May 13, 2007 (Herald-Tribune / Susan L. Rife) -- Author Susan Hubbard did not want to get boxed into a particular genre with her new novel, "The Society of S." So, she's quick to say, it's not a vampire novel.
"It's a story with vampires," she said in a telephone interview from her home in Orlando, where she teaches English at the University of Central Florida. "When I first started trying to tell friends (what the book was about), I didn't use the 'V' word."

She would rather describe the book as a coming-of-age story in which 13-year-old Ariella Montero, who lives with her father in a Victorian mansion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., comes to the somewhat surprising conclusion not only that her father is a vampire but that she is as well.

"He tells her he has lupus," said Hubbard. "Suddenly she realizes that maybe, just maybe, he's not all that he seems."

The book begins with a prologue about how Ariella's parents met, a scene that literally came to Hubbard in a dream.

"I've gotten several short stories in similar ways," she said, noting that it is not unusual for writers to have inspiration come during their dreaming hours.

"I never knew this until about a week ago, that Robert Louis Stevenson got 'The Strange Tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' from a dream," she said.

She has trained herself to pay attention to her dreams while realizing that trying to capture a dream is like trying to catch mist.

"It's funny how the dream itself won't show up when I try to write it down. It's almost as if the dream is a spark."

Ariella's world begins to unravel when she makes her first friend, the daughter of the family's housekeeper. A murder sets her on the road south from New York in a search for her mother, whom she had believed dead. The search takes her to Sarasota, where her parents married, and secrets are uncovered.

Hubbard likes to incorporate into her work cities to which she has traveled rather than lived. Her daughter was a student at New College, so she had been here several times.

"I couldn't figure out Sarasota," she said. "Sarasota really shows a different face to me every time I come. It's rich and poor at the same time; it's old and new at the same time, beautiful and ugly. It's a real study in contrasts."

For Hubbard, the book came very easily.

"This book was a gift," she said. "You have images and they guide you and lead you to unexpected places."

Which is not to say that she would not get stuck now and then. Usually a run and a hot shower would get the story moving forward.

"The hot water and the experience of physical exercise have helped me get unstuck many times."

The book also touches on synesthesia and the ability to dream crossword puzzles.

Synesthesia is the ability to see letters and numbers as having colors and personalities.

"I have a kind of partial synesthesia at times," said Hubbard. "I do see certain letters. I can sometimes visualize whole words floating in the air. It's kind of fun. Better than watching TV."

For example, to Hubbard, the letter S is red. She is disappointed that the cover of "The Society of S" has the S in gold.

"I wish they would display it in bookstores with the lights you see in jewelers that make everything sparkle," she said ruefully.

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Politics: garlic for 'vampire' opposition

October 12th 2007 (Trinidad & Tobago Express) -- Christine Kangaloo, People's National Movement (PNM) candidate for Pointe-a-Pierre, warned supporters on Tuesday to hang all the garlic they can find over their doors to ward off those opposed to the ruling party.

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Tired

It's too soon
I'm so tired
leave me be.
its too late
I'm exausted
let me sleep
now I can't
sleep
I'm so tired
but I can't
sleep
I'm staring
at the wall
willing the
sleep to
come but
stuck on
this side
of that wall
on this side
without
dreams and a
nice soft
oblivion to
fall into
sleep
I'm so tired

Raevynn
February 8, 2002

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Parliament says handover of Dracula Castle illegal

September 25, 2007 (AP / Alina Wolfe Murray) -- The Transylvanian fortress commonly known as Dracula's Castle was illegally returned to an heir of Romania's royal family, the country's parliament ruled Tuesday. In a vote, the legislators said the restitution was illegal because of procedural errors and called on authorities to launch an investigation.

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Lesbian Vampire Killers movie angers campaigners

June 12, 2008 (pink news / Sophie Picheta) -- An online group called Angry Lesbians has said it is outraged at a film that they say is derogatory to lesbians and women is being made. The film, Lesbian Vampire Killers, a "bloodthirsty romp featuring buckets of gore and plenty of bare breasts" is currently in production.

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The Vampyre by John Stagg

"Why looks my lord so deadly pale?
   Why fades the crimson from his cheek?
What can my dearest husband ail?
   Thy heartfelt cares, O Herman, speak!

"Why, at the silent hour of rest,
   Dost thou in sleep so sadly mourn?
Has tho' with heaviest grief oppress'd,
   Griefs too distressful to be borne.

"Why heaves thy breast?--why throbs thy heart?
   O speak! and if there be relief,
Thy Gertrude solace shall impart,
   If not, at least shall share thy grief.

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