Darker
Edge of Desire: Gothic Tales of Romance
Edited
by Mitzi Szereto
Madness.
Darkness. Death, and what might lie beyond. Gothic fiction takes us
to the edge of comfort, icing our wonder with a blast of cold terror
as we confront the unknown – including the unplumbed depths of our
own own hidden desires.
Mitzi
Szereto’s latest anthology marries the tropes of the Gothic genre
with graphic erotic content. The results are surprisingly varied,
transcending the clichés of windswept moors, haunted mansions and
buried crypts to provide some impressively original tales.
Possibly
the most startling is Benji Bright’s “Blood Soup”. An exacting
master chef concocts daily feasts for his reclusive noble employer,
whom he has never met. The extraordinary repast he concocts from
cow’s blood brings a summons, a moment of shared release and the
revelation of secrets. I loved the twisted logic in this tale, laced
with somber power.
Another
standout tale is “The Wildest Spirit”, by Sacchi Green. Two
beings on the edges of society, both scarred by their wild abilities,
find common cause and unexpected passion when they try to stop the
deliberate slaughter of coyotes. With its simple, concrete language,
this eloquent story has some of the flavor of a fairy tale, but it’s
not at all clear a happily-ever-after awaits the characters.
Ms.
Szereto’s own contribution, “The Dracula Club”, is a delight.
I
knew early on that my calling to the Old Country was not the result
of some youthful fancy, which was how my family, schoolmates and
teachers had always dismissed it. There’s not a huge amount of
interest in Transylvania where I’m from, nor is there a huge amount
of interest in Goth culture. Everyone thought I was crazy to be
working all hours answering phones in a grubby warehouse office in
the daytime (where no one had to look at me), then serving up greasy
fast food and watery ice cream at the Dairy Queen in the evening
(where I could be seen, but the country bumpkins and hot-rodding
juvies were usually too drunk on cheap beer to care).
But
I had a plan—and it was to save up enough money to fund my trip to
Romania and have a bit left over to keep me going until I figured out
how to earn a living. What did I care what the local yokels thought
of me or my goals? I’d always been an outcast with my dyed black
hair and my face and body piercings, my heavy black eye makeup and
weird black clothes. The only people back home who dressed in black
were the Amish—and they sure as hell weren’t Goth.
In
a grimy Transylvanian pub, the narrator meets two gorgeous Gypsy boys
– Dragos and Bela – and gives herself completely into their hands
– both literally and figuratively. Their smutty, uninhibited
three-way couplings are among the most erotic scenes in the book.
Meanwhile, bit by bit, the beautiful Gypsies lead the transplanted
Goth girl toward her dark destiny. She’s more than willing to
follow.
T.C.
Mills’ “The Wicked Wife” provides a fevered modern-day reading
of Bluebeard that definitely got my blood boiling. “Reynolds’s
Tale” by Adrian Ludens features Edgar Allen Poe as a character, and
is written in a style reminiscent of that master of horror. Rose de
Fer’s “Moonfall” gives us a Victorian werewolf, incarcerated in
an asylum for the insane by her evil husband and rescued by her
mortal lover. “Zapada Alba” by Tracey Lander-Garett is another
shape-shifting tale, told in lush, sensual prose. Gary Earl Ross’s
“Sister Bessie’s Boys” is a surprisingly sweet ghost story with
a strong sense of place.
I
would not, by the way, call this collection romance, at least not in
the modern sense – but I guess that’s necessary these days to
sell books. In perhaps half of the stories, requited desire leads to
the promise of a future as a couple. The others are, thankfully, far
more ambiguous.
Darker
Edge of Desire offer vampires,
were-creatures, demons and succubi – but don’t expect them to
follow the rules of popular fiction. Overall, Mitzi
Szereto
has
assembled
a strong and diverse collection that showcases the creativity
of her contributors.
