Top ten blogs of all time (2020)

Once upon a time, I used to do this every hundred posts or so. But last year, I was busy with the books, and remembering to do a mailing list when I  could, and self-publishing novels. 

These are the most popular blogs of all time. I can't even tell you how most people found them. But people have liked them. A lot. 

And if you're new here, this will give you a sample of what it's like to be here on a regular basis.

Here we go.



10) The Story of Moira Greyland continues

If you don't know who Moira Greyland is, you will soon. All this blog post was about was simply a discussion of Moira's largely biographical work The Last Closet -- I say largely because she bounces from her life to various and sundry issues behind and around her life.

9) Building Catholic Vampire Lore (Honor At Stake)

This was basically how I built my vampire universe for the Love at First Bite series. Elements I've stolen from philosophy, theology, a Star Wars video game called Knights of the Old Republic. There was a lot of miscellaneous theft going on that tied together in a nice neat little deranged bow.

8) Newsflash: Hugo Awards Swamped by Crap

The 2017 Hugo Awards were about as bad as you'd expect. I think that was the last time I paid them even a modicum of attention.

7) A Short Biography of a Catholic Vampire

Another Love at First Bite post. As a historian, I do so enjoy the hidden world genre. It gives me an excuse to get creative with history -- all of the fun of alternate history, without having to write a full butterfly effect of what happens next.

6) Sex, DC Comics, and ... wtf?

2011 is when DC Comics unveiled their New 52 lineup of comic books ... and stopping just short of an R-rating,. with bad character design, bad artwork, and bad choices.

5) Sad Puppies Bite Back

The fever dream that started it all. 

Take a fracas going on in fandom, a rash of SWATting happening in the real world, and throw it in for mental processing when someone can't sleep at two in the morning.

4) Who would Captain America vote for? An election special

I posted a few days before Election 2012. So I can guess why this made it so high.


3) Disasters to Marvel At: A Comic Discussion.

This was the day I got fed up with Marvel comics going to pot. It had less to politics at the time and more to do with really terrible decisions by the writers. This included all of Civil War and One more Day.

2) A Review of Death Note (Anime)
This is exactly what it says in the title. 

This one also came out of no where. Posted in 2017, it only picked up steam last year. Every day between April and July, it maintained hundreds of hits PER DAY. There was no particular place it came from or reasons for it. It just was.

1) Politics Kills Mercedes Grabowski (August Ames)

This is the story of a woman in pornography, bullied to death by leftist douche bags of Twitter. And it pissed me off because she was only 23.

I can guess how this made the #1 spot. I mentioned porn. Apparently, it's popular, even when people are reading about non-sexual content. Who knew?

Anyway. I hope you find them enjoyable. 

You can check out any and all of my latest books here. 

If you like, you can sign up for my mailing list here. 

Dragon Con 2019 AAR: Contemporary Vampires

So, obviously, this is one that I'm interested in, of only because I'm on it. It was my first panel on the first day, at 10am... yes, I know that they have panels on Thursday now, but Friday is what I still think of as The First Day.

Anyway, this has a whole bunch of people, and some good ideas.

In this panel authors discuss how they refreshed everybody's favorite variety of undead for use in their works.

Speakers include authors R.E. Carr Declan Finn Clay Gilbert J.F. Lewis Mari Mancusi Lisa Manifold

And while we're at it, this is the series that prompted getting me on the panel. Click here to get it on Kindle, hardcover or paperback

Making a Villain (update)

Bad guys don't need to wear black.
But then again, black can be awesome.

So, what do Moriarty, Modred, and Sauron have in common?

Easy, they're all bad guys.

What else to they have in common? While all villains in their respective stories, very little connects the three.  Moriarty is a math professor gone bad, seemingly to start a criminal empire for the sake of it; an intellectual exercise for fun and profit. Sauron, of Lord of the Rings, is a being of pure evil who wants to conquer the word., with him as the only free person in it.  Modred ... well, depending on what edition you're looking at, he's either a a pure tool of his mother, a weapon of evil, a manipulative little wretch, or, just guy who's gotten caught up in events that lead to a train wreck (honestly, just read Mary Stewart's novels...)

Creating a villain can be no different from creating every other character in a universe. A character is a character, and if you're trying to create a fully 3-Dimensional person on the page, it shouldn't matter if it's a protagonist or an antagonist. With Sauron, there is literally an entire backstory on him stretching back thousands of years (Tolkien, The Silmarillion); Modred was given a great deal of emotional and personal depth by Mary Stewart in her novels of King Arthur; and Moriarty ... well, he was a tool by Arthur Conan Doyle because he was tired of writing Sherlock Holmes, other people have stepped up to give Moriarty more of a back story, including Isaac Asimov.

