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Amanda M. Blake

~ Of fairy tales and tentacles

Amanda M. Blake

Tag Archives: vampire

Halloween Playlist: Vampires

10 Friday Oct 2025

Posted by amandamblake in Music

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Tags

halloween playlist, Music, vampire

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

I’m posting selections from my personal Halloween playlist on BlueSky right now, with a new theme daily. I thought I’d share each themed post here this month. I feel like I’ve done this before, but I can’t find the post and it was so long ago.

These are far from comprehensive, and there are still albums, songs, and soundtracks that I would like to purchase eventually. I didn’t include some artists that I still play on my list but have engaged in heinous bullshittery. I also didn’t include the Cranberries’ “Zombie.” I’m firmly on the side of it being a horror song, but people feel very strongly about it being on Halloween music lists, because it definitely isn’t a party song (like Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is definitely not a Christmas song).

There are all kinds of music genres here, from musical theater to rap, because I’m more interested in content than genre.

Yesterday, I posted the Vampire list and today I posted the Devil/Demon list, so I’ll do both today here.

Vampire:

  1. “Uninvited” – Alanis Morissette
  2. “Love Song for a Vampire” – Annie Lennox
  3. “Blood Like Lemonade” – Morcheeba
  4. “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” – Concrete Blonde
  5. “Transylvanian Concubine” – Rasputina
  6. “Masquerade Ball”/”Save Me” – Jorne Lande and Trond Holter (whole Swing of Death album, really)
  7. “Nosferatu” – Blue Oyster Cult
  8. “Love Bites (So Do I)” – Halestorm
  9. “Bleed” – Fractured
  10. “Master of the Living and the Dead”/”Dracula’s Soliloquy” – Possessed: The Dracula Musical
  11. “Possum Kingdom” – The Toadies
  12. “Damned and Divine” – Tarja
  13. “Vampire” – Xandria
  14. “Within My World” – Dracula concept album
  15. “Total Eclipse of the Heart” – Bonnie Tyler
  16. “Solar Midnite” – Lupe Fiasco
  17. “Bela Lugosi is Dead” – Bauhaus
  18. “Creatures” – Delain
  19. “Enter” – Within Temptation
  20. “First Blood” – LVCRFT
  21. “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” – My Chemical Romance
  22. “Vampire” – Bap Kennedy (added by a recommendation in the replies)

The endless poison: Friday Update

02 Friday May 2025

Posted by amandamblake in A Few Thoughts, Novelettes/Novellas, Poetry, Short Stories, Writing

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Tags

a coup of owls, bathroom horror, body horror, crystal lake shallow waters flash fiction, editing, exhibit, gig economy, glory to god, interview, meridian, merry writers podcast, novelette, ozarks, poem, the devil's bathtub, turning tail, vampire

Photo by Egor Kamelev on Pexels.com

News:

A Coup of Owls announced their 2025 line-up of novelette collections, and my raw, grimy, sexy story “Glory to God,” about a displaced goddess at a gloryhole, comes out in their Halloween 2025 collection featuring Othered horror romance. This is a story I conceived of over fifteen years ago but didn’t have the inspiration or guts to write until I was initially putting together my bathroom horror collection.

My body horror poem “Exhibit” is featured in this issue of Memento Mori’s free newsletter Morsus Vitae.

I did an interview roughly a year ago with the Merry Writers Podcast, and they posted it earlier in April, but I missed it. You can find it at a number of podcast places, but also here on YouTube. I talk a little about Question Not My Salt but mostly about my writing process and my love of the horror genre.

In addition, although “Turning Tail” didn’t win anything last month, my story “The Devil’s Bathtub” is a finalist in this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, featuring the theme Fools. It should post for $5/month tiers and above on May 12. This one is a story I’ve wanted to write for a while, loosely based on a place on my grandparent’s land in the Ozarks.

Works in Progress:

I’d hoped that gig working during the afternoons and early evenings and being too tired during the nights would lead to more focused work during my mornings and my Wednesday ‘weekend.’ This has not been the case. I’m sorry, but this administration (federal and state) is soul-sucking, and the anger and helplessness I feel all the time is not conducive to productivity. When logic, reason, and compassion don’t work as arguments, my brain gives a near constant 404 error. It’s not good for me.

I’ve managed to make a dent on the first round of edits on Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7), but not as big of a dent as I would have wanted. My plan to finish the first round before doing second-round edits on Masque, however, remains. But I have to remember that Texas Frightmare is this month, and that takes at least three days off my schedule for writing. I want the world to be a better place so I can do my work, damn it.

Concerned that tariffs will eventually lead to less gig work for me as it finally hits inventory or to skintier tips (which we’re heavily dependent on, so remember to tip your gig workers).

