How the Vampire Boom Really Began - Copy and Pasted From NPR'S Monkey See
[As our story opens, the year is 2003.]
To: VampsPRFr: FritzRe: PR issues
PR Team,
As we talked about last week at the annual retreat, it seems like we haven't made a significant PR push in quite some time. Buffy THE TRAMP LIAR-SAYER has finally gone off the air, but we are at a cultural crossroads. Vampires need to be the "next big thing." Ideas? Thx.
To: Fritz, VampsPRFr: SteveRe: Re: PR issues
Fritzie,
I've heard that an up and coming novelist is planning a romance series (set in the Pacific Northwest, I believe) in which a girl is caught between a werewolf and a clown. I'm wondering whether, with proper outreach, she could be persuaded to replace the werewolf with a vampire. I think a battle for the heart of a young woman between a vampire and a clown could be very compelling and could help change our image with young women. Thoughts?
To: Steve, VampsPRFr: FritzRe: Re: Re: PR issues
Steve,
Do it. Please report back. Thx.
To: Fritz, VampsPRFr: SteveRe: Discussion w/SM
Fritzie,
Talks went well. Very promising. She's receptive. Interesting twist. She suggests using the vampire in place of the clown instead. Werewolf/vampire face-off. What say you?
To: SteveFr: FritzRe: Re: Discussion w/SM
Steve,
That's fine if that's what she wants. Vampire/werewolf seems like an unfair fight, as readers cannot be expected to believe a werewolf could compete with the innate sex appeal of a vampire. Clown might seem like more worthy romantic opponent, based on perception (false, in my experience) that clowns have a great sense of humor, but again, if that's what she thinks, it's certainly worth a try. Thx.
To: FritzFr: SteveRe: Small edit
Fritzie,
As you know, the manuscript we saw last week has been returned to SM with edits. I'm having difficulty selling her on your idea, even though I like it. She seems to think that having the vampire (currently named Booger, but that's not final) sparkle in the sunlight might come across as, as she put it, "over the top." She's also having some trouble shifting entirely away from some of the aesthetics she originally had planned for Booger as far as his look; we are working on it. Still negotiating re: this point.
To: SteveFr: FritzRe: Re: Small edit
In retrn 4 sparkles, will accept red lipstick orig. 4 clown. Plz change Booger. Thx.
[From my Blackberry]
To: FritzFr: SteveRe: Book performance
Fritzie,
As you know, the book is now a runaway success. There will be more. Also tentative upcoming HBO show TRUE BLOOD based on those Snookie (?) books your wife likes, and a deal with the CW (it's the "fifth network") for a show called VAMPIRE DIARIES. Sounds super sexy. All looks good.
To: SteveFr: FritzRe: VERY VERY UPSET
Now seeing ads for Vampires Suck. "Suck"? What's going on in PR? Lead of this movie appears to be takeoff of Edward/Booger character, seems to be making vampires into jokes. VAMPIRES ARE NOT IRONIC, STEVE. Parody/irony are bad for our sense of menace. Also hearing MTV plans new Teen Wolf. Where is our marketing plan? Where is our response? I expect to meet with you and the team in the conference room at 10:30. BRING NEW IDEAS. THX.
Showing posts with label other blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label other blogs. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Vampires: Modern Day Heroes?
Thanks to Chrisopher Buecheler - author of The Blood that Bonds for today's guest post! Be sure to click the book link to visit his great book website and to get to know the characters in his free book!
Much ado has been made over the current "vampire trend" and its potential longevity. People are curious: why and how have vampires become so popular? What has caused them to capture the fancy of the mainstream public after years of being appreciated mainly by fans of the horror genre? The answer to that question lies in the slow move from terror to sympathy that people have made over the past few decades, due in large part to the efforts of many authors, screenwriters, directors, and other artists.
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, vampires were the bad guys. Remember those days? Dracula bending menacingly over a delirious Lucy Westenra; Kurt Barlow and his servant Mr. Straker slowly bringing the town of Salem's Lot to ruin; Keifer Sutherland and his cronies menacing Corey Haim's family ... vampires were nearly always portrayed as voracious, evil killers.
While Anne Rice's 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire was among the first works to lend a credible sense of humanity to vampires, and to look upon them with a sympathetic eye, it nonetheless cast them as dangerous outcasts, as much cursed as blessed. Since then, we've seen a slow but steady push by authors and moviemakers that has significantly changed the way vampires are portrayed in modern pop culture. While it's still very possible to find blood-sucking nasties haunting your bookstores and cinemas, more and more we're seeing a new theme.
Movies like the Underworld trilogy give us vampires who, apart from an allergy to sunlight and some spectacularly bad boob-jobs, are largely bereft of any of real weakness. Books like Twilight give us vampires who sparkle in direct sunlight and occasionally find humans very tasty-smelling, but are otherwise capable of blending in to a high school crowd without much question. The brooding vampire pretty-boy (or girl) has replaced the hideous, reeking half-bat creature crawling from a coffin filled with ancient earth in the popular consciousness.
Many modern vampires are more superhero than monster, usually possessing stunning good looks to go with a host of spectacular powers. They're often the story's protagonist, or at least a major character on the side of good. Even in a television show whose title contains the words "Vampire Slayer," we've been presented with at least one good-looking vampire who'd rather date humans than eat them.
None of which is to say that our vampires are super-men ... but most of us don't want Superman anymore, anyway, at least not as he was originally conceived. The concept of a perfect hero has become outdated, with characters like Batman and the incredibly screwed-up members of the X-Men holding the greatest public interest for the past few decades. Lately, though, vampires have fallen nicely into this "flawed hero" niche, which runs through human storytelling all the way back to the ancient Greeks and beyond.
Modern vampires may act nice, may possess many desirable abilities, may try to do as much good as possible, but there's no getting around the fact that they have to drink human blood to survive ... and few humans really dig the idea of parting with large quantities of their blood. This, then, is the flaw that allows for these characters who would otherwise be something more like gods than men to be identifiable. They're often tormented by guilt, feared by their fellow man, persecuted, hated, forced to live on the run. We can relate to these things on a more visceral level than we can relate to the ability to stop a moving vehicle by holding out one's hand (physics be damned). Bella isn't attracted to Edward because he's strong ... she's attracted to him because he's hot and broody and intense. Kind of like a guitarist in a local garage band, just with the potential to suddenly go berserk and tear her throat out.
Lest I be accused of condemning this transition, let me point out that my own novel, The Blood That Bonds, which I recently released for free, features several vampires who are, if not outright heroic, at least sympathetic. The lead protagonist is made a half-vampire without granting her permission first, and she's pretty ticked off by that, but it's not altogether very long until she's asking to complete the transition. Over the course of the book, she meets or hears about several other vampires, and some of them do indeed resemble Edward, and Selene, and True Blood's Bill Compton.
Human beings need characters they can relate to, and just about everyone can relate to a hero who has noble intentions but must sacrifice and suffer due to his or her flaws. In many modern tales, vampires have often come to fill that role, acting as an outlet not only for our worst fears, but also our greatest desires. They scare us, and they thrill us, and that is why vampires are so "hot" at the moment, and why people will continue to write books about them, make films chronicling their lives, and draw illustrations of them long after the current craze has passed.
Christopher Buecheler is a professional web designer and author living in Indianapolis. You can find his free eBook at TheBloodThatBonds.com, or visit his blog, Cerebral Debris.
Much ado has been made over the current "vampire trend" and its potential longevity. People are curious: why and how have vampires become so popular? What has caused them to capture the fancy of the mainstream public after years of being appreciated mainly by fans of the horror genre? The answer to that question lies in the slow move from terror to sympathy that people have made over the past few decades, due in large part to the efforts of many authors, screenwriters, directors, and other artists.
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, vampires were the bad guys. Remember those days? Dracula bending menacingly over a delirious Lucy Westenra; Kurt Barlow and his servant Mr. Straker slowly bringing the town of Salem's Lot to ruin; Keifer Sutherland and his cronies menacing Corey Haim's family ... vampires were nearly always portrayed as voracious, evil killers.
While Anne Rice's 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire was among the first works to lend a credible sense of humanity to vampires, and to look upon them with a sympathetic eye, it nonetheless cast them as dangerous outcasts, as much cursed as blessed. Since then, we've seen a slow but steady push by authors and moviemakers that has significantly changed the way vampires are portrayed in modern pop culture. While it's still very possible to find blood-sucking nasties haunting your bookstores and cinemas, more and more we're seeing a new theme.
Movies like the Underworld trilogy give us vampires who, apart from an allergy to sunlight and some spectacularly bad boob-jobs, are largely bereft of any of real weakness. Books like Twilight give us vampires who sparkle in direct sunlight and occasionally find humans very tasty-smelling, but are otherwise capable of blending in to a high school crowd without much question. The brooding vampire pretty-boy (or girl) has replaced the hideous, reeking half-bat creature crawling from a coffin filled with ancient earth in the popular consciousness.
Many modern vampires are more superhero than monster, usually possessing stunning good looks to go with a host of spectacular powers. They're often the story's protagonist, or at least a major character on the side of good. Even in a television show whose title contains the words "Vampire Slayer," we've been presented with at least one good-looking vampire who'd rather date humans than eat them.
None of which is to say that our vampires are super-men ... but most of us don't want Superman anymore, anyway, at least not as he was originally conceived. The concept of a perfect hero has become outdated, with characters like Batman and the incredibly screwed-up members of the X-Men holding the greatest public interest for the past few decades. Lately, though, vampires have fallen nicely into this "flawed hero" niche, which runs through human storytelling all the way back to the ancient Greeks and beyond.
Modern vampires may act nice, may possess many desirable abilities, may try to do as much good as possible, but there's no getting around the fact that they have to drink human blood to survive ... and few humans really dig the idea of parting with large quantities of their blood. This, then, is the flaw that allows for these characters who would otherwise be something more like gods than men to be identifiable. They're often tormented by guilt, feared by their fellow man, persecuted, hated, forced to live on the run. We can relate to these things on a more visceral level than we can relate to the ability to stop a moving vehicle by holding out one's hand (physics be damned). Bella isn't attracted to Edward because he's strong ... she's attracted to him because he's hot and broody and intense. Kind of like a guitarist in a local garage band, just with the potential to suddenly go berserk and tear her throat out.
