#bitter waters

[these-bitter-waters]

Sienna Sienna

Not her place

@kuwwukie

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Seventh Seal

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.

Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.

Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

And the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.

Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter like wormwood oil, and many people died from the bitter waters.

Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck. A third of the stars were darkened, a third of the day was without light, and a third of the night as well.

And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!” — Revelation 8 | The Reader's Bible (BRB) The Reader’s Bible © 2020 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. All rights Reserved. Cross References: Exodus 7:17; Exodus 9:23; Exodus 10:21; Exodus 19:16; Exodus 30:1; Exodus 30:3; Leviticus 16:12; Numbers 7:62; Psalm 141:1; Isaiah 2:16; Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 14:12; Isaiah 28:2; Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:25; Jeremiah 51:25; Ezekiel 2:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Zechariah 4:10; Zechariah 13:8-9; Matthew 18:10; Matthew 26:17; Matthew 27:66; Revelation 3:10; Revelation 5:1; Revelation 6:13

[lauralot89]

wwwwwwhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyy is Bitter Waters only available as an eBook?

That's the one I want on my shelf most! There's a Dracula in it!

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Even now you mark my steps Lovely bitter water All the days of our delights are poison in my veins I know I shouldn't love you I know

Getting rekt by Bitter Waters

[voyaging-too]

I really enjoyed Vivian Shaw's Bitter Waters as a sweet, almost plotless hurt-comfort slice-of-life story about vampires and other undead creatures living their lives. But I enjoyed it even more as a piece of subtle horror that the characters themselves are blind to.

The plot goes: someone breaks the rule of vampires, and turns a child, then abandons her. Our protagonists nurse Lucy, the vampire child back to health, and try to find out who attacked her and why. They enlist the help of the informal head of vampires Count Dracula himself, who gives the information they gathered to his international network of contacts, and unmasks the evil secret society that is responsible, the perpetrator is killed offscreen. In the meantime, it becomes clear that Count Dracula would like to have a child, has grown really fond of Lucy, and she likes him too, so he adopts her. Happy ending.

But I was hearing alarm bells from the first hint that Dracula would like to have a child.

I think the real plot goes: Count Dracula wants to have a child, a vampire child. He selects someone, a sweet, smart little girl, a lonely girl in foster care: nobody will miss her, and she will miss nobody. A girl named Lucy, how nostalgic. But respectable vampires don’t turn children, so he uses a lackey, a disposable asset. The story about the secret society may or may not be true: the protagonists’ investigation is largely based on clues extracted from Lucy under hypnosis by Dracula himself. It is stated multiple times that Dracula has extremely strong mind control powers, even over other vampires. That even while he’s portrayed as a benevolent, trustworthy authority figure, all lesser vampires are terrified of him, and then pretend that fear is respect, that they just crave his approval. Lucy is going home to the man who had her turned, and the protagonists are not allowed to perceive this.

(But I've already posted about how how the plot of Dracula would still makes sense if Helsing was also a vampire, or if Helsing was *the* vampire, so maybe this is my genre, or maybe I have issues with benevolent paternal authority.)

[aces-and-blackberry-blossoms]

Bitter Waters, by Vivian Shaw

Greta Helsing short story!!I adore this series and was hoping for more after Grave Importance. This really should be read after the main trilogy. Greta is enjoying an evening at Dark Heart House with her new husband, vampyre Sir Francis Varney,  and their sort of ward, Emily, vampire and supernatural veterinarian student, when a creature arrives at their house with a little girl who had been…

[darklingichor]

Bitter Waters, by Vivian Shaw

Greta Helsing short story!!

I adore this series and was hoping for more after Grave Importance. This really should be read after the main trilogy.

Greta is enjoying an evening at Dark Heart House with her new husband, vampyre Sir Francis Varney, and their sort of ward, Emily, vampire and supernatural veterinarian student, when a creature arrives at their house with a little girl who had been turned into a vampire and dumped in the woods.

The creature is a barrow-wight. Far from Tolkien's interpretation of her species, she is simply trying to get the child somewhere safe.

Lucy is an orphan who has been in multiple foster homes. She was taken by a vampire during a school trip to Stonehenge, turned and abandoned. She is all of ten years old.

This is an abdominal thing to do and it pisses all of our favorite Sanguinvores off to no end. They are all taken with Lucy. She is sweet, smart and is resilient as all get out. Ruthven especially takes on a fatherly role. Varney wants to track down the vampire that turned her. Greta and Ruthven, while in agreement are more concerned about how best to help give Lucy the most stable version of life possible. Grisaille, of course just hangs out with her watching The Great British Bake Off and answering questions the others are too preoccupied to answer. All of this (well, except for the Bake Off) gets Count Dracula involved.

This is an interesting story, you think that its going to be a case of our heros tracking down this asshole vampire and taking him down. Instead what you get is a look into the structure of Sanguinvore culture and a really cool peek inside Ruthven's head. And when Lucy, a insatiable reader gets a library and iPad free pass... let's just say that all of our characters classic literature connections are discovered to various levels of embarrassment.

I enjoyed the hell out of this, and the fact that it leaves a door cracked open for more stories is a fantastic bonus!

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: A witty, charming standalone novella starring Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, who must get to the bottom of a mystery involving a newly turned child vampire. 

A barrow-wight shows up on Greta and Varney’s doorstep one night with 11-year-old Lucy Ashton who’s been newly—and forcefully—bitten and turned. Who did this to her, and why? With the help of her vampiric friends, Greta is determined to find out.

Review:

A witty and charming story that is a fresh take on Dracula featuring Greta Helsing, a doctor to the undead who has to figure out who has turned an 11 year old Lucy into a vampire! This was a really cute read and i thought it was such an interesting take. It's got some of the classic characters but with a whole new perspective and the overall story itself was short and sweet. It's a fun time to read and I would absolutely recommend it!

*Thanks Netgalley and Orbit Books | Orbit for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*