Warning
Contains spoilers for Sepia and Silver, The Libelle Papers, Tragic Silence & Darkest Dreams
Although not the earliest story chronologically, Tragic Silence was the first instalment of the entire series to be written. Tragic Silence was originally written as a way for me to come to terms with my own diagnoses of the photosensitivite conditions PLE and photophobia.
The juvenile and harmless vampire characteristics were first written in a series of unrelated short stories in 2007. The first draft of Tragic Silence was begun three years later, when I combined the vampire designs with the plot from an earlier, unfinished novel. However, a reference remains to the original stories which established the vampire designs: both they and Tragic Silence feature a character named Frank Anthony. Tragic Silence was also first written following a number of personal losses which occurred in quick succession, and helped me to cope with the grief.
Two of the characters in the story - Lucy Denborough and Jonathan Calvin (Janos Kalvin) - are named after characters from Dracula by Bram Stoker: Lucy Westenra and Jonathan Harker, respectively. As in Dracula, Lucy is the vampire's first victim during the main narrative. Though Lucy invents Bianka's nickname 'Bee' as a reference to her hardworking nature, her birth name, Bianka Farkas, translates literally as 'white wolf'.
Tragic Silence makes many references to The Phantom of the Opera, with several scenes and moments of dialogue loosely inspired by the stage musical. There are homages to other pieces of classic gothic literature scattered throughout the series; namely The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker. Janos himself is a fusion of Dracula, Dorian Gray and the Phantom. Lucy and Emily's surname, Denborough, is shared with Bill and Georgie Denborough from Stephen King's It. Lucy is a homage to Georgie, as her disappearance sets the plot in motion.
In Hungary, Bianka is sometimes called "Farkas Kisasszony" ("Miss Farkas" in Hungarian). Technically, according to Hungarian naming customs, her surname should be placed before her forename (Farkas Bianka), but this was altered in the novel for the benefit of English readers. Bianka refers to the Liderc as "the flying bringer of nightmares." This is a direct reference to the Hungarian word for 'nightmare': Lidercnyomas. It literally translates as 'Liderc pressure', and is said to result from the sense of the demon sitting on one's body as they sleep. This form of the Liderc was rumoured to also drink blood from its sleeping victims, leaving them weakened.
A Liderc in Hungarian folklore can appear in several guises, but the ones in Tragic Silence are inspired by the type from the north of the country, sometimes called "ordog": literally, the devil. It is said to take the form of a long-dead loved one, is impossible to outrun, and sprinkles flames as it flies. It is able to enter homes through keyholes and by coming down chimneys, only being stopped by the burning of incense or birch wood, or by the crowing of a rooster at dawn. All forms of the demon are linked to chickens, and this is referenced in the novel via Janos's talon-like nails. Moments before falling into the crypt, Bianka notices three names on the mausoleum fronts: Blasko, Bathory and Takacs. The latter foreshadows Mirriam's resting place, but the previous two are references to historical Hungarians who left a lasting impact on vampire lore. Blasko was the surname of Bela Ferenc Dezso Blasko, professionally known as Bela Lugosi: the first actor to portray Count Dracula in sound film. Bathory was the name of the infamous Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the most prolific female murderer in history, who was said to bathe in blood to prolong her youth.
Bianka referring to Janos as "the creature" is a homage to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where the title character's creation is shunned and abandoned in spite of his sensitivity, causing him to seek revenge and become the monster which the world sees him as. Janos undergoes a similar arc to bring him to his state in Tragic Silence. When calling for an ambulance, Bianka gives her address as 11 Bukott Angyal Ucta. This street is one of the few named locations in the Tragic Silence series which is not a real place (the others being Hattyupatak, Szent Erzsebet Medical School, Weaver House, Mina's boathouse, the Haus des Giftes, the Takacs mausoleum and the Convent of Saint Elizabeth). Bianka's house number is the same as the house I was living in during the writing of the first draft. The street name itself translates to "Fallen Angel Street" as a reference to Janos.
Bianka's middle names are the same as the two people who the book is dedicated to: Katie (Katharine) and Natasha. The only difference is that they have been Magyarised - translated from an English form to a Hungarian one. Lucy's murder and Bianka's turning occur on 8th March 2005. Upon rescuing Lucy from the crypt, Bianka states that she has been missing for fifty-two days. This reveals that the date of her disappearance, and Bianka's 18th birthday, was 15th January.
Bianka's cane is loosely inspired by one which has been in my family since the time period of the Hattyupatak Final Purge (1870s). The handle being in the shape of a falcon head is a reference to Turul: the legendary entity which is said to have guided the birth of the Magyars. Part of my research for Bianka involved strapping weights onto my ankle to make myself constantly aware of my leg, and walking around my neighbourhood with a cane.
After Bianka completes her matura exams, Emily gifts her a pair of Lucy's tiger's eye earrings. This stone is believed to ward off the evil eye, provide protection, decrease anxiety, and strengthen will. Bianka's conversation with the optometrist about her light-sensitive eyes is reproduced, practically word-for-word, from my own photophobia diagnosis.
When Bianka reveals her plans about moving to London, she worries that Janos will be listening outside the window, similar to Peter Pan. This references the original idea for the 1987 film The Lost Boys, which was inspired by the idea of Peter Pan being a vampire. There are a couple of other references to Peter Pan throughout the story. Frank has a vintage poster of the Disney movie in his living room, and the chapter where he takes Bianka for a flight near Big Ben is a homage to the journey to Neverland. Additionally, in The Libelle Papers, Hanna watches Peter Pan after she helps Frank to come of age.
