Stephanie Abbott's Blog, page 16
October 9, 2012
FAERIES, Raiders, and Amazon Gift Cards
Reblogged from Shéa MacLeod, Author - Everything's Better With Dragons:
Faerie by Delle Jacobs
Super awesome contest going on over at Delle Jacobs’s blog in celebration of the Montlake release of FAERIE. You can win a Barbie and Ken collector’s set, or some Amazon gift cards. Check it out. AND check out Delle’s new book. Sounds AMAZING! Can’t wait to read it.
Filed under: Stephanie Abbott
Oh, you have to check this out!
October 8, 2012
Once again, since my contribution to the Eclective’s Haun...
Once again, since my contribution to the Eclective’s Haunted Collection is a Victorian horror story, here are some Victorian factoids from a post I wrote in 2011…
Cold air and foul smells caused illness. Or so most believed. This was the “miasma” theory. Because disease was carried by bad smells, surgeons felt free to operate while wearing the same coat, growing ever more stiff with blood and body fluids, for years. Joseph Lister, inventor of aseptic technique (the notion surgeons should wash their hands, don gloves, and avoid cross contamination while poking about in peoples’ innards) once famously rebuked a physician who, after each surgery, wiped his scalpel on the bottom on his boot before going on to the next patient. I doubt the offending doctor listened. Many of Lister’s fellow physicians considered him a neat freak, a scold, and a bit of hysteric. But he still got “Listerine” named after him.
That Victorian character described as having a “squint” or a “cast to the eye”? Nowadays, we’d call he or she cross-eyed. In the 1800s, there was no surgical intervention possible, so society was far more accepting of those with an eye that turned in toward the nose or drifted out toward the wall. It wasn’t even a detriment to romance. Once I read a novel which mentioned a pretty blonde girl “with a cast to her eye” dancing with all the eligible young men. Misaligned eyes, like cataracts or sudden blindness (probably from glaucoma or retinal detachment) were just part of life.
The leading cause of death in the nineteenth century was … Tuberculosis. A female between the ages of 15 and 35 had a 50% chance of dying of consumption. (Just like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!) But around mid-century, Victorians won a huge victory against another scourge, smallpox. In an astonishingly inclusive move, Parliament soon acted to make vaccination free. But human nature being what it is, they eventually had to make not getting vaccinated against the law.
Victorian novels, personal diaries, and letters are filled with complaints of headaches. Some believe those headaches came from all the ARSENIC. Even a gracious home was filled with it — in the carpet, the wallpaper, and the upholstery, not to mention books, paint, cosmetics, and toys. Makes you wonder if two hundred years from now, folks will marvel how we managed to live so long while consuming high fructose corn syrup and walking around with mobile phones pressed to our skulls.
Opium was readily available, legal, and stamped with the British Imperial seal. Which was probably good, considering whatever ailed you wasn’t likely to be cured, only endured. The Victorian Era had an interesting libertarian slant. People felt free to lecture you about vices — tobacco, prostitutes, gin, and the hookah. But all were still legal.
The uterus made females acutely prone to melancholia, mania, and of course — hysteria. “Female hysteria” was a catch-all phrase for almost anything, including sadness, defiance, angry outbursts and disobedience. Eventually some doctor decided the appropriate treatment was — wait for it — south-of-the-border massage. The only problem? Many docs felt the process was extremely time-consuming, not to mention tedious, bringing their patients to that climatic finale. (Is it any wonder some of these ladies kept behaving badly and returning to their physicians for treatment?) By 1870, someone finally invented a vibrating machine, sold only to doctors, to satisfy the female hysterics more quickly and increase patient turnover. Read The Technology of Orgasm for more.
Men never showed weakness. Which probably subtracted as many years off their lives as anemia and overwork combined. The rules for a man were mostly emotional. He could be bright but not smart. He could be neat but not foppish. He couldn’t show too much interest in his children (effeminate) or expect his wife to welcome his attentions in the bedroom. He could never show fear or shed tears, even when injured. And a man who disgraced himself through bad investments or public humiliation had only one recourse: to shoot himself. Remember during the stock market crash of 1929, all those ruined Wall Street executives — mostly middle-aged men — tossing themselves out of windows? They were the sons of Victorians. In general, I hope the idea that financial ruin necessitates suicide died with them. Though I wouldn’t have minded if Bernie Madoff had decided to carry on the tradition.
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Filed under: Eclective, Emma Jameson, facts. victorian, London, victorian, Writing Tagged: eclective, emma jameson, grave robber, haunted collection, Victorian era, victorian facts
October 6, 2012
Featured Image: October, 2012
Reblogged from Ghostly World™:
Status: Featured Image of October, 2012
Image: The Stanley Hotel covered in snow.
Filed under: Stephanie Abbott
Makes me think of the Overlook from Stephen King's classic, THE SHINING...
IT'S ABOUT TIME
Reblogged from Romance Isn't Dead, It Just Evolved:
The ghosts of all things past parade, Emerging from the mist and shade That hid them from our gaze, And, full of song and ringing mirth, In one glad moment of rebirth, And again they walk the ways of earth As in the ancient days.
The beacon light shines on the hill, The will-o’-wisps the forests fill With flashes filched from noon; And witches on their broomsticks spry Speed here and yonder in the sky, And lift their strident voices high Unto the Hunter’s Moon.
Ah ... I love this time of year...
Pride & Prejudice & Vampires
Reblogged from Shéa MacLeod, Author - Everything's Better With Dragons:
UPDATE:
Apparently there have been some difficulties with this book going free today, so it is NOT free as of yet. Will keep you all posted when it does go free.
