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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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.

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.

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.

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!

Ten Years in the Making

The big news this week is that my novel Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order has just been released as a trade paperback. In fact, the news is so new, that I haven’t actually seen the book yet, but copies are on their way to me. This is especially exciting to me because, as the title of this post indicates, I realized this week that the book has been a full decade in the making.

My first vampire novel, Vampires of the Scarlet Order was written between 2001 and 2003. As people who regularly follow this journal no doubt realize, it started off as a handful of short stories that were published in such small press venues as The Vampire’s Crypt, Night to Dawn, and Parchment Symbols. As I wrote these stories, I realized I was telling parts of a longer story and I folded them into a continuous novel. Soon after I completed a version of the novel I was happy with, I began to consider whether this could work as a series and I sat down to write four synopses for more novels.

The four synopses were called Dragon’s Fall, The New World, Revolution, and Nosferatu. Dragons’ Fall would tell the story of the Scarlet Order’s origin. The New World would tell about the vampire Rudolfo traveling to America and his adventures with Mercedes Rodriguez during the Pueblo Revolt. Revolution would tell about the Scarlet Order’s involvement in the French Revolution and Nosferatu would continue the story of Vampires of the Scarlet Order into the future.

If I had planned this chronologically from the start, Dragon’s Fall would likely have been the first novel and Vampires of the Scarlet Order would be more like number five. What’s more, I felt some more ground work needed to be laid with these characters before I wrote a sequel, so I decided to go back to the beginning of the story and write Dragon’s Fall. I wrote a prologue and a couple of chapters before Vampires of the Scarlet Order was released.

Vampires of the Scarlet Order went on to a lot of success upon release. It was picked up by Barnes and Noble and distributed to a number of their stores. I received letters from people excited about the possibility of more books in the series. The only issue is that I still needed to wrap up my Old Star/New Earth space opera series. So, I put Dragon’s Fall on the back burner while I finished the novel Heirs of the New Earth. Soon after finishing that, my publisher challenged me to write a novel for the National Novel Writing Month of 2004. During my first attempt, I wrote The Solar Sea, a prequel to the Old Star/New Earth books.

I had only made modest progress on Dragon’s Fall by the end of 2005, so I made it my NaNoWriMo project for that year. Of course, NaNoWriMo’s goal is to write 50,000 words. I achieved that goal with Dragon’s Fall, but it turns out, that was only about half the novel. The novel went on the back burner as I finished polishing The Solar Sea for release and worked on a number of editing projects.

In 2007, Jackie Druga, owner of LBF Books, the publisher of Vampires of the Scarlet Order, announced that she was selling the company to Carole Spencer, owner of Lachesis Publishing. At the end of that year, I received a call from Kitt Peak National Observatory asking if I would be interested in returning to my old job there. Back burner projects such as Dragon’s Fall looked like they might be tabled indefinitely.

However, Carole Spencer had an interesting proposal. She suggested that I write a series of novellas about the Scarlet Order Vampires. I realized that Dragon’s Fall was structured in such a way that it was very suitable for this project, so I proposed we use that as the basis for the series. She suggested the addition of a little more romance, which actually suited the story and helped answer some issues I was dealing with. Two of those novellas were released: Bondage and The Dragon’s Quest. Unfortunately, Carole started facing some health challenges as the first novella was released and had to step down at the crucial stage when the series most needed a marketing push from all parties involved.

Finally, last year after reorganizing Lachesis and getting things back on track, the current owner, LeeAnn Lessard decided that rather than try to kickstart the whole novella series back into action, it would be better to come full circle and release Dragon’s Fall as one standalone novel. The ebook was released at the end of last year and now the trade paperback is available. You can pick up a copy today at Amazon.com.

So, this leaves just one last question. Will there be more Scarlet Order novels? Well, the short answer is that depends on you. If the current book does well, I’m sure my publisher will be interested in having me write more. Of course, buying the books helps, but if you like these novels, please review them in places like Amazon and Goodreads. Tell your friends about them. I’m more than happy to discuss the Scarlet Order books here at this blog or at the Scarlet Order Facebook page. I love knowing what things you liked and I’m even happy to hear about the things that didn’t work for you.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the Scarlet Order vampire series so far! I hope you enjoy Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order!

Beautiful Vampires

An interesting topic that comes up from time to time related to vampire fiction is whether or not vampires should be portrayed as beautiful. In folklore, some early vampire fiction, and in early movies, vampires were portrayed as monstrous, undead creatures. They were reanimated corpses seeking blood for survival. A good example is the portrayal of Count Orlock (meant to be Dracula) in F.W. Murnau’s brilliant film Nosferatu.

So when did vampires become beautiful and seductive? I think the answer isn’t as clear as it might seem.

Some people point to Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of Dracula in the 1931 Universal film, only nine years after Max Schreck’s portrayal in Nosferatu. It’s a good choice. Lugosi was handsome and he radiated charisma. Many point out this is counter to the book’s description of a more monstrous count. However, even in the novel, I sensed that Bram Stoker portrayed a charismatic Dracula, even if he wasn’t necessarily an outwardly handsome one.

