Lori Devoti's Blog, page 14
December 22, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: The Allure of the Bad Boy #Prize
Welcome to 30 Days of Vampires 2011. Stop by every day in December for a new post on vampires and a chance to win a $100 gift card from the bookstore of your choice. (gift card must be available for Lori to purchase/send with reasonable shipping) Also watch for numerous daily prizes offered by the individual authors. (some restrictions may apply) To enter just comment! One comment per post will be counted. So stop by every day! Comments must be posted by January 3, 2012
Lynda Hilburn, author of the Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series, is a licensed psychotherapist, certified clinical hypnotherapist and professional intuitive. She lives in Boulder, CO, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and has been a vampire fan since she first got her hands on Bram Stoker's Dracula as a child.
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I've never been surprised that vampires in books and movies are so popular.
I had a psychotherapy session with a client recently and she reminded me of an ongoing question in my mind: What is it about bad boys? Why are we attracted to them? Why do we abandon good sense (along with clothing, sometimes, LOL) when one walks into the room?
From a psychological point of view, we're often drawn to men (or characters) who remind us (consciously or unconsciously) of an important male figure from our childhoods. Or, we're enticed by the opposite. For example, if Dad was a bad boy, depending on how his behaviors impacted us, we might either idealize or demonize him. If he was a laid-back beta male, we might crave what had been missing.
Hmmm. Do we believe that fantasizing about a rebellious, borderline criminal will somehow rub off on us and we'll begin to explore our primitive sides? Is this really about our desire to be wild and crazy? Unrestricted? Less like good girls? Or do we really want to surrender to some dark, brooding male?
What is a bad boy? When I use those words, I don't necessarily mean someone who is evil. Although, he could be. In today's vampire literature, the line between "good" and "evil" is often smudged (in the world of psychology, most everything lies in a vast gray area). A bad boy certainly doesn't follow rules or conform to society's ideas about what he should/shouldn't do. He might have a flexible moral compass. As a human, he's often a risk taker, who probably wouldn't be satisfied with a traditional nine-to-five job or a "normal" life. He's the perfect projection screen for our fantasies.
The bad boy is a celebrated archetype. We have lots of names for him: rake, cad, scoundrel, charmer, heartbreaker, ladies' man, scamp, rascal, bounder, thug, to list a few. He's usually confident and indifferent. A man who exudes an aura of mystery (the perpetual "strong, silent type"). Most important, he's unavailable. We humans always want what we think we can't have. And, of course, once we meet this elusive troublemaker, we women begin to believe that only we can "change him." But, will we still want him after we do? (Ah, but we hope we can't!)
Unlike a lot of the bad boy heroes of romance novels (which I read and write), he isn't necessarily gorgeous. So, it seems being a bad boy is more about his attitudes and behaviors than anything else. For example, my client at the beginning of this article is absolutely obsessed with a hygiene-challenged, scarred, rule-breaker on a Harley. She says life without him would be unbearable. (We're working on that.)
I love vampire books, and I consider all male vampires – and other paranormal creatures – to be bad boys. (Which is a powerful reason we love vampires.) By their very nature, they don't follow any human rules. They usually don't even adhere to the laws created for their particular mythology. Like humans, they range from charming rebels to self-absorbed sociopaths/psychopaths.
Good examples of (the wide range of) bad boys: Jason Bourne, Lestat, James Bond, Dexter Morgan, Spike, Captain Jack Sparrow, Rhett Butler, Don Draper on Madmen, James Dean, Han Solo, Jamie from the Outlander books, the Harry character from True Lies, Michael Weston on Burn Notice, Roarke from the Eve Dallas books and my own vampire, Devereux.
What literary/movie characters come to mind for you when you think of bad boys? Why do you think we love them?
I'll give away a copy of The Vampire Shrink (the British version – the USA version won't be out in trade paperback until April) to one commenter here who answers those questions. USA mailing address only, please (sorry!)
Web Sites: http://www.lyndahilburnauthor.com
http://paranormalityuniverse.blogspot.com
Buy the Books!
December 21, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: What Vampires Want #Prize
Melissa Olso
n is a writer, mommy, and owner of two comically oversized dogs. Learn about her and her work at www.melissafolson.com.
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Until a few years ago, I never really understood the appeal of vampires. I certainly wouldn't want to be one. I would miss breathing and having a heartbeat, and though I'm already paler than your average ghost, I like at least having the option of the sun. Besides, in this digital age, you'd have to be constantly switching identities and moving around. Sure, you live forever, but think of how much of "forever" you'd have to spend trying to trick the IRS. It just sounds exhausting.
I definitely didn't understand the humans who hang out with vampires, donating blood and doing their bidding. I get that vampires are sexy and hypnotic and all (even Dracula, and that guy had serious issues with the ladies), but it would just be so easy for a vampire to lose control and accidentally kill you, and then what are you gonna do? Look stupid, that's what. Bottom line: we all want our significant other to like us for who we are inside, but you can't trust someone who only wants you for your insides.
And yet…for all my protestations, I found myself reading Anita Blake and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a devotion that bordered on extreme. I rolled my eyes at the number of vampire flicks hitting theaters, but I still shelled out for everything from Dracula: 2000 to Blade: Trinity. My friends were puzzled: if I claimed that I didn't like vampires, then why did I keep showing up for vampire stories?
I didn't actually figure it out until I became a writer, and started pulling vampire tales apart to see how they worked. Turns out, a vampire story is pretty much the literary equivalent of a coloring book page: it's a neat, simple sketch that the artist is able to fill in any way he or she wants to: adding sections, coloring over, scribbling out, turning into any kind of realistic or wildly impressionistic image possible. Vampires hold incredible potential for having fun, making sharp political statements, getting carried away romantically, and so on. The possibilities are as endless as they are entertaining.
A couple of decades ago a literary theorist named Michele Foucault wrote that we never just judge a work freely with no prejudices; we automatically apply some kind of restrictions or limits. Without this kind of filter, there are simply too many interpretive possibilities to process, so the human mind will find a framework. Creating a story around vampires gives us a great, immediately recognizable filter in order to understand the story that the author has to tell, and gives the author the room he or she needs to tell it. And just as you choose colors when coloring in a picture, authors get to make choices about their vampires, from what happens to them during the day to how sharp their teeth get to how much blood (or sometimes other things) they need to survive.
When I started writing my own urban fantasy series, I got pretty interested in one of these details: the question of what, exactly, vampires want. It's a question that we humans struggle with all the time, so if you really do get to live forever, it seems like a pretty important one. You can accomplish everything on the proverbial bucket list in, say, two or three lifetimes. And then what's your plan? Collect money and power, maybe- but even if you do that, what are you going to do with your money and power? Brood? I love the ways that authors answer this question – or ignore it to make a larger statement about the nature of hunger and monsters.
So here's my question, blog commentators: you're 300 years old, everyone you ever loved is dead, and most of your clothes have been popular at least twice. What do you want? Besides, you know…blood. (One person will be chosen to win a copy of Blood Calls by Caridad Pineiro and a cute vampires Pez. U.S mailing addresses only.)
Web Site: Melissa Olson
December 20, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: Vampires, A Balance of Darkness and Light #Prize
A keen reader of fantasy, horror and classic novels since a young child, Felicity Heaton began her first story, a gothic horror, at age fourteen. School work quickly intervened to put an end to a budding writing career, but in 2003 she turned her hand to writing again and hasn"t even stopped to breathe since.
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I have been in love with vampires since I was just a child, probably no older than six, and just starting out with my passion for reading and the supernatural (or should I say preternatural in their case?). I was only satisfied as a child when I was reading books involving creatures of the night, and carried that into my tweens and then teens. Vampires became a passion of mine, whether it was books, movies, daydreaming of the undead, or drawing them. In 2003, I upgraded that passion to an obsession by adding writing about vampires to my list of things I love to do with these dark, mysterious and often deadly and evil (in my hands at least) heroes and heroines.
