V.I.L.E: Readers of Violent Indefensible Lust and Evil

Their next kiss was always a page away… Drawn into the dangerous world of banned books by a girl he’s not meant to have, a young servant's life begins to mimic the books he reads. Games of Great Expectation play out behind closed doors. Star-crossed lovers die poetic deaths. A vampire delivers a painful kiss.

Hadley and Lucinda are forced to hide their friendship under loose floorboards and in words written in maple syrup on dirty plates. Through their love affair with books, the pair sets out to create a place where the barriers between the social classes are vanquished with the turn of a page. A nominee on the preliminary ballot for a Bram Stoker Award, this critically acclaimed short story is the basis for the Amazon bestseller The Reading Lessons.

Pulitzer Prize nominated author Thomas Sullivan has said of Lanham's work: "The complexities of a Carole Lanham story get filtered and focused through simple perspectives, leaving you, the reader, the choice of just going with the flow or savoring the underlying depth as far as you dare descend. Exactly how she accomplishes this remains an enchantment of her art."

"Many years ago, when the world and I were both more innocent, I attended a performance of Maxwell Anderson's "The Bad Seed" and remember being shaken by the concept of an innately evil child. Carole Lanham's story evokes a similarly chilling response, as Lucinda introduces her willing victim Hadley to a new twist in literary explorations. They begin, prosaically enough, by sharing the "naughty bits" in Lucinda's books. Hoping to retain and perhaps escalate Lucinda's interest, a mesmerized Hadley seeks ever more thrilling books to share. Reading can be hazardous to your health; I'm afraid Hadley may not survive the next one."  
~ Janice Clark  Tangent Short Fiction Review