Hi! Thank you Wenona for having me
on your blog.
Rebel Vampires Volume 1: Blood Dragons is released today! In e-book and
paperback. It’s urban fantasy/paranormal romance. The first book in a new
fantasy series.
I’m a traditionally published short
story writer and a playwright. But this is my debut novel. As a fantasy
fanatic, I write what I love to read.
Blood Dragons explores a
hidden paranormal world in London, where vampires are both predator and prey.
It’s a story of redemption and love in a divided world beneath our own. Blood
Lifers are a camouflaged species, who use venom to paralyse and mimic heart
attacks in First Lifers (humans). Yet they fear the First Lifers they prey on.
Until one Blood Lifer rebels – against his family, species and century old love
- to save both their species.
I
loved the idea of a novel, which was written from the vampire’s perspective.
Dark, intelligent and subversive. But also had a British vampire front and
centre. The ultimate anti-hero. A vampire book truly for adults.
There are three people in this affair –
and two of them aren’t human…
1960s London. Light is a Rocker Blood Lifer with a
photographic memory. Since Victorian times he’s hidden in the shadows. Both
predator and prey. His venom is deadly. But when he discovers his ruthless
family’s secret experiments he questions whether he should be slaying or saving
the humans he’s always feared.
Ruby is a seductive and savage Elizabethan Blood
Lifer. She burns with love for Light. But he’s keeping something from her.
Something that breaks every rule in Blood Life.
Kathy is a singer. But she’s also human. When the two
worlds collide, it could mean the end. For both species. Unless Light plays the
part of hero, he risks losing everything. Including the two women he loves.
A rebel, a red-haired devil and a Moon Girl battle to save the world –
or tear it apart.
The paperback is £8.99 ($12.99). It’s
gorgeous and unique; the whole series fits together beautifully. They’re by JD
Smith the award winning designer. I was lucky to get to work with her; she’s
worked on many bestsellers.
The e-book is just £2.49 ($3.49).
There’s a special launch limited-time offer price of
£0.99 ($0.99) for the e-book. For five days only from the 14th to the 18th
August.
Click here: http://getbook.at/BloodDragonsKindle
‘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.’ (Rebel Vampires Volume 1: Blood Dragons)
If you are a parent do you find it hard to juggle
writing and parenting? Any tips for time management or sneaking in writing
time?
I have a son. The paperback has a dedication to him.
Along with a quote from the book: ‘There’s nothing but snowflake patterns.’
Everything I do is arranged around my son’s needs.
My son is autistic. There’s been a gap in my
publishing (but not writing!) because of his needs. I have to be flexible and
plan. But at the same time be able to change what I’m doing minute to minute.
It’s something I’ve learnt. Everyone is capable of adapting. In fact that’s a
central theme of my novel: adapting to survive.
My son inspires me to work harder every day because
I see what he achieves despite his challenges.
If you’ve lived with disability, then you know how
incredible these children and adults are. When they get up and face the world
each day, there’s really no excuse for you not to do the same! It puts life
into perspective.
My son inspired my novel in many ways. He has a
photographic memory. It made me think about what it would be like to live over
the centuries – experiencing wonders and horrors – and to remember every moment
with the clarity of a photograph. Would it be a blessing or a curse?
One of the
Blood Lifers – Alessandro – is also autistic, elected in the 1930s before that
diagnostic label. He’s a chess genius and Light’s best friend. I wanted to
write a character within a mainstream novel, who simply happened to be autistic.
Rather than it defining them. Just one individual, amongst a gang of
individuals.
Time management wise I have to be highly organized.
And write everything down.
People also have periods of natural creativity. And
lulls in creativity. Trying to write in a lull is a waste of time. But you can
achieve other jobs – e-mails, editing and marketing. Or do things with your
child then.
I also write early in the morning and late at night
once my son is in bed.
Have you ever based your book or characters on
actual events or people from your own life?
Beyond their talents being an inspiration (as with
my son), I never directly write people or events into my work. My imagination
is over peopled as it is, without real life muscling in as well!
I do use my life experience, however, especially
when it comes to emotions. I always say that pain makes a better artist. The
same is true of writers.
Sometimes I set what I write during real events (for
example, in Blood Dragons I use the
battling Mods and Rockers in Brighton 1964 and the First World War), but then
my fictional characters diverge from it.
