Now I was lucky enough to be an advanced reader for this book, both in its early stages at Seton Hill and prior to its publication date this year, and let me tell you that seeing this book hit the shelves was a truly beautiful thing. You see, Invisible Chains is so much more than a book that will just scare you...even though yes, it will 100% scare you. But this book will also make you think, think about life, think about death, think about the relationships we build, how we treat one another (and why). It's both timely and necessary, and I hope you'll pick up a copy and read it soon.
In the meantime however, below is an interview about the book. Here we talk magic, history, blood, and monsters, so I encourage you all to sit down with a glass of AB + and meditate on what vampires have come to represent in contemporary society, and how horror is both a reflection on past and current states of the world.
With blood blisters and bite marks,
Stephanie M. Wytovich
SMW: First and foremost,
congratulations on your debut novel! It seems like it was just yesterday we
were hanging out at SHU in the WPF program, so being able to hold this book in
my hands is a wonderful feeling. To start us off, tell us a bit about your
novel. What does it represent at its most literal and figurative heights to
you?
MRL: Thank you, Stephanie. I can remember one of the first
critique sessions I had in the MFA program for this novel. You sat almost
directly across the room from me. I was a little intimidated, because it was
the first time anyone had read an early draft of the novel and we didn’t really
know each other at that point. As soon as I heard your feedback on the scene I
had submitted, a scene that got cut from the final draft, I hoped we’d have
lots more to talk about. And, shortly after that, we hung out in New Orleans
together, talked about the horrors of being single, the pros and cons of
falling in love with vampires (werewolves, and demons), and we’ve been friends
ever since.
What does this novel represent to me? That’s a great a
question. I think it took me a long time to really figure that out, because
each time I sat down to write a scene I realized that although I was writing
about the nineteenth century, the injustices and violence my protagonist
experiences at the hands of slave owners and the vampire, are really a
reflection of some of the issues women of color are facing in the twenty-first
century. So, while women of color aren’t experiencing physical slavery (yet) by
the accepted definition, our minds are often preoccupied with the additional
tasks of being on guard to recognize minefields of racism and sexism in the
smallest gestures and microaggressions. These extra tasks keep us busy
throughout the day and often prevent us from accomplishing all the goals we set
for ourselves – educations, higher paying jobs, the freedom to rest and enjoy
the fruits of our labor. So, I suppose this book literally represents a goal I
fought hard to accomplish. It is a product of my creative mind that allowed me
to explore some of the more difficult aspects of my own life and the lives of
other women of color – past, present, and future.
SMW: What was your favorite scene to
work on in the book, and then to play devil’s advocate, which one gave you the
hardest time and/or was the most difficult emotionally to spend time with?
MRL: Some of my favorite scenes to write were the scenes in
which the vampire is not only seducing the protagonist, but when he realizes
that he’s being seduced in return. I love villains, and vampires are some of my
favorite monsters, so constructing dialog and interactions between Carlos and
Jacqueline provided me with challenges I looked forward to tackling. The more
his true face is revealed, the stronger she becomes. Since I loved writing
about their relationship, as unhealthy as it is, the scene I struggled with the
most was when Jacqueline must confront the vampire and make a choice between
her life and his. Full disclosure, it took me roughly three months to write
that scene, and a poem written by my writing mentor, Lucy A. Snyder convincing
me to kill the vampire.
SMW: Our friendship started at SHU,
but blossomed in New Orleans, and I know that city means a lot to both of us
for similar and different reasons. As it’s one of the primary settings in your
book, can you tell us a little bit about your connection with the Crescent
City?
MRL: You know, although New Orleans isn’t my hometown, I
think of it as my adopted home. It has always treated me right and made me feel
welcome. The first time I visited the city, I was nineteen. I met a woman at a
college keg party, and after talking to her for over two hours about what we
were reading, our favorite books, and what was on our TBR piles, we realized
that a lot of the books we had been discussing were set in New Orleans,
including Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Tom Robbins’ Jitterbug
Perfume. So, we talked about going
there together. Like most conversations you have while drunk at a party, I
didn’t take it very seriously, but the following week she asked me when I
wanted to go. We drove down to Louisiana a few weeks later at the beginning of
Christmas break. I can still remember the way the air clung to my skin as we
pulled into the city. So, books, films and music tempted me to New Orleans for
as long as I can remember, but a flamboyant feminist hippie named Heather
convinced me to follow my dreams and visit the city.
