Journal 1 - Vampires, Moles, and Return to Denmark (via a novel)

 

Bathory

8/22/2000

The Vampire Sextette  ed. By Marvin Kaye

“The Other Side of Midnight” by Kim Newman

[Note: this story is set in his Anno-Dracula universe, a what if world where Mina and Co didn’t kill Dracula].

I didn’t not realize that Welles lived until 1985.  I always thought he had died sooner.

               Love the re-appearance of Genevieve [Note- the heroine vampire from Anno-Dracula].  She fits the private detective role quite well.  I was not all that thrilled about the appearance of Columbo.  But love the Barbie the Vampire Salyer.  It’s great because I can see Anthony Head play her overlooker.  Though the idea of the Beverly Hill Billies as cannibals was very gothic.

               But I am unclear or uncertain over the idea of the drac, which seem too self destructive to the vampire itself, especially given what keeps them alive.  Isn’t that why they have to feed? I would have really liked to see Genevieve kicking the stuffing out of Barbie.

 

“Some Velvet Morning” by Nancy Collins

[Note: this is a Sonja Blue story.  At this point I had not read Sonja Blue].

I think I need to try and find some of her Sonja Blue novels.

               I love the use of the Countess Bathroy [Note: the Blood Countess]  and how it was told from the other side.  The central placing of that part of the story makes the whole story  seem, in essence, like a fairy tale.  The characters are very much fairy tale characters, acting out the tale that Elizabeth is telling.  For instance, it is Elizabeth who takes control fo the story by ending her own life.  Elizabeth has set up the characters in her story (Phaedra being very much a character in that story).  When Sonja and the john who refuse to come, take control away, Elizabeth wrestles it back by killing herself, Phaedra, and the old brothel.  Elizabeth sees to the destruction of her own creations.  In this story, Sonja is secondary, though she is the only good “guy”.

               The beginning is great with its movement from sex to blood.

 

“Sheena” by Brian Stableford

               First off, just so we are clear, Manchester is the only true English United.

               I love the story because of the use English slang and place names.  The love between Sheena and the narrator seems very real, almost tangible.  The death of Sheena was portrayed low key and, therefore, felt more real.

               But while the vampire element seems to be unclear, the ending is horrifying because of the life times the narrator must go though before he can see Sheena again.  Perhaps the reason for the confusion of the vampire type is because we are not sure of the narrator is one at the end of the story.  Perhaps he has lost touch with reality.

 

“Vanilla Blood” by S. P. Somtov

               Just plain sick.

               The prose moves from teen speech to poetic.  The reader loses sense of the speaker.  The story does seem to have a theme and good comments on the media in the beginning but then just goes downhill.  It seems more like a boy’s fantasy than anything a woman would like, especially with the degrading terms for women and the sex scenes.

 

“In the Face of Blood” by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

[Note: this story features Madeline of the Count St. Germain novels]

               Madeline is not as engaging as Olivia.  She seems more egotistical, spoiled, unwilling to see other’s viewpoint and not simply because those viewpoints are sexist.  Sherman’s remarks about the Native Americans, for instance.  She also seems stupid.

               And I don’t see how she could have access to her father’s fortune after she died.

 

 

               And if she found being a vampire that depressing, why doesn’t she kill herself.  At least the Count doesn’t complain about it so much as she does.  She also seems more accepted by society than Olivia did or even the Count.

               Why does no question her about her supposedly dead husband?

               The affair with Sherman seems to be forced, and she seems too passive and accepting.  No fire.  She lacks a personality.

 

“The Isle Is Full of Noise” by Tanith Lee

               Like the juxtaposition f the story and real life, but it does seem somewhat convoluted.

 

8/24/2000

Duncton Stone by William Horwood

[Note: Book 3 of the Book of Silence, reread]

 

               Hibbat takes the place of a Ben-Hur character by being present at all the important events.  There is some Christian imagery with Privet, even though not every Christian believes in transubstantiation.  Hibbat functions to show the lives of the other moles are touched by Privet and Rooster, yet never see it presented in much detail.  The love of Fieldfare and Chater, Stourne and Myrtle, and of Rees and Avril seems more real than Rooster and Privet’s love.  Their love feels just like a plot point as does the matting of Loosestrife and Wilhelm.

               Poor Chervil and Sampson both of whom, Privet never concerns herself with either of them, even though Chervil saves Wilhelm. Her concerns when she is sick is all for Loosestrife, the favoritism that her mother committed and Privet condemns is something that Privet herself is guilty of.

               Parts of the book are strange, the distance that grows between Macdoc and Wilhelm relieves that their love wasn’t that strong to begin with.  Does Wilhelm or the other ever contact Chervil?  Chervil seems to disappear, to not be cared for, and no reason is given for this.  We have seen that he can form friendships with moles (Feldspar) but his relatives do not seem to want to know, except for Sampson who does not seem wanted and Dauntless, who Chervil wanted.  In this Privet is as guilty as her mother.  Her unconcern for Wilhelm at the moment of his supposed death is chilling.  Is it truly right not to care?

               Strange how all the main characters with the exception of Chater and Stour (who you knew would die) survived and how most for the minor characters died.  The ending seems too pat.  You survive and everything works out unless your uncared for as Chervil and Sampson.  And Chervil should have been mentioned at the end as well as Clunic.

               Weeth is like Marigold.

8/28/2000

Music and Silence by Rose Tremain

Christian IV

               Hasn’t Christian IV lost his eye by now? [Note: he is a Danish king who lost an eye in battle.  There was, still might be, a tapestry in the royal palace depicting the blood gushing from his eye].  He’s not that ugly.  He lost the eye in 1644.

               I like this line on a mirror, “But there is an error in it, an undoubted fault in it silvering, so that the wicked object makes me look fat.  I have sent for a hammer” (7).  But isn’t that bad luck?

               “Why do husbands refused to understand that we women do not for long remain their pet creatures?” (8).  Because like the speaker at the adjunct meeting said men do want their brides to change.

               It’s not Elsinore but Helsingor.

               “Denmark is a watery kingdom.  People dream that it is the ships of  a great navy which tether the land” (10)

               “. . . because Denmark is a watery kingdom with a thousand lakes, it therefore follows that reflections of heaven are here more numerous than anywhere else on earth and these reflections, long seen with the eyes of the people and kept in the hearts of the people make them love both God and nature and so they are quiet and when you are King, you will be able to rule them and have their trust”(17-18).

               Book is beautifully written and the plot relatively simple, though toward the end suspenseful.  The reader is somewhat disconnected from the characters because of the prose style.  The factual style of McKiernan crossed with the poetic style of {A.s}Byatt or [Tanith]Lee.

               The only character that one fully knows is Kirsten and her pride/demanding attention gets in the way.  Christian IV is portrayed sympathetically almost like a King Arthur figure yet with the happy ending of finding true love.