I studied history BA and Mst at Oxford University. I
love researching my novels; I’m always trying to work out ways to fit in a time
period or exciting event.
Rebel
Vampires is perfect because Light is elected into Blood Life
as a Victorian – so I have 150 years to enjoy.
The Blood Lifers, however, were also all elected in
different eras – so I have those to play with as well. Ruby, for example, is an
Elizabethan. I specialized in her time period, so I love writing her. She’s
also fun because her love for Light (and Light’s love for Ruby) is so intense.
Powerful and destructive. A truly adult, complicated love.
‘It made me feel like loving Ruby would be the death of
me, even as I lived for being close to her. We relished breathing the same air.
Draining the same First Lifers. Shagging and hurting, until we knew each other’s bodies
the same as our own. All was nothing outside our love. It smashed on us. Broke
on us. We savaged it. Together we screamed at the world and when we had the
world by the throat, the world screamed back.’ (Rebel Vampires Volume 1: Blood Dragons)
Is there a theme or message in your work that you
would like readers to connect to?
The imprint is called ‘Fantasy Rebel’ because it’s
fantasy for rebels – I like to write books, which are fundamentally for
individuals, rather than conformers.
We all conform to a degree because in society you
have to. But that doesn’t mean you should stop questioning. And that’s what
fantasy and science fiction does best. It questions. I call it the ‘Rebel Age’.
I like to write about ‘rebels’ – the complex
anti-hero. I’m drawn to the anti-hero, who battles to redeem himself in an
unjust world.
‘That’s when I finally understood that
love wasn’t owning or possessing; you’d been right. It was freedom. I couldn’t
hold onto you forever. I had to free you from this desperate, brutal world, in
which I’d found myself. Even if I couldn’t free myself.
Yet to do that I had to break your
bleeding heart. And with it, my own.’
(Rebel Vampires Volume 1: Blood Dragons)
I’m a subversive artist. It comes from my
theatre background. That means what I write questions and challenges. It can
simply be a thrilling and romantic read. And nothing more. Or you can think
about the larger themes. Because they’re there too.
I write free Reading Group Notes for book
clubs (and anyone else who wants them). I love book clubs – both virtual and
physical.
The Notes are here: https://rosemaryajohns.com/questions-for-book-clubs
Explore and
you’ll discover the type of things thrown up by Blood Dragons.
I don’t like to
tell people what to think though. A reader needs to have their own experience
and come to their own conclusions. They’ll probably be different to mine – and
that’s OK!
That’s why I
love to hear from readers. In the theatre you get an immediate reaction. I
cherish hearing from my readers: on twitter, Facebook, with comments on my blog
or by email. My email is on website: https://rosemaryajohns.com/contact
Feel free to
drop me a line!
I love to hear
your responses via reviews as well. It’s an amazing moment for an author when
they hear their book has touched a reader or made a difference to them. Or even
made them laugh, fall in love or cry. It makes everything worthwhile. Never
underestimate how much reviews mean to an author – or certainly to me!
What would your readers be surprised to learn about
you?
I grew up in an all-boys boarding school…
Radley College is an old-fashioned Public School –
which for those, who aren’t British, means very posh and private. It’s one of
the best in the country. My dad was a teacher there for about 30 years. But
teachers have to live on the grounds, so they can be contacted 24/7. Or at
least they did when I was growing up.
The school is modelled on Oxford University, so the
boys wear gowns (like I did when I went up to Uni). I ate in a dining hall at
Radley, which was modelled on the one at Oxford, which I ended up eating in as
a student. Oxford wasn’t much of a culture shock for me. It felt like being at
home.
For most girls being surrounded by hundreds of boys
aged 13-18 would be beyond strange. As I grew older I became self-conscious but
I credit it with why I can write male characters – dialogue, point of view and
voice – so authentically.
I never felt like there was a division between boys
and girls. I never really ‘got’ the gender divide. And it’s a real bonus with
my writing.
Not many people know this fact about me…I guess now
they do!
When you’re not writing what do you do? Do you have
any hobbies or guilty pleasures?
I’m reading. When I’m not reading, I’m daydreaming.
I’ve always been like that.
A guilty pleasure is definitely boxsets though…my
husband and I get hooked on something like Game
of Thrones or True Blood and
that’s my evening gone…
Another guilty pleasure is chocolate – my staple
diet. I would probably die if it was suddenly withdrawn as a food.
