NATASYA > Recent Status Updates

Yes, I will be listening to my playlist for Annatje Zoutbloed and Lucretia Jans all day long — why do you ask?

TL;DR: Reading this is definitely helping with the tale I then want to tell: part historical fantasy in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean, part semi-retelling of The Little Mermaid, and part cursed landscape that falls into Ravenloft’s Island of Terror territory.

Trying the free Kindle sample. 💅🏻

Barovia and Borca are very much my type™ of Gothic horror, with story hooks that specifically interest me, and now I want a world where they exist together. Which, once again, makes me want to put my middle finger up to the rules police and homebrew something instead.

“You think I fear you, but I do not fear you even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured, so will yours.” — Ireena Kolyana

Hear me out: what if I gave Natasya the Dark Gift of Gathered Whispers, and the spirits of the dead — specifically, those she lost to cruelty and tragedy — are how she navigates the world around her, in addition to her blindsight?

I still don’t understand the mathematical side of D&D, but the artwork, epistolary style, and lore laid out in this Gothic horror field guide are absolutely glorious.

This is one of those very rare occasions that the film adaptation far surpasses the source material, IMO.

I’m so disappointed that neither the UK Blu-Ray or DVD have the deleted scenes.

Sometimes I wonder if the backstories of my Western OCs are too out there — too wild and far too tragic to be even remotely realistic. Then I remember Francine Rivers wrote Sarah/Angel, and I suddenly stop questioning myself.

One day, I’ll learn to stop letting Sweetie2566’s incredible book edits trick me into reading H.D. Carlton.

It’s like a bad B-movie in the form of a book. The story is hella schlocky, but you expect that from Stine. I don’t know what else to say, other than it’s a simplistic, easy read that’s somewhat quenching my thirst for beach vampires while I daydream about Rip and Grim, AKA Román Tide and Dawn Grimshaw, from Sangre Sol.

Having the vamps possess the ability to transform into sharks is a jawesome twist on the mythos for a story about Night Surf Nation, AKA beach vampires, but so far the writing feels painfully juvenile.

STREAM VAMPIRE BEACH ON SPOTIFY.

After spending all day thinking about Vampire Beach, The Lost Boys, Vincent Væin, Sangre Sol, and Vampire Surf Cult, sinking my teeth into this seemed like a good idea.

My taste in men is clearly cursed because every time I think about Christian Coulson as Tom Marvolo Riddle, my sense of morality slithers away.

The absolute absurdity that Little Miss Lives and Breathes the Austro-Hungarian Empire would leave her ancestral homeland in Styria for Sheffield, of all places. I have to laugh.

Since Kat Dunn seems to have skimmed rather than studied Carmilla, a few clarifications:

1. Carmilla does not have chestnut hair, it’s a very dark brown, with something of gold in it.

2. Carmilla does not turn into a white cat, she turns into a giant black one.

3. Carmilla’s skin is not ashen, it’s rich and brilliant.

4. Carmilla’s eyes are not blue, they’re large, dark, and lustrous.

The writers behind Legacy of Blood: Great Families of the Core had to make Talena von Zarovich #TeamStrahd because they knew she and her other distant cousin (once or twice removed), Lyssa von Zarovich, would be too powerful and too iconic a duo.

Classic Gothic literature is God tier. There is truly nothing else like it.

A man of God and a secret vampire lover? Welcome back Baron Vordenburg.

Making Lyssa the FMC for a Worst Choices playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 was such a delightfully terrible decision. I love (1) Barovian aristobrat with an Evil Queen complex.