"Book Club Meeting" by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara

Since the beginning of this blog on August 1, 2010, Saturdays has been a day to celebrate BryonySeries author and Irish vampire character Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, and all things Irish.

Read this post about Ed as author, how he connects to the BryonySeries, and what he's written (so far).

And then read this piece of literary nonsense and fan fiction from Ed's third novel in his Ruthless series, called "Recovering Ruthless."

CHAPTER 8: BOOK CLUB MEETING

 

 

It was a small building that housed the Beulah County Sheriff’s Office, so the interrogation room was also the conference room. The room was what you might expect from any of the police detective movies or TV shows that air constantly in the “Who Done It” genre. Four chairs faced four chairs with a rectangular table to present evidence and a two-way mirror facing the suspect’s side. By force of habit, Marsha and Matt sat side by side with their backs to that mirror. They waited impatiently for a third person to start their book club meeting. On the table was a copy of the novel “Staked!”

 

              “It seems we’re in for a hell of a Christmas,” Marsha commented dryly. “According to the book, Beulah County will get national television coverage because of a whole bunch of things we can't explain.”

 

              “One of the rare times the county is part of the country,” Matt added, making a sour face. “Hopefully the whole thing quickly fades away. The medical mystery of John-Peter’s death shouldn't be too much of a problem in that it is a medical mystery. They'll be a whole bunch of ‘no comment’ replies to that. But the missing body of John-Peter and the sixty teenage girls with branded backs that just appear in the basement of Eircheard’s Emporium…” Matt shook his head. “At least we know to schedule extra dispatchers for Christmas.”

 

              “Are you’re worried about the State auditing our department and – maybe – arresting some of us?” Marsha asked. “I mean, we’re all fugitives in some fashion.”

 

              Matt shrugged. “I’m sure they’ll audit, but it I’m guessing it won’t be my problem. I’m not getting reelected, and that Pike fellow will be in office by the time they do. It’s not like they’re going to find any records that will incriminate anyone. All they might decide is that ‘Sheriff Matt’ didn’t bother with records. All fine with me. Beulah County never bothered with county sheriff elections.”

 

              “I guess a ‘no last names’ policy comes in handy now.” Marsha stared at the book. “Can we do anything to save John-Peter?”

 

              “Nope. Ed warned me that everything has to be consistent with the book or we’ll be messing with something he calls ‘deep time’ and we’ll all get as crazy as he is.” Matt slumped in his chair and sighed. “Anyway, I don’t see how we could save him. John-Peter dies in Ed’s imagination as it’s collapsing. And Ed Calkins and Kellen Wechsler are already dead.”

 

              “If we do nothing, nothing in the book happens,” Ed said, suddenly appearing in the room.

 

              Only Marsha was startled, and just a touch at that.

 

              “There isn’t a single word about the ‘Rules of the Damned’ in ‘Staked!’ either,” Marsha said continued. “Why would a book about Munsonville vampires omit such an important contract between the living and undead?”

 

              Ed laughed. “Don’t you understand? It’s not important. The book is about me, not law enforcement. In fact, the whole trilogy it's about me.”

 

              “This is a part of a trilogy?” Matt held up the book. “By the same author?”

 

              “Of course. Do you think she’d only write one book about how ruthless I am? Look at it from Melissa’s point of view.”

 

              “John Peter’s mother?” Marsha asked.

 

              “Yes. In the first book, ‘Bryony’, she gets introduced to me and I ask her to marry me. She didn’t say yes. After that, she falls in love with the vampire John Simon, who eventually dies for good. So then she has to marry Kellen Weschler at the end of the second book, ‘Visage’ in order to save her son’s life.”

 

              “How is that all about you?” Marsha persisted.

 

              “Don’t you see?” Ed proclaimed. “None of this would have happened if Melissa had married me in the first book. My marriages have no sex or ceremony, so she never has to sleep with a vampire. Also, she gets some of my luck and probably never falls in love with John Simons. The trilogy is a cautionary tale to young women. If Ed Calkins asks you to marry him, it might be the only time he does so. Now, The Goddess herself disagrees with this, but she only writes the books. That doesn’t mean she understands them.”

 

              “Aren’t we straying from the point here?” Matt asked irritably. “You said earlier that if we do nothing, none of the events in the book happens – and I’m wondering if that would be a good thing.”

 

              “It would not,” Ed said. “Some time before November, a pair of werewolves maul the entire town of Shelby, Munsonville, and a good part of Thornton. I was wandering alterative timelines looking for something else. Don’t ever wander in alterative timelines, but I had my reasons. Anyway, I did not stick around to see what happened or who got eaten or killed, but the number was high enough that no one left alive stays in Beulah County.”

 

             Matt sat straight up. “Sounds bad. What do we have to do?”

             

Ed looked confused.

 

              “I’m not sure,” Ed admitted. “I know it’s mostly you, Sheriff, who prevents it. I only have a supporting role, providing logistics.”

 

            Marsha’s fist came down hard on the table. “Damn you, Ed! Think!”

 

              Ed scratched his beard and thought.

 

              “I know it has something to do with a raid on Kellen Wechsler, but not at his home or business. Does that make sense?”

 

              “Arcadia then?” Matt asked, brightening.

 

              “Why, yes. You must have read ‘Before the Blood’. It was/is/will be The Goddess’ greatest work that didn’t include me. Since it was a prequel about Munsonville vampires, her omission begs the question ‘why’…probably the greatest literary mystery of all time.”

 

              “We’ve already raided Arcadia,” Matt reminded him, trying to keep Ed focused, by far Martt’s most difficult task as sheriff. “Remember? You were there when we found the room where Kellen keeps his redheaded, maiden victims. We were enforcing the treaty outlined in ‘Rules of the Damned.’ Kellen didn’t have the proper paperwork for some of them and we were able to recuse some of them and ticket him for…”

 

“Sounds really dangerous…not like something I would be in on…interrupting Kellen while he plays with his food,” Ed said, looking shocked.

 

Marsha leaped to her feet. “You moron! You were our hostage! We threated to stake you if Kellen didn’t stand down!”

 

              “I doubt that.” Ed protested, shaking his head. “We wouldn’t be still friends if you forced me, and I can’t imagine agreeing to something…”

 

              “It was your idea!” Matt and Marsha shouted in unison.

 

              Ed grinned. “Ah, another ruthlessly clever idea of mine that worked.”

 

              “Yes, yes, you’re great.” Matt waved away that topic. “Here’s the thing that’s really important, Ed. Did we already do what needs to be done?”

 

              “I’m not sure? Where in the book are you?”

 

              Marsha snorted. “We both finished it, of course!”

 

              “No, I mean what page number are we living right now? Wait, another way of asking, what day is today? Is it before Halloween or after?” But Ed answered his own question with a glance at the calendar hanging on the wall. “No. More has to be done. But the sheriff is already inclined to start that by himself. The real problem is the dream. I know what you’re planning with Trudy, and I understand. But don’t do it till she’s had the dream.”

 

              “I don’t see why anything else has to be done,” Marsha complained, clearly frustrated with Ed.

 

Seconds later, she wished she hadn’t said a word as Ed went into a long explanation about the thing they already knew.

 

             “It was a crazy but landmark treaty between the living and the vampires made between the Beulah County Sheriff’s office and the recently empowered ‘Council of the Damned,’” Ed said. “The treaty would limit the killings of living people to those fatally involved in a suicide or murder/suicide. Such people would be teleported out of their own time using a vampire-enhanced enchanted dream such as Trudy could provide. These people would then feed the vampires and let nature’s ‘autocorrect’ handle the missing corpses by letting the intention play out in the time of origin. In this way, bodies of the suicides and homicide would be found without a suspicious lack of blood. In exchange, vampires would no longer fatally feed on anyone else or risk the wrath of the ‘Council of the Damned’ and be subjected to the penalties mandated by the ‘Rules of the Damned.’”

 

              “We know that, Ed,” Matt said in a strained voice as he, too, was nearing the end of his patience. “What Marsha meant was, how does bringing back the vampire Susan Betts help? Is that in some book that you forget to give us to read?”

 

              Ed shook his head. “No. It’s definitely not in any book or I wouldn't have forgotten it. Like I said, I’ve been searching alterative timelines and it all gets really confusing really quickly. It has something to do with defeating Kellen Wechsler who may or may not have turned her. Now, in ‘Before the Blood,’ Kellen tells Bryony that Susan committed suicide after giving birth to someone you know as Grandma Sue Barnes, the founder of Sue’s Diner. Now in ‘Call of the Siren’ also by Denise Baran-Unland…”

 

              “Ed, please,” Matt pleaded, rubbing his forehead. “We’re not her to analyze or review books that haven't been written yet. Can we get back to the matter at hand? Why do we need to rescue another vampire? It seems to me that in ‘Staked!’, Kellen and you are both goners. Are you saying that the book gets it wrong? I know you’re still here, but…”

 

              “You’re right,” Ed admitted. “With time travel, even if it’s not the deep time that made me crazy, the person facing you might have already been killed in your past but not his or hers. With vampires, there’s another dimension. It’s one thing to kill a vampire, but you have to finish killing them or they just reanimate.  That’s why we needed Professor Cornell Dyer all these years. Now, in ‘The Phoenix,’ another book by the goddess, Kellen hires Cornell to…”

 

              “Stop it!” Marsha shouted. “We’re not interested in your book reviews! If anything is SOOOOO important in these other books, why didn’t you give us those to read, too?”

 

              “I shouldn’t even have given you this one.” Ed spread out his hands. “Marsha, Matt, try and understand how dangerous this is for me to bring a written work into the past it’s been written about. But trying to stay on topic, I’m almost positive Kellen survives being stabbed and cremated. He had plenty of time to plan, and he knew Melissa meant to kill him on John Peter’s birthday. You both read that in ‘Staked!’ You also know that Melissa didn’t inherit any money. It's because Kellen moved all his funds into the future.”

 

              Matt now felt more willing to take the psychotic vampire at his word.

 

“Ed, I knew Susan Betts was important. I just didn’t remember why,” Matt said, more calmly this time. I also remember a name connected to all of this, and possible controlling it as well: Lord Lawrence Girard.

 

              “Who’s he?” Marsha asked.

 

              “One of the werewolves.” Ed answered Marsha and then disappeared in a puff.

 

“Must be a younger version of himself,” Matt mumbled. “In the versions we’ve seen lately, he forgets he can do that.”

