Free e-book: Whaling City Vampires: Love Beyond Death

It's free e-book week!

Nineteenth century New London was crowded with whalers, workers and drifters; an irresistible  temptation for the hungry vampires that stalked the streets at night searching for love, vengeance and blood!
Download the free e-book here:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/299149

Being Human: Chasers

After watching Being Human UK on Hulu I was so sad to see it end. I liked this show so much, even after the entire cast changed, although I definitely preferred the original cast. It was so exciting to find the book series based on the original cast, so I've been ordering them each one at a time to make the experience last as long as possible. I don't order the next book in the series until I'm finished with the previous book. Not only does it make the experience last longer, but it gives me something to look forward to as I await the arrival of the next book. 

Mark Michalowski does a great job in keeping the characters true to their TV images. Chasers centers mostly on George, but Annie and Mitchell's reactions and support figure largely in the story as well. Mitchell and Annie had some situations to work out in the story also and it was great to be reading about the paranormaly unique flatmates once again as they helped each other avoid making life decisions that they might have regretted.

It's bittersweet that I am now finished reading Chasers and am well into the third and final book in the series, Bad Blood.

Poe's The Raven

Published today in 1845, The Raven is an immortal classic so beautifully lyric, full of darkness and mystery, profound loneliness, sadness, grief, longing and color. The effect of the poem on the reader depends on the reader's state of mind at the time of the reading, life experiences and what you happen to be paying attention to at the time. If you're enjoying each word, letting each word roll around in your brain before going on to the next, the enjoyment lasts that much longer. 

Sometimes certain words or images seem to attract your attention more than others. A few years later when you read the poem again, your mind in a different state, as your life has moved along to a different place than the place you were at the time of the previous reading, you might get something more or different out of it. Perhaps the words that affected you so keenly during the previous reading don't have any affect at all, but others become more relevant to your present state.

As I read the poem today on its anniversary of publication, I found myself noting the colors. Purple curtains, raven ebony, velvet-violet. The colors combined with the darkness outside the chamber door, the darkness of the night, the shadow of the raven on the floor, the burning of the soul, the burning of the lamp, seem like a luxurious contrast of Victorian opulence with darkness and heat, yet the speaker's state of mind is that of fear, grief, loneliness and sadness. 

Did you have to read this as a kid in school? I remember it being assigned somewhere around seventh grade. What is a seventh grader going to have in common with this poem? I'm sure the school was trying to acquaint the students with classic literature. All I remember is how weird it was that a bird flew in the guy's window and perched in his room and only said one word!

Dark Shadows: Interrupted Voyage, Continued

That Barnabas Collins is so clever! I was afraid he was doomed to burn at the stake, mistaken for a demon from hell by the blood thirsty residents of Salem, but he not only saved himself, but the soul of an innocent man trapped under an evil witch's spell.

 As I mentioned in a previous post,  I received Interrupted Voyage for Christmas which is a 2012 reprint of the original Dark Shadows Digest book published by Hermes Press, written by D. J. Arneson and illustrated by Joe Certa. The original was published in 1970 by Gold Key Comics.

Calandra, a witch who is extremely expert in the practice of black magic has taken the fiance of Annabella, a distant cousin of Barnabas' as her slave in Salem, Massachusetts, while poor Annabella's ghost haunts Collinwood waiting for her fiance to die and join her. Her sad story lures Barnabas into volunteering to help her find her fiance, Michael, and free his soul from the evil witch.

The display of powers Calandra uses during the story are pretty cool, yet evil. She casts spells that enslaves Michael, that show her Barnabas' past as a vampire and even brings Angelique back to Salem as a weapon to kill Barnabas. Of course, Barnabas outwits Calandra and barely escapes Angelique to bring the story to a happy ending.

Dark Shadows: Interrupted Voyage

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shadows-Original-Series-Digest/dp/1613450192

For Christmas I received this book which is a 2012 reprint of the original Dark Shadows Digest book published by Hermes Press, written by D. J. Arneson and illustrated by Joe Certa. The original was published in 1970 by Gold Key Comics. I've just finished Chapter Eighteen of the twenty four chapter book and it's a really good story starring Barnabus Collins. He's not a vampire at the time of the story, but he's in constant fear of Angelique popping back into his life and reimposing the dreaded curse.