But note, Moriarty actually has no lines in the single short story he appears in. The only dialogue he has is whatever Holmes relates to Watson. He technically doesn't even need a backstory, but he's inspired countless variations for villain. As far as iconic personal adversaries, he might be the beginning of the archetype for the mirror opposite for the hero.

In the case of my bad guys, I've done both extremes. For my Pius novels, I have the personal history going back to the antagonist's grandparents. They have hobbies and motivations and a history. They have back stories, and I could probably make books out of the bad guys I make ... but then again, the last bad guy as protagonist was probably The Talented Mr. Ripley. Unless that's your read on the entirety of Game of Thrones.

However, there are schools of thought behind making villains.  One is that "the villains really see themselves as the good guys; the heroes of their own stories."

That's crap. Total and complete crap.

Why is that crap? Because it makes a lot of presumptions. Starting with the presumption that the villain even believes about "right" and "wrong."  Good, bad, they're the ones with the weapon. Going back to Greek mythology, the only constant "moral" was that right and wrong were whatever the fickle gods decided it was. Hubris was the only constant sin they appeared to acknowledge. If we want real life villains, does anyone think a Saddam Hussein believed in anything but power? How about the abortion lobby? Does anyone think they care about "women's health"? They only murder a few million children a year in the name of "mercy."

And you can't merely dismiss villains as sociopaths. Why not? There are plenty of amoral little bastards out there whose only goal is whatever their whim is at the moment. They don't think over morals, ethics, Nietzsche, the will to power ... though you'd be surprised how many think they are beyond good and evil, because what's good and evil.

And you don't need to be a sociopath to have a mindset geared towards "this is what I want," and "this is what's good for me," and screw the rest of the universe. We call it social media. What are the thugs of Anti-Fa but weaponized social media mobs? If you have that type of a person, add together a total disregard for the consequences, and for anyone who gets in your way, you have a good, solid villain.

This is my school of villainy.  My bad guys don't care about what's right and wrong.  They don't care about anything but what they want. They don't even see themselves as the hero of their story ... because that presumes they believe in heroes and villains. If there's no right and wrong, then what's a villain? What's a hero?

Can characters have a code of honor and be a villain? Sure, why not?  Honor is generally considered a system based solely on pride. There's a reason pride is a deadly sin. And pride is all about "me."

And, no, a villain doesn't have to be pure evil -- torturing, sadistic rapist qualities are not a prerequisite. For some, not everything is about sex. And, hell, I live in New York, BDSM is considered a "subculture."

Hey, just because the character slashes someone's throat and watches their lifeblood coming out of them in spurts, chuckling manically, doesn't necessarily make them a bad guy. Though it could make them a fairly scary good guy? (If you ever get the chance, look up the first Mr. Moto film with Peter Lorrie. He plays a Japanese man in the 1930s, just as everything goes to Hell in the Pacific.  You seem him kill people in what looks like cold blood.  He always wears black gloves, black coats, and he always looks sinister. You have no idea what side he's on until the very end.)

On the other end of the equation, there are people who try to tell me that MacBeth was a tragic hero ... Really? That's like saying that all of the murderers caught by Columbo were heroes, as opposed to a murder mystery told from the killer's point of view. Here's a lesson to being a writer: if you're trying to make your hero tragic, don't give him a body count in the triple-digits that includes innocent women and children.

My point: you don't need a bad guy to be crazy for him to be evil. Nor do you need a sadist, a rapist, a pervert, sex-fiend, or Jack the Ripper.

Hell, I don't think any of my villains are that sort of psycho.

The enemy in A Pius Man, for example, is none of these. Will he kill everyone in his way? Sure. Will he go out of his way to utterly and completely destroy thousands if he can? Absolutely. Will he rape, torture, and maim for fun and profit? No.  Why? Because it's not efficient, a waste of time, and won't help him achieve his goals in the slightest.

The Love at First Bite series have demons and vampires as the bad guys, and they want to take over the world in the service of Hell. These bastards all know whose side they're on. They know they're working for the forces of Hell. You can't tell me they think they're the hero. (And no, you can't tell me that Lucifer is the hero of Paradise Lost -- he's the protagonist, but he's still the villain.)

Heck, the Saint Tommy NYPD series is ... oy. Again, possessed serial killer. A death cult and a warlock motivated by political power. I've got Jihadists who want to destroy Christendom so their culture can take over the world. There are anti-theists who have... a similar motivation. We won't even get into the eldritch horrors from beyond.

