Hi, friends,
As has been exceedingly clear for weeks now, I’m well into my annual celebration of all things scary and spooky and autumnal… but now that it’s officially October, I figure that it’s time to ramp things up?
So I’m going to read Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, which I’ve been meaning to read for a million years. And I’d love to have some company?
If you’re not familiar with it: It was originally published as a serial in 1871 and 1872—it predates Dracula by a good quarter-century—and the character Carmilla is generally credited with being the original lesbian vampire, inspiring a gazillion adaptations and movies like my beloved 1971 movie twins, The Velvet Vampire and Daughters of Darkness.
As it’s in the public domain, I’ll be reading the copy that’s available at Project Gutenberg. My plan is to post my thoughts here on Sunday mornings, and then I’ll start up a discussion thread for that section as well. Unless I have something scheduled that I’ve forgotten about—doubtful, but I’ll check on that!—I’ll be live on the discussion threads from noon until 1pm (EST) on Sundays and Mondays. Because the only thing more fun than reading about lady vampires is talking about lady vampires, so why not?
Scroll on down for the schedule!
Also: Oh, boy, I’ve got googly eyes over those movie posters. I might try to squeeze in a couple of film adaptations, too??? I found a few related lists on Letterboxd, so I’ve got my work cut out for me…
Carmilla schedule:
October 3: Prologue, and Chapters 1-4
Live discussion: Noon-1pm (EST) on Sunday & Monday
October 10: Chapters 5-8
Live discussion: Noon-1pm (EST) on Sunday & Monday
October 17: Chapters 9-12
Live discussion: Noon-1pm (EST) on Sunday & Monday
October 24: Chapters 13-16
Live discussion: Noon-1pm (EST) on Sunday & Monday
Talk to you soon, I hope?
Leila