June 16, 2013 by David Lee Summers

Pay it Forward Tuesday with David Lee Summers and his great book "Dragon's Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order"

Reblogged from "The Light-Bearer Series" by Emily Guido:

David Lee Summers is an AWESOME Paranormal Novelist.

I have read his novels Bondage and The Dragon's Quest and given them 5 star reviews.

Dragon's Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order is the combination of Bondage, The Dragon's Quest, The Dragon's Love, The Dragon's Mercenaries, and The Dragon's Reflection. If the rest of the books are as good as the first two, which I'm sure they are...

Interview: David Lee Summers, American Fantasy Author

This has been a busy week at my observatory day job and at my writing desk. I’m making good progress on my new steampunk novel Lightning Wolves and I’m about ready to send the second special steampunk issue of Tales of the Talisman to press. In the meantime, Australian author Stephen Ormsby conducted a fantastic interview that I post here for your enjoyment. Among other things he discusses Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order and he asks me about my thoughts on romance novels. Enjoy!

Interview: David Lee Summers, American Fantasy Author.

June 2, 2013 by David Lee Summers

Phoenix Comicon 2013

I’d like to start this week’s post with a big welcome to all the people who discovered the Scarlet Order Vampire Journal during the Hot Summer Nights Blog Hop! I will also be joining the Christmas in July Blog Hop that runs from July 19-22. I have a special giveaway package all picked out for that event, so be sure to stay tuned.

On Memorial Day Weekend, I was honored to be one of the guest authors at Arizona’s Phoenix Comicon. The event was held in the Phoenix Convention Center and I spoke on several panels about writing and science. It was also the debut event for the print editions of two of my books: Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order and A Kepler’s Dozen: Thirteen Stories About Worlds that Really Exist

Dragon’s Fall was a popular choice for people looking for a thrilling, adult vampire tale. A Kepler’s Dozen was popular with science fiction fans and people who wanted to know about planets discovered around other stars by NASA’s Kepler Space Mission.

Not only do I write about vampires, I’m a fan of vampires too. As such, I was especially pleased to meet Rebecca Hicks, the creator of the Little Vampires webcomic. The link will take you to the comic Rebecca drew from a suggestion I gave her just before the convention.

I also had the chance to meet Amanda Tapping, creator and star of the series Sanctuary, which reveals that Nikola Tesla was, in fact, a vampire!

Near the end of the convention, we received the order to evacuate the convention center. I gather smoke was seen in one of the meeting rooms and the fire alarm was pulled. I have to give a big shoutout to the convention center staff and the convention attendees for the orderly evacuation of the facility. It was handled professionally and well. Once everyone was allowed back in, we stayed open an hour and a half later to make up for the half hour we lost. It made for a long day, but I was glad to meet a few more people.

As with any big convention, I saw a lot of friends, made some new friends, but managed to miss some friends who were there. I look forward to seeing some of the last group at another event down the road.

Of course, you don’t have to wait for an event to check out my books. You can see the complete set along with places you can buy at:
http://www.davidleesummers.com/books.html

May 21, 2013 by David Lee Summers

Hot Summer Nights

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way

Welcome to this stop on the Hot Summer Nights Blog Hop! This post comes soon after the paperback release of my novel Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order. I’ll be introducing the key players and at the end of the post I’ll tell you how you can win a free print copy of the novel! Also, if you leave a comment and your email address you will be entered to win one of two prizes:

1st Grand Prize – A Kindle Fire
2nd Grand Prize – $100 Amazon Gift Card

I’m sure most people recognize the lyrics of “Hotel California” by the Eagles that I quoted at the beginning. When I think “Hot Summer Nights” this is the song that comes to mind. According to Don Henley, it was “an interpretation of the high life in California.” I grew up in Southern California and for me, the song captures the sensuousness of my youthful fantasies. I wanted to go to that hotel and be tempted by the mysterious figure who lit up the candle and showed the stranger the way. Or did I? To me, the song conjures the image of Dracula’s opening scene when the count appears at the door and meets Harker and leads him inside after a long journey. Could “she” be the vampire Alexandra in the present day? The vampire who found freedom as a thief of both gold and blood?