BryonySeries: Original "Drop of Blood" Vampire Trilogy

On one of the first days of 1985, I lay on the couch trying to combat pregnancy nausea with a book of classic vampirestories. 

My two-year-old and eight-month-old were napping at the same time, a highly unusual occurrence. I laid the book upside down on my chest and decided to write a gothicy-style vampire novel.

Now, I had never written a novel, only short stories and one novella. Nor had I even written much fiction since my junior high school days, thanks to a series of illnesses in high school and a killer schedule in college. Since becoming a parent, I had not even read much fiction. I preferred the Bible, as well as books on pregnancy, childbirth, Cesarean sections (I've had six total), home birth (I've had none), breastfeeding (infants, toddlers, through pregnancy, and tandem), Christian parenting, and homeschooling.

 

Yet, by the time the kiddies had awakened, and I was soaping washcloths for diaper changes (Yes, I used cloth diapers, by choice), I had the rudiments of s story--a teenage girl falls in love with a vampire she meets by a remote lake--flowing through my mind.

 

Of course, the main character would be Melissa. That had been my name of choice for numerous childhood stories. Finally, Melissa would star in her "official" story. I decided to set her story in 1972 (I later changed it to 1975 simply because I wanted Halloween on a Friday) to give expansion room to the story. It was a slow growth.

 

The raising of six, lively, breastfed, homeschooled children left little time for writing. Drafts attempted in locked, toddler-proofed rooms offered little concentration. Those adorable little people who shared the space were more interested in tapping typewriting keys than playing with all the lovely, educational toys strewn on the floor. Many, many deleted scenes found their home in some landfill.

 

Yet, while other stories ideas have come and gone, this particular one would not go away. Finally, in 2007, I decided to write it as a novella for the seventeenth birthday of one of my sons. I figured it could write it in a weekend. I was wrong.

So in January 2008, I tackled the novel in earnest. At some point, I realized the story was too large for one book; it would need a sequel. And far too many sequels (in my opinion) aren't that good. And I was struggling to write one book without the specter of a second looming before me.

Not until I had outlined the sequel and was actively writing it did I realize the story was actually a trilogy. And that was a real problem (to me) because I had enough material for two books but not three.

So I paused writing the second until (for consistency's sake), I had an outline for the third. And, honestly, without integrating Ed Calkins as a character into the first novel (when it was only a first novel), that third novel would would never have happened, at least not in the wonderful directions it veered.

The rest of my ideas for the rest of the BryonySeries books derived from writing another book.

While writing the first novel, the companion cookbook derived from all the fun food references, the mentoring subplot, and my desire to give back.

The idea for the bonus short story came from my publicist, who wanted me to have something to read at pre-publication events.

While writing the first novel, Sarah had the idea for Girls of the BryonySeries subseries.

While writing the second novel, I had the idea for The Adventures of Cornell Dyer subseries.

While writing the third novel, Sarah had the idea for the Bertrand the Mouse subseries.

And while editing the first novel while drafting the second, I had the idea for the Before The Blood prequel and the werewolf story.

And after I published all five of those volumes, I had the idea for the Limbo trilogy.

And while writing the werewolf story, I had the idea for the "A Year of Shadows" novelette.

Funny how that happens, isn't it? The entire series really took on the life of its namesake noxious weed, which can easily overtake healthy vegetation..

Now although I've previously said I've likely written my last novel, a vague, wispy shadow of another BryonySeries story is already lurking in the back of my mind.

Ed thinks I have a another novel inside of me.

He may be right.

The original BryonySeries "drop of blood trilogy

These books for young adults and older below originate from the expansion of the initial idea and revolve around the idea of "a drop of blood, a deceptive fantasy.

In addition to the trilogy, this initial subseries has a bonus short story and companion cookbook featuring recipes for all the food references in "Bryony," which is a permanent fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.

Bryony

After her father’s sudden death, seventeen-year-old Melissa Marchellis moves onto the former estate of nineteenth century composer and pianist John Simons, where a mysterious mist stalks her, ghostly piano music plays in her bedroom, and visions of John Simons’ young wife Bryony, who died in childbirth, invade her dreams. Those dreams, Melissa discovers, are simply a distraction for the midnight feedings of John Simons, now a vampire. 

So, John proposes a trade: Melissa may visit the past as Bryony in exchange for minute samples of her blood to neutralize his vampire state. For a time, Melissa happily seesaws between her adolescent routine of school, slumber parties, and cute boys to dancing at balls, attending formal dinner parties, and hosting garden fetes. 

But fantasy and reality blur when her eccentric, middle-aged English teacher penetrates her dreams as Melissa’s dashing, young vampire chaperone; her brother Brian adopts a peculiar stray cat after a friend disappears in a midnight exploration of the dilapidated mansion; and another girl with a similar vampire pact is gruesomely murdered. 

Caught between the danger of her agreement and her escalating infatuation with John Simons, Melissa contends with other vampires and their agendas, while struggling with her feelings for an undead musician.

Visage

While grieving the abrupt end of her blood bargain with nineteenth century pianist John Simons, eighteen-year-old Melissa Marchellis packs sensible goals for her life and marches off to college, where her obsession flings her into a relationship with a music professor, a man with a shady reputation and an uncanny resemblance to John.

