Denise Verrico's Blog: Immortyl Revolution, page 18

Elizabeth Loraine Releases Bloodline

Announcing the Bloodline's Book Release Party! From May 16th thru May 19th, Elizabeth Loraine, the author of the Royal Blood Chronicles will be making a whirlwind tour through virtual land and stopping at as many websites as she can from May 16th thru the 18th all leading up to her BLOODLINES BOOK RELEASE PARTY on May 19th on Savannah Chase's blog,
Her book Bloodline will then be available for purchase on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble eBook. The exact link will be released on May 19th on Savannah's website.mysticalevents@yahoo.com Followers have several chances to win one of several copies of Bloodlines eBooks as well as a $50 Amazon.com gift card. All you have to do is comment on EACH blog stop for a chance to enter your name into the drawing, and then you must comment on Savannah Chase's blog on the 19th. Remember that you can enter to win as many times as you want just by visiting all the blogs and commenting BUT you have to visit Savannah's on the 19th and comment in order to be eligible. Elizabeth will be visiting each blog throughout the week to speak with fans and followers.
About the Royal Blood Chronicles:Royal Blood Chronicles is a vampire series told by Katrina, a royal blooded vampire who is the chosen leader of the five Protectors as she looks back a hundred and thirty years at how this all began. How five young royal blooded vampires became the protectors of the peaceful races and transform from girls from a life of leisure. Where choosing what to wear and the jewelry and finery to match was all that they had to worry about. From a spoiled, waited on hand and foot existence to becoming, gifted warriors who were brought together by fate and chosen to be the Protectors. It is about their evolution as warriors, women and about those that choose to join them. It's about trying to find balance in their lives when it seems impossible and their triumphs and tragedies along the way.
About Book 5 BloodlineBook Five Bloodline is the continuing story. Katrina finds herself once again fighting the enemy on two continents. The Sanctuaries are in turmoil and are questioning the Protectors loyalty and every time there are small victories it seems a new enemy arises. Katrina and the Five are drawn back to Europe to help Damien and Cain, but can they really trust either of them? And is there something that will finally make Katrina chose between the two loves of her life once and for all?For more information please contact Mystical Book Blog Tours at  
www.savannahchase.com.

Author David Ferraro on Gay Teen Paranormal Romance

Today my guest is David Ferraro.  He's written a Gay Teen parnormal romance called Twice Bitten.  I'm very interested in promoting diversity in speculative fiction.  Several of my Immortyl Revolution characters are gay or bisexual.  When David and I talked about his post topic, I suggested he share information on his book and tell us a little about his genre.  So, here's David!  Enjoy.

Teen books have exploded in recent years, thanks in part to Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight Saga," and the titles available for a teen audience have slowly become more varied. When I was reading young adult books sixteen years ago, the genre was very new and consisted mostly of "Teen Fiction" and "Teen Thrillers," which were mostly slasher novels. Things have come a long way since then, fantasy and paranormal romances booming and becoming quite the presence in teen literature.

There are few taboos left in teen fiction that haven't been touched upon, from drugs to sex, and even incest quite early on in V.C. Andrews' "Flowers In the Attic" from 1979 (before young adult literature was really even recognized as such). You would be hard-pressed to find something that teens can't really handle in today's market, yet gay novels moving into the realm of the teen paranormal romance genre seemed to take a while to happen. The thing about teen fiction is that it's the perfect place to tell stories about coming out and discovering who you are. Teenage years are formative years, and a teen audience is sure to gravitate toward books that reflect what's happening in their own lives. We've seem a variety of excellent books on gay teenagers from authors like Alex Sanchez and Peter Cameron over the past decade, but gay characters haven't really moved into the realm of fantasy in young adult books until the past few years. Gay characters had certainly made appearances in teen paranormal romances, such as Cassandra Clare's "Mortal Instruments" series, but as the lead character, it was basically unheard of.
In adult literature, there seems to have been little hesitation for gay characters to star in paranormal romances. They're out there in droves. But even straight paranormal romances took awhile to make their way to teen books. You would find paranormal romances in the adult science fiction section of bookstores, like with Laurel K. Hamilton's "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series. Only a handful of titles, like L.J. Smith's fairly wholesome "The Vampire Diaries" were shelved alongside other teen titles. Recently, a slew of racier teen books like P.C. Cast's "House of Night" have paved the way for a category that's all but exploded in recent years, and sex is becoming an ever-growing presence in young adult fiction, even in fantasy titles. And now sexual orientation is slowly becoming part of the equation, with gay characters making the leap from the sort of coming out stories we've seen in the past, to star in the books of a booming genre. I'm frankly surprised that so few have been released yet. Certainly if sexuality is addressed in more realistic fiction, gay teens must be ready to see themselves reflected in other genres that they love, especially if the fan fiction devoted to romances between popular characters like Edward and Jacob, or even Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, are any indication. This is in part why I decided to write "Twice Bitten," a gay teen paranormal romance about a teen celebrity caught between the love of a vampire and a werewolf. This past year has actually seen a few gay teen paranormal romances trickle out: Michael Griffo's recent vampire title "Unnatural," and Brent Hartinger's book about astral projection, "Shadow Walkers," come to mind. And there have been a few that have been released in the past few years before them as well. Gay teens need more of a voice, and not just when it comes to the usual coming out stories that there are plenty of out there. I even made a conscious effort to write a book about a character who has already come out, and address the fact that he's gay very little, instead going forward with the mindset that he's a teen celebrity who happens to be gay, instead of a gay character who is a celebrity.
It might be that publishers didn't think that audiences were ready for gay teen paranormal romances until recently. Even now, there are issues with Amazon taking down yaoi (manga featuring romances between two boys, mostly marketed toward women) content from their digital bookstore, while leaving boy-girl manga with sexual content mostly untouched. When it comes to teenagers, sex can be a touchy subject, but sexual orientation doesn't mean that it's a book about sex. And a book with a gay protagonist doesn't necessarily need to be about sexual orientation. I would like to see more books out there in a wider variety of genres featuring gay protagonists.


Barnes & Noble link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Twice-Bitten/Dave-Ferraro/e/2940012366825/?itm=1&USRI=twice+bitten+a+gay+teen+paranormal+romance
Link to the first two chapters of "Twice Bitten," through David's blog: http://ferrarofiction.blogspot.com/2011/04/welcome.html





                                                                        Twice Bitten
Jesse Hartwick is a teen celebrity, recently out of the closet, and just beginning to take off as the next big thing in Hollywood. Distanced from his only family, Jesse puts his all into his career, leading a lonely life in the spotlight.Everything changes one day when he meets Kurt, a cute mysterious stranger who saves him from a mob of fans, beginning a romance that will change things forever, but is Jesse's celebrity status the only thing that Kurt is interested in?When Lane comes into the picture, it just confuses Jesse more, but he can hardly deny the strong feelings he has for him, especially since he didn't even know that Jesse was a celebrity when he met him, making him all the more appealing.Shortly after meeting these two men after his heart, Jesse is attacked by a werewolf, then saved from certain death by a vampire, changing him into something altogether new. With his new abilities, he doesn't know who he can trust, let alone how to balance the spotlight with this aspect of himself that he must hide. But in the end, he must decide between the warring factions within: Vampire or werewolf? Kurt or Lane?
A very big thanks to David for visiting today!  Please leave him a comment or question.
If you'd like to enter to win a Cara Mia t-shirt, scroll down to either of my "Cedric Speaks" posts and leave a comment. I will be holding the drawing on 11 PM, May 31st.



Cedric Speaks Week Two-Male Vampire Courtesan. You heard it here first.

Cedric speaks:
Potential flowed through my veins, and I liked it.  My body wanted to test it out, to go outside, run as fast as possible and climb up the sides of buildings like Spiderman.  This was absolutely mind-blowing.  Could Immortyls bend metal and leap tall buildings in a single bound and all that?  Cedric the super boy, I liked the sound of it.
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Welcome to the irreverent mind of Cedric MacKinnon, hero of My Fearful Symmetry, Book Three of the Immortyl Revolution.  Having spent the better part of two years with the lad, I feel a know him a little.  Cedric was just one of those characters who demanded to be heard.  Not content to remain the love interest planned for a future novel, he spawned his own book, a religious order and an Immortyl art form.  He's quite naughty and more than a little vain.  Standing at a lean six three, with a mane of long auburn hair and jade green eyes, he looks good, he's talented and he has a wicked wit. 
The trouble is, the boy doesn't always make the best decisions.  
Cedric wants more than anything to be a rock star.  With that (and little else) on his mind, he leaves school at fifteen and runs away to London.  Needless to say, by age nineteen, he's living on the streets and finds that his dreams haven't quite come true in the way he wishes.  This is the point where his tale begins.  What a journey it is, from the streets of London to the chief elder's court in India.  It's a tale of intrigue, lust and betrayal.  This boy has certainly taken me on a wild ride, but as Cedric says, "It's what I do best."  So, I hope you'll join me in these next weeks as I count down to the June launch.  I'll have many more tidbits to share about my naughty vampire boy.

Please leave a comment to be entered in a drawing to win a Cara Mia t-shirt!  I'll be running a month-long contest in June for more prizes.  Keep checking back for details.
Love and dark kisses,
Denise

Cindy Lynn Speer talks about an "Unbalanced" world.

Welcome to Cindy Lynn Speer, who will tell us about the world of her novel, Unbalanced.  Fans of vampires, werewolves and creatures of the night take a look!





Cindy Lynn Speer on the World of Unbalanced
Did you hear that?

One of the things I enjoy the most about the world in which my new novel, Unbalanced is set is that it is a world where things do go bump in the night…and it's partly your fault.

Have you ever gone downstairs in the dark, and wondered what was waiting down there for you? If something might reach out and grab your ankles? Or have you convinced yourself that there's someone hiding behind the shower curtain? And there's that moment when your rational mind and your imagination war, and despite the fact that you are a smart, sensible person…you believe. You are absolutely convinced that something is waiting for you, in the dark, something that hates you.

In this world, that's all it is. You nerve yourself up and pull back the shower curtain, and see, in the moonlight from the bathroom window…nothing. And you laugh at yourself, roll your eyes, and go back to bed.

In the world of the book, if you don't act and turn on the light quickly enough, you end up dead. The coroner will just call it a heart attack, but any Balance agent would know better.

This was inspired by a rather silly event that happened when I was in…I'm hoping middle school, but with my imagination it might have been high school. I was the first stop for the bus in the morning, and so I often waited, next to my front door, for the lights of the bus. I'd see them reflect off the power lines first, and I'd take off and run down the driveway. My bus driver at the time was a very sweet man with steel grey, wiry, wild hair and a beard to match. He was one of the nicest men I'd ever met.

And this particular morning, it was a full moon. And I thought…"What if my bus driver is a werewolf?"

So I ran down to the bus, and the doors opened, and my bus driver looked at me…and grinned, all teeth. He hadn't shaved and his hair was even wilder than normal. The amber lights on the dash reflected yellow in his eyes.
I am not going to lie. I had second thoughts about getting on that bus.

But I said good morning, and climbed on, and took my usual seat way at the back, and I am neither dead nor do I, myself, run around in a new fur coat every full moon…so I think we can say I survived that. But that has always made me wonder…how many heart attacks, how many accidents, happen because we freak ourselves out?

About Unbalanced:

Andromeda Pendragon has been trained her whole life to be an agent of Balance, an organization that acts as a supernatural UN to keep the peace among werewolves, vampires and magic users. It's a busy start for a new agent--all she has to do is prevent a war, solve several murders, stay out of prison, keep the world from learning about things that have been secret for hundreds of years and preserve the stability to the agency she was raised to be a part of. And then there's Alaister, the man she loved and let go because no normal man wants a girlfriend who hangs out with creatures from his nightmares. The man who re-enters her life at a party the night a young woman is savagely murdered. The man who has a few secrets of his own. But nothing--and no one--will unbalance Andromeda Pendragon...


Cindy Lynn Speer has been a cemetery caretaker and a librarian, as well as a book reviewer, interviewer and freelance editor. She is a historical reenactment fencer, costumer and gardener. She likes to go around telling people that she's a swashbuckler, but no one seems to take her seriously.
To learn more about Cindy and her books visit: http://www.zumayapublications.com/title.php?id=252http://www.apenandfire.com/

Cedric Speaks-Kali and Vampires

Cedric speaks:
Shadows of the horrifying goddess' multiple arms swayed over the candle-washed wall, as if she was dancing.  Faint with blood loss, I reckoned I'd lost my grip on reality.  I hovered between elation and despair, consciousness and unconsciousness.  Then Raj unbuttoned his sleeve and slashed open his wrist with a knife.  "Drink if you don't want to die."

In the coming weeks, I'll be running this weekly feature with quotes from Cedric MacKinnon, the hero of My Fearful Symmetry, and tidbits about the lore surrounding the court of the chief elder of the Immortyls and the adepts of the ancient arts.  This will be the sexiest one so far, but Cedric wouldn't have it any other way.
Today, I have a blurb from the book and a bit about Kali. 

My Fearful SymmetryBook Four of The Immortyl Revolution

Review of The Romance of Dracula

That I came of age watching vampire films should come as no surprise to my readers. I've been a vampire fan since I was a first-grader running home to watch the Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows. It was with great pleasure that I read Charles Butler's take on many of the films that I grew up with.




In his book, The Romance of Dracula, Butler explores his personal connection with the cinematic journey of Bram Stoker's iconic count, from the silent era to the present day, in a conversational yet authoritative tone. The book begins with a thorough discussion of the novel and then moves on to explore the various screen treatments of Dracula from the Murnau silent classic, Nosferatu, to an examination of contemporary vampire films (with nary a mention of Twilight).



The author begins the chapters with a scene-by-scene synopsis of each Dracula film and then finishes with his no-holds-barred review of script adaptation, direction, cinematography and acting performance. I found his critical stance on the Coppola Dracula of the nineties to be on the money and agree wholeheartedly with his praise for the imaginative Shadow of the Vampire. Fans of Hammer horror (and actors Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing) won't be disappointed at the in-depth look at these films.



Butler peppers his reviews with entertaining insights and anecdotes. The reader may be surprised to find that with all of the adaptations of Dracula, few are true to the source material in either story or portrayal of the count. A notable example pointed out by Butler is the Bela Lugosi version produced by Universal, which is based on the stage play. Even though I once worked for Universal, I didn't know there is a Spanish language version of this film, starring a different cast that was produced for the European market.



This book will be enjoyed by film and vampire buffs alike. After reading Mr. Butler's book, I've added to my list of must-see vampire films. It's clear that The Romance of Dracula was written with someone who has a true passion for the genre. I appreciated the solid film history and research of the topic.

Elizabeth Loraine and The Royal Blood Chronicles

Please welcome Elizabeth Loraine to Immortyl Revolution!  She is currently on tour to promote her latest release in The Royal Blood Chronicles, Cain.  I had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth at  A Day of Mystical Bloodlust this past October.  We will both be appearing there again this coming fall.  I'm very excited to have her as my guest today.  Please leave Elizabeth any comments or questions you may have.





Vampires; a discussion
By Elizabeth Loraine



My fascination with vampires goes way back, and at fifty four now, I mean way back.  I remember running all the way home from school to watch Barnabas Collins on Dark Shadows. From that point on I was hooked. Why?  Was it the handsome, mysterious, yet intense gentleman?  How about the, bad boy, forbidden, man?


All of the above, plus the immortal prospect of it makes the genre one that will never fade. New generations have the same fascinations that I have with vampires.


Bringing vampires forward as a writer is much more difficult these days.  With all the teen vampire books, television shows and movies out there right now, it just seems so overdone.  It's why I started my series in the first place. I mean, there had to more to them, right?  These are long-lived beings supposedly. They didn't just show up at high school, or small town America one day, did they?  They have a past, a long historic past. That's what got my juices flowing. That's something I wanted to know about, and I was sure others did too.


My series Royal Blood Chronicles is that journey. It follows my vampires throughout their historical past. I wanted readers to know why they think the way they do, what shaped them by the time they got to modern times. Why they are evil, or not.


So the next time you are reading about a modern, teen, vampire or watching them on television or in a movie, think about his or her past; what do you want to know?

Information on Elizabeth's books:

Cain,The Quest
Cain, the Quest is book four in the vampire series Royal Blood Chronicles. Royal blooded vampires are fighting evil in both this world and the underworld kingdoms of Althar in order to protect all the peaceful races, including humans.
Book four follows Cain on his journey ot find himself and define his role in his hopes to become worthy enought to join those that are helping the Five Protectors in this fight. The sactuaries protecting the peaceful races are in grave danger! Join us.
Cain, the Quest is as exciting and intriguing as the first three books. Elizabeth Loraine has you turning pages as fast as you can to find out what lies ahead. If you like strong female lead characters, this is your series. Many series of this genre tire as they get to books three and four, however this series has you begging for more. Elizabeth Loraine brings you into the world of each book with her beautifully descriptive writing style.

Hang on, hold your breath, it's a nother fabulous ride!
 
Katrina
"As a vampire, being hunted was nothing new, finding out that I had to protect those hunting us was. Katrina is a young royal blooded vampire from a very old vampire family. She along with young members of each royal vampire family have been called to council. Why? No one knows, but Katrina feels the danger all around them and feels that she will the one called upon to save them all. This fast paced historical saga begins here with Katrina as she begins the journey that will change all their lives forever. It's full of romance, intrigue, danger and betrayal. To succeed the Five must become the many...Join us. John Daniels, author writes: "This is a page-turning, swashbuckling adventure told by a gorgeous seventeen-year-old vampire on the verge of womanhood. Katrina and her companions are girls who love fancy clothes and romantic gossip; but when their race is threatened they become Women Warriors, using their paranormal talents, lightning speed, and razor-sharp blades to wreak deadly justice. By turns tense, funny and sad, this is a great read for fans of bloodlust."
You can follow Elizabeth or purchase her books at these links:
Blog tour on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=132823000109330
website http://royalbloodchronicles.com/


Available on Kindle and in print on Amazon.

Building A World

I've always enjoyed books that transport me to a different time and place. It's no surprise that speculative fiction and historical fiction are my favorite genres to read. I love Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne Rice, Mary Renault, and Robert Graves to name a few. As a child, I devoured books about Arthurian legends and the Tudor court. Horror, fantasy and science fiction also appealed to me. Recently, I've discovered historical fantasy and have been enjoying books in that genre.

So how does an author go about building a world? I can't speak for other writers, but I'm often asked how I developed my Immortyl Revolution series.
First off, I find inspiration doing my research, and then I let imagination take over. Every writer should be a reader and not just in the genre in which one writes. For the third novel in the series, My Fearful Symmetry, I've done research on everything from British street slang to Sanskrit mantras. There are so many resources available on the web and in the library from which the writer can draw inspiration.
Any subject is of value to the writer. I studied costume history and design in college as a theater major, and I can't tell you how valuable that knowledge has been. An understanding of geography, politics, religion, art, and music can enrich a story and set it apart. The important thing about creating a world in speculative fiction is sticking to the rules you create for your corner of the universe.


Nearly everyone knows about old vampire legends and is familiar with the conventions dealing with vamps from movie and pop culture . Some authors choose stick with them, while others decide to depart from them. This is the realm of make-believe, and there is much room for interpretation. I think it's fun to play around with the old myths and come up with reasons behind them or find alternatives to them.


As a writer, I find it a challenge to take all kinds of information found in research and throw it into the pot to concoct a completely new culture. In any world, there are various cultures and subcultures with distinct rituals, rules, and beliefs. Opportunities for conflict arise when these factions clash. The trick is to give layers of detail without overwhelming the narrative with descriptive passages. I try to use action as much as possible to reveal custom. The way a character wears his clothes, washes his hands, or prays can reveal a lot about that person's cultural background and character.

The world of Immortyl Revolution brings to together many elements of research and reading that I've done over the years. I'm a bit of a history buff, and writing about vampires gives me an opportunity to throw people from different time periods together in a contemporary urban setting. Cara Mia deals a lot with Mia (the heroine) becoming a vampire and her struggle to survive as a modern woman in an ancient culture.





Women and children in the ancient world often had a rough time, as did males who were poor or enslaved. These societies were largely patriarchal, and so is my Immortyl culture. My bad old boys aren't about to change their ways in the modern world. This oppression gives Mia and Kurt a lot to fight against in Twilight of the Gods.


My vampires fall into three main classes. The first group is the ruling class, elders and alphas, exclusively male. Then there is a soldier class, referred to as dogs, that is also male. The third class is made up of male and female slaves who provide companionship and sex to those above them. Among these are the adepts of the ancient arts, temple dancers and courtesans, who are in a sense Immortyl celebrities, famed for their beauty and talent. These devotees of the Immortyl cult of Kali come into the series in book three, My Fearful Symmetry. The adepts are often pawns of intrigue within the chief elder's court.

At the bottom rung of Immortyl society are the sewer rats, bands of runaway and cast-off slaves. These are mostly kids and teenagers in form who were cruelly trafficked by their masters and live like feral animals in very poor conditions. They become the backbone of the revolution.



The series plot, the race to capture the secrets of immortality, was inspired by articles I've read on biotechnology. I opted for no magical powers in my world, except for the magic worked by a DNA molecule. My vampires are biologically altered, not the undead variety, so they behave a lot like mortals in many respects. Still, my Immortyls have enhanced physical abilities.  They can't go out in the sun and can drink only human blood. I like some kind of "kryptonite" to limit my vamps. The fun was in coming up with the reasons for these limitations.

Immortyl Revolution is a "closed" world. Up until this point, the Immortyls have kept their condition secret and only a handful of mortals know about them. In subsequent books, that world will begin to open and create more conflict for the characters.

Speculative fiction offers so many opportunities for an author. Every writer has unique experience and knowledge to share. There are so many worlds out there yet to discover and mythologies yet to create. I look forward to both reading and writing about them.

Here is a link to a great resource for world building basics.  On the SFWA site, Patricia C. Wrede gives a helpful list of questions for the author:
SFWA

Charles E. Butler and The Romance of Dracula

Please welcome Charles E. Butler to Immortyl Revolution!  As a fan of horror films, I was very excited about interviewing Charles about his book.  I once worked as a tour guide at Universal Studios and learned a lot about the classic horror films produced by that studio.  I also grew up on the Hammer horror movies.  I think you'll be fascinated by the vast knowlege Charles brings to his discussion of the genre. 





DV: I come from a background in the entertainment industry, and I was intrigued by the fact that you have worked in film and television. Tell us a little about that.

CEB: It is only a little I have to tell, I'm afraid. I began acting with local theatre groups in 1993. I've tread the boards and played all kinds of parts in productions ranging from Dario Fo's Accidental Death of An Anarchist to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest. I have tackled most of Shakespeare and directed productions of Mary Chase's Harvey – playing Elwood Dowd, and Tom Griffin's The Boy's Next Door – playing Arnold Wiggins. I've written plays and adapted productions like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I have appeared very sparsely on TV in local soaps in extras capacity. My ideals of being the next Laurence Olivier were short-lived very quickly, but the last twenty years have been pretty amazing. I would actually like to play Count Dracula. Now I make short films under my Su asti banner and submit to festivals. Currently, I'm working on a short movie concerning Dracula's three vampire brides and based on Van Helsing's Memorandum in Stoker's book.

DV: You're from the UK. I'm a big fan of the British series Being Human. Is the paranormal craze as big in the UK as it is in the US? As my husband likes to say, "You can't swing a dead cat in Barnes and Noble without hitting a vampire book."

CEB: I think that the belief and the love of the paranormal from a fascinartion point of view is worldwide. It is in our very beings. If we didn't have the recources of book and film, we would still invent stories and characters pertaining to the fantastic. When an archeologist finds a cave, there are always pictures of some kind that have been drawn by our ancestors on the cave walls. We all have the creative bug and the horror genre in all media is the most utilised because it frees our imaginations. With the fantastic we can do and be whoever, or whatever, we like. And these particular days, your husband is right, only over here (UK), it is Waterstones. Vampire market saturation is rampant.

DV: What are some of your favorite books, films, and television shows in the vampire genre?

CEB: That's easy. Dracula the novel. No one has told the story better than Stoker. I like I Am Legend, Salem's lot, I enjoy Kim Newman's apocryphal take on the genre with his Anno Dracula series and I like the three Peter Tremayne novels that fuses Stoker's Count with Vlad Tepesh. I literally devour cinema in all it's forms, but not as much these days. My real time in Cinema ended in the early 2000s. The last movie I've seen on the big screen was Peter Jackson's King Kong in 2004. I'm a lazy man now and wait for the DVD release. TV is not big on my agenda, but I did enjoy the Buffy series and the first series of Being Human. I have seen TrueBlood, but not The Vampire Diaries as yet, though I'm sure that I will catch up one day.


DV: Is there any particular area of vampire mythology that interests you?
CEB: My interests with vampires stops at the movies and in the novels. I found the creative process inspirational in all these forms. I'm fascinated by real-life vampire spottings that are reported in old ledgers with drawings of skeletal authors etched onto the spine. When it comes to real vampires and the idea of people actually indulging in that sort of thing, I used to become shocked and prudish and all kinds of emotions, until I interviewed Arlene Russo of BiteMe magazine for the New Orleans Vampire festival last year. She really opened my eyes about this underground sub-culture that exists and has written Vampire Nation which is an amazing look at these people and their way of life. It is a book, and magazine, that I urge anyone with problems or doubts in those areas to take a look at. It is a fascinating study and her book quotes many real life cases of people who live normal, everyday lives, but have a taste for blood. As I said, tense reading.


DV: What led you to write The Romance of Dracula?

CEB: I was becoming a little disillusioned about things. I was unemployed and bored. I was reading a review book on a famous horror film studio and became depressed when I noticed many errors in this authorized work. I glanced at my video shelves and simply thought, "I could do that!" That's how it began. But I am proud of the fact, that I've written a book that I want to read and dip in and out of at my leisure. I hope I don't sound sycophantic when I say that I can't put the book down and I wrote it!


I enjoy my language of the book. Eg the review for Nosferatu states that;


"When the imposing dread wipes the smile off the young estate agent's face, we feel our own nerves begin to jangle. We are drawn in, like Hutter, to the nightmares of the dark."


Or the description concerning Orlock's influence;


"The religious aspects of Stoker's tale are dropped altogether, the only crucifixes on show being the ones drawn in white chalk on the doors of the dead. There are no wooden stakes or the mention of prayers. These omissions leave no place for the theories of the learned Professor Bulwer, no matter how much his suspicions are realised. One also suspects that it will take more than a length of wood through one man's heart to halt the threat that Orlock represents, no matter how God-fearing the hunter is. Only a woman who is without sin can halt the invasion, even at the cost of her own life."


I enjoy the seduction of Lucy and like the prose I used to describe that in the Louis Jourdan version:


"Lucy shows a feigned concern for Mina's Jonathon, as she chatters on enthusiastically about her offer of two marriage proposals, leaving Mina crying alone in the dark. When a third suitor, Dracula, appears on the scene, she abandons her sister altogether to indulge in night-time excesses draped across a stone sarcophagus, or laid prone in bed when Mina is out of the room, welcoming her lovers hot embrace: "Don't tell mother," she gasps, "the shock would kill her".


Back home, she revels in the carnage described in the tabloids over cornflakes and orange juice, while her mother and sister look on in horror. When cornered by the vampire hunters at her tomb, she angrily growls and hisses at them for letting such a thing happen, all the while probably forgetting that she let the change continue without informing them that something was definitely wrong, watching her fangs grow daily in the same way that we might keep an eye on the advancement of a brand new pimple. From her coffin, as she succumbs to Quincey's jealous staking, her eyes, streaming with tears, seem to imply that,


"It wasn't my fault!". "


And I like to think that I did justice to a movie that really got bad press – and continues to do so – "Dracula's Curse (2002)" starring Patrick Bergin. As a die-hard fan, I thought Mr Bergin gave one of the most accurate portrayals of Stoker's monster. Likewise, my opening description of him, I hope, gets this point across:


"Roger Young's script gives Dracula the ability to frighten people again, soliciting the love of his victims, that they join him in the last battle for Armageddon. Cajoling them with golden idols and poo poo-ing the need for morality in a world where "do unto others" has always been the way of life and would never change.


Back in more conventional attire as the Count, Patrick Bergin never misses a step. He physically resembles Stoker's character more closely than anyone else, before or since. He adds new resonance to the clichéd speeches of the novel and is believable as both a warrior and a father of dynasties."


And that is the way that I wanted it to look or sound. I wanted it to entertain, otherwise, what is the point? I find that it does entertain me and that is the credo that I swear by:


"If I enjoy it, then someone else will"


I'm not generally a fan of quoting from famous works, I try to be as honest and original as possible in my writing. With The Romance of Dracula, I think that I succeeded in this. I didn't want to write a laboured biography concerning the times and various world events that were taking place when the films were made. To me that would have been boring. I wanted to get that frantic flow of the pulp novel into a review book. The page-turning aspect that grips all of us when we know that we should blow out the candle and go to sleep, but we have to see what happens. If I succeed, even in a small measure in that respect, then I am a happy man.


DV: Tell us a bit about your writing process.


CEB: Is there a process? For me it starts as a raw idea. For example, an idea can hit you anywhere. I have two novels, one review book, two screenplays and two comic books all on the back-burner. I have the ideas, but not the discipline to structure them. Romance just simply flowed. I had a lot of free time and knew by careful notation what I was going to write about each movie, so it came fairly easy. My friend David, a journalist and author in his own right, proofread Romance, and takes my scripts off my hands and gives me incredible feedback and then explains the intricacies of structuring my ideas into a workable format. I listen intently to his very sound advice and then forget it! Terrible of me, I know. My process revolves around the discipline and the fun I'm having. Like every creative process, if it's working, that's great, but if the machine grinds to a halt, the work joins the rest of my unfinished works in the bottom drawer until inspiration kicks in again. Yes, I love writing! I'm sure that every artist on the planet has a full bottom drawer.

DV: How much time did you devote to research?

CEB: It's been a lifelong study really. I've always been a fan, but I didn't want the book to be a fanzine, if you like. So I re-watched all the relevant movies and took down notes as they unfolded. Then I wrote a review checking details everywhere I could get them that I'd first recalled to memory. I'm not a big lover of research. I only persisted because it was Dracula, an interest of mine. That is the best way, I believe, to acquire knowledge. By first becoming interested. From watching the movies to the completion of the first draft, it took about six weeks in the Autumn of 2007. But I have added to the text later events that came to the fore while I was waiting for publication. The biggest happening at this time being Christopher Lee's Knighthood in 2010. There were also a few tragic deaths, Leslie Nielsen, Ingrid Pitt and Roy Ward Baker, but I felt that it would overbalance the structure of the timeframe to add these unfortunate events. But they will be mentioned in my follow up book, Vampires Everywhere.

DV: Dracula is such an iconic figure. Are there any works inspired by Stoker's Count that you would recommend?

CEB: My favourites of the genre are mentioned above. There are also other media, like comic books that sell the Count's image very well in many four-colour adaptations. I would try to sell comic books anywhere because for me, it is the storytelling medium. It is what I grew up with and what I eventually hope to aspire to, once I acquire the discipline. Still the best Dracula version in comics is the original Tomb of Dracula Written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by Gene Colan.


DV: I find the real life Vlad Tepesh to be a fascinating study in cruelty. Have you encountered any interesting facts about him in your research?


CEB: I wanted to stay away from the Impaler as Stoker's Dracula image in the book. This is because I believe that Bram simply used the name because it sounded great and he lived in an unheard of land of mystery in a tremendous castle. He was a warrior, sadist, philanderer and Stoker incorporates all these traits into his monster, but never makes a point of being definitive. I have read Raymond T. Mcnally's and Radu Florescu's In Search of Dracula and find their deductions fascinating. Possibly in much the same way that Stoker himself did when Arminius Vambery first mentioned the name: Dracula. Truth is stranger than fiction and no more so than in this particular tale. Vlad the Impaler – Count Dracula's first name is never mentioned in the novel – is a man to be respected and feared in equal measure and, for me, he should have thought about seeking help for anger management. But his own times were turbulent, with his foes just as bloodthirsty as himself. I did learn that his torturous method of impalement was something he actually learned from his enemies the Turks when he was held prisoner for a time in a Turkish dungeon. In Stoker's novel, he bowdlerises the facts of the real Vlad to give Count Dracula a fitting bloodthirsty history. And nothing follows a man better, or worse, than his reputation.



DV: Please share any upcoming appearances or book signings with my readers. What are your websites and social sites?




hhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LB4UMS This is the link to the Kindle Direct Publishing where my book can be purchased.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1444549587 This is my Facebook Link.

http://www.eeriedigest.com/ this is the link to The Eerie Digest free Online Magazine that I write in every month.

DV: I like to thank Charles for joining me here today!  Please leave a comment for him and keep the conversation going.

My Fearful Symmetry update and Calling all Vampire Film Buffs

My editor, Cindy Davis just contacted me, and we're ready to start editing My Fearful Symmetry, Book Three of the Immortyl Revolution. 

Tomorrow, I'm featuring Charles E. Bulter the author of The Romance of Dracula.  If you're a vampire film buff or film buff in general, you won't want to miss this interview.

Here is a cool picture of Kali.  Cedric MacKinnon the hero of book three is an adept of the ancient arts, an Immortyl temple artist in service to a tantric cult of the goddess.  I hope you will keep posted for updates on book three.  In May, I'll be running a feature called, "Cedric speaks" with quotes from the novel combined with images.