10 WEEKS OF VAMPIRES: WEEK FIVE--LAST OF THE RED HOT VAMPIRES
Spoiler warning: there will be many discussions of plot points and characters below, so if you haven't read this particular book yet, you may wish to give it a pass. You have been warned.
THE BOOK
Physicist Portia Harding’s life is grounded in facts. There’s nothing
that can’t be explained by logic and science. Until she travels with
her best friend to England—and accidentally summons an ethereal Virtue
who bequeaths her gift of weather control to Portia…
Now Portia’s walking around with a literal cloud over her head—and a
heartstoppingly handsome maniac trying to kidnap her. But Theondre North
is no run-of-the-mill maniac. He’s a nephilim—the son of a fallen
angel—who needs Portia’s help to change his fate. Problem is, Portia’s
down-to-earth attitude frustrates beings from both heavenly and hellish
realms—and gets Theo turned into a vampire. But at least he has Portia
to satisfy his newfound hungers—and possibly save his soul…
Details, including excerpt and podcast, can be found here.
HOW THE BOOK CAME TO BE
This book was the culmination of several desires: I wanted to write a book that would show the creation of a Dark One, wanted to explore the alternative to Abaddon, and most importantly, wanted to celebrate the concept of skepticism.
Yeah, I know, skepticism in a fictional book about vampires. I never promised my thinking abilies would make sense. :)
The second book for NAL, and my fifth Dark Ones book, I felt that readers would benefit from some new elements brought into the storyline, including the Court of Divine Blood, and the creation of a Dark One right before the readers' eyes.
The latter was the easy part--my vamps can be created only two ways: they can be born to it, or they can be cursed to it via a demon lord. That meant I had to have a demon lord who would be pissed enough to do such a thing, and there was only one guy who I felt would fit the bill: our old friend Bael.
The Court of Divine Blood was another matter.
BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF: THE COURT OF DIVINE BLOOD
You'd think making your own version of heaven would be easy, wouldn't you? Make a happy place of great reward, stick a deity and some angels in it, and maybe a few fluffy clouds, and voila, heaven. Unfortunately, my brain doesn't work that way.
I started creating my version of heaven by doing some research on what medieval concepts of heaven were, and found a fascinating, and involved, hierarchy that I decided would fit my version...with some changes. Just as Abaddon isn't necessarily filled with bad guys (think of Aisling as a demon lord), so the Court wasn't going to be a place of all lightness and happiness.
For that reason, I made the folks who inhabited the court employees rather than residents, and every member had a specific job, from the mares (mare is pronounced MAHR-ay, by the way) on down to the lowliest sprite. Rather than a god ruling the Court, I installed the Sovereign, a being so mysterious, it was referred to by the gender neutral "it." Once I had the heirarchy and basic format of the Court set, I had to come up with some governing rules. And man, did they become involved.
Here's an exceprt of a plotting notes document I used to keep track of who was doing what in the storyline:
Hope wants a promotion. She's tired of being a virtue, on the lower rung of the celestial ladder. Since she can't get ahead by promotion, the only thing she can do is wipe out the entire rank of court members in an act called renascence (like renaissance), whereby all members will be disbanded, and the entire Court hierarchy remade. The sovereign allows one renascence per millenia. The current Court has existed as it has for at least 12 centuries, with no renascence, and everyone is happy with how it is...except Hope, Gabriel, and Milo (who is not mortal as he seems). Those three want a restructuring where they will have top positions without having to "slave" for mortals. In order to justify the call for a reparation, the calling party has to prove that the hierarchy has been compromised. In millenia past, demons and such were smuggled in and given positions, thus allowing people to call for a renascence. But with no demons available, the current group decided to set up a mortal. Hope deliberately led Theo on a chase, knowing when Portia popped up with her powers, Theo would cling to her as a possible source of salvation. Once Portia did that, they could step forward and claim the sanctity of the Court had been violated by Portia, who entered into it with the not-so-pure motive of freeing Theo, and thus they could call for renascence.
BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF: THE CHARACTERS
Scroll back up to the top of the page. See the cover? That guy is cute enough, but he's not Theo North. My Theo had an Irish father (who was a member of the Court of Divine Blood) and an Indian mother, and he pretty much looks nothing like the guy on the cover. But we don't need him on the cover to enjoy him, right?
Theo was a bit of a difficult character to write, because he was so focused on one specific goal. But I badly wanted to torment him, and change him from an outcast Nephilim to a vampire who found himself pushed even further on the fringes of Otherworld society. At the same time, I knew he had to be emotionally strong, very smart, and able to see possibilities that most people missed.
Trivia fact: the mention of Theo missing the taste of bacon has its roots in the time I was 18, and decided I wasn't going to eat mammals any longer. The smell of bacon cooking haunted me for years until finally, someone came up with turkey bacon for all of us non-mammal eaters (I still bless that person). I decided that if Theo was going to miss eating anything, it would have to be bacon.
Portia is the alternate me I always wished I had been--a physicst who was quite competent, happy with her life, and had no doubts whatsoever as to the order of the world. Of course, I couldn't let her stay that way, so I gave her a horrible childhood, and threw her into a world where nothing she knew to be true actually was true. It's a wonder she didn't rise up and throttle me in my sleep.
BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF: THE ORIGINAL SYNOPSIS
Normally my synopsis only vaguely resemble the finished book. But for Red-Hot Vamps, the synopsis is almost dead on (with the exception of Theo's first name--it's actually Theondre, not Theodore).
No, I have no idea why that happened...it just did. Here is the actual synopsis I sent my publisher as an outline:
-----------original synopsis-------------
Portia Harding, secretary, research assistant, and general dogsbody is a thrilled when her employer, a famous novelist, decides to spend a few months researching ancient Celtic mythology by visiting England, Ireland, and Wales. Portia has longed to travel abroad, and she's determined not to let a single opportunity slip past her. Sent to take pictures of a rumored faery circle in a small town in England, Portia is mystified when a woman named Hope appears in the center of the circle, claiming to be a Virtue (a member of the Court of Divine Blood), and demanding Portia's help in escaping destruction.
Portia is even more surprised when Hope names her as a replacement, bequeathing her Gift shortly before disappearing. At a loss as to how she was chosen for the (dubious) honor, Portia returns to her hotel to do a little research on the origins of Virtues. Before she can reach it, she's accosted by a mysterious man named Theo who insists she tell him where Hope is.
Theodore North has lived seven hundred years with a tragedy seemingly impossible to overcome: his father was a Grigori, a fallen angel who mated with a human, which makes him one of the dread Nephilim. Feared through the ages as beings of evil, Theo knows his Nephilim brothers in misery have received an unjust reputation, and is determined to win them--and himself--their freedom.
Hot on the trail of possible redemption, Theo runs a terrified Virtue to earth, only to find she's disappeared, leaving a mortal in possession of her powers...a particularly charming mortal, one who is clearly unable to cope with the responsibilities suddenly thrust upon her. Since a grand heroic act is his best bet to redemption, with grim determination Theo informs Portia that he will protect her from what is about to come.
Secretly flattered by being the attention of so handsome a man as Theo, Portia understands that she is merely a means to an ends for him, and agrees to help him earn his freedom in exchange for assistance with the Seven Trials, a measure of her fitness of the position she inadvertantly accepted. Mortal until she has passed the Trials, Portia is more than a little grateful for her protector as the Divine Blood proctors descend upon her.
Alas for best laid plans. Between Trials, Portia and Theo address an avenue of possible salvation for the Nephilims, but petitioning demon lords is a dangerous business, one that leaves the unfortunate Theo a Dark One. Doubly cursed and inexperienced in the ways of vampires, Theo contemplates ending his miserable--and now hopeless--existence, but Portia needs his help in untangling the web of jealousy, deceipt, and decidedly un-angelic behavior by members of the Court of Divine Blood. With Portia's failure at the seventh Trial where she fails to produce Light, all of the Court believes Portia has done away with Hope. Portia is tried, sentenced, and convicted in a kangaroo trial, dooming her to an eternity in the Akashic nothingness. Theo sees one last chance at possible redemption: he will save Portia even though it means his own destruction.
With the truth about Hope's flight uncovered, Portia is pardoned and offered admittance into the Court, a position that will bring with it the power to absolve Theo. But she wants more than just celestial harmony, and chooses instead the emotionally scarred man who was ready to give up his life for hers.
--------------end original synopsis---------------------
BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF: THE ODDITIES
The Court of Divine Blood was somewhat inspired by Stormwind, a town in World of Warcraft. I liked the idea of a town that seemed to be in a little bubble where time didn't affect it, and decided to take that a few steps further. Thus it was that Court came about with its ability to look the same no matter how many centuries passed.
Portia was a physicist because I studied physics and astronomy at the University of Washington. Portia has a love of knowledge, and a desire to know how things work...and she's a good role model for girls who want to go into the frequently-male-dominated field of physics.
Terrin the seneschal is one of the few characters who have appeared in a dragon book as well as a vamp book. He pops up in Holy Smokes. Bael is another character who appears in both books.
I've always loved the name Milo, but never felt it was "heroic" enough for a hero. Being rather contrary by nature, I slapped it on a character who ended up on the wrong side of happy. Portia is one of my many characters who bear Shakespearean names. I have a weakness for them, as previous characters Ophelia, Perdita, Hero, and Timandra can attest.
Someone asked me how I named the Court of Divine Blood. I honestly don't remember anything about it except sitting at my computer one day and having the phrase "Court of Divine Blood" pop into my head. I had no idea what it was, but I made a note of it, and a short time later when I was thinking of a name for the Court, it popped back into my head. My muse is thoughtful that way (sometimes).
CONTEST FOR THE WEEK
This week's prize picture is forthcoming...not because the wonderful Sara at Looming Moon hasn't created it, but because I inadvertantly deleted her e-mail with the pictures and description of a lovely hand decorated journal.
*insert sigh here*
I'll post the picture as soon as I can, but in the mean time, you can enter the contest knowing it's a very cool journal.
To be entered to win the Last of the Red-Hot Vampires journal, please send the following to contest@katiemacalister.com:
* Your name and e-mail address
* Be sure to put Theo Contest in the subject line. Entries without that subject line will be tossed out (it's vital to making sure my e-mail client sorts the entries into the right contest folder).
* Tell me whether, if you had to be a member of the Court of Divine Blood, you'd be a heavenly sort, or one of the more naughty inhabitants.
Enter before midnight Pacific Time on Sunday, September 4th. On September 5th, I'll randomly pull one winner from all the entries to receive the journal.
