Yes, yes, I know…you’ve missed me. Well, I’m sorry…I’ve been around, just…busy. Between freaking out over not being able to reach everyone after the hurricane…jobs, family stuff, reading, writing…oh my dears, the list could go on FOREVER. But no more worries, I’m back, and the fun can commence again!
Right…so now that I’m nearly an “Official” Canadian again, I’ve decided to really get into Canadian things. I’ve partaken of Canadian Cinema, working on some basic French, started to take phone numbers from hockey players…you know, the usual. ;}
Well, I’m bored and walking around my favorite bookstore—which is always a bad idea because I spend far too much for a few hours of entertainment—and I’m looking for something that really just blows me away. Yeah, nada…
Then I find out my bookstore has a Horror section…which is bumped right up to the left of the Erotica section, making browsing a bit tricky. I’m all…“Laurell K. Hamilton-Incubus Dreams… Steven King-Cujo…Anne Rice-Queen of the Damned…” then BAM! “Wet: More Aqua Erotica.” Yep, it’s as scary as it sounds…especially when there’s a grouping of old men standing to my right.
But I digress. I pick up a couple of Vampire fictions cause…well, anyone who knows me knows I can’t stop myself. Everything’s looking ‘eeh’ so I’m branching out and reading the backs of anything in the section…ghosts-blah, zombies-no thank you, cannibals-not while I’m eating…then, out of the corner of my eye, I catch the edge of a shiny, black novel with STOLEN written in scribbled, red script. The narrator is a female Werewolf—the back touts her as “the world’s only female werewolf”—and the brief description clams that you basically get all the funhouse horrors (Vamps, demons, witches, etc.) in one tight little package. It’s a book in a series, so I grab the others as well…hmm…witches…more witches…and a ghost witch...so not interested. I search for the other book in the series (and the first chronologically), BITTEN.
I figure, by the title and the fact that the author—Kelley Armstrong—seems to write about multiple paranormal creatures, that BITTEN is about Vampires. This, clearly, would be my first choice. Unfortunately for me, BITTEN is not on the shelf. I ask a clerk to check availability. She smiles at me, “We actually have three.” She goes to the back…and comes back frowning, “I don’t know, maybe the computer’s wrong? Or they could just be miss-shelved. You should look around.” I glance at her, turn my head to one side of the upstairs portion of the store, then the other side, than back to her. I asked, mostly free of snark, “Are you kidding?”
Yeah, she wasn’t pleased with that one. For a minute, I thought she might whack me with the keyboard. I escaped unscathed, but still bookless. I resumed wandering. I circle around into the language section and start pondering whether or not having learned to speak Spanish is going to completely impede my ability to learn French. At this point I’ve got nothing else, so I figure: maybe I should just grab the STOLEN book and get out of the damn store. After all, it’s getting later…and the sales chick keeps glaring at me while she punches “sale” stickers on a stack of books. So that’s exactly what I do.
Turns out, inadvertently, I stumbled onto another piece of Canadian culture: Canadian Literature. The author is a chick from Ontario, and her locations are mostly around Toronto or the Northeastern States. Not only that fun filled factor, but…the book is really good. Like, go back and get the rest of the damn series good. I check her website…and low and behold, she’s an author that writes free e-fiction on her site! What’s better than that? Well, the fact that the said e-fiction is actually the back stories and different points of views of her series characters, of course! Absolutely brilliant.
Then I realize something really tragic…BITTEN is not about vampires at all…It’s actually the prequel to STOLEN. While I did go back, buy it, and read it, I am really depressed I hadn’t read them in order. Now…it’s hard to really express why it made me sad without giving it away. But, let’s just say there’s a Darth Vader-“Luke I am your father”-moment in BITTEN that would have been goose-bump-inducing to say the least. Damn publishers not referring to prequels…
Am I typing damn to much? That’s kind of been my week…
It all started with me looking into the movie: The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I had no interest in seeing the flick, but the trailer said it was based on a true story and that the Catholic Church sanctioned the exorcism…which happens…well…never, really. More than that, the priest and the girl’s parents were formally charged with manslaughter after her death. I’m looking up “Emily Rose”, “Catholic sanctioned Exorcisms”, “Exorcism Case”…and I’m getting nothing. FINALLY I find out that this whole thing is based on a German court case from the seventies. The real girl’s name is Anneliese Michel, and in 1976, a Catholic Bishop officially recognized the demonic possession of the 18-year-old German college freshman. Bellow is a summarization of the case…
“She had been hospitalized, diagnosed with Grand Mal epilepsy, and had severely disturbing visions and hallucinations. Her parents visited different pastors to request an exorcism. Their requests were rejected and they were given recommendations that the 20 year old Anneliese should continue with medication and treatment. The process by which the Church proves a possession (Infestatio) is strictly defined, and until all the criteria are met, a bishop can not approve an exorcism. The requirements include an aversion to religious objects, speaking in a language the person has never learned, and supernatural powers. Her behavior become more erratic, she insulted, beat, and began biting the other members of her family. She refused to eat because the demons would not allow it. Anneliese slept on the stone floor, ate spiders, flies, and coal, and began drinking her own urine. She could be heard screaming throughout the house for hours while breaking crucifixes, destroying paintings of Jesus, and pulling apart rosaries. Anneliese began committing acts of self-mutilation at this time, and the act of tearing off her clothes and urinating on the floor became commonplace. 1975, the Bishop of Wurzburg, Josef Stangl, gave the order to perform "Rituale Romanum " on Anneliese so she could be saved from the possession by several demons (Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Cain, Hitler, and Fleischmann, et al). From September '75 until July '76, one or two exorcism sessions were held each week. Anneliese's attacks were sometimes so strong that she would have to be held down by 3 men, or even chained up. The exorcism continued over many months, always with the same prayers and incantations. For several weeks, Anneliese denied all food. Her knees ruptured due to the 600 genuflections she performed obsessively during the daily exorcism. The process was recorded on over 40 audio tapes, in order to preserve the details. The last day of the Exorcism Rite was on June 30th, 1976, and Anneliese last words were, "Beg for Absolution" was the last statement Anneliese made to the exorcists. Prosecutors took more than 2 years to take Annaliese's case to court. Anneliese's parents, as well as the exorcists, were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and omitting first aid. They were sentenced to 6 months in jail and probation. A commission of the German Bishop-Conference later declared that Anneliese Michel was not possessed.”
There are sites that claim to have the tapes…even if they’re real, I have no desire to hear them. Whether or not you believe in anything “supernatural,” the idea of listing to the ramblings of a person in a state of possession and/or psychotic breakdown scares the crap out of me.
And to think…I use to want to be a Psychologist…ah, the best laid plans…
I could continue on about my renewed interest in genetics…but I think this one has gone long enough…I’ll hit on that one next time. For now, pick up a Kelly Armstrong book (or at least preview her style at www.kelleyarmstrong.com), say your prayers (or take your pills), and don’t forget to remember me…
=D
Quote of the Moment: “[The American people get] exhausted with any party in power for eight years, let alone one that tricked the country into war…”
Soundtrack of the Moment: The Wedding Crashers’ Soundtrack
Movie/TV Quote: From Wedding Crashers, “I'm not perfect, but who are we kidding? Neither are you.”
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