Who’s Your Favorite Vampire?

To help celebrate Lori Devoti’s 30 Days of Vampires, Harlequin employees are guest posting about our favorite vampires from books, TV, and movies. Some of the responses:

• Dr. Carrie Ames from Jennifer Amrintrout’s Blood Ties series
• Angel and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
• Selene (played by Kate Beckinsale) in the Underworld movies
• Count Saint-Germain in the novels by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Louis (played by Brad Pitt) in Interview with the Vampire
• Betsy, Queen of the Vampires, in Mary Janice Davidson’s “Undead” series

Tell us why this vampire is your fave and any other vampires you love in the comments!

Lori Devoti’s 30 Days of Vampires Blog Bash

To celebrate the release of the Holiday with a Vampire II anthology from Silhouette Nocturne (containing “A Christmas Kiss” by Merline Lovelace and “The Vampire Who Stole Christmas” by Lori Devoti), author Lori Devoti is having a 30 Days of Vampires bash over at her blog. Each day will have a new guest-post and prizes, interviews, excerpts and essays all on vampires. Plus, there’s a contest with a grand prize of $100 worth of blood-sucker books and goodies! Check out Lori’s kick-off post here for more details.

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Psst! Can’t wait until December for HWAV2? It’s available already at eHarlequin.com in print and ebook format. And the first Holiday with a Vampire anthology by Maureen Child and Caridad Pineiro is still available as an ebook as well!

Interview with a Vampire…

The eHarlequin community welcomes a special guest this week — vampire Drystan Hurst, hero of Lori Devoti‘s “The Vampire who Stole Christmas” (in Holiday With a Vampire II, available in December from Silhouette Nocturne).

Some questions that have been asked so far: What do vamps do in their free time? What separates vampires from demons? And why does Drystan want revenge? Stop by the discussion to get the answers straight from the horse’s — er, make that demon’s — mouth, and pose your own burning vamp questions to Drystan.

If you could go one-on-one with a fictional vampire, who would it be — and what would you ask?

Win Vampire Books from Crystal Green!

Crystal Green has written about sultry vampires for years. Now she’s combining her love of the paranormal with the red-hot romance of Harlequin Blaze! Crystal tells us about her latest book, Good to the Last Bite, and offers a chance to win some free books!

by Crystal Green, author of Good to the Last Bite

Hi! Like Kelly St. John before me, I was invited to pop in here to blog about my newest paranormal—which just happens to be a Harlequin Blaze. GOOD TO THE LAST BITE is a tale about a vampire bent on seeking revenge against the woman (a vampire, too) who stole his humanity and turned him. And the only way he can reclaim that humanity is to destroy her.

Of course, things go wrong for our hero, Edward Marburn. Instead of capturing Gisele, the object of his vengeance, Gisele captures him. However, she’s intent upon taming her wayward progeny, and a battle of wills—and wild, sensual nights—ensues.

Even though Blaze might be the last place you’d look for a vampire love story, I think that a hot relationship and creatures of the night go hand in hand. After all, one of the movies I find to be the sexiest and most romantic of all is BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA. Seriously—how can you beat forbidden love coupled with sultry foreplay that leads to a passionate consummation (which just so happens to be a bite)?

Last year, I wrote a different vampire Blaze that explored this question. The book was called THE UTLIMATE BITE, and it’s a companion piece to GOOD TO THE LAST BITE. In fact, Edward Marburn drives the plot of that book, and the rest of his story is fleshed out in this new installment. When I turned in the manuscript, my editor, Brenda Chin, left a note asking, “So do we get to read Edward’s story next?”

Yup, and I have to tell you that I had a lot of fun pitting Edward and Gisele against one another. There’s a lot you can do with a captive, brooding hero and the vampiress who yearns to change his plans from destruction to acceptance. Also, creating vampire Blazes has been a nice change of pace for me, because I additionally write urban fantasies where the vamps lean more toward horror than romance (although there’s a bit of lurve in those other books, too). My vamp-writing career actually got started with Silhouette, when I wrote a vampire hunter story for the now-defunct Bombshell line. THE HUNTRESS featured a heroine whose boyfriend was taken by a tribe of feral vampires in Transylvania, and I was so enthralled with being able to write this type of tale that I kept doing it. I’m just happy that Blaze has allowed me to continue these stories in yet another line!

Thanks so much for reading, and in appreciation, I’ll be giving away copies of THE ULTIMATE BITE and THE HUNTRESS to someone who leaves a comment before Monday, whether it’s about Blaze paranormals, paranormals in general, or even what kind of vampire you find to be the sexiest!

I look forward to hearing from you. : )

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p.s. from Amy: Use the widget above to read an excerpt from Good to the Last Bite! And remember that even if you don’t win, all three books (Good to the Last Bite, The Ultimate Bite, and yes, even The Huntress) are always available at the eHarlequin eBook Store.

Author Karen Whiddon’s Sexy Shapeshifters

Karen Whiddon continues her popular series The Pack in not one but two stories this month: Mate of the Wolf, available now from Nocturne Bites, and Dance of the Wolf from Silhouette Nocturne (on sale early at eHarlequin.com). Here Karen talks about what readers can expect from her latest sexy paranormal short…

by Karen Whiddon, author of Mate of the Wolf

Wow – I can’t believe it’s July already. And now my Nocturne Bite MATE OF THE WOLF is out! You can expect a page-turning, sexy read in this short story. And this time, I’ve added a Vampire to the mix! My Pack characters often fall in love with humans, but never with a Vamp, so this book takes the story of the Pack in a new and completely different direction.

Writing this book was so much fun! The shorter format, combined with a hot male Vampire inspired me to sit down and write non-stop. I wrote the entire book over a three or four day period, intense writing – and I loved it! I love the story, the characters, the heat, the premise, everything! While it was challenging to show character development in a short story, I love stretching my writing wings. I started thinking of other paranormal beings and how they might mix in my Pack world.

While MATE OF THE WOLF is completely separate from DANCE OF THE WOLF (My Nocturne out in August), I am constantly seeking new ways to test my Pack people, to expand their world. My hero in DANCE, Shapeshifter Dr. Jared Gies, is a recovering drug addict. My heroine owns a male strip club. Talk about stretching their boundaries!

Since I have many more Pack stories to tell, I’d like to know what you, the readers, think? Do you like the idea of intermingling shapeshifters with other paranormal beings? Do you think Vampires have been done to death <G>? Let me know, as I need to develop a couple more Nocturne proposals.

I hope you enjoy reading Mate of the Wolf as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Karen

 

 

Michele Hauf’s Vampire Tale with a Twist

Author Michele Hauf has put a twist on the usual paranormal story in her latest book from Silhouette Nocturne , His Forgotten Forever: her hero has forgotten that he’s a vampire! Michele talks about just what could go wrong when a vampire has amnesia…

By Michele Hauf, author of His Forgotten Forever

An amnesiac vampire?

Wouldn’t it be a surprise — if you were the one with amnesia — and suddenly got back the memory that, in order to survive, you must drink the blood from humans. Yikes!

I had to do this to my latest hero, Truvin Stone. Torture him by taking away his memory, then giving it back to him after he’d tasted how good life could be. You see, Truvin was the villain in the previous novel in the Bewitching The Dark series, KISS ME DEADLY. I fell in love with him in that story, despite his evil ways, and knew I had to write his story. Hey, beneath every bad boy is a misunderstood man waiting for rescue. But salvation can never come without a little suffering! 🙂

There are many stories about amnesia on the bookshelves. I do like a good ole ‘so that’s who I used to be?’ story. But I think a lot of times, we look at the whole phenomenon of amnesia from a tainted perspective. We know our memories. So we know what we’d miss.

This is what interests me most about amnesia: If you no longer have your memories, then you don’t know what to miss. You don’t remember having a family. So why would you pine to know if you had one? Well, sure, you’d wonder, but it wouldn’t be a relentless need to know. Same with having had a lover or husband or wife. Unless you’ve a wedding band on your finger, your first thought is not going to be for who is missing from your life. It is a concept that wouldn’t even occur to you. You don’t know what your career used to be, so worrying about what work you’re missing isn’t an issue, either. You’re simply trying to navigate in a world without ties, no bank account (or no idea where that account is), perhaps no home, and certainly no friends.

You can absolutely begin anew if you are not wondering over past issues. It’s stepping forward into a new world. A very unsure and dangerous step, to be sure. You don’t know what you’ve done in the past, so who knows what nefarious creatures or bad deeds will rise again to force you to want to learn what you were once like.

So back to Truvin. He knows he’s lost all memory of his life, yet not the world about him. This is easy to accept because he doesn’t know to angst over what he cannot know is missing. He begins to move ahead. Yet, the scent of blood troubles him. Rather, it attracts him. And then there are the witches chasing him. And the priest who forcefully baptized him. Yeah, you read that one right. Truvin has no clue why anyone would want to baptize him. But when he discovers the truth? This vampire had better get his memory back — fast — before all the misdeeds of his past kill him.

~Michele

Read the first chapter of HIS FORGOTTEN FOREVER at Michele’s website!

Author Jennifer Armintrout’s Sexy Bloodsucking Fiends!

With All Souls’ Night, Book Four of the Blood Ties series, Jennifer Armintrout wraps up the gripping saga of doctor-turned-vampire Carrie Ames and her eternal fight against evil.  We asked Jennifer to tell us what readers can expect from the final installment…

By Jennifer Armintrout, author of Blood Ties Book Four: All Souls’ Night

Hello, people out there in blogland! Hey, my new book is out, you should buy it! Not to be pushy or anything, but I do have a kid who’ll need college tuition some day. 🙂

Another really good reason to pick it up is that Blood Ties Book Four: All Souls’ Night wraps up the Blood Ties series completely.

