Category Archives: Vampire Month

[Vampire Month] Martin Tracey interview

15 Tuesday Mar 2016

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The third victim for Vampire month this year is Martin Tracey, author of Beneath the Floodlights, a book combining Vampires with Football (that’s Soccer for our American readers). Here he answers the questions and Wednesday he entertains us with a blog post.

1) What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

As a young schoolboy I won 2 back to back national story writing competitions, one was about the dangers of playing on building sites and the other was keeping safe when crossing the road. The latter saw me creating a magic ice cream van which appeared like a superhero offering safety advice, so from an early age I was destined to write about supernatural elements.103_0397
2) When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

My debut novel Beneath the Floodlights was released in 2011 and it was vampire themed. Building on my answer to question 1, my writing creativity evolved into song writing and becoming a pop star was more on my agenda than becoming an author. I had some musical success via supporting the Fine Young Cannibals & securing my song Raging Bull on the album Old Gold Anthems – The Songs of Wolves, but then as ‘stardom’ seemed to be passing me by as I reached the ripe old age of 30 plus, I remembered the story writing success of my younger years and that famous cliché ‘everyone has a book inside them’. However, I haven’t stopped at one book because I simply love the novel writing process.

3) What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

My greatest strengths are: working within a framework rather than a rigid plan which enables me to explore many twists and turns and subplots in order to keep the reader engaged; writing in a style that comes over as honest and therefore believable even when writing about the paranormal – I have a knack of telling great stories as opposed to being a literary genius like the ‘classic’ writers of yesteryear. My weakness is definitely trying to devote enough time to my craft. Other writers are far more prolific with their output than I am, and I find juggling life with writing extremely challenging. I am trying to discipline myself to find more time.

41grui6y21l-_sx311_bo1204203200_4) Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

I live in Birmingham and Birmingham and the surrounding areas feature heavily in my books. In Beneath the Floodlights I use Sutton Park as the training base for the footballers and I have the world’s first vampire buried there. Sutton Park is centuries old and soaked in history. It is amazing to think that this piece of unspoilt land is in Birmingham, but such historical points to note are King Henry VIII using the land to hunt deer and a Roman road still exists within the park. Both references are utilised in Beneath the Floodlights.

5) Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

That’s a tough one. Not the book itself but more the concept around the book and its character has inspired me which is Dracula by Bram Stoker. Sorry to be a bit obvious there but if writing about vampires its influence can’t be ignored, much like the influence of The Beatles can’t be ignored in the music world. A vampire book that I also found inspiring is The Travelling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon. In terms of inspiring authors, I like Peter James as he manages to weave supernatural elements into very believable and entertaining stories, Martina Cole for her straight-talking style and Dan Brown for leading the way for mixing fact with fiction. All of these authors can be seen as inspiring my work.
6) What drove you to write about Vampires?

Since an early age I’ve always been fascinated by werewolves, ghosts and of course vampires. My original idea for Beneath the Floodlights was to use werewolves but then I felt that vampires had more scope with the plot and the two films of The Lost Boys and From Dusk till Dawn were a huge inspiration

7) What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

That’s a great question and perhaps a very subjective debate could be had. However, for 000_0003 (2)me I think it opens up temptation in the mind. ‘Lust’ and even ‘Love’ seem to always be connected to the ‘sexy’ vampires and the reader falls into that world of, ‘well I shouldn’t but I probably would!’ There is a magnetic quality about vampires -they have the X Factor.

8) In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

Count Dracula. Bram Stoker’s creation set it all in motion so respect is due.

9) What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

I think Anne Rice created something a bit different with her vampires so her vampires win in that department for me. After all Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt played her vampires in Interview with The Vampire. Le Stat is a cool creation. Enough said!

10) How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

Professor Cezar Prodanescu would give the Count a run for his money. Cezar is from the bloodline of original master vampires. He is wise, cruel, manipulative, magnetic and good at what he does – killing for blood and recruiting for his vampire nest.

11) Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

I’m giving vampires a rest for now. The project I’m currently working on is a haunted house novel. A failing rock star buys a haunted house in the Peak District. Mind you I may yet weave a vampire into the mix!

Biography:

Martin Tracey is an author who likes to push the boundaries of reality. Weaving fact with fiction he likes to explore elements of the supernatural but aims to keep his novels relatable, ensuring that he is able to connect with the reader in a gripping fashion. Martin has had several interviews to showcase his work on BBC radio and attended several book signing events. A short story, Divine Inspiration was published in Words magazine. Martin’s first novel Beneath The Floodlights remarkably brought together the worlds of vampires and soccer. Martin Tracey lives in Birmingham and is married with 2 daughters.

