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LGBT Senior Subscriber Freebie: The Vivid Press Edition of Vampire Classic ‘Carmilla’
Before There Was Dracula, There Was Carmilla
A Gothic masterpiece — and it’s yours free.
Most people know the name Dracula. Far fewer know the name Carmilla — and that’s a shame, because Carmilla came first.
Published in 1872, more than two decades before Bram Stoker’s famous count ever set foot on English soil, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla introduced the world to the vampire as a figure of seduction, obsession, and dread. It was groundbreaking then. It remains essential now. And it has a particular resonance for LGBTQ readers that no other vampire story quite matches.
We’re delighted to offer LGBTSr subscriber the Vivid Press Edition of Carmilla, both the ebook and audiobook editions. Beautifully produced with an original introduction written exclusively for this edition, this is complimentary for you, our readers. Current subscribers will receive in this week’s newsletter. Not signed up yet? HERE’S YOUR CHANCE.
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New Home, Same Great Content: LGBTSr and Mark McNease.com Move to Hostinger
In case you’re wondering, I’m leaving Bluehost after more than 15 years using them to host my websites. To make a long story brief, the sites became so slow I couldn’t take it anymore. No advice or suggestions needed: I tried everything. Coupled with the price tag, I said let’s move. Both LGBTSr.com and MarkMcNease.com will be hosted here. The change is almost invisible: same dotcoms, new home.
I like Hostinger, where you’re reading this, and I’m ready to make a move. All my sites will be on here, as dedicated pages (Your Write Path, MadeMark Publishing, and Vivid Press.)
This may take a little while, but not too long – I’m among the more tech-savvy people I know, and moving everything over here shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks, if that. There’s a lot of work to do “behind the curtain,” so to speak, with redirects, emails and all that, but it will get done seamlessly and quickly. So welcome to where “all things are of the substance of dreams.”
Mark
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On the Map: Fonthill Castle, Doylestown, PA
On the Map: Fonthill Castle, Doylestown, PA
Our friend Kathi Hill was here for her annual two-nighter. On Sunday we went to Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, a large imposing castle you can see from the road that we’ve passed a zillion times and never gone to. It’s a must! It’s the kind of place that makes you want to book two nights in an upstairs bedroom, light a candle, and write something a horror story by the light of the moon. Built in the early twentieth century by Henry Mercer — archaeologist, Arts and Crafts visionary, and the obsessive genius behind the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works next door — it’s a concrete labyrinth of rooms, hidden staircases, and ceilings encrusted with thousands of his own handmade tiles pulled from the kilns just steps away. The gothic atmosphere is not manufactured. It grew here, out of one man’s magnificent strangeness. He was also a lifelong bachelor, which adds a little fill-in-the-blanks to it all.
We walked through it on a guided tour and I and immediately started thinking about the horror stories I could write there. The ceilings are all low, the rooms are small, and everything is concrete. If you’re anywhere near Bucks County, put it on your list.
Tours run regularly and can be booked through the Mercer Museum website at mercermuseum.org. Fonthill Castle and the Tile Works are both on site.
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LGBT Senior Fun Facts: Haunted and Hidden Doylestown, PA
Henry Mercer’s Dark Side
Everyone knows Fonthill Castle (see our recent On the Map), but fewer know that Henry Mercer filled it with tools of execution, instruments of punishment, and objects associated with death and suffering. He also slept there alone — in a building he designed to be nearly impossible to navigate without knowing its secrets.
The Museum With a Jail Cell
Inside, there’s an actual historic jail cell, preserved exactly as it was.
Paranormal Ground Zero
Bucks County has been a hotspot for paranormal researchers for decades. The region’s age, its Revolutionary War history, and its dense concentration of old stone buildings have made it a recurring subject of ghost hunting documentation.
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LGBT Senior’s Tech Talk: You New Best Friend Might Be AI
By LGBTSr
Let’s be honest. Most of us didn’t grow up with computers, and some of us came to smartphones late and under protest. So when people started talking about artificial intelligence like it was the next big thing we all needed to understand, a lot of us did what made perfect sense: we ignored it and hoped it would sort itself out.
Here’s the thing, though. AI assistants — the kind you can talk to or type questions to — might actually be one of the most useful technologies to come along for older adults in a very long time. Not because they’re flashy, but because they’re patient. They don’t sigh. They don’t check their phone while you’re talking. They don’t make you feel foolish for asking the same question twice. They just answer.
So what exactly is an AI assistant?
Think of it as a very knowledgeable friend you can ask anything. Not a search engine that gives you a list of links to sort through — an actual conversational tool that reads your question, understands what you’re asking, and gives you a real answer in plain language.
You may have already encountered some of them without realizing it. Siri on your iPhone is an AI assistant. So is Google Assistant on Android phones. Amazon’s Alexa, the voice that lives in those small speakers people keep in their kitchens, is one too. And then there are newer, more conversational ones like ChatGPT and Claude that you can access through a web browser or app and have a genuine back-and-forth conversation with.
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The Twist Podcast Android News Sunday Edition: Four Features, Two Clones, One Love
If you’ve been listening to The Twist Podcast for any length of time, you know that Mark and Rick have opinions about things. Culture, politics, food, entertainment, the general state of the world as it lurches forward into whatever this era is going to be called when historians get around to naming it.