For the record, to write an antagonist, you just need one person to have competing goals with your main character. If you have a person with goals that run counter to the protagonist, then you have a good antagonist.

What that antagonist does makes them a villain. For a villain, you need someone who must be stopped, one way or another. And reasoning with them isn't even an option.

For a ton of good villains, and antagonists, I suggest you take a look at my Dragon Awards discussion post for some great novels that do this.

Catholic Reads reviews Love At First Bite

So, over at Catholic Reads, they reviewed the entire Live at First Bite series.

Honor at Stake

Declan Finn is proving himself to be the go-to guy for the campy fun adventure book that is just smart enough to completely subvert your expectations in ways that never fail to delight....

One of the strongest features of the novel and one of the most Catholic is how it establishes a sense of reality by a great balance of sincerity and dramatic irony. Finn has a way of making things look one way, and then revealing things to be exactly the opposite.... It reminds me of Jesus saying he came to turn the world upside-down, and in a way, Finn seeks to do just that for Brooklyn via the lenses of vampire romance action horror (with light sci-fi and espionage elements). I loved its masterful use of dramatic irony and it’s a great portrayal of a young masculine perspective....

On a more technical level, the novel’s action scenes are well-thought out and epically described. The dialogue is sharp and witty, almost Whedon-esque. And throughout the novel, Finn takes any chance he can get to make fun of anything and everything about vampires, old books, and the strange, otherworldly, nearly undead world that is the culture of Brooklyn.

This is the first review that has ever, even slightly, ever compared me to Jesus.

Obviously, you can read the entire review here.

You can buy Honor at Stake right here.

Demons are Forever

Formerly known as Murphy's Law of Vampires

It’s a new day for horror....

.... if you haven’t read the [first] book yet, go do that; you’re missing a genuinely good time.

....All in all, Mr. Finn provides his readers with another fun ride through a world in which vampires, good and bad walk, among us while developing character relationships from the previous book and build even more on the distinctly Catholic mythology of his creation.

....Now, get yourself to Amazon, pick up Murphy’s Law of Vampires and set aside a weekend to sink your teeth into a genuine, page-turner.

The rest of the review

Purchase link for Demons.

Live and Let Bite

For those who read (Warning! Spoilers ahead) the previous books in Declan Finn’s Love at First Bite series, you know there has been no small amount of romantic tension... 

Someone is a master of understatement.

[The introduction of minions] results in things like a massive gun battle in the middle of San Francisco, a battle that introduces them to Nuala.... a very old vampire, powerful enough to handle direct sunlight for short periods and has an evil enough reputation that they are actively worried about her manifesting soul fire, which is pretty much the peak of a vampire’s destructive abilities. During the battle, she almost single-handedly takes out the whole crew in hand-to-hand combat, something no one has come even close to doing.

Barely surviving this initial encounter, Marco has to use everything and everyone at his disposal to develop a plan capable of taking down Nuala. Merle and his gang are included, along with the Vatican’s own team of vampire hunters, referred to my Marco and Amanda as the “Vatican Ninjas”. I won’t spoil the details but the intricacy of the plan further cemented my impression of Marco as basically this world’s Batman. He may not have any powers, but he is the last person that you want mad at you....

In the end, Finn gives readers another fun, vampire-slaying romp through the underworld that expands the lore, makes better use of some secondary characters, and trims some of the fat that the previous book suffered slightly from. With one more book left in the series, the question you should be asking is, “What could be sent after Marco that would be worse?”

The Rest of the Review

Purchase Link

Good to the Last Drop

In Good to the Last Drop, Declan Finn brings the story of Love at First Bite to its epic, if not unexpected, conclusion.....

Things really get kicked off with a werewolf attack on Marco, an attack that leaves him infected with the werewolf virus..... [which] increases the host’s personality traits. Given Marco’s own intense and often violent personality, one can see how this might be a problem.

I do like the reviewer's use of understatement.

The story comes to its conclusion .... with a massive battle between Misha’s army of vampires and the Vatican Ninja’s along with the rest of Marco’s allies. It comes down to a one-on-one battle between a fully revealed Misha and Amanda who at last is manifesting her true potential.

....Whatever the author’s future plans, I look forward to them and seeing my favorite Catholic vampire hunters at work again.

The Rest of the Review

Purchase Link

I look forward to their review of Hell Spawn

Reviews for Good to the Last Drop

When Good to the Last Drop first came out, I had some awesome reviews by some long time fans.

Sadly, I never had a chance to post these reviews.

Now that the new edition is here, time to have a party.

To start with, JD Cowan. Just some excerpts.