I don't subscribe to the brand of vampire who grumbles about their life and hates what they are. Vampires for me have to embody that myth of old—the vicious bloodsucking night stalker. They must have darkness in their hearts, a penchant for blood fresh from the vein, a capacity for killing, and a hunger to survive the ages. I'm not saying that I cast all vampires with a softer side into the reject pile. Quite the opposite in fact. There is always a need for light in a vampire in order to balance the darkness and give the character depth and bring them to life for readers.
This light can be found in a million different ways. It could be a conscious desire to atone for some terrible acts committed in their past, or a desire to claw themselves back from the brink before they become little more than a savage beast, or even a fierce need to protect the one they love at all costs even if it is from themselves. A vampire can have a light inside them that makes them more human, can feel emotions with the same intensity that a human can, can love and crave the one they adore to the point of despair, without losing any of that darkness we associate with them.
I write complicated vampires with dark or painful pasts, vampires that live in shadowy worlds full of violence and bloodshed, but who also love fiercely and passionately, and fight to protect those they love and defend what they believe in. I write them with darkness and light, not always in equal quantities, and the capacity for great good and terrible evil. I write them with intensity.
From birth we are taught to be good, that being good is right and how we should behave. The vampire myths are timeless, as eternal as the creatures they speak of, and alluring. We are drawn to those myths because we're intrigued by their darkness, their evil and demonic side, and just a little bit scared of them too. Vampires embody all that is bad and wicked, sinful and dangerous. Evil. Humans have always been tempted by evil, by tasting forbidden fruit and embracing our own animal nature. That is why vampires are so appealing to us, and why they need to retain that darkness even if they are striving for the light. It's the darkness in them that makes them what they are, that captivates readers and quickens the pulse, that lures us in and rouses our interest. Take away that darkness and you take away the original appeal of the vampire.
I love to toy with the vampire myth so I produce different vampires for each book or series that I write that is centred on this devastatingly alluring species, but the darkness and light is always there in each vampire that I write. Sometimes there is a larger amount of darkness to my vampires on first appearances, such as the kind I write in my popular Vampires Realm series as F E Heaton, but there is still a sliver of light in them, often in the form of the romances they experience and the lengths they will go to in order to protect their bloodlines or the world.
Sometimes there is a greater amount of light in them, as is the case with my Vampire Venators series and especially the first book, Forbidden Blood, where a select group of vampires are responsible for protecting humans from their own kind and maintaining the balance.
And sometimes the vampire heroes need a strong heroine to be their light and pull them back from the brink and give them a reason to go on, to fight the growing darkness within them or the pain in their past so they can be together, as is the case in my two stand alone novels I released this year, Love Immortal and Heart of Darkness.
I have written over twenty stories featuring vampires as either the hero or heroine, or both, and my passion for them is still burning strong, with at least another ten stories to write in my Vampires Realm series alone and more coming all the time. No matter where vampires go in the future, I will continue to write them as I do now, with that darker side of them intact, paying homage to the original vampire myths and keeping them alive in the hearts of readers worldwide.
I thought I would share an excerpt from my latest vampire romance novel, Heart of Darkness, with you all and a little information about the book.
Heart of DarknessFelicity Heaton
A vampire prince on a four hundred year old mission to avenge his murdered sister…
Aleksandr Nemov won't stop until the last of the vampire hunter's progeny is wiped from the Earth. Each kill has stolen a piece of his humanity, pushing him towards the black abyss all vampires hold within their hearts. Now he is teetering on the edge, close to devolving into a beast, and time is running out as he tracks the last hunter to Prague. There he finds a beautiful woman who could be his one chance for salvation, but is it already too late for him?
A vampire guard who will do whatever it takes to protect those she loves…
Elise is dedicated to her duty. It's the only thing she has left. All that changes when she meets Aleksandr in Prague and her master grants him permission to stay at her bloodline's mansion. She knows all about Aleksandr but none of it prepares her for how she feels when the legendary prince's hunt becomes one for her heart. Elise battles him with all of her strength but can she stop herself from falling for the handsome hunter? When he reveals the depth of the corruption in his soul, will she have the strength to face the pain in her past and do whatever it takes to save him?
Available in ebook and paperback. Find out more at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Heart%20of%20Darkness
EXCERPT
It had been an easy kill.
Aleksandr Nemov stood over the body of the vampire hunter, their blood splattered across his black shirt and saturating the leather and metal vambraces that protected his forearms. It coated his fingers and the curved dagger they gripped, and the sweet scent of it heavily tainted the crisp night air. Strong moonlight caressed his back, throwing his shadow out long in front of him, across the hunter's corpse.
A female.
She hadn't been strong enough to fight his kind. Too young and inexperienced to best him. It had been foolish of her to try.
Aleksandr raised his hand and swallowed at the sight of the blood glistening on his fingers. It tempted him to taste it.
He dragged his eyes away and settled them back on the female laying on the grass of the small public space, her blood warming the frozen earth. He hadn't fought a woman in a long time and hadn't expected to find a hunter so soon after arriving in Prague.
The fountain nearby bubbled regardless of the frigid temperature, defiant of the frost that caused the grass around it to glitter.
Aleksandr glanced at his bloodied hands again and then closed his eyes against the temptation. He took no thrill in the hunt. Yet he found no calm in its aftermath. There was only the threat of unending darkness that beat within his chest and encroached upon his soul. It bled into his eyes. He could feel the jagged points of black that speared the red. He had too much blood on his hands but he couldn't give up now, not when he was so close to attaining his vengeance.
With great effort, Aleksandr sheathed his dagger against his left hip and wiped the blood away.
The smell of it still permeated the air, taunting and filling him with the dark urge to feast on the hunter's remains. He refused to obey the voice within that commanded him. His kind had fought hard against it and no Nemov had turned to the darkness. They were stronger than that, and he would die before it happened to him.
"You… what are you doing here?" A light female voice shattered the darkness within him.
Aleksandr glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She stood with the fountain at her back, the cascade of water providing wings that completed the vision of beauty. Moonlight bathed her skin, turning her round eyes dark and her hair as black as the uniform she wore.
An angel.
The red bled from his eyes, returning his irises to grey, and he straightened to his full height, desiring to look his best even when he looked his worst.
She brought her right hand up to reveal the blade clutched tightly in her fingers, held backwards with the blunt edge tucked against her forearm, ready to slash at him if he made a wrong move.
"I won't ask you twice." Her strength surprised him.
Such a beautiful creature.
Before Aleksandr could find his voice, she was gone. He turned, blocked her attack with the metal covering his left vambrace around his forearm, and attempted to disarm her. She dodged his counter-attack with ease and came around behind him. He spun and blocked her again, and this time managed to get a hand on her before she leapt backwards, out of his reach, and bared her fangs.
His heart beat harder.
She attacked again, her cry piercing the silent wintry night, and brought her blade down hard. It was difficult to block it. She was strong and skilled for a female. He strafed left and right to avoid her knife, trying to find an opening that he didn't really want to take. She was fascinating. Beautiful and deadly. Everything a vampire should be, yet there was something more to her. She turned and brought her leg around in a swift kick. The heel of her black knee-high boot smashed into the side of his head, sending him down.
Aleksandr rolled onto his feet and blocked her again. Why couldn't he bring himself to fight her? He could barely bring himself to defend.
Her red eyes narrowed on him and she growled, exposing her extended canines again. His cheek throbbed where she'd caught him. He would bear a bruise there before the hour had passed. She lunged at him and he barely avoided her blade. If he survived the fight that was. He ducked when she swung at him and swept his leg around to take hers out. She jumped it and rewarded his effort with another hard kick to the head, sending his brain spinning out of control. The darkness threatened to return, goading him into attacking. He didn't want to. He would not attack another vampire, especially not a female.
