What if vampires existed on the island of Napoleon's final exile? What can a young maid do to stop them? by Diane Scott Lewis

 

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I wrote this fanciful novel after reading about a story of vampires involved with Napoleon's failed conquest of Russia. Why not set up these enigmatic creatures on the remote island of Saint Helena, a place of myth and hardship?

Enjoy the surreal existence of vampires during Napoleon's final exile. Just who is one of the undead, and who isn't? Young maid Isabelle, a member of the emperor's household, will soon find out. And she must rush to stop a wicked attack.

Here is an excerpt:

Isabelle envied the handsome white stucco colonial house with light gray shutters nestled in its verdant garden. But the Union Jack—the emblem of their imprisonment—that rippled from a flagstaff in front of the structure’s Georgian porch had marred the effect.

This beautiful scenery almost eased her distress over the bat-dream of three nights past, or had that part been real? She stifled a quiver.

“Do you like working here?” she asked the maid who had arranged many of the other ladies’ wraps.

She was a mulatto girl with slightly brownish skin and plump lips. “Yes, it’s one of the best places on the island to work.”

“I imagine it would be.” Isabelle stepped to the ballroom door, watching the ladies twirl like flowers in their gowns of pink, blue and yellow; silks, taffetas and muslins. A reminisce of life back in Europe. She sighed. Not that she would have danced in such company. She turned and helped the other maid arrange wraps and hats in scents of perfume, talcum powder and perspiration. “These English bonnets are not so pretty. Do you like Governor Lowe?”

“I don’t see him much.” The maid held up a wrap with intricate lace on the borders, her gaze admiring. “I mostly assist the Missus.”

“Lowe seems a man of quick temper.” Isabelle said this as nonchalant as she could manage. She caressed a white ostrich feather on one of the hats.

“He can be, but he does not sleep well.”

“How do you know that?” Isabelle kept her tone conversational.

“His valet. . .is my special friend.” She grinned. “He says the governor wanders about late at night.” The maid twitched her lips. “But I should not speak ill of my employer.” Now she watched Isabelle, embarrassment glinting in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Isabelle decided to leave that topic—though she found that information significant. “Do you know I’m the one who found that poor, dead girl in Sane Valley?” She again pictured Amanda’s distressed face.

The maid started and backed up a step. The feathered hat in her hands wavered. She set it down. “A very terrible sight, I’m certain.”

“Are they still investigating the death?”

“I don’t think so.” The maid averted her gaze and plucked at a ribbon on a bonnet.

“I thought your valet friend might have known whether they thought the death an accident or something more?” In the resulting silence, Isabelle spoke again: “I’m new here, but,” she ran her fingers along a satiny pelisse, feigning indifference, “I wondered if you’ve heard of an animal called the beast?”

                                       

“Everyone knows of that.” The reply sounded more like an accusation, the maid’s eyes sharpening.

“Has anyone ever seen it? Isn’t it more a superstition?”

“No, it’s real.” The mulatto girl twisted at the bonnet ribbon, then turned her back. “But we keep our mouths quiet here.”

For more on me and my books, visit my BWL author's page

https://bwlpublishing.ca/lewis-diane-scott/

Diane lives in Western Pennsylvania with one naughty dachshund.

The Joy of Meeting Readers

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Every time a reader reads one of our books, it is made anew. Readers' life, thoughts, feelings, go into their experience of reading. Is it any wonder that most authors love meeting our readers?

I appreciate you reading this blog, and enjoy reading your  comments. I love when readers write or email. I have mail from readers as far away as Australia that I treasure. 

Best of all for me, is meeting readers. I enjoy doing book signings and talks, often based on my research. When possible, I love teaming up with other writers for this. I often partner with BWL author Eileen O'Finlan. After I met her, we also discovered we are distant cousins. What a nice bonus!

Eileen and I have done talks on the experiences of Irish immigrants to America, the subject of two of our books, her Kelgeen and Erin's Children and my Mercies of the Fallen and Ursula's Inheritance.

We're about to launch a new speaking tour here in New England, entitled Witches and Vampires: When New World Nightmares Invaded the New World. This revolves around our two 2024 novels. Eileen's The Folklorist is a marvelous dual time-line novel set in the museum world of the 1970s and the New England Vampire Panic of the 1830s. My Canadian Historical Mystery #7 is Spectral Evidence, set during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93. It's set in Newfoundland, where some survivor children are taking refuge with their Canadian cousins. So, I'm in charge of the witches, and Eileen, the vampires. We hope our talk is enlightening and enjoyable to our treasured readers.

And we hope to meet you someday soon!

 

Coming October 1, 2023 - The Folklorist by Eileen O'Finlan

 

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I am excited to announce that my next historical novel, The Folklorist, will be released on October 1, 2023, by BWL Publishing just in time for Halloween! Charlotte Lajoie, a young professional folklorist, struggling to build her career in 1973, is given the 1839 diary of her ancestor Jerusha Kendall. Reading the diary leads her to believe that Jerusha and her family were involved in what would come to be known as the New England Vampire Panic. And it seems that at least one of Charlotte's ancestors is still angry about it. 

Jerusha Kendall was only nine years old in 1832 when something awful happened in her family, but she has no idea what. She has grown up knowing that not only her family, but the entire village of Birch Falls, Vermont is keeping it a secret from her. By 1839, when she begins keeping a diary, she's determined to learn what happened that caused her mother to stop speaking to her dearest friend, isolate Jerusha from all but her own family, and withdraw from their close-knit community.

