Blood Sinister
by Celia Rees
Tulamarine, Vic.: Bolina Audio
2007
Performed by Shirley Barthelmie
5 sound discs (5 hours, 10 minutes)


Do you like a good vampire story? I do. And don't give me any sparkly vampires in love. I am more a Dracula traditionalist when it comes to vampire stories--darkness, casket in the cellar, menacing and driven to feed, and stake through the heart. Thankfully, Celia Rees has provided these elements in her tale, and I was not forced to turn off the recording in disgust.

Ellen is a terminally ill teen and nobody seems to know what is wrong with her, only that she seems to have a rare blood disorder. She is essentially wasting away and her mother and grandmother treat her like a piece of very delicate china. Of course, this makes her a little disgruntled, since all Ellen wants is to be normal and do normal teen things. Her mother sends her to stay with her grandmother who is nearer to the doctors being consulted on her problem. How convenient that Grandma lives right across the street from a very large, creepy cemetery!

Remember Highgate from the Graveyard Book?

While Ellen is lounging around trying not to overdo it, she discovers a trunk of old  papers, photos, and diaries in the attic. These are documents by her famous great-great-grandmother Ellen (I'll call her Ellen 1) who became a famous doctor in the late 1800s. Of course, teen Ellen can't resist reading the diaries of her famous ancestress; besides it's something to do.

Soon, Ellen becomes fascinated on the point of obsession with the diaries. Ellen 1 describes her life as the daughter of a doctor, and one of his patients is a count from central Europe is quite mysterious. Teen Ellen thinks, as she reads, that this man sounds very much like a vampire, with his strange habits, and she becomes quite worried about Ellen 1's relationship with this man. Her doctor father is forcing her to spend more and more time with him and his strange sister, who start to buy her gifts and then make plans for her to travel with them. How will she get out of it?

Teen Ellen is relieved from some reading anxieties by a friend's visit from her own past. She begins to tell Andy about the diaries and he also becomes fascinating, adding that he has heard of vampires lurking in the cemetery across the street.

As Ellen reads further into the story of Ellen 1, events surrounding her also become more mysterious, especially when she gets a new doctor to treat her strange condition. Who is this American doctor and why does he know so much about her and her great-great-grandmother? Luckily Ellen has Andy and other friends to help her in the end.

I liked the historical/horror fiction combination here. Some might find it confusing to go back and forth between Ellen 1 and Teen Ellen, but with the audio book I was able to keep their stories straight quite well. I could see the obvious connection to the old Bram Stoker story, and since this is my ideal for vampire stories, I enjoyed Blood Sinister quite alot. 

Fiendish

Fiendish
by Brenna Yovanoff
New York: Razor Bill
2014
341 pages



I have seen a newish trend in teen fiction emerging--the Southern Gothic. Maybe it's not so new, since we have seen popular books like Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, and from my earlier review, Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore, but I have seen more of this particular sub-genre in the reviews. This is my first Brenna Yovanoff book, but I am eager to read more.

Fiendish is an entertaining Southern Gothic with a paranormal twist. I found these elements of the Gothic Novel very nicely outlined by Robert Harris. Here's their application to this novel.

• We have the actually have several large and spooky houses. We have the burnt-down house in which Clementine was found. We have her aunt Myloria's decrepit house. We also have Fisher's grandmother's house, with the mysterious rooms in the attic.
• The first element of mystery in this story is how did Clementine get into the cellar closet and subsequently survive, and who put her in there?
• There are ancient prophecies, omens, portents, and visions in abundance about the "Crooked people" of Hoax County. The return of the Reckoning, when the town's people tried to burn out the Blackwoods' home, is what people of the craft are afraid of.
• There are many supernatural elements: how did Clementine survive all of those years in the cellar? What about the hollow and the fiends? And the hell dogs are deadly. 
• The high, overwrought emotion is everywhere in this story: Aunt Myloria's strange behavior, the animosity between the village and the hollow dwellers, the overwhelming sense of doom, all contribute to the highly charged emotional level of the story.
• Women in distress is also a common theme in the Gothic novel. Clementine, her cousin Shiny, friend Rae and, most of all, Davenport, all are threatened by the past, the town's people, the hollow fiends, and even each other.
• The metonymy of doom and gloom. We have plenty of metaphors in the wind howling, the rain flooding the rivers, and the dark smoke of the burning buildings.
• And the use of language to create a dark and tense atmosphere.

