The Last Member of the Family

The Last Member of the Family by Lois A. Sunagel
published by Manor Books
Copyright 1979

FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK

SHE SEARCHES FOR
THE AWFUL TRUTH!

HOLLY BRADEN WALKS IN TERROR AS SHE
ENDEAVORS TO LEARN THE AWFUL TRUTH ABOUT
THE DEATH OF HER UNCLE WALTER, FROM WHO SHE
HAS INHERITED A SUBSTANTIAL FORTUNE AND THE
FAMOUS BRADEN SAILING MUSEUM. WOULD SHE BE
NEXT ON THE LIST OF THE KILLER WHO MURDERED
HER UNCLE? SHE ALMOST GOES INSANE BEFORE SHE
DISCOVERS THE IDENTITY OF THE MURDERERS AND
OF HER ONE TRUE LOVE.

Okay, the way I see it Holly Braden is living my dream! When am I going to inherit a museum. And my museum wouldn't even have to already be famous, I would be willing to settle for a lesser known museum. Preferably a wax museum.

Of course that isn't to say, that I wouldn't be happy with some posh "Sailing Museum" and all the snottiness that implies. I'd just try my damnedest to make the whole think a little less intimidating to the everyday salt of the earth clientele. Maybe by adding a few wax sculptures or one of those amusement park pearl diving gift shops, like from Cedar Point back in the 80's, were you paid someone a few buck for a oyster, some dude in scuba gear would jump in to a tank, and you would close your eyes and wish a black pearl, or a freakishly large pearl or something to make that measly investment really pay off.

Or, if not that, at least one of those claw machines and a wing dedicated to things found in a shark.

Gay for Lois Lane

Need yet another blog in your life? Well I do! Please stop by and check out my new tribute to Lois Lane.

Gay for Lois Lane

Here I'll be sharing some of my favorite stories featuring the First Lady of Comics.

Smut, Smut, Everywhere

I am kind of out of the new book loop these days.

I love to read. In fact, some of my best college memories involved skipping class and spending all day reading. Why can't I do that now?! Oh, that's right, too many responsibilities. Anyway, that means that when I do have an opportunity to read I feel like the book should be, well, worth while.

Not to say that I'm into self-help, I mean, how can you improve on perfection? Just something well written. It doesn't have to be Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Alexandre Dumas or anything (Though that revenge stuff is total catnip) just something that's good. Please note: I still have spent my fair share of time reading rubbish but then I feel guilty about it.

Anyway, a friend of mine is what you might call an "author stalker-ho". If you've had a book published it is only a matter of time before she is picking through your garbage. At her invitation I joined her for an RT Booklovers Convention a couple of weeks ago. (I'm not sure, but I think the T stands for Trash.) Wow, a chance to wander through tables and tables of less then "worth while" books. I perused the wares of more than 300 authors looking for any modern WRFH covers to no avail.

Could it be that Gothic romance covers, as we know them, have changed? Could it be that Gothic romances will soon be no more?

I have not idea. And, quite frankly, I'm don't feel like guessing.

But, from what I did see, I suspect that at the moment the implied supernatural of the Gothic romance "niche" has been replaced by actual monsters. And I'm not talking about Vampires and Werewolves. That is SO old school. No, I'm talking about lots of Zombie romance books. Or, if not romance, at least smut-trash. COULD ANYTHING BE GREATER? Nothing that I could thing of.

So here are a few of the books I purchased:

After a very entertaining conversation with Mark Henry I purchased his Happy Hour of the Damned, Road Trip of the Living Dead and Battle of the Network Zombies. He promised his books were "now with extra zombie smut" so who could say no?

I also purchased My Zombie Valentine a collection of short stories by Katie MacAlister, Angie Fox, Marianne Mancusi and Lisa Cach.

And last, but certainly not least, after a rather, for lack of a better word, filthy conversation with Mario Acevedo I picked up his The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, Jailbait Zombie, The Undead Kama Sutra and Werewolf Smackdown: A Novel.

Will I read these? Absolutely! When? That I can't say.

The Spectral Bride

The Spectral Bride by Margaret Campbell
published by Signet Books
Copyright 1975

Terror or Romance,
Legend or Love?

Was lovely Adelaide Fenton a simple country girl, or was
she the pale shadow of another maiden who had met
violent death many years before? Was handsome James
Daintry, the last Earl of the Seagroves, a fanciful
young man, or the final victim of a legendary specter
which had taken its toll in madness and sorrow?
Was it the power of love which drew them together, or
were they caught in a darker pattern - cursed for a crime
they did not commit, reliving a tale they scarcely knew?

Adelaide's family warned her not to look beyond her
station. James's advisors tried to keep him from their
secret trysts. But fate beckoned them on, down a
pathway from which no once could turn them, on a journey
which must lead them to happiness or death ...

Okay, so is this cover supposed to lead us to believe that these "trysts" between Adelaide and James take place in a cemetery? And not just any normal run-of-the-mill cemetery either but a long forgotten, tall-grass, crumbling tombstone, condemned "where's the roof" abandoned church, kind of cemetery?

I mean, stealing a few hours with a forbidden lover could be great, but not if you spend those few hours checking each other's hair for ticks. I feel certain if they don't have ticks they are at least assaulted by chiggers.

I just don't think that shaw is going to give Adelaide the protection she needs in that environment but I'm not sure what would. Maybe one of those suits that people who keep bees have. Or at the very least she needs to be carrying a fly-swatter. Maybe it could be hanging elegantly from her wrist tied with a little satin ribbon.