I always ask readers to feed me reviews because
they’re better than chocolate – now you understand just how much reviews mean
to me!
Which romance book or series (or other genre, if you
don’t write romance) do you wish you had written?
Anything by Jim Butcher! He’s so original. Fantastic
urban fantasy writer. Genius.
Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that
you haven’t tackled yet?
My plays were psychological thrillers. I’m
fascinated by psychology. How our minds work. Why we behave the way we do.
Power dynamics between people. Those little exchanges, stretches of tension and
silence are much more powerful than a long speech or fight.
Emotion is at the heart of everything I write.
Motivations. Passion or hate.
I want to take the reader right inside a character’s
head. Unsettle, scare or thrill. But there should be an impact. And you as the
writer should be in control of that.
Darker Rebel is the imprint for psychological
thrillers. Next year my first psychological thriller will be released. I’m
excited about that.
If this book is part of a series…what is the next book?
Any details you can share?
Rebel
Vampires Volume 1: Blood Dragons is the first book in
the Rebel Vampires series. It’s
released today.
Buy it now: http://getbook.at/BloodDragons
Rebel
Vampires Volume 2: Blood Shackles is the second book.
Click here to pre-order: http://getbook.at/BloodShackles
Blood
Shackles is released in November.
Welcome
to the Blood Club – where the predators become the prey…
What happens when SPARTACUS
meets VAMPIRES?
Light is a rebel
Rocker Blood Lifer with a talent for remembering things. And a Triton
motorbike. He’s meant to be the predator. His venom is deadly. It’s been that
way since Victorian times. But not now. Not since someone hunted him. Enslaved
him. Ripped out his fangs. Who are these ruthless humans? Who’s their brutal
leader? And who betrayed the secret of the Blood Lifer world?
London, Primrose
Hill. Grayse is the commanding but sexy slaver’s daughter. The enemy. She buys
Light, like he’s a pair of designer shoes. So why does Light feel so drawn to
her? Ashamed, he battles with his desire, even as he burns for her. Can a slave
truly love his Mistress? Especially when his family is still in chains. Will he
risk everything – even his new love – to save them?
Does a chilling
conspiracy lie behind it all? A stunning revelation leads Light to an
inconceivable truth. To the dark heart of the Blood Club. If he can face his
worst terrors, he can save his family and his whole species from slavery.
Maybe he can even save himself.
‘Your cool gaze
seemed to be sussing me out. ‘You don’t look Victorian.’
‘Didn’t exactly stay dead.’ I pushed away from the fireplace, jumping up
to sit on the arm of the leather sofa. I scrutinized your serious features and
those intent grey peepers. ‘You really don’t know anything about us Blood
Lifers, do you? How we evolved or--’
‘I know enough.’
Surprised, I drew back. ‘As in, only good Blood Lifer’s a dead Blood
Lifer?’
You shot me a sharp look. ‘You wouldn’t be here, if that’s what I
thought.’
‘Alright then, as in, only good Blood Lifer’s one in shackles?’
Your mouth tightened into a thin line. ‘And what about humans? Do we
come in small, medium or large?’
‘In America you can supersize.’ I grinned, but you didn’t return it:
some birds have no sense of humour. Of course, Ruby would’ve clocked me for
that comment. And so would… Christ in heaven that reminded me of what I’d been
desperate since I’d woken this morning, fretting about yesterday’s entry, to
tell you. It’s not as if you’d even believe me. Why would you after what I’d
written? After the porkies your family have spun to justify our enslavement?
‘Look, that’s not who I am now. I’ve been on blood abstention for fifty years.’
Your voice was so cold it could’ve given frost bite. ‘Good for you.’
‘Not asking for a medal, sweetheart. I just wanted you to know I don’t…
Not First Lifers. Not for a long time.’
‘Makes no difference to me.’
‘It does to me. You’ve no idea how much.’
‘OK.’ You turned back to your laptop, opening it with an air of
indifference. Then there was that blasted clack
clacking.
I listened for a moment in silence. Then I couldn’t hack it any longer.
‘What does?’
‘What?’ You didn’t stop typing or look away from the screen.
‘Make a difference to you?’
You didn’t even pause. ‘The profit margin.’’
(Rebel Vampires Volume 2: Blood Shackles)
What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled
upcoming releases or works in progress?
