Richard Murray's Blog, page 5

Reborn by Blood

Hello anyone who actually reads this rarely updated blog…

I thought I would do something different today. Since I just released my newest work of fiction, I figured that I would put the first chapter up here for people to have a read.

So here it is, please enjoy.

Chapter 1

I had always thought death would be an end, perhaps a painful one at that. I never really expected a heaven or hell, or any kind of afterlife. Perhaps I would die a violent death or simply close my eyes and go to sleep. I certainly never imagined that I would wake up again.

It was disorientating at first. I lay in that dark and dingy little two room flat set above the Chinese take-away and struggled to remember what had happened. My head was throbbing and the room spun alarmingly whenever I moved.

My trainers were beside the front door and I was still wearing the jeans and shirt that I had on when I left the flat to go to the pub the night before. I slowly disentangled myself from the covers and sat up for just a moment before realising that was a really foolish thing to do, as the throbbing in my head became a pounding.

I choked down the urge to vomit and felt around on the bedside table for my phone. The display lit up with an intensity that hurt my eyes and I regretted drinking as much as I had. An insistent message on the screen was telling me that I had seven missed calls from Beth, my best friend and the person most likely to be my usual drinking buddy.

The clock display on the phone showed the time to be a little after six in the morning and I had no reason to believe it was lying, so I put the phone back on the side and resolved to call Beth later in the day when she would be more likely to be awake.

My flat was small and had just the two rooms. A bathroom complete with shower and toilet and the main room that held my bed and a small kitchen area against one wall. I pushed myself to my feet and staggered across the bare and very cold wooden floor, towards the kitchen area and my one hope of finding some painkillers.

“Those won’t help you I’m afraid” said a smooth voice from behind me.

I spun around to see who was in my flat and immediately regretted doing so as I clutched at my stomach and fought down the bile that threatened to spill from my mouth.

“You really are in a sorry state aren’t you?” said the strange man who sat on a camping chair beside my bed.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked.

“That is perhaps a complicated question at this moment.” The stranger smirked at me, “You may call me Sebastian.”

“Why are you in my flat Sebastian?”

Sebastian ran his gaze up and down my wretched form and his smirk became wider.

“I am here because last night I made a mistake and it seems that you are the consequence that I am forced to deal with.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I groaned and leant back against the wall in an attempt to hold myself upright. I really wasn’t feeling well.

“We met last night, you and I” began Sebastian, “I bought you one drink and then another.”

He paused to pick some speck of dust from his immaculate black suit before speaking once again. “After the third drink you invited me back here.”

“What! Why the hell would I do that?” I demanded.

“Because I told you to.”

That smirk was really beginning to annoy me. “Look pal, you aren’t making any sense and I am in no mood to deal with this so just sod off will you.”

“I am afraid that I cannot do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I have to tell you a few things first. You may not believe them, you may not care to listen but if you don’t… well you will die before the end of the day.” Sebastian said with his smirk firmly rooted in place.

“I’ll die?”

“Yes I am afraid so. It is entirely my fault and now you are left with a choice to make.”

“What choice?” I asked with more than a little confusion. This man in his dark suit was making no sense to me.

“I am a Vampire.” Sebastian said and paused for that to sink in before continuing, “Last night I fed on you. Normally I would feed and leave you somewhat drained but otherwise unharmed. You would awaken the next morning with no memory of what had happened and within a few days you would be back to normal.”

“You fed on me.” I said and let more than a touch of doubt enter my tone. If I wasn’t so concerned with just staying upright I would have physically removed him from the flat.

“Yes I am afraid so. Unfortunately things went wrong and I drank too deeply. You died and to save you, I had to feed you my blood.” He said with the slightest hint of a frown forming. “The blood of a Vampire is sacred. It can heal a human of minor and often major wounds and if the human has it within their system at the point of death, it will keep the human alive… for a time.”

“What do you mean for a time?”

“Approximately twenty four hours. After that time the blood will leave your system and you will be dead for good.” Sebastian sounded almost apologetic as he finished speaking.

“So are you saying I’m going to be dead by tomorrow?”