Meanwhile, Melissa’s peer support crumbles, as her friends make other choices for their lives. Shelly and Laura attend out of town schools. Ann forsakes her wealthy ambitions for a Munsonville boy. Julie is preoccupied with studying and dating a nice, but dull, psychology major. Katie runs away with an aging medicine man.

Melissa quickly cycles from pursuer to victim when the professor develops a mysterious illness requiring unusual treatments; neighborhood pets disappear at alarming rates; and she begins caring for a child with a number of disturbing qualities: a voracious appetite, abhorrence for meat, luxurious red hair that defies trimming, extreme intelligence, and musical abilities beyond its tender years.

As her world unravels, Melissa glimpses the horrifying truth beneath her choices. Will Melissa use that knowledge to finally break free from Bryony’s past?

Staked!

For seventeen-year-old John-Peter Simotes, prodigy of a college music professor that died from a mysterious illness and was staked by his best friend’s vampire-slayer father, growing up in a remote fishing village means tolerating an English teacher mother, enduring a Bible-thumping grandfather, working for a newspaper delivery uncle and a funeral director stepfather, playing with astral projection, and waiting for the right opportunity to rescue the princess trapped in a bedroom mirror.

So when John-Peter accidentally discovers a diary written by his deceased great-grandmother, revealing her claims that a famous nineteenth century pianist and composer with a connection to the village and a resemblance to the music professor was actually a vampire, he and his best friend, Karla Dyer, decide to resurrect the vampire to prove her theory.

But experiments with magic and immortality do more than test the information set forth by a mentally unstable woman. They unlock the truth about John-Peter’s real identity, the evil motives of people he trusts, and the mission upon which he must embark to save them all.

Snowbell

While visiting an out of state friend, a snobbish teen decides to show up the locals by disproving their cherished ghost stories. However, her calculated prank becomes a terrifying night in a dilapidated mansion and a desperate wish that the legends were true.

Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony"

In Denise M. Baran-Unland's young adult vampire novel, Bryony, seventeen-year-old Melissa Marchellis trades her blood with a Victorian vampire for a trip back into time as his wife, Bryony. 

Yet, as Melissa zig-zags between 1975 and the late 1890's, she encounters plenty of food. These range from the familiar dishes that grace her family's dinner and holiday tables to unfamiliar Victorian fare: beef tongue, stuffed pigeons, and boiled calves head. 

The recipes included in this collection reflect the culture of both time periods to give the reader an insight into the world of "Bryony."

Whether you read this cookbook to enhance the story's enjoyment or for menu ideas, may you thoroughly delight in each "bite and nibble."

BryonySeries: Purple Roses

I don't remember how purple roses became a BryonySeries motif.

But because they are, loved ones people have gifted me with purple roses through the years ("All The Purple Roses I have Known") with Cindy being the top and most frequent "gifter" of purple roses). 

My mother always grew roses, so I have lovely memories of those bushes, some pink and some yellow, and their heavenly scent.

But how I decided to incorporate roses into the BryonySeries is lost in my mind of writing the first draft of the very first book, "Bryony" almost twenty years ago.

I remember researching the symbolism of roses and deciding that the mythical purple rose, with its symbolism of enchantment, was exactly what the story needed.

I have an old file on the computer called "Bryony and Purple Roses" from February 2, 2009, that only has scant information on white bryony - nothing at all about purple roses.

How purple roses came to be associated with the BryonySeries young dandy vampire Henry Matthews (or how that young vampire evolved from a staid old professor vampire) is also lost to my memory.

The purple rose motif only shows up in the original "drop of blood" trilogy and two of the "Before The Blood" books. And purple roses only receive a scant mention in "The Phoenix."

Yet, if you ask some people who've read BryonySeries books, "What color do you associate with the BryonySeries?" the answer is most often is, "purple."

I have no idea - truly - why that motif instead of others in the series has really resonated with people.

But here is the first purple roses reference from "Bryony."

The room, although not very large, felt warm and comfortable, with its wine-hued carpeting and wallpaper, overflowing bookshelves, and rich mahogany furniture. Several desks sat at the east end of the room. One held a heavy, black, silver, oddly shaped typewriter, very different from her mother’s slim, beige, electric machine. Vases of fragrant, purple roses filled the room. Fully awake now, Melissa rested her head on the back of the settee and blinked in surprise.

For reasons I won't share here (spoilders) "Bryony" protagonist Melissa Marchellis becomes very attached to purple roses, to the extent that an envelope of dried purple rose petals are one of her most precious treasures in "Visage" and that she keeps a vase of fresh purple roses in her bedroom "Staked!"

Her eyes fell on the envelope, and she remembered Henry’s admonition to forget vampires, including him—her undead chaperone--and especially John, who brought only death to Bryony. She could resist no longer. Carefully sliding her hand past the dried purple rose petals, Melissa retrieved the sheet of paper whose words she had long since memorized. ("Visage")

Melissa sat at her desk correcting papers by the tiny lamp. It was the only light in the entire room except for the pink candle she burned near the vase of the fresh purple roses she always insisted Kellen buy for her. ("Staked!")

But as enchanting as these passages sound - to Melissa and to some readers - the purple roses might just be more curse than blessing. 

