They Don’t Stand For That: Symbols, Vampires, and Faith

fright-night-1985-w-roddy-mcdowall-and-william-ragsdaleI have a guest post up at the Tesseracts 18 blog on the story seed for my vampire story “The Harsh Light of Morning” in Tesseracts 18: Wrestling With Gods — here’s a brief excerpt. The whole post can be seen here.

It’s funny how an idea can get stuck in your mind and stay there.

For me, the concept of what a symbol is wasn’t something I bothered thinking about until two separate times in my life. One, watching Fright Night in high school. Two, trying to understand what a theatre prof in university meant when he went on a tangent about the difference between a metaphor and a symbol.

But first: some backstory.

Vampires have always creeped me out. I do enjoy the fun recent incarnations (hello Angel, Blade, et. al.) but when you get right down to it, at their core they speak to a certain dread — usually, that people are prey.

But there is always hope — folklore gives us tools to strike back at the monster. The sign of the cross is one of them. A powerful symbol of Christ, and therefore, of good; it can drive back the vampire, an incarnation of evil if there ever was one.

Full post here.

2 comments on “They Don’t Stand For That: Symbols, Vampires, and Faith

  1. Great perspective. I enjoyed your story in Wrestling with Gods. All the stories took fresh and unique approaches to the subject matter, something I shared in my own review. http://physics-art.com/2015/04/13/book-review-of-wrestling-with-gods/

    • Thanks Robert! I think Jerome and Liana’s decision to concentrate on the “wrestling” aspect — characters who struggle with their faith, and why — is what makes for good stories. A character sure in their beliefs would only appeal to a read who shares the same views to the same extent. But I think the grappling with hard truths about the universe, and our place in it, is a pretty common experience, whatever one’s background or beliefs.

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