Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: The Countess of Saint-Germain

By Denise Dumars     December 08, 2000

Come Twilight is Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's thirteenth novel based on the adventures of the vampire Saint-Germain, first seen in Hotel Transylvania. A far cry from the satanic Count Dracula, Saint-German seems based on the idea that with age comes wisdom. Thousands of years old, he has previously been seen in a variety of period settings, providing the author with an ageless, immortal point of view from which to observe (in most cases) real people and real events. I sat down to chat with Yarbro, who goes by Quinn, to chat about her works of fiction and non-fiction, and especially her latest novel, which takes place over 500 years of Spanish history.

Quinn states that this book will explain a few things about Spain. 'What I mean is that Spain is a bit of an anomaly among Western European countriesand that there are historical reasons for this anomalous state, such as the long Moorish period, and that of the Visigoths before them. Unlike most of Europe, the barbarians [our friends the Goths!] stayed in Spain rather than use it for a raiding base as did the Ostrogoths in Italy.'

The book takes place primarily in Catalonia. Visigoths, Moors, Jews, and Romans are mentioned in the book, but not the Celts or whatever other indigenous people who lived there. Csimenae, the woman who is the book's focus, belongs to a group that uses horses for ritual purposes. This seems very Gaulish, very Celtic. 'Csimenae is a member of one of the indigenous tribes of that area, and so is pre-Roman, pre-Visigothic, and non-Byzantine in her culture,' Quinn explains. 'The various tribes of that region worshipped horses and used them ritualistically.'

Saint-Germain, faced with a difficult choice, opts to turn Csimenae into a vampire, but does not bring her into his intimate circle. 'She wants no part of it,' Quinn says. 'She doesn't believe in intimacy, and that isn't something that can be forced. As much as Saint-Germain may be dismayed by Csimenae, he respects her and will not force his convictions, or himself, on her.'

Saint-Germain seems powerless to stop her reign of terror once it gets underway. 'He has a bond with hershe refuses to have one with him, and that means he has his hands tied in dealing with her. She is also highly competitive and sees him as the ultimate opponent.'

This is not what Saint-Germain had in mind at all. Even a 2,000 year old vampire can make mistakes once in awhile, it seems. For newbies to the Saint-Germain mythos, Quinn gives the following history of her character: 'He became a vampire though a religious rite in about 2100 BC in the Carpathians. He is proto-Etruscan royalty, and was born at the Winter Solstice, which marked him for priestly service since birth. As a vampire, he is burned by sunlight, cannot cross running water (tides count as running water) unless he has his native earth in the soles of his shoes. He does not eathe can't because he was killed by disembowelingand does not have a reflection or a clear photographic image. He can be killed by destroying his nervous system: breaking his spine, burning, or beheading. In addition to being a vampire, he is an alchemist and a practitioner of the healing arts.'

Saint-Germain has a servant named Rogerian, who is not a vampire but rather a ghoul, a reanimated corpse of another kind, which has its mythic origins in Arabic folklore. 'Rogerian was dead and Saint-Germain brought him back to life through an alchemical process. He eats only freshly-killed meat and has increased endurance beyond that of living people. He has a reflection and can cross running water or walk in the sun without problems.'

The epistolary formthat is, the device of telling the story entirely or partially in the form of lettersis a big part of the structure of the Saint-Germain series. 'From the first I decided to make these epistolary novels,' Quinn says. 'It was a way to get a lot of exposition on the page with an expository lump!' she laughs.

The real Saint-Germainthe historical figureformed the basis for the fictional version. Therefore, he and Quinn's Saint-Germain have a lot in common: 'He wears black and white, claims to be provisionally immortal, speaks over a dozen languages, claims to be between 2- and 4,000 years old, never eats or drinks in public, is a known alchemist, is wealthy but the wealth is of unknown origin, is a talented musician and patron of the arts, claims to keep his apparent longevity by drinking the Elixir of Life,' she says.

The Saint-Germain novel previous to this one is called Communion Blood. 'As to the Blood titles on my books,' Quinn explains, 'my previous two editors wanted some form of the word 'Blood' in the title. The editor before them wanted some form of the word 'Dark' in the titles! And my current editor is not so dogmatic, which is why the current book is called Come Twilight and the next one is called A Feast in Exile.' The later will be out in October, 2001.

Saint-Germain does not kill his 'victims' (hardly the right word). For him, the act of taking blood is one of intimacy, accompanied by erotic dreams. However, he does not do a lot of blood-drinking and erotic dream-giving in this novel. 'It isn't that kind of a story,' she says. 'It's about what happens when intimacy is denied, not what happens when it occurs. There are some nice erotic scenes in A Feast in Exile, by the way, where they do fit very well.'

