Guest Author Kendra Leigh Castle Talks About Vampires and Wild Highland Magic

Today We Have A Chat with Guest Blogger

Kendra Leigh Castle

Hi, and thanks so much to Roxanne for having me over today to talk about my new release, Wild Highland Magic.

I’m totally co-opting the “story strumpet” description for myself, by the way…it’s got a lot more flair than plain old “romance writer.”

So I know I’m in good company when I show up at a blog with the word “fang” in the title. I may write Scottish werewolves, but my love affair with vampires goes way back. In fact, that’s why the hero of my new book, which is the final in a trilogy about a pack of Highland werewolves and their otherworldly counterparts, the Drakkyn, is kind of a semi-vamp. Why “semi”? Well, Bastian an Morgaine is the only male ever born into a nomadic tribe of beautiful, blood-drinking demi-goddesses. He got the good looks, and the fangs, but unlike a traditional vampire, Bastian doesn’t have to drink blood all the time. It’s required to fuel his power, which is considerable, but the need is only sporadic. Otherwise, he can go out in the sun, eat regular food, and all that other good stuff. But for his kind, biting is an extremely sensual experience, and usually leads to…er, other things :-) Though because of circumstances out of Bastian’s control, he’s never been able to enjoy the full force of that sexual power. That is, until he meets Catriona MacInnes, a she-wolf determined to help him defeat the secret curse that has stalked him most of his life. Bastian has always had perfect control…he’s had to…but as it always is with the MacInneses, Cat is a lot more than he bargained for!

I’m sure Bastian’s character owes a lot to my early fascination with David in the movie Lost Boys, if only because it started my affection for spiky-haired blondes with fangs. That was, in fact, one of the only horror movies I've ever liked...and I'm pretty sure it doesn't qualify as anything but a horror movie of the fluffiest variety, considering the Coreys were in it. Still, I expended plenty of valuable brain power debating whether I liked Kiefer Sutherland or the dark-haired vampire (his name, if he had one, was not nearly as important as the fact that he never seemed to be wearing a shirt) better. And I don't even like horror movies. It sometimes makes it hard for a girl who loves her supernatural creatures, because a lot of times, when Hollywood does blood, they've got it coming out of everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink. I don't faint at blood or anything. It's when the skin starts coming off that I have issues. My sister, the mild-mannered dental hygienist, loves that sort of thing, so I don't know what's wrong with me, the writer of strange things, that I can't deal with actors and actresses pretending to have limbs ripped off in interesting ways. But I can't. War of the Worlds scared the crap out of me, and it wasn't just because Tom Cruise was in it.However, to this day, if the movie is full of hot vampires, I will brave a certain amount of gore to check it out. I’m glad vamps are less into flaying people alive and more into brooding and biting, though!

Anyway, here’s the blurb for the tale of my semi-vamp Bastian, Wild Highland Magic:

Bastian an Morgaine has always been a man apart. The only male ever born into the Dyadd Morgaine, Tribe of the Goddess, his unusual powers and silent strength have kept him a mystery even to those closest to him. But Bastian hides a terrible secret, one that drives him to isolate himself on the remote Highland estate of the MacInnes Wolves: he carries a terrible curse, one he knows he must either find a way to remove, or make sure that it dies with him alone.

Catriona MacInnes, the daughter of the powerful Pack Alpha’s long-estranged brother, has only just begun to discover her family’s rich legacy. Worried about her father’s increasingly strange behavior, Cat hopes that Scotland might somehow hold the answers to all of her family’s problems. But upon Cat’s arrival, it’s the reclusive stranger with the face of a fallen angel who consumes her thoughts and fires her blood. Cat soon begins to suspect that her father isn’t the only one with secrets. If only her every instinct wasn’t telling her that Bastian must be hers alone, no matter the cost…

In the western Highlands, as the Wolves gather, an ancient evil watches, waiting to reach from the shadows and fulfill its dark destiny. A daemon’s curse has terrible power. But the love of a Wolf might just be stronger…and as Bastian and Cat are about to discover, the Highland moon has a magic all its own.

I’ve got werewolves, half-wolves, semi-vamps and dragon-shifters, not to mention some thoroughly nasty characters with black magic and very sharp teeth (yes, I can write horror movie characters, just can’t watch ‘em…sad but true). And if any of that tickles your fancy, I hope you pick up Wild Highland Magic and check it out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I’ll be around to chat all day! So here’s my question to you: who’s your favorite movie vamp? Hmm, I realize I’m inviting a barrage of “Edward Cullen” responses here, but still…:-)

Kendra Leigh Castle is the author of the MacInnes Werewolves trilogy, as well as the upcoming series The Fallen, coming from Harlequin Nocturne. She lives in Maryland with her husband, three kids, and menagerie of pets, and loves to be visited online at http://www.kendraleighcastle.com/