Rebekah Armusik book signing of ‘Memoirs of a Gothic Soul,’ Sat., Nov. 6, 7 p.m., Barnes & Noble (421 Arena Hub Plaza, Wilkes-Barre); Sat., Nov. 13, 1 p.m., Emporium of Curious Goods (15 Broadway, Jim Thorpe); Sat., Dec. 4, Barnes & Noble (7 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre); Info: www.rebekaharmusik.com
Vampires are immortal. In more ways than one.
Every time it looks like the bloodsucking fiends are finally going to crawl back into their crumbling crypts for good, they explode into the pop cultural consciousness with renewed resonance. Whether in the form of those sanguinary savages from “30 Days of Night,” the brooding sex addicts on “True Blood” or the sparkling teen heartthrobs in “Twilight,” it doesn’t really matter if they can’t go into the sunlight. They’re quite content basking in the limelight instead.
Rebekah Armusik knows this fact all too well. She has been playing “mistress of the dark” to these “creatures of the night” for years.
“I’ve always been consumed with vampirism,” she says, “ever since I was a little girl.”
Armusik, who currently lives with her spouse — acclaimed artist Eric Armusik — and three children in Hamburg, Pa., grew up in Wilkes-Barre. Now, as the proud author of the book “Memoirs of a Gothic Soul” — which she will be signing at the Wilkes-Barre Arena Hub Barnes & Noble on Saturday, Nov. 6, the Emporium of Curious Goods in Jim Thorpe on Saturday, Nov. 13, and the downtown Wilkes-Barre Barnes & Noble on Saturday, Dec. 4 — she explains that the roots of her debut novel can be traced back there, to her childhood.
With Armusik growing up in a neighborhood that she describes as “predominantly Slavic,” with Slavic blood flowing through her own veins, and pairing that with her Catholic schooling at King’s College, it’s easy to see where much of the inspiration for Armusik’s “Memoirs” came from. The story’s mythos is, as Armusik explains, a hybridization of age-old Slavic folklore and Judeo-Christian mysticism.
Mind you, Armusik has used her own life as inspiration in other ways as well. Originally envisioned as an autobiographical exploration of her youth and Slavic heritage, Armusik began writing “Memoirs of a Gothic Soul” when she was a literature major in college, though she remarks that elements of the finished story go back even farther than that, to her teen years.
In any case, what initially began as a work of nonfiction was eventually re-imagined as a sprawling epic of gothic horror, fantasy and romance. One thing that stayed the same, however, was Armusik’s heroine: herself.
Written in the first person and with the main character’s personality based, she says, 100 percent on her own, the protagonist of “Memoirs,” named Nadija, is a thinly veiled surrogate for Armusik herself.
In the book, Nadija, a college graduate with a degree in literature, decides to head off to Prague to research her Slavic ancestors. Once there, she unexpectedly finds herself embroiled in a centuries-old struggle for the soul of the world. It is a struggle involving fallen angels, vampires and an ancient lineage of planetary protectors, called “Guardians,” who can trace their bloodline all the way back to Adam’s first wife, Lilith. Though an unlikely heroine, Nadija finds she will play a key role in the battle between good and evil.
The tale doesn’t end there, though. Armusik says that “Memoirs of a Gothic Soul” is merely the first book in what will be a 13-part series. With “Memoirs” having already sold out of its first printing, the second book, “Mariposa,” slated for a 2011 Valentine’s Day release, book three written, book four in the process of being written and the rest of the series already plotted out in detail, Armusik is confident that nothing will keep her epic vision from seeing fruition.
As if that weren’t enough, Armusik also explains that she’s got big plans for the future. One such big plan includes the creation of her own independent publishing firm, an outgrowth of her D.I.Y. entrepreneur approach to the release of “Memoirs of a Gothic Soul.”
“I had decided a long time ago that I wasn’t even going to try to seek out an actual publisher,” she says. “I knew that what I had was original and different. ... I figured, if you’re driven and you’re smart and you have connections, you really don’t need (a mainstream publisher). Because essentially what you’re looking for is for them to make connections for you. Why can’t you do that yourself? Some people can.”
Thus, armed with her own abilities as a storyteller, her husband’s experience as a painter and promoter, her brother’s career as an attorney and her literary agent’s can-do attitude and P.R. prowess, Armusik eyes the horizon hungrily. But not without keeping her roots in sight.
“No matter what,” she says, “my audience is still in Wilkes-Barre. There’s nobody like those people in the world.”
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