Vampire Royalty

I am anxiously waiting to read the latest offering by Anne Rice Prince Lestat . I can clearly remember reading An Interview with a Vampire as a teen and falling in love with the character, Louis. It was only with the second novel in the Vampire Chronicles that I fell for the brat prince, Lestat. Lestat has changed over the years in the amount of power that he has but from what I hear he is still a fantastic creature. Lestat De Lioncourt is an over 200 year old vampire who rose from humble beginingss as a member of impoverished nobility in the countryside of Auvergne France. Prince Lestat takes place a decade after the events of Blood Canticle. The vampires world is in chaos and Lestat is called upon to restore order. I can hardly wait to read this novel and find out how!


The first member of vampire royalty to come to the reading public’s attentions is Count Dracula in the novel, Dracula by Bram Stoker. Victorian era England seems to create a number of classic characters which includes Dracula, Dorian Gray of Oscar Wilde fame and the monster from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I don’t know what was in the water or air at that time but all these characters have thrilled me at one point in time or the other. The novel Dracula takes place in 1893, and is told in epistolary format. One piece of trivia that interests me is that the ship that Dracula takes from Transylvania to England is called the Varna. One of the first vampire tales was Varney the Vampire by Thomas Preskett Prest (or James Malcolm Rymer depending on which source you believe) . Varney had the title of Sir, so I suppose he could be counted on as royalty as well.


The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris introduced the world to vampires “coming out of the coffin.” The secret lives they lived were brought to the world’s attention. One of secrets was their methods of ruling themselves. Vampire Bill became a King in the television series TruBlood, but in the novels there were various kings and queens vying for various lands throughout the United States (and I assume the world). This series is more of a romantic/comedic thriller series. A telegraphic waitress becomes entangled in the supernatural world when she meets Vampire Bill Compton and his fellow vampires. In each novel Sookie discovers things about herself and other secrets of the world around her. I have always been wary of books being turned into movies or television series. While the TV series goes totally in a different direction, i.e., a character who died in the first book was alive through the 7 seasons on TV, and white characters in the books are black in the series, they are both wonderful stand alone entertainment.

Each of these novels are unique in their own way and because of this may appeal to different readers. My advice is to sink your teeth into them and see if you develop a taste for more!

New in Gothic Fiction

Gothic Fiction combines elements of horror, romance and the supernatural to create tales that are designed to keep readers shivering on the edge of their seats. Enjoy these recently published gothic stories

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

"In Austen’s posthumously published Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland is a romantic, imaginative seventeen-year-old dazzled by her first foray into Bath’s high-stakes social scene. She thinks her dreams have come true when she falls in love with the dashing and kind Henry Tilney. When Henry invites Catherine to his family’s grandly mysterious ancestral country home, unanswered questions about his family’s past start to emerge. She begins to suspect that her new flame’s father may have murdered his wife, and that in entering into her new romance she may be risking not just her heart, but her life.."

Cloud by Eric McCormack

"Harry Steen, a businessman travelling in Mexico, ducks into an old bookstore to escape a frightening deluge. Inside, he makes a serendipitous discovery: a mid-nineteenth-century account of a sinister storm cloud that plagued an isolated Scottish village and caused many gruesome and unexplainable deaths. Harry knows the village well; he travelled there as a young man to take up a teaching post following the death of his parents. It was there that he met the woman whose love and betrayal have haunted him every day since. Presented with this astonishing record, Harry resolves to seek out the ghosts of his past and return to the very place where he encountered the fathomless depths of his own heart."

Secrets of the Lighthouse by Santa Montefiore

"Ellen Trawton is running away from it all - quite literally. She is due to get married to a man she doesn't love, her job is dragging her down and her interfering mother is getting on her nerves. So she escapes to the one place she know her mother won't follow her - to her aunt's house in rural Ireland. Once there, she uncovers a dark family secret - and a future she never knew she might have. Meanwhile, Caitlin Macausland is mourning the future she can never have. She died tragically in what the village thinks is suspicious circumstances, and now she is stuck in a limbo, unable to move on. And between the two of them is an old lighthouse - the scene of so much tragedy."

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James

"In 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams. But something more is going on at Portis House—its plaster is crumbling, its plumbing makes eerie noises, and strange breaths of cold waft through the empty rooms. It’s known that the former occupants left abruptly, but where did they go? And why do the patients all seem to share the same nightmare, one so horrific that they dare not speak of it? "

In Memoriam - William Gay, a master storyteller

Southern Gothic author William Gay (M), 68 years young, passed away in his sleep last week. A late bloomer as an author, Gay's first novel (Long at Home) was published at age 55. He quickly became a critic's darling, so much that a bidding war erupted for his second novel. He won numerous awards and accolades, such as being named a USA Ford Foundation Fellow in 2007 and winning the 1999 James A. Michener Memorial Prize.

Described as a quiet and gentle person, his stories are anything but. His characters are dark, brooding types, filled with dysfunctional thoughts and unusual perspectives. His style is often likened to that of William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy.

Gay was also a music critic and considered an expert on Bob Dylan. Not too surprising then that several of his stories also have musical themes and characters.

"Writers like Flannery O'Connor or William Faulkner would welcome William Gay as their peer for getting characters so entangled in the roots of a family tree." - Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Gay's vivid prose and dramatic instinct create lasting images and human moments of genius." - Irish Times

"At his best, Gay writes with the wisdom and patience of a man who has witnessed hard times and learned that panic or hedging won't make better times come any sooner; he looks upon beauty and violence with equal measure and makes an accurate accounting of how much of each the human heart contains." - Tony Earley - NYTimes

His literary agent, Amy Williams describes reading Gay's stories as “a transporting experience, one where you get so happily lost in another world that it's a real letdown to go back to your own”.

We currently have two of William Gay's books in our collection: the 2002 short story collection, I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: collected stories (M); and his 2006 suspense novel, Twilight: a novel (M). Give yourself a literary treat and place a hold on these books and discover for yourself why so many authors and readers referred to William Gay as a master storyteller.

Trend alert: Gothic Fiction revival?

Librarians are always on the lookout for the next big reading trend. It seems like it's been vampires, vampires and more vampires for the last little while (with a few werewolves sneaking in) and lots of folks seem to agree that its time for a new trend to sweep the publishing world. I read a lot of fiction reviews, and lately I've been noticing a pattern. I think we're on our way to a Gothic Fiction revival.

Gothic Fiction is a classic form that has long been popular and can have a fairly broad definition. Dark rainy weather? Big 'ole spooky house? It's starting to sound like Gothic Fiction. The Dictionary of Literary Terms defines Gothic as "A style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action and a mood of decay, degeneration and decadence." Most people place the birth of the genre with Horace Walpole and his book The Castle of Otranto. Gothics have been popular off and on throughout the ensuing centuries, particularly once elements of romance were added. Classic authors of Gothic fiction that include romance include Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Daphne Du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.

Okay, so on to my theory that we're seeing a resurgence in Gothic Fiction. I have to admit that it was coming across promotion material for two books (both with August 2011 release dates) that started my theory hatching.

The Lantern
by Deborah Lawrenson

"When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to purchase Les Genevriers, an abandoned house in a rural hamlet in the south of France. As the beautiful Provence summer turns to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries that haunt both her lover and the run-down old house, in particular the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful first wife, Rachel." I've seen more than one comparison to Du Maurier's Rebecca for this title, and lots of discussion of its rich description of the French countryside.

In Malice Quite Close
by Brandi Ryder

The publisher gives this description: "French ex-pat Tristan Mourault is the wealthy, urbane heir to a world- renowned collection of art-and an insatiable voyeur enamored with Karen Miller, a fifteen-year-old girl from a working-class family in San Francisco. Deciding he must "rescue" Karen from her unhappy circumstances, Tristan kidnaps her and stages her death to mask his true crime. Years later, Karen is now "Gisele" and the pair lead an opulent life in idyllic and rarefied Devon, Washington. But when Nicola, Gisele's young daughter, stumbles upon a secret cache of paintings—all nudes of Gisele—Tristan's carefully constructed world begins to crumble..."

Two books obviously don't a trend make, but for years working at the library I've encountered readers looking for current Gothic Fiction and find have found little to suggest to them: that seems to be changing. One thing I've noticed is that publishers tend to shy away from the use of the term "Gothic" in their descriptions, preferring the more modern psychological thriller or suspense tag: making them harder to find for true Gothic fans. All of these recent books have a Gothic feel to me. Do you agree? Are there others you'd suggest? (All descriptions from the library catalogue)

The Beginners
by Rebecca Wolff

"Struggling for a greater understanding of the world as she approaches young adulthood in her sleepy New England town, Ginger is drawn to newcomers Theo and Raquel Motherwell and becomes fascinated by their past . . . The chilling, hypnotically beautiful story of a girl whose coming of age is darkened by the secret history of her small New England town."

The Distant Hours
by Kate Morton

"Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Millderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother's emotional distance masks an old secret . . . there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Millderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it..."