When Bianka reveals her plans about moving to London, she worries that Janos will be listening outside the window, similar to Peter Pan. This references the original idea for the 1987 film The Lost Boys, which was inspired by the idea of Peter Pan being a vampire. There are a couple of other references to Peter Pan throughout the story. Frank has a vintage poster of the Disney movie in his living room, and the chapter where he takes Bianka for a flight near Elizabeth Tower is a homage to the journey to Neverland. Additionally, in The Libelle Papers, Hanna watches Peter Pan after she helps Frank to come of age.
Janos's references to himself as the Angel of Death echo the truth of his past, recalling both Mirriam and Eva's moniker for him and his actions during the Hattyupatak Final Purge. Michael is named after both Michael Emerson and Michael Corvin, from The Lost Boys and Underworld, respectively; two of my favourite vampire films. His surname, Jones, is named after a close friend who has featured as Bianka on the cover artworks of all editions of Tragic Silence, and to whom Sepia and Silver is dedicated.
After Frank rescues Bianka from Finsbury Circus and she awakens in his house, Disney's Beauty and the Beast is playing on the TV. This serves as a reference to Janos's loss of humanity, and how by effectively becoming his prisoner, Bianka uncovers a way to inadvertently learn who he had once been. Additionally, at the beginning of The Libelle Papers, Beauty and the Beast was the video which Frank intended to watch with Hanna, on the day they both discovered her father in the midst of a stroke. Janos's furious interception of Bianka and Frank's kiss in Hyde Park references the last time he ever saw Mirriam alive in Where Night is Blind. He was inches from kissing her when he was interrupted and driven away by Zita: the first instance of being forcibly separated from his family by the Farkases.
Lucy's birthday is revealed to be November 13th. This was the date I first began designing the vampires for the series, in 2007. The hymn which Bianka hears in St Paul's Cathedral is Abide with Me, which asks for divine strength throughout life's trials and pains. The excerpt featured in the novel is the penultimate verse.
Michael mentions that he is studying a history module about the Crimean War. As shown in Upon the Heights of Alma, his great-great-great-great grandfather, Henry Jones, was turned into a vampire during the conflict. Speaking a demonic vampire's name will cause them great pain. The importance of names granting power is seen all over the world and dates as far back as Homer's Odyssey. In folklore, using a true name against its owner has often been used to defeat supernatural creatures.
To warm up on the guitar, Frank plays Romance. This was the piece which Hanna was practising at the Danube confluence at the beginning of The Libelle Papers. Immediately after, Frank plays Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles, as a sign of hope for Bianka. In The Libelle Papers, he communicated to Hanna in a similar way with another Beatles song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Sergeant Wilde from the London Metropolitan Police is named after Oscar Wilde: a major influence on Sepia and Silver.
In despair of her situation, Bianka attempts to kill herself by jumping off the Millennium Bridge, only to be stopped by Frank. This mirrors an event from Janos's life, shown in Where Night is Blind, when he attempted suicide by leaping from the Chain Bridge in Budapest. The library where Bianka and Frank discover Janos's victims and the Hattyupatak Final Purge is the London Library in St James's Square, Westminster.
Alexander Farkas's name literally means "the wolf who defends." This is a connection to how he believes he is protecting his country by destroying the Lidercs. Lucy's middle name is revealed to be Rebecca. This is a homage to the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, in which the title character is never seen, but her influence and presence are felt in the lives of everyone. This is echoed in how Lucy's ordeal hangs over Bianka's head throughout the entire novel.
Frank's words to Bianka, "I'll never let him hurt you. I promise," is a homage to the My Chemical Romance song Vampires Will Never Hurt You. The epitaph on Eva's sarcophagus refers to her as "tiger and lamb." This is a reference to a statement made by her husband Benjamin in Sepia and Silver, from two William Blake poems he recited for her. Although not revealed in Tragic Silence, it alludes to Eva's own struggles with vampirism during her lifetime.
Janos's fight with Frank in the crypt is loosely lifted from a scene in The Phantom of the Opera stage musical, which occurs in the cemetery between the Phantom and Raoul. Like the Phantom, Janos uses fire to intimidate Frank, and also speaks similar lines to taunt him. Bianka honouring Lucy by casting a dozen roses into the Danube is directly inspired by the song Lucy by Skillet. The place where she does so is also a stone's throw from the location where Eva, Benjamin and Norman sat after being reunited at the end of Sepia and Silver.
All three Tragic Silence novels involve casting some kind of secret into a river. In Tragic Silence, Bianka throws roses into the Danube in memory of Janos's victims; in The Libelle Papers, Hanna releases Jocelyn's body into the Main; and in Sepia and Silver, Eva and James dispose of their victims in the Mersey. In 2016, my best friend Katie (the namesake of Bianka's middle name Katalin) died at the age of 26. Afterwards, I believed I would never return to the Tragic Silence series, since it felt as though life had imitated art too closely with Bianka's loss of Lucy. However, when I did read it again three years later, I was struck not by loss, but by how much strength I had inadvertently written into Bianka's character. This gave me the inspiration and drive I needed to continue the series with Darkest Dreams in 2020.
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