I’m fascinated by the idea of camouflage. We all develop our own versions of camouflage, whether in terms of behaviour, language or belief systems. Keats revised the original myth of Lamia, undoubtedly influenced at least in part, by Coleridge’s earlier lesbian vampire romp, Christabel. Critcs sometimes argue he ‘defanged’ the original Lamia, but surely he made her far more interesting and less two dimensional horror figure invented by misogynists?
The exercise of summarising a story in a couple of ‘elevator’ sentences is very helpful as it focuses the mind and brings what is important to the surface for acknowledgement.
Why survive your life by not living it? Magical Adventuress and serpent-woman, Lamia Burton escapes the safety of a camouflaged life, only to be pursued by her species’ deadliest enemies, The Historian and The Amber Collector.
