The only story Jeanne-A Debats I've read so far is 'Maman, Papa, la machine et moi' from the anthology [b:Utopiales 2016|32655423|Utopiales 2016|Gérard Klein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476695805s/32655423.jpg|53228504] (my review here).

'Lance' was previously published in the anthology [b:Lancelot|26839318|Lancelot|Karim Berrouka|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443608258s/26839318.jpg|46873539] (2014; several stories with Lancelot starring in various contexts) and in the re-edition of [b:Métaphysique du vampire|28635132|Métaphysique du vampire|Jeanne-A Debats|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1453279666s/28635132.jpg|21397574] (2015), in whose world this short-story also takes place. Earlier this year, the story was made available by Éditions ActuSF. See here.

Jeanne-A Debats is a fan of vampires, has written several stories about them. I'm not a fan of vampires. Or maybe my idea of a vampire-story is too classic/cliché? Maybe Mrs. Debat can offer me a different view on the matter.

In this short-story, we go back to 1936, the year in which the Nazis have summoned a dragon to hold captive a specific selection of babies in order to retrace the Language of Old, i.e. the Tower of Babel. Deprived of any human contact, these babies may share a large mattress, but they can not take each other's hands. Until our vampire, Navarre, saves them by putting them in a bag made from a special blanket that protects them from the dragon's power.

The vampire Navarre is sent out on a mission to save these children, among whom is a princess, but first he must row to Avalon and awaken Lancelot, who's been sleeping in a sort of cryogenics tank for many centuries. Lancelot thus must adapt to a modern world very quickly, but seems not really bothered by the many cultural and other changes that have occurred over the centuries.

The story is written in a first-person-mode, as told by Navarre himself. The writing is fluent, humourous here and there, yet wordy and not only because Lancelot likes to use many words for simple things. Jeanne-A Debats uses a good slab of psychology, for example, in her story/ies. This enriches the reading experience, of course, but can sometimes slow down your reading. The descriptions and monologues also make the story more realistic, as if you're inside the story, as if Navarre is telling you personally how it all went.

As you can imagine, all's well that ends well. A little love here and there, be it male-female or male-male, though (not?) always by mutual consent. What happened to the princess? No idea, but I guess, as she was saved, she will have been taken care of. Lancelot's return to his "tank" or "casket" would be delayed a bit, but he and his lance should have made it safely back "home".

All in all, a good story, especially with the psychological aspect, but I'm still not a fan of vampires (or horror-stories in general, even though the horror here was very light).

And yet, two points of critique:
1) commas for principal and subordinate clauses. Too much confusion that could easily be avoided.
2) different font sizes. From 8 or 9 to 12 and back to 8 or 9. Again, didn't anyone check the lay-out before unleashing this text onto the world? ( )