by Lori Selke
Jason Christopher Hosler: “A Different Approach”
[email protected]
I was trying to find a way to approach the concept of the succubus from a non-religious point of view, so that (with a background of Dr. Who and Star Trek) led me down a surprisingly different path. The review and comments provided by the members of the writer’s group I vetted it by helped me maintain tone during the focus change towards the end, and I hope I did the same for theirs. On the whole this story was fairly easy to write as I had a clear idea of both the beginning and ending of it., and a fun experience.
Talitha Kalago: “Blood for Bone”
[email protected]
http://www.traditionalevolution.com/
I have no love for traditional monsters: demons, vampires, shape-shifters, etc. I much prefer the new, weird and original, so when I do write traditional monsters, I like to look back at their roots and the original myth stories. Did you know, back in the Middles Ages in Oxfordshire they believed fossilised allosaurus (a smaller cousin of the t-rex) footprints belonged to demons who had broken loose from hell and were wandering the earth? Don’t think I didn’t try and find a way to make a story about demon allosaurus lovers, because I did…
Instead, I settled on the trading myth that is common almost across the globe, where demons in many guises come to trade mortals their heart’s desire for something precious, something they may not value at first. Or, in the case of my story, something they may not really need at all.
C.H. Keyes: “Succubus Chances”
[email protected]
http://www.chkeyes.com
“Succubus Chances” came to me in a flash and I wrote it that way. It was a spur of the moment, no time to think, just get it on paper story. I knew that I wanted a sense of innocence in my main character, as well as some bit of romance. That first love is such a special time when it’s right. I wanted to capture some of those feelings. And I also wanted her conflicted in that she knows she can capture the one she crushes on with her new powers, but she is reluctant to do so. Instead, she needs to rely on her inner power of love to charm him, hold him and keep him.
But she is a succubus and that power is not one to be toyed with. When she finally figures a way to be with her love that won’t contradict with her inner beliefs of love and monogamy, I wanted her to be reminded that it won’t be easy. Life seldom is.
I did want a happy ending. Something other than satisfying sex. Even a succubus must get tired of simply having shallow sexual encounters for years. I wanted you, the reader, to want her to have more than that, too. Who knows if they can make it work long term? That is their problem now. I simply gave them a chance to find each other and fall in love. Like I did.
A Succubus Chance.
DeAnna Knippling: “Mother Vinegar”
www.DeAnnaKnippling.com
So there I am, wondering, “What makes a succubus?” There has to be some kind of spirit that’s on your back constantly, the sense of being addicted and dependent on something maybe you shouldn’t be. I tried to put that into as weird a setting as I could come up with: space! What’s something that you generally see in space-based SF that’s with you all the time, kind of bodiless? An AI! As soon as I got that far, the name “Bright Pickles” popped into my head as the ship name. I tried to give the associated AI a more feminine name, but she just wasn’t having it, maybe because I’d been reading about preserving food—pickles, jams, making your own vinegar—so I went with it, which led to the idea of a parent-AI, something like a sourdough mother…one of those stories that makes perfect sense, in retrospect.
This was really easy and fun to write.
Maitha Moon: “We’ll Always Have 9 A.M,”
[email protected]
http://www.maithamoon.com
Creating this story was a rewarding challenge for me. It took writing three different stories before I was finally captured by the story published here. All three represent my own passage of growth and determination, similar to the characters that inhabit them. I found that the mental process, the build-up of ideas that led to the third, was a necessary evil in my journey as a writer. I’ve been given a wonderful Muse that gifts me stories, but this time She remained silent. “We’ll Always Have 9AM” was a hand-wringing, head-shaking, tortuous writing adventure every step of the way as a result, and I’ve learned so much from it. Demons indeed. Based on this experience, I’d say that sometimes they’re a helpful sort, regardless of their original intentions.
I was intrigued by the concept of a succubus as a savior. Being a demon, they are naturally resistant to being used in any but evil ways, so my challenge was to find an acceptable method for this process.
Love at first sight was the perfect solution. A couple so different and yet similar—falling in love was not in the Plan. They exemplify the messy and happily contentious nature of love that most people have come to expect in their lives and give hope (or dread) that love is possible for anyone.
Jennifer Pelland: “In the Manner of His Choosing”
[email protected]
http://jenniferpelland.com
At the end of 2010, I decided to attempt to come out of a year-long writing slump—a plan which was derailed by my father’s cancer diagnosis. Four months later, he was dead. For several months after his death, I focused on dancing rather than writing because I needed to bring joy back into my life, and dancing was the fastest way to do that. I needed the endorphins, the physical discipline, and even the pretty costumes to take my mind off of my grief. Then I got the invitations for this anthology and for Dark Faith 2, and decided it was time to stop neglecting this facet of my creativity. Both stories ended up being about fathers dying of cancer, and this one is the more positive of the two, if you can believe it. I sincerely hope that these end up being the only two cancer stories that I ever write.