The spooky, swampy hollows

As a Gothic horror story, this story was exciting and intense. I really enjoyed the side romance, too, with Clementine and Fisher, brought together in the beginning of the story by some mysterious connection. It's the typical teen romance, on again off again, but also rather intense as Clementine is so drawn to her rescuer. The characters face their opponents with strength and determination, and although we aren't quite sure how it will end, we know our story's heroes will put up a good fight. I did wonder

I recommend this book for any teen reader who likes horror stories but doesn't mind a touch of the supernatural.

Spirit and Dust

New Hardback Cover

Old Cover

Spirit and Dust
by Rosemary Clement-Moore
New York: Delacorte Press
2013
387 pages

Which cover do you like better?

I used to watch the television series Medium and have in fact been watching it again on Netflix. When I read the blurb about this book, I thought immediately of that program. This is a teen version of that basic premise, the psychic who helps law enforcement solve crimes. It is also book two, following Texas Gothic, about the Goodnight Clan. I didn't know this when I started reading, but Spirit and Dust is a good stand-alone book, so it won't matter so much if you read this one first, as I did.

Daisy Goodnight is a very modern teenager in many ways. She has dyed red hair, likes Goth clothing, and has an "kick-ass" attitude. But she is also very connected with the past. She is from a long family line of psychics who can talk to spirits, or remnants. These are not the souls of the dearly departed, but leftover fragments of the dead, associated with places they had been or where they died, or things they had touched. Daisy is asked by FBI Agent Taylor to assist with the murder of the driver of a kidnapped teen. Another wrinkle to the problem is that the teen is the daughter of a mobster, Devlin Maguire. Daisy is able to talk to the remnant of the driver but all she learns that there was something unusual and disturbing about this death.

Anubis, Egyptian God
of the Afterlife

Soon afterwards, Daisy is herself kidnapped and taken to the home of the crime boss dad. He wants Daisy to get busy and find his daughter. He offers the service of Carson, a young man who knows a lot about Alexis Maguire's habits, and a witch named Lauren. Lauren puts a binding spell on Daisy so she can't just hightail it out of there at the first opportunity. With Carson's help, Daisy and Carson escape and follow up a lead provided by Alexis's dead grandmother to the cemetery where they find a mysterious flash drive. Daisy now finds herself on the run with Carson, but the binding spell is still activated and Daisy must continue searching for Alexis.

All is not as it seems in this quick-moving, intense horror thriller. In searching for clues to the Alexis' disappearance, we encounter many dead people including archaeologists, Cleopatra, and the Egyptian God Anubis. Carson and Daisy's adventures lead them to several interesting places in the Midwest, including the St. Louis Art Museum, the Oriental Institute, and my favorite, the Field Museum. I was surprised to find out the truth about the Maguires and the part they play in Daisy's misadventures. Daisy is a likeable character, but I don't think her talent is thoroughly explored or explained very well. Perhaps if I had read the first book, I would understand her better. She has an "attitude" and is rather mouthy, or "kick-ass" as she puts it, which is somewhat explained by her age. I guess I myself sympathize with Agent Gerard, the agent who doesn't want to put up with the teen medium's smart aleck opinions on everything, since teen attitudes like this can get tiresome after awhile, at least to this mother of teenagers.

Sue the T-Rex, Field Museum, Chicago

My favorite part of this book, however, was not the spooky ghost bits with the spirits or the Jackal, but the descriptions of Sue, the Tyrannosaurus and the Field Museum. I love Sue, as most visitors do, and have marvelled at how large she is and how sharp her teeth look. And when Daisy reanimates Sue's bones so that she can chase down the bad guys, I can't help but think of the final scenes of the movie Jurassic Park, in which the T-Rex is running around inside the Park's welcome center. That would be a truly horrifying experience!