I’m also fascinated by the history of the gens de couleur
libres, and the history of race relations in New Orleans. It was (and often
still is) very complicated during and after slavery, but very different than
other parts of the United States. Obviously, racism was still an issue, but the
class structure in New Orleans allowed for mixed-race people to occupy
professions and privileged statuses that simply were not available to other
people of color in the United States. Depending on how wealthy a landowner was,
the children conceived under the institution of plaçage, a recognized
extralegal system in French and Spanish slave colonies that permitted European
men to enter into civil unions with women of African, Native American and
mixed-race descent, would sometimes be sent to France to be educated. These
unions allowed the women, or placées, and their children to own property
and in some cases provided freedom if they were enslaved.
And, New Orleans has some of the darkest history in the
United States – pirates, voodoo, ghosts, and vampires – making it a beautifully
haunted city waiting to share its secrets with you.
SMW: Jacqueline is such a
fantastically strong, intelligent, and emotionally versatile character, and when
we’ve talked about vampires over the past couple of years, our discussion
usually moves toward the topic of how women in supernatural stories are drawn
to the monster, even though they know that eventually, their love is a death
wish (or bite, in this case). How did you navigate the path of violence against
women in this book, and what commentary do you think you left readers with in
regard to falling in love/lust with monsters?
MRL: I love a good vampire romance. The bloodier and more
erotic, the better. Let’s not kid ourselves, vampires are sexy. And, in modern
vampire romances, they have become the ideal partners even though they are
still extremely territorial and controlling when it comes to the bodies and
minds of their sexual partners. The threat of violence and the promise of death
are ever present, especially during sex.
Initially, I fully intended to write a novel in that vein
(pun intended), and I wanted Jacqueline to become a vampire. This novel began
its life as a short story and when I first wrote it, I believed that for her to
gain freedom and claim the power she deserved, she needed Carlos to rescue her
and make her like him. At the time I wrote the short story, more than fifteen
years ago, I was completely conscious of the connection between slavery and
vampirism, which is why I think I began writing it. I was younger. A different
person. Some of the challenges that were ahead of me weren’t even on my radar.
I honestly believe that Jacqueline developed as a stronger character because of
the challenges I overcame in my own life. My personal circumstances and
complicated romantic relationships made me realize that first and foremost, no
one was coming to rescue me, but secondly, I realized I didn’t need to be
rescued.
Monsters can be very attractive, especially if you don’t
view yourself as being “enough” for mainstream culture. If you look different,
think differently, and have the audacity to share your opinions as a woman of
color on subjects reserved for discussions between white males only (horror
films, classic literature, comic books, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, or
anything else cool, interesting and nerdy basically), people may recognize your
contributions, or they will politely (or not so politely) tell you to shut up.
Monsters occupy very interesting spaces within the margins
of texts. At least, they did for a very long time. Monsters represented the
racialized other, rampant female sexuality, something to fear, a cautionary
tale about succumbing to your darker desires. And now, they take boring
teenaged girls to prom and marry them.
This relatively new trend (or trope) in fiction made me stop
and think about the message(s) being sent to women (young and old) about what
is acceptable behavior in a romantic partner. When female characters had sex or
were fed upon by vampires in the past, the automatic assumption was that this
was an unwanted sexual experience, a violent act, rape. Then, when female
characters who lived on the fringes started having sex with vampires, it was
viewed as a kink that opened the floodgates to variety of alternative
lifestyles. But now, when the girl next door (even if she is the chose one),
decides to fall in love with a vampire or other dangerous monster, we have a
vey different kind of narrative. A narrative that tells women that being
stalked, hunted, possessed and consumed is the way to feel loved and desired,
is a very dangerous message in my opinion.
The fact that vampires are depicted as potential husbands
and boyfriends made me realize that I needed Carlos to be a true monster. He
needed to be a cautionary tale, not a prize to be won. Happily-ever-after with
a vampire usually means death for the object of desire. Last I checked, murder
isn’t sexy no matter how handsome your prom date happens to be.
SMW: Carlos Diego Velasquez. The man
we love to hate. Now I don’t know if it’s his character in general, the fact
that he’s a glutton for violence, or the fact that I met him in my early 30s
during the era of the Me Too Movement, but this bloodsucker really, really left a bad taste in my mouth (in
a good way, of course). He’s charming, attractive, wealthy, and a smooth
talker…but he’s also controlling, manipulative, and he attempts to bind
Jacqueline metaphorically and trap her in a different type of slavery. This, of
course, speaks to a lot of different notions: relationships, exchange of powers
between races and genders, and of course, what privilege allows us to do. Can
you speak to your vision with this character? In terms of a big picture, what
did you want his arc to do?
MRL: I’m glad that you disliked Carlos. Vampires, regardless
of what they have come to represent in popular paranormal romances, are
monsters. They are reanimated corpses with impressive bank accounts and
expensive wardrobes, and they feed on human blood to maintain their unnatural
existences. They stalk/hunt their prey and use them to satisfy their hungers,
sexual or otherwise. I didn’t want him to be Jacqueline’s savior. He isn’t
supposed to be the hero of anyone’s story but his own.