Pre-vampire Henry Matthews was a very young boy selling newspapers on a busy street corner with his father when he first encountered the term "purple rose" in the BryonySeries prequel "Before The Blood: Henry Matthews."

Harold worked Western; Henry worked Clark. When the morning rush dissipated, Harold again swapped the pouches and scampered away. Henry guarded the newspapers and watched the caravan. The women sat in clusters and wove baskets. The men played stringed instruments.

One dark beauty in brilliant hues locked Henry's wondering gaze with her rippling irises.

So many beads, Henry mused. So many, many beads.

They rattled from her waist, dangled off her hair, and wrapped her neck in a chromatic embrace.

"Son, take a break."

They lounged against the remaining bundles, munching stale ham sandwiches and gulping hot coffee from the street peddlers. Soon after Harold disappeared between the buildings, no doubt seeking his own relief behind Henry's trash barrel, Henry sensed movement behind him.

Before he could react, a withered rose pressed into his palm.

"True love spumes," a woman hissed, "when the purple rose blooms."

Henry yelped, his father's strong hand yanked him away, and the gypsy fled. ("Before The Blood: Henry Matthews")

Henry, again for undisclosed spoiler reasons, winds up signing all his original oil paintings with a purple rose instead of penmanship. The indention denotes a flashback.

But these (images) disturbed her less than the purple roses. The artist had painted a single one at the right-hand base of each image.

       "What this?"

            "My signature."

            " I thought a signature required the alphabet and penmanship."

            "Not always."

Back in the passageway, she locked the door and tucked the key next to her heart. She had to get dressed and find Henry. ("Before The Blood: Bryony Simons")

And, of course, the purple rose also comes to symbolize the rivalry between John Simons the pianist and composer and Henry Matthews, the writer, artist, and horticulturist, summarized nicely in the purple music roses Jan Stack handmade and gifted to me, to distribute at events.

Back to the top image with the crocheted flowers and white box. 

Somewhere in the haze of health battles these last couple of years, Cindy crocheted the purple rose bouquet, which has sat near my office supplies, waiting for its own special post.

She gifted me the purple rose buds she crocheted and the purple rose in the box for Christmas 2024, which we celebrated on January 7, 2025. 

But on that day I was in the tail end of a bad virus and then straight into one health challenge after another for the rest of the year. So both boxes stayed near my desk, waiting for a quiet moment to give them their due and very heartfelt appreciation.

Those boxes waited so long, I no longer remembered what the "angel blessings" purple rose looked like. 

But yesterday, I finally had that quiet moment - and I took the photo you saw at the beginning of this blog.

And then I opened the box.

Unlike Henry, for whom purple roses were more curse than blessing, more heartache than joy, I rejoiced to see the gift before me, my own little angel of purple roses.

To me, they symbolized the parallel prayers, good wishes, and blessings that silently and out of my view, accompanied me through the challenges of 2025.

The Mirrors in the BryonySeries

I posted my first blog post on August 1, 2010, and have blogged nearly daily ever since.

And while I've (overall) shared posts on the topics I listed on that first blog, I recently realized I've moved away from sharing much about the actual substance, crafting, and content of my books.

I'm hoping to reverse that on Tuesdays going forward (I hope).

And in this post (which is very long, so feel free to click out now), I'm highlighting four BryonySeries books that show how mirrors became woven into those novels.

Yes, mirrors.

Mirrors, as you may know, are sometimes used as literary devices to show reflection, self-awareness, duality, and so forth.

But the mirrors in the BryonySeries are so much more, even though it was Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, who elevated mirrors from plot device to motif.

Inspiration behind the mirrors

It may have started with this book about writing and selling your personal experiences by author Lois Duncan that I devoured as a young adult and young mother shortly after the book was published.

Ironically, I related to many of the life experiences Lois shared in her book. And later, during my home-schooling years, I used some of her writing prompts as writing prompts for my kids, like this one: What if you woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and saw absolutely no one at all?

And this old Boris Karloff "Thriller" episode that I saw the summer I graduated from eighth grade when WFLD Channel 32 in Chicago may have simmered in my subconscious (I've actually only seem that full episode one time, that time) and nudged me to the following passage.

The first significant mirror in the BryonySeries

The mirror as a device first appears in "Staked!" - the third book in the original "drop of blood" trilogy.

So real were these (fairy) tales to John-Peter that he was not at all astonished when he encountered a real princess. He had arrived barefoot at the dinner table, and Kellen had sent him back upstairs for his shoes. Not bothering to flick on the light switch—the dark had never bothered him, even at three years old—John-Peter had swung open the closet door and caught a quick glimpse of the little girl with the golden hair standing inside his mirror.

            His own reflection quickly replaced the fantastic one, but not before John-Peter noticed the melancholy in the toddler’s rich chocolate eyes. Who had imprisoned the princess? Certainly not his jovial Uncle Ed, who had hung the mirror soon after John-Peter and his parents had moved into the Munsonville house, shortly after his father’s death, when John-Peter was only two years old. Uncle Ed, known as the Steward of Tara due to his love of all things Irish, had purchased the mirror from his favorite pawn shop in Jenson as a housewarming present.

