and investigating assassination attempts, Cora and Marcellus become closer than she’s comfortable with. After all, he’s a demon, however charming, with a moral code – or lack thereof – incompatible with human values. Anyway, no matter how friendly they become, after a month or so he’ll be returning to Hell. I can believe in Cora’s falling in lust with him. But love? That moral mismatch would seem insurmountable, a problem that continues to bug me even after a happy ending that strikes me as a bit too facile. Moreover, Cora never develops, for me, much depth of character. Her friendship with her two housemates, a fairy and a succubus, feels more believable than her attachment to Marcellus. As for the constant references to her obsession with tea, maybe they’re intended as comic relief, but to me they just make her seem annoyingly frivolous. The topic might work better as a character-defining trait if she spent onstage time fussing over the proper way to brew the genial beverage (as Elizabeth Peters’s heroine Amelia Peabody calls it) or discussing the merits of different varieties. As it is, although I know practically nothing about tea, much less the British nuances related to it, I could have written those frequent throwaway allusions myself. Nevertheless, the worldbuilding is fun, even if the mystery and suspense don’t rise to Agatha Christie levels of complexity. I especially like the excerpts from “An Incomplete Guide to Navigating Supernatural Species in the Post-Revelation World” that precede each chapter, delivering expository tidbits in an entertaining, colloquial style. A glossary of such species follows the text of the novel. The book’s subtitle implies that it’s the beginning of a series. A fun, fast-paced but not frenetic read, enjoyable despite the above-mentioned imperfections.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Night of the Living Gourd”:
“Mom, there’s a dead squirrel on the porch.”
At Dan’s yell, Lynn, in the kitchen, glanced up from rifling through his previous night’s trick-or-treat bounty in search of chocolate. Halloween having fallen on Friday, he’d collected a larger haul than usual and would hardly miss any candy she sneaked for herself.
When she emerged onto the front porch, she found her son pointing at a furry, flattened corpse. From behind the screen door, Wagner, their dachshund, barked furiously.
The carved pumpkin, which she’d posed on the topmost of the three front steps, now sat on the edge of the porch. “Hey, who moved the jack-o-lantern? And how did the squirrel’s blood get on it?”
Dan poked at the carcass. “Maybe the pumpkin tried to eat it.”
“Don’t touch that. And don’t be silly.” Wasn’t seven too old for such a flight of fantasy?
His thirteen-year-old sister, Ashley, ambled onto the porch, munching on a granola bar while nudging Wagner out of the way. The dog, apparently having gotten his second wind, launched into another barking fit. “What happened?” She raked the fingers of her free hand through her auburn, sleep-tousled hair.
“No idea,” Lynn said. “Unless it’s a Halloween prank by one of your friends.”
“Really, Mom.” Ashley heaved a sigh expressive of long-suffering exasperation. “What kind of friends do you think I have?”
“Okay, I concede the point for now. Anybody volunteer to get rid of the dead squirrel?” With faint hope, Lynn glanced at each of her children in turn.
“Eww.” Ashley retreated into the house.
“Dan?”
“You said not to touch it. Can I go watch my cartoons?” Not waiting for an answer, he hurried inside, too.
Lynn resignedly scuffed through a layer of autumn leaves to the garage for a shovel to scoop up the corpse. If Craig were home, she could count on him for the unpleasant chore. Unfortunately, his ship was deployed to the Mediterranean and wouldn’t return until December. “Glamorous life of a Navy wife,” she muttered as she dumped the dead squirrel in the garbage can.
What could have killed it? None of the neighbors let their dogs run free. A fox, maybe? Remembering Dan’s remark, she laughed aloud. “Vicious pumpkin attack, right.”
Hours later, when she took Wagner out for his afternoon stroll around the block, he lunged to the end of the leash, barking as he charged the jack-o-lantern.
“What’s gotten into you today?” She tugged him down the front steps. Once on the sidewalk, he seemed to forget about his newfound feud with the pumpkin.
-end of excerpt-
*****
The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, visit the Dropbox page below. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter
Welcome to the September 2026 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.”
Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog
To subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please e-mail me at MLCVamp@aol.com, and I will add you to the list.
For other web links of possible interest, please scroll to the end.
As summer “lingers through September” (like in Camelot, except theirs doesn’t have to endure thunderstorms), below is an excerpt from my paranormal romance novella “Summertide Echoes,” set at a cabin in the Shenandoah Mountains. After the hero’s folk music performance at a lodge in the National Park, he and the heroine are reminiscing about their teen years, including their marathon Dungeons & Dragons games. The conversation shifts to their disagreement about whether to sell the vacation cabin they co-own.
This month’s interview introduces H. B. Berlow, author of historical crime fiction and other genres.
*****
Interview with H. B. Berlow:
What inspired you to become a writer?
The story I always tell is of the assignments in first grade where we had to place each newly learned vocabulary word into a sentence. There was some degree of fascination to that which stuck in my mind. Of course, it didn’t hurt that my parents had books in EVERY room of the house. Reading, art, and culture were big in my family.
What genres do you work in?
My current focus is on Midwest historical crime fiction. However, I have written literary fiction, metafiction, and Transgressive fiction. There was also an intensive period in the early 1990s when I was involved in the Boston poetry scene.
Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?
Ah, the Plotter / Pantser inquiry. Well, as far as that goes, there is a brief outline which, after I’m done, seems like I took the bypass instead of the highway. Interestingly, I came up with a different expression a few years ago: the Sculptor vs. the Potter. One takes a big block of stone and chips away at it until the image forms. The other takes pieces and constantly builds it up until it becomes an identifiable item. I’m typically the latter.
What have been the major influences on your work (favorite authors or whatever)?
As far as authors go, I harken back to the original hardboiled guys: Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. For darkness, I sprinkle in Cornell Woolrich. For pure pulp, nothing beats Jim Thompson. As for contemporary, Dennis Lehane is from my hometown of Boston so I “get” what he’s doing.
Now, I recently retired after 43 years in customer service, which I’m quite certain informed my, shall we say, need to write crime fiction. I don’t think I need to elaborate.
How has your experience in filmmaking affected your fiction writing?
Fantastic question, given my studies in the early 1980s focused on how film was made until all these technological advances. Storytelling was always the key. My screenwriting classes were the guide in that regard. Since I write historical crime fiction, there is less attention paid to computers and CSI-type episodes. My work is character driven. The main character uses intellect, thought, instinct, experience, and whatever other personal tools he can grab onto. Story and character are predominant.
What kinds of research do you do for your historical novels?
Short answer: whatever is needed. Here’s an example from the first book “Ark City Confidential.” It was the second chapter and I had the antagonist, a gangster from Chicago, being told to leave town to avoid Capone’s vengeance. He would hide out in Kansas.
Now I had to figure out: how he would get down there (since there was no interstate system); what kind of car he would drive to determine how many miles per gallon that car got in order to calculate how long it would take to reach his destination; figure out what kind of lodgings he could stay at and where he would eat.
Nearly a full day’s worth of research for about three-quarters of a chapter. But if you don’t do it, you’ll sound foolish and lose your reader.
Please tell us about your podcast on “the writing life.”
Brian Johnson and I have been friends for about twenty odd years (as opposed to an odd twenty years!). He had a podcast prior, his co-hosts didn’t want to expand upon their original format, and it ended. I had bugged him for a while and he acquiesced.
Despite the fact that we write in different genres, the basic notions we discuss are about “creatives” more than just writers. We discuss craft, passions, activities, and offer a chance to promote. In so doing, we promote ourselves.
On the other hand, my blog, The Tikiman Says…, has been up and running since 2010. I discuss more personal aspects of “the writing life” and intertwine it with my cooking/baking adventures. They happen to be my other creative passions.
Just out of curiosity, what’s the source of your screen name “Tikiman”?
I started buying, shall we say, less expensive Hawaiian shirts from thrift stores. Out of the blue, my wife got me a birthday present of an authentic Aloha shirt from Hilo Hatties, one of the finest purveyors of Hawaiian wear at the time. Back then, those things cost $50. I stopped buying the thrift store ones after that.
