Posts Tagged With: vampire

Cover Reveal! A Vampire at Christmas (Anthony Renfro)

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Michelle Proulx

Today I’m happy to help out fellow self-pubbed author Anthony Renfro with his cover reveal for A Vampire at Christmas. 

Here’s a brief synopsis:

A short story about a Vampire who uses his riches and immortal skills to bring joy to those in need during the Christmas Season.

And here’s an excerpt:

Talan Gawayn became a vampire in the 15th century on a cold, starry, full-moon night just after the first big snow of November. He was walking a less traveled path, on his way home from seeing his fiancé, whom he planned to marry the following spring, when three men stepped out of the shadows to rob him. He fought them at first, but they soon overpowered him, beat him ruthlessly, laughing as they did it, drunk and looking for someone to rob. They had found it in Talan who was so hopelessly in love he hadn’t seen them sneak up on him.

While he lay there in the snow dying from his injuries, one eye shut and swollen, the other able to see only a blurry vision, he thought he saw something, something moving quick and fast. The men who had beaten him were counting out their stolen money when this thing attacked them. It tore through their flesh, ripped out their throats savagely; and didn’t just drain the robbers of their precious blood, but this thing seemed to almost be bathing in it while it fed.

Talan tried to stay focused, tried to see what this thing was, but his will gave out and his good eye closed. He passed out into an injured slumber.

Weight.

Something heavy was straddling him …

And here’s the cover:

Vampire at Christmas - High Resolution (1)

Check it out here!

US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KRCCTU0?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KRCCTU0?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00KRCCTU0?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

CA: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00KRCCTU0?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Categories: Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Acceptance, by Keri Peardon

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Michelle Proulx

I know what you’re thinking — what’s with all the book reviews, Michelle?

Well, I recently discovered how to convert files to epub and stick them on my tablet, so now I have constant, mobile access to all the self-published novels I’m supposed to be reading and reviewing. Hence this sudden outpouring of reviews. Shocking, right? Well, hang on to your keyboards, because this latest review is going to BLOW YOU AWAY. Not literally. That would hurt.

Anyway …

The Book

“Acceptance”

The Genre

Urban Fantasy

The Author

Keri Peardon

The Plot

For more than two thousand years, a small community of humans has lived in harmony with vampires, giving their blood and obedience in exchange for protection. When Kalyn Reid comes of age and pledges herself to the vampires, she has no reason to worry. She’s paired with Anselm for her training, and she couldn’t ask for a kinder, more patient mentor. She also couldn’t ask for anyone better-looking.

But before she has a chance to learn her new responsibilities—or get a date—her idyllic life goes up in flames. Without warning, humans and vampires in her group are murdered by a strange new type of vampire, and the few survivors are forced to flee. Anselm and his brother, Micah, vow to hunt down the murderer, and they take Kalyn with them, thinking she’ll be safer with them. But when the killer finds them first, they must rely on Kalyn if any of them are to survive.

The Review

I loved this book. I was a bit worried when I heard it was a vampire story, as I’ve read some terrible vampire books just trying to jump on the Twilight bandwagon, but Acceptance is absolutely fantastic. Keri presents her readers with a new, unexpectedly religious take on vampires that hooked me in from page one, and if not for my need to sleep and work, I wouldn’t have put it down.

Kalyn is a wonderful protagonist—smart, funny, and, above all, gutsy. I loved reading about her interactions with Anselm, because she actually reacts the way a 16-year-old girl would act in the presence of her immortal crush. She’s awkward, she stammers, she says stupid things … and that made the story so much more believable and relatable for me as a result.

The plot is fairly linear, but nevertheless enjoyable. I was actually really impressed by how unafraid Keri was to kill off her characters. Seriously, they drop like flies. It reminded me of Game of Thrones, except with less incest, and more vampires.

Anyway, I thought Acceptance was a great read, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys teen romance and vampires. Even if you don’t, give it a try. It may surprise you!

The Rating

5 out of 5 stars

Click here to visit Keri Peardon’s blog.

Click here to purchase Acceptance.

Unrelated question of the day:

What the heck is going on with Facebook? I keep seeing posts from my friends saying things like, “Facebook is displaying all my private messages pre-2010”, or “Since Facebook is a publicly traded company, it can now use my pictures however they want”. Is there any truth to these claims? Is Facebook evil incarnate? Do I just have a lot of conspiracy theorist friends?

Unrelated image of the day:

Animal Puns

Categories: Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

How do you decide what to write?

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Michelle Proulx

I’ve recently been having a crisis. I would call it a crisis of faith, but that seems a little overly dramatic. Let’s call it a literary crisis.

I love writing, obviously. I love to write books, especially YA books. Ideally, I’d like to write about whatever I want, and then sell enough of these books that I can quit my day job and write books for a living. But the problem is that what I like to write, and what is currently popular, do not match up.

I recently read an article which outright stated, “If you want to make money, write Vampire Erotica”. And I have to say, I was tempted. I mean, vampires are in right now. If I were to write even a semi-decent book about vampire romance, I could probably make a good amount of money. But is that the sort of thing I want to do? And I’m not talking about sacrificing my integrity as an author. I mean, do I want to put myself through the process of dreaming up a story about vampires and humans and werewolves and all the other literary tropes that are selling right now? The answer is: I don’t know.

Money rocks. But so does writing what I care about. And I’m not sure I could care about vampires. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I quite enjoyed Twilight, but that was less because of the vampires and more about the characters. Everything I know about vampires is from TV and books, and most of that information contradicts itself. The original vampire looked like a demon, after all–hardly something you want your main character locking lips with. I suppose if I came up with interesting enough characters I wouldn’t mind churning out a vampire romance, but for all I know, by that point society will have moved on to the next YA craze, and I’ll be left with a vampire romance that no one will want to buy or read.

Maybe that’s the way to look at it. YA crazes come in phases, and ultimately, you should write what you want to write. Even if the book doesn’t have an audience now, it might very well in a year or two. I guess it comes down to whether you’re writing for love of writing, or for love of making money. And if I’m writing for the second reason, I might as well throw in the towel now, because the best sellers are non-fiction, and I am worse than useless at writing anything other than fantasy or sci-fi. So I’m going to keep on typing what I know and love, and hopefully I’ll be able to find an audience out there someday to appreciate my creations!

What do you think?

Is it important to consider potential sales and marketability when writing a book? Should a real writer care whether or not they make the New York Times Best-seller List?

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , | 12 Comments

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