After much soul (and wallet) searching, I pulled the plug on the simplysupernatural-vampire.com website; as time and energy permits, some of those pages with information on Victorian vampires will be posted on this blog.
Last June I was able to spend a few weeks in the UK for a conference "TV Fangdom" where I presented a paper on child vampires. The paper speculated about why the characterizations and images of child vampires on television and in movies make adults so uncomfortable. It is a topic which interests me, and at some point I'll come back to it.
My book chapter "Blood, Lust, and Transformation: Vampires in the Community College Classroom" on teaching literature of vampires classes arrived in the real world in print in
The Vampire Goes to College: Essays on Teaching with the Undead
I am currently working on a second book chapter regarding the intersection of vampires, humor, and children's' picture books for a book which examines vampires and humor. How does a creature of the night, of such power and might, become suddenly funny?
I did my first "reading," of one of my own short stories on Halloween at a Portland, OR coffee shop (an odd melange of kittens and vampires -- and stalking). Since I am SOOOOO tired of giving my work away for free right now, this story might never appear on this blog.
Oh, and I offered a bunch of college freshman the opportunity to learn to write college-level -- adult level -- essays (you know; the job that pays the rent?).
As I said, crazy wild even by my standards. I am not quite sure where this next year will take this blog and myself, but it should be interesting.