Sebastian studied me for several long minutes before replying. “You have two choices,” he began. “The first is that you can accept your fate and die. The second is that you can embrace the gift you have been given and become a Vampire.”

“Become a Vampire… you really must be nuts.” I let forth a laugh that was quickly choked off as Sebastian leapt from the chair and had his hands wrapped tightly around my throat without seeming to cross the space between.

“Listen well human” he snarled, “If you die this whole embarrassing situation that I find myself in will be done with. If you choose to accept the transformation then you will become a member of an ancient race and more to the point, you will become a member of my line. Your actions will reflect on me as your sire, so you will show me a little respect.”

His grip was tight and I was unable to breathe, my head was pounding and I struggled weakly in his grasp. I nodded as best I were able and tried to voice my agreement. Sebastian held me against the wall for a moment longer than he truly needed to before nodding to himself and releasing me. I slumped to the floor gasping for breath.

“The choice is yours now human. Whether you believe me or not, before the end of this day you will be dead unless you accept the gift you have been offered.” Sebastian said his voice dripping with disdain.

“Fine, how do I accept the transformation” I said in an effort to humour the ridiculously strong madman.

“To become a Vampire you must drain the blood of a human completely.” Sebastian said and I couldn’t help the laugh that burst forth.

“No wait!” I said, holding up one hand to forestall the attack I imagined was about to come, judging by the darkening expression on Sebastian’s face. “You have to understand that this sounds ridiculous.” I told him.

“Believe it or don’t, your fate is in your hands now.” Sebastian said as the smirk returned. “Throughout the day you will continue to feel worse. The headache will become so bad that you cannot concentrate, your teeth will ache as the fangs form in preparation for the change to come and you will feel a thirst that you cannot quench.”

Sebastian paused and reached into his suit jacket to pull free a white embossed business card which he placed on the kitchen counter beside me.

“If you choose to accept the change you may call me. You will have much to learn about your new life.” He said as he turned to leave, crossing the room swiftly and pulling open the front door. Sebastian paused before leaving and turned his head to look back over his shoulder at me as I sat on the wooden floor.

“The choice is yours but decide quickly because you do not have much time left.” Sebastian said before stepping through the doorway and letting the door slowly close behind him.

I sat and stared at the door for a number of minutes before I recalled the headache tablets that I had yet to take. I pushed myself to my feet and picked up the tablets from the countertop before swallowing a handful with a glass of water.

It would take at least ten minutes for the pills to work their magic and in the meantime I decided to lie back down and get some more sleep, but not before making sure the front door was securely locked. I had no intention of letting any more crazy people into my flat.

Sleep refused to come and I lay in my sweat soaked sheets, tossing and turning as I waited for the headache to subside. It didn’t. With a curse I sat up and grabbed my phone from the bedside table where it lay. The phone’s clock had the time at almost 10 o’clock, still far too early to call Beth back.

The odd encounter with Sebastian wouldn’t leave my thoughts and the tiny flat that I called home was beginning to feel too confining. I climbed out of bed and picked up my wallet and keys from the bedside table along with a few loose coins before heading to the door and pulling on my trainers.

After a last check of my pockets to ensure I had everything I needed, I pulled open the front door and walked out into the glaring sunlight that was streaming in through the open window in the hallway.

With a yelp of pain I retreated back into the dark, cool sanctuary of my room and slammed shut the door. It took more than a few seconds for my eyes to readjust to the dim interior and I had to wipe my eyes repeatedly with the back of my hand to stop them watering.

“What the hell was that about?” I asked the empty room.

I had one large window set into the wall beside my bed and I crossed to it. The heavy curtains were closed most of the time as my flat was situated next to a main road and the noise of vehicles rarely stopped. Anything that helped cut out the noise was welcome.

With a tentative tug on the cloth, a gap appeared in the centre and a thin yet very bright shaft of light shone through. I stared hard at that beam of light for several minutes. My eyes stung a little but I could still see clearly, though anything caught in that beam of light was hard to focus on.

My thoughts kept leaping back to the conversation with Sebastian and his seemingly fantastical idea that I was going to become a Vampire. No matter how ridiculous it seemed, I had never had a problem with sunlight before.

