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Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms Hardcover – 1 Oct. 2004

by Suzy McKee Charnas (Author)
Hugo, Nebula, and Tiptree award?winning author Suzy McKee Charnas offers up her lush stories in this compelling retrospective story collection. In Stagestruck Vampires, the supernatural and the real intertwine seamlessly. A villainous maestro is redeemed by his lovely, apt pupil in ?Beauty and the Opera or The Phantom Beast." Inside the ?Unicorn Tapestry," a psychotherapist stalks a vampire. A dazzling performance of Tosca is marred by a shocking murder during ?A Musical Interlude."

This collection features original work by Charnas?the mystical novelette, ?Peregrines," and two original essays. Also included is a collaborative story on vampire themes, ?Advocates," written with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, author of the Saint-Germain Chronicles.

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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tachyon Publications
  4. Publication date
    1 Oct. 2004
  5. Dimensions
    14.99 x 3.2 x 22.2 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    189239121X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1892391216
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Product description

Review

Praise for Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms

"Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms exhibits the author at her wide-ranging best."
--Asimov's Science Fiction

"So, broad range of talent, nonfiction essays, engaging fiction that dates back 20 years and that was written recently along with a spot-on collaboration. What are you waiting for?"
--January Magazine

"Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms is a feat of storytelling showcasing an extremely talented writer undergoing a broad scope of undoubtedly personal experiences."
--Bella Online

About the Author

Suzy McKee Charnas's ground-breaking novel The Vampire Tapestry was a popular and critically acclaimed exploration of the vampire mythos. The Holdfast Chronicles, a quartet of books that has been hailed as a great work of feminist science fiction, garnered her several Tiptree Awards. She has also won the Hugo, Nebula, and Mythopoeic awards. Charnas adapted The Vampire Tapestry into a two-act play entitled Vampire Dreams. The play had runs in both San Francisco and New York, debuting as part of Springfest in San Francisco in 1990.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tachyon Publications
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 Oct. 2004
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 189239121X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1892391216
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 567 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.99 x 3.2 x 22.2 cm

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  • haru
    4.0 out of 5 stars オペラ座の怪人とクリスティーンのその後モノが面白い
    Reviewed in Japan on 19 March 2005
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    この中に収録されている「BEAUTY AND THE OPERA or THE PHANTOM BEAST」は、ルルー原作、ケン・ヒルや、かのALWなどによってミュージカル化されている「オペラ座の怪人」の続編です。筆者はもちろんルルーではありません。
    「オペラ座の怪人」を元にした小説は、スーザン・ケイの「ファントム」やフォーサイスの「マンハッタンの怪人」が著名ですが、これも秀逸。
    クリスティーンがファントムに５年間２人で（結婚）生活しようと提案し、オペラ座の地下で２人の生活が始まる・・というお話。
    といってもラブロマンスものではなくて、ちょっと怖くて、ちょっと切なくて、というお話。
    ルルーやスーザン・ケイのファントムが好きな人にお勧めです。
    英語もそれほど難解ではなく、読みやすいと思います。
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  • Ayesha
    4.0 out of 5 stars "Beauty and the Opera" - The Best of the Lot
    Reviewed in the United States on 1 February 2009
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Beauty and the Opéra (a.k.a. The Phantom Beast) is actually a short story amidst a conglomeration of other works published in a book entitled Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms. I read most of the other stories and stopped reading because, quite frankly, they're not my cup of tea. In my opinion, Beauty and the Opéra was the best of the lot. For those looking for a review of the entire anthology, you may want to stop here. This review is aimed at those "Phantom of the Opera" fans who are considering the book for this story alone.

    Written in the first person, it is many years after the incidents at the Paris Opera House had taken place and Christine recounts the true story of what had happened between her and the Phantom.

    During Christine's first performance of Faust, she suddenly felt a pair of powerful arms enfold her as she dropped through a trap door into the depths of the Opera House. From there, the Phantom carried her through his labyrinth, across the lake on a small boat, and into the confines of his lair.

    While there, he asks her to live with him in the city above as his wife. When she becomes evasive, he not only reveals his terrible deformity but he also confesses all that he has done to bring her to this end (i.e., Buquet's murder, the falling of the chandalier to name a few). He then tells her that her lover, the Vicomte's, life depends upon her answer this night. Thus saying, he opens a curtain to a window which reveals Raoul lashed to a chair in which he was vainly struggling to free himself.

    In Ms. Charnas' version, Christine, though very young, is not altogether naïve nor as pliable as the Phantom would have liked. She agrees to his terms, but with one condition. She will live with him for the duration of 5 years, after which time he must free her. As he considers her proposal, Raoul challenges the Phantom to a fight from the confines of his prison.

    Enraged, the Phantom accuses Christine of lying to him, that she was merely playing games in order to free her precious Vicomte. When she protests her innocence, the Phantom challenges her to prove it. As proof, she takes his hideous head into her hands and kisses him passionately.

    The Phantom then relents, telling her that he will release Raoul and that he will "submit my hatreds to your authority." But he informs her that she must marry him first, as he will not allow her reputation to be marred and so that there will be "no misunderstanding" as to his expectations of her as his wife.

    Christine agrees - but she refuses to live with him in the city above. They must make their home in the cellars of the opera house where he has lived for so many years.

    While the Phantom carries Raoul's prone body to freedom, Christine considers her promise. Believing that once freed Raoul will gather the citizenry to release her, she is certain that she will not be condemned to fulfill her side of the bargain with the Phantom.

    But over the ensuing days and weeks, Raoul doesn't return to rescue her, and she finally has to face the realization that for the next 5 years, she belongs to the Phantom amidst their strange agreement. While he is her master in music, she is his master of conscience.

    Outside of Susan Kay's Phantom, this is one of the few published phics that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. While Ms. Charnas' story doesn't delve much into the Phantom's past, it does give us an excellent view of his character. She provides an interesting and believable Phantom. Christine, though young, stands up to the man who would bend her to his will if given the chance. The story of this dubious couple dwelling in the recesses of the Phantom's labyrinth for the 5 years that Christine promised is compelling and endearing. To those of you who detest a whiny, immature, and frightened Christine, I'm sure you'll like Ms. Charnas' version much better. I love how she ends her story:

    "Awaiting my own exit, I live my days in this brash and cynical present as other people do. But I nourish my soul on the sweet pangs of looking back, more than forty years now, to the time when the Opéra Ghost and I lived together underground, in a candlelit world of passion and music.

    "I have thought of writing an opera about it, but time seems short and I know my limitations. Someone else will write it, someday. They will get the story wrong, of course; but perhaps, all the same, the music will be right."

    Given the proliferation of less than adequate self-published POTO fics out there, I would recommend this book (yes, just for this one story) to any POTO fan/collector who truly enjoys GOOD Phantom-based fiction.
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