So we did what any reasonable pair of podcasters would do: we cloned ourselves.
Yes, really. Meet the android versions of Mark and Rick — same voices, same sensibilities, significantly less coffee dependency — and they’re here every Sunday with The Twist Podcast: Android News Sunday Edition, your weekly roundup of everything worth knowing and a few things worth arguing about. Will we go weekly? If the interest is there and we can hire more robots.
Each week we’re covering four beats: culture, politics, food trends, and entertainment. Politics, because ignoring it hasn’t been working out great for anyone. Culture, because it tells you more about where we’re headed than the news does. Food trends, because you deserve to know that beef tallow is making a comeback and tiramisu is officially everywhere. And entertainment, because even in complicated times the shows we watch and the stories we tell matter.
New episodes drop every Sunday. Find us wherever you’ve always found The Twist, same feed, no new subscriptions required.
— Mark & Rick
(The originals. Probably.)
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Mark McNease’s Fearsome Fiction Podcast 83: Night Flight to Murder Town – A Marshall James Thriller (Chapters 16 through 18)
Welcome to Mark McNease’s Fearsome Fiction Podcast and another three chapters of Night Flight to Murder Town: A Marshall James Thriller.
Marshall James arrives in New York and gets his first look at Muscles, the gym where he’ll be working, courtesy of Trent. He’s told the previous manager had to go away and has not been seen since. The new one, Leland, can’t quite hide his interest in Marshall. And Trent makes it clear, without raising his voice, that everyone in the room knows exactly where the lines are.
New York is a city that demands a verdict, and Marshall’s is immediate. He loves it, against his better judgment. But love doesn’t mean safety. Trapped in Trent’s luxury apartment with a man whose pager never stops buzzing and whose overseas calls carry the unmistakable sound of crime, Marshall knows he needs to run. He just needs money first, and a map.
Meanwhile, back in the future, Marshall and his husband Boo arrive at a bed and breakfast in Lambertville. Their host Kyle Callahan jokes that their room is the “murder suite” and it’s been been good for business. Marshall will soon learn the truth of it, as they explore the river town they just might move to.
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LGBT Senior’s Weekly Fun Facts: Your Garden is Listening
Did you know …
Earthworms are gardening gold. A single acre of healthy soil can contain more than a million earthworms, each one aerating the ground and turning organic matter into nutrients as it moves.
Plants can hear themselves being eaten. Research has shown that plants respond to the sound of caterpillars chewing on their leaves by producing more defensive chemicals — even when the chewing sound is just a recording.
The oldest potted plant in the world is over 240 years old. A Eastern Cape cycad has been living in a pot at Kew Gardens in London since 1775.
Talking to your plants actually helps. The Royal Horticultural Society ran a study and found that plants grow faster when spoken to — and that women’s voices produced slightly better results than men’s. No one is entirely sure why.
Carrots were originally purple. The orange carrot we know today was developed by Dutch growers in the 17th century, reportedly as a tribute to the Dutch Royal House of Orange. Before that, carrots came in purple, white, and yellow.
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The Twist Podcast 322: Annual Spring Issue, New Letters from Jo, and Rick Interviews Courtney Bryan (Part 1)
Welcome to The Twist Podcast, Episode 322. Spring has officially arrived, and Mark and Rick are celebrating the season with a jam-packed episode. We kick things off with some springtime conversation — what’s blooming, what’s buzzing, and what’s got us looking forward to warmer days ahead.
Then it’s time for the Twist Hit List, our own humble ‘must’ list, covering TV, films, books, food, and culture. Listener favorite Jo is back with a new Letter from Jo, with her trademark wisdom and humor. And in this week’s featured interview Rick talks with Courtney Bryan for Part One of a wide-ranging conversation about artificial intelligence.
All that and more on this week’s The Twist. Subscribe, share, and join the conversation.
THIS WEEK’S SURVEY
Another spring is here. What to you want to do first?
Get more active without the sweaters and thermals
Garden, plant, walk in the grass, open the windows
Clean out and start fresh (figuratively if not literally)
Nothing — I like my routine as it is
Wait impatiently for summer
Something else (please say what in the comments) -
This Week’s Savvy Senior: What Causes Dizziness and How to Fix It
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
What can cause dizziness in older adults? I have dizzy spells from time to time but I’m not sure what causes it or what I should do about it.
–Dizzy Donna
Dear Donna,
Whether it’s a moment of lightheadedness or the room-whirling sensation of vertigo, dizziness can be very unsettling. As many as 30 percent of people older than 60 experience dizziness at some point, about 50 percent after age 85.
This unpleasant sensation only rarely signifies a serious medical condition. But it can knock you off balance, leading to falls and injuries. That’s why anytime you feel dizzy, you should lower yourself to a safe, seated position. Here’s a brief rundown of what typically causes dizziness and what you can do to fix it.
What Causes Dizziness
One of the most common causes of dizziness and vertigo in older adults is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). This occurs when tiny crystals in the inner ear, which play a role in balance, become dislodged. BPPV is more likely as we get older because wear and tear can cause the crystals to shift out of place.
