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WHY DO WE LOVE VAMPIRES..? I Love Vampire Competition Winner Announced!

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Photo by Flikr User Wonderferret: vampire

At last…it’s time for the glory, the tears and the…I Love Vampires Competition Winner to be announced!

Why do I love vampires? What? You didn’t ask? Writer rules, so here’s why: they’re deep in our culture. Our heritage. Our psyches. They transform and become what we need. What we love, hate and fear. Zombies and werewolves? They do the same.

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Photo by Flickr User Phil Wolff: Vampire Smiley

But vampires do it with style.

Rebel here…so no straightjacketing questions. Just ‘I love vampires…’ and if that was true? You could finish it any way you wanted.

And boy did you.

Honorary Mentions go to…

Leah Hess: ‘I love vampires because they’re beautiful and dark. They’re stronger, faster, wise. I have always loved them. When I was little and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d reply a vampire!’

Genius…

Amanda Johnson-Lyndsey: ‘Sexy, fangs, dark, blood, sex, lust, desire, ummm, everything!’

About sums it up…

Terri Hebert: ‘They are sexy, dark, exciting and very passionate. They excel in seduction and are loyal to their mate!!’

Light may be rusty with the seduction but he’s all for loyalty. And passion.

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Photo by RosalieKay: Vampire Heart XD

Tashia Jennings: ‘Vampires are seductive, mysterious and can live forever.’

Isn’t the attraction to vampires the sense they’ve conquered death – and the fear of our own?

Patti Griner: ‘What’s not to like about seductive, hot men who are great in bed?’

Enough said.

Sotia Lazu: ‘I adore vampires. Don’t care that some publishers consider them a fad. They’re my favourite supernatural!’

Just give us the names and we’ll set the Blood Lifers on them…

MCD Baxter: ‘I love vampires, always did, always will. So much so, that as they were portrayed as monsters and hating themselves, I began writing (back in 95) a story where the violence would be to a minimum — it would not have the same Human-Vampire interactions — they would love themselves for what they are; Romance figures prominently.’

I always like vampires with a twist…

Amy Bernal: ‘I have loved vampires since I was 7 years old. I always thought they were real and wanted to join them. Growing up they fascinated me. The darkness, the mystery and of course the immortality. I am partially disabled and still deep within me, if they were real I would totally ask or beg to be one.’

Would you become a vampire – if it was offered to you?

Now to the winner

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Photo by InverseHypercube: Celebration of Light Brazil 2012

Why were they chosen?

Three reasons: knowledge of the genre, humour and a genuine love, which shines through every word. See for yourself below. And the name of the vampire loving Queen?

Cherri-Anne Boitson

CONGRATULATIONS!

LOVE Bracelet 1To you the glory – and the handcrafted LOVE bracelet: this will be winging bat-like to you with a note from me soon.

And here’s Cherri-Anne’s glorious entry:

‘I love vampires because they are VAMPIRETACULAR!! VAMPIRELICIOUS!! And they are ABSO-BLOODY-LUTELY the most magical, the most intriguing, the most drool-worthy paranormal out there!

They get my blood pumping every time! It doesn’t matter if they are good, bad, everything in between or the perfect mix of both!

I have loved Vampires since before they sparkled, wrote in their diary, and were even popular! In fact, when I first discovered Vampires, I was barely into double digits and they definitely were not a romance subject! There wasn’t even a “paranormal genre” per se at that time! (And no, my books were paper, not stone. I am not THAT old! LOL wink)

In fact, my Vampire Mate is THE KING and I, his Queen, of ALL Immortals! (Wink but sssshhh! I am not supposed to brag about it. Something about bragging being not very “Royal”, whatever that means! *eye roll*)

Congratulations to the winner, honorary mentions and everyone who took part. I love vampires – and I love my readers. So my contests are a perfect mix.