The next release is Rebel Vampires Volume 2: Blood Shackles in November. But it can be
pre-ordered now. Click here: http://getbook.at/BloodShackles
Currently I’m worked on the third book in the
series: Rebel Vampires Volume 3: Blood Renegades, which is out spring
2017.
Light has only
two weeks to give his witness, on trial for his life, before he’s burnt at the
stake – because who wants to hear the truth?
Here’s an exclusive excerpt:
‘Betrayal. Death.
Hope.
Isn’t that how all truly
great stories start?
I don’t know if anyone will hear it. Governments silence their critics.
Censor. Detain. Execute.
Bollocks to them.
The Blood Life Council’s atrocities and war crimes--
Mr Blickle, please note: we are not at war.
Yet. We’re not at war – yet. And my name is Light.
Very well. Light. But we’re not holding this inquiry
to debate the nature of the Council’s actions. Rather those of your terrorist
group.
We prefer ‘freedom fighters’, sweetheart.
Really? Well, I prefer to be called Liberty.
Having a laugh, aren’t you?
You don’t think ‘Light’ has a shade of irony to it?
All right, Liberty, but I delivered my band of merry misfits out of
slavery – one you wankers sold us
into. So labels? They don’t figure. They never do.
But you do have a name? Your band of misfits?
Yeah – it’s called a family.
Captain told me you were cute. Renegades. That’s what
you call yourselves.
Look, you want me to bear witness, I’ll bloody bear witness. I’m your
prisoner here anyway with a stake pointy-like at my heart. And I’m all about
survival. But just don’t figure on liking what you hear. No one does when it’s
the flayed truth.
You want to be ready don’t you? You know what’s
coming? In less than two weeks now. 13 days. Your trial.
Kangaroo court more like.
Closed court. But nothing’s decided. Yet. It rests on
your testimony.
Then where’s my solicitor?
You’re a terrorist. You’ve forsaken your rights. Like
you have your own species.
And the jury?
The material’s too sensitive--
Embarrassing. The word you’re grasping for, sweetheart, is embarrassing.
For you and the rest of the Blood Life Council. So here’s a question--
I ask the questions, Mr Blickle.
Bit of respect here. Dead man talking. And who’s the judge again?
It won’t help you to know--
It’s Captain, right?
I’ll take your silence as a yes.
Bugger.
So, let’s say Captain doesn’t like what I have to say – and he won’t –
what then? What happens in two weeks? Slap on the wrist? Trip to the naughty
step? Bare bottom spanking across his lap until I bawl? Or..?
Execution. By fire. Most likely.
Figured. So that’s 13 more days until I go up Mr Bonfire for you nice
people, yeah?
You don’t know…
Don’t play games. Not about this.
That’s outside my remit. I’m just here to take your
statement.
It must be nice to be able to compartmentalize. Everything into nice,
neat little boxes. Then you can go home happy each night with no dirt on your
hands because all you’ve touched is paperwork.
Hitler’s lawyers were good at that too.
All right then, if I’m going out
in flames – high in their glory – then Christ in heaven will you get my
witness.
One you’ll never forget.
And even though I may only have two weeks to live, it’s a truth I’ll
remember until my second death.
Sod it. Bring on the fire and ashes.’
(Rebel Vampires Volume 3: Blood
Renegades)
Thanks Wenona for having me on your blog – I’ve had
a fantastic time - I hope everyone has a great week!
Blood Dragons
Rebel Vampires
Volume 1
Rosemary A Johns
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Fantasy Rebel Limited
Date of Publication: 14th August 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1533679819
ISBN-10: 1533679819
Large Print Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-1533681362
ISBN-10: 1533681368
Number of pages: 294
Word Count: 80,000
Cover Artist: JD Smith
Book Description:
There are three people in this affair – and two of them aren’t human…
A hidden paranormal London lies beneath our own. Escape into the supernatural world of the Blood Lifers – where vampires are both predator and prey.
1960s London. Light is a rebel Rocker Blood Lifer with a photographic memory. And a Triton motorbike. Since Victorian times he’s hidden in the shadows. Both predator and prey. His venom is deadly. He feeds on blood. Human, of course. But when he discovers his ruthless family’s horrifying secret experiments, he questions whether he should be slaying or saving the humans he’s always feared.
Ruby is a sexy but savage Elizabethan Blood Lifer. She burns with a destructive love for Light. But he’s keeping something from her. Something that breaks every rule in Blood Life. When she discovers the truth, things take a terrifying turn.