What makes these books so successful is how much fun they are. There are clear good guys and definitive bad guys, there is humor, there is plenty of action, there is a solid plot with developing characters, and the central romance is engaging. It's the sort of vampire tale not seen since at least the days of The Lost Boys when you could be serious and fun at the same time without insulting the lore or the audience. It also helps that the vampire mythos the story is built on is well established and builds off of concepts Bram Stoker used way back in Dracula and are given solid rules that must be obeyed. There are no glittering pseudo-vampires here.

As an end to the series, it's a suitable final chapter. Each book had slowly grown with scope and ambition leaving few places left for the series to go without devolving into self-parody. But the author avoids that trap by ending it at just the right point when the stakes hit critical mass. You will see carnage and death, and you will see if good really does ever win in this world of horrors. The last encounter is the final statement on all four books and the definitive last period on just what it is all about. I would argue the last few lines of the book sum it up even better, but I'm not going to spoil that.....

As it is, this is the best vampire series I've read. An engaging run from start to finish as each book improves on the last and finishes with a conclusive ending that wraps everything up neatly. If you've been waiting for vampires to be great again: these are the books you've been waiting for. 

Good to the Last Drop, as well as the whole series, comes highly recommended. You can't get better vampire-related entertainment than this.

You can see why I wanted to hold onto that review until the latest version.

Then there was Lori's review.

If you thought the other books in the series were full of great fight scenes and characters, hold on to your hats, because this one is the best yet.

The fight scenes are a lot of fun, well done, and intense.  The characters are still convincing, compelling, and occasionally hilarious, in an understated, New-Yorker kind of way.  Marco and Amanda are full of their various faults, but loveable for them.

My favorite aspect about Amanda?  How many times can you watch a TV show or read a book with a “tough girl” who isn’t automatically an evil, catty, bitch?

....

Other than that rare feat of talented writing, the best part of this book is the way he managed to tie in the worldbuilding and the plot in a perfect end-of-the-series sendoff.  Without any spoilers, let’s just say that the idea of a good vampire that makes sense pays off magnificently at the end.  There’s a perfect juxtaposition of downright, pure evil on the one side, and rare, beautiful goodness on the other.

....... I think that's all I need to say here.

Buy the novel here.

Buy the series here.  Because it's out and it's complete.

Honor at Stake: The Paperback Edition

Honor at Stake is back!

.... Again.

For a third time.

The 2016 Dragon Award finalist for best horror is finally back in Paperback.

And we are ready to kick some ass! Yee haw...

Anyway...

The paperback is out just in time, really. It gives everyone time to purchase one of these snazzy new covers for DragonCon. Heck, it gives me time to get some for DragonCon. Either way, it works.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is ready for the upcoming rerelease of the novel Good to the Last Drop. The grand finale of the series should be fun.

Heh heh heh.

Also, coming soon: Silver Empire is nearly ready to unleash something massive. I'll discuss that when there are more details.

But right now, here's Honor at Stake, in paperback.

Honor at Stake  Demons are Forever

Live and Let Bite

Good to the Last Drop, Cover reveal

Here we go again. The last round of the rereleases.

It's been strange thinking that I've come out with a book a month for the entire year, and I haven't published anything new yet outside of short stories.

Then again, I'm going to keep publishing with new material starting September and going forward from there.

Right now, I hope everyone has read Honor at Stake, Demons are Forever, and Live and Let Bite. There might be some minor spoilers along the way.

Anyway...

For those folks who were here the first time through will remember the original cover to book four, Good to the last Drop.  It was made by author Dawn Witzke, and looked something like this.

And, again, if you've finished Good to the Last Drop, you have some idea of why it looks like this. It was taken from the original batch of photos I made when doing Honor at Stake, at Mount Olivet cemetery in Queens... though that is technically not a spoiler.

Those of you who have read it already, you know why there's a red wolf there. You know why there's a sword. And you know why the location.

I never thought this one was perfect (the face on Amanda seemed a little off) but I was fine with it.

Now, we have a new publisher, a new artist, and a new cover.

The new cover is

Ah... dang, that redhead is hot....

I'm sorry, what was I saying?

Anyway, the art is solid. The model is attractive. I can even fit it into one of the scenes from the book. I even like the lens flair.

Though on the other hand, I recently had someone on Twitter tell me that the covers would probably make him bolt for the hills if it weren't for the fact that he was familiar with me and my work. Probably too much romance novel.

Um, guys, while I do see that you have a point, I would like to discuss what genre we're in. In a world where we have gunfights with the mafia, Vatican ninjas, vampires, SpecOps teams, flashbangs, MOABs, werewolves, and throwing Stars of David.