The Awakening

The Awakening
starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, 
and Imelda Staunton
2011
107 minutes
Rated R

This weekend was a good movie-watching one for me. Besides The Picture of Dorian Gray, a classic movie based on a classic book, I watched a "haunted house" film, my favorite type of horror movie. This one, called The Awakening, was filmed at Lyme Park, a beautiful yet eerie National Trust house in the Peak District in England. There are very few satisfying haunted house movies, especially recently, and the English seem to do it so much better than anyone else. This movie is no exception. It may have its flaws, but I found it quite satisfying and suitably spine-tingling.

The time is 1921. England is still recovering from the massive loss of life in World War I, and everywhere people are searching for comfort from spiritualists. Rebecca Hall plays Florence Cathcart, a ghost hunter who specializes in exposing phony mediums. She has written a book on the subject and is known for her expertise and intelligence.

Directly after a successful and exhausting hunt, Florence is visited by Robert Mallory (Dominic West), a teacher at a boys' boarding school where a child ghost has been seen by many of the boys. The ghost has appeared in the class photographs over the years, and the headmistress of the school (Imelda Staunton), a devotee of Cathcart's book, would like her to come and investigate.The catalyst of the request, however, is a recent death of student and the other boys are convinced that the ghost had something to do with it. Despite Florence's exhaustion from her last hunt, she is intrigued by the case and agrees to go with Mallory to the boarding house.

Once at the boarding house, we learn that it used to be a private home and a young boy had died there. Using the latest ghost-hunting apparatus, Florence quickly discovers the non-ghostly cause of the student's death. The case is closed and she packs up and prepares to leave. The school is shut down for half-term and all of the boys depart, all but one. 

Strange things begin to happen directly to Florence. She sees someone in the lake and falls in. She sees scary little dolls in a dollhouse version of the boarding school that look like people in the school, set in scenes from her activities.She sees a boy where none should be, and flashes of other people appear. Things like this aren't supposed to be happening to a realist like Florence. Add a budding romance between Florence and Robert Mallory, a rather odd headmistress, and a psychotic groundskeeper and you have the makings of a really satisfying old-fashioned ghost story.

Here is a trailer for the movie. The R rating is for scariness, nudity and sexual content.

After watching movie, I was interested to learn more about the location of the boarding school. Lyme Park is a National Trust home and you can visit. Here is a website to learn more. Fans of Jane Austen movies will recognize it as Pemberly, the estate of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (1995, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle).

Lyme Park, Disley, Cheshire, England

Since I am also interested in art, I was interested to see another spooky painting in this movie. "It came with the building, it's the boys' favorite." Mallory thinks it is a painting of the beheading of John the Baptist, but erudite Florence corrects him and identifies it as Judith Slaying Holofernes, taken from the biblical story of Judith in which she kills the Assyrian general after he has fallen asleep drunk, thus delivering the Kingdom of Israel. Many painters have dealt with this bloodthirsty topic, including Titian, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Donatello, and others but the painting shown in the movie is by the Italian early Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1611-12) and is especially gory with blood. It doesn't refer to any other part of the movie's story but is just another interesting fact, perhaps to illustrate Florence's intelligence.

You might also be interested in listening to the entire hymn,  Be Still My Soul, which is sung in the movie and uses the beautiful theme from Finlandia by Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius.

Wait for What Will Come

Wait for What Will Come

by Barbara Michaels

first published in 1978

about 280 pages, depending on edition

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, one of my favorite authors, Barbara Michaels aka Elizabeth Peters, died this month. The books she wrote under her pseudonym Barbara Michaels are gothic thrillers, usually with a supernatural connection. I want to read many of these over again, some I haven't read since high school. The first I read was Wait for What Will Come because I had it on my nook already.

Carla Tregellas is the last of an old Cornish family. She is tracked down by a lawyer and learns that she has inherited the old family mansion in Cornwall. There is no money with the legacy to take care of the place, and it's in bad shape, but Carla decides to go and spend her summer vacation there learning about her heritage before it has to be sold. It will be an exciting opportunity that this math teacher may never have again!