Lest I be accused of condemning this transition, let me point out that my own novel, The Blood That Bonds, which I recently released for free, features several vampires who are, if not outright heroic, at least sympathetic. The lead protagonist is made a half-vampire without granting her permission first, and she's pretty ticked off by that, but it's not altogether very long until she's asking to complete the transition. Over the course of the book, she meets or hears about several other vampires, and some of them do indeed resemble Edward, and Selene, and True Blood's Bill Compton.
Human beings need characters they can relate to, and just about everyone can relate to a hero who has noble intentions but must sacrifice and suffer due to his or her flaws. In many modern tales, vampires have often come to fill that role, acting as an outlet not only for our worst fears, but also our greatest desires. They scare us, and they thrill us, and that is why vampires are so "hot" at the moment, and why people will continue to write books about them, make films chronicling their lives, and draw illustrations of them long after the current craze has passed.
Christopher Buecheler is a professional web designer and author living in Indianapolis. You can find his free eBook at TheBloodThatBonds.com, or visit his blog, Cerebral Debris.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Vampire and the Vamp
Today's guest blog is from author Susanne Saville - who has an absolutely charming website (who doesn't love hats on cats?), thanks Susanne!
The Vampire and the Vamp
While this year's Halloween feature in Salem, Massachusetts is Zombies,
The Vampire and the Vamp
While this year's Halloween feature in Salem, Massachusetts is Zombies,
vampires always have a place at the festivities. Not only is there a horror exhibit named Dracula's Castle, there is The Vampires' Masquerade Ball.
Why are vampires so popular? One reason is their image. Their modern image. Male vampires were originally portrayed as horrific and frightening. Have you seen F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu?
That vampire is the antithesis of sexy.
Yet at basically the same time, the word "vamp" - yes, from the word vampire - was being used to describe a highly eroticized, sexy woman.
Why are vampires so popular? One reason is their image. Their modern image. Male vampires were originally portrayed as horrific and frightening. Have you seen F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu?
That vampire is the antithesis of sexy.
Yet at basically the same time, the word "vamp" - yes, from the word vampire - was being used to describe a highly eroticized, sexy woman.
This is the original vamp, Theda Bara.
In fact, female vampires have been portrayed as sexy right from the very beginning.
This probably has more to do with fear of female sexuality than anything else. You might think this fear was limited to the Victorian period. You would be wrong.
I just came across an interesting example in Landis MacKellar's book The Double Indemnity Murder. Judd Gray used this as a defense against a murder charge: he accused Ruth Snyder of being an "erotomaniac" who exhausted him through sex until he agreed to participate in her plan to murder her husband.
His lawyer said she "was abnormal, possessed of an all-consuming, all absorbing sexual passion, animal lust, which seemingly was never satisfied." And that, "...she sapped his strength" resulting in his "exhausted vitality" which made him her love-slave and gave him no choice but to do her bidding and commit murder. (p. 221)
Sounds like a vampire to me. :)
Male vampires didn't create love-slaves. Bela Lugosi's Dracula was powerful and mesmerizing, but not particularly sexy. Hammer Horror's Dracula, Christopher Lee, certainly could have been sexy, but the scripts did not help him with that. In one of his movies, as I remember, Dracula never even speaks!
The male vampire was a threat to men - The Other who is out to Have Our Women and must be stopped - and a source of pain and death to women.
This portrayal changed after Frank Langella took the role in 1979.
His Dracula was charming and suave; his bite was enjoyable rather than painful - something erotic rather than something dreadful. He was a source of excitement and pleasure to his female "victim" - who did not class herself a victim at all and had no wish to be "rescued."
This is generally the male vampire we read about in vampire romance today.
Thank goodness! ;)
Susanne Saville is the author of Vampire Close, a vampire romance set in contemporary Edinburgh, and for Kindle users, Dance Macabre, a vampire romance set in 1897 London.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Special Guest: Roxanne Rhoads
Today's special guest is Roxanne Rhoads of Fang-tastic Books - and she even comes with a special treat!
Thanks Roxanne!
The Appeal of Darkness
By Roxanne Rhoads
Why are we drawn to the paranormal? Perhaps because it is the Other, it is the great unknown. The lure of the darkness that resides inside us all.
Are Others real? Are there really paranormal creatures that exist?
Who knows, but some of us sure like to believe.
Maybe we just need an escape from the everyday existence that has become so…ordinary. In today’s world people want to stand out and be noticed or at least experience something that is different. Perhaps that’s why so many of us turn to the world of the supernatural for an escape from the everyday.
Wouldn’t it be great to have super powers? Or to be immortal? Super strong? Have mind control? Or just be super seductive and a fabulous lover (we can all dream right)?
Of all supernatural creatures, vampires seem to be the most seductive. People are drawn to the vampire more than any other creature of myth and fantasy. Vampires grace the pages of books and appear on the movie and television screen over and over again, each new vampire a source of amusement and desire to us. But why? What is the everlasting attraction of the vampire?
Before the 19th century vampires were just mindless monsters, myths and legends that were horrible and frightening, not sexy, not desirable. Literature changed all that.
Consider this description from the introduction of Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture written by Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger.
[The vampire is] “an ambiguously coded figure, a source of erotic anxiety and corrupt desire, the literary vampire is one of the most powerful archetypes bequeathed to us from the imagination of the nineteenth century.”
Vampires were turned into seductive and inherently sexy creatures that we just haven’t been able to get enough of. The unknown allure is there, evil has become sexy, darkness is beautiful. Once the monsters of myth and legend were shunned for their differences but today we embrace them because they are different, because they are Other.
Our modern society is full of disquiet, pain, suffering, depression, things that spiral out of control-real monsters and horrors face us every day on the news.
In entertainment we want monsters that we can control, monsters…Others that are appealing in their difference and offer us an escape. The vampire offers us all that and more.
I love many creatures of the Other world but the vampire is my first love and will always hold the top spot in my monster loving heart.
In my fiction, the characters are more often than not Others, with a vampire playing either the hero or the heroine of the story.
In my latest release, Eternal Desire, you’ll find a seductive vampire who chooses to hide in the shadows and stay on the sidelines of his human’s life. But while he’s biding his time she’s falling for someone else. Set in New Orleans during Halloween,Eternal Desire is an erotic paranormal story about LizBeth, a paranormal researcher, and her elusive vampire, Quillon, who seems content to hide in the shadows of her dreams but never comes to her in the flesh.
Want to know more about me and my fascination with Others? Drop by Fang-tastic Books to learn about the books I love and what I write.
Eternal Desire is Roxanne's new book!
Liz Beth, a paranormal researcher, is haunted by the seductive vampire, Quillon, who may or may not be real. She arrives in New Orleans the week of Halloween to search for the elusive vampire of her dreams and instead encounters a handsome stranger, Christien, with whom she begins a passionate affair with.
Soon she is torn between her dream lover and a flesh and blood man, both of whom are a mystery to her. The closer it gets to Halloween the wilder things become. LizBeth gets closer to the truth about Quillon while Christien has her under his own spell.
Will all be revealed at the Vampyre Ball or will the masks stay in place?
In New Orleans at Halloween anything is possible.
For more information and to purchase, click here.
Here's a part of an amazing review by Kiki Howell:
Thanks Roxanne!
The Appeal of Darkness
By Roxanne Rhoads
Why are we drawn to the paranormal? Perhaps because it is the Other, it is the great unknown. The lure of the darkness that resides inside us all.
Are Others real? Are there really paranormal creatures that exist?
Who knows, but some of us sure like to believe.
Maybe we just need an escape from the everyday existence that has become so…ordinary. In today’s world people want to stand out and be noticed or at least experience something that is different. Perhaps that’s why so many of us turn to the world of the supernatural for an escape from the everyday.
Wouldn’t it be great to have super powers? Or to be immortal? Super strong? Have mind control? Or just be super seductive and a fabulous lover (we can all dream right)?
Of all supernatural creatures, vampires seem to be the most seductive. People are drawn to the vampire more than any other creature of myth and fantasy. Vampires grace the pages of books and appear on the movie and television screen over and over again, each new vampire a source of amusement and desire to us. But why? What is the everlasting attraction of the vampire?
Before the 19th century vampires were just mindless monsters, myths and legends that were horrible and frightening, not sexy, not desirable. Literature changed all that.
Consider this description from the introduction of Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture written by Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger.
[The vampire is] “an ambiguously coded figure, a source of erotic anxiety and corrupt desire, the literary vampire is one of the most powerful archetypes bequeathed to us from the imagination of the nineteenth century.”
Vampires were turned into seductive and inherently sexy creatures that we just haven’t been able to get enough of. The unknown allure is there, evil has become sexy, darkness is beautiful. Once the monsters of myth and legend were shunned for their differences but today we embrace them because they are different, because they are Other.
Our modern society is full of disquiet, pain, suffering, depression, things that spiral out of control-real monsters and horrors face us every day on the news.
In entertainment we want monsters that we can control, monsters…Others that are appealing in their difference and offer us an escape. The vampire offers us all that and more.
I love many creatures of the Other world but the vampire is my first love and will always hold the top spot in my monster loving heart.
In my fiction, the characters are more often than not Others, with a vampire playing either the hero or the heroine of the story.
In my latest release, Eternal Desire, you’ll find a seductive vampire who chooses to hide in the shadows and stay on the sidelines of his human’s life. But while he’s biding his time she’s falling for someone else. Set in New Orleans during Halloween,Eternal Desire is an erotic paranormal story about LizBeth, a paranormal researcher, and her elusive vampire, Quillon, who seems content to hide in the shadows of her dreams but never comes to her in the flesh.
Want to know more about me and my fascination with Others? Drop by Fang-tastic Books to learn about the books I love and what I write.
Eternal Desire is Roxanne's new book!
Liz Beth, a paranormal researcher, is haunted by the seductive vampire, Quillon, who may or may not be real. She arrives in New Orleans the week of Halloween to search for the elusive vampire of her dreams and instead encounters a handsome stranger, Christien, with whom she begins a passionate affair with.
Soon she is torn between her dream lover and a flesh and blood man, both of whom are a mystery to her. The closer it gets to Halloween the wilder things become. LizBeth gets closer to the truth about Quillon while Christien has her under his own spell.
Will all be revealed at the Vampyre Ball or will the masks stay in place?
In New Orleans at Halloween anything is possible.
For more information and to purchase, click here.
