I KNEW this was a Succubus story as soon as the too-good-to-be-true "real ghost" woman with the '40s silver screen goddess looks showed up! The name "Lorelei" only backed it up--the tragic, beautiful suicide who dove off a cliff into the Rhine, condemned for eternity to be a Siren, luring men to their deaths. This was a fun little piece, and I liked the sly "Ruins" references you worked in--the hike through the bushes (though there were no sentient, evil, cannibalistic, toxic vines served by a tribe of Mayans), the totally moronic twentysomethings, with their obsession about posting something online (and yes, those two dopey guys deserved to be dragged to hell, where I'm sure their dance card will be filled by all manner of diverse entities). Glad we got two "final girls" out of this one.
Good, relaxing, tongue-in-cheek break after the deep, dark themes explored in "Painted Stripes." Seriously, I love the whole Gothic horror thing, going back to Ann Radcliffe and Matthew "Monk" Lewis, and Poe and Hawthorne on this side of the pond. The creepy castles, abandoned churches, dungeons, damsels, corrupt clerics engaged in midnight devil worship, aristocrats doing all kinds of twisted, bloody deeds behind medieval stone walls--great atmosphere pieces all. Same applies to anything with an "ancient horror" theme, though that usually didn't appear until the age of cinema (and those were usually gothic stories tinkered with and finessed a bit to fit with Egyptian or Pre-Colombian themes of some sort). "The Ruins" was a dreadful literary foray into this realm, and, as I wrote in my review, was so terrible on all fronts that you wanted every one of the principals dead--the evil, sentient, cannibalistic vines were the true heroes of the whole thing--there weren't even any "Ruins" to speak of, despite the title, and the setting in a Yucatan jungle!
Good one, here, Simone! Perhaps we'll see the return of your Sensual, Satanic Succubi of Sinful Seduction making a return in the near future, perhaps teamed up with Lecherous Luciferian Incubi...
I was trying to veer away from the succubus and make Lorelei more of a siren but then sensual, satanic, Succubi of sinful seduction do seem to permeate my stories. I wrote a teaser for it which is set 25 years later and shows even more of the succubus elements. This is a friends link to read it free on Medium
Well, in the occult sense, there's no distinction between a succubus and a siren--they're both preternatural beings, demonic (evil through and through--or, in a Gnostic sense, completely indifferent, viewing humanity as irrelevant, amusing pets at best--like Lovecraft's "Old Ones") entities who just lead human beings to destruction because that's their job--some use riches and opulent treasures as bait, others castles, power, conquest, fame, and all of that, and others sex and all manner of sensual delights--whatever works, and whatever the corporeal "mark" is most susceptible to. The wind-up is the same--there's a set-up to lure someone in, then they spring the trap, and it's all over. I think it may have been Schopenhauer who called the post-orgasmic emptiness or let-down men feel as "the devil's laughter," because of the post-climax feeling of anticlimax, bewilderment, or being disappointed many experience ("All that trouble for that? Huh--seems like more trouble than it was worth really...almost a waste of time. Next time I'll just soak my balls in ice water and think of the Sermon on the Mount.").
The teaser tale was good...but was the "teaser" for this story alone, or for something more, I wonder? Are those two Rip van Winkle types really the same guys who fell for Lorelei twenty years ago, or simply "under new management," so to speak? Have they followed the "Goldilocks" paradigm and been given the offer to upgrade on the other side, and are now "back" to reel in their two ex-girlfriends? "The House 2. This time, it's personal."
I KNEW this was a Succubus story as soon as the too-good-to-be-true "real ghost" woman with the '40s silver screen goddess looks showed up! The name "Lorelei" only backed it up--the tragic, beautiful suicide who dove off a cliff into the Rhine, condemned for eternity to be a Siren, luring men to their deaths. This was a fun little piece, and I liked the sly "Ruins" references you worked in--the hike through the bushes (though there were no sentient, evil, cannibalistic, toxic vines served by a tribe of Mayans), the totally moronic twentysomethings, with their obsession about posting something online (and yes, those two dopey guys deserved to be dragged to hell, where I'm sure their dance card will be filled by all manner of diverse entities). Glad we got two "final girls" out of this one.
Good, relaxing, tongue-in-cheek break after the deep, dark themes explored in "Painted Stripes." Seriously, I love the whole Gothic horror thing, going back to Ann Radcliffe and Matthew "Monk" Lewis, and Poe and Hawthorne on this side of the pond. The creepy castles, abandoned churches, dungeons, damsels, corrupt clerics engaged in midnight devil worship, aristocrats doing all kinds of twisted, bloody deeds behind medieval stone walls--great atmosphere pieces all. Same applies to anything with an "ancient horror" theme, though that usually didn't appear until the age of cinema (and those were usually gothic stories tinkered with and finessed a bit to fit with Egyptian or Pre-Colombian themes of some sort). "The Ruins" was a dreadful literary foray into this realm, and, as I wrote in my review, was so terrible on all fronts that you wanted every one of the principals dead--the evil, sentient, cannibalistic vines were the true heroes of the whole thing--there weren't even any "Ruins" to speak of, despite the title, and the setting in a Yucatan jungle!
Good one, here, Simone! Perhaps we'll see the return of your Sensual, Satanic Succubi of Sinful Seduction making a return in the near future, perhaps teamed up with Lecherous Luciferian Incubi...
I was trying to veer away from the succubus and make Lorelei more of a siren but then sensual, satanic, Succubi of sinful seduction do seem to permeate my stories. I wrote a teaser for it which is set 25 years later and shows even more of the succubus elements. This is a friends link to read it free on Medium
https://medium.com/teaser-tales/theyre-back-a28ce28430f4?sk=7306ebde377453f12d79ea932c3d9fa7
Well, in the occult sense, there's no distinction between a succubus and a siren--they're both preternatural beings, demonic (evil through and through--or, in a Gnostic sense, completely indifferent, viewing humanity as irrelevant, amusing pets at best--like Lovecraft's "Old Ones") entities who just lead human beings to destruction because that's their job--some use riches and opulent treasures as bait, others castles, power, conquest, fame, and all of that, and others sex and all manner of sensual delights--whatever works, and whatever the corporeal "mark" is most susceptible to. The wind-up is the same--there's a set-up to lure someone in, then they spring the trap, and it's all over. I think it may have been Schopenhauer who called the post-orgasmic emptiness or let-down men feel as "the devil's laughter," because of the post-climax feeling of anticlimax, bewilderment, or being disappointed many experience ("All that trouble for that? Huh--seems like more trouble than it was worth really...almost a waste of time. Next time I'll just soak my balls in ice water and think of the Sermon on the Mount.").
The teaser tale was good...but was the "teaser" for this story alone, or for something more, I wonder? Are those two Rip van Winkle types really the same guys who fell for Lorelei twenty years ago, or simply "under new management," so to speak? Have they followed the "Goldilocks" paradigm and been given the offer to upgrade on the other side, and are now "back" to reel in their two ex-girlfriends? "The House 2. This time, it's personal."
A third story has been suggested and is brewing.
I knew it!