I'm hoping she eventually turns up in the story which takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. Being Salem, there is an evil witch in the story who already has plans to destroy Barnabus in self-defense as he tries to help his distant ghost of a cousin, Annabella free her fiance's soul from the witch's possession so they can be together in the afterlife.

Although it's not looking very promising for Barnabus as the suspicious and superstitious townspeople don't like his looks and are planning to burn him at the stake as an unwelcome stranger who they assume must be Satan! Talk about jumping to conclusions. Apparently, the people of Salem weren't as welcoming to tourists and strangers as they are now!

Frankenstein's Vow of Revenge

I love this scene as Victor kneels before the Frankenstein family tomb mourning his dead family, the victims of his creature as they lie in eternal rest, and he swears to avenge their deaths:

By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee, O Night, and the spirits that preside over thee, to pursue the demon who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict. For this purpose I will preserve my life; to execute this dear revenge will I again behold the sun and tread the green herbage of earth, which otherwise should vanish from my eyes forever. And I call on you spirits of the dead, and on you, wandering ministers of vengeance, to aid and conduct me in my work. Let the cursed and hellish monster drink deep of agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me. (Mary Shelley)

He feels powerful as he summons spirits of the dead and ministers of vengeance as he kneels at dusk in a graveyard feeling the presence of the dead around him. He's like a warlock or a sorcerer conjuring an army of spirits to help him in his quest. The imagery in this scene and Shelley's prose makes this my favorite scene in the novel.

Shelley gives Victor some real and rare passion here. He has a purpose and a reason to live like during the time that he was studying and creating his creature. Other than these two events, Victor's life is pretty much a depressing void where his greatest pleasure is found in solitary pursuits hiking and rowing and enjoying nature. He's happiest when he's escaped society and his family. Perhaps because these two episodes of Victor's life are the only times he truly feels alive with passion and a sense of purpose, it explains why he didn't attempt to pursue and destroy his monster after the initial murder of William and the subsequent execution of Justine, falsely convicted of William's murder. Then he allows his best friend to be murdered, then his bride. Maybe deep down he wanted the creature to do his evil deeds for him and rid himself of the society that constricted his life with the restrictions that caused him, by duty to his beloved father, to remain in his empty depressing existence with his family.

Frankenstein: Victor Finally Feels the Need to Take Action

After his little brother William, his best friend Henry Clerval, his beloved wife Elizabeth are murdered by the creature he created, his family friend Justine is falsely convicted and executed for the murder of his brother and his father dies from grief, Victor Frankenstein finally feels the need to take action to stop the murdering creature that he created:

As the memory of past misfortunes pressed upon me, I began to reflect on their cause--the monster who I had created, the miserable demon whom I had sent abroad into the world for my destruction. I was possessed by a maddening rage when I thought of him, and desired and ardently prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head. (Mary Shelley)

As he once was obsessed with creating life, Victor is now finally obsessed with hunting down and killing the creature he brought to life then abandoned and stood by in helpless agony and remorse as the creature destroyed his family. Don't you think he should have come to this decision as soon as he killed William? It would have made the whole story more suspenseful and exciting if he began the hunt right after William's murder as he fails to intercept him before each murder. How dumb was he to assume the creature's threat regarding his wedding night only endangered himself and not Elizabeth. Were all affluent 18th century men that wimpy and self-involved?

Frankenstein: The Power to Create and Destroy

Why didn't Frankenstein just kill his creature after it killed his little brother William and framed Justine for the murder? For that matter, why didn't he just kill it after he first brought it to life and realized that he had made a horrible mistake? Well, for one thing, Mary Shelley wouldn't have had much of a story there. It would have been pretty short. Instead, Frankenstein's feelings toward the creature became even more hateful and then, to save the rest of his family, he felt he had to submit to the creature's request to create for him a partner.

Frankenstein did suffer some mental anguish in his decision to grant the creature's request, but pretty quickly decided to go ahead and take the risk that he might be creating another raging superhuman killer instead of a loving companion that would subdue the creature's violent quest for revenge. When a parent gives birth to an unwanted child do they have another child to keep the first one occupied and distracted so they can have their own carefree life back like Frankenstein wanted? Pretty silly if they think that's going to work!