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

Oh, how I remember that summer when my first true love broke up with me. Such exquisite pain. I would do anything to forget and anything to remember. How much worse then would it be for the Vampire Roquelaure who lost his one true love to old age while he still appeared to be a young man? How much worse could it be when the woman was none other than King Arthur’s own Queen Guinevere? He finds comfort in the shadows and in the arms of Alexandra.

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the night man,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! ”

Desmond, Lord Draco was a knight in ancient Britain who served alongside Arthur, a man destined to be king. Like both Roquelaure and Arthur, Desmond loved Guinevere, but that love was denied when he fell in battle only to come back as a vampire. Draco sought the Holy Grail and an even more precious relic. When those treasures were denied him, he began an eternal search for truth—stuck in a life where he could check out any time he liked, but never able to leave. Like Roquelaure, he finds a companion in Alexandra. What happens when Draco and Roquelaure collide?

And she said “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device”
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

Three vampires. Three lives. What will happen when they all collide?

Have I intrigued you? If so, I hope you’ll take some time to learn more about Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order. There’s an excerpt and order information at the Dragon’s Fall page. And, of course, I’m giving away a signed, print copy of the novel. Click the Rafflecopter link to enter!

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Don’t forget to leave a comment with your email address so you can be entered to win the grand prizes!

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May 19, 2013 by David Lee Summers

Hot Summer Nights Are Coming Soon

Today my wife and I celebrate our twenty-third wedding anniversary. So, I hope you’ll understand if I keep this week’s regular post short and sweet. To make up for it, I have an extra special post coming up mid-week that includes some amazing giveaways!

Kumie and I met at a very rigorous science college called New Mexico Tech. When we first met, we were both physics majors. Kumie eventually switched to mathematics, but I stayed in physics. Most of my friends considered my writing a strange hobby that I would get over, but not Kumie. She believed in me and encouraged me when others doubted my dreams. Vampires of the Scarlet Order is dedicated to her, the enchantress of my heart, forevermore.

Now then, coming up in the middle of the week, we have the Hot Summer Nights blog hop. All the posts on the blog hop will go live on May 22 and each of us will post something on the theme of hot summer nights. I will talk about a song that evokes that idea for me.

Each of us is giving something away, so don’t just stop at one or two destinations. I’m giving away a signed print edition of Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order. What’s more, if you leave a comment at a participating blog along with your email address you will be entered to win one of two fantastic prizes. The first grand prize is a Kindle Fire. The second grand prize is a $100 Amazon Gift Card. How cool is that?

Now, it’s time for me to go spend time with my special lady. I’ll see you back here on Wednesday. Don’t be late!

May 5, 2013 by David Lee Summers

Inspiration is Painless

One piece of advice I give aspiring writers is to read frequently, but to read outside your genre of choice, because you’ll often find inspiration from unexpected sources. A gunfight in a Western might might inspire a confrontation in a science fiction story. A love scene in a romance novel might inspire more emotional depth for a similar scene in a spy thriller.

An example I can cite related to my vampire fiction is the novel MASH written by Richard Hooker. For those not familiar with MASH, it’s a wartime comedy that tells the story of army doctors doing their best to stay sane during the Korean War. It inspired a Robert Altman film starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, and Sally Kellerman, which in turn inspired a TV series starring Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, and Loretta Switt.

One of the things that stood out for me about the book and the movie is that the protagonists weren’t altogether likable characters. They got out-of-control drunk, were intolerant, and they could be cruel, self-absorbed, and mean-spirited. Despite that, Hooker made us care about the characters through the humorous situations he put them in and the realization that all of us can be like these guys at our worst. Now, I’ll note that I grew up with the TV series where the doctors were generally played as likeable, good-hearted rogues, so to see their darker counterparts in the book and the movie was interesting from that point of view as well.

In my vampire novels and stories, I faced a similar challenge. By their nature, vampires are not heroic figures. They drink the blood of mortals to survive and my vampires are mercenaries who fight wars for profit. The lesson from MASH was that if you want the reader to sympathize with less-than-likeable characters, you need to help the reader understand how the characters became who they are. In MASH, Hawkeye, Trapper and Duke were doctors just beginning their careers when they were thrust into a war zone. No wonder they went a little crazy! A dangerous vampire might have started as a likeable or even heroic human. How would you behave if you suddenly became a creature of the night?