Quinn recently published a trilogy of novels built on the stories of the three wives of Dracula. Called The Sisters of the Night trilogy, these are books Quinn would rather not talk about, since she is very unhappy about they way they were edited for publication. Some readers might be surprised to learn that, sometimes, a writer doesn't have a say as to just how the content of her books is handled. 'The editor-packager had reserved the right to 'rectify' the books, which is a usual clause in such contracts since they often involve multiple writers. The editor-packager used the clause to justify rewriting the books along more 'commercial' lines,' she explains. (Apparently a believer in 'truth in advertising,' Yarbro carried a little rubber stamp with her to book signings for the first of this trilogy, marking each one, as she signed it, with the words '20% of this novel was cut or rewritten by the editor.')

The 14th Saint-Germain book will be out next year, and Quinn tells us that Stealth Press will begin reprinting the first four Saint-Germain novels in hardcover, beginning with Hotel Transylvania, the first Saint-Germain novel, in January of 2001. Hotel Transylvania was originally published in 1978, a year which also saw publication of her science fiction novel False Dawn, a dark and striking post-apocalypse tale. Asked why she left science fiction for horror fiction, Quinn replies. 'Basically, the SF market shifted toward hard science on the one hand, and 'lit'rary' SF on the other, which didn't make much of a slot for the kind of writing I do. I would very much like to write more SF, and have in a number of guises, but the market tended to define itself away from my interests,' she explains. 'I'm delighted to have False Dawn finally coming back into print. It's proved fairly durable with readers, and I think I may find a whole new audience now, some of whom weren't born yet when the book first appeared. Scary thought, that!'

What's next for Saint-Germain? 'My agent is negotiating on #15 even as we speak,' she says. 'It will take place from CE 796-802 in Europe, meaning, of course, that it will involve Karl-lo- Magne (Big Charlie, or Charlemagne).'

When Hotel Transylvania is reissued, will readers who did not start at the beginning be at all surprised at the actions or personality of the Saint-Germain of that novel? 'I certainly hope not!' she says. 'I'd like to think I've covered most of the bases. I'd also, and paradoxically, like to think my writing as improved in the last 23 years, and this is kind of an acid test. Of course, Hotel Transylvania uses material about the real man and some of his activities at the French court. You might be surprised at the cover, which is really gorgeous, unlike the original covers, hardcover and paperback, both of which make me cringe!'

Just what is it (as I always ask vampire writers and fans) about vampires that continues to capture the imagination? 'Provisional immortality is always intriguing, as is the highly ambiguous nature of vampires,' she says. 'Jung had a lot to say on these very old archetypes, and I think most of his observations are...well...germane to the genre.'

Groaning puns aside, Quinn names Bram Stoker and Sheridan le Fanu her faves among vampire writers. 'The thing is, I have no favorite author as such, except Shakespeare. Christopher Moore is a lot of fun, and Tim Powers is always intriguing, no matter what he's writing about. I like a lot of work by many different authors, but I rarely rank them, a tendency that increases the older I get.'

Quinn explains what makes for a good vampire story, in her opinion. 'I think respect for the archetype and internal consistency of vision are probably the most important factors in dealing with any mythic characters,' she says. 'I grew up reading genre stuff, and anything else I could get my hands on! Dr. Seuss was once significant early influence,' she says without irony, 'and Lewis Carroll. As to writing, I found out when I was four or five that writing could be a profession, and I thought then that's what I wanted to do. In my teens and twenties I wrote plays, but I found publishedrather that performedwork a lot more gratifying. I still do.'
Quinn writes short stories as well as novels. Asked to name a couple of her personal favorites, she replies, 'I'm very partial to 'The Fellini Beggar.' 'Renewal' is my favorite of the Saint-Germain short stories. The thing of it is, I'm not a very good judge of my own work, and that goes for shorter works as well as novels.'

As with author Richard Matheson, with whom I did an earlier interview, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro studies metaphysics, and has written nonfiction books about an entity named Michael, who came through the ouija board one day. She also reads Tarot cards and palms. Asked about the Michael material, she explains:



'Michael is actually a 'them', which is a grammatical nightmare. They are a collective consciousness that communicate through mediums (media?), five of whom I've worked with, along with the group I write about, for the last 22 years. I've put a lot of their material into the four Michael books (Messages From Michael, More Messages From Michael, Michael's People, and Michael For the Millennium), and there is a lot more besides. What continued to impress me is that over the last 22 years, and through five different mediums, the material remains consistent, including their chaotic grammar. For those who think I made it upI'm smart, but not that smart, and my syntax is a lot better! Michael is/are Michael, and their point of view is definitely not mine, no matter how fascinating I find it.'

Clearly Quinn's imagination is finding numerous outlets, and that's good news for her fans. It seems there's something here for a variety of readers, from vampire fiction fans to SF fans to those who enjoy New Age books. And it looks as if Quinn intends to keep her readers satisfied for a long time to come, which is good news for fans of a certain urbane, charming, and extremely well- traveled vampire.