            When John-Peter was very small, Uncle Ed told him the shop was enchanted, which explained why the merchandise appeared different each time they visited it. Of course, John-Peter now understood the consistent turnover in pawn shop items, especially one so close to Jenson College. Undoubtedly, the main beneficiaries of the transactions between the shop’s owner and the students were Berkley’s restaurant and Crossroads Tap. Nevertheless, the pair never left without an interesting “find” of some kind. After the initial trips, John-Peter stopped showing Kellen what Uncle Ed had bought for him, thus saving the tedium of listening to his stepfather’s disparaging remarks about bringing home other people’s garbage, since, to John-Peter, these trinkets were treasures. Of course, the boy had told Uncle Ed about the princess, but his uncle had merely laughed and said he wasn’t surprised because anything could happen with a mirror when it possessed supernatural powers.

            As the years passed, the princess in the mirror grew with John-Peter, transforming from a wispy-haired, sorrowful toddler into a dejected-looking young woman. What did not change was John-Peter’s resolve to one day rescue the princess from her solitary confinement within the glass and sail away in a magical craft to the land John-Peter was destined to rule. Even now, at seventeen, John-Peter did not consider his fantasy a childish one, not with an authentic princess living inside the mirror in his bedroom closet.

And the story unfolds from there.

The Ruthless mirrors

When Ed was writing "Ruthless," his first novel in the BryonySeries Ruthless trilogy (which is all about Ed Calkins: the man, the myth, the author, and the Irish vampire), he refers back to the mirror in "Staked!" and then uses "mirror" as a way to invite the reader into the story.

I realize why you’re too afraid to cross the mirror and meet the most powerful Irish vampire to ever…well, die and then live again. Maybe you’ve heard about how ruthless I am? Maybe you’re afraid that I might think badly of you and be inspired to write a limerick that would make you a coward, idiot, or scoundrel with such compelling verse as to live as long as life itself?

Ed then expands the use of the mirror as a plot device in a way that pays homage to "Staked!"

I looked around my one-room apartment and saw nothing but a bed, dresser, and closet with few clothes. I know I have more things than this. Then I see the full-length mirror. Well, to you it’s a mirror, to me...

Chapter 3 in "Ruthless" is actually called "Mirror." The entire chapter is a self-reflection of an aging dominatrix (Trudy), who thinks she murdered her best friend and debates attending his wake. 

The mirror faced the jeweled throne, reflecting the disappointment of the one gazing into it. It was the throne that owned the ivory, gold, and gems that patterned its recreated design; its occupant, despite appearances, owned only her darkness.

None of it was real.

              Reflection, reflex, reaction… what did it mean or matter, yet the image the mirror gave was a metaphor of her existence. She was not quite a queen; well, any more than she was a cop or any of the other endeavors or careers that she had tossed herself into over the years.

Later, Trudy's equally as disturbed psychiatrist Dr. Roslyn uses the mirror analogy to taunt her client.

              “…it’s not the same deal as when you were younger, Trudy. Don’t flatter yourself? Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

              Something called her eye to the mirror. It seemed to lower itself, as if the Scotch in her system was trying to show her something. Was it that she was middle-aged now and didn’t have the same sex appeal power that she did so many years ago? But she knew that. She could see her face. Still, the mirror slowly sank.

Ed often breaks the fourth wall in "Ruthless." Here, he sets the reader up for what comes next, a major plot twist that will incorporate Ed's own dyslexia.

Maybe you’re confused. Mirrors can do that. Right is left, left is right and the whole thing is in the most confusing language, English. Consider this; a guy tells his girlfriend movie star she’ll never get the part. She doesn’t, so she leaves him. The guy is left for being right. Later she turns out to be a serial killer. Now he’s right for being left. No wonder why we’re all crazy. And what about her side? She started dating him because he had a perfect ass but then turns out he is a perfect ass. The same happens with the next six; that’s a serial that needs killing. (No, I don’t know what that means either, but it’s English).

Ed also uses mirrors to reveal what a character might not otherwise see.

She heard the swinging doors but didn’t see who swung them. Then, through the mirror, she saw the young, bearded cowboy stride toward the bar where she faced away. She turned, expecting that the handsome red beard might not be there. He tipped his hat and handed her a piece of paper.

While sharing an incident from his youth, Ed discusses how he used mirrors and a candle to increase the light in his room, with unexpected results.

The story I will tell starts in a very dark place with a very pathetic boy trying to enjoy his ill-gotten gains without being discovered. It’s odd when I think of it, but this is the only part of my natural life that wasn’t natural at all. I seemed to have unwittingly called a supernatural being using a candle and two mirrors.

It became a nightly ritual. I’d light a candle. That light alone was not enough. To compensate, I stole a small makeup mirror from the garbage, which I put behind the candle and then faced it at a picture mirror, which I balanced two feet away. The resulting light was enough to page through the girly pictures that so shamed me, while stroking immature fantasies of desire. I was too young to know the pleasures of my own fist (that would come later), but I knew of shame of my wickedness…knew that I was damnation waiting to happen. Sometimes, I would hold the magazine just behind the candle to reflect the picture onto the small mirror and project it to the larger one, noting the continuing reflections of reflections that went the way of glazing on railroad tracks; both getting smaller and smaller with the miles till they seemed to disappear, even though the magazine was only feet away.