In fact, some parents, for whatever desperate reasons try to dispose of an unwanted child soon after the birth. Take, for example, the scandalous case of Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson in the 90s who concealed Amy's pregnancy, then delivered the baby in a hotel room and tossed its dead body in a dumpster and tried to go on with their lives as though nothing had happened. Comedian Bill Cosby tells a  humorous story of his father warning him that he brought him into the world and he can take him out too and just make another one who looks just like him. 

Human beings have the power to create life and to destroy it as well. There are legal consequences and moral responsibilities set by societies and governments regarding both. But Frankenstein created his creature in secret, so why doesn't he just take the creature out in secret? It seems as though he has the power to create life but doesn't have the power to kill what he has created.

Frankenstein and Romeo Void's "Never Say Never"

Old couple walks by, as ugly as sin
But he’s got her and she’s got him

Never say never (Romeo Void)

I thought of Frankenstein's creature while I was listening to this song recently. I had just read the chapter where the creature convinces Frankenstein to make him a female companion and he'll give up his violent quest for revenge against Frankenstein's bitter abandonment of his creation. The creature believes that a companion of his same species will provide him the comfort and sense of belonging he needs to stop taking out his lonely rage on humans, particularly Frankenstein's loved ones. 

What neither one considers is the possibility of the new creature accepting the original as one of her own and a partner in life. On the other hand, when I was listening to Romeo Void's "Never Say Never," I was reminded that very often couples do seem to share some of the same general physical characteristics. Although he didn't need it, the creature could have used this song as a selling point in his pitch to Frankenstein!

However, all Frankenstein considered was creating a partnership of over-sized, exceedingly strong, vengeful murderers roaming Europe killing humans, especially his family. 

Frankenstein : Anger and Alienation

I love the part of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, where Walton writes his sister reciting Frankenstein's retelling of his creature's life story. This is the same type of second or third account storytelling used in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights where the story is written by Heathcliff's tenant, Mr. Lockwood who, halfway through the book announces that he's going to continue the story using his own words to retell Nellie, the housekeeper's, version of the family history.  In both works of fiction, we're obviously reading what the novelists want us to read; however, in real life, how much of such a retelling would you take as literal truth? It's like listening to rumors at work or at school, where the story might become embellished or parts omitted with each telling. 

Anyway, Shelley does an impeccable job of portraying the pain of rejection, physical and emotional, by the only people the creature loves and also the resulting pain of loneliness and isolation when she describes the creature's failure to become accepted by his beloved De Lacey family.

"I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter and stupid despair. My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the feelings of revenge and  hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, of the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and the exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished and a gush of tears somewhat soothed me. But again when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects." Mary Shelley

The De Laceys didn't know who he was or that he even existed until they saw him clutching the legs of their invalid and blind father. After observing the family from behind a wall in their house, the creature's desperate loneliness and need for human empathy and interaction brought him in the habit of thinking of these people as his own family with hopes of joining them and living happily ever after. It goes to show how people need to belong to achieve a personal sense of identity, whether it's daily interaction with the group or from a distance, to be accepted as a member. 

When the creature felt rejected by those he hoped to join and already had an emotional attachment to, although only in his mind, he was overwhelmed with anger and felt the pain of his alienation from the world more sharply than ever. Since the creature's hope of belonging to the human race was destroyed, he sought revenge on his creator and those who rejected him. He essentially became a terrorist.

Frankenstein: A Despicable Coward?

By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Google books) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I think the first time I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was in a 19th Century Lit class in college and I wasn't completely sure about Victor Frankenstein's character. Was Frankenstein terrified to take responsibility of his horrible act of recklessly creating life and then abandoning it or did he fear saving Justine's life by confessing and sacrificing his own in her place?

At the time I thought the latter was true, but now I'm thinking maybe both are true. Maybe he was just a big coward. He certainly didn't want to admit that he had created what turned out to be a hideous looking freak and didn't want his family and friend, Clerval, to know, but he wasn't about to risk looking like a madman by publicly confessing that he was indirectly guilty of murdering his brother in an attempt to save Justine's life either. 

"A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman and would not have exculpated her who suffered through me."

Really? I'm pretty sure he could have at least tried. His innocent little brother was dead and now innocent Justine was going to be tried as his murderer. How could he just stand by and watch it all play out? Then Shelley goes on to describe his remorse and inner agony over the whole thing. It would be different if he didn't have a conscience, but he obviously does. How could anyone live with themselves after that? But he does only to have more horror and guilt piled onto his dark and damaged soul. For someone who at first looked upon himself as a god, he quickly became a low impotent creature.

