Light is a British vampire – not in doubt from the very first line of Blood Dragons: ‘You know those vampire myths? Holy water, entry by invitation only and sodding crucifixes? Bollocks to them.’
I wanted a fantasy novel with a British vampire front and centre. Neither the love interest. Nor the sidekick. But the antihero at its beating heart.
A Londoner born in the Victorian age, Light takes on the persona of a 1960s Rocker. He loves only two things: his Triton motorbike – ‘a sodding scarlet slash of beauty…and my bloody god’ and his Ace of Spades leather jacket. Unless you include Ruby: ‘my red-haired devil, Author, muse, liberator…my gorgeous nightmare.’ Or Kathy… And then there’s Grayse…
But being boldly British – a mix of Victorian and 1960s – Light has a way of speaking, which is all his own.
So here’s 20 Blinding English Slang Words and Phrases You Need to Know
Barney = a fight
Bawling = crying
Belt = hit
Blinding = brilliant/really good
Done in = killed
Duff up = beat up
To have a gander = to have a look at
Leg it = run away
Manky = Unpleasant
Mug/Mush = Face
To be/get narked = to be get/annoyed
Neb = mouth
Nitwit = Fool/foolish
Nosh = food/eat enthusiastically
Nut = head
Peepers = eyes
Ran-tan = drunk
Starkers = naked
Wanker/pillock/berk = idiot
Snuff it = die
I’ve been exploring Goodreads for the last couple of weeks. Now that’s one SERIOUS place to find books. Rate them. Review them. And vote for them in lists.
‘Ruby and I swaggered through the shadowed streets, towards the promenade and Palace Pier – her in crimson silk, me in military Great Coat – two creatures from another world and time, unnoticed by these petty First Lifers because we weren’t painted in the colours of their tribe. We twirled each other round, dancing in the carnage and the flames.’
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