Laura's quiet, lonely life in a remote Austrian castle is abruptly changed when a beautiful guest arrives unexpectedly one night. Laura is shocked at the girl's familiar face, sure she's seen it in a vision years before. The guest insists she cannot divulge any details beyond her name -- Carmilla. The mystery of Carmilla's circumstances, however, are quickly overshadowed by her charms as a guest, and Laura, her father, and their servants fast come to love her.

Though not revealing anything else, Carmilla confesses she too recognizes Laura from a childhood dream, and the girls puzzle and bond over this shared mystery. With this foundation of familiarity, they grow closer as the weeks pass. While their relationship deepens, a strange disease spreads through the countryside, killing several peasants who complain of seeing a haunting spirit during the nights before their deaths. Laura seems to succumb to the same illness, experiencing increasingly concerning physical symptoms and dreams. But Laura seeks comfort in Carmilla, and romance blooms.

As Laura's condition worsens, an old family friend, General Speilsdorf, arrives. He tells of a houseguest who sickened his ward, ultimately leading to her death. Laura is uneasy about the similarities between her own symptoms and those described by the General, as well as the similarities of his houseguest, Millarca, and her own beloved Carmilla.

When the General and Carmilla meet, he attacks her at once, declaring she is the creature who attacked his ward -- "A vampire!" Carmilla barely escapes his hand with seeming superhuman speed, and then disappears. As Laura and her papa reel over the encounter and the General's claims, he assembles a hunting party and an elaborate plan to hunt down and murder Carmilla.

Sicker than ever, filled with anxiety, and unsure of what to believe, Laura sneaks out of the castle that night to find her beloved Carmilla. Once the girls meet up in the forest, and Carmilla finally reveals her history, Laura must choose who to believe and what to do.

---
CARMILLA REVAMPED is a modern, queer update to Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire classic Carmilla. After years of letting literary critics analyze her story, Laura is ready to tell the real version to our modern audience, albeit in her own Victorian voice.

With added plotlines and scenes from the beginning, CARMILLA REVAMPED also develops richer motivations and backstory for both Laura, who constantly longs for a loving female presence after losing her mother, and Carmilla, who was turned into a vampire by her "Mamma" and the beast Matska -- characters only briefly mentioned in Le Fanu's version, but fully fleshed out as antagonists in CARMILLA REVAMPED.

Le Fanu's Carmilla is a touchstone of gothic fiction; CARMILLA REVAMPED builds upon that foundation by elaborating on Carmilla's supernatural transformation into a vampire and exploring Laura's romantic coming-of-age.

While author Alex Kaine significantly rewrote, expanded, and tonally revised Le Fanu's text to support the new ending and narrative frame, they sought to preserve as many of his words as possible in the process. All additions are composed in Le Fanu's style and integrated seamlessly into the 1872 text.

Originally published on carmillarevamped.com, you can now read the text offline via Kindle!

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• Literature & Fiction

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• Print Length: 125 Pages
• File Size: 540 KB