Another element I found interesting about the novel and movie MASH were their episodic qualities. A series of almost unrelated events were dovetailed together to create a narrative arc. I think this is often how life actually feels and I like telling stories this way. What’s more, Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order was originally contracted as a series of five-stand alone novellas that came together and formed a narrative arc. By necessity, it had to be something of an episodic novel and an episodic novel like MASH helped me learn how to tell that kind of story.

Finally, just as an aside, when I found the original cover art for MASH shown above, I discovered another thing it has in common with Dragon’s Fall. Both novels were published in Canada!

I’ll wrap up today’s post with two links. First, there’s a great new review of Dragon’s Fall at
http://enchantedspark.com/wordpress1/2013/05/02/dragons-fall-rise-of-the-scarlet-order-by-david-lee-summers/
. Be sure to drop by and check out Melinda Moore’s thoughts on the novel. Also, there’s just a little more than one week left in the Goodreads giveaway for Dragon’s Fall. If you haven’t signed up for the giveaway, do so now at
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/50183-dragon-s-fall-rise-of-the-scarlet-order
.

April 28, 2013 by David Lee Summers

LepreCon 39

LepreCon 39 will be held in Mesa, Arizona at the Mariott on 200 North Centennial Way from May 9-12, 2013. The guest of honor are writer Jack McDevitt, artist Raymond Swanland, artist Jeff Perryman, and musician Nancy Freeman. There are lots of great panels and events. Be sure to check out the Leprecon website to get all the details!

I will be on several great panels:

Friday, May 10

3-4:30pm – Self-promotion & Marketing for Today’s Books – Ballroom B

6-7:30pm – Writing vs Editing in the Internet Age – Ballroom A

Saturday, May 11

10-11am – ReAnimation: Science Farce or Science Fact – Ballroom A

11a-noon – Independent Publishing Update 2013 – Ballroom A

Noon-1pm – Introduction to Poetry Slams & Short Flash Fiction – Cabana

3-4pm – Autographing Session in Dealers’ Room

10-11pm – Dressing your vampire for his first kill – Ballroom B

Sunday

11:30a-12:30p – Discovering New Worlds with David Lee Summers – Canyon Room

Don’t forget, if you’re on Goodreads, be sure to sign up for the Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order giveaway. One lucky person will get a signed copy of the novel. The giveaway is at:
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/50183-dragon-s-fall-rise-of-the-scarlet-order

If you can’t wait for the giveaway to end, you can always drop over to Amazon for the Kindle Edition or Barnes and Noble for the Nook Edition. Of course I’ll have copies with me at Leprecon!

April 21, 2013 by David Lee Summers

The Terror of Possession

One of the historical ideas of a vampire is that they’re a demon-possessed corpse. For a horror writer, this can generate some truly frightening scenarios. Imagine seeing a loved one you thought dead, back from the grave. Then imagine what happens when you realize that loved one no longer recognizes you and has even become a savage monster.

I actually took this idea and gave it a little twist for a story that was published in Hungur Magazine a few years ago called “Jiang Shi.” Instead of a demon, an alien comes to Earth, kills a woman, then uses her like a puppet to try to communicate with humans to disastrous effect.

Although this scenario is frightening for those surrounding the dead person, the one possessed is typically beyond caring. To me, what would be even more frightening is to have a being controlling you while you’re conscious of its manipulation.

Now that Dragon’s Fall is out, I’m returning to work on my Clockwork Legion steampunk series. In the first book, Owl Dance, I return to the idea of an alien coming to Earth but instead of destroying its host, it attempts to form something of a symbiotic bond. It drives the first person it encounters mad because of what’s happening.

The Scarlet Order vampires are not possessed, but rather they are humans who have been transformed somehow into a new type of creature. The horror for them comes from the fact that they can’t always control their impulses to hunt or even kill.

So, how do you like your vampires? Are they best as demon-possessed fiends? Tragic figures who can’t prevent their own actions? Or simply possessed of their own appetites?

Before I wrap up this week’s post, if you’re on Goodreads, be sure to sign up for the Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order giveaway. One lucky person will get a signed copy of the novel. The giveaway is at:
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/50183-dragon-s-fall-rise-of-the-scarlet-order

If you can’t wait for the giveaway to end, you can always drop over to Amazon for the Kindle Edition or Barnes and Noble for the Nook Edition.