He most definitely loves violence, but he’s also good at
hiding the fact that he wants to ravage everyone with a pulse within a
five-mile radius. To be an excellent predator, you have to convince your prey
that it is safe to be near you. Convince them that there’s nowhere else they’d
rather be than by your side. And then, once you’ve lulled them into a state of
trust, they’re ready for you to take advantage of them. One of my favorite lines
in book is an observation Jacqueline makes about vampires.
“Vampires are terrifying creatures, driven by an insatiable
cannibalistic hunger and murderous urges. I was glad to have one at my side
when I left the safety of the Lynches’ house.”
I wanted Carlos and the other monsters in the novel to be
less horrific than the slave owners. As Tananarive Due states so succinctly in Horror
Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019), “Black history is black horror.” I
wanted to be perfectly clear that slavery and the people who benefitted from it
are the villains. I wanted to avoid the accepted trope of vampires being
romantic heroes. I wanted my vampire to be monstrous and I think I accomplished
that.
Jacqueline needed to rescue herself. For that to happen, she
can accept help from the monsters, but none of them are allowed to save her.
Carlos Diego Velasquez isn’t a romantic hero that promises a
happily-ever-after. He’s the first man you fall in love with who ends up
betraying you by sleeping with your best friend. Except his idea of an apology
is to try to rape and murder you, because you don’t love him enough to overlook
his shortcomings.
SMW: In regard to genre, this book
can be found in a bunch of homes: horror, dark fantasy, supernatural romance, a
slave narrative, historical horror etc. What is the benefit of writing a book
that speaks on so many levels? And what kind of research did you have to do to
write it?
MRL: I suppose cross-genre fiction appeals to a wider
audience of readers. Some people were hesitant to read the book because they
assumed it was straight horror. In their minds, they have a very limited view
of the horror genre and can’t get past the idea of being scared or freaking out
about gore or violence or whatever puts them off about horror. So, when I
explained that the horror in the novel really comes from historical accounts of
slavery and the narcissism of the vampire, that seemed to put them at ease.
People who NEVER read anything horror related keep contacting me to tell me how
much they’re enjoying the book.
I did a lot of research for this novel in order to make sure
my representation of slavery was authentic in all its horror. Some of the
scenes of violence come directly from first-hand accounts of slaves. There are
a lot of images of lynching out there if you want to give yourself nightmares,
and plenty of print media from the time depicting the historical representation
of blacks that made them seem inhuman. Some of the torture devices used to
punish slaves were similar to ones used on witches, and I couldn’t help seeing
a connection between the abuse and genocide experienced by these two very
different groups of people.
Yes, there’s a lot of horror in this novel, but it is the
horror of a history we should be ashamed of and never stop telling. Many of the
terrible things that happen to Jacqueline and the over slaves in the novel
happened to real people living in the antebellum South.
One of my reviewers mentioned that the scenes of
supernatural horror felt like a respite after reading about the horrors of
slavery. That statement alone made me realize I had accomplished my goal.
SMW: There are themes of dream work,
folk magic, and masks woven throughout the text, and your descriptions of
herbs, flowers, food, and drink are palpable, not to mention beautiful moments
of imagery. What is your own relationship with magic, and how did it influence
your writing?
MRL: Your questions are really making me think, and I
appreciate that. But this question is really making me think about magic in
terms of my own origin story. I mean, I don’t there’s a wrong answer, but I
want to speak about magic in a way that doesn’t disrespect other people’s
beliefs. And, that was something I thought about A LOT while writing the book.
Like a lot of kids, I was encouraged to believe in magic –
Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy – and for as long as I can
remember, folk tales and fairy tales were part of the background noise in my
household. My grandmother, Dora, read a lot and her favorite stories were ghost
stories, but she read a lot of horror and collected Stephen King’s novels. She
enjoyed telling stories as much as she liked reading them and she delighted in
being able to scare the shit out of you.
I don’t know a lot about my family history, but my
understanding is that part of my family comes from the Black Forest region in
Germany where apparently a lot of fairy tales originated. I loved fairy tales
as a kid and remember the Disney versions being very different from the ones I
was told. There weren’t a lot of happy endings in the versions I knew from
childhood. My curiosity about the differences in the way stories were told led
me to do some research and I wrote some of my academic work about fairy tales
in college. And, I read as many fairytales as I could get my hands on. I’m
particularly fond of Russian folktales and the more X-rated versions of Little
Red Riding Hood.