Website:

www.martintracey.co.uk

Blog:

https://martintracey.wordpress.com/

twitter:

https://twitter.com/martintracey1

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Martin-Tracey-Author-162311767171904/

Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Martin-Tracey/e/B009ANTBWG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1456595773&sr=1-1

Beneath the Floodlights on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BENEATH-THE-FLOODLIGHTS-MARTIN-TRACEY-ebook/dp/B005FQK84M/ref=pd_sim_sbs_351_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=413Swz0eCuL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR100%2C160_&refRID=03AJDW4AZYEPXYMXEEHR

 

 

[Vampire Month] Blood Secrets cover reveal

12 Saturday Mar 2016

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You may remember Elizabeth Morgan from a previous Vampire Month… Well, she has (finally*) managed to get round to finishing the sequel to the excellent Cranberry Blood… And this weekend she has revealed the cover! So here it is…12799081_1023635497696916_1922083712313817560_n* Still not as bad as R.A Smith who is still working on Winter Storm and he is not as bad as G.R.R Martin who I am sure is only delaying his latest novel to troll the universe…

[Vampire Month] Mythic Proportions and Howling Voids by Ambrose Hall

10 Thursday Mar 2016

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Ambrose Hall is here now to talk about his favourite stories and how they have influenced his writing… Be prepared for sticky ends and maggots.

I’ve always enjoyed stories told on a grand scale, with the emotions writ large, the stakes high, and the amp cranked up to eleven. That’s why I enjoy the gangster genre in film—because everything is so big, so extreme, so much larger than reality. The emotionsBFD Wool Exchange and the motivations have the quality of myths; they have that do or die edge to them. It’s possibly why The Wire is one of my favourite TV shows, and Omar my favourite character in it. With a clear nod to Achilles, he pushes his revenge to the edge of insanity for his Patroclus. Characters in these stories tell themselves they have a code, that their world is run according to rules, but in the end, no one else is playing their game, and they meet tragic ends. It’s a hyper-real, exploded version of reality, of our emotions thrown up against the nonsensical blocks of existence. If we delude ourselves that there are rules, that we can feel so strongly without compromise, we’ll come to a sticky end.
At the other end of the scale, I like stories with big gaping holes at the heart. Like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I like stories that leave the horrors of the world unspoken, but still let you know that they’re there. Like Kafka, where the protagonists throws themselves against an unmoving horror of bureaucracy, over and over, until they slowly wilt and fail. I like characters who lose themselves amongst the labyrinth of existence, and never quite find themselves again. And those everyday scenes, in everyday cities, like Chandler’s LA, where you know if you chip away the first layer of the sun-bleached stucco, there’ll be nothing but maggots writhing there.
loveiscrowtreeI realised, when I started writing my vampire story, that there’s the potential to do either, or both. That writing gothic fiction can provide a larger than life mythic edge. But that, in the ambiguous potential of eternity, there could be one hell of a long time spent staring into the void.
Biography – Ambrose Hall

Ambrose Hall is a speculative and literary fiction writer who currently lives in the South East of England. He originally comes from Bradford, in West Yorkshire, where he fell in love with gothic decay and wild moors. Ambrose has had flash fiction published in Crannog and A cappella Zoo magazines, and recently published a gothic vampire novella, Love is the Cure, available on Amazon. You can find out more about his work, and read some free short stories here: https://mrvolpone.wordpress.com/

[Vampire Month] Ambrose Hall Interview

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Our second victim in the Vampire Month interrogation chair is Ambrose Hall… find out more about their life in the questions that follow…

  • What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

 

I did a lot of writing and drawing as a kid. I think most of my writing was fantastical orBFD Wool Exchange magical in some way. I remember being obsessed with witches, as well as Narnia and Robin Hood. I think I was a bit of a goth, even then. I had a secret magic club in my mum’s garden shed, which I shared with my friend. I wrote a lot of poems as a kid, and in my teens, but I’ve lost my bottle for it as an adult.

  • When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

 

I studied English and media with the intention of writing professionally, in journalism or political communication, but graduated during a recession, so I ended up teaching instead. By my mid-thirties, I’d done a lot of jobs that I hadn’t really found very rewarding. I wanted to do something that was creatively and intellectually stimulating. Then I had a family crisis, which caused me to take stock of a lot of things. As I needed to take a break from working anyway, I had a chance to reassess what I wanted to do with my life, and I started putting a lot of time into my writing. It’s still early days. Hopefully this will work out, as I feel like I’ve finally found something I love.

  • What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

 

I’m good at coming up with ideas, and I can be very focused when I want to be. In the past, I was a terrible perfectionist, and found it very difficult to get useful critical distance from my work. I joined an online writing community, which has helped me a lot with learning to revise and edit my work, and getting that critical perspective I need.

  • Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

 

I live in Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire at the moment. I’ve not really lived here very long, so I don’t think it’s had a chance to get under my skin yet. I originally come from Bradford, in West Yorkshire. Being surrounded by post-industrial decay, and the remains of a Victorian boom, has definitely influenced my gothic tendencies. I’m fairly obsessed with the idea of decay, and write dystopian fiction, as well as gothic. I worked on a dystopian noir novel last year, set in Bradford. I’m just trying to shop it round agents at the moment. I’d say the Yorkshire countryside has influenced me as well: the ruggedness of it, and of course, people going mad on moors, Wuthering Heights style.

Love is the Cure is set in London. I’ve got a bit of a love/hate relationship with the city, as a northerner, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time there over the years. It’s a place of extremes, which suited this story.

  • Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

 

loveiscrowtreeI’ve taken influences from a lot of places. I’m a pretty avid reader. My biggest influences are probably Chandler, Camus and Conrad. Heart of Darkness is definitely an important one for me. I love empty spaces, howling holes and rotten hearts in stories, and characters that are strangers to their emotions.

  • What drove you to write about Vampires?

 

I played a lot of vampire roleplay games in my late teens and early twenties, so the genre is one I’ve always been interested in, but I avoided writing vampires for a long time, for fear of churning out something derivative. Then a friend in my writing group suggested a Halloween vampire challenge, so I thought I’d give it a go. It was great fun seeing all the very different takes on vampires. I started out with a short story, but it kept growing. Soon enough I had a six part novella, told from different points of view. I got really into the challenge of portraying the very different voices, with their different historical influences and personalities.

  • What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

 

I suppose, as gothic monsters, they represent our fears and desires, and those can come out in different ways, depending on the writer. The idea of human monsters is a fascinating one—vampires allow us to explore a lot of different facets of humanity and morality. They tend to be larger than life characters, so you can amp everything up to an almost mythic level of intensity. Immortality is both attractive and tragic, and something that people have written stories about as long as people have written stories. One huge advantage of these potentially very old characters is it gives writers an excuse to plunder history for goodies.

  • In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

 

I have a feeling it would be Dracula. He’s the original badass, and he’s so steeped in violence. He’s also completely ruthless.

  • What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

 

Anne Rice’s Lestat. He’s a pretty irresistible bad boy.

LestatandLouis-1

Ann Rice’s Bad Boy, Lestat De Lioncourt

 

  • How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

 

I have two very ancient vampires in Love is the Cure, and they’re both powerful. Bren, who is first introduced as the Crow King, reads others’ minds like they’re open books. He’s amoral, and takes whatever he wants from people without much thought. He embodies death and decay, and patriarchal arrogance. His one time lover, Ena, is very different. She’s the spirit of fire and anarchy. She’s more moral than Bren, but she’s trapped in a cycle of vengeance. I think either of them would give Dracula a run for his money, if they stopped fighting each other.

Only one of my vampires, Sebastian, is concerned with appearance, but he’s also a little stuck in the 1920s. His mortal days represent a golden time for him. Based on reader feedback so far, he seems to be most popular character. I had a lot of fun writing him. He’s a bit of a fop, extremely arrogant, and with a taste for re-enacting Hellenic myths.

  • Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

 

Love is the Cure is a six part novella, told from different points of view. Although the different fragments fit together to tell a story, it’s unified more by common themes. I explore how the very different vampires cope, or don’t cope, with immortality, as well as ideas about power and consent. At the heart of the story is Kerrick, a vampire created in the late Victorian period. He had a particularly violent creation, and still bears the emotional scars from that. He’s desperately lonely, but his own violent nature always acts as a barrier to finding companionship. In trying to keep his newly created child alive, he stumbles into an ancient feud between Bren and Ena.

There were a few things I wanted to do with the story. I wanted to explore the idea of these creatures all being monsters of one kind or another, however human they were, or appeared to be. I was interested in the idea of them being locked in cycles of behaviour, determined by their creation. I wanted to be conscious of the way their power is exorcised, as a few people had said to me that one of the things which made them uncomfortable about some vampire fiction is that vampiric powers are used as a way to override or dismiss the need for consent. So I decided to try and confront that idea head-on. One of the main bones of contention between Bren and Ena is that he takes without asking.

It’s not all serious. I’ve played around with ancient mythology, and history, in some pretty cheeky ways. Although it’s not paranormal romance, it’s very homoerotic. Most of the characters are unambiguously gay or bisexual, which I guess is my antidote to the lack of pay-off during my teenage years reading Anne Rice. It’s definitely larger than life. I wanted to show extremes, from petty criminals and rent boys, to baroque splendour and depraved aristocracy. One of my early readers said the story made them think of Caravaggio. I guess that’s a win.

