A Timeless And Influential Character Assassination

20260604

Prompt from “pridemonthprompts” 2025 list.

“Hellllo hello hello! This is Queer AF FM, I’m your host River White and I’m thrilled to announce that with me today is the Carmilla Karnstein, here to talk about the fictional novel which uses her name. Thank you so much for being here, Carmilla.”
“Thank you for having me, River.” The vampire’s words were carefully crisp, seeking to avoid sounding either foreign or archaic. Not easy when you’d learned English as a second language in the 19th century.
“Now, um, before you reached out to me I had no idea this book was actually, ah, based on a real person - though from what you said the events in it are entirely fictional…”
“Yes. It was a slanderous revenge stunt. One I had hoped would fade away, but…”
“Mm.” River’s tone was sympathetic - and somewhat sheepish. “Yeah, even today it’s… I, uh, don’t want to say ‘influential’, given…”
“Believe me, I am painfully aware.”
“Oof. Right, so, I understand this is still a private matter, slander aside, but could you please tell us your side of the story?”
“Certainly. It was 1868. I met a charming young lady by the name of Emma Lucretia Le Fanu, who was visiting Styria - now Austria - while touring Europe. A very normal thing in those days, especially for an inquisitive and well-to-do woman. I hosted many such guests at my castle, which Mr Le Fanu described closely in his story.”
“He described your actual, um, home?”
“Oh yes, including such details that, if you know the general area, you can easily find it. I was forced to sell it - an immense wrench, particularly given it has been in my family for centuries, but sadly staying there was intolerable after his slander took root.”
“I’m so sorry. He, er, was it to do with this Emma…?”
“Yes. His daughter.”
“Ah.”
“We hit it off marvellously. She was delightful company, one of those people you never run out of entertaining conversation with, and… well… we turned out to have compatible tastes in women. But!”
A soft creak, as she leant forward in her studio chair. “For the record, I never forced anything on her against her will, or in her sleep. Never! I certainly had not met, much less drank her when she was a child - the idea! No. This was a pleasant dalliance between two consenting adults. I did not expect it to turn into anything more than a handful of cherished memories.”
“So, it was a summer fling?”
“It… grew more serious than that. But, you must understand, when you are immortal… giving someone you love a few years, a few decades even, you do this knowing that eventually it will all fade away. They will die. You will forget. Even for an immortal, so much of ‘living’ remains transient.”
“She, um, wasn’t interested in being a vampire?”
“No. Few are. But she wished to spend her mortal life with me, and I was very happy at the prospect. I never expected our love would be vilified in history, much less that the smear piece which ruined it would be considered a ‘bedrock of two genres’ over a century later.”
“However…” A soft, deeply pained sigh. “Her father was a successful writer who owned multiple newspapers. And he was adamantly against our relationship. Perhaps he could have forgiven his daughter falling in love with a vampire. Perhaps, even, with a woman. But he could not forgive me. So he set out to punish me, by creating a sensationalist tawdry…”
A sharp intake of breath. “I’m sorry. I, I know that for many of your listeners it may be a, a formative book…”
“I mean, probably.” River coughed and awkwardly admitted “It certainly was for me. But, ah, that was before I knew it was a petty smear piece against actual lesbians! Now I, like, would happily rip up my copy and instead read your autobiography.”
“Oh. Well, while I don’t have a biography, I do really appreciate you saying that. I don’t want to, to attack any self-discoveries which may have happened because of that… book. But it is so very painful to see it still held up as ‘excellent literature’, given the harm he did to me with it.”
“People believed it was accurate?”
“They certainly thought it was, I think these days you would call it ‘autobiographical fiction’? That there were dreadful truths within the story. Of course, it was easy for his readers to believe all sorts about someone - a vampire, particularly - living deep in an unknown country. But the book swiftly made its way to Styria and caused a dreadful stir.”
“God, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine…”
“Yes. Emma travelled home to speak with her father. We hoped that perhaps, if she appealed to him in person… but then, he died, very suddenly, of a heart attack. Which cemented the scandal. An author reveals salacious truths about a vampire and unexpectedly dies? The papers revelled. In both countries.”
“Oh no…!”
“I never heard from Emma again. I assume she chose to remain in Dublin. I don’t blame her, and I hope she had a long and happy life. I certainly could not have asked her to suffer the harassment I was put through as a result of her father’s work.”
A deep, ragged breath. “I do not wish to go into details. Suffice to say that I had to cease accepting visitors, and then when denied access some wretches went so far as to break into my home! Eventually it became too much. I sold my family estate and retired to a quiet, anonymous residence in Italy. I resolved to spend a century calming my nerves, by which point I expected the mess to have thoroughly blown over. But…”
“Oof. Yeah.”
“Yes.”
Well, thank you so much for coming on today, and I’d urge anyone listening to drop that anti-lesbian smear piece from their lit list pronto! Here’s some suggestions for modern, respectful representation you can replace it with…”

Prompt was “History”.