Throw in a love of lounge music (because nobody beats Frank and Dean) and a passion for martinis and craft cocktails, the Tikiman emerged from the beach just as Aphrodite came from the foam of the sea. (Okay, a LITTLE melodramatic!)
What is your latest or next-forthcoming book?
The Time of Judgment, Vol. 4 of The Wichita Chronicles, is scheduled for release on August 19, 2026. In this book, Jewish private detective Harold Bergman is drawn into the search for a Nazi war criminal roaming around somewhere in Kansas. Given the nature of the series thus far and the development of the main character, it feels like where the story was going to wind up all along.
What are you working on now?
If you recall earlier, I mentioned recent retirement. Therefore the question is how much I am working on now. Book Five of The Wichita Chronicles is complete and will be presented to my publisher later this year. Book One of a new series is complete. I am querying a literary metafiction, pulling a couple of WIP out of mothballs, attending book fairs, book festivals, and book signings. Oh and baking bread and making sausages Naturally, there are honey-dos sprinkled in between.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Two invaluable words: Patience and Persistence. That’s the start. Read anything you can get your hands on that intrigues you, whether it’s in your genre or not. Attend a meeting of an authors’ group or, better yet, join. Go to conferences, festivals, author and book events. Talk to authors. (Trust me, they love it!) It has to be your passion, not a “side gig.” It has to be what feeds your soul, not something to supplement your income. Writing is far too personal a venture.
What is the URL of your website? What about other internet presence?
The Tikiman Says is my blog.
Facebook: hb.tikiman
You can give a listen to Tikiman and the Viking Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple, and wherever the cool podcasts are located.
Threads: @rabbi_dude
Instagram: rabbi_dude
*****
Some Books I’ve Read Lately:
THE EVERLASTING, by Alix E. Harrow. Author of bestselling portal fantasy THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY, in this secondary-world fantasy Harrow presents a complex story in which the “portal,” a magic book, sends the protagonist to multiple alternate pasts of his world rather than different worlds in a multiverse. Here the author uses the rare technique of second-person narration. The protagonist and the title character, Una Everlasting, recall the multiple iterations of their relationship by each telling the other, addressed as “you,” events they may have forgotten due to the nature of the time-travel magic. One later section, however, switches to third person, referring to the pair as “they,” but it’s still the protagonist(s) writing the story. Excerpts from the classic work THE DEATH OF UNA EVERLASTING appear in bold. The LOCUS review of the novel compares its present-day setting, an empire called the Dominion, to post-World-War-II Great Britain. Owen Mallory, a faculty member in a university history department, is a stereotypical introverted, bespectacled scholar who, although a war veteran, was thoroughly unsuited for military life. He came home with emotional and physical scars as well as a medal won by accident. He has a strained relationship with his single father, a radical pacifist opposed to the present government. Owen has little hope of tenure or even academic respect, with his work on the mythic figure of Una, the legendary knight who raised the first queen of Dominion to the throne, regarded as derivative at best. His adventures begin when he receives, from an unknown sender, a copy of THE DEATH OF UNA EVERLASTING, a lost work some historians had believed never to exist in the first place. It brings him under the sway of the empire’s new Chancellor, a ruthless manipulator determined to shape the country’s history according to her own vision for the greater good. Upon meeting her, Owen embarks on the first of multiple involuntary trips through time. He encounters Una again and again, always under the same ancient yew tree from which (like a female Arthur) she drew her magical sword. In the first visit to the past, he accepts his mission to ensure that her triumphant career and heroic sacrifice unfold as history records. Having gotten to know the disillusioned, battle-scarred woman behind the legend, however, during later iterations he strives to spare her from her destined fate. Every time, although the magic that originally made both of them forget their earlier meetings has faded, their foreknowledge doesn’t enable them to thwart the inevitable. For the reader, the inexorable repetition of the tragedy can become emotionally exhausting. Even when Owen and Una acknowledge their mutual love and believe they’ve found a path toward a normal, more or less happy life, the reader knows better. Our metafictional awareness of the number of pages left in the book warns us against complacence. Have their lives been shaped by some outside force from the beginning? Are they nothing but puppets? Is everything they experience aside from the indestructible enchanted sword (if even that) staged? Layer upon layer of history and myth are stripped away, revealing the truth about that yew tree as well as the depth and scope of the Chancellor’s involvement. Time loops multiply and fold upon themselves, with Owen destined to write the book that inspired him to pursue Una’s legend in the first place. The heart-rending plight of the protagonists and the head-spinning plot twists culminate in a denouement that makes the ordeal worth the journey.
Soon after finishing this novel, I read one of Harrow’s earlier works, THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES. That book also explores the function of stories. In its alternate-history 1890s American setting, witches are known to exist but believed to be almost extinct, thanks to systematic legal persecution and burnings. Witchcraft has dwindled to minor household charms, with its deeper truths covertly handed down among women and hidden in songs, nursery rhymes, folklore dismissed as trivial, and fairy tales (aka “witch-tales”). It’s these sources that three estranged sisters, brought together by a dramatic magical event, draw upon to revive the ancient words, works, and ways. They summon the long-lost Way to Avalon, which turns out to be a multi-level library tower. Perhaps they may somehow connect with the mythic Last Three, Crone, Mother, and Maiden, while they half-consciously grow into those roles themselves. Meanwhile, the eldest sister, a librarian, strives to record every fragment of lore and spells they can find. Resurgent witchcraft and resulting persecution unfold against the background of the suffragist movement. The hostile, mainly masculine powers-that-be conflate suffragettes, prostitutes, civil rights workers, and labor organizers with witches as embodiments of evil. Witchcraft becomes a symbol of women’s oppression and reclamation of power. THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES, fraught with danger, sacrifice, and tragedy, ends with a eucatastrophic epilogue that doesn’t in any way cheapen what the characters have suffered.
ONCE-UPON-THYME, by Celine Jeanjean. Another secondary-world fantasy grappling with the nature of narrative. At first glance, this appears to be a lighthearted fairy-tale parody, but darkness deepens as complications arise. The kingdom of Once-Upon-Thyme, somewhat like the 500 Kingdoms created by Mercedes Lackey, operates under the control of an almost sentient force of storytelling. While members of the middle class are generally exempt, royalty, nobility, and simple villagers and country folk tend to get shaped into roles dictated by the standard “storylines.” Furthermore, the authorities sometimes help the magic along by intervening to straighten out inhabitants who veer from their traditional paths. Otherwise, vaguely defined but dire disasters might result. As the first page explains, in the tiny realm of Once-Upon-Thyme, far larger on the inside than it appears from outside, queens are supposed to die in childbirth, peasants regularly win thrones regardless of qualifications to rule or absence thereof, all stepmothers and stepsisters must be evil, and curses are “more prevalent than the common cold.” Princess Adrianna, who has so far failed to snare a princely bridegroom, doesn’t fit the archetypal pattern. Her stepmother, a washout in terms of wickedness, is obsessed with gardening and constantly quarrels over it with their gardener, one of only two servants in the dusty, disorganized castle. Adrianna gets along fine with her gentle, animal-loving stepsister. Adrianna’s live-in fairy godmother lolls around drinking way too much, and Adrianna herself tends in that direction. Meanwhile, Prince Charming (his real name) prefers libraries to balls or his domineering mother, who’s pushing him to fulfill his destiny. He can barely stand the thought of marrying one of the relentlessly flirtatious princesses who swarm around him. At the ball in the opening scene, he accidentally meets Adrianna’s stepmother, Queen Petunia, in the garden. Delighted by a lady who discourses nonstop on a substantive topic (flower cultivation) without expecting any response from him, he decides he’s in love with her. From a storyline perspective, his ignoring Adrianna and proposing to her stepmother portends disaster. Also, his role in the pattern requires him to prove his worth by slaying the last dragon in the kingdom. The novel’s tone shifts from amusing to foreboding when Adrianna learns the truth about how her stepmother was unwillingly shaped for her place in the story. Furthermore, if Adrianna doesn’t fulfill her destiny of marrying a prince, their family’s predetermined structure will collapse, forcing a grim fate on the “evil stepsister.” Since Adrianna hasn’t succeeded in winning her prince, can she perhaps thwart destiny? She accordingly rides forth to seek the dragon along with her fairy godmother and Sam, a freelancer hired to help her steal the dragon’s egg in order to lure the beast into a trap. When Adrianna realizes the dragon is an innocent creature only trying to protect her child, though, the plan becomes problematic. To complicate matters, romantic tension grows between Adrianna and Sam, which the reader recognizes, naturally, long before the two of them do. Trying to save both the dragon and her stepsister, Adrianna finds herself so far out of any prescribed script that she must create her own story. With the reader wondering how the crisis can possibly be resolved, the author attains a happy ending by a surprising route. Despite the dark scenes, moments of comic relief pop up throughout. The author’s forthcoming variation on “Snow White” should prove equally entertaining.
