Nosferatu, a 19th-Century Seeress, and a Giveaway!
Every Day is Halloween #96: The Official Newsletter of Lisa Morton
Hi All!
Congratulations - if you’re reading this, you survived 2024 (at least in some form).
I enter the new year full of both trepidation and hope. I’ll have two books soon circulating within publishing’s marketplace, so we cross our fingers and hope for good news. I could use it right now - I bought a new car in December that’s more than I wanted to spend but it was badly needed (my old car was a 2003 Toyota Corolla with nearly 200,000 miles on it and I lived in terror of every new rattle). The new vehicle is a hybrid, so at least I can also feel like I’m doing my part for the environment.
I hope the holidays treated you well and I am very grateful that you’re all here with me right now.
Lisa
NEW STUFF I LIKE
I’ve seen a lot of yay/nay back-and-forth on Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, but count me firmly in the yay crowd.
I loved it for many reasons, but chief among them is probably the adroit way Eggers managed to find a happy mesh between the old (the gorgeous Gothic aesthetic of every frame, the basic story of the 1922 silent classic) and the new (making that 1922 story feel timely by emphasizing the vampire’s arrogance and aristocracy as he thoughtlessly drains an entire region).
I also appreciated other 19th-century references that Eggers included in the screenplay, like European folklore regarding vampires and traditional German ghost stories; plus, I suspect (see “Strange Doings” below!) that Mr. Eggers may be familiar with one of the most famous psychics of the 19th-century, “the Seeress of Prevorst.”
Although I rarely see as many movies as my friends do, I think I can say that Nosferatu is my favorite film of 2024 (with Love Lies Bleeding a close second).
THE HALLOWEEN SPIRIT
Receiving Halloween-themed gifts for Christmas is fun enough, but getting them in Halloween-themed wrapping paper is even better! This gift came from my housemate Kevin, who certainly knew how much I’d appreciate just the paper (and black ribbon). He found it on Etsy.
We didn’t do our usual Chrisoween tree this year because we now live with two maniac kittens who would’ve taken it all down an hour after it was put up, so getting a few touches of Chrisoween in other ways was doubly appreciated!
STRANGE DOINGS
Let’s look back at a woman who was a superstar of the 19th century. Her name was Friederike Hauffe, but she was known around the world as “the Seeress of Prevorst,” thanks to a bestselling book about her. She was a German woman who died in 1829 at the age of just 28, but left behind a legend as one of history’s greatest mystics.
From childhood, Hauffe demonstrated extraordinary psychic gifts. She suffered from convulsions which would often lead to trance states, during which she claimed to be able to both see and communicate with spirits. A doctor who attended to her, Justinus Kerner, chronicled amazing things he saw her do in a book that he published just after her death, and that would later be translated into English by Catherine Crowe. Kerner said she could view phantom limbs on those who had undergone amputations, and that she could turn a simple iron rod into a telescope. Mystics at this time were often said to experience no pain, and Hauffe was also known for walking in her sleep. Although she wasn’t strictly speaking a healer, she was said to be “extremely sensible of all contagious and epidemic influences.”
She wasn’t happy about her ability to talk to spirits, who she said used her as a kind of conduit to interact with other human beings. Her fame brought hundreds to her bedside, and although Hauffe never turned them away she also suffered from their presence, occasionally confessing to Kerner, “They have power over my body, but not over my mind.” She was frail and in poor health for most of her life, and Kerner said, “She was more than half a spirit, and belonged to a world of spirits.”
So why am I thinking today about this remarkable woman who died almost two hundred years ago? Because if you’ve seen the new version of Nosferatu in theaters now, you might think she sounds an awful lot like the lead character Ellen, played by Lily-Rose Depp. Did writer/director Robert Eggers base Ellen’s character on the Seeress of Prevorst? I don’t know, but I’d be surprised if he wasn’t at least aware of her. People a century after Hauffe’s death were claiming to be her reincarnated, so maybe Ellen is the latest return of her spirit.