Here's a part of an amazing review by Kiki Howell:
After reading Eternal Desire, I would have to call Roxanne Rhoads a master of words. Each sentence flowed into another with a nice blend of old elegance and contemporary style which I think is important in this type of paranormal writing to best blend the modern day setting with the ghosts and vampires of another time. I have to give you an example from the beginning of the story, “a shadowy figure in my dreams, whispering of longings and ancient secrets. I never saw his face, but his voice lingered in my soul. He was an invisible guardian, calling to me…”
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Vampires Converge on Halloween
Today's special guest blogger is Anthony from Diary of an Amateur Vampirologist .
Make sure you visit the links provided in the article - I found the psychology of vampire and other creepy costume choices interesting. Thanks Anthony!
Truth be told, there's very little connection between vampires and Halloween. At least, from a folkloric perspective.
The closest thing they have to their own "special" time of the year, is described in Agnes Murgoci's "The Vampire in Romania" article for Folk-Lore (Dec. 1926), along with some attributes and characteristics:
Rosemary Ellen Guiley mentions two separate, modern-day events baring the name "Vampire Day" in The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters (New York: Checkmark, 2005), p. 293.
The first occurred on November 4, 1988 in Los Banos, California, to publicise the publication of Vincent Hillyer's Vampires (Los Banos: Loose Change, 1988).
The second was held in Saõ Paulo, Brazil, on August 13, 2002, to promote a city-wide blood drive.
However, in keeping with the horror theme of Halloween, vampires still get sizable representation.
For instance, the National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C. predicts that the second most popular costume on Halloween, among adults, will be the vampire.
Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen gives some coverage on why people even choose such costumes at all.
There's also a whole range of vampire-themed merchandise for the occasion, like capes, severed heads and baby pacifiers.
You can get some helpful suggestions on throwing your own "Vampires Ball" from Halloween Costume Party.
Or, you could go to Transylvania itself, and take part in a "Dracula Tour". One of the things you'll see is "an actual "vampire" wedding ceremony as conducted by a local monk and his chanting nuns."
As a side note, I'll also mention that I dressed up as a vampire hunter for Halloween back in 2006 and walked about the streets of Melbourne. (Sorry, don't have any pictures!)
So, even though historic - and folkloric - vampires have no real connection to Halloween, thanks to their pervasiveness in Western pop culture, they certainly come alive on the Spookiest Night of the Year.
Make sure you visit the links provided in the article - I found the psychology of vampire and other creepy costume choices interesting. Thanks Anthony!
Truth be told, there's very little connection between vampires and Halloween. At least, from a folkloric perspective.
The closest thing they have to their own "special" time of the year, is described in Agnes Murgoci's "The Vampire in Romania" article for Folk-Lore (Dec. 1926), along with some attributes and characteristics:
It is more especially on St. George's Eve that these vampires go to the boundaries to take rain and the "power" of animals, so as to have enough for the whole year. If they do not take "power" for themselves, they take it for those who pay them. They bring "power" and beauty to women who pay; also they cause men to hate the rivals of those who hire them. They can take "power" from women, and thus take milk away from nursing mothers. They can turn themselves into horses, dogs, or cats, so as to frighten people. The female vampires are dry in the body and are red in the face both before and after death. They go out on St. Andrew's Eve to the boundaries even if they have just borne children. They go out by the chimney, and come back worn out and in rags. The male vampires are bald, and after death grow a tail and hooves. (332)
Rosemary Ellen Guiley mentions two separate, modern-day events baring the name "Vampire Day" in The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters (New York: Checkmark, 2005), p. 293.
The first occurred on November 4, 1988 in Los Banos, California, to publicise the publication of Vincent Hillyer's Vampires (Los Banos: Loose Change, 1988).
The second was held in Saõ Paulo, Brazil, on August 13, 2002, to promote a city-wide blood drive.
However, in keeping with the horror theme of Halloween, vampires still get sizable representation.
For instance, the National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C. predicts that the second most popular costume on Halloween, among adults, will be the vampire.
Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen gives some coverage on why people even choose such costumes at all.
There's also a whole range of vampire-themed merchandise for the occasion, like capes, severed heads and baby pacifiers.
You can get some helpful suggestions on throwing your own "Vampires Ball" from Halloween Costume Party.
Or, you could go to Transylvania itself, and take part in a "Dracula Tour". One of the things you'll see is "an actual "vampire" wedding ceremony as conducted by a local monk and his chanting nuns."
As a side note, I'll also mention that I dressed up as a vampire hunter for Halloween back in 2006 and walked about the streets of Melbourne. (Sorry, don't have any pictures!)
So, even though historic - and folkloric - vampires have no real connection to Halloween, thanks to their pervasiveness in Western pop culture, they certainly come alive on the Spookiest Night of the Year.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Date a Vampire? Heck Yeah?!
By Diana Laurence, author of How to Catch and Keep a Vampire: A Step-by-Step Guide to Loving the Bad and the Beautiful
I’m delighted to be visiting Reading with a Bite today! And I hope you don’t mind if I use this opportunity to get myself out of a little hot water. With vampires. So it’s kind of urgent.
Here’s the back story: I was asked a few weeks ago by Glamour magazine to provide my answer to the question “Should you date a vampire?” Needless to say, I was thrilled to appear in Glamour talking about my book. Unfortunately, they required me to take the “no” position. I agreed somewhat trepidatiously to that, because I knew my vampire friends would not be pleased. But I figured Glamour had received the “yes” reply from someone smart enough to answer in a way that would not get them in trouble with the undead. I found out when the magazine came out that the “someone” was Charlaine Harris! Now I see why I got second choice!
Well, I did give a pretty backhanded reply for my “no” answer (“Being with one is no easy feat. Just try to focus on work during the day when you’re being transported to realms of ecstasy by his bite at night.”) Nevertheless, no is no, and I really need to set the record straight with the immortal community...before they decide they need to “teach me a lesson,” fang-wise.
So I’m here today to give you my complete and sincere recommendation: If you’ve been wanting to date a vampire, by all means, do it! Because, frankly, there are dozens of great reasons to want to date a vampire. I could rattle on about it all day. Let’s start with these:
He can look out of the tops of his eyes in that spine-tinglingly sexy manner.
He has a lair that would make HGTV’s toes curl, if it had toes.
He can hail a cab with a silent glance.
He’ll never cancel your date because he has a cold or is hungover.
And he bites. In a fun way. A really fun way.
I’m not saying that vampire dating is without its challenges and perils. If it were, I wouldn’t have had to write my book. Vampires do tend to give a girl or guy an inferiority complex. Giving them their way isn’t exactly a chore (the way they go about it, that is) but it can wear thin after awhile. They’re not exactly monogamous, in most cases. And some of them are pure evil.
So, there’s a lot you need to know to pull off a healthy and happy relationship with a vampire. My book shows you how to develop the various skills you’ll need: Like recognizing pure evil vampires and avoiding them. And not becoming completely obsessed with your vampire boyfriend or girlfriend (just the proper amount of obsessed). And explaining to others why there’s nothing wrong with associations with the undead.
Even if you don’t want to actually date a vampire, you’re simply trying to figure out why you love these nasty and lovely beings and what to do with your longings, my book will help with that too. Because no one should beat themselves up just because they constantly daydream about Edward or Bill or even Dracula himself. To my mind, such thoughts are as normal and healthy as the day is long. Or, if you prefer, the night.
So now you know my true opinion: And my dear Conner, Sven, Mordred, Colin, Gunnar, and the rest of the vampiric crew can be reassured that no one has the wrong idea about me. Tuck in those fangs, boys, I’ve cleared it all up now!
Please do ask for How to Catch and Keep a Vampire at your neighborhood bookstore (worldwide!) or order online, and find out for yourself about these undead charmers and all I’ve learned from them about vampire dating. And join me in an enthusiastic “Date a vampire? Heck yeah!”
To learn more about the book, visit http://www.howtocatchandkeepavampire.com/, http://www.dianalaurence.com/, or join the Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/How-To-Catch-and-Keep-a-Vampire/85381298406. It was a pleasure to be with you today, thanks for reading, and happy vampire dating!
I’m delighted to be visiting Reading with a Bite today! And I hope you don’t mind if I use this opportunity to get myself out of a little hot water. With vampires. So it’s kind of urgent.
Here’s the back story: I was asked a few weeks ago by Glamour magazine to provide my answer to the question “Should you date a vampire?” Needless to say, I was thrilled to appear in Glamour talking about my book. Unfortunately, they required me to take the “no” position. I agreed somewhat trepidatiously to that, because I knew my vampire friends would not be pleased. But I figured Glamour had received the “yes” reply from someone smart enough to answer in a way that would not get them in trouble with the undead. I found out when the magazine came out that the “someone” was Charlaine Harris! Now I see why I got second choice!
Well, I did give a pretty backhanded reply for my “no” answer (“Being with one is no easy feat. Just try to focus on work during the day when you’re being transported to realms of ecstasy by his bite at night.”) Nevertheless, no is no, and I really need to set the record straight with the immortal community...before they decide they need to “teach me a lesson,” fang-wise.
So I’m here today to give you my complete and sincere recommendation: If you’ve been wanting to date a vampire, by all means, do it! Because, frankly, there are dozens of great reasons to want to date a vampire. I could rattle on about it all day. Let’s start with these:
He can look out of the tops of his eyes in that spine-tinglingly sexy manner.
He has a lair that would make HGTV’s toes curl, if it had toes.
He can hail a cab with a silent glance.
He’ll never cancel your date because he has a cold or is hungover.
And he bites. In a fun way. A really fun way.
I’m not saying that vampire dating is without its challenges and perils. If it were, I wouldn’t have had to write my book. Vampires do tend to give a girl or guy an inferiority complex. Giving them their way isn’t exactly a chore (the way they go about it, that is) but it can wear thin after awhile. They’re not exactly monogamous, in most cases. And some of them are pure evil.
So, there’s a lot you need to know to pull off a healthy and happy relationship with a vampire. My book shows you how to develop the various skills you’ll need: Like recognizing pure evil vampires and avoiding them. And not becoming completely obsessed with your vampire boyfriend or girlfriend (just the proper amount of obsessed). And explaining to others why there’s nothing wrong with associations with the undead.
Even if you don’t want to actually date a vampire, you’re simply trying to figure out why you love these nasty and lovely beings and what to do with your longings, my book will help with that too. Because no one should beat themselves up just because they constantly daydream about Edward or Bill or even Dracula himself. To my mind, such thoughts are as normal and healthy as the day is long. Or, if you prefer, the night.
So now you know my true opinion: And my dear Conner, Sven, Mordred, Colin, Gunnar, and the rest of the vampiric crew can be reassured that no one has the wrong idea about me. Tuck in those fangs, boys, I’ve cleared it all up now!
