Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Not Enough Bite

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

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I wanted, probably even expected, to like this more than I did. I was so excited about a sapphic vampire story that predated Dracula but that isn’t really talked about—I certainly hadn’t heard of it until some time within the past year. The book is narrated by Laura, who lives with her father in an isolated castle. They take Carmilla in when she is injured in an accident just outside of their home, and the two young women become close. Meanwhile, other girls and women […]

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

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

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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 […]

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

Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu

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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 […]



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