One night while I gazed on an unclothed beauty, I noticed something alarming. The concern drew me to the space between mirrors, as I tried to determine the cause. The centerfold stayed visible, but the repeating reflections vanished. In the next second, I saw the creature, horned and red-eyed, creeping forward as if to avoid being heard. As the image grew larger and larger, I saw the features and assumed the Devil was coming for my soul, which scared me on one hand, relieved me on the other. The company of the Devil is never good thing, but I now questioned my assumption that I was already damned. Unless I was dead, why would Satan come to me? Maybe he didn’t have my soul yet? At the very least, I could try to cut a deal.

But then Ed also uses mirror to turn the story's direction.

Regret, anger, love, with a garnish of fear was the cocktail of the evening, and Trudy had already drunk too much of it. Maybe that’s what she needed. A drink. A drink at a bar where she could fill her part of the arrangement that she’d been neglecting with a man that never gave her cause to be angry. When was the last time she brought someone home? She could be the vampire again! How would that feel after almost a year?

              “Not like it used to,” she admitted out loud. These days, she hunted to satisfy someone else. It would feel tired.

              She turned for the door.

              But found a mirror.

Ed later revisits both candles and mirrors, combines them with an old slumber party ritual (Bloody Mary), to create his own vampire legend.

“Say ‘you don’t believe’ into the mirror,” she told herself. But the mirror could never tell the truth anymore. As vampire, she had become the mistress of information, but the mirror, or even a simple photograph, could never capture her image.

              It was a ransacked ruin of an ancient one room wooden shack on the east bank of the Mississippi that no being, living or undead, would choose to occupy, yet the mirror frame was there, placed just to the right with the fallen roof still giving it shelter from rain and snow. But the mirror frame had no mirror in it.

              The last lights were fading, and Mary Steward lit a candle to study her image. When she’d been fourteen, a young artist took her here with the intention of painting her nude.

              “You’re only going to be as beautiful as you are for another ten years,” he told her foolishly.

 Fool!

Mirrors in "The Fifth"

Ed Calkins wasn't  through with mirrors yet, and he uses one as a plot twist at the beginning of "The Fifth," the second book in his BryonySeries Ruthless series.

Once Sandra was back in the truck and properly buckled (as the law required now), Marsha checked her rearview mirror to merge back onto the road. But the sign she saw now looked cleaner, clearer – yet still read as the first one.

            Munsonville. Population: 386. Everyone Welcome Here.

 Except the words should have been backward.

“Watch it!” Sandra screamed. 

But Ed Calkins as character apparently owns an unlimited supply of mirrors, which Ed Calkins the author requires for his plot, to the perplexment of one key character.

“My mother is dead, and I can’t breathe yet,” the baby told him through telepathy. “I guess I shall die as well.”

            “Not as long as my name is Clint Eastwood,” Glorna sent back.

 But where was the baby? The crying seemed to be coming through one of the many, many mirrors the Steward had in his bedroom, which begged another question. If mirrors cannot hold the reflection of a vampire, why would Ed Calkins have so many?

 In "The Fifth," Ed also combines vampirism, his dyslexia, and mirrors in a way that strangely makes sense. 

When a vampire looks you in the eye, he’s actually at your back. Trudy sees my front in front of her, but I can see both her front and her back…as if there were a mirror behind her and my actual self was the reflection not the reflection’s source. Trudy lines her shot up with the barrel under her arm, using the crosshairs, which is made of a substance I found in my travels to the end of time. Mirrors show everything seeable but vampires. This substance reflects only vampires. I know Trudy’s shot will be true because I can see the reflection of my own undead self. If only I had gathered more of this strange paper thin, ridged black rock, I could have made a fortune selling shaving kits for vampires. That’s a strange thought to have when you’re about to be tested with five questions and getting only one of the wrong means getting staked. 

Ed also uses mirrors to express identity and reveal one's true natures, as shown in these two passages.

Something was wrong with Eircheard. She was sure when he walked in an hour after she hung up the phone. He wasn’t grumpy. Had he been drinking? No. He hadn’t been smoking either. A walk by the mirror told her he wasn’t a vampire. The way in tore into the pizza told her the same. What the hell, she hadn’t even finished her Scotch when her pulled her upstairs and tore into her…in a good way.

Should she risk a look backwards? No, wait…she needed to change her armor. “Sheila” would not do here and nor would her current set of accessories and expressions. “Look expensive,” she coached herself. With the grandpa still talking to himself, Sheila turned into Cassandra, reached for her purse, changed her earrings, and darkened her eyeliner. Her makeup mirror told of a girl that costs a whole lot more.

"Recovering Ruthless" gives the best mirror of all

Ed used mirrors as plot devices, too, in his recently released "Recovering Ruthless," the third book in the Ruthless trilogy - and interestingly enough, Ed also circles back to "Staked!"

Consider these fives passages and then I'll conclude with the best use of mirrors of all: mirrors as inspiration and self-acceptance.

“Lady, I’m done jumping through mirrors. Just tell me how to become a mortal man.”

 John Peter’s eyes found another mirror that should have captured the reflection of the diners. Instead, it showed a single person: the young man with dark, neatly combed, shortish hair that he had seen in the bedroom. John-Peter should have seen his reflection: a bony frame shaped like a piano leg, long red hair, defiant brown-flecked green eyes, and a faint green tinge to his skin.