I imagine the Tregellas mansion on a Cornish cliffside similar to this.

Upon her arrival, the elderly housekeeper shrieks and practically faints. "It is Lady Caroline back from the dead!" Who is Lady Caroline, you might ask? We learn that Lady Caroline Tregellas disappeared 200 years ago and was said to have been kidnapped by a selkie on Midsummer's Night and taken to his watery kingdom, never seen or heard from again. And now it is going to happen again and Carla will be taken away by the selkie, or at least that is what Mrs. Pendennis the housekeeper believes!

I think some of you might not know about the selkies. Mythological creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish and Scottish folklore, selchies (silkies, selchies) live as seals in the sea but shed their skins on land to become human. In the stories, male selkies kidnap human women to be their wives and take them to sea. This is the legend explored in this book. For more on the selkies, this Wikipedia article will be helpful.

Carla has a lot to put up with in this story. We have Mrs. Pendennis, the elderly housekeeper who can hardly bear to look at Carla because of the curse and Lady Caroline. Then we have Mike, Mrs. Pendennis' grandson who is living in the house and taking care of the garden. Carla thinks he is surly, but she is also attracted to him. Mike used to be a fairly well-known dancer, so why he is here mucking about? He tells Carla that he would like to buy the house with his mysterious friend, Tim, but he hopes she will take payments.

Other love interests are Allan, the suave lawyer who has been entrusted to advise Carla on estate matters. Also Simon, a folklore-loving local doctor who is only too happy to tell Carla all about the selkie story. Then we also have John, the local vicar, who is keen on solving the mystery of Lady Caroline in time to save Carla from a similar fate.

This book has all of the elements of a good gothic thriller: the spooky house of doom, the archetypal hero (although at first we don't quite know which of the four young men is the hero), and the portent of evil. Despite the rather corny possibilities this could lead to, Carla is a very level-headed young lady who is not easily frightened. Although I somewhat doubt that any young woman could receive so many marriage proposals within such a short time, having only met all three men within a couple of months of their declarations, it works in the story, especially when you find out which one(s) are not sincere.

The ending of this story, which I am not going to give away, leaves us wondering if there might not be some truth to the selkie story after all. I heartily approve of Barbara Michaels' leaving us with this possibility. Some things are just better left unexplained. 

Rebecca

"Last night I dreamt I was at Manderley again...."

Rebecca
by Daphne Du Maurier
first published in 1938

Rebecca
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
starring Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier George Sanders, and Judith Anderson
1940

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is the only book I had to read again directly after finishing it for the first time because the "book withdrawal" was too painful. I could not stand the idea that I was finished with the story, that I was unable to spend more time with the characters of Maxim and the unnamed Mrs. de Winter and find out what happens next with them. I knew what happened to them, since that is explained somewhat in the beginning of the story, but I was having a hard time getting my brain from the dramatic burning of Manderley to the de Winters' life in exile. I guess Maxim and Mrs. de Winter must have had the same problem, since they couldn't bear the thought of even going back to England to live somewhere else. You would think, though, that Mrs. de Winter would be rather happy that the house haunted by the past was destroyed and they could finally be free from Rebecca.

And Manderley is definitely haunted. Everywhere we look there are signs of the title character, Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter. We don't have to meet her or see her ghost, she is there everywhere for us to run into unexpectedly. Her name is on the stationery in the morning room, her monogram is on the table linen, her name is invoked by the servants, and even the dog misses her. Who could match up to somebody who was so talented, beautiful, involved, and organized? Certainly not the new Mrs. de Winter, who is a little mouse of a girl, much younger than her new husband and totally unused to life in a large house as a society wife.

This is a story about bad marriages. We eventually come to find out just how bad the marriage is between Max and Rebecca, despite appearances, but what about the marriage of Maxim and his new much younger wife? It doesn't have the best of beginnings, with a casual proposal and a joke about white frocks and conservatories. Our narrator thinks so little of herself that she doesn't expect a more affectionate proposal; this one was a complete surprise, and I think it means much more to our narrator than to Maxim. I also think Maxim's disregard of his new wife's feelings and experience shows that he has not embarked on a better, more equal marriage. She hesitatingly tries to tell him about her fears and inadequacies, but he pushes them aside without really listening. Mrs. de Winter asks him several times throughout the story if they are really happy together, that their marriage is a success. I think if she has to ask, it probably isn't.

