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Horror Reader Shocker! Spooky Vampire Leaves Wannabe Author Prostrated!: "What the FRACK!!! I can't get her out of my head!" - Vampire Guild Weekly

After reading this book, I am left frustrated and oddly underwhelmed, and yet there is an undeniable and dare I say it 'uncanny,' power to this story which is a mystery to me.

The smartest character in the story is the antagonist (who is not that smart), who proceeds to charm and bamboozle an array of protagonists who are all very nice, and not the least bit given to suspicion of others.

There are multiple events where the fact that Carmilla is a vampire is hinted at with growing strength, up to and including the discovery of a perfect portrait painted in the dim past. Le Fanu doesn't quite get to the point of hanging a sign, written in fresh blood around Carmilla's neck proclaiming, "I am a vampire, and I am here to kill you." But he gets close.

With the characters stumbling about in their ignorance as the Vampire runs rings around them - I was left imagining shooting fish in a barrel. I found myself thinking what if a terrible blizzard arrived that shut up the Schloss for 3 days (and especially 3 nights). Leaving Carmilla alone with only the hero - Laura (our narrator), her father, the governess, and the other staff without any hope of escape. As the death toll mounted, the presence of a vampire would quickly become obvious. Laura would then be confronted with a need to make a decision of consequence and take irrevocable action. Something she really doesn't get much of a chance to do.

Passive characters, especially if the narrator are frustrating.

On the plus side, the author has made an excellent stab at establishing the vampire genre. He has also provided a clever subplot of lesbian love. Neither would have been easy to do in his day and age.

Also the description of the actual vampire attacks is genuinely spooky and admirable writing.

While this book failed to excite me with it's general lack of pace and suspense, It has deep qualities that many would appreciate. Especially those with a taste for "Creeping Horror."

On a decidedly UNCANNY personal note. ... I had a dream, an incredibly VIVID dream, while reading this novel where I was visited by a magnetic, alluring, dark-haired female vampire and I willing offered my arm to her. Something that I have never done before in a dream. What was also noteworthy was the experience of an abiding personal intimacy that accompanied the act of freely giving blood to sustain another.

The sultry summer evening had barely given way to the night. I had left the bedroom doors open to the balcony to allow a light breeze to circulate. I lay back on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The house belonged to me, I was its sole occupant, but the loneliness of this house weighed heavily - it was not a home.

Moonlight cut through the room, then it vanished for an instant. A momentary shadow flitting through the doorway, entering my bedroom and filling it with a pervasive sense of possession - the room was no longer mine.

My heart thudded in my chest. I sat up suddenly, pressing backward against the headboard. There was someone in the room, the feeling of Her presence was overwhelming, but I couldn't see anyone - there was no one there.

The shadows thickened at the end of my bed. I stared, frozen where I sat, as the shadows coalesced into the ethereal shape of a young woman. She wore a light diaphanous gown. Her hair was lustrous black, her skin pale like marble, her eyes were large and dark, her lips red, full and slightly curved in a coy smile.

Her form solidified. A faint perfume filled the air. She seemed deeply familiar, and yet, I had never seen her before - at least I had no memory of ever meeting her and I'm sure I would not have forgotten.

She moved to her right, floating, lithe, serene. She was majestic and mesmerizing - power beyond words was bound up in her gaze. Her eyes glittered like black diamonds, brilliant and hard. I couldn't tear my eyes away from them even if I tried.

She sat down beside me, gently picking up my left arm with her cool hands. She turned it over, palm up. I didn't resist - I didn't want to. I lifted my arm up and she lent forward.

A bell rang in the distance, a muffled warning - ignored and discarded in the face of her needs. Needs I was a willing servant to.

Moonlight gleamed on her ivory fangs. She leaned further in, first kissing, then licking - finally biting. A single drop of blood fell off my wrist, dark against the white bed sheet. She murmured in delight, my heart beat hard in my chest, but I stayed still - unwilling to disturb her feast.

Everything was for her...

(inspired by my dream while reading this book...)

I am left wondering just how deep this story can creep into you when you read it?

Strongly Recommended. 5 'Spooky Vampire Kisses Beneath the Moonlight,' Stars.