April 14, 2013 by David Lee Summers

Freedom and Loneliness

This past week I had the opportunity to watch one of my favorite musicals: Paint Your Wagon starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg. It may strike you as unusual to discuss a musical set during the California Gold Rush of the 1840s in a web journal devoted to vampires, but I noted some interesting parallels between the movie and my paranormal fiction.

As it turns out, I’m something of a loner. I get distinctly uncomfortable in crowded places. I prefer small towns or even the country to big cities. I enjoy getting on the road and driving for hours by myself with nothing more than the company of my own thoughts. This is actually how I compose a lot of my fiction. Because of this desire for solitude, I very much relate to Lee Marvin’s character Ben Rumson from the movie—a prospector born under a wandering star. In fact, my dad saw these traits in me when I was quite young and painted this picture for me that captured his impression of my personality. It’s a lone prospector in search of new frontiers.

Although I am something of a loner, I find I do need the company of people to stay mentally well. We humans are social creatures, after all. What’s more, I’ve been married for over 20 years. I like my freedom and I like time alone, but if I’m alone too long, I get melancholy, as Ben Rumson phrased it in Paint Your Wagon.

Balancing the need for freedom with the desire for companionship to stave off loneliness is one of the central themes of Paint Your Wagon. It’s also one of the central themes of my novel Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order. What was also interesting was that both stories explore the question of what happens when a woman loves two men for different reasons. In Paint Your Wagon, the woman’s solution was simply to marry both of the men. In Dragon’s Fall, the solution isn’t quite so simple, but they were similar enough that I found it interesting to compare them. Draco is the experienced warrior, similar to Lee Marvin’s experienced prospector. Roquelaure is the handsome assassin, not unlike Clint Eastwood’s tough but handsome farmer. Alexandra is the woman looking for her freedom, much like Jean Seberg was looking to settle down in the life she wanted.

Finally, one last thing I found interesting was that the DVD of Paint Your Wagon listed it as having a PG-13 rating—a rating that didn’t actually exist when the movie was made. Indeed, I was probably nine or ten years old when I first saw the movie and my parents thought nothing of it. There is minimal violence and no overt sexuality. Prostitution and a polyandrous relationship are discussed, but not shown in any graphic fashion at all. As someone who is all about freedom of thought, I have to admit, it prickles a bit to be told that the mere discussion of “mature” topics might make a movie inappropriate for my kids. On reflection, I guess I’m okay with it as long as a caution doesn’t actually move into censorship.

Of course, that raises an important difference between Paint Your Wagon and Dragon’s Fall. The latter story is very much intended for adult audiences. If you’re an adult, interested in exploring complex relationships among creatures of the night, I hope you’ll give my most recent novel a try. The link below will take you to the book’s page at Amazon. It’s available in both print and electronic formats.

April 7, 2013 by David Lee Summers

Holding a New Book

My first copy of Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order arrived this week. This is my seventh novel published in paperback and it’s always a great feeling to actually hold a finished copy for the first time.

Sure, I’ve seen galley proofs, but this is the first time I’ve actually held one of the final, finished copies. It’s a quiet thrill, neither as intense as the first time you’re intimate with a loved one or the first time you hold your child. Still, like those experiences, you don’t quite want to turn your eyes away. It’s almost like after a long wait, it’ll vanish if you stop looking at it.

My breath caught the first time I opened the book. A nicer font was used in the opening pages than I’d seen in the galley proofs. The rest of the book was about as expected, a nice, clean readable font and the words I wrote. The book was a little thicker than my other novels, but that shouldn’t have surprised me. Dragon’s Fall is the longest novel I’ve written.

Now comes the special part. You can get a copy of the book for yourself and make the experiences, adventures, and romances of the Scarlet Order vampires your own.

I’ll be giving away a signed print copy at the end of the Hot Summer Nights Blog Hop running from May 22-May 29. So be sure to drop in here to find out how to enter to win. Also, I’ll be giving away a copy on Goodreads. I’ll post details as soon as they’re available.

I’ll also have copies available to buy at upcoming convention appearances such as Phoenix Comicon and WorldCon in San Antonio. If you can’t make those, you can always pick up a copy of the book at Amazon.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me here at the Scarlet Order Vampires Blog. The book is here. The fun and adventure are just beginning!

The Scarlet Order Vampires

A Web Journal by David Lee Summers

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