Today we have guest blogger Rhonda Parrish, author of Sister Margaret a short story from Eternal Press and the editor of Nite Blade Magazine.
Welcome Rhonda. -
I love vampires. You must too or else you wouldn't be reading this blog, would you? And like me, you are probably very picky about what kind of vampires you like. Everyone has specific parts of the vampire mythology they love, or love to hate. Recently we've all see the outpouring of love for vampires that sparkle, and the equal amount of criticism for the very same thing. You can't please everyone in regard to anything, but perhaps especially when it comes to vampires.
I didn't even want to try.
I wanted to write a vampire story, but without dwelling too much on the vampires themselves. I wanted the vampire(s) to be just another character, no more or less important than any of the others. That was part of the inspiration for my new story, released today from Eternal Press – Sister Margaret.
Sister Margaret is about a vampire hunter and a half-incubus swordsman who are hired by a priestess to take care of a vampiric pimp. In this story, Xaphan, the vampire pimp, doesn't get a whole lot of page time, but I believe the dark presence of the vampire can be felt throughout the story just the same. Sometimes you don't need to see the vampire to know they are around. That's the case with Sister Margaret.
Allow me to share a short excerpt.
~*~
Not one to waste time with niceties, Bayne kicked down the door and went to work. I’d seen him wield his sword before, plenty of times; each one better than the last, but nothing had prepared me for this.
Xaphan had a lot of minions—a lot. They swarmed on Bayne like flies on shit, a living wave of fists and feet, all determined to bring him down. None of them reached him. His face, contorted by battle fury, looked every bit like a demon, all trace of humanity erased. He moved the sword as though it were an extension of himself, each movement calculated to destroy as many of his foes as possible. Within minutes, the roar of battle subsided to the whimpering of wounded, and Bayne’s once white hair was stained pink with blood. An occasional cut ripped through his shirt; one or two even managed to draw blood. But in less than ten minutes, he’d reduced the vampire’s army to a pile of mangled corpses and unidentified gore.
I entered as he replaced his sword in the scabbard strapped across his back, careful to watch my step lest I slip on the blood and goo and find myself covered in things I’d rather not contemplate. From a far corner, buried in shadows that mortal eyes couldn’t hope to penetrate, the distinct sound of feminine sobs could be heard. The leech had hostages after all. Good thing I’d decided against the fireball.
“You get the girls,” I said. “I’ll take care of the vampire and meet you back outside.”
Bayne nodded and delivered a sharp kick to the nose of one of his opponents who lay moaning in the sea of gore. The man’s face imploded, shattering beneath the force of Bayne’s boot, and then Bayne headed wordlessly toward the sound of the hostages.
I winced inwardly at the brutality of his action and then shrugged it off. In war, shit happens; he couldn’t be the best sword for hire in the land if he were squeamish about killing. Nor could he afford to turn his back on an enemy who still drew breath, injured or not.
I watched his back disappear into the darkness and thought about calling out to warn him to watch for traps, but then I thought better of it. Bayne was no fool; he knew what he was doing. I could trust him to get the girls out of the house safely. Now it was up to me to find the vampire and kill him.
~*~
I am giving away a copy of the ebook to a random commenter to this post – it could be you. If you're not sure what to say I'd love to hear what you think about my excerpt or you could tell me this – do you love or hate sparkly vampires?
I didn't even want to try.
I wanted to write a vampire story, but without dwelling too much on the vampires themselves. I wanted the vampire(s) to be just another character, no more or less important than any of the others. That was part of the inspiration for my new story, released today from Eternal Press – Sister Margaret.
Sister Margaret is about a vampire hunter and a half-incubus swordsman who are hired by a priestess to take care of a vampiric pimp. In this story, Xaphan, the vampire pimp, doesn't get a whole lot of page time, but I believe the dark presence of the vampire can be felt throughout the story just the same. Sometimes you don't need to see the vampire to know they are around. That's the case with Sister Margaret.
Allow me to share a short excerpt.
~*~
Not one to waste time with niceties, Bayne kicked down the door and went to work. I’d seen him wield his sword before, plenty of times; each one better than the last, but nothing had prepared me for this.