But our biggest sign that this new marriage is not a "marriage of true minds" is that Maxim never once tells his new wife about his real feelings for Rebecca. Mrs. de Winter would not ask him herself, she is too insecure and has had heard from Mrs. Van Hopper about how devoted Max was to Rebecca. He didn't have to confess to her death, but he could have and should have told his new wife that their relationship was not paradise on earth. I know he wants to forget Rebecca and the disaster of their marriage and her death, but how could he not prepare his new wife for what she would face at Manderley? What total insensitivity! And it would have saved a lot of trouble later. But then what would happen to the story? Where would it be without that conflict and uncertainty?! Okay, I admit it, without Maxim being an insensitive man, the story wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Recently I showed the Alfred Hitchcock version of Rebecca (1940) during my public library Classic Movie series. This movie won an Academy Award as Best Picture (Hitchock's only Best Picture win), and rocketed Daphne du Maurier's book to its place as one of the best gothic horror stories of all time. How does it compare to the book? Well, for me it has good points and bad points.

Laurence Olivier and
Joan Fontaine

The main stars of this movie are Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, with Judith Anderson and George Sanders. I think Laurence Olivier is superb as the suave, sophisticated, wealthy, broody Max de Winter. Joan Fontaine, however, does not match my mental image of the new Mrs. de Winter. First of all, she is much too pretty, I think. The age difference between these two actors is or seems minimal, whereas the book characters are definitely about twenty years apart. Also, Joan Fontaine does not come across as a gauche girl/woman who doesn't know much about the herself, let alone society.

The true star of the book and the movie is Mrs. Danvers, played in the movie by Judith Anderson. Mrs. Danvers is the epitome of the creepy housekeeper. She may be good at her job and seems to run Manderley quite well, but she is the main reason that Rebecca is allowed to haunt the house. She enshrines Rebecca in the West Wing, keeping everything just as it was on Rebecca's last night. She constantly refers to Rebecca and the way she wanted things done. Strong people like Maxim might think that Mrs. Danvers' obsession with Rebecca is normal since she was with her from the time Rebecca was a girl. As long as the house runs smoothly! But how could a new wife unaccustomed to running a household or servants deal with this obsession? Obviously, Mrs. de Winter can't. She is absolutely terrorized by Mrs. Danvers, not only by her inexperience, but Mrs. Danvers' subtle campaign against her.

What could Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) be whispering
 to Mrs. De Winter (Joan Fontaine)

I think that Rebecca's true character is subdued in the Alfred Hitchcock movie--in the book, she is much worse. She is like the rose in William Blake's poem:

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night

In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

But the worm inside her not only destroyed her life, it very nearly destroyed everyone around her.

If you enjoy stories about the complexities of relationships, as well as how people can affect each other even after death, you will find this story intriguing. Add to that the scary big house, the crazy housekeeper, the mystery of Rebecca's death, and the haunting and you have all the makings of a very satisfying ghost story.

Joyland

Joyland

by Stephen King

New York: Simon & Schuster Audio

2013

7 sound discs (ca. 7.5 hours)

This summer I listened to the audio version of Stephen King's latest book, Joyland. When I first heard about it, I was excited--Hurray, a new Stephen King book! Hurray, a spooky book set in an amusement park! Hurray, more creepy clowns!

Well, although I really liked the story, I was disappointed about the horror factor. No creepy clowns in this one. There is a ghost, though, which for this afficionado of everything ghostly is better than creepy clowns. The only drawback is that the ghost doesn't get to do all that much in this story!

We learn about the ghost early on in the narration from Devin Jones, a college student who has a summer job at the North Carolina amusement park. The ghost has been seen--where else?--in the Horror House ride! Sounds promising, doesn't it? BUT it is not until a couple of hours into the book (page 117 in my print copy) that the main characters go into the haunted ride to look for the ghost. Are they supposed to be real college students?!!! I know that if I were a student working at a haunted amusement park, the first place I would head would be the haunted ride to check out the ghost! 

