Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Sapphic vampires but make it boring

Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

by 1 Comment

Eh. This was fine. I have never actually read Carmilla but know of its standing as a classic vampire story, so was intrigued by the description of this one as retelling/ reimagining. And maybe it’s unfair to expect anything super original from a retelling but that’s basically the feeling I left this one with – it was all very reminiscent of so many other novels I have read before, and not even in a particularly fun way. I will say that Dunn did a great […]

It’s hard to resist a book described as “The Dark Sapphic Romance that Inspired Dracula”

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

by 3 Comments

Originally serialized in the magazine The Dark Blue from 1871-72, Carmilla is the first vampire story. Not only did it serve as the inspiration for for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it was written by a woman. The novel is just over 150 pages long and is presented as a scientific account of events in the life of a young woman named Laura. The novel opens with an unknown intellectual explaining that he is including Laura’s case in volume 1 of a Dr. Hesselius’ collected papers. So […]

Ladies loving ladies and sucking blood in 1872.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

by 3 Comments

30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 11/30 This sure was something, I tell you what. Before I get to the actual review, I do want to say that I am specifically referring to the version edited by Carmen Maria Machado, with an introduction and footnotes by her. Both things fundamentally changed the experience of reading this. I am still boggled in the mind that this is a book about lesbian vampires and their young female victims being seduced, and it was written in […]

You will think me cruel, very selfish, but love is always selfish; the more ardent the more selfish.

Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu

by Leave a Comment

Ah yes, the original vampire lesbian destroying a young girl’s virtue myth made real here. Carmilla is the story of Laura, a young woman whose father takes in a young woman. She and the daughter become the best of friends and through her allure, their connection, and maybe some amount of glamoring, there’s a clear indication that the daughter has fallen in love with the young woman. Great! An early lesbian romance novel. Oh yeah, Carmilla is definitely a vampire and is slowly preying upon […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo