Vida Nocturna [Kindle Edition]

Mark D. Diehl (Author)

Book Description

Only the need will last forever.

Sara has always escaped her real-world fears by reading fantasy and horror stories. Now, as a social-phobic college freshman, she enters a dark world where horror is not supernatural and fantasy is a trap.

Evil is contagious. Victims become predators, and every predator was once just like Sara. Imagining she’d be different was her first step toward them. Now, draped in the decadent ‘80s subculture, she’s rendered helpless by powers she never imagined.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I whole-heartedly love this story. I love how the author portrays such a sad girl and her lonely journey that leads to an ending that I couldn't have guessed at."

                                 --Christy at captivatedreading.com

 

"A+"

 

"Never before have I loved, pitied, and hated a character more than Sara."

 

                               --Lizzy at Lizzy's Dark Fiction

"This book is as dark and fast paced as they come. Set in the 1980's Vida Nocturna paints a very gritting and disturbing picture of the growing underground cultures that began to expand uncontrollably around that time."

 

                                   --Ami O'Neill-March, review-world.co.uk

From the Author

I wrote "Vida Nocturna" in graduate school at the University of Chicago. As I learned about the publishing industry, it became obvious that the books corporate publishers picked up weren't necessarily good stories. The key to getting published was that the book be predictably profitable. 

 

At that time, there was tremendous pressure to write a series about vampires in love. "Twilight" had been bringing good returns on the publisher's investment and the others wanted a similar product to market. Vampires sell, and so do romances. 

 

But when authors are forced to chase the market like that, no new ideas can get in. It's a death spiral of creativity. 

 

This book was my experiment, to see how far I could stretch the idea of vampires in love and create something new. Did it have to be real love? Did the vampires have to be supernatural? 

 

I have known real vampires. They are real, you know. They're just not supernatural. 

 

Vampires are creatures with an insatiable need to fill up that space where their souls used to be. I knew people who lost their souls. In fact, this book is largely based on the life of a good friend of mine who disappeared about twelve years ago. 

 

In "Vida Nocturna," Sara, a college freshman crippled by social phobia, fantasizes that her new boyfriend is a vampire but discovers he's a cocaine addict. The scenes are short and the transitions between them are abrupt so that readers experience Sara's trepidation and sense of unreality. As she slips further into the decadent '80s subculture, she becomes, in a non-supernatural way, undead. Fantasy, horror, and reality become one. Which was the first bite that started her transition? When did the victim become the predator? 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 513 KB
• Print Length: 234 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1463554060
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005067WJQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #500,837 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sara: Loved, Hated, and Pitied June 20, 2012

By Lizzy's Dark Fiction

Format:Paperback

Never before have I loved, pitied, and hated a character more than Sara. As soon as the story begins, Sara is in trouble. She's failing all of her college courses and tries to hide this from her father, who both pays tuition and expects only the best from his daughter. And then we find out that she's involved in a vampire club. Then the books flashes back to a younger Sara and we get the first glimpse of her childhood. The first flashback is a happy one. Most of the ones that follow are not. At first, the non-lineral narration is confusing, but about a quarter into the book I was thankful for it. The present Sara is falling deeper and deeper into a fantasy world of addiction and Vampires. Some of the scenes are so intense that I want to scream at the book and the characters. Sara isn't your typical heroine. She makes very bad decisions, but worse are the people that surround her.

I think that Sara's parents are the most developed and intriguing set in any YA novel. Any child of divorced parents can vouch for the constant back and forth hatred and jealousy. Sara's father is jealous of her seemingly happy relationship with her mother and vice versa. Her parents have a huge impact on the decisions she makes and had either one of them acted like an adult, Sara might not have chosen the path she did.

Overall, this is a story about addiction. The powerlessness of addiction. This is a psychological horror in the fact that Sara loses control over herself and her life chapter by chapter. There are sections where the only relief to the darkness is the flashbacks.

The only escape for hardcore druggies is rehab, jail, or death. At different parts of the novel, I was hoping for a different one of these things. I hoped that she'd get better. I hoped that she'd get caught. I hoped that she'd find peace in death.

As for the ending, I firmly believe that she deserved it. And it scared me that I felt that way.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense and Unforgettable August 18, 2012

By justabitoutside

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

In reading "Vida Nocturna," be prepared for a unique and emotionally intense literary experience.

The author employs a disjointed structure to give readers an unsteady and disconnected feeling, thereby instilling a sense of the main character's state of mind. As the story jumps between past and present, between fantasy and reality, we are drawn ever deeper into Sara's struggle to escape the fear and loneliness that threaten to consume her completely. Each carefully sequenced scene provides new perspective on the damaging psychological trauma she has endured. We cringe at the destructive choices she makes in her desperate search for something-- anything-- to fill the emptiness in her soul. Our feelings for her swing from profound sympathy to agonizing frustration and back again, never quite knowing where to settle. Even as she becomes more and more deeply immersed in the world of drugs and addiction, we can't help but hold out more hope for her than she probably has ever had for herself.

As the darkest moments of Sara's life are depicted, the writing is especially strong and strikingly visceral. The graphic and realistic detail with which her horrific experiences are described imparts a vivid impression that we are physically present witnesses, frozen and unable to look away.

It is a powerful novel. Sara's story feels heartbreakingly real, and it is one you won't forget anytime soon.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars First Class Characters and Subtle Suspense August 8, 2012

By Florence12

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Despite a lack of high energy action or intense intrigue that might normally create a draw, I couldn't put this book down. Mark Diehl has a simplistic way of creating pace and suspense and involving you in the past, present, and future almost simultaneously. You're not sure what it is you're expecting to happen, but you're clearly waiting and knowing that something is just around the corner. The horror, however is not on the outside as much as it lives and breathes inside the characters.

Mark Diehl is remarkably skilled in portraying the psychological disorders of his characters including: Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissism, PTSD (including dissociation), and severe drug addiction. He has either been trained in mental health or personally known and observed these disorders because his nuances for them and their interactional styles are exquisite. The mother character is especially well developed. As a mental health clinician, I would encourage students in social work and psychology programs to be sure and read this engrossing book. It will leave you with solidly accurate and lasting comprehension of these disorders. The deep understanding of drug addiction and the subculture of drug abuse that Mr. Diehl shows is another hallmark of success for this first time author.

Vida Nocturna will definitely leave a mark on you as surely as its suggested vampires puncture their victims. But these vampires are not those of Anne Rice. These are the vampires that exist within and among all of us.

More About the Author

I'm Mark D. Diehl. I'm not especially happy about using the "D," as my middle name comes from my father's name and we have been estranged for ten years, but I needed to use it so I could have a unique URL. Please do visit my website, middle "D" and all, though. www.markddiehl.com

Lately on my page I've been posting the true story of how I met my wife in South Korea and got chased out of the country by her powerful family and the police and stranded in Hong Kong. I'm pleased that the story has been quite popular, and you can read it too by visiting my web page and finding "Our Story" starting at part 1. Unfortunately, that story has also led to racist hate mail and attacks on my Amazon page. When you read reviews, please consider whether the person seems to have read the book at all, or it merely making general comments intended to discredit it for no reason. Also consider the number of other books the person has reviewed -- often it's only mine -- and whether the person is a verified purchaser at all. I think you'll see a striking pattern.

Many people have asked me why I write about the darker side of life like drugs, personality disorders, abuse, neglect, and violence. I write what I know. My work is fiction but it's based on a lot of things I have personally experienced.