Now Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula isn’t even the earliest popular vampire fiction. John William Polidori’s 1819 novella, The Vampyre, predates Dracula by 78 years and portrays the title character as a suave and handsome nobleman.

What about folklore? There certainly are plenty of stories that depict frightening vampires and vampiric entities. Many crawl from the grave, bloated in tattered clothes seeking blood from their victims. However, you also find demonic entities such as succubi that use their seductive powers to drain the energies from men.

The upshot is that vampiric entities have been portrayed as both beautiful and horrific throughout the ages. To me, both make sense. Vampires are scary. However, a beautiful creature can more easily lure those it wishes to ensnare.

One of the things that makes this topic interesting for me personally is the way the vampires are portrayed on the covers of my novels Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order and Vampires of the Scarlet Order. The former shows a beautiful vampire. The latter shows more frightening vampires. The thing is, I think both aspects are portrayed in both novels.

As it turns out, the two covers make an interesting look into the history of my publisher. There were different owners when each novel was published. The first set of owners clearly wanted to emphasize the horror and adventure aspects of Vampires of the Scarlet Order. The current owners clearly want to emphasize the more romantic aspect of the series in Dragon’s Fall.

So, what do you think? Do you prefer your vampires frightening or beautiful? Drop a note in comments. I’d love to hear from you.

Dragon’s Fall and NaNoWriMo

November is the National Novel Writing Month. For those not familiar with NaNoWriMo, as it’s known for short, the goal is for writers to begin a project on November 1 and see if they can succeed in finishing a 50,000 word novel by November 30. As it turns out, the first draft of my latest novel, Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order was written for NaNoWriMo in 2005.

I looked back at some notes from my experience. It was a challenging year to participate in NaNoWriMo. Not only does Thanksgiving happen in November, but I was scheduled to participate at the science fiction convention TusCon in Tucson, Arizona. Also at that time, the reading period for Tales of the Talisman magazine was scheduled for November. If you do the math, NaNoWriMo requires that you manage 1,666 words each day if you’re going to make the goal. However, with trips scheduled, I decided to make a goal of 5,000 words every three days. Keep in mind, that was 5,000 words every three days plus having to read approximately 10 stories each day for the magazine!

I did well on the goal through November 18. At that point, I had to pack up for TusCon. While I was at TusCon, I sat next to James C. Glass author of Shanji and John Vornholt, author of numerous novelizations in such universes as Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Dinotopia. During the signing, the topic came up of how much does one write per day. Glass mentioned that his goal was 1800 words every day, which works out to 54,000 words per month. Vornholt mentioned that he wrote between 3,000 to 4,000 words every day, but he took weekends off. That works out as anything between 60,000 and 80,000 words every month, depending on the month!

As it turns out, fate wasn’t on my side when I returned from TusCon. Life was so busy the week of Thanksgiving, that I simply could not get any writing time in between Monday and Wednesday of that week. I thought I wasn’t going to make the NaNoWriMo goal. However, I took a few minutes and did the math. I realized if I wrote 3,800 words every day for the rest of the month, I would meet my goal. That was right in John Vornholt’s target range and I figured if he could do that every day for a year, I could manage it for a little more than a week.

As it turns out, I wrote over 4000 words every day for that last week except the last day. That one, I only managed 2000 words, but I still came in over 50,000 words. Unfortunately, I still didn’t have a complete novel. I set it aside for a while, then cleaned up what I had, enhanced the romantic plot and added nearly 40,000 more words. I turned in the finished novel in 2010 and it’s finally available.

I hope you’ll take some time and check it out. Let me know how you think I did on this novel that started out during NaNoWriMo 2005.

You can buy Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order at:

• iTunes
• Amazon
• OmniLit
• BookStrand
• Lachesis Publishing

Ereader News Today Feature and Series Order

This past week, Vampires of the Scarlet Order was featured at the website, Ereader News Today. Since it was first mentioned on November 13, its sales rank at Amazon has been going up. I’m gratified to see the book finding new readers. If you’re one of those new readers who discovered the book through the Ereader News Today promotion, thanks for giving it a try!

Around the same time as the Ereader News Today promotion came live, I noticed that my publisher labeled Vampires of the Scarlet Order as book 1 of the Scarlet Order series and Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order as book 2. It’s an interesting choice on my publisher’s part, especially since Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order is actually set before Vampires of the Scarlet Order.

Of course, this begs one of the age-old questions of series. Which order should they be read in? In the case of these first two Scarlet Order books, I don’t really think it matters. Each novel is a standalone story. If you prefer your books to happen in chronological order, then you should definitely start with Dragon’s Fall even though it’s book 2. However, I don’t believe you’ll be lost if you start with Vampires of the Scarlet Order. In this case, “Book 2″ will give you some more history and insight into the characters you discovered in “Book 1.”

Another question raised by listing the books as a series is whether or not there will be a Book 3 and what it would be about. In fact, the cold, hard reality of the publishing business is that much depends on how well books 1 and 2 do. That said, I actually have outlined three more Scarlet Order books.