I reached out and let my hand dip into the beam of light. I could feel the warmth where the light touched and after a few seconds, a slight tingling that seemed to start on the surface of my skin and travel straight through to the bone beneath.

This was something new and I was beginning to wonder if perhaps Sebastian had not been telling such a tall tale as I had believed. Lost in thought it hadn’t occurred to me to move my hand and I was reminded of its place in the sun as the tingling turned to burning.

Several choice swear words followed as I yanked back my hand and pulled closed the curtains to block the light. I rubbed at the back of my hand and a brief inspection revealed a large red patch where the beam had touched, much like severe sunburn.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and crossed to the kitchen unit where the business card still lay and picked it up. It contained nothing more than a single telephone number in black ink. I typed it into my phone and pressed the dial icon.

The phone rang eight times before going straight to voicemail. It wasn’t even a personalised voice mail, just the standard automated message that everyone started with. I tried calling three more times before I threw the card back onto the counter in frustration though not before leaving a curt message demanding Sebastian call me.

It seemed that I was trapped in the flat until the sun went down and I was starting to give some credence to Sebastian’s Vampire tale. Of course if he had been telling the truth then I would either have to kill someone or die by 6 am tomorrow.

As I tried to work out exactly what I planned to do, I realised that Sebastian had said that I would have approximately twenty four hours. If he had met me in the pub and had bought me a few drinks as he said, then we had likely arrived back at my flat before midnight.

I felt a sudden chill as the time I had left shortened by a quarter and I picked up the phone and called Beth.

Three rings and she picked up. “What?”

“Beth it’s me, I need your help” I said with more than a touch of hysteria in my voice.

“Why? What time is it?”

“I…” my voice faltered as I struggled with how to tell my friend what had happened without appearing mad. “Just come over to my flat. Please” I finished weakly.

“If I must. I want beer though” she said before hanging up.

The phone dropped to the wooden floorboards with a clatter and I sat on my bed. The headache was worsening and as promised, my teeth were starting to throb in time with the headache with sharp pulses of pain that travelled all the way through my jaw.

With little else to do, I lay back on the bed and waited in abject misery for Beth to arrive. My time was running out. I could feel each and every fragile second of life fall away as the day wore on.

The claims Sebastian had made, while incredible, seemed all too real. The pain in my jaw had subsided as the headache worsened. A dull ache filled my muscles and joints and every movement was agony.

If I had the will to do so, I could raise my hand to my brow and feel the slick sheen of sweat that lay upon my fevered brow. Though to do such a thing would take more energy than I felt I could muster.

I was dying. Again. My breathing was shallow and my throat was sore and dry, oh so very dry. I wanted to drink, no I needed to drink. I needed to drink all of the water in the world and still I knew somehow, that it wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t slate my thirst.

An insistent banging came from my front door and I refused to open it. I wouldn’t call out and answer when she called my name. The buzzing of my phone as it vibrated against the floor was easily ignored as one more minor irritant as I floated in a sea of agony.

It had been a mistake calling her. I could feel it now, the growing thirst, the need to drink of something. Someone.

The very idea was repulsive and made all the more so by how much I wanted to do it. I wanted to drink the blood, the very thought of it made me salivate as my heart beat faster. I wouldn’t though.

I refused to do it. Not for any altruistic or moral reasons, but out of spite. That bastard Sebastian had done this to me and I had no intention of letting him win, letting him be right. Vampires weren’t real and if they were… I would not be one of them.

As the aching lessened, the dull pain starting to fade away I realise that I must be close to that time, that crucial moment where I would have to have killed another person or I would die myself.

The thirst was still with me, a yearning for something that I refused with every shred of will I possessed. The pounding that had been behind my eyes all day had slowly quietened to the occasional small thump of pain.

I pulled myself to my feet and staggered across the room to the kitchen sink. I barely made it. Only the thought of being found dead on the floor in some undignified position kept me upright.

A turn of a tap and sweet, cool water flowed out. I cupped my hands beneath the stream and let the water caress my fingers as it found its way through my poor attempt at blocking it, before I doused myself.