Please do ask for How to Catch and Keep a Vampire at your neighborhood bookstore (worldwide!) or order online, and find out for yourself about these undead charmers and all I’ve learned from them about vampire dating. And join me in an enthusiastic “Date a vampire? Heck yeah!”
To learn more about the book, visit http://www.howtocatchandkeepavampire.com/, http://www.dianalaurence.com/, or join the Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/How-To-Catch-and-Keep-a-Vampire/85381298406. It was a pleasure to be with you today, thanks for reading, and happy vampire dating!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
In the Presence of Saint Modwenna
Today's guest blogger book excerpt is from Andrew M. Boylan at Taliesin Meets the Vampires. Not only is he an author, and has a great movie and book review site, but I also love his rules of the game (devised from a list of research material). To read more from Andrew Boylan, head over to his sister site: Taliesin Writes the Vampires.
The following is an extract from Concilium Sanguinarius, actually chapter twenty, and has also been published as a stand alone in the zine Ethereal Tales.
Thanks Andrew - readers enjoy!
West Yorkshire, England – 1347
The campfire had just, grudgingly, flickered into life; the damp sticks producing as much smoke as they did light. The woman, a nun, knelt on the floor warming her hands whilst the two guards stood nearby grumbling to each other.
“Dame Startin,” the taller of the two guards addressed the woman, “begging yer pardon, but I’d ask you to reconsider. This forest ain’t safe.”
The woman shook her head and, silently, asked God for strength before replying. “Master Warder, I have left the title of Dame behind. I am the Prioress of Kirklees now.”
“As you say ma’m, but I’d still ask you to reconsider.” There seemed to be a small edge of panic or anxiety in the grizzled man’s voice.
“Master Warder, for better or for worse I fear that we are stuck in the forest until day breaks. I will not risk the horses by stumbling blind through the undergrowth.”
“But the inn is only two hours ride and ‘tis a lot safer than this ‘ere forest.” He insisted.
“The inn may as well be a hundred leagues distant if one of our mounts breaks a leg, and we have no need to fear the forest. The outlaws in Sherwood are centred around Nottingham and we are in Yorkshire. I doubt they will travel all this way to rob a penniless nun. Now will they?”
“Ma’m, the notorious brigands are to be found round Nottingham way, I grant you, but the forest is still thick with thieves, none-the-less.”
For a moment her voice carried the edge of her previous station in life. “Sir, I will broke no more discussion on the matter, we make camp here.” Her voice softened slightly before she added, “How long until we reach the priory if we ride at daybreak?”
Jack Warder groaned inaudibly, if she wanted to make good time to the priory they would not be stopping at the inn to break fast. “God willin’, we’ll be there by sunset tomorrow ma’m.”
Startin’s voice dropped into a mumble as she turned her attention back to the fire, “Good… good…” The discussion was over.
The guards moved out of earshot to confer.
“What do you make of it James?”
“It’s a rum ‘un, I’ll give you that,” replied the second guard, “But I can un’erstand it. A trip will lame a horse an’ that’ll slow us down on the morrow.”
“Not as much as ‘avin’ our throats cut.” Warder ran a dirt-encrusted finger menacingly across his throat to illustrate his point.
“Aye, you ‘ave a good point Jack lad, we’ll just ‘ave to keep a good watch.” James shrugged and then added, “As it is I ‘ave to make water, you make sure her ladyship don’t stray from the fire now.”
Neither guard noticed the shadow slipping through the trees, outside the light from the campfire.
James Goldborough watched his companion return to the campfire and then headed into the trees; he wanted to make sure he was out of sight of the camp. It wouldn’t do him any good to allow a lady of God to see him making water.
His friend’s concerns were well founded; the forest had become notorious in recent years. That said the Prioress was also right, most of the trouble was out round Nottingham. Thieves were not a localised problem though and caution was always needed. That was why Lord Grafton had insisted an armed guard escort the Prioress to her new position. Warder had been irritable through the entire journey, however, probably down to the fact that they’d had to take horses; he’d never been much of a horseman. If the truth was told neither of them were comfortable around the Prioress. She was a devout woman, of that there could be little doubt, but that also meant that when they stopped for the night, on the nights when they had stopped at inns, there had been no chance to play dice or get drunk or whore. Plenty of time for that on the way home though, James grinned to himself.
Once out of sight of the camp James lifted his padded aketon and dropped his hose. A relieved sigh escaped his mouth as the hot stream of urine splashed against the side of the oak.
He never saw the shadow creeping behind him, never knew it was there until two icy cold hands gripped his head. He managed a startled grunt before the hands twisted, snapping his neck and killing him instantly.
His body dropped softly to the floor, his own urine running back from the tree and pooling around his corpse, and the shadow slipped back into the night.
Jack Warder took off his kettle hat, placing it gently onto the floor so as not to disturb the Prioress, and then removed the padded coif that sat beneath it and scratched. The damned coif made his head itch. Probably full of lice, he thought, as he scratched furiously at his sweat-dampened hair.
The sooner they were out of the damn forest the better. He believed all he had said about outlaws true enough, but then there was the other thing. He hadn’t had the courage to mention it to the Prioress, she’d never believe him, nor to James for that matter, the younger guard would have laughed until he pissed himself. Jack knew better though, Jack knew the forest was haunted.
His cousin Ben had told him the stories. The tale of the White Lady who haunted the forest. Some said it was the ghost of a Saxon lady restless after the Normans had taken her husband’s lands and then raped and killed her a few hundred years back.
Others said it was the presence of Saint Modwenna punishing those who broke the Commandments, though Jack couldn’t say why a Saint would attack those out in the forest. Worse thing was, he thought to himself, if it was the Blessed Saint then he was doomed if she found him. He had never been one for observing the Commandments.
Thing was, this White Lady was real enough, Ben had sworn it, and he’d never known the boy lie.
He scratched at his head again. The prioress seemed lost in her own thoughts and the horses, tied to a nearby tree, were quiet enough. James was taking his own sweet time though.
“Jack come ‘ere.”
He looked at the Prioress but she hadn’t reacted. The other guard’s voice had seemed odd, no more than a whisper. He might have seen something in the trees, something that had forced him to lower his voice. Maybe he had caught sight of brigands in the woods. Warder picked up his rough handled knife and moved to the edge of the clearing.
“James, James Goldborough, where are you?” He hissed.
The shadow touched his mind again and whispered “Over ‘ere Jack.” To Warder it sounded like Goldborough, though he wasn’t to know that his friend lay dead amongst the trees.
Warder moved further into the forest, away from the light of the fire, fear gripping his stomach. Damn the boy, he thought, what sort of game was he playing? Tree branches caught at his clothing, tugging at him in the dark, and scraped across his rough face. A sound made him whirl around, cracking his head on a low branch. He swore lightly, it had been an owl. As he rubbed his sore skull he realised that he had left his helm at the camp.
“Goldborough?” His voice was stretched, barely audible above the frantic pounding of his own heart.
James Goldborough did not reply.
“What the hell…” He thought he saw a shadow flitting through the undergrowth, but then rationalised that it was just the thin moonlight moving through the swaying branches. Even so his hand gripped the knife tightly, his knuckles white.
“To Hell with you Goldborough, enough of your games.” He said almost too loudly. He turned to move back to the camp.
He glimpsed her for just a second before the talon like fingernails ripped his throat. Enough time for him to recognise the White Lady. Enough time for his feverish mind to realise that he had been right to believe Ben and for a stream of urine to soil his dirty grey hose.
He fell to the floor, clutching the gapping hole in his throat, blood spraying through his fingers and spilling onto the forest floor. Unable to make a sound.
Unable to warn his charge.
The shadow flitted towards the clearing.
At the edge of the clearing, outside the light flickering from the fire, she watched the Prioress. The older woman was praying, her fingers flickering over a set of ornate rosary beads.
The shadow circled around until it stood behind the Prioress, head still bent in prayer. She edged closer and closer until she stood directly above the nun. Her white fingers, stained red with Jack Warder’s blood, reached out slowly and then gently pulled back the wimple.
The Prioress’ eyes shot open; she twisted around to see a young girl, beautiful and yet so pale of skin. She was about to ask the girl her name when the girl’s mouth opened and she saw the fangs and the luminescent flash of red in the girl’s eyes.
She lifted the rosary, holding the tiny crucifix up to the devil, for devil it surely must have been. “God preserve me… I beg of you Lord, preserve your servant.”
The vampire laughed, the woman was absolutely sincere in her prayer, sincere in both her will to live and her belief that her God would protect her. She took the rosary from the Prioress’ hand and looked at it for a moment before throwing it to one side. “Which God would that be?” She asked the trembling nun, and then she struck, her fangs burying deep into the older woman’s neck.
For a moment the Prioress felt the touch of paradise. She sank into the vampire’s embrace willingly, offering up her life.
The horses panicked, neighing and whinnying franticly, pulling back at the ropes that tied them and kicking back into the night, kicking naught but air, or each other. One of them managed to break its head collar and ran into the night, neighing furiously.
The vampire ignored the horses and fed.
Two nights later the new Prioress of Kirklees arrived at her post, her habit stained from her travels, her ornate rosary clutched in her hands.
Her appearance took the nuns aback at first. She was so much younger than they had expected and she was also a day late. They asked her where her escorts had gone, concerned that she should have travelled the roads alone. Her escorts had been forced to return to their Lord with all haste after ensuring she was safe, she explained. Surely the nuns had seen the horsemen galloping off down the road. One remembered that she had and then another. Foolish men, thought one, always rushing here and there. They should have come in for the night, rested and returned to their Lord on the morrow.
Within hours Danaan had settled into the Prioress’ room, leaving explicit orders that she was extremely fatigued and was not to be disturbed the following day.
The following is an extract from Concilium Sanguinarius, actually chapter twenty, and has also been published as a stand alone in the zine Ethereal Tales.
Thanks Andrew - readers enjoy!
West Yorkshire, England – 1347
The campfire had just, grudgingly, flickered into life; the damp sticks producing as much smoke as they did light. The woman, a nun, knelt on the floor warming her hands whilst the two guards stood nearby grumbling to each other.
“Dame Startin,” the taller of the two guards addressed the woman, “begging yer pardon, but I’d ask you to reconsider. This forest ain’t safe.”
The woman shook her head and, silently, asked God for strength before replying. “Master Warder, I have left the title of Dame behind. I am the Prioress of Kirklees now.”