Being unable to secure any staff, it became his job to hard-sell this wonderful opportunity to annoyed cold call recipients, promising them the time of their lives if they would only imagine the things suggested in the brochure while they lay in a comatose state and near a mirror.

It was a small building that housed the Beulah County Sheriff’s Office, so the interrogation room was also the conference room. The room was what you might expect from any of the police detective movies or TV shows that air constantly in the “Who Done It” genre. Four chairs faced four chairs with a rectangular table to present evidence and a two-way mirror facing the suspect’s side. By force of habit, Marsha and Matt sat side by side with their backs to that mirror. They waited impatiently for a third person to start their book club meeting. On the table was a copy of the novel “Staked!”

The gavel banged its finality. Trudy, half dressed, stood sober, disappointed, and miserable in front of a mirror that couldn’t grant more time. Her dream vacation was over. In its place was the drudgery of her souring life.

The Traveling Salesman

But where did Ed Calkins get all his mirrors? The answer might lie in the first chapter of the fairly recently released "House on Top of the Hill," which is the third book in the BryonySeries Limbo trilogy.

Lenny tried the fish. Not bad, for fish. He tried the asparagus. Not bad, for the wild stuff. He generously buttered a slice and took a bite. Now this was good. He opened wide and bit off half, confident now he could trust this old man. “Sam you’ve got a good eye. Truth is, I’m passing through right to here.”

“On business?”

“Sure, sure, on business.”

“What kind of business brings you to Munsonville?”

Lenny took another spoonful of fish. “I’m a salesman.”

“What do you sell?”

He slurped half his coffee, fixing his eyes on Sam and thinking out his words. Then he set the demitasse on the saucer and said evenly, “Mirrors.”

“Mirrors?” Sam laughed and took his own sip.

“Yep. Come out to these parts once a month with a van full of mirrors.”

Sam sobered up and set his cup onto his saucer. “And you sell them all?”

“Yep. All of them.”

“To whom?”

“Just one very special customer.”

 “One customer buys a van full of mirrors? What does he do with them?”

“How do I know? And what do I care? A sale is a sale is a sale. Listen, mister, I’ve got a wife and seven young-uns to feed. And this fellow, he buys all kinds of mirrors. Big mirrors. Small mirrors. Old mirrors. New mirrors. Mirrors as tall as a man and mirrors that will fit in the palm of your boy’s hand. I fill up my van with mirrors and bring them out.”

“And he buys them all?”

“Yep. All of them. Every time.”

Sam leaned back and crossed his arms. “What makes you think Munsonville’s is a good prospect for mirrors?”

“Always looking for new prospects.”

And now - the reward!

If you have read this far, congratulations!

You shall now be rewarded with a bit of "reflection" for your day and (hopefully) some reflection for those times YOU stand before a mirror.

Enjoy and be inspired by these two passages from "Recovering Ruthless."

Beth knew better than to be late. As ordered, she stood before her bedroom mirror and waited for “inspection?” To her surprise, Lady May appeared with Uncle Rudy at her side.

“She's appropriately dressed,” Rudy allowed.

 

May studied her face and seemed to ignore all else.

 

“How do you feel, Page?” May made the question sound like a demand.

 

“A little silly to be dressed for a dance I won't be attending,”

 

“Anything else, lass?” Uncle Rudy raised an eyebrow. “Try looking straight into the mirror.”

 

“Is it magic?” Beth knew of an enchantment that affected mirrors was part of the legacy that haunted Munsonville. Aunt Karla made a second living talking about such things.

 

But no one answered her. She stood there feeling like she was failing a test.

 

“Not ready yet,” Uncle Rudy decided.

 

Lady May agreed. 

Once again, Beth was ordered not to attend the prom but to stay in front of her bedroom mirror, dressed immaculately and waiting for inspection. Beth wondered what was supposed to happen this time that didn’t happen the last six dances ago when she looked herself in the mirror.

 

As before, the pages were given the order to not attend the prom but wait in front of their bedroom mirror dressed immaculately and waiting for inspection. Beth was wondering what was supposed to happen this time that didn’t happen the last six dances ago. She looked at herself in the mirror wearing the same dress she did the first time. Only this time…what? It seemed to fit differently.

 

Something else shocked her. Something…but not something really new. Something that had been creeping ahead…not just in her but the other pages.

 

She expected a girl.

 

She saw a young woman.

 

“I'm gorgeous,” Beth said aloud in surprise.

 

At that moment, Lady May and Uncle Rudy were standing near her. Beth was mortified.

 

“Was I being too vain? I just got surprised…I mean…”

 

“This means you’re no longer Lady May’s page,” Uncle Rudy told her.

 

“I told you to find the right beholder,” Lady May reminded her. “It had to be the right one, not just anyone that would find you attractive. Don’t you see? The wrong one might lure you away for the privilege of service.”

 

“But you didn’t let me see anyone except…except…”

 

“Yourself,” Lady May and Uncle Rudy said in unison.

 

“Me?” Beth turned back to her reflection in wonder. “I was the right beholder?”

 

“Easier to find an elite lass and make her beautiful, than a beautiful lass and make her elite,” Rudy quoted. “But that never meant making her beautiful would be easy for her.