Okay, maybe not completely. I do have a couple more ideas up my sleeve for Carrie, Nathan and the gang, but for right now, this is the end of the series. It’s the final showdown between good and evil, and it’s time for all of the characters to reconcile themselves to the fact that they’re really, pitifully outnumbered.

It’s also time for some old friends to return, and a new one to be introduced. And of course, there is gore. Much gore. I don’t like to brag or spoil anything for anyone, but zombies. Being attacked by werewolves. That statement alone can sell the book better than anything else I can say.

So, if you’re in the market for some thrilling action and you’ve already gone to see Iron Man this summer, then I think you have no choice but to check out Blood Ties Book Four: All Souls’ Night. If you haven’t read any of my other fine offerings in the Blood Ties series, such as Blood Ties Book One: The Turning, Blood Ties Book Two: Possession or Blood Ties Book Three: Ashes To Ashes, you’ll probably want to read those first, so you’ll know what’s going on in Book Four. And also, that college tuition thing I mentioned earlier.

~Jennifer

To learn more about Dr. Carrie Ames and the Blood Ties series, join Jennifer Armintrout in the eHarlequin.com Community this week, June 16-20, as she blogs and chats in character!

Are Vampires Dead or Just Mainstream?

By Jenny B, digital content manager

From Smart Bitches and Dear Author, another salvo in the debate about whether the paranormal romance reading community is ready to move on from reading about vampires.  This time, a different take in that vampires are not “over”, just moved into the mainstream.

It’s an interesting point, but for me personally, I will never tire of reading about vampires.  I love a dark, brooding vampire hero, and the vampire heroines I’ve read tend to be of the kick-butt, take-charge variety, which I also like in heroines generally.  If they’ve gone mainstream, so much the better — that just means more books for me to sink my teeth into!  (Sorry, I never could resist a bad pun!)

What do you think? Are vampires dead? Have they become mainstream? Are you finished with them?

Vampires Done to Death?

By Jenny B, Digital Content Manager

Is it time to kill the vampire hero? I was catching up on my blog reading and I saw this interesting post over at Dear Author.  In passing, the writer comments on the relative popularity of the vampire as alpha hero:

Aren’t vampires on their way out? I can’t read another vampire story. I’m into shifters and in a poll I had a few weeks ago, shifters were preferred 3 to 1 over vamps.

Is this true? Are you over vampires as heroes? If so, what are you into now?

Author Susan Krinard, from werewolves to vampires!

By Susan Krinard, author of Dark of the Moon

Everyone seems to be writing vampires these days. For years I’ve written about my shapeshifter “werewolves,” beginning with my 1993 novel Prince of Wolves .. . one of the very first romance novels to feature a werewolf hero (and, I believe, the first in the genre to present one who wasn’t “cursed”).

When I decided to venture into vampires–or, as I call them, “strigoi”– I decided to try something different … a setting that has hardly been used in romance, the Roaring Twenties. The series began with Chasing Midnight, about a high-flying vampire flapper and the straitlaced werewolf who falls in love with her. It was set against the exciting background of bootleggers and mobsters, where our hero and heroine fall in love while fighting to keep the evil head of the vampire mob, Raoul Boucher, from bringing chaos down upon the city of New York.

One of Raoul’s enforcers was a mysterious vampire named “Dorian Black” … a man who, in spite of his profession, had a moral sense that wouldn’t allow him to surrender completely to his dark side. Dorian became the hero of my new book, Dark of the Moon … a tormented soul who, every dark of the moon, becomes the very creature he most fears. Only his growing love for reporter Gwen Murphy, who is investigating the presence of vampires in Manhattan, can possibly save him.

Dorian is one of my favorite characters. As a hero with a dark past and much to atone for, he has a long way to climb. He must constantly battle his darker instincts in order to be with Gwen and begin to accept her love; he knows he’s a danger to her, and his increasing desire to make her a vampire like himself becomes almost too strong to resist. But when she’s threatened by a cult of strigoi bent on killing her and destroying the entire vampire race, he begins to realize that her hatred is a small price to pay in exchange for her life.

Gwen, too, was a very fun character to write … the very image of the plucky girl reporter who, in spite of the discouragement of her male colleagues, will stop at nothing to get her story. I was inspired by the movies of the 1930s, where heroines portrayed by actresses like Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck “always get their man.”

Though Dark of the Moon is set in a period unfamiliar to many readers, I think it provides a colorful and unique backdrop for a vampire story. The Twenties were a period of transition, caught between the morals of the Victorian Era and the exciting new ideas of the Twentieth Century. The conflicting pressures of both worlds tells strongly on our characters, who have their own challenging transitions to make in an uncertain world.

I hope readers will enjoy Dark of the Moon, and look out for my next werewolf book, Come the Night, in October.