I think the ghost, a murder victim named Linda Gray who was killed in the Horror House, should have done more haunting in this book. She appears to some people but that is about all that happens. Nothing bad happens if you see her, there isn't a curse put on you, you don't go mad, nothing like that at all. She just stands there in the shadows of the horror ride. Devin's friend, Tom, sees the ghost on their first (and only) trip into the Horror House, and seems affected by the vision, but only in a melancholy sort of way. It doesn't spur him on to find out more about the girl and her murder, as it does Erin and Devin. It's more like he had a shock that is hard to get over. But why? Seeing a dead girl who just stands there doesn't sound that scary to me! Now if she chased them, or was dripping blood all over, or screaming like a banshee, I could understand his shock better.

Also, we don't hear very much about other park attendees seeing the ghost. Why not? All summer long, we are in that park, and there is no mention of other people, besides Tom, seeing the ghost. What about other people going on the ride? Surely they know the story of the dead girl and are looking for her. Even though this is 1973 and there is no internet to pass on the story, I would be surprised if people didn't know the ride was supposed to be haunted. This would bring a lot of people to the park just to see the ghost!

With the character of the little boy, Mike, we have echoes of Danny Torrence from The Shining. Mike is also psychic, not in the degree that Danny is, but it saves Devin in the end when he is in mortal danger. The story of Mike and his mother, Annie, is interesting and poignant, and the two play a major role in the climax. But Mike does not see the ghost on his only visit to Joyland, either.

The book is a good detective story, with Devin and his fellow Joyland co-worker, Erin Cook, playing detective to find out who killed Linda Gray. We find out and the ending is exciting, but not horrifying in a paranormal way. The paranormal element is just peripheral. It is still a good story, but not what I expected from the cover or the hype. Still, it was definitely worth reading. A warning for parents of teen readers: there is a sexual scene in this book which might not be appropriate for teens under 15.

I found out there were two real Joyland Amusement park, one in Wichita, Kansas, and one in Lubbock, Texas. The Texas park is still in operation and here is a link to the Texas website:

Joyland Amusement Park

The Wichita, Kansas park is now abandoned. It was in operation from 1949 to 2004. You can explore the park in this video on YouTube. I think this would have made a good back drop for a horror book. Come in if you dare!

R.I.P. Barbara Michaels / Elizabeth Peters

One of my favorite authors died last week. Barbara Mertz, otherwise known as Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters, died at the age of 85. She wrote some of the best Gothic horror stories of the 20th Century, which I discovered as a teen. Now I am motivated to reread as many of them as I can. The first on my list is Wait for What Will Come, which I already have on my nook. I will give you a synopsis and review about this later, when I finish reading it again.

Besides Gothic horror stories, Barbara/Elizabeth wrote the admirable mysteries about Amelia Peabody Emerson. I learned nearly all I know about Egyptology from Amelia, and her sense of humor always left me in stitches! I also loved the other series about Jacqueline Kirby, librarian par excellence, and Dr. Vickie Bliss, beautiful and super-smart art historian/detective. Barbara/Elizabeth certainly had a way of making her characters memorable and well-developed, lol.

Interconnected and inseparable with my reading of Barbara Michaels'/Elizabeth Peters' stories, is listening to the audiobook versions, read by one of the best narrators out there, Barbara Rosenblat. She definitely has a knack of making exciting stories even more exciting! I often forget that it is one reader I am hearing, since her voice changes are so quick, consistent, and completely different. I just love it when she does her Schmitt voice in the Vickie Bliss stories, or her Amelia P. Emerson voice! Barbara adds dimension to the characters through her reading.

Here is the website to learn more about Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters and her books. I know I will be tracking down the older iInes through interlibrary loan and amazon. I am also including a link to Barbara Rosenblat's homepage with info on her audio books (you will want to hear them all, just so you can listen to Barbara's voice changes).

Official Website of Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters
Barbara Rosenblat Homepage