For the most part, the people in my family believe in the
supernatural and many of us have had encounters with ghosts. The ghost of the
man who used to live in my grandparents’ house is part of our story as a
family. Their house was haunted, and people outside of our family have
witnessed the hauntings in that house. My mom told me a story about an aunt of
hers who healed a burn on her hand just by touching it and saying a few words.
My mom swears the burn just disappeared. The women in my family are smart,
creative, skilled and strong. I’m certain some of us would have been burned at
the stake as witches back in the day, because we all have some very strong
opinions and don’t mind sharing them.
When I was a kid and first saw representations of voodoo and
other magic systems that came from African traditions, I saw them as a form of
empowerment rather than something to fear. Magic has just always been part of
my life in one way or another, and it was presented to me as something normal.
Did anyone in my family practice magic when I was growing
up? Probably not. At least, not in my mother’s family. I never met my
biological father, but apparently his mother practiced voodoo and was the
person people asked for magical advice in her community. My mom said that my
biological father was really into tarot cards, talismans, and “all kinds of
weird shit.” So, when I started reading tarot cards, playing with a Ouija
board, and put black curtains over my windows in high school, she wondered if
those interests came from him.
I don’t know. Do you gain an interest and understanding of
magic through nature or nurture? I’m still fascinated by magic and how people
continue to incorporate it into their everyday lives. Ritual is important.
Tradition is important. I think stories about magic connect us to the past and
help us gain a better understanding of our origins. All stories have a little
magic in them if you know where to look.
SMW: As a fellow movie buff who gets
most of her movie recommendations from you (side note: we need another Buffy marathon, soon!) what are some
vampire films that you think are underrated that people need to know about?
MRL: I’ll watch Buffy anytime you like. I would also
suggest checking out a vampire film a lot of people don’t know about, Ganja
& Hess (1973). This vampire film has an almost all black cast, with a
black screenwriter and director, Bill Gunn. Duane Jones, the actor who played
Ben in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, plays Dr. Hess Green who
becomes a vampire after being stabbed by an ancient dagger. I’ve only ever seen
the film once, because for a very long time it was impossible to find and then
you could only see a terribly butchered studio print that connected it with the
Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. In fact, I think the only existing print of
the original film was in a museum until Kino Lorber released it on DVD in the
late 1990s. It’s probably one of the most creative interpretations of the
vampire myth and it is a beautiful art film that vampire film buffs should see.
Like most vampire fiction, vampirism is a delivery system for groundbreaking
commentary on sex, religion, and African American identity. Check it out.
Also, if you haven’t seen The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998),
I highly recommend it. Jude Law is a vampire, but you don’t realize that’s what
he is until we get further into the narrative. It has a wonderful serial killer
vibe, and maybe you didn’t hear me, but JUDE LAW IS A VAMPIRE.
I have a lot of favorites when it comes to vampire films,
but one of my favorite recent vampire films is Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers
Left Alive. It’s smart and funny and has an amazing cast. And, it depicts
vampires in a way that made perfect sense – they would be boring. Tom
Hiddleston’s character is obsessed with vinyl and music, and Tilda Swinton
shows up with a suitcase full of books. They’re like middle-aged Goths or Punks
who never shut up about the things that interest them the most. I loved it.
And, who doesn’t want to watch Tom Hiddleston suck on a blood popsicle?
MRL: Honestly, I haven’t been reading much. I’ve been
listening to a lot of audiobooks, but I’ve been relistening to some of my
favorites and plowing through paranormal romance series, like Laurell K.
Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress
series, Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy.... Are you seeing a pattern here?
I’ve been consuming vampire fiction at an alarming rate, but I’m considering
this consumption research. I’ve been writing about vampires a lot more lately,
and I’m working on my own paranormal romance series. In order to write within a
particular genre, you should spend a lot of time getting to know and understand
it. So, at the moment, it’s all vampires all the time. I’m sure some people
think that’s all I read and write about, but that just isn’t true. I read and
write about werewolves, demons, and witches, too.
Author Bio:
Michelle R. Lane writes dark speculative fiction about women
of color who battle their inner demons while falling in love with monsters. Her
work includes elements of fantasy, horror, romance, and occasionally erotica.
In January 2015, Michelle graduated with an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from
Seton Hill University. Her short fiction appears in the anthologies Dark
Holidays, and Terror Politico: A Screaming World in Chaos. Her debut
novel, Invisible Chains, is available from Haverhill House Publishing and
Amazon. She lives in South Central Pennsylvania with her son.
- Link to my blog, Girl Meets Monster: https://michellerlane.com/
- Link to my Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Renee-Lane/e/B07Q7XSJR5?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000
No comments:
Post a Comment