Xaphan had a lot of minions—a lot. They swarmed on Bayne like flies on shit, a living wave of fists and feet, all determined to bring him down. None of them reached him. His face, contorted by battle fury, looked every bit like a demon, all trace of humanity erased. He moved the sword as though it were an extension of himself, each movement calculated to destroy as many of his foes as possible. Within minutes, the roar of battle subsided to the whimpering of wounded, and Bayne’s once white hair was stained pink with blood. An occasional cut ripped through his shirt; one or two even managed to draw blood. But in less than ten minutes, he’d reduced the vampire’s army to a pile of mangled corpses and unidentified gore.
I entered as he replaced his sword in the scabbard strapped across his back, careful to watch my step lest I slip on the blood and goo and find myself covered in things I’d rather not contemplate. From a far corner, buried in shadows that mortal eyes couldn’t hope to penetrate, the distinct sound of feminine sobs could be heard. The leech had hostages after all. Good thing I’d decided against the fireball.
“You get the girls,” I said. “I’ll take care of the vampire and meet you back outside.”
Bayne nodded and delivered a sharp kick to the nose of one of his opponents who lay moaning in the sea of gore. The man’s face imploded, shattering beneath the force of Bayne’s boot, and then Bayne headed wordlessly toward the sound of the hostages.
I winced inwardly at the brutality of his action and then shrugged it off. In war, shit happens; he couldn’t be the best sword for hire in the land if he were squeamish about killing. Nor could he afford to turn his back on an enemy who still drew breath, injured or not.
I watched his back disappear into the darkness and thought about calling out to warn him to watch for traps, but then I thought better of it. Bayne was no fool; he knew what he was doing. I could trust him to get the girls out of the house safely. Now it was up to me to find the vampire and kill him.
~*~
I am giving away a copy of the ebook to a random commenter to this post – it could be you. If you're not sure what to say I'd love to hear what you think about my excerpt or you could tell me this – do you love or hate sparkly vampires?
Thanks for joining us, Rhonda.
Any commentors who would like to win a copy of Sister Margaret please make sure you leave contact info.
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16 comments:
Hi Rhonda,
Your story sounds intriguing. I would love to read it.
Oh I think sparkly vampires are kinda cool, new twist I found with Stephanie Meyer. I don't think I want all my vampires to be sparkly though..runis the whole dark and brooding thing.
wenonawildrose at aol dot com
Hi Wenona,
Thank you for commenting, I will add your name to the draw for a copy of Sister Margaret :)
I think you make a very valid point that goes along with what I was saying in my blog post -- variety is important. :) I agree.
Hi Rhonda,
I hope everybody reads Sister Margaret, it's a great story :)! I prefer the dark, brooding vampire. I always liked Louis over Lestat
Arnold :)
Thanks Arnold, I'll enter your name in the contest.
Personally, I like Louis and Lestat both, though for different reasons :)
Sparkly vampires should be illegal.
Lorrii
Real vampires don't sparkle.
Hi Lorri and Wired :)
Thank you for commenting, I've added you into the draw...and I'm beginning to see a theme emerging :)
Which pattern, the general loathing of sparkly!vampires? ;)
LoL yeah, that's the one :)
I think sparkly vampires are interesting just because they are different. I have not had the chance to read Stephanie Meyer's books yet though I saw the movie Twilight and that was my first intro to sparkly vampires.
I liked it because it was new. I love vampire stories where the author does something new and unexpected. Like JR Ward made her vampires only able to drink other vampire blood. New twist old story.
Different is good. Sure we all have our faves but new is good...really it is. I like it when I find something totally unexpected in a vampire book.
I am neutral on the sparkly vampire issue. I liked Twilight (the book, haven't seen the movie) and I like variety, but I'm really more into the dark brooding vampires. I liked the excerpt--I always enjoy a kick-ass heroine.
It's good to hear people who come down in favor of sparkly vampires (or at least new ideas) :).
I've never heard of JR Ward's vampires, but now I'm intrigued. I'll have to look into them :)
Thank you Cynthya, I added your name to the draw. Good luck!
I'm completely in favor of sparkly vampires.
Hi Erin :)
I've added your name to the draw, thank you for commenting.
I'm not sure, but I think this may put the sparkly vampires out in front :)
Good Morning.
Thank you to everyone who commented. The winner, via random number generation is Wired.
Please email me at rhonda @ jofigure.com so I can send you the free copy of Sister Margaret in .pdf format.
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