BEHIND THE SCREAMS
“The Ship on the Sea of Nightmares” (from Where the Silent Ones Watch)
When editor James Chambers invited me to contribute to this anthology themed around the works of writer William Hope Hodgson, I immediately took it as an opportunity to dig into Hodgson, a writer I wasn’t as familiar with as most of the other classic horror authors. I’d read (and greatly enjoyed) The House on the Borderland and a few short stories, but not much beyond that.
In the course of consuming a lot of Hodgson’s fiction, I segued into his fascinating life, discovering about how being bullied as a teenage sailor led to his becoming a body builder, and how he died (at just 40) on a World War I Belgian battlefield. I found him so interesting that I knew I wanted him to be a character in my story.
I was also fascinated by what I felt was queer subtext in some of his work. While we don’t know what his sexuality was in his real life (he was married without children), his work inspired me to make the other two characters in my story young gay men.
I also, of course, wanted to capture some of the extraordinary other-worldliness that Hodgson’s best work is known for.
It was a pleasure to compound all that into a single work of short fiction. It’s a fine anthology that I’m proud to be part of.
THE WRITE STUFF
Is it possible to do too much research?
If you read the section above, you know I did a significant amount of research for a single short story. It was obviously research that I loved doing, so I don’t see it as too much.
But…talk to any writer and you’ll probably hear tales of “falling down a rabbit hole.” It’s easy to do: you go rummaging for one fact and get lured into following a trail that’s far longer than you anticipated. Sometimes those extra hours yield more material that you, the writer, can put to good use; more often you just end up with crazy stuff in your head that you know you can’t put into your story. Maybe you’ll use it in something else; maybe it’ll just give your work a more authentic feel.
One trap that’s easy to fall into, though - especially for beginning writers - is to use ALL of that information whether the story requires it or not. These “info dumps” can go on for pages and can stop a story dead in its tracks. While there’s a terrible temptation to use every iota of research - after all, if you found it interesting, won’t your readers feel the same way? - try to be aware that your first and foremost goal as a fiction writer is to entertain, not inform. Does that detail about some obscure event from 1842 or that description of how the table was built really add to your story? Does it offer any emotional impact or create any atmosphere? Does it do anything at all besides look like you, the author, are trying to show off about how hard you worked and how darn smart you are?
Think about it. Use only what the reader needs. Kill your darlings.
NEWS & WORKS IN PROGRESS
The anthology Fumptruck: Open Letters, Essays, Fiction, Poetry, Artwork & Other Creations for & Inspired by the 47th President of the Divided States of America features a reprint of my story “The Fool on the Hill”
Very pleased to report that my story “God’s Wife” will be in the forthcoming anthology Silent Nightmares, edited by Chuck Palahniuk and Michael Bailey.
Also: In December I signed pages for an upcoming limited edition of a new, as yet unannounced anthology coming from PS Publishing; I worked on a non-fiction essay for a forthcoming book about mothers in horror movies (my chosen movie is the Adams Family’s magnificent Hellbender), and I wrote new essays for my paid subscribers here at Substack.
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
February 16 - I’ll be at Dark Delicacies signing my section in Videotapes from Hell by Stephen Jones
March 17 - I’ll be in Glendale signing at the Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Collectors Show
June 12-15 - I’ll be in Stamford, CT for StokerCon
THE WHOLE HAUNTED WORLD
My paid subscribers have recently gotten original articles on how Halloween yard displays have conquered Christmas, the haunted history behind A Christmas Carol, the saga of the Brazilian poltergeist, and reviews of Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose and the documentary Monster Inside. Coming up:
History’s first great seance: When Odysseus called up the spirits
More installments of The Skeptic’s Guide to Ghost Hunting
The history behind Edith Nesbit’s classic ghost story “Man-Size in Marble”
WHERE YOU CAN BUY MY BOOKS
GIVEAWAY
This month I’m riding on someone else’s giveaway coattails: my fabulous partner in all things Ricky Grove is giving away a bunch of free books to his subscribers! His newsletter is all about paperback books, it’s great, and you can get up to two free books from his giveaway list by just sending him four bucks for shipping. Check out his page, subscribe, and choose some free books!
Thanks as always for reading this far!
Also loved Nosferatu even though I was totally thrown by the mustache 😆