SEA OF CHARMS, by Sarah Beth Durst. A third book in the series that began with THE SPELLSHOP. Not exactly a sequel, since the timelines of the three novels overlap. In the background of all three looms the revolution against the empire and the resulting upheaval in the capital city. The author does an admirable job of weaving interlace connections among the three stories. While one doesn’t need to have read the first two to enjoy this installment, it’s fun to catch glimpses of characters from previously published books. For instance, a sapient plant from the enchanted greenhouse of the second novel figures as a prominent secondary character. Can a story taking place mostly at sea qualify as a “cozy” fantasy? I’ve always considered a strong sense of place, a safe haven such as a coffee shop or bookstore, an integral part of that emergent subgenre. In this case, however, although the protagonist, Marin, has a strong relationship with her parents and enjoys returning to visit them, she considers her boat and the ocean her true home. As for the “low stakes” component of the definition (which I don’t fully agree with), the overthrow of the empire entails very high stakes, but (as mentioned above), that’s background. The foreground of the series features characters whose main connection with the revolt is an urgent desire to stay as far from it as possible. In her island home and at sea, Marin hears only rumors that have no direct impact on her. Her “stakes” start out low, consisting of an overbearing ex-fiance and a massive loan her parents contracted to buy her a new boat. While she works hard as a seagoing courier to earn enough money to pay off the debt, she believes she has plenty of time left. Until she doesn’t, when the personal stakes for her suddenly become dire. Meanwhile, wary of relationships after her ex’s vile betrayal, she’s content with a friendly sea monster as a sailing companion. Nevertheless, she accepts Ree, the plant, as an apprentice, yielding to his fervent wish to sail with her and see the world. The thrill he gets from new skills, experiences, and discoveries is a delight to read. Marin also finds a winged cat stowed away on her craft. After rescuing a friendly acquaintance, the musician Dax, from the conservatory in the devastated capital, she agrees to let him stay on board, learning new songs on the islands they visit, at least until the harvest festival for which she’s promised to come home. In return, he’ll pose as her boyfriend to reassure her parents and forestall neighbors’ pitying curiosity. Genre-savvy readers, of course, know how this familiar romance trope will turn out, despite Marin’s and Dax’s very different lives. The sea is her element, while he belongs in the conservatory as a master musician. After adventures, dangers, dark moments, and risk of losing her boat and her parents’ house, we can confidently anticipate resolution of both the external and emotional crises. The fun, as usual, is watching how the characters overcome seemingly insurmountable problems. Happily, there’s another volume forthcoming in this fantasy world, THE MAGICAL CHEESE EMPORIUM, in January 2027. Also, Durst has just announced the sale of volumes five and six!