As Charlotte studies Jerusha's diary, she starts to believe that she knows what happened even if Jerusha never figured it out. Meanwhile, Charlotte has her hands full trying to juggle work for an insecure, infuriatingly sexist boss at the New England Folklife Museum, decide on the way forward in her own career, and find a way to bring peace to an aggrieved ghost.

If you're interested in finding out what folklore, ghosts, and vampires have in common, check out The Folklorist in October.

Vampires with Napoleon? by Diane Scott Lewis

October, the month of Halloween, or All Hollow's Eve, the one night when the division between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. People would set a place at the table for their lost loved ones, hoping to see them one more time.

Ghosts, witches, and vampires. Many believe these entities really exist. The legend of vampires is usually traced back to the Romanian nobleman, Vlad the Impaler, in the fifteenth century. A man who took care of his enemies in a brutal manner-his name says it all. Next, in 1818, when Mary Shelly wrote her famous novel, Frankenstein, another participant, Dr. Polidori, penned his short work of prose: The Vampyre. Of course, Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897, made the creature who rises from his grave and lives off human blood famous.

Throughout history similar creatures were mentioned in fables. A Saxon grave in England had men, women, and children, nailed down to prevent their rising and walking among the living. Though that sounds more zombie than vampire.
It was thought if you wore garlic around your neck you'd be protected. A wooden stake through a suspected vampire's heart was supposed to kill him. But since vampires are already of the 'dead', perhaps it's to keep him in place in his coffin. Vampires could also change into bats and fly where they wished, to await their next victim.

Vampire, 1895, by Edvard Munch

Years ago I'd written a novel set on the remote, South Atlantic island of St. Helena. I had so much research about the oddities of this isolated rock in the ocean, its strange flora and fauna, and the man who made it famous: the exiled Emperor Napoleon. After Waterloo, and Napoleon's surrender, the British wanted him as far away from Europe as possible.

An old map of St. Helena

What better place than an island at the bottom of the world. An island of mystery. Discovered by the Portuguese in the 1500s, St. Helena was eventually taken over by the British as a way-station, a place to drop off their sick sailors, and obtain more water and food for long voyages.

I came across a novel written about vampires involved with Napoleon's army in Russia. For my novel, A SAVAGE EXILE, to add conflict and danger, I decided to include a few vampires. In Napoleon's entourage and ones already on the island, who is hiding a dark, dangerous secret? The seductive Countess de Montholon? His officers? Napoleon's devoted valets? The Emperor himself? And who is the monster rumored to live and hunt for prey in the hills? People with strange bite marks on their necks are found murdered on the island. The beautiful maid Isabelle, who serves the feckless countess, is determined to find who is responsible before another person is killed.

 Isabelle is likable heroine, and I enjoyed watching her make the best of a bad situation. Anyone who enjoys historical romance with a paranormal twist might want to check it (A Savage Exile) out.
~ Long and Short Reviews

To purchase my novels, and my other BWL books: BWL

Find out more about me and my writing on my website: Dianescottlewis

Diane Scott Lewis lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty puppy.

Vampires in India

PURCHASE FROM AMAZON

        

Anne Rice would love this: Vampires have a long history in India. In fact, some historians believe that the vampire myth started in India and entered Europe through the spice trade routes.

Many cultures around the world have stories of blood-sucking creatures. India is no exception. In fact several types of vampires are described in the folk literature of that sub-continent. Here are a few:

Vetalas: Said to be evil spirits that inhabit the bodies of the dead, they are often depicted as hanging upside down from trees. Sometimes described them as half-bat, half-man, this may describe how bats became entwined with vampire mythology. Other legends have them entering living bodies, which they manipulate at will, usually for some evil purpose. However, in a recent television story in India, “Vicky and Vetaal” the Vetaal (Vetala) is shown as a fairly innocuous and friendly spirit.

Pisachas: Usually female, Pisachas are types of witches. Some take the appearance of beautiful women who suckle babies with the intent of poisoning them with their deadly milk. Sometimes, they are depicted as ghastly, flesh-eating creatures. However, they may be driven away by chanting mantras, or by propitiating them with offerings.

Bhutas: Ghosts, who appears for several reasons, mainly due to having an injustice committed to them while in human forms. Because of this, the souls of the dead, instead of continuing their journeys, remain in disembodied states until justice is served and the guilty punished. As ghosts, they are supposedly common at cremation grounds and have reputations for driving humans insane.

Rakshashas: Demonic bloodthirsty beings, they are usually depicted as having long fang-like teeth and horrible appearances. They are almost always cannibals and have a reputation of disrupting prayers and sacred rituals. Some texts describe their origins to pre-date humans. Rakshashas can also shape-shift, taking normal human form to form friendships, only to betray and kill the unsuspecting. Interestingly, in the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, a rakshasa is a type of evil outsider.

Interestingly, human souls, based on their moral history (karma,) may incarnate into these types of vampire bodies. However, even these creatures have the chance to reincarnate again, potentially into human bodies, and thus receive the chance to ascend into higher levels of consciousness.

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper - A Novel" (www.yogazapper.com) published by Books We Love (www.bookswelove.com)