Being Human UK: The Final Broadcast Revisited

I think when a TV series is in its final season and the writers know in advance that the series will be ending, it should be universally understood that faithful viewers deserve some closure.

After seeing an additional scene of The Final Broadcast on Blastr, it becomes apparent that the trio are trapped in a dream-life created by the devil. At the end of the scene they resolve to find a way out to save the world for real as though the show will continue with a new season.

Yes, it's nice to know the team is alive and well and committed to a higher purpose, but I still think the series finale would have been better if the three died as heroes, saving the world and sent to heaven like the original flatmates.

Frankenstein: Success Becomes Failure

http://www.gratisography.com/

The ultimate control  is that over life and death, since those are the two things that we, as mere mortals, have absolutely no control over. There's no more helpless feeling as when you watch a loved one sicken and die. You stand there as they suffer and grow weaker and sicker day after day. As they grow closer to death your fear and helplessness increases until the inevitable time when you trade your helplessness for horror as they succumb to their illness and die.

Victor's mother's death was his first experience of loss, grief and mourning. He refers to the feeling as an "irreparable evil. The void that presents itself to the soul." When a loved one dies it does feel like a huge gaping hole has been torn from your chest leaving a huge painful void. Birth, on the other hand, feels like something warm and bright and hopeful is filling your chest.

Maybe Victor tried to fill the void in his soul with the bright warmth of new life when he obsessively built his creature. With the loss of his mother's love and adoration, perhaps he thought the creature would love and adore him for granting him life. Instead he learned many things, such as bringing a new life into the world doesn't guarantee that person will appreciate you and being able to control life and death wasn't the glorious achievement he had hoped it would be.

Frankenstein: Victor's Naive God Complex

Victor, still mourning the death of his dear mother, goes off alone to school and after a couple of years, discovers how to spark life into dead flesh. He becomes so obsessed with his gruesome project that he fails to consider all of the possible consequences.

In order to make his work easier and speed up production by not having to work with such tiny parts, he decides to enlarge the human frame of his project and make him 8 feet tall, acquiring all the body parts from "the dissecting room and slaughter house." Imagine the smell! After consciously deciding to create life in such an oversized, hideous creature, he expects the creature to not only be grateful for giving him life, but to worship him as its creator!

Poor demented Victor, so excited over creating something that would fulfill his deepest needs by bowing to his divine superiority and recognizing and being grateful for his devotion and success, that he never considers what his responsibility might be if the creature instead accuses him of  being more demon-like by cursing him with an unbearable and unwanted life.

Victor should have considered all of the possible consequences before pursuing his project. Instead he was in his own head where every though was only about Victor, Victor Victor.

Dracula:The Holy Circle

To protect Mina from a possible vampire attack as they travel to Dracula's castle, Van Helsing draws a ring around where Mina sits by the campfire and sprinkles broken communion wafers along the circle. When Dracula's three "wives" or whatever they are visit, they are unable to pass the "Holy circle" to get at Mina. This entire scene is really cool the way Van Helsing thinks he might be imagining the three vampires at first as they seem to materialize out of the the wind and swirling snow. Then they are finally solid and he knows they're real and is relieved and thankful that the holy circle's power is strong enough to keep Mina and himself safe from their evil intentions, whatever they may be.

He holds out a bit of the wafer in front of him to step out of the circle to tend the fire. The vampires stay at bay outside the circle until dawn is near when they disappear into the wind again. He describes them as voluptuous, with bright eyes and white teeth. Isn't it odd that the female vampires become beautiful after death while Dracula was ugly with his long pointy teeth and bony body? However, their looks mean nothing to the poor horses who become so terrified by the vampires' presence that they die.

I've heard of people camping out in the winter, but I don't know how it's done. I kept thinking how cold Mina and Van Helsing must have been. They brought firewood and lots of furs with them for warmth, but there's no amount of furs and campfires that would keep me warm enough to camp out in the wind and snow!

A Vampire Defense Kit

For my birthday my daughter surprised me with a vampire kit. It contains wooden stakes, holy water, a cross, a couple of garlic bulbs and some vampire literature. I hope I never have the chance to use it, but I thought it was a pretty cool gift and now I have my own doctor's kit - Dr. Van Helsing, that is.

