Saturday, December 10, 2011

Cover Art For "Siofra"

I took advantage of this morning's full lunar eclipse to take some shots and ended up using one for the cover art for "Siofra".




I like using my own images, that way I don't have any copyright issues to worry about.

Monday, December 5, 2011

The State of Vampire Fiction

Most vampire-related fiction today seems to involve teenagers, erotica or what amount to romances where one of the main characters ends up being a vampire. Some of these vampires (Kenyon's "Dark Hunter" series comes to mind) are practically bloodless in that their vampiric heroes must abstain from drinking blood or they end up being one of the bad guys.

Vampires are blood drinkers. That's just the way things are. The whole "monk" or "vegetarian" vampire idea tends to be rather silly to me.

If they hate being a vampire, or what being a vampire requires them to do, then why not end themselves? It also seems silly to me that in some of these novels, the story ends with a "cure" and the two main characters go off to lead a boringly short and very mortal life together.

My vampires, at least the ones who are at least a century old, are enjoying their existence. They aren't angsty and they aren't mopey about their situation. They don't sparkle, they aren't spending their seventieth year as a high school senior and they most certainly don't spawn so-called "half-vampire" offspring.

But that's another gripe entirely.

If you're looking for something different than what is currently on the shelves, "Siofra" may just be what you're looking for in entertainment. There are no zombies, witches, demons, ghosts or detectives to be found. Just explorations into vampiric existence and what it means for those who experience it.

If you like the kind of books I've been less than kind about, that's fine. I'm cool with that. I'm just wanting to bring something else to the table.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Ask And You Shall Receive...

Because so many of you have been asking...a snippet from my forthcoming book, "Siofra":


I went into the forest after him, tracking him by both the musky scent of his unwashed body and the sounds of his desperate and panicked flight.  I did not bother to rush.  His eyesight was not anywhere near as keen as mine under the densely clustered trees.  I heard him falling over a root or a downed branch.  He must have hurt himself when he fell, as his gait changed to something more lumbering.  I kept after him, calling out to him every so often to remind him that I had not given up my pursuit, though I dragged things out a bit.  I wanted him terrified and exhausted by the time I caught up with him.  It would make him that much more careless when we resumed our fight.

 I kept him moving for another hour or so before I tired of the chase and closed the distance between us.  I could hear him gasping and muttering under his breath in his own language.  Perhaps he was praying.  I have no idea.  He was weaponless now, so I was a bit more brazen in my approach, confident that he was too hysterical to think clearly. 

"Well, hello again," I said as I stepped closely enough to him that he could easily see me.  He started in shock, his eyes wide and staring.  His heartbeat thudded in my ears like a frantic rapping at the door.

The man tried to muster some of his previous bravado, but fell far short.  He swung his fist at me, but still under the influence of so much drink, miscalculated and fell forward into my arms.  Pulling him in close to me, I drank deep of his scent, his terror perfuming the air more strongly than any aphrodisiac.  Needing to address the wounds he had given me, my body screamed at me to feed.  It was obvious to me that fresh blood was the catalyst I needed to heal my wounds. 

Well, with this one, I could feed a bit more leisurely and I would.

"I guess I'll take my time with you, as you did with that young woman.  She is still alive, by the way.  So sorry to disappoint," I told him with patently false regret.  "Your friends had quick deaths, compared to what yours will be."

I ran my tongue along his cheek, where he had been scratched, more for effect than anything else, as the taste of the blood there was foul.  It succeeded in its intent, leaving him whimpering in terror and causing him to foul himself as his bladder let go.



As he was the only one left at this point, I had no need to muffle his screams, which echoed long into the night as I killed him a sip at a time.

Interested?

You can read more when "Siofra" is released for Amazon Kindle in January of 2012!