# ID this book - also, this short story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557 "2005-05-12T13:44:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/1 "2005-05-12T13:44:44Z")
I don’t have much on the book. Years ago, in the late 70s, I was waiting at the library for my mom to come pick me up when a book on a table caught my eye. I picked it up and read one chapter, then Mom showed up, and since I’d already checked out my books, I left this one on the table. The book opens in a movie theater. There’s a vampire and he’s either looking for a victim, or has just found one. I believe the victim was male. Yep, that’s about all I got. I do recall the cover was either solid white or silver and had a single drop of blood illustrating it, either dripping from an embossed eye or an embossed fang. When I thought about the book later, I was almost convinced the title was The Vampire Chronicles, but looking for that led me to Anne Rice (which I read and enjoyed, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.) * * * On the short story, I’m a little better. A woman is doing some special eye exercises to improve her memory - possibly the exercises were developed by her husband. In the process, she awakens long-forgotten memories of her childhood, when she could see pixies, elves and fairies. One scene I remember fairly vividly has her in a bathtub conversing with a nixie in the drain. * * * Any ideas, Dopers? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/2 "2005-05-12T15:49:22Z")
The short story sounds like something I read recently, only as I remember it, the woman kept hearing something in the bathroom and was eventually able to trap the creature, which was a very small mermaid, and she kept it as sort of a pet. I’m searching around but I haven’t found it yet. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/3 "2005-05-12T18:01:30Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > The short story sounds like something I read recently, only as I remember it, the woman kept hearing something in the bathroom and was eventually able to trap the creature, which was a very small mermaid, and she kept it as sort of a pet. I’m searching around but I haven’t found it yet. I don’t think there was a mermaid in this one. There may have been a young son, and I think there was also a pregnancy sub-story to it. Maybe the nixie in the tub tells the woman she’s pregnant? Something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/4 "2005-05-12T18:06:45Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > The book opens in a movie theater. There’s a vampire and he’s either looking for a victim, or has just found one. I believe the victim was male. Yep, that’s about all I got. I do recall the cover was either solid white or silver and had a single drop of blood illustrating it, either dripping from an embossed eye or an embossed fang. Could it be “They Thirst,” by McCammon? (1981) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/5 "2005-05-12T18:12:07Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > Could it be “They Thirst,” by McCammon? (1981) Nope. Too recent. This was definitely in print by the late 70s, because we moved from Chicago in 1980, and I was reading it in a Chicago public library. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/6 "2005-05-13T04:06:15Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Nope. Too recent. This was definitely in print by the late 70s, because we moved from Chicago in 1980, and I was reading it in a Chicago public library. Shoot. Your description of the book cover really snagged in my head, because I remember a book with that cover, but I can’t connect it with a title or story. I guess I associated it with “They Thirst” in some synapsial misfire. I hunted around online (which I’m sure you’ve already done) just now, but I can’t really come up with any good leads. I’ll keep thinking (I can’t help it), and maybe I’ll get it sometime in the near future. If you haven’t read “They Thirst,” though, I recommend it. It’s one of my favorite books from that era. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/7 "2005-05-13T04:18:09Z")
I’m not sure about McCammon. I was pretty young when I read Bethany’s Sin and I’m not entirely certain it didn’t traumatize me for life! I exaggerate, a bit, but I do remember that one scaring the everlovin’ daylights out of me. It was like a reverse Stepford Wives in some ways. Anyhoo, back to the vampire thing - I’ve discovered that part of the problem in identifying this book is that so damn many vampire novels have similar titles. The Vampire This or The Vampire That, whether it’s a given name (Lestat, Vivian) or a description (Chronicles, Papers) - and about sixty-gabillion of them are Blood Something. I wish I could remember somthing more about this book! No other takers on the short story either, huh? Man, I’d hate to be the Person Who Stumped The Dopers! ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/8 "2005-05-13T19:25:21Z")
Normally I wouldn’t make a wild guess here, but since no one has come up with anything else, I’m going to take a leap and say the short story sounds like something by Daphne du Maurier. I do know of a story she wrote about a woman having an eye operation, and subsequently having visions involving her caretakers and husband. It’s not the story you mention, but it sounds sort of similar, thematically. Does that ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/9 "2005-05-14T00:16:23Z")
No, 'fraid not. I’m almost certain the short story was in a SF or fantasy anthology, perhaps in the early to mid 80s. Thanks, though. I’ll keep looking! ---
**Author:** ![Spiriting\_Lightly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Spiriting\_Lightly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiriting_Lightly)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/10 "2005-05-14T02:00:54Z")
Hi, **Life** : **The Vampire Tapestry** , by Suzy McKee Charnas might be the novel. Scroll down to the bottom of [this page](http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook1634.htm) to read – reread, I hope! – the opening paragraphs from the first chapter. Nothing about this book quite maps to your description: the original cover was black and white with red letters; it was published in December, 1980 though a review copies may have fallen into the library before winter; the first scene may mention movies but it is not set in a theater; but, but, but . . . . Maybe it’s the one. And if it’s not, at least you’ll eliminate one in about six gazillion Google listings. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-book-also-this-short-story/303557/11 "2005-05-14T02:57:11Z")
> [@Spiriting Lightly](#): > > Hi, **Life** : > > **The Vampire Tapestry** , by Suzy McKee Charnas might be the novel. This MIGHT be the right book… or it might be a book I read while LOOKING for the book I mentioned! Either way, thank you tremendously for coming up with the title - I’m going to check and see if my library has this, and if it does, I’ll see if much more of it is familiar. Cheers!