Definitely not her.
She huffed as though disappointed. Was it because he wasn't fighting or wasn't falling? Aleksandr kept his arms in front of him, blocking her swift attacks with his vambraces, and staring at her face the whole time. Fascination wasn't the right word for what she did to him.
The warmth he felt, the intense attraction, the abject desire to look into her eyes forever, even when they only promised him a slow death. It was more than fascination.
He wanted her.
"I do not wish to fight you." Aleksandr leapt backwards, away from her, and raised his hands.
Her grip on her blade tightened and she attacked.
He left himself open to see what she would do. Her clothing was formal—a black military-style jacket that only reached her waist and tight black trousers coupled with polished riding boots. She looked like a guard. If she were, she surely wouldn't kill him.
If she weren't, he was making a terrible mistake.
The moment she neared him, she sheathed the blade, threw herself forwards so her hands pressed into the dirt, twisted and launched herself at him feet first. Had he wanted to defend himself, it would have been impossible. The speed at which she locked her knees around his neck, sending him falling backwards with her momentum, and slammed him into the icy earth knocked the breath from him.
Aleksandr stared at her where she perched on his chest, straddling it with his arms trapped in the crook of her knees and her blade against his throat.
He laid beneath her, sprawled out, his back aching and freezing.
Utterly in love.
She leaned forwards. A single strand of her dark hair had fallen out of the tight bun at the back of her head and grazed her cheek. Her soft breath against his face carried the enticing scent of her blood. Her eyes went from darkness to a lighter colour that the moon stole from him. Beautiful.
Aleksandr swallowed, causing the knife to grate his Adam's apple through his thick beard. He wished that he had cleaned up now before coming to Prague. She wasn't exactly catching him at his best.
"You will answer for entering my bloodline's territory." She pressed the blade harder against his throat. "I'm taking you in."
"No need to be rough." Aleksandr smiled slowly. "Unless you like it that way, of course."
She was off him in an instant, her weapon still held at the ready.
Clearly, she wasn't into the rough stuff like so many of his kind. With the thrill of hunting denied them, they had to find excitement elsewhere. Dancing with death through sharing blood was the most intoxicating thing a vampire could do without risking their humanity and many of them did it often. He had never been into that sort of thing.
Aleksandr sat up, grazed his fingers over the silvery scars on his wrist, a reminder of why he was tracking and killing vampire hunters, risking his humanity, and then got to his feet.
The female backed off a step, but remained close enough that she could easily attack him if he tried to leave. He didn't want to, but if he did, she wouldn't be able to stop him. A woman was no match for him.
First a female hunter and then a female guard. Prague was a modern progressive city, or the world was changing faster than he realised. He had noticed it for a few years now and had been struggling to adjust ever since. He hadn't expected the change to happen within vampire society too. The males had always been the ones to take care of the females. His gaze settled on her. Now there were females capable of taking care of themselves. It was both disturbing and intriguing.
Aleksandr went to move but she was in front of him before he could take a step.
"Can I at least gather my belongings?" He motioned towards the coat and bag that waited near the fountain.
She looked at them and her gaze tracked back and settled on the corpse. Her pupils narrowed and then she frowned. Had she only just noticed that he had killed someone? She sniffed and then looked at him, her pale eyes falling to his shirt and then his hands, carefully taking all of him in. He liked the assessing edge to her gaze, and the way it lingered on his body a moment before coming up to meet his. She stared into his eyes, long enough that he felt as though she was renewing the spell she had cast on him, and then nodded.
"I desire an audience with your master." Aleksandr crossed her path and picked up his long heavy black coat. Her gaze remained on him, intent and focused.
He put his coat on, picked up his black bag and slung it over his shoulder. When he turned to face her, she was looking at the dead hunter again. The way she stared at it, studying it closely, made it clear that she hadn't seen a fresh kill in a long time.
Or she hadn't seen anything quite like the butchery that had happened tonight.
Aleksandr clenched his fists and reined in the dark hunger that the memory evoked. He was in control now, not his instincts. The hunt would continue until he had avenged her and had rid the world of her murderer's progeny.
He would not surrender until then.
For four centuries, he had tracked and killed them, his anger still fresh in his heart, the pain of losing her still raw. He would not surrender until he had killed the last of the hunter's line and protected his people.
The woman stepped forwards and his attention was back with her. The second his gaze locked with hers, the darkness inside him receded, washed away by the light in her eyes and her beauty. He had thought of nothing but the hunt for four hundred years, had closed himself off to society and focused on his duty, but the woman before him stole his attention away from it so easily. It drifted to the back of his mind with the darkness, unknown to him in this moment while her eyes held his. She wasn't afraid of him. She had fought him without fear, and with strength and skill that he had never expected to find in a female. She enthralled him.
Looking into her eyes, Aleksandr realised something dreadful. He was too close to the edge. The feelings she evoked in him were ones he had long forgotten existed. It was strange to feel warmed inside by happiness to have met her, desire to make her belong to him, and hunger for the feel of her bare body against his. He had not felt such positive emotions in decades.
He was losing himself.
"Follow me," the woman said and he did, using her as a distraction from his dark thoughts.
She was young. He placed her at barely over two hundred years old, her appearance somewhat of a human in their mid-twenties. She was at least six inches shorter than him, and slender. Her strength had surprised him because of those facts alone. Young females were often weak and needed protection. She had strong blood in her veins.
Aleksandr ran a hand over his matted long dark hair and then rubbed the several months' worth of beard on his face. What did he look like? He felt like a mess now, both inside and out. She had definitely caught him at his worst. If he had looked as he had back in his days at court, he was sure she would be looking at him differently.
He was sure that she would recognise him for who he was.
She walked swiftly ahead of him, not once looking back to check if he was still there. She had mastered her senses then. He could feel them fixed on him. How strong were they? He had honed his to perfection through years of training and hunting, but he hadn't sensed her approach. He had been too lost in the darkness.
His gaze slid down to her small backside and the way it moved as she walked mesmerised him.
He hadn't really wanted to meet her master, but saying that he did seemed like the easiest way of remaining near to her.
Aleksandr lost track of how long they had been walking. He looked up when he sensed the presence of more vampires. Black wrought iron gates punctuated an endless grey stone wall ahead. Beyond them stood the extensive bleak façade of a mansion. Light emanated from many of the rectangular windows marking the three storeys, at least on the left side. On the right, they were mostly dark hollows. Two male guards at the gate saluted the woman and then eyed him with suspicion as he passed through.
Who was his escort? She was strong, spirited, and these men ranked lower. If she weren't dressed as a guard, Aleksandr would have placed her as a lady of the bloodline. A female guard. He still couldn't quite comprehend it.
He followed her up the gravel drive to the house, walking on the left side of the wide expanse of frosty grass that stretched into the distance in both directions. It was a habit of his to mask his footfalls. It had saved his life more than once. The long grey stone front of the mansion was imposing and cold even in the moonlight. The size of it told Aleksandr that this bloodline held the power in the city, or they were the only one resident.
They crossed the large parking area in front of the house, passing a fleet of identical black Mercedes-Benz limousines. This bloodline was definitely doing well for itself. Judging by the fact that the woman had been in the city whilst wearing her uniform, it had to be masquerading as a military school of some sort. Many bloodlines bought privacy from the local government by donating large sums of money and setting up such a front. The humans never questioned them. It had been the easiest way to keep their species secret for many centuries. At least some things hadn't changed since he had left society.
The moment she entered the house, Aleksandr's attention was back with her. She hurriedly smoothed her warm chestnut hair back into the tight knot, fixing her appearance. In his opinion, she didn't need to fix it at all. The slight wanton edge her messy hair gave her was alluring to say the least. His gaze drifted to her throat and he frowned when he spotted her bloodline's mark on the back of her neck. It was an elaborate black ink crest with a stag incorporated into the design.
Černý.
They passed another pair of male guards and Aleksandr glanced at the back of their necks. The mark was visible above the collar of their short black jackets. A strong bloodline.
He had forgotten who ruled Prague. Perhaps they would be able to help him after all and his coming to their master would prove beneficial in more than one way.
His grey eyes slid back to the woman. She looked over her shoulder at him, her aquamarine eyes briefly fixing on his before she turned away again.
Aleksandr quickened his pace and fell into step beside her. She glanced at him again and then looked forwards. His gaze remained on her as they walked along the elegant gallery at the front of the house, heading towards the lit area he had seen on the left of the building. She had soft features—youthful and graceful. Her oval face, pale skin, and rosy lips set his heart racing again, quick enough that it almost matched a human heart rate. A flicker of a frown wrinkled her brow and her eyes darted to him and then away. He steadied his heart, aware that she could hear the effect she had on him. Her heart was beating at a restful pace, a soothing patter in his mind.
She moved ahead, entering a large red drawing room. The vampires relaxing in it were powerful but none of them were stronger than he was. He carried on without glancing in any of their directions, following his temptress. She turned right in the room, heading towards a guarded set of dark wooden doors. When she reached them, she faced him, her expression stern.
"Wait here," she said and the guards stationed on either side of the doors opened them for her.
Aleksandr lowered his black holdall from his shoulder. The two dark-haired male guards eyed him. He smiled but it didn't relieve the tension. It only made it worse. The one on his left cast a glance over him and Aleksandr was thankful that his long coat hid his dagger from view. The female's voice drifted through the open doors to him and he looked at her. She stood in the middle of a dark green room, the back of a gilt-framed green velvet couch in front of her. A male spoke to her in Czech, his voice a lazy drawl.
Tired of waiting, Aleksandr walked into the room, his knee-high boots heavy on the polished wooden floor. The woman's blade was at his throat again in the space of a breath. Aleksandr halted and looked at the man her body had shielded from view.
He was young to be leading a bloodline, only in his late twenties in terms of appearance, meaning he was little more than four hundred. He would have been born around the time that Aleksandr had begun his hunt.
The man leaned back into the green couch opposite the one near to Aleksandr and the woman and crossed his long black-clad legs. He smiled without any trace of charm or meaning and preened his short sandy hair back.
"This man desires an audience with you, Master," the woman said and Aleksandr glanced down into her clear blue eyes. She looked away, towards the leader of her bloodline.
"Then allow him to introduce himself so I may know with whom I speak," the master said in English.
Aleksandr was familiar with both English and Czech. He had understood everything the master had said to the woman. He wasn't interested in guests and wanted him gone. His opinion would change once he knew who Aleksandr was. It always did.
Aleksandr's gaze met the guard's again, holding it for long minutes. Whenever he set eyes on her, he was struck by her beauty as though it was the first time he had witnessed it. He willingly accepted her blade against his throat because it meant she was near him. Soon she would be this close to him without a weapon. He was sure of it. He would ask for sanctuary and the master would grant it. It would give him time to clean up his appearance and then he would start a new hunt. One for this woman.
His gaze slid across to the master and locked with his hazel one, silently showing the younger vampire that he wasn't the most powerful in the room by a long shot.
"I am Aleksandr Nemov," he said in a calm measured tone.
The female's shock rippled through the knife at his throat, which was gone an instant later. She stepped back.
"You will not mind me requesting proof of that claim," the master said.
Aleksandr smiled behind his beard. It was to be expected. He had been absent from society so long that many probably thought him dead.
With a flourish, he unsheathed and presented his bloodstained dagger. The curved silver blade caught the warm light of the fireplace to the left of the couches. That same light made the gold handle shine brightly. Only a Nemov carried such a weapon, and it had been given to him at birth, inscribed with his name so those who died by it knew who had taken their life. When the man nodded, he sheathed the blade and took hold of his black shirt above his right hip. He pulled it free of his trousers and revealed the mark he bore there on his pale skin.
The mark of royalty.
The woman's eyes widened, fixed on the crescent moon on the shield of his bloodline.
Aleksandr lowered his shirt and she slowly raised her eyes to his. She blinked, fumbled with her own knife, and then looked away. The shy sparkle in her blue eyes added to her beauty and his desire for her, momentarily stealing his attention away from the other occupant in the room.
"You will stay a while with my bloodline. It would do us great honour." The master stood and crossed the room to Aleksandr.
The woman stepped to one side, her eyes still downcast.
The master grinned and held his hand out. "I am Ladislav Černý, and I welcome you to my home. I hope you will be able to enjoy our hospitality for a long time."
Aleksandr shook his hand. Ladislav was young but wise enough to see a way to gain more power when it was standing in front of him. Being favourable to a royal would grant him more leeway with the law and more privileges in court. It was a shame then that Aleksandr had long since surrendered such authority. No matter how many times he reminded society that he was no longer royalty, it still insisted on treating him that way. In this sort of situation, he usually reminded them that he had given up his title, but this time he couldn't bring himself to mention it. He wanted to remain here and pursue the woman, and for that reason alone, he would tolerate Ladislav's mistake.
"We will hold a ball tonight to celebrate," Ladislav said, his English thickly accented.
This man was no fool. He would serve Aleksandr well. His gaze slid back to the woman. Her eyes were on him again but darted away when his met them. How well would she serve him?
"Then I will need to freshen up." Aleksandr removed his hand from Ladislav's grip.
"Any room in the guest wing you desire, and I will arrange whatever you need." Ladislav motioned to the woman. Her expression blackened for a moment, as though escorting a guest was beneath her, and then she saluted.
Aleksandr picked up his bag and smiled at the woman. She answered it with a frown and then walked out of the room. His smile widened and his gaze raked over her.
She was going to be an interesting hunt.
But he would be the victor.
Comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of Love Immortal or Forbidden Blood, winners choice. (open to international commenters too)
Available in ebook and paperback. Find out more at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Heart%20of%20Darkness
If you're interested in discovering more about my books, then you can find them all at my website http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk or can find out more about the Vampires Realm series at http://www.vampiresrealm.com
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December 19, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: Can Vampires Love? #Prize
Monica Valentinelli is an author and game designer who lurks in the dark. Find out more about Monica's stories and games by visiting her website at: http://www.mlvwrites.com
Paranormal romance is filled with tales of vampires falling in love with humans. There's something about a creature of the night that makes our pulse quicken and our hearts pound. Steamy passion is guaranteed in the works of many authors ranging from Anne Rice to Charlaine Harris. But what about love? Can a monster who's not only dead — but feeds on the living to survive — love?
That was one of the questions I set out to answer when I wrote my portion for Strange, Dead Love, a paranormal romance RPG sourcebook for Vampire: the Requiem by White Wolf Publishing. The first chapter in the book dives deeply into intimacy, themes in paranormal romance, and props or devices used to tell a story. By the time I started talking about intimacy, I realized that I had to separate my thoughts about love and affection — literally.
In the new World of Darkness, vampires are still monsters battling the Beast within. Try as they might, they will never know what love is. Intimacy is about getting up close and personal, sure, but vampires can be intimate with a mortal (or each other) without feeling love as a human might. Vampires in this setting experience the illusion of love and passionate moments help them do that. Unfortunately, that's part of what makes being a vampire so tragic. They're no longer human. Everything these Kindred experience is a shadow of what once was. Sex, which can and does still feel good to them, pales in comparison next to the Kiss. The only thing that truly gives a vampire pleasure here is hot, sweet, nourishing blood.
Other settings forced me to treat this question very differently. To accommodate tales from the mid-eighteenth century up until present day, I obsessed over choosing appropriate themes by diving back into literary history. Even though the vampire myth is found in almost every culture the world over, paranormal romance traces back to Gothic fiction where you'll find Carmilla (1872), Dracula (1897), and other stories and poems featuring a dead lover returning from the grave. Fast forward give or take a hundred years and you find books like Twilight, Guilty Pleasures, True Blood, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Interview With a Vampire and many, many more.
What I found was that romantic themes were directly affected by two things: how society treats vampires and to what degree the vampire is monstrous. If you have a secret vampire society, then you have a recipe for forbidden or tragic romance. If the vampire is horrifying to even look at, then love may redeem this creature and calm his vampiric nature. In that last case, I'd argue that "Yes!" a vampire can love because that emotion is so powerful it changes her nature. Without that specific lover, she'll go right on drinking blood from anyone and killing without remorse.
The question of whether or not a vampire can truly, deeply love a living human being can only be answered on a book-by-book basis. In some stories, vampires and humans make the perfect couple. In others? No matter how hard they try, vampires can't (and shouldn't) fall head over heels for someone.
The way Strange, Dead Love was designed, we were able to move heaven and earth to accommodate many different types of settings. I hope you'll do me the honor of learning more about this paranormal romance RPG sourcebook written by Jess Hartley, Filamena Young, and myself.
To celebrate the release of Strange, Dead Love, White Wolf Publishing has authorized a contest for a free digital version from DriveThruRPG! This sourcebook will be available very shortly on the site in digital and print. Whoever wins this contest will get a coupon to receive a free copy of the PDF the day it debuts! Make sure you leave a valid e-mail address in the comments below! (no need to paste in body of message, just add in form) Good luck!!!!
Web Site: http://www.mlvwrites.com
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December 18, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: My Favorite Vampire(s)
Lori H
andeland is a New York Times, USA Today, Waldenbooks and Bookscan Bestselling Author and the recipient of many industry awards, including two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America for Best Paranormal (BLUE MOON) and Best Long Contemporary Romance (THE MOMMY QUEST), a Romantic Times Award for Best Harlequin Superromance (A SOLDIER'S QUEST), the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, the Write Touch Readers Award, the National Readers Choice Award and the Prism Award.Â
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I've always been more of a werewolf girl, as evidenced by the majority of my books. However, there are a few vampires I just can't get enough of.
For instance, every Halloween I watch my very own copy (VHS) of "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Gary Oldman as Dracula is both creepy and sexy. When his very old and ugly shadow crawls across the wall, reaching out for Jonathan Harker's (Keanau's) back I always shudder. When he tells Mina (Winona) that he has crossed oceans of time for her, I can't help but sigh. Eternal love just gets me right there.
Then there's Edward Cullen. I'm embarrassed to admit I've got a thing for him. I even have a "Team Edward" shirt, although someone gave it to me as a joke because the only vampire hero I've ever written (Jimmy Sanducci in The Phoenix Chronicles) wears the same shirt as an inside joke.
But I like Edward. That brooding angst just calls out to my instinct to make it all better. Once again, his eternal love for Bella (even when she's WAY too whiny) gives me an ache in my still beating heart. I totally fell in love with Edward right along with Bella. Edward is a bad boy, an impossible suitor, and a sweet, lovable young man Bella can't live without. The dichotomy is her undoing–and mine.
And then there's Angel. Another brooder. (I sense a theme.) Sure, Spike was funny, but Angel was my guy. Even when he was Angelus, there was just something about him that made me yearn.
I'm also on the Jean-Claude side of the vampire/shifter debate for Anita Blake. Hamilton's vampire is smooth, gorgeous and irresistible. In my opinion, he's the only character in the books who loves Anita the way she needs to be loved. Always. Forever. No matter what.
In my urban fantasy series, Jimmy Sanducci has loved the heroine, Liz Phoenix, all his life. He will always love her, no matter what she's done, no matter what he has. Maybe that's the key to my favorite vampires–the eternal, unconditional love.
Below, in Liz's own words from CHAOS BITES the third book in the series, is a description of a kind of love I think we are all looking for and one that is often found in paranormal fiction.
No matter what he did, no matter what I did, no matter how many others we might love too, I'd feel the same way about Jimmy Sanducci until the day that I died as I'd felt about him when I was seventeen. I couldn't help myself.
Jimmy and I had shared similar childhoods, even before I'd come to Ruthie's at twelve, straight from another foster home that didn't want me. I'd also spent time on the streets, preferred it in fact to the parade of homes I'd been through. The streets might be rough, but they were honest.
Jimmy was the boss at Ruthie's, and he didn't much like having to move in with some of the other boys so I could have his bedroom. To welcome me, he'd left a grass snake between the sheets. I'd put the snake in a cage, named him James, then loosened a few of Sanducci's teeth.
What followed was five years of living in the same house, pretending to loathe each other, while what we felt in truth was developing into something much different. Not long after the lust erupted we fell in love. Jimmy would have done anything for me. It wasn't until years later that I'd found out he had.
Who are you favorite fictional vampires? What is it about them that makes you yearn?
Web Site: http://www.lorihandeland.com
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December 17, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: Loner Vamps
Phoebe Matthews loves reading urban fantasy novels and after years of writing romance, has finally started writing the books she loves to read. Her Mudflat series combines sword and sorcery with a neighborhood in Seattle where old magic runs amuck through the families. The first book, Tarbaby Trouble, won the 2009 EPIC Award for Best Fantasy. Two of the five other titles were finalists in 2010.
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Vampires come in a variety of types and styles and skills, but more than that, they exist in numerous societal situations. Here in the world of mass communication, these folks have complex hierarchies with everything from kings to local mob bosses. We know what that leads to. War between factions. But apparently, according to several series, the human population recognizes them and gives them legal rights and a lot of stuff we wouldn't extend to human gangs. I am having trouble accepting all the PC correctness of attitude toward nonhumans when so far, most real world communities haven't achieved that degree of tolerance toward their human neighbors.
Oops, sorry, let me hop down from my soapbox. I mean, hey, these folks are fiction.
My personal vampire preference is the loner everyone thinks is a bit of an odd duck but never guesses he's a vampire. Among my faves is P. N. Elrod's restauranteur, Jack Fleming, who sleeps in a sub basement safe room. When he can't get home in time, he spends the day in a space under the restaurant floor, because every vamp needs a good hidey hole.
And then there's Tanya Huff's Henry, once heir to the British throne, who became a vampire hoping to spend eternity with his love only to learn too late that vampires don't love vampires, they love live people. His world is a high rise condo where he supports himself by writing romance novels. These guys are loners, make their own rules, and win or lose by their own decisions with no one else to blame.
I like their attitudes. I like their independence. I like their limitations.
On a visit to the vampire famous Olympic Peninsula, including shopping sprees through the glittery souvenir shops, I had an idea for a vampire series. It had to occur in that location. But I wanted my vampire to be in the tradition of the loners with no pack to back her up. Sink or swim time. No one to blame but herself. So there she is, eighteen years old, on her own for the first time in her life, and no idea what her limitations are.
So of course she immediately falls in love with a darling human guy. And later she discovers the dangers.
Phoebe Matthews's Turning Vampire series is published by Dark Quest Books, and is also available as an ebook. The first title is VAMPIRE CAREER, Dark Quest Books 2011.
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Web Site: PhoebeMatthews.com
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December 16, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: Don Draper – Vampire? #Prize
Diana Castle has always loved reading tales of adventure and romance. Longing to write her own stories, she's now in the process of independently publishing spicy tales of "dangerous men and adventurous women" in her favorite genres: mysteries, suspense, westerns, science fiction, fantasy and paranormals.
The first book in her spicy Western trilogy, Under His Hands
, is now available for purchase.
Under the name Anna Black, her short stories have appeared in The MILF Anthology, Zane's Caramel Flava II, Purple Panties, and Honey Flava anthologies, Cowboy Lover-Erotic Stories of the Wild West, The MILF Anthology, The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra, the Cleis Press anthologies Hurts So Good and The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica. She's also written for Ellora's Cave under the name Jenna Reynolds.
She lives in the Midwest and very much enjoys the change in the seasons.
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Don Draper – Vampire?
That's the what-if scenario I hypothesized to myself one day and which led to the writing of my vampire romance Madison Avenue Vampire
, written under the name Jenna Reynolds. For those who are not familiar with Don Draper, he is the focal character of AMC's Emmy-award winning series Mad Men. Here's the show's description from the web site:
The series revolves around the conflicted world of Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), the biggest ad man (and ladies' man) in the business, and his colleagues at the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Advertising Agency. As Don makes the plays in the boardroom and the bedroom, he struggles to stay a step ahead of the rapidly changing times and the young executives nipping at his heels. The series also depicts authentically the roles of men and women in this era while exploring the true human nature beneath the guise of 1960s traditional family values.
Initially I had no interest in the show and didn't even start watching it until the second season. But I'm now a rabid fan and I'm anxiously awaiting the show's fifth season.
What led to my deciding to loosely base my vampire character, Richard Harlan, on Don Draper was (1) I was deep into catching up on the show at the time, and (2) I was trying to come up with a different setting for a vampire romance I was itching to write.
Okay, yes. I'll confess to it. And also a bit of a crush on Jon Hamm.
But the era of Mad Men also appealed to me because it was a time of rapid, exhilarating and often frightening changes.
The country was coming out of the post-World War II Eisenhower era and, in just a few short years, would witness the assassinations of a president, the president's younger brother, and a prominent civil-rights leader; violent, nationwide protests over the Vietnam War; the escalating of the civil rights' movement, along with women's increasing demands for equal rights; the transition from beatniks to flower children to the darker, sinister side of the hippie movement: Charles Manson and his murderous followers; the widespread distribution of birth control pills, which lead to the sexual revolution; the Cold War heating up amidst the explosion in the fashion world of mini-skirts, Nehru jackets and bell-bottoms; the Motown sound, epitomized by the girl-group of the 60s', the Supremes, and the arrival to these shores of some mop-haired quartet from England calling themselves the Beatles.
Since vampires are immortal (that is, until someone stakes, burns or decapitates them) it was no real stretch of the imagination to play around with the idea of a vampire story set in the swinging 60's.
My vampire, Richard Harlan, does owns an ad agency, and he somewhat physically resembles the actor, Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper. But the similarities pretty much end there.
As described in the article "Why the Ladies Love Jon Hamm", Don Draper is a rather venal character. He sleeps around on his wife, reflects some of the values of that era when it comes to race and sex, and he drinks. A lot. As matter a fact, Don Draper isn't even his real name!
He's shadowy, domineering, mysterious and über-masculine.
Wait. That sounds like a vampire. *grin*
Richard Harlan, however, belongs to that breed of vampires I tend to gravitate toward in both my reading and my writing. He's more of a Louis than a Lestat (Interview With the Vampire), though perhaps not as tortured as Louis. (Not sure who could be more tortured than Louis).
More of an Angel than a Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a Bill Compton than an Eric Northman (True Blood), or a Stephen Salvatore than a Damon Salvatore. (The Vampire Diaries).
Not that I dislike Lestat or Spike or Eric or Damon. I don't. I love bad-boy vampires!
But in this particular story, I chose to write about a vampire who, at this point in his very long life(?), is starting to regret all that he's done to survive. However, even while he's wallowing in all that vampire angst, it doesn't mean he's not thirsting for the heroine's blood.
As for her, although Lana Sorenson has more of the coloring of a Betty Draper, Don's blonde, long-suffering, ice-queen of a wife, she's physically built more like Sterling Draper Cooper Price's attractive office manager, the voluptuous, red-haired, accordion-playing Joan Holloway.
But, in all honesty, Madison Avenue Vampire probably reads more like Little Red-Riding Hood than Mad Men, with my heroine, Lana, as Red and Richard as the Big Bad Wolf. A similarity that even Lana notices and comments on. She's the naive farmer's daughter who, having left an abusive home life back in Wisconsin, comes to New York hoping to find a new life for herself.
She and Richard attend a Halloween party given by one of Richard's wealthy friends. It's a party that takes place not long after 1962's Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world was a hairsbreadth away from nuclear armageddon. While at the party, Lana discovers Richard is a vampire.
I had a lot of fun doing the research for Madison Avenue Vampire. The clothes, the music, and all that was going on culturally and politically in the country and around the world.
I'm a big history buff, so I can't help imagining other historical eras in which to feature vampires. Many have already been written, of course, and I'd love to hear what are some of your favorites.
Actually, one of my faves was written by George R. R. Martin, author of the fantasy series Game of Thrones. It's called Fevre Dream
and it takes place in the 1850's on a riverboat.
One of my short stories, "The Temptation of Mademoiselle Doucette", which I wrote under the name Anna Black and is in the anthology The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica
, takes place during the French Revolution. Although now that I think on it that's probably one historical era in which vampires would have wanted to keep a low profile.
The guillotine and all that.
Anyone who comments on what their favorite historical vampire novel is and/or what era in history they'd like to see a vampire novel set will be eligible to win an electronic copy of Madison Avenue Vampire.
Here's a bit of a set-up for the excerpt from the book.
The scene takes place immediately after Lana and Richard leave a Halloween party where Richard, as a private joke, comes to the party dressed like a stereotypical vampire, meaning he's wearing a costume similar to the one Bela Lugosi wore in the 1939 version of Dracula.
Lana, having gone in search of Richard when he disappears from the party, discovers him in a rather compromising position with a good-looking, young actor. She thinks Richard is kissing the actor's neck, but he's actually drinking the actor's blood.
* * * * *
"Get in the car, Lana."
Richard's voice carried that same coldblooded tone of command that had scared off a pair of street thugs who had tried to rob them one evening. He had simply ordered them to leave or suffer the consequences and the two would-be-muggers had quickly scurried away.
She looked over at the driver. He stood silently, his hand on the door, his face hidden by his chauffeur's cap. At least she wouldn't be alone with Richard.
She got inside the limo and scooted across the wide leather seat until she was pressed up against the other door. She had no idea how safe she would be with him in the backseat, but she could at least put as much distance between them as she could.
Richard got into the limo. The chauffeur closed the door and jumped into the driver's seat. As the car pulled into traffic, Lana anxiously clasped her coat collar around her neck. Her other hand gripped the door latch.
She sensed Richard staring at her. A glass partition separated them from the driver. She wondered if he would be able to hear her if she screamed. And what he would do if she did? He was, after all, Richard's employee.
"Do you have something to say to me, Lana?" His smooth, melodious voice coiled around her like a velvet noose.
Her heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?"
He laughed, soft and low. "I know you were there."
She gasped and looked over at him. "I…I don't know what you mean," she stammered.
He shook his head, his topaz-colored eyes staring deeply into hers. "Don't lie."
"I'm not lying." Her voice shook. "I really don't know what you're talking about."
Richard looked at her for a long moment. Then he released a heavy breath. He pushed himself against the back of the seat and placed his hands on his thighs.
Lana looked over at them. They were large hands with long, expressive fingers. She'd had any number of heated fantasies about those hands on her body, caressing her naked skin, molding her heavy breasts, skimming over the curves of her buttocks. Even now, confused and anxious as she was, she wanted Richard to take her in his arms and make passionate love to her.
On the ring finger of his left hand, he wore an elaborate silver ring set with a single ruby. As she stared at it, it seemed to pulse. She shivered and looked away.
"Go ahead, Lana. Feel free to say whatever is on your mind." His voice was distant, preoccupied, as if he were thinking about something else.
She cleared her throat and grasped the collar of her coat tighter. "I wish you had told me that you…that you preferred men."
He chuckled. A cold, dark sound. "Is that what you think? That I'm a homosexual? Did Mrs. Pomeroy tell you I was?"
"She didn't say anything of the sort." But Lana recalled the look Mrs. Pomeroy had exchanged with Councilman Stone when she had gone in search of Richard. And there was the joke the councilman had made about some cupbearer being the lover of Zeus.
"Councilman Stone, then?"
Lana shook her head. "I'm only going by what I saw."
"And what did you see, Lana?"
She turned away from him and stared out the window of the limo, her eyes hot with unshed tears. "I saw you with that actor. Jonathan Merrill. You were…kissing his neck."
"Is that what you really saw?" Richard's voice was low, hushed, almost hypnotic, like a soft breeze playing about her ear. "Think carefully now."
"Yes. You were with Jonathan. And you were—"
Richard moved toward her, but he moved so fast it was as if the air around him had shifted. One moment, he was on the other side of the limo. The next, he was pressed against her, his arms firmly around her.
Lana gasped, her heart pounding in her chest. She gazed up at him and felt a dangerous swooping deep in her stomach. His breath was cool against her cheek, his firm lips slightly parted and she could well imagine them pressed against her throat. She drank in his nearness, like some urgently desired and equally hated elixir, wanting to kiss him as much as she wanted to scratch his eyes out.
He stared down at her, and as he did, the pupils of his eyes slowly swelled until the hazel color was completely swallowed by black.
A scream scrabbled in her throat. She pushed against him but his arms were like iron around her. He opened his mouth wider.
"No. They're fake," she whispered as she stared at a pair of white fangs. "They're part of…part of your costume."
"They're not, Lana. And you know they're not."
She frantically shook her head. "No. There are no such things as—" She stopped, the pulse leaping in her throat.
A bright spot of blood lay on the pristinely white shirt Richard wore under his vest.
Her eyes widened. "Blood. You…you were…?"
He lowered his head and moved his mouth close to her neck. His breath caressed her skin, under which her veins throbbed with the mad beating of her heart. "Yes, Lana. I was drinking his blood."
"No. I don't believe you."
He pressed his mouth against her throat. The sharp points of his fangs pricked her flesh and the tip of his tongue lazily stroked her skin.
She shivered, gripping his arms. She should be terrified. Why wasn't she screaming? If he really was a vampire, that meant he was going to kill her. But he hadn't killed Jonathan. He'd come back to the party very much alive.
Lana shook her head. There were no such things as vampires. Richard was playing a trick on her. He was trying to distract her from the fact he'd been kissing Jonathan Merrill's neck, not biting it.
Yet in spite of her fears that he actually preferred men, feeling his arms around her like this, his lips on her neck, his body pressed against hers, a powerful wave of desire surged through her.
Prior to this night, Richard had always been the perfect gentlemen. Treating her with the utmost courtesy. Never going beyond a kiss on the cheek at the end of their dates. Even when she'd finally gotten up the nerve and offered to sleep with him, he had politely declined. She had thought it was because he respected her and wished to treat her like a lady.
She wasn't so sure now. Maybe what Mrs. Pomeroy and Councilman Stone had hinted at was true. Maybe Richard did prefer men. But if that was true, why was he holding her like this? She could feel the hard strength in his body, the way his lips pressed so urgently against her neck. He wanted her. She felt it. He wanted her as much as she wanted him.
She lolled her head back, offering him the line of her throat.
He violently pushed away from her
"What's wrong? Why didn't you…?" Lana stopped, her heart pounding.
Richard looked over at her, a corner of his mouth curled up in a mocking smile. "What? Drink from you? Is that what you want, Lana? For me to drink your blood?"
"No, of course not. I didn't think you were going to do that anyway. I thought you were going to—"
She shook her head. "This is some kind of joke. Isn't it?" She nervously laughed.
Richard only stared at her with his midnight eyes.
"You're dressed up like a vampire and now you're pretending to be one. And you've done something to your eyes." She laughed again, but there was still no humor in it. Only a desperate need to make sense of what was happening. "You just don't want to admit that you prefer men."
"I don't prefer men, Lana. I am a vampire. I was feeding from Jonathan Merrill. Not making love to him."
Lana stared at him. Why was he doing this? There were no such things as vampires. But there were men who liked being with other men. "If you're a vampire, then why won't you drink my blood?"
He glanced at her neck, his expression both greedy and apprehensive. "I've had enough blood for tonight."
"I can't believe I'm even having this conversation. You're not a vampire."
He looked over at her, his eyes regarding her gravely. They were once again hazel instead of that terrifying black. "I am a vampire, Lana. And the fact that you know it has, I'm afraid, seriously complicated things."
* * * * *
Don't forget to comment and share your favorite historical vampire story and/or what historical era you'd like to see vampires featured. Those who comment will be eligible to win an electronic version of Madison Avenue Vampire.
Bite on!
December 15, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: The Weight of Gravitas
Alex Bledsoe grew up in west Tennessee an hour north of Graceland and twenty minutes from Nutbush. He's been a reporter, editor, photographer and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. Alex now lives in a Wisconsin town famous for trolls, writes before six in the morning and tries to teach his two sons to act like they've been to town before.
He's the author of the Eddie LaCrosse high fantasy/hardboiled mysteries ("The Sword-Edged Blonde," "Burn Me Deadly," "Dark Jenny"), two novels about vampires in 1975 Memphis ("Blood Groove" and "The Girls with Games of Blood") and the first Tufa novel, "The Hum and the Shiver."
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Anne Rice, whose status in the world of vampires is secure whatever drek she continues to publish, recently raised a ruckus from the notoriously humorless Twilight fans by saying, in part, that compared to Edward Cullen and company, "My vampires possess gravitas. They can afford to be merciful."
There's no doubt that in the beginning, certainly in Interview with the Vampire and its epic follow-up, The Vampire Lestat, her statement is true. Her ongoing saga has, alas, diminished that accomplishment. But the loss is not entirely hers alone. The vampire as a cultural figure has suffered a tragic loss of gravitas, and now occupies a space somewhere between Marlon Brando in The Wild One and the Count from Sesame Street.
This isn't a result of romance novels, although it's manifested mostly in that
genre. It's instead a symptom of our society's refusal to acknowledge real, spiritual evil. Ask anyone to name an evil person now, and you're likely to get one name: Hitler. The evil of the moment might be mentioned (i.e., pedophile coaches, terrorists, dishonest bankers) but for evil with a name, there's generally only one. It's as if we as a society decided that Hitler was some weird inverse messiah, taking all the true evil onto his shoulders. What we're left with are pseudo-evils: mental illness, sexual perversity, religious intolerance, unrestrained greed.
The first landmark vampire, Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, is evil. No doubt, no ameliorating circumstances. It's implied he was an evil man, and that his evil has only grown exponentially after he's become a vampire. And because of this evil, he has gravitas.
Rice gave us a vampire who felt guilty about his actions in Louis, but she also gave us the (initially) gloriously unrestrained Lestat. He was evil, but joyously so, delighting in abhorrent actions because he believed his existence held no "higher purpose." But it's tricky to maintain that level of nihilism with a character you come to understand (and I'm speaking from experience with my own vampire, Baron Zginski). Eventually your identification becomes sympathy, and then evil becomes merely the result of some external cause, not an internal sickness of the soul. And with that sympathy comes an inevitable loss of gravitas.
The vampires of True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, and of course Twilight lack this gravitas because we're meant to sympathize with them. They become, not embodiments of evil, but unfortunates suffering from a "condition." There's nothing wrong with this as an idea–Dark Shadows milked it for untold hours of daily drama–but it's also a very overused one. It reduces the need for blood–once a symbol of draining the very life from a victim–to the level of insulin shots for diabetics, something that carries no moral weight at all. And it leaves this great genre figure as pallid and bloodless as any of its casualties.
Gravitas is a result of certainty. Superman has it because he's certain of his goodness, and he's an icon. Dracula, another icon, is certain of his evil. Lestat is certain of it. Barnabas Collins, however, is not. Edward Cullen is not. Bill Compton is not. They're perfectly acceptable as characters, they just lack the weight of certainty. And without it, they'll never be anything but mere acceptable characters.
Web Site: Alex Bledsoe
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December 14, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: JingleVamp-Special Order Hero
Welcome to 30 Days of Vampires 2011. Stop by every day in December for a new post on vampires and a chance to win a $100 gift card from the bookstore of your choice. (gift card must be available for Lori to purchase/send with reasonable shipping) Also watch for numerous daily prizes offered by the individual authors. (some restrictions may apply) To enter just comment! One comment per post will be counted. So stop by every day! Comments must be posted by January 3, 2012
Sharon Ashwood is a free-lance journalist, novelist, desk jockey and enthusiast for the weird and spooky. She has an English literature degree but works as a finance geek. Interests include growing her to-be-read pile and playing with the toy graveyard on her desk. As a vegetarian, she freely admits the whole vampire/werewolf lifestyle fantasy would never work out, so she writes paranormal romances instead. Sharon lives in the Pacific Northwest and is owned by the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness. Photo by Mark Oxley/Studio 16
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In answer to the age-old question, authors DO have their sources for characters. I get mine through mail order.
I've owned the Dark Hero, Vampire Edition 3.2, for a few years now. He came in a box, all minty fresh with that new hero gleam in his eye. Of course there were limitations. Dark wash only. Do not leave in direct sunlight. I had to get a separate unit, the Djinn Slave 4.0, for household use. However, I have to say I have been a fully satisfied customer.
Of course, all equipment subjected to heavy use eventually needs replacement—and believe me, the 3.2 saw a lot of action since he came out of the carton. He's held up well, but his cape is getting a bit threadbare and the poor dear gets stuck in the brood cycle more often than is good for him. I've had to call the manufacturer's help desk to unlock the "furrowed brow" setting three times now. So, when I was browsing through the catalogue to see if their new line of minotaur was available yet, my attention was caught by a coupon offer for the JingleVamp Special Edition.
I confess, the notion of a vampire with a "ho, ho, ho" plug-in was vaguely disturbing. I wasn't sure about the reindeer antlers, either, but I figured what the heck. It would make a change from the usual sort of holiday decoration. So, I placed an order.
The thing I didn't realize was that, unlike the full-priced Dark Heroes, JingleVamp came unassembled and that the instructions were in the non-language universal to children's toys and cheap furniture. Soon my living room floor was covered in an explosion of sardonic laughs, sultry glances, and sparkly white fangs as I unpacked and sorted and tried to make sense of the diagrams. Fortunately, there was more information enclosed in a separate envelope:
Hello, and welcome to your new JingleVamp! Here are a few pointers to make sure you fully enjoy your new purchase:
1. Note JingleVamp must be rebooted when changing "naughty" and "nice" settings.
2. When recharging, do not plug JingleVamp into the same circuit as your Christmas tree. Spontaneous carolling may result, overriding your Dark Hero's patented Sinister Velvet® laugh cycle.
3. Exercise caution when using JingleVamp near pine boughs, holly sprigs, pine trees, or other pointy wooden objects.
4. JingleVamp may consume eggnog while set to "party animal." Caution: Glassware recommended. Paper cartons will leak if bitten.
5. Do not engage JingleVamp in reindeer games without permission of local wildlife authorities.
6. Your JingleVamp will not pull a sleigh, no matter how nicely you ask.
7. Note that Dark Hero units cannot be set to "shopping" mode prior to noon, December 24. "Wrap" mode defaults to intermittent setting. "Write cards" mode is automatically disabled. Contact manufacturer for override instructions.
8. Shopping list plug-in sold separately. Unit is supplied with only "black negligee" and "toaster" options.
9. If you wish to disassemble unit, use stake provided.
Thank you for purchasing the JingleVamp Special Edition! We hope you enjoy your new Dark Hero's version of Christmas Cheer.
Merry Fangmas to All!
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READ AN EXCERPT of Frostbound
WATCH THE VIDEO for Frostbound
To celebrate the holiday season, I'm giving away one of my Dark Forgotten books to a commenter (winner's choice)! Visit my website at www.SharonAshwood.com to read excerpts and watch videos for the whole Dark Forgotten series!
Buy the Books!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
December 13, 2011
30 Days of Vampires: A Vampire Obsession?
Once upon a time, Cynthia Cooke lived a quiet, idyllic life caring for her beautiful eighteen-month-old daughter then peace gave way to chaos as she gave birth to boy/girl twins. Hip-deep in diapers and baby food and living in a world of sleep deprivation, she kept my sanity by reading romance novels and dreaming of writing one. Now, many moons later, she is an award-winning author who has published many books with Harlequin. If you enjoy page-turners that keep you glued to your seat then pick up one of Cynthia's books. But be warned, if you do, if you take a ride over the edge and into the Dark, don't forget to turn on the lights. Cynthia's books aren't sweet, and they aren't for the faint of heart. Enjoy the Dark Seduction.
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A Vampire Obsession?
Perhaps. When I started writing paranormal romances, I didn't know I could become so enamored with Vampires. Sure, I devoured Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, falling in love with bad boy, Lestat and Louis's oh-so-tender heart. But write about them myself? I had never considered it until a group of friends and I got together and decided we were going to write a series together. And I pulled the vampire straw.
I thought, why not? And Dark Enchantments, a multi-author series for HQ Nocturne, by myself, Michele Hauf, Nina Bruhns, and Pat White was born. Dark Enchantments took us deep into the world of Demons, Vampires, and Weres and the organizations that watch and sometimes battle them. My book, RISING DARKNESS, was about a special vampire, Damien, an Adept who traps Demons inside crystal prisons. Only his brother, Nicholai is addicted to Demon essence and will do whatever it takes to steal the crystal and capture the very powerful demon for himself. Even if he has to kill Nicholai's beloved to do it. ~Gasp!
In THE VAMPIRE'S SEDUCTION, bad boy Nicholai thinks he's escaped England and can start again, but things don't go well for him when he and his clan run into a coven of witches who have a secret weapon for annihilating the vampires. Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Well, what better way to keep our vampire's hot!! Poor Nicholai finds himself deep in the witch's lair in order to say his brethren, Marcos, who has become a very special friend to one of the witches. Whether he likes it or not. ~Oy!
In PLAYING WITH VAMPIRES, Marcos might have escaped the witches' dungeons, but he isn't done suffering yet. Marcos will be put to the ultimate test by a very feisty witch bent on revenge. Does he have it in him to give our witch exactly what she needs?
Yes, I love writing about vampires. They are hot, they are powerful, they are driven and most of all, they will do anything to get what they want. Which makes it all the more fun when they realize what they want is to earn the love of the woman they had no clue they even wanted.
Follow my Paranormal Romance tales and fall in love with my sexy vampires:
Damien – Rising Darkness, HQ Nocturne
Nicholai – The Vampire's Seduction, HQ Nocturne
Marcos – Playing with Vampires, due out soon
And for a quick Nocturne Bite, don't miss, Marius in – A Night with a Vampire
I love hearing from readers! Follow me at: www.cynthiacooke.com, http://sclbks.com/cynthiacookeauthorpage and http://twitter.com/CynthiaCooke5
And Let the DARK seduce you!!
Buy the Books!
