Before there was Dracula, there was Carmilla. How to live comfortably even if you're really lazy.

 Le Fanu missed a golden (or should I say "blood red") opportunity. He could have written at least four more Carmilla books if he'd only left her head on. I'd read Lilarcam, or Racallim, or Cimallar, or Aracmill. You see, Carmilla kept getting away with her dastardly deeds by appearing under new names at each castle, all anagrams of Mircalla. She was Carmilla and Millarca (which sounds like malarkey) so why not Cimallar? If Le Fanu won't come back from the dead to write sequels, I guess I will. Write sequels, not come back from the dead, although I won't eliminate that as an option.

Carmilla actually was kind of a relaxing read. Carmilla, herself, was the epitome of of lazy, though she's called "languid" because that's a more high-brow way of saying lazy. Nobody saw her doing anything but lying around and occasionally strolling at dawn. The story does leave an unanswered question. Who are those people who keep dumping Carmilla at different homes and never come back for her? "Here, keep my daughter whom you've never met and keep her for a few months. I'll be back for her. Heh, heh, heh.

If you want a quick read that is also a historic read (as the stepping stone to Stoker's Dracula) take a look at Carmilla, the Deluxe edition. I'm reading it a second time so I can learn how to live with rich people while they feed me (feed me, Yikes!) and I basically lay around all day and get waited on. If a 150-year-old woman can do that, I should be able to also. Meanwhile, I'll be writing the sequel to Carmilla...Aracmill.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for letting me read the upcoming Deluxe edition of Carmilla. I'd thank Le Fanu but he's dead...unless he keeps coming back like Carmilla.