Kathy is a seductive singer. But she’s also human. Light knows his passionate love for her is reckless but he’s enchanted. Yet such a romance is forbidden. When the two worlds collide, it could mean the end. For both species.
What dark revelations will Light reveal at the heart of the experiments? Will he be able to stop them in time? The consequences of failure are unimaginable. Unless Light plays the part of hero, he risks losing everything. Including the two women he loves.
A rebel, a red-haired devil and a Moon Girl battle to save the world – or tear it apart.
EXCERPT
1
JULY
1866 FLORENCE, ITALY
One night we slipped into La
Specola, a museum next to the Pitti Palace, which stank of something sweet but
rotten. When Ruby gripped my hand tight, I realised I’d never felt this radiating from her before: it was something
alike to fear but not. It was revulsion.
‘The
First Lifers are proud of this…museum of death,’ Ruby breathed. ‘They call it
science.’
‘We can
go. Let’s find some piazza with music, drinking and dancing. The land of the
living for once? Then we can…’
Ruby held her finger to my lips. ‘You need to see.’
Ruby’s hand curled tighter around mine. I glanced up. The walls of the
museum were pinned with dead butterflies: every type, colour and size. They
were neatly ordered, categorized and labelled. As my pulse quickened, Ruby
caught my eye. She nodded.
Room after room was the same: display cases
lining the walls, standing from floor to ceiling, or lying open, like glass
coffins. Snow White in some twisted rendition of the tale. Rooms of stuffed
birds, stilled forever on their perches, with predator next to natural prey:
herbivores, carnivores, a huge hippo and a gallery of primates staring back
blankly from their boxes.
We paced in silence, until we reached the
primates. Then I rested my forehead on the glass, holding my palm up to touch
the grasp of the chimpanzee on the other side.
Poor
bugger.
Death was so close it throttled me. I’d lived close with it, intimate-like, as a
Blood Lifer.
But this?
I’d known
science in my First Life or reckoned I had. Yet somehow I’d failed to see the
darkness underneath.
‘All
that’s missing is one of us,’ Ruby’s fingers were stroking the back of my nut.
‘Then they’d have the full collection. We’re the Lost species. Why do you think
we hide?’ I twisted to Ruby, shocked. She raised her eyebrow. ‘Are we not
superior? Evolution’s advancement? Yet we’re adapted for masking our true face,
whilst relying on humans for sustenance. Just as we do the night for protection
from the sun. Prithee tell me how beggarly is a divided world, in which half
does not fathom the truth? And for it to be danger akin to heresy to reveal it?
Consider what these First Lifers pay to see.’
With disgust Ruby led me around the exhibits.
For a moment, I thought there were mutilated cadavers laid out in the glass
cases (which gave me the willies I can tell you), but then I saw they were
anatomical wax models, copied from real corpses.
All right then, so that wasn’t much better because on every side were these
torture victims, with their guts out, their chests ripped back and lungs
offered up, as if we were about to dig in, whilst twins curled around each
other bonded in uterus. The skinned man was laid on his side, arching in agony.
When I paused at a man reduced to one large
circulatory system, I felt Ruby’s arms
snake around my waist. She rested her chin on my shoulder. Blue and red coils
circled the corpse: First Lifer reduced to food and all it’d needed was a
little flaying.
Here, laid bare, was the proof that man was
created for our needs.
‘They
want to be feasted upon, even if they do not know it. A First Lifer is our
prey. We grant the death he seeks, so he no longer needs to fear it.’
About the Author:
ROSEMARY A JOHNS is a traditionally published author of short stories under the name R. A. Johns. Blood Dragons is Rosemary A Johns’ debut novel.
Rosemary A Johns wrote her first fantasy novel at the age of ten, when she discovered the weird worlds inside her head were more exciting than double swimming. Since then she’s studied history at Oxford University, run a theatre company (her critically acclaimed plays have been described as "uncomfortable, unsettling and uneasily true to life"), and worked with disability charities. When Rosemary’s not falling in love with the rebels fighting their way onto the page, she heads the Oxford writing group Dreaming Spires
@RosemaryAJohns
1 comment:
Thanks Wenona! It's exciting to see the release of my new fantasy series today and to meet my readers in the launch events. Hope everyone has a great day!
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