David Blue - Guest Post and Contest

Many have read Leonard Wolf's The Essential Dracula: The Definitive Annotated Edition or Leslie S. Klinger’s The New Annotated Dracula, both excellent sources for understanding the times in which Bram Stoker wrote his classic novel. But before Dracula there was  J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, a mesmerizing story of vampire seduction. 


Today PVN welcomes David Blue who has written a similar treatment for Carmilla  (one of my all time favorite vampire tales). David is also offering a PDF copy of his book to one lucky winner. [see contest details at end of post]

The Annotated Carmilla by David Blue

 Carmilla helped define a genre. Before its publication in 1872 (a full quarter century before Dracula),  no vampire story had ever included the POV of a victim.  Never before had an expert vampire hunter been called in, nor had strangely erotic dreams accompanied the nightly visits of an undead seducer.  Reading the story, you may find a whole host of other tropes that have since become commonplace, almost cliche.  Here a painting of a vampire from over a century before provided a clear clue as to what kind of supernatural events were afoot!  Likewise, for almost the first time, a vampire seems to love her victim, to yearn for understanding and love in return.

Little wonder it has proven the most adapted vampire tale in cinematic history after Bram Stoker's story of the Transylvanian Count!

The book certainly captured my imagination, and at an early age.  I can still see in my mind's eye the cover of the very first copy I ever owned.  Much of the past year I spent pouring over the manuscript, noting every detail that might spark a question in the average reader.  When in doubt, I defaulted to answering the question--with the result ending up over four hundred footnotes, contained in my book The Annotated Carmilla.  One result was to discover dozens of little clues embedded Le Fanu's words, including details about the phases of the moon (which are actually somewhat important) and references to mythology that aren't at all immediately obvious.  Most people picking up Le Fanu's story for the first time, for example, probably have no notion where "Styria" actually is.  The footnotes answer this and many more questions.

One lovely piece of luck lay in the fact that as I readied the book for publication, I learned that a new film version was in post-production--the first serious version in over two decades (since the 1990 film starring Ioney Skye and Meg Tilly).  This film, titled Styria, stars Eleanor Tomlinson (who was in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland) as well as Polish actress Julia Pietrucha.

CONTEST

*Now I'm going to give away one copy of The Annotated Carmilla to the winner of a simple contest.  At heart Carmilla remains the story of two young women--one mortal, one undead--who are friends and maybe more.  Arguably the most famous casting of the two can be seen in Hammer Studio's The Vampire Lovers starring Ingrid Pitt and Madeleine Smith.

*To enter the contest simply comment in this blog [Patricia's Vampire Notes] and name your two choices to play the leads in an imaginary adaptation of Le Fanu's vampire story.

*The contest runs until May 1, 2011.  Or if you cannot wait, you can purchase a copy here: https://www.createspace.com/3507727 Please feel free to share the link! 

Herein is the trailer...

http://youtu.be/EJisi6lhRfM