In this installment of Page 69,
we put Freda Warrington's Nights of Blod Wine to the test.
Set up page 69 for us (what are we about to read):
Page 69 turns
out to be part of The Raven Bound, a story inspired by this remark by Susan
Ertz: ‘Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with
themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.’ Sometime in the 1930s, a very
bored vampire named Antoine meets a stranger in a smoky nightclub and sees a
chance to relieve his ennui.
What’s the book
about?
My Blood Wine
series of vampire novels began in the early 1980s, inspired by a love of
vampire films and stories (such as JS LeFanu’s Carmilla), by Anne Rice’s early
novels – which showed the undead as thinking, feeling creatures with their own stories
to tell – and, not least, a need for escapism during a particularly difficult
time in my life. Fascinated by the image of the vampire as a dark, mysterious
outsider, I wondered: what if a human could break through the barriers and come
to know this un-human being? So I began writing my tale of human Charlotte and
alluring vampire Karl. This was years before the massive explosion of vampire
romance in the 2000s! By the 1990s, one novel had become three (published by
Pan Macmillan), and when Titan recently republished the series, I added a brand
new fourth one (The Dark Arts of Blood).
Over this long period I’d also published a handful of
short stories set in my Blood Wine world. I’ve long had a dream of putting them
together in a collection, so last year I did just that. I wrote four brand new
stories that had been hovering in my mind for a while, and also added five
pieces of non-vampiric weirdness. NIGHTS OF BLOOD WINE (Telos) is the
result. Fifteen ‘lush dark tales’, ten involving my favourite vampire
characters such as Karl, Charlotte, Stefan, Violette and others, plus a piece
that became part of Dracula the Undead, then three stories connected to my
‘Elfland’ world, and finally a story written in loving tribute to Tanith Lee.
Quite a variety.
Do you think this page gives our readers an accurate sense of what
the book is about? Does it align itself with the book’s overall theme?
Yes and no. My style in the Blood
Wine universe tends towards the dark, brooding, sensual and thoughtful. Things
sometimes get quite brutal and bloody. But there are also episodes of humour,
or black humour at least. To me, the Blood Wine tales are so much more than run
of the mill stake-the-monster adventures, or wall-to-wall romance and erotica.
They contain some of those elements, of course, but I found so much scope to
explore psychology, desire, guilt, obsession, mystical weirdness, power,
sexuality, to unpack religious mania and gender issues and so much more.
Nights of Blood Wine contains a
hidden story that I didn’t even realise was there at first – a story that I’ve
yet to tell, along with many others. I love my characters, so I doubt that
they’ll ever leave me alone. Settings range from a South American women’s
prison to winter-bound Russia in 1928: discover the strange history of blonde,
not-so-angelic Stefan, a tooth in a glass of champagne… and even a touch of
Steampunk!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAGE 69
NIGHTS OF BLOOD WINE
‘What is preventing you from going
to Paris, Rupert?’
I look into his eyes. He doesn’t
seem to notice that I am not smoking. He sees something special in me, a
kindred soul, someone who will understand him.
He calls the waiter and orders
drinks, although I tip mine into his while he isn’t looking. Then his story
comes tumbling out. A family seat in the country, a father who is proud and
wealthy and mean. Mother long dead. Rupert the only son, the only child, with a
vast freight of expectations on his shoulders. But he has disappointed his
father in everything.
‘All the things he wanted me to be
– I can’t do it. I was to be a scholar, an officer, a cabinet minister. Worthy
of him. Married to some Earl’s daughter. That’s how he saw me. But I let him
down. I tried and failed. Gods, how I tried! Finally something snapped, and I
refused to dance to his tune any longer. Now he hates me. Because what I truly
am is an artist. The only thing I can do, the only thing I’ve ever wanted to
do, is to paint!’
He takes a fierce drag on his
cigarette. His eyes burn with resentment.
‘Isn’t your father proud that you
have this talent?’
‘Proud?’ he spits. ‘He despises me
for it! Says I’ll end up in the gutter.’
‘Why don’t you leave?’ I speak
softly and I am paying more attention to the movement of his tender throat than
to his words. ‘Go to Montmartre, be an artist. Prove the old man wrong.’
‘It’s not that easy. There’s this
girl, Meg …’
‘Take her with you.’
‘That’s just it. I can’t. She’s the
gardener’s daughter. My father employs her as a maid. D’you see? Not content
with being a failure at everything else, I go and fall in love with a common
servant. So now the old man tells me that if I don’t give her up and toe the
line, he’ll disinherit me! And Meg’s refusing to see me. Says she’s afraid of
my father. Damn him!’
I have not been a vampire so very
long. I still recall how hopeless such dilemmas seem to humans. ‘That’s
terrible.’
‘Vindictive old swine! I’ll lose
her and I’ll be penniless! He can’t do this to me!’
‘What will you do about it,
Rupert?’
He glares down into his whisky. How
alluring he looks in his wretchedness. ‘I wish the old bastard would die
tomorrow. That would solve all my problems. I’d like to kill him!’
‘Will you?’
He sighs. ‘If only I had the guts!
But I haven’t.’
So I smile. I rest my hand on his,
and he is too numb with whisky to feel the coldness of my fingertips. I have
thought of something more interesting to do than just take him outside and
drain him.
‘I’ll do it for you.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Freda
Warrington is the author of twenty-two books, including A Taste of Blood Wine,
A Blackbird in Silver, and The Amber Citadel. Her novel Elfland won the
Romantic Times award for Best Fantasy Novel, and Dracula the Undead won the
Dracula Society’s Best Gothic Novel award. The Court of the Midnight King is an
alternative history/ fantasy take on that most controversial of kings, Richard
III, while her Blood Wine series of lush gothic vampire novels has been reissued
by Titan Books. NIGHTS OF BLOOD WINE is her first short story collection,
published by Telos in March 2017. Her work is described by Starburst magazine
as, ‘Simply stunning, sumptuous, graceful and seductive.’
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