Vlad walkie-talkie cues the light man; in the main room, the lights go out; the plethora of Jfay candles simultaneously go on to appreciative gasps from the audience bathed suddenly in what seems purely candlelight but cleverly includes artificial glow emanating from the ice bales stacked around the room.
Cascades of blood-like liquid flow are projected on all empty wall space, accompanied by the amplified pulse of an actual heartbeat.
(Excerpt from SUCKS! Book 1 of the DRAQUAL VAMPYRE CHRONICLES)
Since the onslaught of the DRAQUAL VAMPYRE CHRONICLES and the candles that were designed for the entire theme and story-line, I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work further with Mr. Maltese on other exciting projects and have had the honor of my candles as well as myself, in my Jfay persona, make appearances in subsequent story-lines.I'd like to share this candle and story-line adventure with you as we have traveled with Mr. Maltese thus far........
I’m expecting an old crone, candle-making seeming to insinuate black-magic or even witchery. I’m pleasantly surprised by Jfay, wax artisan, who is an attractive woman, late thirties, with an absolutely charming southern accent, “Y’all come on in.” Her brown hair is perfectly coiffed. Her eyes are dark chocolate. Her lips are colored with just a hint of pale red. “I thought we could have cold Coronas and jalapeño snacks while we discuss the candle in question.
Our chairs are grouped around a round coffee table upon which sits opened beer bottles punctuating a bed of ice cupped within a large punch bowl parenthesized by two smaller bowls almost overflowing with spicy home-made chips.
“You’ve a candle color definitely in mind?” she asks and drinks some of her beer straight from the bottle.
“I’m thinking black, maybe representing the dark and the unknown but, to be quite candid, I’m not quite sure why I think it should be black; just that it should be,” Kenneth says. “If you can, please, include at least some brown, since I have an unmistakable feeling that those we seek are buried in the ground. You might slip in a bit of white by way of insinuating my hoped-for enlightenment.”
(Excerpt from BLACK CANDLE READER, in MLR Press' anthology LOVE ME DEAD)
FLICKER has been an on-going adventure traveled with Mr. Maltese that is set in Washington in the town of Flicker and centers around teenagers who possess many powers, one of which is Candle-Reading, and there are candles that are written into the story that possess certain powers and hold the keys to answers sought by the Flicker heroes and heroines. There have been a total of 5 candles designed and brought to life for Book 1, now ready to go into print after a nearly year long run of free chapter postings on the Flicker Warrior Myspace page. It has been a tremendous treat to have the opportunity to bring these special candles to life --It all began in the past........
Uxana hurriedly handmolds a candle made of scraps of wax from other candles being careful to choose mainly the purple wax in which to contact Melissa, a Candle Reader, in the future.....
Uxana and Melissa make contact through their candles, one living far in the distant past, the other now in the future, breaking beyond the boundaries of time.
Their two candles, Uxana's crudely made purple candle, and Melissa's blue candle fuse into one spectacular candle and their scents combine in a BERRY SPICE FUSION, a magickal blend of Blueberries, Mulberry, Black Cherry and Clove....
(Flicker Warriors)
And from FLICKER to "Ludus Scaenicus Mortis Rubrae", which is a short story featured in MLR Press' Anthology, RED, a clever homage to Edgar Allen Poe’s infamous The Masque of the Red Death, which puts two handsome and horny aristocratic young male lovers among a company of ill-fated revelers locked within the castellated walls of Prince Prospero’s fortified abbey … the latter with rooms a-flicker with Mistress Jfay’s candles:
The progress of each and every is impeded by the many twists and turns of the Abbey’s rabbit-warren maze of rooms, tiny and big … corridors, wide and narrow … between us and the Imperial Suite. The lighting that accompanies our journey is just as erratic as the interior landscape we traverse. Some spaces have so little that they require either a familiarity or an actual dragging of a hand along one wall to make a successful crossing from one side to the other. In bizarre counterpoint, one of the smallest has seven very impressively large deep-red candles, each a-droll with red-orange wax, and smelling — to my surprise at Mistress Jfay, Candle-maker to the Prince, and me possibly sharing a similar passion — of blood-red oranges; the septet’s combined candle power is sufficient to illuminate a whole auditorium.
So, where shall our adventures take us next?
Well, I've designed a Mysterious and Magical Candle which possesses the captured soul of an avenging warrior meant to be a beautiful, yet deadly wedding gift for an evil king, as well as numerous other candle renderings designed to accompany many other Maltese works of genius.
Just recently I've learned that Jfay candles will be making yet another appearance soon in a new Maltese work in progress titled, I DEBAUCHEE -- So be sure to stay tuned for this one -- And it is not to be for the faint of heart from what I've been privileged to see. It is going to be a stunning Maltese no holds barred masterpiece, I'm sure!
To take a tour of all of the Maltese/Jfay Book and Candle pairings, be sure to visit the MALTESE CANDLE GALLERY: http://www.studio3bonline.com/maltesecandlegallery.htm
You can also visit the fabulous Mr. Maltese online at http://www.williammaltese.com
Join us for all of the excitement of FLICKER WARRIORS at http://www.myspace.com/flickerwarriors
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