Liz Strange Discusses Her Fave Vampires

My Top 3 Favourite Vampires by Guest Author Liz Strange

Any of the vamps listed below are more than welcome to stop by for a little nibble…

Jean-Claude- Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton

Jean-Claude is a French-born vampire who is over 400 years old. A favorite of Belle Morte his eyes, Jean-Claude was selected for his almost perfect mortal beauty

Jean-Claude is extraordinarily seductive, with both his mental abilities and his affect over other parties. He has the physical attributes that I adore- blue eyes, dark hair, “pretty” yet masculine features. Plus he has a good head for business and despite all the violence he has witnessed and been a direct part of, he has still managed to hang on to his humanity. A good man to have in battle or bed!

Eric – The Southern Vampire Mysteries – Charlaine Harris

Sookie describes him as “handsome, in fact, radiant; blond and blue-eyed, tall and broad shouldered. He was wearing boots, jeans, and a vest. Period. Kind of like the guys on the cover of romance books.” Um, what’s not to like?

I also enjoy Eric because despite the fact that he is the bad boy of bad boys, he also has a sense of humour, and under the right circumstances, a heart. Plus he can fly and wield a sword with deadly precision, and you never know when those attributes will come in handy.

Lestat – The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice

Lestat describes himself as six feet tall, with blond hair that is not quite shoulder length, and that is rather curly, which sometimes appears white under fluorescent lighting. His eyes are gray, but can appear blue or violet. He has a short narrow nose, and a mouth that is well shaped, but has always been slightly large for his face. Lestat's seniors refer to him affectionately as "the Brat Prince", which he is very fond of.

This guy is so charming and irresistible he even managed to awake the first vampire, who had been asleep for millennia. He causes trouble wherever he goes, but always manages to have a good time.

Perhaps Liz's vampire Giovanni may become someone else's favorite vampire, continue reading for info about the book and how to win a copy ~Rox


Blurb for My Love Eternal:

Blood, sex and eternal life… What more could a girl ask for?

Tall, dark, and sexy, as well as fabulously wealthy, Giovanni is everything a girl could ask for in a lover. There’s only one catch. He’s been undead for more than three hundred years. When Rachel is drawn into Giovanni’s world, she learns that the rules of human existence mean nothing in the world of vampires. This, however, is a fair price to pay for a love that will last forever.

Hunted by the Desmarais family, who carry a centuries-old vendetta, Rachel and Giovanni travel to the ends of the earth in order to stay one step ahead. Can their love survive, or will their eternity together end?

Would you like a chance to win My Love Eternal?

One person will win a print copy

Open to US and Canada Shipping

To enter answer these questions in the comments below:

What are the names of the two main characters?

In what city is the book set?

Answers can be found by visiting Liz's website

Drawn to the Dark Side with Guest Author Lisa Lane

Thank you so much for having me today, Roxanne. I love this blog, and I’m always up for a chat about vampires in paranormal romance and erotica. It is my pleasure to share with all of you my thoughts on the genre, and I’m excited to have this opportunity also to share a little about my erotic horror trilogy, The Darkness and the Night.

Drawn to the Dark Side

These days, vampires come in all makes and temperaments. Although there still exists the “classic vampire”, there are now tall, dark, and handsome vampires, sexy vampires, sweet vampires, vampires that eat food with their blood, vampires that can’t eat food at all, vampires that drink life-force, vampires that explode into dust in the sunlight, and even vampires that shimmer and sparkle in it. With all of these conflicting and competing mythos floating throughout the literary world, it can be a task to determine the best direction to take in the construction of a new vampire series. As a horror and speculative sci-fi writer, as I considered the impact of introducing yet another erotic, romantic vampire story to the fray, I had to ask myself:

· Is there a market for erotic horror romance?

· With the most popular crazes currently involving vampires that behave more human than monster, will the masses be accepting of something darkly different?

· Is there a place for speculative fiction in the genre?

Finally, after weighing the possibilities, knowing that I would be fighting my way into a niche market no matter which directions I chose to take, I decided that I would make The Darkness and the Night trilogy what I wanted in the genre: dark, gritty, speculative, provocative horror, while painting the details as realistically as I could possibly make them—a Norman Rockwell of literary horror, if you will, using a medium of words. Parts of the stories are disturbing and ugly, but in their ugliness lies a unique beauty that might not be appreciated in any other form. In the ugliness lies insight, genuineness, and heart.

In The Darkness and the Night: Blood and Coffee, protagonist of the series, Karen, finds herself flung into the vampire underworld after the Xavier family, one of the series’ antagonists, uses her in a plot for revenge against her vampire-hunting father. Karen’s transformation tests the limits of her humanity, while also pushing the boundaries between love, hate, lust, and sexual control. When the blood bond between her and the Xavier who turns her, Billy, proves more powerful than both family rivalry and Karen’s contempt for being turned, an entirely new dynamic arises. Moreover, Karen soon finds that she is pregnant (a rarity among vampires) with Billy’s child. The story’s climax comes when the couple fall prey to the dark forces within a nocturnal commune, a hidden valley that one might compare to the Land of the Lotus Eaters in Homer’s Odyssey, one in which humans and vampires alike enter, but never again leave.

In the second book, Cosmic Orgasm (campy name, but with purpose), Karen finds herself a patient in a mental institution, where even she begins to question whether or not all that she has experienced has been nothing more than a psychotic delusion. A series of events proves otherwise, and she reunites with Billy—only to find that he has changed dramatically for the worse. A minor character from Blood and Coffee makes a return as an unexpected hero, and Karen an enemies becomes an ally and, later, her lover, as she moves toward her greatest challenge yet: childbirth.

Book three, Twins of Darkness, follows the upbringing of Karen’s fraternal twins, seemingly human at birth, but far from it. An Astral experience in Cosmic Orgasm, in which Karen makes love to a galaxy, has left one of the twins with nearly god-like abilities, able to travel through time and space, manipulating reality as she sees fit and born with a level of intelligence that far surpasses her infant body. Her twin brother is also deceptively inhuman, and as the two mature, they prove that not all of the sheltering in the world can keep them from coming into their own and following quite terrifyingly in their mother’s footsteps.

So, I ask you, the reader: what do you look for in your erotic or romantic vampire fiction? Do you prefer classic horror, sweet, shimmering re-creations of the mythos, or something entirely different? Leave your thoughts for a chance to win an electronic copy of Twins of Darkness, which has received glowing reviews across the board and has been called “superb” (Cerebral Reviews), “effortless reading” (The Deepening), and “beyond the imagination” (Bitten by Books). Thanks for stopping by, and good luck!

For more information on The Darkness and the Night trilogy, you can check out my erotica page or stop by my blog, or you can go to my author page at Ravenous Romance or Amazon.

So what draws you to the dark side?

One lucky reader has the chance to win a pdf of The Darkness and the Night: Blood and Coffee

To enter just leave a comment on this post with your contact info

Happy reading!

Lisa