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin

Things I’m Listening To:

Old Favorite Playlist (basically everything I listened to in college)
Svrcina
It’s No Secret Anymore by Linda Eder
Jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection Soundtrack
Joanne by Lady Gaga
Josh Groban by Josh Groban
Kaleidoscope by Rachael Lampa
The Last Five Years Original Cast Recording

Things I’m Watching:

Mufasa: The Lion King
Talk to Me
Ghosts (US) series
Will Trent series
Watson series
Elsbeth series
NCIS series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Criminal Minds series
Slasher: Guilty Party series
The Equalizer series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Bondsman series

What year is it?: Friday Update

27 Friday Dec 2024

Posted by amandamblake in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Writing

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Tags

aurelia t. evans, christmas, editing, gothic, masque, nocturnal creatures, nosferatu, vampire

Photo by Nick Collins on Pexels.com

News:

No news this week, but I do want to remind you, post Winter Solstice, that if you want erotic horror romance with Nosferatu vibes following your viewing of Eggers’ gorgeous gothic masterpiece (saw it yesterday as a Christmas gift to myself, loved it, precisely my thing), I wrote wintery gothic trilogy Nocturnal Creatures under my other name. You can get the giant doorstop omnibus paperback or the omnibus ebook. The paperback is admittedly expensive due to its size, but the ebook is an eminently reasonable discount for the three novels, Longest Night, Beasts, and Grayling.

It’s vampire/werewolf high dark fantasy (with forced marriage, monster romance, and an enchanted gothic castle), Beauty and the Beast meets Dracula (I’m nothing if not consistent), and I’m really proud of it. So if you need something to warm these longest nights, Nocturnal Creatures may be right up your alley.

Works in Progress:

I’m still rewriting/editing Masque. It’s taking longer than I’d like because of the retyping, even though that’s the process. It feels like I’m going so fast, and then I really I’m only about a third through. However, one good thing is that I’m really not changing much where I don’t outright rewrite.

I’m heading into delayed holidays with family, my period’s on my doorstep, add into that the weirdness of the week between Christmas and New Year’s and the impending darkness of next year, and this liminal space seems extra liminal.

I’ll continue working on Masque to the end of the year and hope I cross the halfway point, and I’ll have my Resolute post out for you on New Year’s. It wasn’t the most financially successful of years, but notable things still happened, and I have to remember that. I think I’ll share another longer poem as well, my gift to you.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

Things I’m Listening To:

Christmas playlist

Things I’m Watching:

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Legion (it’s a Christmas movie)
Klaus
Holidate

Hot Frosty
Single All the Way
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Black Christmas
(1974)
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
The Santa Clause
It’s a Wonderful Life

Nosferatu (2024)
The Christmas Cookie Showdown series (finished)
Holiday Wars series (finished)
Elsbeth series
Ghosts (US) series
Longmire series
Columbo series
CSI: NY series
S.W.A.T. series

“Wives”

17 Wednesday May 2023

Posted by amandamblake in Music, Poetry

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Tags

dracula musical, dracula's wives, jonathan harker, lyrics, poem, seduction, vampire, vampire horror

Photo by Flora Westbrook on Pexels.com

Apparently, today was the day that Jonathan Harker was seduced by Dracula’s wives in his castle. To celebrate, here’s the song I wrote for the for-fun Dracula musical that I’m working on.

I.

I was not the first,
But I’m the eldest of wives.
We did not come on our own.
We were torn from our lives.

He’s a nobleman born.
Under chaos he thrives.
I was a peasant girl lost,
and under pale moon revives.

All I can remember
Are the palest of knives,
And under his firm palm
how a peasant girl thrives.

We are Dracula’s wives,
His three women scorned.
With him we have yearned.
With him we have mourned.

Soon you will see,
As all his wives do,
How he stirs in your blood
When you’re his wife, too.

II.

I he stole from my bed
As his empire fell.
He brought me to heaven,
and saved me from hell.

All the warriors he killed,
All the fires he’d quell.
While his enemies would bleed,
Our desires would swell.

I’m more from his world
Than my sisters could tell.
I know it pains him to see
His grand home now a shell.

We are Dracula’s wives,
His three women saved.
With him we have danced.
We him we have craved.

Soon you will see,
As all his wives do,
How he conquers a will
When you’re his wife, too.

III.

He left his home once north
To find me fairer-skinned
And encircled me close
In his frigid cold wind.

Though I prayed to the saints
Under him I have sinned.
Though I searched for the light,
Beneath him it has dimmed.

I begged him to stop,
But my lord simply grinned.
So my pleas have gone quiet,
My denials I rescind.

We are Dracula’s wives,
His three women kept.
With him we have dined.
With him we have slept.

Soon you will see,
As all his wives do,
How he shackles a heart
When you’re his wife, too.

Scarlet Eyes

23 Saturday Apr 2022

Posted by amandamblake in Music, Poetry, Writing

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Tags

dracula, lyrics, musical, songwriting, vampire

Photo by Flora Westbrook on Pexels.com

I made a casual resolution that I’d like to write a Dracula musical, just for my own enjoyment, because I like my collection of them. This lyric has been clattering around in my head for a while.

is this a dream?
or am I awake?
does the lord come
for my soul to take?

the twilight grows damp
my vision goes dim
the sunset downs dark
all I see is him

i try to awaken
but the whispers insist

the scarlet eyes
the scarlet eyes
the scarlet eyes in the mist

cool on my skin
hot to the touch
have i ever known love
to desire this much?

lights in the shadow
salt on my tongue
sin in my heart
yearning unsung

i try to remember
why i should resist

the scarlet eyes
the scarlet eyes
the scarlet eyes in the mist

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