Lawrence Scott: “Recovery”
[email protected]
Writing this story changed my life, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I’ve always had a fascination with anti-heroes, possibly because, after wrestling with writer’s block, I’ve come to understand that fascination as an addiction of a sort; so, for me, redemption on some level is the theme of my life. Perhaps it’s mentoring others and seeing their lives transform. Perhaps it is the understanding that the key to my recovery is accepting that the power of creativity lies in a Higher Power that grants me moments of clarity and asks me to merely craft what I saw into a story. But this is life, so the answer is “all of the above”.
I have several stories in various stages of creation that are about different kinds of anti-heroes. So when Teramis contacted me to write one for her anthology, casting a Succubus as a potential anti-hero came naturally. Besides, the idea of a Succubus in a twelve step program made almost everyone laugh.
The humor disappeared with the writing of a back story scene. In my process, I often write the scenes that will be summarized later. That way, I can see how much detail is needed in the references to or the summaries of the material appearing in later scenes in the final text. However, this time, the scene was too powerful to ignore. I was a little afraid that another story was rising in place of the original one.
To top things off, I went on an odyssey for a new job that became kind of a spiritual journey for me. Ironically, all through that odyssey of hand washing plastic bowls in the sink in an Inn and surviving for weeks on a turkey frozen a month earlier (and later five bean soup Maitha made for me), I was reading Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. The reasons are too complicated to go into in such a short forum, but, somewhere, in the middle of all of that seeming insanity, I found greater clarity than I have ever known.
At that point, I saw the scene that would become the aptly named, “A Moment of Clarity,” along with several lead-in moments. The rest was putting those moments in the correct order and fulfilling the unspoken expectations each one created. I hope you enjoy it.
http://www.loriselke.com
For a long time the only part of the story I had was the joke: A succubus walks into a bar. Orders a Bloody Mary. Bartender says, “I didn’t know you were a lesbian.” Rim shot. It’s not even a very funny joke, much less a story, but I couldn’t get around it. Lily is a character that’s been in my head a long time but that’s all I had—a character and a bad joke.
I have two small daughters at home, so I end up watching certain movies over and over (and over and over and over…) again. Right now one of their favorites is “Finding Nemo.” One too many repetitions of the sharks’ would-be recovery meeting sparked the bulk of the rest of the story.
But when I tried writing it starting with the meeting at the library, it just didn’t work. There was no tension, just a bunch of girls chatting about Popes they’d seduced back in the day and that sort of thing. So I decided to work out some of my long-simmering annoyance with the serial killer genre in the first scene and it worked like a charm.
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Next in Our Demon Lovers Series
If you enjoyed this book, stay tuned for Volume 2 of our Demon Lovers series, Demon Lovers: Incubi. DLI is scheduled for release in Winter 2012. Sign up at our website for announcements and updates on another great collection of preternatural tales! http://www.demonlovers.info
GRATITUDE
Appreciation and many thanks go to my sister Chris Christian for critical input and support during this project.
Much gratitude to Gail Gilbert for pathfinding assistance along the way.
Muchas Gracias to Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Cecelia Tan for sharing their inordinate levels of Clue.
A big Thank You to Susan di Guardiola for helping this editor to connect with many talented authors she was previously unacquainted with.
A special Thank You is due to all the contributors to this volume who have been Forbearance Incarnate as we at Storybones have worked through some new-business issues to see this maiden publication to press.
And last but not least, gratitude goes out to you, dear Reader, for sharing this journey of the imagination and for supporting the work of the talented authors who made this book possible.
—Deborah Teramis Christian
May 2012
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Demon Lovers: Succubi
http://www.demonlovers.info
Table of Contents
FOREWORD—Deborah Teramis Christian
HOMECOMING—Nina Harper
LILY IN BLOOM—Lori Selke
BLOOD FOR BONE—Talitha Kalago
MOTHER VINEGAR—DeAnna Knippling
IN THE MANNER OF HIS CHOOSING—Jennifer Pelland
WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE 9 A.M.—Maitha Moon
HUNGER PAINS—Diana Pharaoh Francis
RECOVERY—Lawrence Scott
A DIFFERENT APPROACH—Jason Christopher Hosler
SUCCUBUS CHANCES—C.H. Keyes
CALLING SYN—Lilly Cain
ONE DROP—Laura Antoniou
ELISE’S GIFT—Deborah Teramis Christian
AFTERWORDS
Authors: How the Sausage Was Made
An Offer For Our Readers
Next in Our Demon Lovers Series
Gratitude
