First published: 1991, this edition 2004
Contains spoilers
The Gilda Stories are not your common-or-garden vampire stories. The novel – made up of a series of vignettes based around the vampire Gilda, and set through the ages – is certainly not a horror nor is it paranormal romance, those being the most common variety of vampire story at present. Rather it is a piece of literature that explores personal growth by viewing a single character through an extended timeframe.
The main character begins with no name; a runaway slave in 1850's Louisiana she kills a man, who finds her and is about to rape her, before meeting a woman named Gilda and her companion Bird. Gilda runs a brothel, but treats her girls well and takes the girl in, giving her a home and work (helping with the housekeeping rather than the sex trade). Gilda and Bird are also vampires.
The vampires in this are affected by sunlight but this can be countermanded through native earth carried – or sewn into the clothing they wear. They must sleep with native soil. They are telepathic and can be split into two camps. Bird, Gilda – and subsequently the girl, when she is turned and inherits the name Gilda – feed in a symbiotic way. Though they take blood from a victim, they do not kill and leave something behind, psychically, as a gift. Sometimes it might be the courage to chase their dreams, with another perhaps it might be a desire not to go and gamble their money away. The morality of this isn’t questioned but could be seen to be dubious, of course, the deliberate altering of a person’s course in life is a removal of free will. However, in context of the story the vampires believe they are doing the victim a service.
There are also vampires who feed on pain and suffering as much as blood. Gilda, through the years, does encounter such vampires.
The book follows Gilda as she grows as a person/vampire. She is a lesbian character and the book touches on this, racial issues and feminism as the ages change. By the end of the book we have reached a point in the future (2050) where vampirism is publicly known and vampires are hunted so that the rich can harvest their blood for their own immortality. It is an interesting turnaround of the standard tropes.
This was a fascinating, well written set of prose that tackled the genre in an unusual way and offered a thoughtful and thought-provoking view of society. 8 out of 10.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
6 comments:
Hello, stranger! It's been too long. Hope you and yours are well. It was the cover of the book that caught my attention. Since you read and watch more vampire stuff than I do, you probably hunger for fresh and new stories, too. This intrigues me just that way.
Thanks for posting,
-Jimmy
Hi Jimmy, good to hear fro you, all are well at my end, hope that all are well at yours.
Your right, new takes on what are very familiar tropes are refreshing. I think you may well enjoy this volume.
A
Thanks for talking about my novel, The Gilda Stories. I've been celebrating its 20th year in print, doing readings around the country and am thrilled that folks still lover her and that new people are discovering her! You can visit my website to read excerpts of new stories and see where others have been published! The new Gilda novel is coming soon. jg
Jewelle thank you for the novel. I'll certainly be having an explore round your site. Please bob over here again and let us know when the new novel is available :)
Hi, just posted a link to your blog on The Gilda Stories Face Book page. And I'm writing as fast as I can :>
Many thanks Jewelle :)
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