Every story about Gilda I read just draws me further and further in. That we’re circling into more “modern” times with this piece really starts to bring attention the unique point of view she has, and the empathy Gilda displays in this particular story was phenomenal. Basically, if you’ve never read The Gilda Stories, consider this my third reminder to grab it and do so.
In “Rosebud Missouri: 1921,” we find Gilda once again alone (in the sense she’s not with any of her own vampiric kind), though not completely isolated. She owns a farm, has a good friend (the widow of a priest) and is watching this woman, Aurelia, come into her own after a meeting she hosts to discuss aiding the poor.
It quickly becomes clear that Gilda is considering Aurelia as someone to potentially bring over and become her vampire companion. This story, as I said, shows Gilda’s incredible depth of empathy, but more, it shows her realizing just what it is she’s in for, how terribly some of her choices could go, and the result of even just a moment of giving in to anger or fury, however righteously. As always, Gilda is just completely engrossing.
'Nathan Burgoine 