Dracula: Blood and Bloom on Doolittle's Wharf

For the most part, Van Helsing is pretty long winded and wordy. I imagine if I were one of the characters in Dracula, I'd be inwardly rolling my eyes wishing he would just spit it out and stop rambling every time he needs to explain something; however, Mina Harker's journal entry that describes Van Helsing's experience at Doolittle's Wharf is pretty straightforward and entertaining. It isn't called sailor mouth for nothing!

The first man Van Helsing, Godalming, Seward and Quincey question as they try to learn which ship Dracula has hired to make his escape back to Transylvania swears loudly and often until Godalming greases his palm in return for some information, which makes the man more polite and accommodating. He leads them to other workers on the wharf who are loud and sailor mouthing all over the place, prompting the inquiring men to give them beer money as well.

This scene is pretty funny as he explains how the men describe Dracula's visit to the dock and to the ship Czarina Catherine to arrange his box of earth to be transported. Apparently, the captain of the ship had a raging sailor mouth as Van Helsing describes his language as full of "blood and bloom." He says the men tell him that the captain tells Dracula "...he doesn't want no Frenchmen, with bloom upon them, and also with blood, in his ship, with blood on her also." 

Stoker, by way of Van Helsing, reveals the use of swear words, bloody and blooming, without actually using the exact words, which readers probably would have found offensive if not worth censoring, and maintains the common expectation of sailors and dock workers using coarse and vulgar language. 

Of course, Dracula wasn't offended in the least by the foul language, as he was probably planning to kill them all anyway to quench his own thirst. I'll have to keep reading to find out!

Dracula: The Love Story

This isn't the first time I've read Dracula and, of course, I've seen Dracula movies, although not recently; but this time I'm really noticing the love story between Jonathan and Mina. Their relationship is so mutually loving and respectful and caring toward each other, that I wonder why I didn't notice it in past readings. 

The first thing that struck me was their special shorthand that they use to communicate to keep their letters private. They must have spent a lot of time together to devise and practice their personal shorthand and, obviously, enjoyed doing it.

Then, when Mina finally learned of Jonathan's whereabouts after his long imprisonment at Castle Dracula, she traveled alone to an unfamiliar place to be with him and help him recover from his trauma. He trusted her with his diary and left it to her judgement, which he respected, to decide when and if she would read it. Even though he was ill and might lose his ability to provide for her, she married him on his sick bed without hesitation, out of pure love.

Once they knew that Dracula had been feeding on Mina and planning to make her a vampire, Jonathan resolved that she would not become a vampire alone. He also vowed to do whatever he could to destroy Dracula and save Mina's life.

Their relationship is not one of practical pairing or convenience like many marriages during that time, but one of deep mutual love and respect. They weren't just husband and wife, but best friends and soul mates.

Dracula: Bonechilling Biblical Quotation

How lusciously evil for Dracula to use "the word of God" as his own during his arrogant rant to Mina, gloating about her husband and friends' failure to find his lair and destroy him while, in their absence he uses his superior stalking skills to gain access to her bedroom and feed from her veins; the one person the men were trying to protect. 

Dracula's plan is to use her as a blood supply to punish her for scheming to destroy him, then making her his slave, telepathically linking her to him no matter where in the world she is. He tells her she is now "flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood," a biblical line from Genesis as Eve is created from Adam's rib. Another work of fiction. No matter how repulsed by him, she's helpless to resist. Seems like a bone chilling fate worse than death!

Dracula is so arrogant he believes himself a god or at least possessing the same power and will of a god. He believes he's invincible and confident that he will never be destroyed. That's usually a villain's biggest mistake.

Dracula's Cruise Ship to Whitby

Schooners! Bram Stoker moved Dracula and his boxes of dirt into Whitby, England, aboard a schooner named the Demeter. I know I've already posted about the mysterious schooner that entered port during a wild and windy storm that would have torn apart any other ship, but when I got the opportunity to look at some schooners in person, I had to share.

I saw an ad for a schooner fest being held in New London, CT, and had to check it out. It isn't Whitby and it isn't London, but NEW London will do!

It was cool to see them in person anchored at the pier, although in full sail would have been better. I could imagine 50 large boxes of dirt and a vampire's coffin being carried on that ship. Imagine it crashing ashore with the dead captain bound to the wheel!