“As you say ma’m, but I’d still ask you to reconsider.” There seemed to be a small edge of panic or anxiety in the grizzled man’s voice.
“Master Warder, for better or for worse I fear that we are stuck in the forest until day breaks. I will not risk the horses by stumbling blind through the undergrowth.”
“But the inn is only two hours ride and ‘tis a lot safer than this ‘ere forest.” He insisted.
“The inn may as well be a hundred leagues distant if one of our mounts breaks a leg, and we have no need to fear the forest. The outlaws in Sherwood are centred around Nottingham and we are in Yorkshire. I doubt they will travel all this way to rob a penniless nun. Now will they?”
“Ma’m, the notorious brigands are to be found round Nottingham way, I grant you, but the forest is still thick with thieves, none-the-less.”
For a moment her voice carried the edge of her previous station in life. “Sir, I will broke no more discussion on the matter, we make camp here.” Her voice softened slightly before she added, “How long until we reach the priory if we ride at daybreak?”
Jack Warder groaned inaudibly, if she wanted to make good time to the priory they would not be stopping at the inn to break fast. “God willin’, we’ll be there by sunset tomorrow ma’m.”
Startin’s voice dropped into a mumble as she turned her attention back to the fire, “Good… good…” The discussion was over.
The guards moved out of earshot to confer.
“What do you make of it James?”
“It’s a rum ‘un, I’ll give you that,” replied the second guard, “But I can un’erstand it. A trip will lame a horse an’ that’ll slow us down on the morrow.”
“Not as much as ‘avin’ our throats cut.” Warder ran a dirt-encrusted finger menacingly across his throat to illustrate his point.
“Aye, you ‘ave a good point Jack lad, we’ll just ‘ave to keep a good watch.” James shrugged and then added, “As it is I ‘ave to make water, you make sure her ladyship don’t stray from the fire now.”
Neither guard noticed the shadow slipping through the trees, outside the light from the campfire.
James Goldborough watched his companion return to the campfire and then headed into the trees; he wanted to make sure he was out of sight of the camp. It wouldn’t do him any good to allow a lady of God to see him making water.
His friend’s concerns were well founded; the forest had become notorious in recent years. That said the Prioress was also right, most of the trouble was out round Nottingham. Thieves were not a localised problem though and caution was always needed. That was why Lord Grafton had insisted an armed guard escort the Prioress to her new position. Warder had been irritable through the entire journey, however, probably down to the fact that they’d had to take horses; he’d never been much of a horseman. If the truth was told neither of them were comfortable around the Prioress. She was a devout woman, of that there could be little doubt, but that also meant that when they stopped for the night, on the nights when they had stopped at inns, there had been no chance to play dice or get drunk or whore. Plenty of time for that on the way home though, James grinned to himself.
Once out of sight of the camp James lifted his padded aketon and dropped his hose. A relieved sigh escaped his mouth as the hot stream of urine splashed against the side of the oak.
He never saw the shadow creeping behind him, never knew it was there until two icy cold hands gripped his head. He managed a startled grunt before the hands twisted, snapping his neck and killing him instantly.
His body dropped softly to the floor, his own urine running back from the tree and pooling around his corpse, and the shadow slipped back into the night.
Jack Warder took off his kettle hat, placing it gently onto the floor so as not to disturb the Prioress, and then removed the padded coif that sat beneath it and scratched. The damned coif made his head itch. Probably full of lice, he thought, as he scratched furiously at his sweat-dampened hair.
The sooner they were out of the damn forest the better. He believed all he had said about outlaws true enough, but then there was the other thing. He hadn’t had the courage to mention it to the Prioress, she’d never believe him, nor to James for that matter, the younger guard would have laughed until he pissed himself. Jack knew better though, Jack knew the forest was haunted.
His cousin Ben had told him the stories. The tale of the White Lady who haunted the forest. Some said it was the ghost of a Saxon lady restless after the Normans had taken her husband’s lands and then raped and killed her a few hundred years back.
Others said it was the presence of Saint Modwenna punishing those who broke the Commandments, though Jack couldn’t say why a Saint would attack those out in the forest. Worse thing was, he thought to himself, if it was the Blessed Saint then he was doomed if she found him. He had never been one for observing the Commandments.
Thing was, this White Lady was real enough, Ben had sworn it, and he’d never known the boy lie.
He scratched at his head again. The prioress seemed lost in her own thoughts and the horses, tied to a nearby tree, were quiet enough. James was taking his own sweet time though.
“Jack come ‘ere.”
He looked at the Prioress but she hadn’t reacted. The other guard’s voice had seemed odd, no more than a whisper. He might have seen something in the trees, something that had forced him to lower his voice. Maybe he had caught sight of brigands in the woods. Warder picked up his rough handled knife and moved to the edge of the clearing.
“James, James Goldborough, where are you?” He hissed.
The shadow touched his mind again and whispered “Over ‘ere Jack.” To Warder it sounded like Goldborough, though he wasn’t to know that his friend lay dead amongst the trees.
Warder moved further into the forest, away from the light of the fire, fear gripping his stomach. Damn the boy, he thought, what sort of game was he playing? Tree branches caught at his clothing, tugging at him in the dark, and scraped across his rough face. A sound made him whirl around, cracking his head on a low branch. He swore lightly, it had been an owl. As he rubbed his sore skull he realised that he had left his helm at the camp.
“Goldborough?” His voice was stretched, barely audible above the frantic pounding of his own heart.
James Goldborough did not reply.
“What the hell…” He thought he saw a shadow flitting through the undergrowth, but then rationalised that it was just the thin moonlight moving through the swaying branches. Even so his hand gripped the knife tightly, his knuckles white.
“To Hell with you Goldborough, enough of your games.” He said almost too loudly. He turned to move back to the camp.
He glimpsed her for just a second before the talon like fingernails ripped his throat. Enough time for him to recognise the White Lady. Enough time for his feverish mind to realise that he had been right to believe Ben and for a stream of urine to soil his dirty grey hose.
He fell to the floor, clutching the gapping hole in his throat, blood spraying through his fingers and spilling onto the forest floor. Unable to make a sound.
Unable to warn his charge.
The shadow flitted towards the clearing.
At the edge of the clearing, outside the light flickering from the fire, she watched the Prioress. The older woman was praying, her fingers flickering over a set of ornate rosary beads.
The shadow circled around until it stood behind the Prioress, head still bent in prayer. She edged closer and closer until she stood directly above the nun. Her white fingers, stained red with Jack Warder’s blood, reached out slowly and then gently pulled back the wimple.
The Prioress’ eyes shot open; she twisted around to see a young girl, beautiful and yet so pale of skin. She was about to ask the girl her name when the girl’s mouth opened and she saw the fangs and the luminescent flash of red in the girl’s eyes.
She lifted the rosary, holding the tiny crucifix up to the devil, for devil it surely must have been. “God preserve me… I beg of you Lord, preserve your servant.”
The vampire laughed, the woman was absolutely sincere in her prayer, sincere in both her will to live and her belief that her God would protect her. She took the rosary from the Prioress’ hand and looked at it for a moment before throwing it to one side. “Which God would that be?” She asked the trembling nun, and then she struck, her fangs burying deep into the older woman’s neck.
For a moment the Prioress felt the touch of paradise. She sank into the vampire’s embrace willingly, offering up her life.
The horses panicked, neighing and whinnying franticly, pulling back at the ropes that tied them and kicking back into the night, kicking naught but air, or each other. One of them managed to break its head collar and ran into the night, neighing furiously.
The vampire ignored the horses and fed.
Two nights later the new Prioress of Kirklees arrived at her post, her habit stained from her travels, her ornate rosary clutched in her hands.
Her appearance took the nuns aback at first. She was so much younger than they had expected and she was also a day late. They asked her where her escorts had gone, concerned that she should have travelled the roads alone. Her escorts had been forced to return to their Lord with all haste after ensuring she was safe, she explained. Surely the nuns had seen the horsemen galloping off down the road. One remembered that she had and then another. Foolish men, thought one, always rushing here and there. They should have come in for the night, rested and returned to their Lord on the morrow.
Within hours Danaan had settled into the Prioress’ room, leaving explicit orders that she was extremely fatigued and was not to be disturbed the following day.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The happenings around town
Jennifer Armintrout, author of the Blood Series is running a hilarious commentary/review on the Vampire Diaries TV show.
This is old, but absolutely hilarious. It's a little hard to navigate through, but Smart Bitches Trashy Books does a chapter by chapter summary of Dark Lover by J.R. Ward.
Bitten by Books is doing a 31 Days of Dark Delights
The Mystery of The Haunted Vampire is posting chapters of his book.
Be sure to check in with other authors and bloggers participating in my Halloween event too!
October Events: (originally posted by Suburban Vampire)
KCon (Sherrilyn Kenyon Convention): October 9-11 - New Orleans, LA
Vampires Rock: October 14 - Bournemouth, UK
Bram Stoker International Film Festival: October 16-19 - Whitby, England
Festival of the Dead: October - Salem, MA
The Vampires' Masquerade Ball: October 23 - Salem, MA
Vampire Film Series and Festival: October 23-26 - New Orleans, LA
The Transylvanian Ball: October 24 - Portland, OR
Vampire Ball: October 24 - Flint, MI
Queen of the Damned Ball: October 30 - New Orleans, LA
Hallowhedon: October 30-November 1 - Heathrow, UK
Flight of the Vampire Race: October 31 - Brevard, NC
Vampire Film Festival has announced their international movie line-up
The 4- Day Vampire Festival slated for Oct. 23- 26 will showcase films, a vampire ballet, a New Orleans Jazz Style Funeral and a French Quarter scavenger hunt.
Over 50 films will screen from over 11 countries this month in New Orleans. Vampire Fest has declared 2009 the Year of the International Vampire and will screen films from Japan, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, Austria, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. We will screen films that could be classified in the context of vampire, supernatural, the bizarre, the grotesque, the mysterious or the desolate. The legend of the werewolf is interconnected with that of vampire and Vampire Fest is open to films of the Gothic, zombie, werewolf or ghost genre.
“This will mark Vampire Fest’s first time in NOLA!” Mary Beth Romig, Director of Public Relations and Communications for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, recently declared, “We are excited to welcome the Vampire Film Festival to what we think is the perfect city for showcasing this genre. With our reputation for being one of America's most haunted cities and our rich history, we feel our city will be the perfect backdrop for the festival this year and for many years to come, adding another exciting and unique festival to the line up of great events in New Orleans."