Because I love ya’ll, I’m going to tell you about another FREE book. That’s right. Free. But only today, okay? So go grab yourself a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Vampires…
Due to technical difficulties, the book has not yet gone free. Stand by!!
October 5, 2012
Grave Robbing, or The Resurrection Men
Before Great Britain’s Anatomy Act of 1832, which allowed medical schools to legally obtain a sufficient number of cadavers for study, getting a corpse to dissect was no simple matter. The Murder Act of 1752 stipulated only the bodies of executed murderers be used for such a purpose. As medical science improved, the need for fresh cadavers began to rapidly exceed the supply of executed murderers.
Enter the Resurrection Men
In the late Regency period and the early Victorian era, grave robbing paid quite well and wasn’t particularly risky because it wasn’t a felony. All the grave robber had to do was make certain he didn’t help himself to any valuables buried along with the dead, such as an expensive piece of jewelry, and he had no fear of being executed for his crime.
Mort-Safe in Greyfriars Kirkyard to discourage grave robbing
Naturally, the bereaved fought back with vigils, watchmen, metal coffins, and even iron cages like the “Mort-Safe” above. Others may have quoted Shakespeare’s own admonition to body snatchers:
victorian
The Haunted Collection, Free Oct 5th and 6th.
Hiya, Halloween fans.
Happy to announce that The Haunted Collection - the most recent short story compilation from the eclectic, cross-genre authors known collectively as The Eclective (see how that name works?) is FREE for Amazon Kindle this Friday and Saturday, (Oct 5th and 6th).
Just to explain a little bit about us: The authors of The Eclective write in a number of different genres, from epic fantasy to paranormal YA to contemporary to parody, and a ton of stuff in between.
Check it out!!
October 4, 2012
Read THIS not THAT!
Read THIS – Not THAT
(A List of Well Loved Books that I LOTHE
and the Alternatives)
This might be the most controversial blog posting I’ve done so far because I’m going to tell you what books I DON’T LIKE. In fact I HATE these books (ok hate is a strong word, I only hate a few of them, the others are a strong dislike).
A great post with some excellent suggestions...
October 3, 2012
TV Mention: American Horror Story
WARNING: This post refers to the entire 12-episode DVD set and includes moderate-to-major spoilers. If you wish to remain pure, read only after you watch!
A
Tate (Evan Peters) gets tainted…
[Photo credit: F/X]
Last night, I finished American Horror Story, season one. I had to clear my schedule and watch five consecutive hours of TV, but hey, I’m dedicated. Here’s the breakdown.
What It’s About:
The troubled Harmon family (, and ) arrives in sunny California to make a new start. Depressed mom Viv (Britton) is haunted by a devastating miscarriage, psychiatrist Ben (McDermott) is struggling to regain Viv’s trust after cheating on her with a student, and teenager Violet must contend with bullies at her new school. All this middle-class angst will eventually reach critical mass in a spooky old Victorian with an infamous past. In fact, Hollywood’s “Eternal Darkness” tour bills the Harmons’ new abode as the Murder House.
Would you let this woman clean your house?
[Photo credit: F/X]
What Works:
The acting is fabulous. rightly won an Emmy for her portrayal of Constance, the Harmons’ vain, politically incorrect and occasionally murderous neighbor. , perhaps best known as the flamboyant Russell Edgington in HBO’s True Blood, is equally wonderful as Ben’s self-appointed helper, warning Ben about the dangers of living in Murder House. Plus we have some comic relief from (Modern Family) and a wonderfully creepy, layered performance by (Star Trek) as one of the house’s many victims.
As you might expect, the story isn’t terribly realistic. This is gothic horror, full of melodramatic speeches, outrageous deaths and people choosing to reside in a supernatural deathtrap when anyone else would happily sleep in a homeless shelter. Nevertheless, the show is stylish, fun, and for the most part, it delivers. The most affecting sequences (a Columbine-style mass murder and a hit-and-run) pack a lot of punch. And even the weaker threads–the original owner’s “Frankenstein complex”–are mostly good fun.
What Doesn’t Work:
There are occasional lapses of internal logic. As a writer, I can’t help but suspect the show runners originally had a different idea for the identity of Rubber Man, then for whatever reason changed course around episode 7. Suddenly we’re told Larry had an adulterous relationship with Constance (inconsistent with Larry’s early scenes) and Tate murdered Chad and Patrick–and raped Viv– for the thinnest of reasons. I wonder if the show’s success compelled the writers to craft a new conclusion, one that would either satisfy the network or better prepare for season two?
My main gripe, however, is this: season one has enough material for eleven good episodes. Unfortunately, the series goes for twelve. Episode 12 is redundant, dull and runs completely counter to much of what has gone before. The dead Harmon family enjoys new happiness in the house, scaring away potential buyers ala the climax of Toy Story and celebrating a beautiful Christmas around the tree? Blah. Even the entirely predictable climax was just blah. You’d do better to quit watching on episode 11 and make up your own ending.
Final Verdict: Mostly good TV.
Filed under: TV Tagged: american horror story, denis o'hare, f/x, ghosts, haunted house, jessica lange, television, zachary quinto
October 2, 2012
Oh my SQUEEEE!!! Congrats to the bestest critique partner ever!!!
Reblogged from tarawestauthor:
Today is the day!!! Congrats, Shéa MacLeod!!!
Montlake Romance, a division of Amazon’s Imprint, has rereleased my crit partner’s vampire hunter series, starting with book one today!!! Each book has been thoroughly edited and there’s even new scenes. Told from vampire hunter, Morgan Bailey’s POV, these books are steamy, engaging and hilarious, featuring not one but TWO sexy studs. What are you waiting for?
Big congrats to Shea!!
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