The House at Midnight
by Lucie Whitehouse

"After the suicide of his uncle, Lucas Heathfield inherits Stoneborough Manor, a stately property in Oxfordshire. He imagines it as a place where he and his tight-knit group of friends from Oxford can spend time away from London. Over a hot, decadent summer within the claustrophobic confines of the house, past secrets emerge and sexual tensions escalate, shattering the group's friendship and changing their lives forever. "

Seduction of Water
by Carol Goodman

"Many years ago, Iris Greenfeder's mother disappeared. They were living at Hotel Equinox where Iris's father was the manager and where Iris's mother wrote delicate, powerful fantasies. Then she took a train and never returned, dying in a hotel fire in Brooklyn where she was registered as another man's wife. Returning to Hotel Equinox, now a struggling academic, Iris needs to find the truth about her mother; some keys are held in those fantastical writings and others in the memories of those who knew her. Kay Greenfeder, it seems, was a woman without a past. But as Iris begins to untangle the secrets of years before, she realises that the past was very different to what she had believed, and much more dangerous..."

The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield

" Vida Winter, a bestselling yet reclusive novelist, has created many outlandish life histories for herself, all of them invention. Now old and ailing, at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to biographer Margaret Lea - a woman with secrets of her own - is a summons. Vida's tale is one of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family: the beautiful and wilful Isabelle and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline. Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling, but as a biographer she deals in fact not fiction and she doesn't trust Vida's account. As she begins her researches, two parallel stories unfold. Join Margaret as she begins her journey to the truth - hers, as well as Vida's."

Orphans : Family Reading

Feature: Family Reading: Ages 8+ (Children’s books that adults will love too!)


From Oliver Twist to Harry Potter, the plight of the orphan has tugged at the heartstrings of readers for generations. What is the appeal of these stories? Well, aside from the pity they evoke, without the protection of a loving adult, orphans can fall into dangerous and exciting adventures. They have the freedom to make wrong decisions that watchful parents would prevent.

Take, for instance, Nobody Owens, the hero of Neil Gaimen’s Newbery winner, The Graveyard Book. Bod, as he is called, was orphaned when his family was murdered by a knife-wielding serial killer. Although Bod was only a toddler at the time, and was the prime target of the killer, he managed to slip away into a local graveyard, where he is adopted by the resident ghosts, who can keep him safe as long as he stays in the graveyard. In this nod to the “Jungle Book” , Bod grows up with multi-generational cast of characters from different historical periods. Throw in witches, demons, possibly a vampire and the continual threat of the killer, and you have a bone-chilling tale which redefines what “family” means.

At the beginning of Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson, we have a somewhat unusual circumstances for an orphan in fiction. Maia, an orphan living in at a boarding school in England circa1910, is happy in her situation and has come to terms with her parents death. Nevertheless, she is delighted to learn that she has relatives in Brazil who have invited her to live with them, imagining adventures in the wilderness and becoming best friends with the twin girl cousins who are her age. Unfortunately, once she arrives, she finds her relatives shut out the jungle they live in and try to pretend that they are still in England, and the real reason they’ve invited her is for the stipend they receive from her parent’s estate. Maia grows to love her exotic new home on the Amazon and manages to sneak out and meet up with two other orphans with whom she has crossed paths: Clovis, a traveling actor, who longs to return to England, and Finn, a rich heir, who would rather live with the natives than be sent to the British estate where his grandfather eagerly awaits his arrival. The plot thickens as all three of the children attempt to escape their undesired fates. A great, old-fashioned saga with a unique location, this novel will certainly appeal to those who enjoy adventure and historical fiction.

Fans of Gothic fiction, with mustachio-twirling villains, supernatural elements, crumbling castles and maidens-in-peril will thoroughly enjoy Phillip Pullman’s combination of melodrama, humour, suspense and horror, Count Karlstein. Pullman, (best known for the remarkable His Dark Materials series) tells the tale of orphan sisters Lucy and Charlotte, whose evil uncle Count Karlstein has promised to serve them up to Zamiel the Demon Huntsman on All Souls’ Eve, in exchange for his own life. Can Lucy and Charlotte outwit their uncle and his oily henchmen to escape their dreadful fate? With the help of rich and colorful characters including the resourceful maidservant Hildi, the bumbling Sergeant Snitsch, the slick debonair outlaw Doctor Cadaverezzi (with his Cabinet of Wonders) and the formidable governess Miss Davenport, the girls may just escape the Hounds of Hell.