Upcoming Release: Legends of Night #2: Bloodlust

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Are you a fan of short vampire fiction? Black Ink Fiction has a collection of vampire drabbles, featuring five written by me!

You can pre-order the book here.

Vampires and Me:

I'll be honest. Vampires have never been my favourite monster. Though, I have enjoyed several books about vampires. When I was younger, I read Christopher Pike's The Last Vampire series and Bram Stoker's Dracula. I also watched the Dracula movie, Interview with a Vampire, and three seasons of Vampire Diaries. I also enjoy Jim Butcher's take on them in his Dresden Files series.

When I saw the submission call from Black Ink, I hesitated. I didn't think I had much to add to the genre. Same thing for their call about zombies, Legends of Night #1: Infection (be sure to check it out even though I didn't end up writing for it). However, after a lengthy brainstorming session, I had a few ideas that eventually became the five drabbles included in this volume.

1. Fire

One of the ideas I was playing around with was "elemental vampires". Vampires who didn't feed on blood, but on the four elements through people. My original thought had been air pulled out of someone's lungs, but couldn't word it just right. Instead, I used the concept of pulling all the heat from someone and wrote "Fire."

2. Rain

This drabble was the second of my elemental ideas, focusing on water. The drabble is a complete story, but I have now written an entire short story from that same seed of an idea. I'm still working on finding a home for that story, but I'm quite proud of it already. It has a bit of a murder mystery noir flavour.

3. Later

There was no conceivable way to write an "earth" vampire, at least not in a drabble. From my attempts, I developed "Later" about two people trying to hide from the vampire that hunts them.

4. The Suspect

My interest in mystery writing has been growing and this drabble is a vampire story and a murder mystery at the same time.

5. The Window

The most traditional vampire story of the bunch. My favourite vampire concept is how the victims have to invite them in or the vampire can't enter their home. This drabble was inspired by Kate Bush's song, Wuthering Heights. Cathy is a ghost, not a vampire, but the phrase "Let me in your window" along with her haunting dance moves have a permanent residence in my mind. Love that song (even if I hated the book!)

"The Window" also won a contest. The editors chose ten drabbles and then contributors all voted on their favourites and I'm proud to say that my story won!

 

Interested in reading my drabbles? Buy the book! Even if you're not, there are lots more in the book.

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