Biography

Ambrose Hall is a speculative and literary fiction writer who currently lives in the South East of England. He originally comes from Bradford, in West Yorkshire, where he fell in love with gothic decay and wild moors. Ambrose has had flash fiction published in Crannog and A cappella Zoo magazines, and recently published a gothic vampire novella, Love is the Cure, available on Amazon. You can find out more about his work, and read some free short stories here: https://mrvolpone.wordpress.com/

This is the link to my book on Amazon UK: Buy Love is the Cure on Amazon

[Vampire Month] Image is everything by Angela Lockwood

05 Saturday Mar 2016

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I mentioned in my interview that I’m not very comfortable with self-publicising. It was about two years after publishing my first book that I decided to put a headshot on my author page. If I can give one piece of advice to a new writer, it’s to be conscious of your and your book’s image. Readers want to know who you are, what you look like and preferably what your pets look like too.vampire cat

So here is a picture of Clicquot the cat, and me, reluctantly venturing into the limelight. He was also reluctant to dress up as a vampire bat, but mummy’s career demanded it.

Before you shout ‘animal cruelty!’ I’ll tell you that the wings and tie only stayed on a few seconds; just long enough for the photo.

It’s my little revenge for him getting us up at 4am most mornings.

The biggest mistake I made early on is trying to do everything myself. (Except editing, I knew I needed help there!) This is no problem if you’re good at everything book related. If you decide to go the self-publishing route there are so many jobs you then need to do. Graphic designer, web-page designer, blogger, editor, marketing and advertising expert are just a couple of skills you’ll have to learn.

catI soon realised I was out of my depth. The best decision I’ve made, probably, is joining an independent writers’ group. This group was very open with sharing their experiences and when I saw some of the covers my colleagues were using I knew I had to change mine. My group recommended several avenues and after a few emails I went with Paradox Book Covers. If you shop and ask around you’ll find that professional is not always expensive. People really do judge a book by its cover, so make sure yours stands out.

I’m next hoping to tackle my website, because you’re not just a writer, you are a brand. If your reader loves your books they want to know more about you, so make sure you present you, the writer, in the best light.

Amazon author page: Author.to/authorpage

Blog: http://languageintheblood.blogspot.fr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CruftsloverAkaCameronBlair/?ref=hlSlide1

Twitter: @LitBCameronB

Webpage: http://www.cruftslover.adzl.com/

 

The Bio

Angela Lockwood-van der Klauw was born in the Netherlands. She learned her trade as a jeweller and gemmologist at the Vakschool Schoonhoven before moving to Edinburgh as an apprentice jeweller. There she met and later married her husband Adam. Angela ran her own jeweller’s shop in Edinburgh for ten years before she and her husband moved to the south of France in 2011. Like her vampire character Cameron, Angela prefers the climate there, but often thinks about the town she left behind and its people. Cameron’s story was born in the spring of 2013, a very wet spring during which Angela found herself climbing the walls, frustrated that she couldn’t go out and have her usual long walks along the seafront. Seeing his wife’s frustration, Adam suggested ‘Why don’t you write a book?’ Angela thought about it for a few days, then switched on her laptop and started writing Language in the Blood. Blood Ties is the second book in the series and Angela has also published a collection of short stories Something Short with her friend, Elspeth Morrison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vampire Month] Angela Lockwood interview

03 Thursday Mar 2016

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YesterdayYesterday you were introduced to Angela and her books. Here we get a deeper insight into her as we subject her to the gruelling Vampire Month interview…vampire cat

1) What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

Unfortunately, my earliest memories of writing weren’t good ones. I remember getting very excited about writing a short story in primary school and then getting it back covered in red pen corrections. I was eventually diagnosed with mild dyslexia. It took me a long time to start writing again, but with my husband’s encouragement, a computer that spellchecks and a great editor, I’m once again enjoying writing. I’m still a little bitter about the lack of encouragement by my teachers who must have spotted that I enjoyed reading and writing.

2) When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

I’m not a professional writer. I would like to be, but at the moment I have to work to pay the bills.

3) What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

I think I’m a strong story teller with a dark sense of humour. I can see the ridiculousness in all situations and I don’t take life or myself too seriously. I think that not taking myself seriously is also my greatest weakness. I feel uncomfortable about self-promotion. Taking part in Vampire Month is a nice bit of therapy; I’m here promoting my books! I’ve had some great reviews so I know my books are worth reading, so expect to see more of me.

4) Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

I’m very lucky to live in the south of France, but unlike a lot of ex-pats I’m not of retirement age. Work is seasonal and in the winter of 2013 I found myself unemployed and very frustrated by an unusually wet January. To stop me from climbing the walls, my husband suggested I write him a horror story. The tale got rather out of hand and grew into a two-book series – Language in the Blood. It’s a comedy about a young Scotsman, Cameron Blair, who goes off to fight in the First World War. Lying wounded on the battlefield, he is discovered by a vampire… with inevitable consequences. The story follows Cameron as he comes to terms with his new ‘life’, from his first days as a hapless vampire in war-torn France to the glamorous modern day setting of the Côte d’Azur. Along the way, he develops a distinctive taste for the finer things in life: jewels, yachts, small dogs and champagne-infused human. I’m Dutch, but lived most of my adult live in Scotland. These places and my current abode are huge inspirations.Slide2

5) Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration? 