DAGGERBOUND, by T. Kingfisher. Sequel to SWORDHEART, which you don’t absolutely have read before this one, but doing so would enhance the experience. The books take place in the same world as the Clocktaur duology and the Paladin series. It’s a pleasure to encounter familiar characters from earlier novels in DAGGERBOUND, including the paladins (brief cameo), badger-like gnoles, Bishop Beartongue, cursed sword warrior Sartis and his wife introduced in SWORDHEART, and Zale, levelheaded, logical, humane, keenly intelligent lawyer from the Temple of the White Rat, my favorite of Kingfisher’s secondary characters. DAGGERBOUND offers an accessible introduction to this world as well as a treat for fans of the other novels. Edmund, first seen as a naïve, cloistered young scholar on his maiden foray to the outside world in the Clocktaur duology, is the primary protagonist of this new work. About eight years later, deeply disappointed that he can’t get the hidebound, misogynistic priests of his god to listen to what he learned on that expedition, he decides to leave the order. On a journey to deliver some books and an ancient sword to a distant city, he plans to complete his assignment and not go back. He’ll be technically stealing the mule, Sweetness (almost a character in herself, whose personality totally belies her name), but he manages to square the deed with his conscience. Attacked by bandits, he accidentally separates the sword from its sheath. In a burst of silver light, a warrior with silver eyes appears. After some confusion, Edmund learns the Dervish isn’t an angel, as he thought, but a fighter trapped in the enchanted weapon. The magic compels the Dervish to guard the wielder’s life at all costs. He’s functionally immortal; reversion into the sword whenever it’s sheathed heals all injuries and even restores him from death. The silver marks that Edmund mistakes for tattoos are in fact scars of the Dervish’s many wounds. A hardened cynic who has hated all his wielders, with good reason, he’s prepared to take the same attitude toward Edmund. The scholar, though, displays such an irresistible combination of intellectual curiosity, encyclopedic knowledge, innocent tendencies to believe the best of everyone, and sheer kindness that the Dervish can’t help liking him. For instance, when Edmund discovers the magic enables the servant of the sword to speak the language of his wielder, Edmund immediately gets excited about the translation possibilities. (He’s disappointed to learn it won’t work that way.) The sword-cursed warrior has to keep reminding himself that Edmund isn’t his type. On the way to Edmund’s destination, they encounter bandits and villagers in the habit of sacrificing people to a dragon, among other hazards. They pick up two companions, a gnole and a giant, sapient pill bug, who was captured while on a diplomatic mission to the capital. She carries a device that translates her words into human speech, since neither species can physically pronounce the language of the other. Unfortunately, the sociopathic necromancer-smith who bound the Dervish and two comrades into swords centuries earlier has become revered as a saint by a small cult. Its fanatical members will go to any lengths to possess the enchanted weapon. As always, the worldbuilding is fascinating. (For instance, many different deities coexist, with amicable relations among most of their worshipers, but not all. Males in the pill bug’s species are non-sapient and much smaller than females. Gender in the gnole language signifies caste, not biological sex. There’s a perilous region that randomly shifts around and tends to trap travelers who wander into it.) I love the secondary characters, engaging dialogue – which often injects humor into even dire situations – and the developing relationship between the two protagonists, each of whom changes and adapts in his own way. I hope we won’t have to wait another five years or more for the next volume in the trilogy.
For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires
*****
Excerpt from “Summertide Echoes”:
“Seeing those miniatures on the shelf in the cabin brought it all back. I was a little surprised they were still on display.”
“Of course they are.” In a more tentative tone, Mark asked, “Does that mean you don’t have the stuffed dragon I gave you anymore?”
Joyce echoed his words. “Of course I kept Tiamat.” She didn’t think it necessary to mention that she placed the toy in its traditional spot on her pillow every morning when she made the bed. “Where in the world did you get a red, three-headed, stuffed dragon? You never told me.”
“Never will.” He flashed a teasing smile. “Think of it as magic.”
Noticing her glass empty, he signaled for another round of drinks, switching from beer to ginger ale himself. “Speaking of surprises, it threw me when you texted you’d already set up a visit from a realtor. I thought we were in the early stage of considering what to do.”
“What else would we do? We can’t hang onto the place forever.” To his silent, blank stare, she said, “Wait, is that what you planned?”
