Twilight and The House on Black Lake - Women's Hunger for Neo-Gothic Romance - by Anastasia Blackwell
I grew up in a damp town in the Pacific Northwest, much like the one protrayed in the novel, Twilight. And, like author, Stephanie Meyer, the characters and plot of my book came from the fabric of my dreams and subconcious flights of fancy. In fact, she brought her hand to paper (or keyboard) at nearly the same time I was drawn to tell my tale. My inspiration was the experience of being rowed out and left to stay in an abandoned Victorian on an island. So terrifying, it stayed with me and germinated for many years, until I was ready to take a journey to the underworld.
Twilight is a teen's tale, written for the young adult market, yet has drawn women of all ages. My novel, The House on Blake Lake is written with the mature woman in mind - but I hope it will also be of interest to teenager girls.  Both reflect the hunger women (and many men) feel to fully experience hidden desires and powers.  During my formative years, living in a mill town on the Oregon coast, the only source of passion and drama (beyond the screen) was in church.  My passions repressed, the tortured characters in the stained glass lived out full lives - fearless, brave, strong, sensual, erotic, blessed, and tortured. There were miracles and magic, candles burning and the smells of the exotic. Their's was a world both horribly repressed and viciously carnal.  The seeds of all we wished for, but could not have,was contained in the sainted images of those gothic structures.
In this time of transformation, as institutions falter and the gatekeepers waver on the precipice, it is possible to be brave and fight one's way from the underground - in a Neo Gothic Resurrection. This is a time where the old rules can be broken and those who wish can seek to fulfill their most creative desires. The damsal in distress has been replaced by a new kind of woman - a strong and independent human being with a thirst to unite with those who will empower her. We all seek to be complete and this can only happen through our own resurrection and transformation. Truth is Beauty and Beauty Truth. In Twilight, as in The House on Black Lake, it is a woman's hunger for love and union that brings out what is most beautiful inside and gives us the strength to own our true essence.
 Our hunger is our beauty.
Anastasia Blackwell
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