It wasn’t a particular book, but I’m a big admirer of PG Wodehouse and his irreverent humour. I hope I created in Cameron Blair a vampire that in some small way captures some of his British wit and eccentricity.

6) What drove you to write about Vampires?

It all started with a friend telling me about the theft of a mirror from the lift in her building. My first thoughts were: it’s obviously a vampire setting a trap for his victim; he removes the mirror to avoid early detection. I used it as the scene that forms the turning point in the first book. Also my husband wanted me to write a zombie story, but we all know that vampires are way more interesting.

 

7) What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

For a writer, it is a great genre as it gives you an enormous freedom to take the character anywhere you want. Readers enjoy being taken to a different world which can be dangerous, sexy, frightening or in my case amusing. The genre takes us away from our everyday lives and personalities. I think vampires appeal to our darker side.

 

8) In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

I think Dracula. Bram Stoker’s masterpiece has been reworked so often for good reasons. Dracula is the daddy of them all.

 

9) What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

If I say anything other than Cameron here, he will come and bite me. He prides himself on his dress sense and sexual attractiveness. But I must say I’ve had a bit of a soft spot for Aidan Turner who played the vampire in Being Human.Slide1

 

10) How well do you think one of your characters would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

Again I have to declare Cameron the winner otherwise I’ll be in trouble. He and Aidan do share their dark, Celtic good looks.

 

11) Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

Not about a vampire I’m afraid. My cat, Clicquot, is my main inspiration at the moment, but to be honest he is as much a hindrance as a muse. Despite his best efforts, I’m putting the final touches to my third book, a romantic novel for cat lovers called Conversations with Tom.

You can learn more about Angela on the links below. Next up is her guest post…

Blog: http://languageintheblood.blogspot.fr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CruftsloverAkaCameronBlair/?ref=hl

Twitter: @LitBCameronB

Webpage: http://www.cruftslover.adzl.com/

[Vampire Month] Angela Lockwood

02 Wednesday Mar 2016

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Meet Angela Lockwood, our first Vampire month victim for this year. She will be interviewed in the next post and will provide a guest post later in the week.

Here you can find details of all Angela’s publications and her bio and other links.

Slide1Language in the Blood 

Until the outbreak of the First World War, young Cameron Blair would have liked nothing better than to stay in Edinburgh and marry his childhood sweetheart. As the call to arms goes out, Cameron and his pals sign up to fight for their country. They are soon delivered into the nightmare of war, and there Cameron more than meets his maker. The story follows Cameron as he comes to terms with his new ‘life’, from his first days as a hapless vampire in war-torn France to the glamorous modern day setting of the Côte d’Azur. Along the way, he develops a distinctive taste for the finer things in life: jewels, yachts, small dogs and champagne-infused human…

 

Language in the Blood is FREE via the following sites:

 

Amazon worldwide: myBook.to/LanguageintheBlood

 

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/583826

 

Nook books: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/language-in-the-blood-angela-lockwood/1122788669?ean=2940152402995

 

Ibooks: https://itunes.apple.com/fr/book/language-in-the-blood/id1048212406?l=en&mt=11

 

Blood Ties (Language in the Blood book 2)

After meeting his maker on the battlefields of the First World War, Cameron Blair has spent almost Slide2a century coming to terms with his new vampire identity. Along with a taste for human blood and lapdogs, he has acquired the linguistic skills of his victims and learned to survive in the shady underbellies of Europe’s great cities. The end of Language in the Blood sees Cameron facing a dilemma when blame for one of his kills gets laid at his best friend George’s feet. Cameron discovers a deeply buried vestige of humanity and surrenders to the French authorities – a decision he soon regrets as it becomes clear they don’t have quite the same heroic role for a vampire agent in mind that his own vivid imagination does. Locked up, his needs denied, misunderstood and plagued by an unhealthy obsession with his friend’s daughter, the bored vampire edges close to insanity. Before long, Cameron starts plotting his escape.

 

Amazon worldwide: http://www.hyperurl.co/u6nkfg

 

The best thing about writing is connecting with other writers who have taken the independent publishing route. Their advice and the shared experiences have been invaluable. Being a member of the Independent Author Support and Discussion group (IADS) has spurred me to write several short stories and I’m proud to be part of several anthologies: Holes, You’re not Alone and (with my friend Elspeth Morrison) Something Short. The last two were published for charity.