“Why not? I spend an occasional weekend there. It’s convenient for overnight when the weather’s not safe for driving all the way home.” He glanced sideways, then down at his drink. “And, frankly, if we let go of it, I’d miss it more than I can explain.”
“I’ll miss it, too. I realized that when I saw it this afternoon. But we have to be practical. We’re not kids anymore. It’s obviously what the aunts intended.”
He looked up at her. “How do you figure that?”
She swirled the straw in her glass, reluctant to meet his challenging stare. “From the terms of the will. They left most of their savings and the rebate from the continuing care community to Glenn because he wouldn’t have any use for the cabin, what with moving around the country every couple of years.” Now an Air Force officer with a wife and two children, her brother was currently stationed in New Mexico. “So they clearly meant for us to make up the financial difference with the value of the cabin. The realtor told me there’s a hot market for mountain vacation property in this area.”
“Is that a good reason to sell right away, just because we can? I don’t need the money that much.”
“Well, I do,” Joyce shot back. Catching herself raising her voice, she turned to scan the room, hoping she hadn’t drawn attention from the few other people who still occupied tables and barstools. More quietly, she said, “You know I’ve been collecting vintage comics since college, right?”
He nodded. “You’ve mentioned you wanted to start a mail-order business in comic books and graphic novels. You’re finally going to take the leap? Not too risky?”
Hoping she didn’t hear sarcasm in the last sentence, she answered straightforwardly. “I’ve done everything I could to minimize the risk. I’ve rented a storage facility big enough to hold as much stock as I’m likely to have anytime soon. I’ve opened a business account and incorporated myself as an LLC. I’ve set up a website.” She swallowed a lump of anxiety, reflecting on the one “risky” step she had dared. “I bought the entire inventory of a comic shop going out of business when the owner retired. Thing is, I had to get a personal loan to pay him, and the only type the bank would give me has a final balloon payment. It’s due in seven months.”
“Oh, I see. That’s why you need your half of the sale proceeds.”
“Right.” The tightness in her chest loosened. Maybe he would yield to practicality after all. “There’s one alternative to putting the cabin on the open market. If you’re so anxious to keep it, you could buy out my half.”
“That would be the ideal solution, except I don’t have that kind of money. Not even if I used the total amount of the advance I’ve received so far. As you might not realize, it comes in installments, not one big lump. Not to mention that I do need it as a cushion, like I said earlier.”
She drew a long breath and exhaled slowly, trying to stay calm. “What about a mortgage?”
“I’m already carrying one on my condo, my primary residence. No way would the bank lend me the cost of a vacation home on top of that. Especially considering how loan officers feel about freelancers in any field. From their viewpoint, I don’t have a stable income.”
Well, nobody told you to quit your day job. Even in the midst of her frustration, she knew better than to make that cutting remark aloud. Besides, it seemed unlikely that a bank or mortgage company would’ve approved his community college salary to cover a second real estate loan anyway.
“There’s another alternative, though,” he said.
At least he was thinking in terms of finding a solution instead of flatly rejecting her position. “What’s that?”
“I could lease the cabin from you, pay a monthly rent.”
She clenched her fists in her lap. “What good would that do me? Don’t you get it? I need the lump sum in less than a year, or I lose everything I’ve invested in the comic business project.”
He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I do understand that, but if I can’t get the money, I can’t.”
“Then we’re back to selling the place. Speaking of financial cushions, your half of the proceeds would give you more time to establish your writing career. If you’re worried about having somewhere to stay after performances in bad weather, couldn’t you make some permanent arrangement with the lodge? If you could afford to pay me rent, you could afford to reserve a regular room.”
“It’s not that simple. They fill up fast during the peak season.”
She glared at him, fighting the urge to shriek in exasperation. “That sounds like a lame excuse to me.”
He sighed. “Okay, I admit that’s not all there is to it. I’m not ready to let go.”
“Can you at least explain why?”
He folded his arms. “I have my reasons. If you don’t feel the same way, it’s too hard to explain.”
-end of excerpt-
*****
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“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter