Naked Reader Book Club Discussion: Daughters of Darkness, Edited by Pam Keesey and Girls Who Bite, Edited by Delilah Devlin (October 25, 8-10 PM EST)

Delilah,

I believe you said this was the first anthology you edited. Tell us a little bit about it.

I'm assuming you're a writer. How do you like editing? Was it difficult to pick the stories?

We at NRBC love hearing all about what goes on in the background of the books we read! less

I've written a ton of stories--shorts to novels. I came to writing short stories only in recent years, and mostly due to the Cleis editors' fun calls for submissions. I think I've been in two of Sacchi's so far--Lesbian Cowboys and Lesbian Cops. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to send a proposal of my own to Cleis. I was thrilled when they accepted the Girls Who Bite idea.

I do quite a lot of "editing"--through the online critique group I run, so it's not a huge difference in the work. However, chosing stories I thought would please an audience other than myself was HARD!!!!! I have peculiar tastes, sometimes, so I drafted a couple of friends and my daughter to read with me. I figured if they liked the stories I liked too, I'd be safe. less

Now to pay some intimate attention to the individual stories in Girls Who Bite:

What’s inside Girls Who Bite:??

Bloody Wicked?A witch becomes a slave to the vampire lover she conjures
Al Dente ?A jaded vampire in Rome savors a renewal of love
Dark Angel? After a fateful night in a Berlin cabaret, a woman undergoes a blood rite
Pet Door ?A shifter passes through the pet door of a dominatrix she seduces
Dark Guard ?A detective partners with a sultry vampire to stop a serial killer
La Caída ?A nagual rescues a fallen angel in the Sonoran desert
The Crystal Altar ?An ancient crystalline cavern becomes the setting for a most unusual birthday party
Beloved ?An Egyptian goddess exploring the remnants of her ancient world finds her immortal beloved
Bound Lust ?A human dominatrix frees a vampire submissive from loneliness
The Gift of Lillith? An immortal surrenders her legacy to give continued life to her lover
Madeline? Long lost vampire lovers rekindle their dark passion in London
Red Horizon? Sailing the seas, a modern day vampirate is seduced by her human captain
Impundulu? A vampire journeys to South Africa seeking her lover and creator
Night at the Wax Museum ?A museum security guard falls for a vampire trapped in wax museum exhibit less

Now to pay some intimate attention to the individual stories in Girls Who Bite:

What’s inside Girls Who Bite:??

Bloody Wicked?A witch becomes a slave to the vampire lover she conjures
Al Dente ?A jaded vampire in Rome savors a renewal of love
Dark Angel? After a fateful night in a Berlin cabaret, a woman undergoes a blood rite
Pet Door ?A shifter passes through the pet door of a dominatrix she seduces
Dark Guard ?A detective partners with a sultry vampire to stop a serial killer
La Caída ?A nagual rescues a fallen angel in the Sonoran desert
The Crystal Altar ?An ancient crystalline cavern becomes the setting for a most unusual birthday party
Beloved ?An Egyptian goddess exploring the remnants of her ancient world finds her immortal beloved
Bound Lust ?A human dominatrix frees a vampire submissive from loneliness
The Gift of Lillith? An immortal surrenders her legacy to give continued life to her lover
Madeline? Long lost vampire lovers rekindle their dark passion in London
Red Horizon? Sailing the seas, a modern day vampirate is seduced by her human captain
Impundulu? A vampire journeys to South Africa seeking her lover and creator
Night at the Wax Museum ?A museum security guard falls for a vampire trapped in wax museum exhibit less

Now to pay some intimate attention to the individual stories in Girls Who Bite:

What’s inside Girls Who Bite:??

Bloody Wicked?A witch becomes a slave to the vampire lover she conjures
Al Dente ?A jaded vampire in Rome savors a renewal of love
Dark Angel? After a fateful night in a Berlin cabaret, a woman undergoes a blood rite
Pet Door ?A shifter passes through the pet door of a dominatrix she seduces
Dark Guard ?A detective partners with a sultry vampire to stop a serial killer
La Caída ?A nagual rescues a fallen angel in the Sonoran desert
The Crystal Altar ?An ancient crystalline cavern becomes the setting for a most unusual birthday party
Beloved ?An Egyptian goddess exploring the remnants of her ancient world finds her immortal beloved
Bound Lust ?A human dominatrix frees a vampire submissive from loneliness
The Gift of Lillith? An immortal surrenders her legacy to give continued life to her lover
Madeline? Long lost vampire lovers rekindle their dark passion in London
Red Horizon? Sailing the seas, a modern day vampirate is seduced by her human captain
Impundulu? A vampire journeys to South Africa seeking her lover and creator
Night at the Wax Museum ?A museum security guard falls for a vampire trapped in wax museum exhibit less

I've written a ton of stories--shorts to novels. I came to writing short stories only in recent years, and mostly due to the Cleis editors' fun calls for submissions. I think I've been in two of Sacchi's so far--Lesbian Cowboys and Lesbian Cops. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to send a proposal of my own to Cleis. I was thrilled when they accepted the Girls Who Bite idea.

I do quite a lot of "editing"--through the online critique group I run, so it's not a huge difference in the work. However, chosing stories I thought would please an audience other than myself was HARD!!!!! I have peculiar tastes, sometimes, so I drafted a couple of friends and my daughter to read with me. I figured if they liked the stories I liked too, I'd be safe. less

The descriptions are Delilah's work, not mine. And here's what she writes about her own story:

About my story:?My story in Girls Who Bite, is about an ex-soldier, fresh from the Gulf. She’s still recovering from her physical and mental wounds and trying to get herself back in shape so that she can return to police work. In the meantime, she’s taken a job working security at a wax museum. Her fascination with one particular wax work, a vampire on the verge of being slain, takes a twist with the object of her fascination comes to life. That’s the gist of the story. I wrote mine after I’d read all the submissions and selected the stories I wanted. And even though I’ve written a ton of stories, I’ll admit I was intimidated. Their stories were all that good! So, I made myself look at what was there and figure out what wasn’t. I went for something lighter, laced it with humor and a bit of irony. Modern vampire lore is anchored in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so I pulled a character right out of his story, gave her a new life beyond his pages, and hinted at a continued rivalry with a Van Helsing. less

The descriptions are Delilah's work, not mine. And here's what she writes about her own story:

About my story:?My story in Girls Who Bite, is about an ex-soldier, fresh from the Gulf. She’s still recovering from her physical and mental wounds and trying to get herself back in shape so that she can return to police work. In the meantime, she’s taken a job working security at a wax museum. Her fascination with one particular wax work, a vampire on the verge of being slain, takes a twist with the object of her fascination comes to life. That’s the gist of the story. I wrote mine after I’d read all the submissions and selected the stories I wanted. And even though I’ve written a ton of stories, I’ll admit I was intimidated. Their stories were all that good! So, I made myself look at what was there and figure out what wasn’t. I went for something lighter, laced it with humor and a bit of irony. Modern vampire lore is anchored in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so I pulled a character right out of his story, gave her a new life beyond his pages, and hinted at a continued rivalry with a Van Helsing. less

She-Shifter? I like that a lot better than the previous potential title.

I won't go into detail about what kinds of things Delilah writes--look her up, you'll be astounded!--but she contributed knock-out stories to my Lesbian Cowboys, Lesbian Lust, and Lesbian Cops anthologies. less