It felt good, it felt incredible. The coolness of the water was a balm that I needed, it helped me concentrate. I grabbed a mug from the draining board filled it to the brim with the cool sweet water before bringing it to my lips and gulping it down.

The water stayed in my stomach for less than a dozen seconds before forcing its way back up and out, to splatter into the sink as I heaved. I wiped the last of the vomit from my mouth with the back of my hand. My thirst had, if anything, grown greater.

With a click the lock on my front door opened and I jerked upright in alarm. No one had a key to my place, other than my landlord and me.

“Yo, Ray you better not be naked in there” Beth called before walking in.

She had a short crop of blonde hair that was showing dark roots. She had stunningly pretty blue eyes and a body type that could be politely called curvaceous. She carried her car keys in one hand and her ever so precious mobile phone in the other.

If anyone could be considered my best friend it was her, I loved her for her free spirit and quick wits. She was smart and resourceful and utterly without shame or conscience. She glanced around the room and grinned as she saw me leaning against the sink.

“Whoa, you look like shit.” She said.

“Stay back” I gestured weakly as she started to walk across the room to me and she paused, looking confused.

“What’s up? You sick?”

“Something like that.” God, she smelt delicious even from across the room. I could hear her heart beating in her chest. Thump, thump, thump.

“Too much beer.” She said with a shake of her head. “Eurgh… you been sick?”

“Oh god, get out” I said, “Seriously get out and lock the door.”

Everything was fuzzy and out of focus, everything except the large vein that was pulsing in her neck. Her pale skin was emphasised by the black vest top and jeans she wore. She always wore black, just one of her preferences.

“Stop being a prat.” She said as she crossed the room to me. I tried to swallow past my painfully dry throat as I raised a hand weakly to ward her away.

“Please Beth, just leave me.” I said.

“No chance. This looks like more than a hangover. What’s up?” she asked.

I shied away from her touch and stumbled across the room towards the door and the blinding sunshine that was streaming through it. The pain would be a blessed distraction from the thoughts of ripping open her throat that I was currently enduring.

“Ray, what the hell… watch out.” She yelled behind me as I collided with the teenage boy standing in the doorway.

He had dark hair that was cut short, a round face and he was wearing the uniform of the Chinese restaurant that my flat was above. I recognised him from the shop, he was the son of my landlord.

His scent was unmistakable even beneath the body wash and cologne that he was wearing. I grabbed his collar and pulled him forwards. He stumbled and yelped as my head lunged forward and my new fangs sank deep into his neck to strike the vein.

The scent of copper filled the air as I instinctively drew his life blood through my fangs. He struggled in my grasp as the pain registered but to no avail as I held him close with a strength I had not known I had.

A thousand, thousand lights exploded in my mind as the dark, thick blood filled my mouth. It was warm and revolting and the most incredible taste and sensation I had ever experienced. I drank deeply, more and more of his blood leaving his veins as I attempted to prolong the ecstasy as long as possible.

With a sense of loss I released his bloodless body and let it fall to the floor. I ran my tongue around my lips in search of more of his blood, more of his taste, more of his life. I wanted to scream with pleasure, shout out my joy for the world.

“What the fuck…” said a voice behind me.

I turned to see Beth with a strange look on her face as she stared at first me and then the corpse that lay on my floor.

As I followed her gaze I realised just what had happened. Despite all of my determination not to become a Vampire and my refusal to take a life, I had been unable to resist the urge within and the result of that lay at my feet slowly cooling.

“Damn.” I said.

I hope that was enticing for you, if anyone wants to read the rest of the work it can be found here:

Reborn by Blood

New Release

I am happy to announce that my newest story is now available on Amazon :

Reborn by Blood

First Draft

I have taken a break from my Zombie series.

Now I know that is not the best thing to do when at least some people are waiting for the next one in the series to come out but I have my reasons.

After three books in the zombie apocalypse I felt I needed to take a short break to refresh a little. I didn’t want to have the story stagnate or end up going silly so I wanted to take a moment while my happy little serial killer is momentarily safe to rest my brain.

Since I find myself with a load of time while the next part of the zombie story percolates I continued a piece that I had begun in between the first and second zombie book.

