After writing a short piece for KWL blog and joining a conversation about vampire romance on Facebook, I was pointed to an article that says
Why is the world in love with the vampire romance? Because, in an age with such rapid technological advances, it’s only through our dreams and nightmares that we can experience the thrill of fear and awe again. And because vampires have everything we want. They’re good-looking, powerful, dangerous, immortal, eternally youthful, and not bound by any laws or morality except their conscience, if they have one. In a culture that’s youth and sex obsessed, what could be better than to be young and beautiful and able to indulge one’s dark desires and sexual urges without penalty… forever?
I don’t really agree with the above. In fact, I’ve been thinking how life in the 21st century has become what it must be like for vampires. They live forever (unless killed) and they watch centuries go by at what might look to them like the speed we’re experiencing in the current century.
You might be aware that my series Vampires Through the Centuries is more about surviving in a changing world than romancing mortals. It’s historical fantasy, not paranormal romance. There are no werewolves or other creatures although a “witch” appears in the first novel.
Samantha is a form of Deus ex machina for Rajveer, but later he does confront his nemesis, something Samantha had spared him. There’s the hilarious alternative ending in comic book format available (at the bottom of the series page), but none of the beta readers liked it, so you now have this character-driven series starting with the first novel I wrote back in 2015, Rajveer the Vampire.
Even though I hadn’t gone to India yet, I enjoyed writing this unconventional vampire. And when I finally made it to the fortress of Chittorgarh, destroyed a couple of centuries later by Akbar, my nice Indian guide even made a detour to show me the Kirti Stambh, the more ancient Jain tower that features at the beginning of this novel and again in the Battle of Chittor in the fourth novel, Kristine the Youngest.
The place probably came more alive with the last novel, since when I made it to Rajasthan, Kaylyn the Sister-in-Darkness was already written and ready to be published and Shashank the Fledgling doesn’t get to spend much time in his maker’s hometown, although he does visit it after Akbar’s siege.
What I like about this series is the research through world history. And many of these characters will live through the apocalypse and pop up in Future Earth Chronicles, since what else can survive the apocalypse of western civilization if not vampires?
So if you want to try an unconventional vampire tale, character-oriented, history-based, with very little romance (although there are vampire couples bound by eternal love – maybe) and not particularly gory, check Rajveer the Vampire. And it’s only 99c as first in the series! I know, the books aren’t numbered, because the stories are intertwined.
What I can say is that Rajveer’s story continues in Kaylyn’s story, then in Shashank’s story, then in Kristine’s story, to which I added the conclusion also from his point of view. I’m currently writing about his lookalike, Helios of Sparta, Bran the Raven’s first fledgling, but I don’t know when his story will come out. Possibly some time next year.
Meanwhile check out the Vampires Through the Centuries. The story of the one vampiress who stalks a mortal through the centuries, never turning him and waiting for him to reincarnate, hasn’t been written yet, but Solveig already shows up in many of the books! 🙂