The lineup screening at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center is as follows (tickets are now on sale at www.vampirefest.com):
Oct. 23rd, the Australian short, 1271, opens the festival with a 3:00 p.m. screening.
1271 is followed by the feature film, The Kiss, the story of a high school outcast who heeds the pleas of Santa Maria, the queen of the Snake Clan of Vampires, who has been left for dead under a neighborhood house by her archrival. Unfortunately, after our hero brings Santa Maria back to life with the blood of neighborhood pets, she begins feeding on his high school friends.
At 5 p.m., Vampire Fest presents a series of Gothic shorts including Rakthavira, Dreams, The Music of Eric Zahn, Electra Zen Suite from Italy and The Ward.
The opening night films at 7:30 p.m. include Sucker and Shadowland, the story of a young woman left for dead who encounters a young man who might be her savior or her killer.
At 10 p.m. Vampire Fest will screen the Kathryn Bigelow classic, Near Dark, the tale of a mid-western farm boy reluctantly becomes a member of the undead when a girl he meets turns out to be part of a band of southern vampires who roam the highways in stolen cars.
The Midnight Screening will begin with a costume contest with prizes followed by a program of selected shorts includes Canadian Anime, The Urge, CannibAlien from Japan, Childhood Fears, Exposure, Bloodrayne, Nosferajew . The evening concludes with Blood Bound. All midnight screenings during the festival will include surprises, and some live entertainment.
Oct. 24th, the program commences at 2:00 p.m. with a series of international vampire shorts including Forgotten Sunrise, from Norway, Here Lies Lucy: A Vampire, from the United Kingdom, Killer from Australia, D’Entre Les Morts from France, Blood Sisters from Austria and Bad Reception from Australia.
At 4:30 p.m., Vampire Fest presents the award-winning feature, The Revenant, a story about an ancient pestilence recurring in modern society that turns the infected into moldy, putrefying, living corpses
The screening is followed at 7:00 p.m. by the Canadian feature, The Death of Alice Blue, the story of Alice, the creative young intern at Raven Advertising, a firm run by vampires and the Canadian short, Initiation.
At 9:30 p.m. Vampire Fest will present a series of mythic-themed short films including College Video #13, Hellcat & Tala, Trojans, and the mythic feature Mangal Sutra,
Wear your costumes to the Midnight Screening! Vampire Fest is hosting a costume contest complete with prizes then screening an eclectic mix of short films including the Gothic-themed The Blind Date of Coffin Jose, vampire-themed Spanish short, Sweet Blood and mythic-themed short films, Nights Moves and Shrove Tuesday from the United Kingdom. The program ends with a musical short from Samoa, Vauville Dead.
Oct. 25th, the screenings begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Gothic Shorts series, Morella, X-Mess Detritus, A Hammer Fell In Jerusalem, One Dark Night, Café and The Fine Art of Poisoning, a music video by chanteuse, Jill Tracy.
The program begins again at 9:30 p.m. with more vampire short films including Vampire Killers, The Union, Third Shift Mr. Moonlight, and Diaries of a Teenage Vampire. The short series ends with a musical short by Gothic chanteuse Jill Tracy, Haunted by the Thought of You.
Vampire Fest presents a cult favorite at the midnight show, the feature, Nadja, filmmaker Michael Almereyda’s take on the Dracula myth set in urban New York.
Oct. 26th, at 2:00 p.m., Vampire Fest screens the vampire short, Now That You’re Dead followed by the British vampire feature, Strigoi, a unique feature set in a post-communist Romanian village and introduces us to an ancient myth, the Strigoi, souls that rise again after death to seek justice if they have been wronged, their appetites intensified by a hunger for blood.
4:30 p.m., Vampire Fest presents a Gothic double header, Grotesque followed by the feature film, Let Me Die Quietly, a neo-noir thriller in which a brilliant psychiatrist, a beautiful seductress, and a jaded detective unexpectedly crash into the disturbed world of a death-obsessed loner.
The winning entries from the Hunted Contest will be screened at 7:00 pm and audience favorites.
Since vampire literature is interconnected with the movie genre, stretch your mind with best selling writers at Vamp Lit. Vampire Fest will present a literary panel on Sunday, October 25th starting at 2 pm at the Zeitgeist. Writer Sue Dent will be moderating the event that will feature best-selling writer Erin McCarthy, graphic novelist Van Jensen and Louisiana’s own, Nicole Peeler. These established and debut novelists will be happy to detail what it's like to be a part of the astoundingly popular world of vampire and shape-shifter fiction.
This panel will be followed by a Shoot Louisiana Panel in conjunction with the New Orleans Film Commission. With filmmakers invited from around the world this would be a perfect time to introduce them to the great filmmaker incentive programs in Louisiana.
Both panels end with the Film/Lit Mixer where new and established writers and filmmakers can mingle in the Absinthe Den presented by Le Tourment Vert and craft films for next years festival!
Pull out your cape, slip on your fangs and join the Big Easy’s undead film fanatics at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center on October 23rd,
24th, 25th and 26th. Zeitgeist has long been the hub of alternative arts scene in New Orleans and is located on 1618 Oretha Castle Haley
Boulevard, New Orleans.
For more information, call Vampire Fest New Orleans at (504) 298-VAMP or visit our official site, www.vampirefilmfestival.com, an intriguing and provocative door to supernatural based media.
Purchase your tickets now at www.vampirefilmfestival.com! $6.00 in advance, $8.00 at the door.
This is old, but absolutely hilarious. It's a little hard to navigate through, but Smart Bitches Trashy Books does a chapter by chapter summary of Dark Lover by J.R. Ward.
Bitten by Books is doing a 31 Days of Dark Delights
The Mystery of The Haunted Vampire is posting chapters of his book.
Be sure to check in with other authors and bloggers participating in my Halloween event too!
October Events: (originally posted by Suburban Vampire)
KCon (Sherrilyn Kenyon Convention): October 9-11 - New Orleans, LA
Vampires Rock: October 14 - Bournemouth, UK
Bram Stoker International Film Festival: October 16-19 - Whitby, England
Festival of the Dead: October - Salem, MA
The Vampires' Masquerade Ball: October 23 - Salem, MA
Vampire Film Series and Festival: October 23-26 - New Orleans, LA
The Transylvanian Ball: October 24 - Portland, OR
Vampire Ball: October 24 - Flint, MI
Queen of the Damned Ball: October 30 - New Orleans, LA
Hallowhedon: October 30-November 1 - Heathrow, UK
Flight of the Vampire Race: October 31 - Brevard, NC
Vampire Film Festival has announced their international movie line-up
The 4- Day Vampire Festival slated for Oct. 23- 26 will showcase films, a vampire ballet, a New Orleans Jazz Style Funeral and a French Quarter scavenger hunt.
Over 50 films will screen from over 11 countries this month in New Orleans. Vampire Fest has declared 2009 the Year of the International Vampire and will screen films from Japan, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, Austria, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. We will screen films that could be classified in the context of vampire, supernatural, the bizarre, the grotesque, the mysterious or the desolate. The legend of the werewolf is interconnected with that of vampire and Vampire Fest is open to films of the Gothic, zombie, werewolf or ghost genre.
“This will mark Vampire Fest’s first time in NOLA!” Mary Beth Romig, Director of Public Relations and Communications for the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, recently declared, “We are excited to welcome the Vampire Film Festival to what we think is the perfect city for showcasing this genre. With our reputation for being one of America's most haunted cities and our rich history, we feel our city will be the perfect backdrop for the festival this year and for many years to come, adding another exciting and unique festival to the line up of great events in New Orleans."
The lineup screening at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center is as follows (tickets are now on sale at www.vampirefest.com):
Oct. 23rd, the Australian short, 1271, opens the festival with a 3:00 p.m. screening.
1271 is followed by the feature film, The Kiss, the story of a high school outcast who heeds the pleas of Santa Maria, the queen of the Snake Clan of Vampires, who has been left for dead under a neighborhood house by her archrival. Unfortunately, after our hero brings Santa Maria back to life with the blood of neighborhood pets, she begins feeding on his high school friends.
At 5 p.m., Vampire Fest presents a series of Gothic shorts including Rakthavira, Dreams, The Music of Eric Zahn, Electra Zen Suite from Italy and The Ward.
The opening night films at 7:30 p.m. include Sucker and Shadowland, the story of a young woman left for dead who encounters a young man who might be her savior or her killer.
At 10 p.m. Vampire Fest will screen the Kathryn Bigelow classic, Near Dark, the tale of a mid-western farm boy reluctantly becomes a member of the undead when a girl he meets turns out to be part of a band of southern vampires who roam the highways in stolen cars.
The Midnight Screening will begin with a costume contest with prizes followed by a program of selected shorts includes Canadian Anime, The Urge, CannibAlien from Japan, Childhood Fears, Exposure, Bloodrayne, Nosferajew . The evening concludes with Blood Bound. All midnight screenings during the festival will include surprises, and some live entertainment.
Oct. 24th, the program commences at 2:00 p.m. with a series of international vampire shorts including Forgotten Sunrise, from Norway, Here Lies Lucy: A Vampire, from the United Kingdom, Killer from Australia, D’Entre Les Morts from France, Blood Sisters from Austria and Bad Reception from Australia.
At 4:30 p.m., Vampire Fest presents the award-winning feature, The Revenant, a story about an ancient pestilence recurring in modern society that turns the infected into moldy, putrefying, living corpses
The screening is followed at 7:00 p.m. by the Canadian feature, The Death of Alice Blue, the story of Alice, the creative young intern at Raven Advertising, a firm run by vampires and the Canadian short, Initiation.
At 9:30 p.m. Vampire Fest will present a series of mythic-themed short films including College Video #13, Hellcat & Tala, Trojans, and the mythic feature Mangal Sutra,
Wear your costumes to the Midnight Screening! Vampire Fest is hosting a costume contest complete with prizes then screening an eclectic mix of short films including the Gothic-themed The Blind Date of Coffin Jose, vampire-themed Spanish short, Sweet Blood and mythic-themed short films, Nights Moves and Shrove Tuesday from the United Kingdom. The program ends with a musical short from Samoa, Vauville Dead.
Oct. 25th, the screenings begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Gothic Shorts series, Morella, X-Mess Detritus, A Hammer Fell In Jerusalem, One Dark Night, Café and The Fine Art of Poisoning, a music video by chanteuse, Jill Tracy.