One of these three books continues the story of Draco, Roquelaure, and Alexandra started in Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order. We see what happens to them as they get involved in the European wars of the 1600s through the 1800s. The second book outlined tells the story of the vampire Rudolfo as he travels to the new world and becomes embroiled with the Spanish conquest of North America. The third outlined novel is a sequel to Vampires of the Scarlet Order where the vampires learn more about the beings that created them and their place in the universe.

If you’ve read one or both of the Scarlet Order novels, I’d love to hear what you think. What’s more, I’d love to hear what you’d like to see next. Would you like more about the vampires in history? Would you like to see where they go in the future? Either way, please be sure to tell your friends about the series. That’s the best way you can be sure there will be a book 3 and beyond!

Blog Hop

Shaunna Gonzales at http://shaunnagonzales.blogspot.com/ tagged me last week in her post. In this Blog Hop, I’ll answer a set of questions about my latest novel, then tag a set of authors to discuss their book next week. Of course, my most recent novel is Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order.

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What is the title of your book?

My latest novel is Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order. It’s my seventh novel published.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea came from my love of history and folklore. In particular I was inspired by both the legends surrounding King Arthur and Vlad Dracula. King Arthur was known as the Pendragon, which basically means “the chief dragon.” Dracula means “son of the dragon.” I basically asked, what would happen if a Celtic dragon from the fifth century became a vampire and somehow got wrapped up in the story of Vlad Dracula, the real life prince who inspired Bram Stoker’s vampire

What genre does your book fall under?

The novel is a blending of paranormal romance and historical thriller.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Daniel Craig would be great as Desmond, the leader of our band of mercenaries. Lynn Collins from the series True Blood and the movie John Carter has the presence and strength to be the slave-turned-thief Alexandra. Orlando Bloom has the good looks of the mysterious Roquelaure and would be a great counterpoint to the serious Daniel Craig.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Three vampires forge a bond of love and blood, bring together a band of vampire mercenaries, and must ultimately confront what they’ve become when they’re hired by Vlad Dracula.

Is your book self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither. I sold the book without an agent. It is published by Lachesis Publishing.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The first draft was written for the National Novel Writing Month a few years ago. The manuscript at the end of that month represents about two-thirds of finished novel. That final third took another month. Once the first draft was complete, I spent another year polishing it into the final product.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

The mix of history, romance, and vampires is probably closest to the Saint-Germain Books of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro or even the vampire novels of Anne Rice.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I was inspired by the desire to experience times and places that I can’t visit for myself. The virtual immortality of my vampires allowed me to tell a story that spanned centuries. The strength of my vampires allowed them to survive some of the most frightening periods in history. The tension of the situations allowed me to explore the concepts of love and evil from a perspective that isn’t really possible with mortal characters.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Dragon’s Fall is a novel in five acts. Act one is set in Hellenistic Greece. Act two is set in Arthurian Britain. In act three, the characters move across Europe, visit Constantinople and the Holy Land during the Middle Ages. In act four, we see the Norman Invasion of Britain. Finally Act five takes us to Transylvania during the reign of Vlad Dracula.

The novel tells the story of three vampires. The first is Lord Desmond who bears the guilt of destroying the holiest of books after becoming a vampire. He searches the world for lost knowledge, but instead, discovers truth in love. Alexandra is born a slave in Ancient Greece and craves freedom above all else. A vampire sets her free but then, she must pay the highest price of all … her human soul. Roquelaure is an assassin who lives in the shadows, cloaked even from himself, until he discovers the power of friendship and loyalty. Gathering other vampires around them, they form a band of mercenaries and find themselves employed by Vlad Dracula. However, Dracula proves to be the dark reflection of the Scarlet Order vampires and their ultimate nemesis.

Where can readers purchase your book?

The novel is available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009TJV65G and https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dragons-fall-rise-scarlet/id569347884?mt=11 plus several other online bookstores. You can find a complete list at: http://www.davidleesummers.com/books.html#dragons_fall

Where can readers find your website/blog’s?

My official site is http://www.davidleesummers.com
My Scarlet Order vampire blog is http://dlsummers.wordpress.com
I also have a blog at http://davidleesummers.wordpress.com

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I tag the following blogger to answer these questions next week about their most recent work or their work in progress:

• Paige Addams

Emily Guido and Marina Martindale have already participated in the Blog Hop. Be sure to drop by and check out the answers to their questions!

• Emily Guido
• Marina Martindale

Update – December 5, 2012: I received two brand-new tags today. The first is by castle builder, poet, and all around amazing fantasy writer Marsheila Rockwell. I was also tagged by awesome thriller and adventure writer Sean Ellis. Go check out their stops on the “Next Big Thing” Blog Hop!

Update – December 12, 2012: Today, I’m honored to be tagged by Jeff Mariotte, author of more things than I can easily name. A few things he’s written include several Angel comics, the Covert Vampire Operations comic series, numerous weird western comics and stories, and several supernatural thriller novels. His Star Trek novel The Folded World will be published days before the release of Star Trek Into Darkness. Click here to read about Jeff’s next big thing: Season of the Wolf.