 

 

Something Short

Amazon universal link: mybook.to/SomthingShort

 

You’re not Alone

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Not-Alone-Author-Anthology-ebook/dp/B00Y5RCOOE/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452522591&sr=1-4&keywords=you%27re+not+alone

 

Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Youre-Not-Alone-Author-Anthology-ebook/dp/B00Y5RCOOE/ref=pd_sim_351_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=61soH3zEgEL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_UX300_PJku-sticker-v3%2CTopRight%2C0%2C-44_AC_UL160_SR101%2C160_&refRID=1NF5VEM6HKC4EA2JGBVP

 

Holes

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Holes-Author-Anthology-Angela-Lockwood-ebook/dp/B01633DFPY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1452522406&sr=1-1

 

Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holes-An-Indie-Author-Anthology-ebook/dp/B01633DFPY/ref=pd_sim_351_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=41TFQ516mQL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR100%2C160_&refRID=1NF5VEM6HKC4EA2JGBVP

 

Amazon author page: Author.to/authorpage

 

Blog: http://languageintheblood.blogspot.fr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CruftsloverAkaCameronBlair/?ref=hl

Twitter: @LitBCameronB

Webpage: http://www.cruftslover.adzl.com/

 

The Bio

Angela Lockwood-van der Klauw was born in the Netherlands. She learned her trade as a jeweller and gemmologist at the Vakschool Schoonhoven before moving to Edinburgh as an apprentice jeweller. There she met and later married her husband Adam. Angela ran her own jeweller’s shop in Edinburgh for ten years before she and her husband moved to the south of France in 2011. Like her vampire character Cameron, Angela prefers the climate there, but often thinks about the town she left behind and its people. Cameron’s story was born in the spring of 2013, a very wet spring during which Angela found herself climbing the walls, frustrated that she couldn’t go out and have her usual long walks along the seafront. Seeing his wife’s frustration, Adam suggested ‘Why don’t you write a book?’ Angela thought about it for a few days, then switched on her laptop and started writing Language in the Blood. Blood Ties is the second book in the series and Angela has also published a collection of short stories Something Short with her friend, Elspeth Morrison.

 

[Vampire Month] Here we go again…

01 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Another year, another Vampire month. This feature is like the mythical creature it is named after, difficult to keep down. It certainly seems one of my more popular features with several articles from past years cropping up in my views stats on a regular basis. So, until such time as I run out of author/artist/academic victims to mercilessly interrogate in my spikey Vampire Month Questioning Chair, we won’t be putting a stake into this feature or serving the garlic sauce. Especially not after the wonderful R.A Smith (who I finally allowed to feature in last year’s event) said he was jealous of it…Vampire

Also, I am still waiting patiently for Ann Rice or Rachel Caine to get in touch…

For those new to this feature, Vampire month is where we dedicate the whole of March to all things Vampire. The usual format is to give over a week each to four people with an interest in Vampires and in that week two posts are produced. One is an interview so you can learn all about them, the second is a guest post on the topic of their choice. You can browse the previous years to see what has been posted before (just type Vampire Month in the little search box above) and prepare yourself for a month of interesting posts and interviews.

As ever it is never really possible to predict the response to the call for posts I put out. Sometimes I despair of filling all the slots (though managed it somehow every year so far) whereas others I end up with more than I need. This year seems to be the latter as there are (at the last count) five authors on our line up… so there may have to be some wrangling of the normal schedule to fit them all in… Stay tuned to find out who they are and what they have to offer us.

[Vampire Month] A stake in the heart

30 Monday Mar 2015

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https://flic.kr/p/pLCy3p

Well, that is Vampire Month over with for another year. I’d like to extend my thanks to all the talented writers who have contributed to the fun this month and made this the very special event that it always is.

I’d also like to thank Ste and Izzy of Quattrofoto for supplying some of the photos we have showcased this year including the lovely one above of me as a Buffy style Watcher. They do weddings and other special occasions too and promise to only add lightening bolt special effects and demon horns to your wedding memories if you ask them to.

We’ve learned a lot this year. How to date a vampire, why they are so appealing, a little of the history of Vampire literature and why Alex Campbell rarely gets any sleep (because of all the famous vampires knocking on her window). I was going to contribute a post of my own to add to this collection but frankly I’m in awe and would feel out of place amongst such great articles. Also, the evil time goblins stole all my free hours. Oh and I did my Pratchett obituary and revealed how this blog helped stop the vampire apocalypse, so that was sort of my slot anyway.

Vampire month will be back next year. Same Vamp month, same Vamp url. If you want to get involved, feel free to contact me. We accept contributions from any writers, artists or academics with an interest in the topic of vampires. The format rarely changes – an interview and a guest post, spread over the course of a week. Four victims a year, repeat offenders welcome. First four to contact me get the four slots.

Also get in touch if you want to make suggestions about how to make Vampire month even more awesome than it already is. Suggestions for article topics feedback on posts… anything you want to talk about. You can email me on: dalascelles-writing@yahoo.co.uk, leave a comment below or find me on Facebook or twitter

I’m still waiting for Ann Rice, Rachel Caine or Bram Stoker to get in touch… Though Stoker is proving very difficult to contact for some reason. He doesn’t even seem to have a Twitter account…

[Vampire Month] The Vampires of my life by A.J Campbell

26 Thursday Mar 2015

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For her guest post, Alex gives us this quirky little play… Spot the not so subtle political metaphor for bonus points…

Scene: A bedroom, at night. Long white curtains billow at a casement window. Three redhaircandles, in a tall wrought-iron stand gutter threateningly in the draft. Our protagonist lies, in a gauzy nightgown, on the high four-poster bed. Suddenly, she awakens to a rapping at the window.  

Protagonist: Who’s there? What is it? [Through the window enters a small, scruffy boy, ghostly pale with small fangs poking over his bottom lip.]

Boy: Muahahaha! I am here to suck your blood!

Protagonist: What? Who the… Oh, it’s you.

Boy: [Strikes a pose] Yes! ‘Tis I. The nightmare of your childhood! The creature who gave you sleepless moonlit hours and began your life-long fascination with the denizens of the night!

Protagonist: You’re The Littlest Vampire, aren’t you? When did you learn a word like “denizens”?

LV: Ah… you remember me!

Protagonist: Yes, I remember you. I remember hiding your book as far away from me as possible in my room so you wouldn’t crawl out of the pages and nibble on me in my sleep. I was still in junior school at the time though.

LV: [Looks pleased with himself] And since then? Do I still terrify you?

Protagonist: Are you kidding me? I used to think that sleeping with a scarf on would stop you being able to get to my neck. You were a good first introduction to the genre, but the only thing making you scary was the fact that I was a bit too young when someone gave me your book to read.

LV: [Subsides, crestfallen] Oh.

Protagonist: Go on. Go home before it gets light.

[The Littlest Vampire exits, and our protagonist settles back down to sleep, but is soon awakened once more by a knocking at the window.]

Protagonist: Littlest Vampire? I thought I told you to go home.

Sultry Voice from Outside: “Littlest” Vampire?

[At the window, David Boreanaz appears, doing his best to smoulder.]

Protagonist: Oh my… What are you doing out there?

DB: I can’t come in unless you invite me.

Protagonist: Oh yes… I remember that little bit. That’s about the first thing that stopped me being quite so terrified of Vamps. The idea that they couldn’t get at me unless I let them in. Problematic idea, really, tallying with notions of victim-blaming and bad things only happening to bad people. But it’s very much a case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing, only able to be countered with a lot more knowledge. Like the time we did the Black Death in school, and I had nightmares for weeks until Mum told me about Penicillin.

DB: So…

Protagonist: Oh no, you’re not getting an invite. You can stay right there, mister. I remember Angelus. And your Irish accent Sucks.

DB: You’re a… fan then?

Protagonist: Oh, I used to love Buffy. Still do. It’s a cult classic. Makes me feel very old knowing it finished over ten years ago now. It was something of a defining feature of my teenage years – forget Edward or Jacob – the question was always whether you fancied Angel or Spike more.

DB: Which team were you on?

Protagonist: I was a geek. I fancied Xander.

DB: Oh. I should probably go then. See, I had this whole bit worked out about coming in, representing your every teenage fantasy, showing you how sexy vampires can be…

Protagonist: Nah. Sorry. Not tonight. Whilst it might be fun someday to revisit my burgeoning youth, I just want to crack out this article and get to bed.

DB: Another time then?

Protagonist: Perhaps. Shut the window on the way out?

[Boreanaz blows a kiss, and exits. Our protagonist again addresses herself to sleep, when a further knock on the window disturbs her attempt at slumber…]

Protagonist: Again? Really? Who is it this time?

[A tall, immaculately dressed Victorian gentleman appears at the window, incongruous only because of the small, round, black-tinted spectacles he is wearing.]

[Guest Post] What is Horror? by Rebeka HarringtonProtagonist: [Squealing like a completely star-struck fan-girl] Oh My God, it’s Garry Oldman as Dracula… Oh, this is the Francis Ford Coppola version! I remember this! I’d just read Bram Stoker’s book, and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread! My English Teacher at the time had this theory that if Stoker was alive today he would have published the book as an interactive work – just a box full of diaries and notes and newspaper clippings and “phonograph recordings” which would probably be MP3s or something these days. You’d get the entirety of Dracula on a USB stick and have to piece it all together. Wow! And I saw that film, and I was thinking, I don’t remember all those sexy bits in the book, but I was seventeen, so I didn’t care, and… and… and… Keanu Reeves was a perfect Johnathan Harker, because he has all the acting ability of a wet dishrag, and that’s absolutely fine, because Johnathan Harker is a wet dishrag – seriously, who cuts themselves shaving, watches a grown man that he’s only just met lick the blood off the razor and then hurl the mirror out of the window, and his only thought is “That’s most inconvenient, I’ll have to get a new shaving mirror.”? Oh my God, I am amazingly psyched to meet you, sir, this is fantastic.

GO: [Mildly perturbed] Are you going to be like this all evening?

Protagonist: I’m sorry, I may settle down soon, but I’m not at all certain.

GO: In which case, I think I’d probably better go. It was a pleasure meeting you. [He tips his top hat]

Protagonist: No, don’t go! See, that’s exactly why you were amazing, you showed how vampires could be suave and sophisticated, yet also menacing and creepy and sexy and… and… [realises how over the top she is being.] Ok. I get it. You probably should go. I’m really sorry, I’m not usually like this. I don’t know what’s come over me…

[Gary Oldman turns into a bat and flies away, blowing the entire special effects budget in the process. With a sigh, our protagonist once again turns to the bed. She has not long laid down when there is a clicking sound, like that of a camera shutter, and a doctorwhotwilightsmall flash of light.]

Otto Chreik: Vonderful! Simply vonderful! Ze vay ze candlelight shines on ze flowing curtains, and ze hair spread like zat on ze pillow! Ya, ya, von more! Svoon please! Ya, more svooning, zat is perfect!

Protagonist: Otto?

Otto: Ya? Von second please… [he takes another picture, then puts down the camera.] Can I help you?

Protagonist: Otto Chreik? Otto: Ya, ya, it is me?

Protagonist: You must be here to represent my Pratchett phase. Which, in fairness never really ended. It’s wonderful to see you. I’m so, so sorry about Sir Terry. He was a master of the genre, this must be a terrible time for you.

Otto: Ya, ya… Vell, unlife goes on, as they say.

Protagonist: Pratchett’s vampires taught me so much about the genre… Count Magpyr and his family – the fact that the worst villains are those who pretend they’re doing this for your own good…

[A spectre of David Cameron floats lazily past]

Cameron: Don’t mind me, I’m just a metaphor.

Protagonist: [after his retreating back] Now there’s a vampire I could quite happily stake.

Otto: Indeed.

Protagonist: Even the comic vampires – I’ve always loved comedy, wish I could write it myself, but I tend to overdo it. Comedy is the best teacher, because it allows learning to sneak in round the edges while we’re laughing. Even a character like yourself can show us that there is so much that vampires can teach us about the nature of humanity, the nature of evil – your own comic persona being just that, hammed up round the edges deliberately to seem non-threatening, because we all know where we are vis a silly accent, and we forget about the blood.

Otto: [Bows slightly] Vell, I’m glad to haf been of service. But now, I really must be goink, I haf a scoop to catch for ze evenink edition.

Protagonist: Send me a copy of the pictures, won’t you?

[Otto exits with a dramatic flourish.]

Protagonist: Well, that really must be everyone – I can’t see how…

[At this point Edward Cullen pops up at the windowsill]

EC: You know, you’re like my own personal brand of…

Protagonist: No! No, no, no, no, no! You can fuck right off! I had to read your books when I was considering writing my PhD, but that was only ever so I could rip them apart!

EC: But teenage girls love me! Protagonist: Yes, and I probably would have done so when I was fifteen, but I’m a lot more savvy now, and I’ve discovered feminism, so screw you and the dodgy paperback you rode in on! You’re as bad as Fifty Shades of Grey, what with teaching impressionable young girls that stalking is the basis of a good relationship. And I don’t even think you’re a real vampire – you’re some sort of crystalline blood-powered golem anyway. Vampires don’t sparkle!

EC: I’m only sparkling because I love you…

[At this point, our protagonist punches Cullen square in the face, causing him to fall out of the window. There are loud cheers. She then pulls down the casement and locks it firmly against any further night-time intrusions. Finally, she manages to get a good night’s sleep, though what she dreams about is anyone’s guess…]

Bio

Alex Campbell was born in the wilds of Northumbria, and from an early age cut her teeth on legends like that of the Lampton Worm, which formed the inspiration for her first book, Wyrm’s Reckoning, out later this year..

She obtained a degree in English and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick, then in a shameless attempt to avoid Real Life, followed this up with two Masters Degrees in Science Fiction and in Writing from the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores respectively.

Now, she lives in Portsmouth, at what she insists on referring to as the “wrong” end of the country, with her fiance and a number of dead house-plants. She is a keen gamer and LARPer, for which she makes many of her own costumes. She is not ashamed of being a geek

You can find her on her blog:  https://galacticavoice.wordpress.com/ and also on her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/AJ-Campbell/1525096601059912