The program begins again at 9:30 p.m. with more vampire short films including Vampire Killers, The Union, Third Shift Mr. Moonlight, and Diaries of a Teenage Vampire. The short series ends with a musical short by Gothic chanteuse Jill Tracy, Haunted by the Thought of You.
Vampire Fest presents a cult favorite at the midnight show, the feature, Nadja, filmmaker Michael Almereyda’s take on the Dracula myth set in urban New York.
Oct. 26th, at 2:00 p.m., Vampire Fest screens the vampire short, Now That You’re Dead followed by the British vampire feature, Strigoi, a unique feature set in a post-communist Romanian village and introduces us to an ancient myth, the Strigoi, souls that rise again after death to seek justice if they have been wronged, their appetites intensified by a hunger for blood.
4:30 p.m., Vampire Fest presents a Gothic double header, Grotesque followed by the feature film, Let Me Die Quietly, a neo-noir thriller in which a brilliant psychiatrist, a beautiful seductress, and a jaded detective unexpectedly crash into the disturbed world of a death-obsessed loner.
The winning entries from the Hunted Contest will be screened at 7:00 pm and audience favorites.
Since vampire literature is interconnected with the movie genre, stretch your mind with best selling writers at Vamp Lit. Vampire Fest will present a literary panel on Sunday, October 25th starting at 2 pm at the Zeitgeist. Writer Sue Dent will be moderating the event that will feature best-selling writer Erin McCarthy, graphic novelist Van Jensen and Louisiana’s own, Nicole Peeler. These established and debut novelists will be happy to detail what it's like to be a part of the astoundingly popular world of vampire and shape-shifter fiction.
This panel will be followed by a Shoot Louisiana Panel in conjunction with the New Orleans Film Commission. With filmmakers invited from around the world this would be a perfect time to introduce them to the great filmmaker incentive programs in Louisiana.
Both panels end with the Film/Lit Mixer where new and established writers and filmmakers can mingle in the Absinthe Den presented by Le Tourment Vert and craft films for next years festival!
Pull out your cape, slip on your fangs and join the Big Easy’s undead film fanatics at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center on October 23rd,
24th, 25th and 26th. Zeitgeist has long been the hub of alternative arts scene in New Orleans and is located on 1618 Oretha Castle Haley
Boulevard, New Orleans.
For more information, call Vampire Fest New Orleans at (504) 298-VAMP or visit our official site, www.vampirefilmfestival.com, an intriguing and provocative door to supernatural based media.
Purchase your tickets now at www.vampirefilmfestival.com! $6.00 in advance, $8.00 at the door.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
These apparitions have given rise to a little work…
Today we have a special guest blog from Niels K. Petersen over at Magia Posthuma -
On several occasions, particularly on the periphery of the Habsburg Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries, dead people were suspected of being revenants or vampires, and consequently dug up and destroyed. Contemporary authors named this phenomenon Magia Posthuma. This blog is dedicated to understanding what happened and why.
Thanks Niels!
Angelique Gaudet, the owner of a book shop in Fort McIntyre, receives a strange package for her birthday. Unpacking it, she finds a book:
‘The book was old, very old and heavy. The binding was leather. The typeface was small. The language was Latin.
Looking over her shoulder, Fred read the title aloud. “Magia Posthuma.” He frowned. “Let me look at that.” He opened the volume to the title page. “If I remember my law school Latin, this is a study of the reanimation of the dead. And it’s apparently a scholarly treatise. It’s dedicated to the Bishop of Olmütz and was published in 1706.” He handed it back to her. “It’s a strange birthday gift, but I suspect it’s very valuable.’
As she later on takes a closer look at the book, Miss Gaudet doesn’t feel comfortable with it:
‘She stroked the thin, worn leather cover. It was as if a mantle of chill air swirled around her shoulders and she shivered, but she turned the pages carefully. The volume was illustrated with ancient woodcuts. The pictures were gruesome. Scenes in graveyards with priests standing by open graves. Wooden caskets thrown open. Corpses with stakes through their chests. She shook her head nervously and put the book down. This was not a book for a night when you were having trouble sleeping.’
These events unfold in the 1989 novel Blood Legacy by Prudence Foster that otherwise is inspired by characters from the history of the so-called ‘Blood Countess’, Elizabeth Bathory, and is a variation on the theme of the age old vampire seeking the modern reincarnation of his love. ‘Love Never Dies,’ as we know from the movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
I for one envy Miss Gaudet in being presented with an original copy of Magia Posthuma. It is indeed a rare and very valuable book, and a legend in its own right. Mentioned in almost every modern book on vampires, Magia Posthuma is a household title among vampire aficionados, but very few people have actually read it.
The book itself is in fact neither heavy nor illustrated with woodcuts. It isn’t even really a book about the reanimation of the dead!
Magia Posthuma per juridicum illud pro & contra suspenso nonnullibi judicio investigata was written by Karl Ferdinand von Schertz at the beginning of the 18th century and published sometime in 1704 or 1706 in Olomouc in Moravia, the Eastern part of what is now the Czech Republic.
In those days Moravia and neighbouring areas like Silesia apparently had problems with ‘magia posthuma’, posthumous magic: Dead people returning to torment and haunt the living, their corpses showing no signs of corruption. The most effective remedy against this magical phenomenon was believed to be the destruction of the corpses, in particular by fire. As the corpses were typically those of people suspected of performing acts of magic while alive, the burning of their corpses could be considered the post mortem punishment at the stake of witches.
Being a lawyer, von Schertz’s aim was to examine how to deal with such cases. Consequently, he studied a number of cases of posthumous magic, and aided by the writings of various authorities on matters of law and demonology, like e.g. the famed Catholic theologian Martin Del Rio, he closely argued pro & contra various conceptions of the phenomenon and ways to rid oneself of it.
Although a sceptic, von Schertz did not question the reality of demons and spectres. He actually ridiculed Thomas Hobbes for claiming that spectres do not exist. Although he did in fact concede to the use of post mortem executions of presumed revenants, he also suggested other methods like masses and prayer.
The practices of the Catholic Church in Moravia and neighbouring countries during that period have been debated by historians. Did the Jesuits encourage the superstitious beliefs of the local population, or did they just try to stay on good terms with the superstitious inhabitants? What is certain is that the Jesuits themselves later on came at odds with the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa’s endeavours to extend her enlightened rule to those territories. In 1755 she even set out to stop post mortem executions of corpses suspected of posthumous magic, as well as other acts of superstition.
Today exclusively known through Augustin Calmet’s famous dissertation on revenants and vampires from 1746, Dissertations sur les apparitions des anges, des demons, des esprits etc., a copy of the original Magia Posthuma is hard to come by. As no one put the book in a package outside my front door, it took quite some effort on my behalf to gain access to a copy. I now am aware of but three existing copies, one in France, and two in the Czech Republic.
Apparently read by very few people since Calmet’s time, Magia Posthuma sheds light on what some might consider ‘proto-vampires’, although not vampires in the modern sense. The posthumous magic of von Schertz’s time did not involve blood sucking revenants with fangs, but rather haunting spectres and poltergeists.
Magia Posthuma provides us with a link back in time from the modern vampire of fiction to the roots of vampire lore. The history of the Moravian posthumous magic, the Serbian vampires encountered by the Austrian military in the early 18th century, and various other revenant beliefs of continental Europe is no less exciting, surprising or horrifying than what can be found in vampire novels. In fact, we can learn a lot about our past and our relationship with the dead through the cases that can be found in archival material and old and obscure books like Magia Posthuma.
So as the vampire of modern novels and movies seems to become ever more successful, it is high time to explore the factual and historical basis of the myth that has brought us Lord Ruthven, Carmilla Karnstein, Count Dracula, Lestat de Lioncourt, and Edward Cullen.
On several occasions, particularly on the periphery of the Habsburg Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries, dead people were suspected of being revenants or vampires, and consequently dug up and destroyed. Contemporary authors named this phenomenon Magia Posthuma. This blog is dedicated to understanding what happened and why.
Thanks Niels!
Angelique Gaudet, the owner of a book shop in Fort McIntyre, receives a strange package for her birthday. Unpacking it, she finds a book:
‘The book was old, very old and heavy. The binding was leather. The typeface was small. The language was Latin.
Looking over her shoulder, Fred read the title aloud. “Magia Posthuma.” He frowned. “Let me look at that.” He opened the volume to the title page. “If I remember my law school Latin, this is a study of the reanimation of the dead. And it’s apparently a scholarly treatise. It’s dedicated to the Bishop of Olmütz and was published in 1706.” He handed it back to her. “It’s a strange birthday gift, but I suspect it’s very valuable.’
As she later on takes a closer look at the book, Miss Gaudet doesn’t feel comfortable with it:
‘She stroked the thin, worn leather cover. It was as if a mantle of chill air swirled around her shoulders and she shivered, but she turned the pages carefully. The volume was illustrated with ancient woodcuts. The pictures were gruesome. Scenes in graveyards with priests standing by open graves. Wooden caskets thrown open. Corpses with stakes through their chests. She shook her head nervously and put the book down. This was not a book for a night when you were having trouble sleeping.’
These events unfold in the 1989 novel Blood Legacy by Prudence Foster that otherwise is inspired by characters from the history of the so-called ‘Blood Countess’, Elizabeth Bathory, and is a variation on the theme of the age old vampire seeking the modern reincarnation of his love. ‘Love Never Dies,’ as we know from the movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
I for one envy Miss Gaudet in being presented with an original copy of Magia Posthuma. It is indeed a rare and very valuable book, and a legend in its own right. Mentioned in almost every modern book on vampires, Magia Posthuma is a household title among vampire aficionados, but very few people have actually read it.
The book itself is in fact neither heavy nor illustrated with woodcuts. It isn’t even really a book about the reanimation of the dead!
Magia Posthuma per juridicum illud pro & contra suspenso nonnullibi judicio investigata was written by Karl Ferdinand von Schertz at the beginning of the 18th century and published sometime in 1704 or 1706 in Olomouc in Moravia, the Eastern part of what is now the Czech Republic.
In those days Moravia and neighbouring areas like Silesia apparently had problems with ‘magia posthuma’, posthumous magic: Dead people returning to torment and haunt the living, their corpses showing no signs of corruption. The most effective remedy against this magical phenomenon was believed to be the destruction of the corpses, in particular by fire. As the corpses were typically those of people suspected of performing acts of magic while alive, the burning of their corpses could be considered the post mortem punishment at the stake of witches.
