Action Pulp!

By Kim Marie Farris

How did I come up with the idea of “Mr. V.”, you ask?

It started a few years ago when I wrote for ACED Magazine.  During the October issue, I wrote a very short horror story, “DINNER IS SERVED”.  Fast forward years later, my story was to be a part of the vampire anthology.  Knowing I had to expand the story, I really wanted to dig deep into who this vampire was. 

Hmmm….

There was something at that moment which reminded me of when I portrayed the ghost of “The Lady in Black” on History Channel’s “Haunted History: Haunted Hollywood”.  I learned there was a woman many years ago who would visit Rudolph Valentino’s grave and lay roses every day.  Rumour had it that it was one of Mr. Valentino’s lovers, but no one knew for sure.  The interesting thing about my experience playing this character is visiting Mr. Valentino’s grave.  It wasn’t a grave.  There was no headstone. Rudolph Valentino is buried in a crypt in the corner of the Hollywood Forever Cathedral Mausoleum.  This was supposed to be only temporary, yet almost 100 years later, he was never moved to his own gravesite.  

This intrigued me.  

Why was he placed there in the first place? Why wasn’t he moved to a dedicated site?  He was the hottest actor of his time, “The World’s Greatest Lover”.  Why on Earth was he cast away in the corners of a mausoleum?  

Then it hit me.  

There is no gravesite because there IS NO BODY!  At least, that is how my story originated.  Rudolph Valentino’s body was never buried. Rudolph Valentino made a “deal with the devil” to stay forever young, at a cost.  He traded his youth, his beauty, for immortality.  In return, Rudolph Valention became a monster. Rudolph Valentino became a vampire!!

I had trepidation, so I ran it by a dear friend who is a fellow horror writer.  He is not only a bestselling author and my mentor, but also someone I rely on and trust.  I asked him and only him, “What if….?” He said, “Ooh! Go for it.”

With all the research on the women and men in his life, his dog, and the car he drove, I created another world.  I researched who his friends were, including a family friend who may have been “The Lady in Black”.  I wanted to narrow it down to a particular time in his life. The result was a historical fiction story about one of the most famous men in cinema history. With that, I created Trudy, the ingenue from a small town, just wanting to make it in the big city. I had so much fun writing that entire scene!  I wanted to show her naivete and vulnerability—the relationship she had with her mother. I remember as I wrote the vampire attack, my fingers couldn’t type fast enough. I was in a sort of trance, seeing every little detail. My favorite part is Trudy envisioning her mother, then that vision morphs to a horrific image of the monster Rudolph has become!

Readers have told me, through my story, that they want more.  I have been asked if it is possible to write an entire novel. Absolutely!  I have done so much research that I can go back as far as when he arrived in the United States and landed in Hollywood. I already have in mind when and how his life changed forever.  

It has also been mentioned that I should make a short film of this story.  I won’t lie. It has crossed my mind. In fact, I already have two men in mind to play Mr. Valentino. As a writer and director, this would certainly be an amazing opportunity.  

Will I write a novel? Will I make it a short film? Maybe…

Until then, enjoy “Mr. V.” in THE BLOOD RUNS DEEP!

-Kim Marie Farris

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MR. V

By Kim Marie Farris

(Excerpt from Mr. V in The Blood Runs Deep)

AUGUST 23, 1926

“Lies! Lies! It’s all a lie!” 

Marion cried out as she threw the newspaper on the floor.  The pages shuffled, but the headline could be partially read: “…DEAD AFTER 8 DAYS OF ILLNESS.  RELAPSE IS FATAL TO FAMOUS STAR OF SCREEN WORLD” “It is not possible. I have been with him in the hospital for the last eight days. I don’t understand.”

Marion paced back and forth uneasily in her dressing room. “I am so sorry,” said a young woman sitting at one of the make-up mirrors.  “You don’t understand!  You can’t understand! We were supposed to be married!” Marion’s eyes filled with tears; mascara ran down her cheeks.

“Oh, Marion, I had no idea you and Mr. V…” “Well, we WERE!  Pola can say she was going to marry him all she wants, but I got him first! What am I going to do without him? We were supposed to be together. No one else. Just me and him.  Now he’s gone!”

Marion collapsed onto her sofa.

“Marion! Somebody! Call a doctor!”

Continued in The Blood Runs Deep (now available on Amazon).