Author stakes claim in new vampire anthology

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2010 (5599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Move over Edward and Bella, and put a stake in it Lestat — Charleswood resident Ron Hore is the newest fang in vampire fiction.

The father of five and grandfather of six recently had one of his short stories published in a new Canadian vampire anthology entitled Evolve: Vampire Stories of the Undead.

His story, Chrysalis, chronicles the tribulations of a teenage girl who has one parent that is human and one that is a vampire.

Hore says his inspiration did not come from a deep, dark place but rather the radio.

 “I was listening to CBC talking about Darwin and that led to me thinking what would happen if a vampire and a human had a child?”

says Hore, 75, adding it wasn’t difficult writing about the life of a teenage girl.

“I’ve got three daughters and four granddaughters so I’ve got a bit of an idea, as well as any male can, figuring out how a teenage girl works.”

Hore will be signing copies of Evolve at its Winnipeg launch on May 19 at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Grant Park Shopping Centre.

The author has been writing off and on his entire life, but it wasn’t until retiring a few years ago from the financial industry that he was able to devote more time to it.

In 2006 he won the top prize in the Canadian Authors National Convention for his short story, Midnight, and has been a member of various writing groups across the city.

Hore, who also writes science fiction and fantasy stories, says he isn’t too impressed with the recent slate of vampire stories invading pop culture, including the Twilight saga. His tastes run more along the lines of classic tales like Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

University of Manitoba film and literature sessional instructor David Annandale acknowledges that there has been a definite shift in vampire fiction over the years.

“The original version of the vampire was far more nasty, but as of the 19th century you’re starting to see the romantic version, that is still a threat,” says Annandale, who teaches courses on horror literature.

Annandale says part of the appeal of today’s vampire stories is that it is a metaphor for the sexual tension and teen angst that young people must deal with in today’s world.

“‘Make me a vampire, don’t me a vampire.’ You’re really talking about sex here even though you’re able to describe it very loosely as vampirism.”

Hore and his wife of 40 years, Barb, got the opportunity to travel to the World Horror Convention in Brighton, England this past winter where he read his story from the book. He says the convention was a great place to mingle with writers from around the world, not to mention publishers, and that the book received some rave reviews.

 Hore is currently volunteering as a genre book reviewer for an online magazine aimed at libraries and working on a number of short stories and full-length manuscripts.

The Winnipeg launch of Evolve: Vampire Stories of the Undead will take place on May 19 at the Grant Park McNally Robinson Booksellers at 7 p.m.

For more information, visit www.vampires-evolve.com.

trevor.suffield@canstarnews.com