Being a lawyer, von Schertz’s aim was to examine how to deal with such cases. Consequently, he studied a number of cases of posthumous magic, and aided by the writings of various authorities on matters of law and demonology, like e.g. the famed Catholic theologian Martin Del Rio, he closely argued pro & contra various conceptions of the phenomenon and ways to rid oneself of it.
Although a sceptic, von Schertz did not question the reality of demons and spectres. He actually ridiculed Thomas Hobbes for claiming that spectres do not exist. Although he did in fact concede to the use of post mortem executions of presumed revenants, he also suggested other methods like masses and prayer.
The practices of the Catholic Church in Moravia and neighbouring countries during that period have been debated by historians. Did the Jesuits encourage the superstitious beliefs of the local population, or did they just try to stay on good terms with the superstitious inhabitants? What is certain is that the Jesuits themselves later on came at odds with the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa’s endeavours to extend her enlightened rule to those territories. In 1755 she even set out to stop post mortem executions of corpses suspected of posthumous magic, as well as other acts of superstition.
Today exclusively known through Augustin Calmet’s famous dissertation on revenants and vampires from 1746, Dissertations sur les apparitions des anges, des demons, des esprits etc., a copy of the original Magia Posthuma is hard to come by. As no one put the book in a package outside my front door, it took quite some effort on my behalf to gain access to a copy. I now am aware of but three existing copies, one in France, and two in the Czech Republic.
Apparently read by very few people since Calmet’s time, Magia Posthuma sheds light on what some might consider ‘proto-vampires’, although not vampires in the modern sense. The posthumous magic of von Schertz’s time did not involve blood sucking revenants with fangs, but rather haunting spectres and poltergeists.
Magia Posthuma provides us with a link back in time from the modern vampire of fiction to the roots of vampire lore. The history of the Moravian posthumous magic, the Serbian vampires encountered by the Austrian military in the early 18th century, and various other revenant beliefs of continental Europe is no less exciting, surprising or horrifying than what can be found in vampire novels. In fact, we can learn a lot about our past and our relationship with the dead through the cases that can be found in archival material and old and obscure books like Magia Posthuma.
So as the vampire of modern novels and movies seems to become ever more successful, it is high time to explore the factual and historical basis of the myth that has brought us Lord Ruthven, Carmilla Karnstein, Count Dracula, Lestat de Lioncourt, and Edward Cullen.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Enter to Win Friday
We have a lot of great prizes to win this month!
Here are some of our prize contributers:
So to enter to win in the big giveway on October 31st leave a comment answering the following question:
What is your favorite vampire movie?
There are also some other contests going on:
I will be accepting entries until 11:59PM Sunday night (Pacific Time)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Breaking Up with a Book Series
Smart Bitches Trashy Books wrote a great post that has some great comments about when/why you break up with a series, or why you don't.
Whose series were most noted?
J.R. Ward
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Laurell K Hamilton
Christine Feehan
Charlaine Harris
Janet Evanovich
Mary Janice Davis
Obviously it's no suprise that a ton of people have broke up with Anita Blake... which got me thinking... I don't think I ever really break up with these series, I am just not as urgent to read them. I know the Blake books have become trash, yet I can't help to read them. I think I am actually kind of looking forward to the next book coming out even though I feel bad for wanting to read it. I still have hopes it might get better. I won't buy it the day it comes out - I may just wait until my library gets it.
I won't name the unlisted series, but when my favorite character got killed off, I am having a hard time wanting to read the new books. I went to Barnes & Noble yesterday to buy it, even though it had been out since February and decided not to when I found out I would have to pay over 27 dollars for it - it just wasn't worth it.
Some people are getting to the point of wanting to quit Sookie, but I have found that I still very much enjoy them (and Eric of course) so next may I will be in line the day it comes out at the time the store opens. Now if they killed of Eric, I probably wouldn't be that interested in reading about Sookie, and I would be quite angry. I would probably eventually buy the book afterwards (if ever that did occur which I pray it won't).
I also found that the Tanya Huff series ended a book later than it should have. SPOILER ALERT - it just wasn't worth reading after she was turned. Sometimes books are hard to continue reading when you read 5 that focus around a chase and book 6 the get what they were looking for - well book 7 gets a bit boring.
What makes you break up with a book or lose interest?
Whose series were most noted?
J.R. Ward
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Laurell K Hamilton
Christine Feehan
Charlaine Harris
Janet Evanovich
Mary Janice Davis
Obviously it's no suprise that a ton of people have broke up with Anita Blake... which got me thinking... I don't think I ever really break up with these series, I am just not as urgent to read them. I know the Blake books have become trash, yet I can't help to read them. I think I am actually kind of looking forward to the next book coming out even though I feel bad for wanting to read it. I still have hopes it might get better. I won't buy it the day it comes out - I may just wait until my library gets it.
I won't name the unlisted series, but when my favorite character got killed off, I am having a hard time wanting to read the new books. I went to Barnes & Noble yesterday to buy it, even though it had been out since February and decided not to when I found out I would have to pay over 27 dollars for it - it just wasn't worth it.
Some people are getting to the point of wanting to quit Sookie, but I have found that I still very much enjoy them (and Eric of course) so next may I will be in line the day it comes out at the time the store opens. Now if they killed of Eric, I probably wouldn't be that interested in reading about Sookie, and I would be quite angry. I would probably eventually buy the book afterwards (if ever that did occur which I pray it won't).
I also found that the Tanya Huff series ended a book later than it should have. SPOILER ALERT - it just wasn't worth reading after she was turned. Sometimes books are hard to continue reading when you read 5 that focus around a chase and book 6 the get what they were looking for - well book 7 gets a bit boring.
What makes you break up with a book or lose interest?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Twihard Fans Getting Violent?
Geekologie just posted a crazy entry about a forum in which crazy Twilight fans have attacked Twilight haters - "anti's" some stories are pretty crazy.
Here is the original article.
Here is the attack-directory.
Some stories include a guy getting his face burned with acid and a 17 year old killing a 7 year old's goldfish.
Here is the original article.
Here is the attack-directory.
Some stories include a guy getting his face burned with acid and a 17 year old killing a 7 year old's goldfish.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Check out these vampire links!
Dark Side of the Net has a great list of vampire blogs (I'm even on there). Check out the extensive list! They have some other great resources for the vampire lover too.
Now I'm off to San Francisco until Sunday for work!
Now I'm off to San Francisco until Sunday for work!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Twilight Gossip
Thanks to Suburban Vampire, I found that it seems like Stephen King didn't have very nice things to say about Stephenie Meyer. USA Weekend Blog had an interview with Stephen King and here is what he had to say about Meyer:
Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."
But then King recalls that when his mom was alive, she read all the Erle Stanley Gardner books, the Perry Mason mysteries, obsessively when he was growing up. "He was a terrible writer, too, but he was very successful," King says. "Somebody who’s a terrific writer who’s been very, very successful is Jodi Picoult. You’ve got Dean Koontz, who can write like hell. And then sometimes he’s just awful. It varies. James Patterson is a terrible writer but he’s very very successful. People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet."
I find the comments left for the article the most entertaining. Isn't it always that way though? Most of the commentors do say that they aren't hating on Meyer's storytelling, but her writing... which some of her fans have already said "sucks."
Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."
But then King recalls that when his mom was alive, she read all the Erle Stanley Gardner books, the Perry Mason mysteries, obsessively when he was growing up. "He was a terrible writer, too, but he was very successful," King says. "Somebody who’s a terrific writer who’s been very, very successful is Jodi Picoult. You’ve got Dean Koontz, who can write like hell. And then sometimes he’s just awful. It varies. James Patterson is a terrible writer but he’s very very successful. People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet."
I find the comments left for the article the most entertaining. Isn't it always that way though? Most of the commentors do say that they aren't hating on Meyer's storytelling, but her writing... which some of her fans have already said "sucks."
Thursday, January 29, 2009
More Than Fiction
Do vampires really exist? Is there proof?
In case you haven't come across them yet, there are a some awesome blogs dedicated to the scientific and historical facts, myths, and rumors. Check them out! There is some interesting stuff out there. These are some of my favorite:
Diary of an Amateur Vampirologist:
and
Magia Posthuma:
"On several occasions, particularly on the periphery of the Habsburg Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries, dead people were suspected of being revenants or vampires, and consequently dug up and destroyed. Contemporary authors named this phenomenon Magia Posthuma. This blog is dedicated to understanding what happened and why"
In case you haven't come across them yet, there are a some awesome blogs dedicated to the scientific and historical facts, myths, and rumors. Check them out! There is some interesting stuff out there. These are some of my favorite:
Diary of an Amateur Vampirologist:
and
Magia Posthuma:
"On several occasions, particularly on the periphery of the Habsburg Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries, dead people were suspected of being revenants or vampires, and consequently dug up and destroyed. Contemporary authors named this phenomenon Magia Posthuma. This blog is dedicated to understanding what happened and why"
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Fun stuff to spend your time and money on
Check out this vampy necklace from Collett's Treasures.Want to vamp up your pictures in photoshop? Find some video tutorials here.
If you have hundreds of dollars to spend, this Fang Necklace is pretty awesome. Bittersweet makes other awesome things that are vampy, like these cool rings.
This isn't a vampire blog, but has some vampire stuff in it and is awesome.
Curious how to brush a vampire's teeth? Take a look at this instructional booklet.
I think Bencandace's Halloween Charm Bracelet is super cute.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Links and Such
Want to sleep in a coffin? Weburbanist posted some crazy hotel rooms and one of them is the vampire hotel room:
"Watching horror movies one has to be a little bit curious about whether it is comfortable for vampires to sleep in attic coffins. Now those who are so inclined (or who prefer partying at night and sleeping during the day) can experience this vampire room first hand at the Propeller Island Hotel."
Their entry on abandoned buildings is pretty awesome too.
Might be interesting reading: Project Haunted House
Do you believe? Reports of sitings at Paranormal Database
Also, Vampire Wine is having a sale: 4 bottles for 55.00 (includes shipping)
"Watching horror movies one has to be a little bit curious about whether it is comfortable for vampires to sleep in attic coffins. Now those who are so inclined (or who prefer partying at night and sleeping during the day) can experience this vampire room first hand at the Propeller Island Hotel."
Their entry on abandoned buildings is pretty awesome too.Might be interesting reading: Project Haunted House
Do you believe? Reports of sitings at Paranormal Database
Also, Vampire Wine is having a sale: 4 bottles for 55.00 (includes shipping)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
