Marie Carlson

My short story “Beneath the Changing Moon” will be published by Total E-bound as a part of their Voracious Vamps series this October. “Beneath the Changing Moon” is scheduled to be published 26 October 2009, which is very exciting. I love horror and Halloween and the way the entire month of October is now one long celebration. I love Halloween episodes of my favorite shows and horror movie marathons and the chill in the air and, especially, October’s full moon (4 October, per the Old Farmer’s Almanac).

I’m thrilled to be a part of the media celebration as an author this year.

“Beneath the Changing Moon” is a story about the love, desire, and bloodlust between vampires Amalia and Darren. In a world where vampires have almost died out, procreation is the responsibility of every fertile vampire. For Amalia Vallen, infertility is a curse not because she’s failing her society but because Darren Lin, the man she’s loved since they were children, is fertile. Amalia fears their society – and, worse, Darren’s family – will reject their bonding because she can bear no vampire children. To Darren, it doesn’t matter; all he wants is Amalia’s love. As Amalia struggles to overcome the biases she’s internalized, Darren seduces her romantically and sexually, and she knows eventually she will give in to what he truly wants – and what is absolutely forbidden: the most important vampire ritual, the exchange of their blood.

Here is the cover for “Beneath the Changing Moon”:

All the stories included in the Voracious Vamps line have the same cover. I like that they’re being published separately and that they have matching covers. It’s an interesting way to use technology to make a collection of stories without physically binding them together.

Of course I love the full moon and the way the city looms, old stone worn and moody, and the angle on the shot of the man. He’s not Darren, but I love the bit of menace to the pose and the darkness to the overall cover.