Writing Vampires: Guest Blog and Giveaway with Lorelei Bell

My interest in vampires came in my teens watching the old horror classics of “Dracula” on TV late at night. I never did like that Dracula (or vampires in general) was the heavy, or villain, or the one who inspired terror in all the living folk in the village, and to be hunted down like cur, beheaded, staked etc. in his own coffin. I ask myself, “Why couldn't Dracula get the girl—the woman of his desires?”

Later, in adulthood, when I took up the pen and strove to put down my own vampire stories, there was no such genre as "urban fantasy" or "paranormal romance" where vampires were hunks and women sought them as lovers. Vampires works went under the heading of "horror". Eventually, though, writer's like Chelsea Quinn Yarbro came on the scene and brought a different type of story to the vampire genre with her Saint-Germain as the vampire hero. We all began to look at vampires differently after that.

My vampires all have their own personalities; you will not find a cardboard baddie among them. They each have their own needs, wants, and desires, and do fall in love—in other words are capable of human emotions. My writing has been compared to Anne Rice's ("Interview With A Vampire").

When it came to creating my story, and my heroine in this series, I chose not to go with the kick-ass chick who hunted vampires, demons or whatnot. I did not want her to work in some sort of newly created bureau (as in Karen Chance, Keri Arthur, and Kim Harris, etc. novels), in a world where everyone knows that vampires exist. I didn't want to do a lot of back-story. I wanted to begin at the beginning with my reluctant hero, Sabrina Strong, a sometimes quirky twenty-one year old who has this unique problem where she can't really hold a job because she is a Touch Clairvoyant. Thus, when her father dies, she is forced to take a job in something she can actually do. So when she answers the add for a clairvoyant, she isn't expecting to work for vampires. However, she is quite aware that they exist—because she knows her mother was turned into a vampire when she was just a girl, and believed to have disappeared by everyone else. My story evolves around this and many other mysteries, including what Sabrina learns about herself; that she is more important to the world than she could even imagine.

Synopsis:

Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when she was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who ruthlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel.

Sabrina is not thrilled about the aspect of working for vampires, but she needs the money, and she wants to find the gorgeous and mysterious vampire who has been turning up in her dreams. Is he the one who bit her when she was ten, marked her for his own, and turned her mother so long ago?

Little does Sabrina know that her whole life is about to change as her best friend becomes a victim, too and Sabrina is the only one who can find her. Her friend's fate intensifies the desperate need to find the murderer and, consequently, brings her into contact with a rogue vampire, Vasyl—who looks very much like her dream-vampire. Sabrina is quickly immersed in romantic trysts and dangerous situations involving scheming vampires, shift changers, and werewolves.

From Copperhill Media:

“With Vampire Ascending, Lorelei Bell has created a unique and mesmerizing mystery blending intricately detailed fantasy and romance with a contemporary setting. Her story features strong character development and provides new insights on a vampire's life including love, passion, heartache, hope, devastation, lust and longing.

Moreover, Vampire Ascending is an action-packed plot full of surprise. Bell delivers a well written and satisfying story that will leave the reader wanting more.”

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976511673 Publisher: Copperhill Media

Lorelei's Blog: http://loreleismuse-lorelei.blogspot.com

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