And if Cherri-Anne is a real Vampire Queen and her mate the King… always best to keep on her good side…

Paperback Blood Dragons
Buy Here

If you love vampires watch out for Blood Dragons: click here

The second book in the Rebel Vampire seriesBlood Shackles is available to to pre-order here.

blood-shackles-spines
Pre-order Here

For all the vampire lovers, Blood Shackles launches on 1st November.

20 BLINDING ENGLISH SLANG WORDS AND PHRASES YOU NEED TO KNOW

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Photo by Flickr User Anna & Michal: London

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.’

Paperback Blood Dragons
Buy Here

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

big-ben
Photo by Flickr User OliBac: London

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

Blood Shackles Cover MEDIUM WEB
Pre-order Here

10 OF THE BEST VAMPIRE BOOKS – Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror

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Photo by Flickr User Ivan: Vampfinger

I’ve always loved vampire books. The best ones twist the concept of ‘vampire’. They unsettle and disturb, reflecting back something about society. Of course they must still be thrilling.

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Cave in Gibraltar

I haven’t chosen the most obvious novels – for example, BRAM STOKER’S Dracula (1897) . Or LAURELL K HAMILTON’S Guilty Pleasures (1993).

If you love vampire fiction (and what’s not to love?) it’s hard to narrow down BUT here are ten of the best:

 

 

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Photo by Flickr User Sebastien Lebrigand: boeing 777 sun

10. THE STRAIN by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hugo (2009). Its most interesting aspect is its biological emphasis. The book’s centred on a vampiric virus and what happens when infected passengers from a Boeing 777 infect New York.

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New York

9. THE FLEDGLING by Octavia E. Butler (2005)

Brilliantly written. It has a decidedly sci-fi flavour and yet another twist on the meaning of ‘vampire’. It’s a great example of how horror and science fiction can be used to hold up a looking glass to society: racism, sexism and poverty.

8. LOST SOULS by Poppy Z Brite (1992)
A horror novel. Unique, graphic and evocative. The vampires are the anti-heroes. They can even feed on beauty and love, as well as blood.

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Photo by Flickr User Jeff Turner: Walking the Dog – New Orleans – Panorama

7. FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES by Andrew Fox (2003)
Who said vampire novels had to be serious? Darkly comic writing at its best. The fat, white vampire in question is Jules, a New Orleans vampire. He’s simply struggling to get by. Unexpected and original.

6. I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson (1954)
Haunting and disturbing. A study in loneliness. Robert is left as the sole survivor of a pandemic of a virus, which looks like vampirism.

5. LIVE GIRLS by Ray Garton (1987)
A cult classic. Followed by a sequel in 2005 Night Life. When Davey loses his job, girlfriend and self-esteem, he makes the mistake of visiting a seedy peepshow ‘Live Girls’…The novel is gritty and dark. Blood and sex are linked explicitly.

4. CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT by Dan Simmons (1992)
Vampirism is given a clear, scientific explanation. With a sci-fi feel, the novel is both realistic and disturbing.

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My Vampire Books

3. THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)
Kostova blends history and folklore of Vlad Tepes and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula. This is the read for anyone who claims they’ll never read a vampire novel.

2. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN by John Ajvide Lindqviste (2004)
Freaky, in just the right way…About the relationship between Oskar, a twelve year-old boy and a centuries-old vampire child, Eli. It explores the darker side of humanity: alcoholism, bullying, anxiety, fatherlessness and murder. Yet it’s beautiful, poignant and haunting.

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Photo by Flickr User Thierry Ehrmann: Anne Rice, Painted Portrait

1. INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE by Anne Rice (1976)

All right, so this is well known…but Anne Rice is one of my favourite writers. A revisionist novel, which turned vampire fiction on its head. It contains a family unit of vampires. It also shows how a society of vampires would function.

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Fantasy Book: Blood Dragons

My new vampire book – Blood Dragons – also twists the genre.

Blood Lifers are ‘the Lost’ species: a camouflaged predator. They’ve evolved alongside humans (First Lifers) but are hidden – both predator and prey.

Rebel Vampires Volume 1: Blood Dragons is released in paperback and e-book in August.

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