Today, I have just completed the first draft and sent it off for someone to have a look through and proofread etc. Once all that editing and revision stuff is out of the way I shall slap on a cover and send it out into the world.

While I am waiting for the book to come back I am going to start on book four of my Killing the Dead series. The story is fully percolated and ready to get out onto the page. I fully intend to get it out on schedule so that it is out in very early December as I originally planned.

So happy days today. One draft completed and eager to start on the next. If I didn’t need to sleep I would be able to do more. Sigh, one day perhaps I will make enough money at this that I won’t need a day job and then I can do the writing full time. I can just imagine the amount of work I could get done then.

Question

Catalonia has declaired an independence referendum for November. The government of Spain has decided that the referendum is illegal.

This year we also had the Scottish referendum and Crimea declared independence from the Ukraine. The one thing that remains the same for these is that the government desperately tries to hold on to them.

My question is why?

The run up to independence in Scotland was reasonably civil with some people acting out. If they had voted for independence then the UK government would have accepted it at least. This seems to be less than the norm.

If a city or region wishes to become independent why does the government of their country deny them? Especially if it is a clear majority that wish to be independent. Is it a need of the government to cling to power? A misguided notion that they are protecting the people by keeping them clutched to the countries bosom?

I genuinely do not understand in any country that is supposedly founded on democracy, when a majority of the region wish to be independent the government refuse.

Heck, if I owned a small island and was able to sustain myself entirely upon it. I would happily declare independence from my government.

In the dark and bloody past it made sense to club together. Often we didnt have a choice about that. Someone would come along with a bigger army. They would rape, pillage and murder and afterwards they would say “You belong to us now.”

You got certain protections and unless your country went to war, you were safe from being pillaged, raped and murdered by your neighbours.

As the world stands at the moment, in the US and Europe. Would a country that declared itself independent really be at risk of invasion? I think not. The only reason I can see for the government to deny them their freedom is to maintain their grip on power. A grip that is tenuous at best and relies entirely on the belief of the people to sustain it.

New Release

Good morning world. I am pleased to announce that the third book in my Killing the Dead, zombie apocalypse series is now available for purchase.

Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3)

for anyone interested. :)

Updates Galore

Gosh I am really bad at keeping this blog updated. Of course that is because I am working so hard on my writing… honest. No really, I am.

In fact to prove it, I can happily say that the third book in my Killing the Dead series should be released in about a week. I just need to have one more run through with editing and sort out a cover… and a title.. but that’s it. That’s pretty much complete right there.

While it was away with my editor – also known as my Mother – I started another story. This is almost ten thousand words in and flowing quite well. A different genre and likely more of a standalone novel, though as time permits if people enjoy it I shall add more novels in that world.

Once I have released book 3 of Killing the Dead I shall be doing a few short stories that will be written from the perspective of some of the other group members and of course, Lily. These will give a little insight into the backgrounds of each. Somewhere in the midst of those will be a short/story novella that will tie in a little with book 3. Not essential to enjoy the story of book 3, but will explain a few things that happened off-screen between book two and three for the secondary characters.

I have not decided how I am going to release those. I may put them up here with links to download them directly, most likely for free. Any suggestions on how to do that or other options would be appreciated.

After the release of book 3, I am going to look (again) at Createspace and creating hardcopy versions of my books, which is quite exciting but something I haven’t really had time to look into, in between work, being a single parent, chores, writing… I definitely need more time in the day.

Finally, I am toying with the idea of combining books 1 – 3 and releasing them as a separate e-book that can be bought or borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, so that I can take my other books and put them in some different sites, such as Smashwords and Apples own bookstore.

So some exciting things and lots for me to do. I also have more stories in my Killing the Dead series to complete and a number of other ideas for stories that I would like to work on at some point. With the release of my next book I will have three out there since starting in May and the biggest problem I have is time. Just not enough of it, to get everything done that I would like.

On the plus side, it means that I am going to be occupied for a fair old while and having some purpose in life beyond being a dad is important since my littlest girl is now in High school and very much looking to be independent.

That’s it for now. Somewhere in between everything else I shall try and find more time to update here for you few people who read this blog… occasionally… or perhaps rarely. :)

Almost there.

I have passed the fifty thousand word mark in Book 3 of my Killing the Dead series.

This makes book three, in it’s incomplete form, as long as book two.

If all goes well then Book 3 will be released in September. I am excited about this for a couple of reasons.

The first of course, is because it is always exciting releasing a new book. It is also terrifying as I wait for those first reviews or comments that let me know how it is received.

The second is because I am really loving the way the character is progressing through book 3. A great many things are happening and I am trying to lead them all into what I hope to be a heck of a finale.

Once all three books are released I can focus a little more on getting the word out about my work. At the moment I have been offering the occasional freebie in return for an honest review on Goodreads and thankfully I have been receiving very good reviews there which show up nicely on my author page.

I do tweet occasionally and I am a member of several groups. I have done a couple of author interviews and sent copies of my ebook to a couple of review sites. This is all in an effort to get eyes on my books. To get people interested and excited to read my work. Which is important to me. I mean sure, I would love to be able to actually make money from selling my books but I am also excited with the idea that I have created something that people really enjoy. That is what I am aiming for and perhaps one day people will eagerly await the newest release of my books.

Until then, I shall persevere and sacrifice my leisure time to keep writing, to keep creating and enjoying the stories, even if I am one of only a few who ever read them.

The end of the story.

When do you give up?

Is it easy for you to give up or do you soldier on, determined to complete whatever goal you have set for yourself?

Sometimes the idea of giving up on everything is incredibly compelling. Giving up, abandoning your task, releasing all that pent up desire to achieve, to survive. Giving up can be an incredibly powerful urge.

When it comes to writing a story, does your character give up when things get tough or do they persevere to achieve some form of victory? Does the villain meekly surrender as soon as the hero enters the scene or does he fight till the bitter end?

In your writing do you come to a particularly hard passage to write and give up? Do you scrap that part of the book and re-write it in a way that is easier for you to tell?

It is incredibly easy to give up on something that is important to you and take the easier option. In writing and in life, while the easiest way is often the most appealing, it is far from the best.

Writing can be hard. It can be incredibly tough to get through a single page, let alone a full chapter. If you persevere though, you can complete that page, you can finish that chapter, you can get through one more day.

Some days when things are especially bad and I feel at my lowest, I think back to the times when I sit in front of the computer and stare at that empty page, that last sentence and remember how I would stare at the screen and work my way through that difficult passage in my mind. I would start to realise that I can face the difficult periods in my own life in much the same way.

It can be tough and I know that the darkness can descend and try to consume me. The simplest tasks can easily become the mountain that I just can’t climb, but I will find a way. I will make it, and I just hope that I can infuse my writing with much the same. My heroes and villains will never meekly give up. They will fight to the bitter end and through them I will draw some strength to help fight my daily battles.

I hate Blurbs.

So I am 15,000 words into book 3 of my Killing the Dead series of books.

Things are going well, the words seem to flow and the story is moving fairly organically from point A to point B. I am obviously quite happy with this as it means I am progressing and will be able to release my third book on schedule, albeit a schedule that exists only in my head and has no real reason for existing.

The worrying part of course is that I am going to have to come up with a title and a new ‘blurb’ for the back of the book. I hate, just absolutely HATE doing blurbs.

For some reason that I am, as of yet unable to understand. I can write out 50,000 words and – in my mind anyway – tell a story, but when it comes time to condense that story into a few enticing paragraphs, my mind goes blank and I am left praying to whatever deity may exist for inspiration… that never comes.

This is where places like KBOARDS of the KDP forums come in so useful. The people on those forums, generally writers and readers themselves are incredibly helpful for newbies like me. They can offer advice, helpful criticism and if nothing else, a place where you can commiserate over sales – or lack thereof – as well as writers block or any number of things.

If anyone out there is wanting to write and self publish, then I would heartily recommend both of those places as worthy of a visit.

I am also considering putting chapter one of my third book in the series on here – as a first draft – and if anyone wants that, by all means comment and let me know.

 

Release

Well book 2 has been released.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LDVP3E8

Book 1 is free for the next few days and I am hoping that it will allow people to discover my books and enjoy the story.

Either way I am happy and excited that I have managed to complete two books in the series.