From what I can tell, there is no such thing as "urban fantasy thriller." However, the best genre that they DO have is "vampire suspense." Now that sounds like the proper genre for what we're doing.

Now, look at this photo of the top books in vampire suspense from a few months ago.

I will say again:

This isn't the genre vampire romance.

This isn't the genre vampire girl books.

This is the genre of vampire suspense.

Even though #4 was written by Lynsay Sands... a romance author.

But again, this is a snap shot of the top books in vampire suspense.

And, frankly, if I could turn your attention to the "creator" of the urban fantasy genre (no, not Bram Stoker, even though I'd make that argument), this is the cover of Laurell K Hamilton's earlier work, back when I would argue she was still a good urban fantasy novelist, as opposed to writing ... well ... bisexual furry orgy porn.

.... That's it. You couldn't tell that her costar in this book involved a mercenary named simply "Ted" who decided to hunt supernatural beasties because humans had become "too easy."

What about the comic book version of the same novel? Certainly, those have to be "better suited" to an urban fantasy series with enough guns that Hamilton and Larry Correia end up on the same gun panels.

.... Uh huh. Okay. Nevermind then.

So, if anyone has a problem with the new cover of Good to the Last Drop, well, take it up with Amazon's genre system. Because we're following the trend of cover art in a genre that should be perfect for us.

Also, again, the redhead is hot. And the art is nice, full stop.

Good to the Last Drop will be coming out within the next few weeks. And if you haven't read the previous books yet, here they are.

Honor at Stake     Demons are Forever

              

Live and Let Bite

Love at First Bite will be DOA on Monday

Dang, this has been a busy week. Venus came out this week. A Pius Stand came backthis week. I almost forgot to mention what was going away next week.

Just a friendly reminder, but my Dragon Award nominated series Love at First Bite will be temporarily off the shelves as of this Monday, February 19th. Please remember, my friend and publisher Russell Newquist will be rereleasing them over the summer.

There are several good reasons to buy these books. First and foremost being that Silver Empire may not release them in paperback. I'm sure you're thinking "Duh, why would they? No one buys hard copies anymore."  Well, I do, and so do some of my readers. So if you care about such things, you should probably grab them why you can.

Not to mention that Silver Empire will be redoing the covers. So, as of Monday, these will all be collector's editions.

Finally ... well, the Dragon awards for 2018 are open for voting. If you've voted for the previous editions to make it to the Dragon awards, and want to read Good to the Last Drop before it becomes unavailable, this is your last shot.

Honor at Stake

This is the first one, the Dragon Award nominated work. It also took second place in Sad Puppies 4, for whatever that is worth. I figured I would do ... a lot of smartass routines around vampires, playing games with the lore, while staying as true to it as I could.

I suppose you could say I weaponized my degree in Catholic philosophy. Who knew that it could come in handy?

One is a blood thirsty monster. The other is a vampire.

College freshman Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus...and most people stop after the first adjective.

Then she finds Marco Catalano in her fencing class. He is tall, attractive, and very intense. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people. Except Amanda. They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.

As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. They must come to grips with their personal drama soon, because a darkness is rising. Bodies are turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires is closing in on all sides.

They have only one hope ... each other.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN MAY. PERFECT SUMMER READING.

Murphy's Law of Vampires

It was amusing when I saw that one of the biggest criticisms of book one was that the vampires were too easy to dispatch in the final battle. I thought that given the artillery I brought down on them was fairly sufficient.

But I also laughed my ass off for one very good reason: Mister Day.

I won't say I'm particularly proud of this villain. Finding a way to kill him was the biggest problem, especially considering his various and sundry powers and abilities.

.... But I managed.

After saving Brooklyn from a nest of vampires, Amanda Colt and Marco Catalano are a little banged up. He's been given a job offer to deal with vampires in San Francisco, and it's a tempting offer – it would get him away from Amanda, his feelings for her, and get her away from the darkness inside him. When a death in the family compels Marco to move to the West Coast, they're both left to fend for themselves.

But when a creature known only as “Mister Day” leaves their world in tatters, they must once more join forces against the darkness. Only "Day" is no vampire, but a creature beyond their experience. It will take the combined might of Marco, Amanda, and all of their allies just to slow it down. They have no weapons that can kill him. They have no ways to imprison him. To even fight him is death.

But they have to try, or face the end of everything they love.

Only slightly melodramatic. Largely, I think this underplayed the threat.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN JUNE 2018.

Live and Let Bite

I had to use the title. I really did. I didn't have much choice in the matter. I love me some puns ... if you didn't realize that from the Pius trilogy.

This is the other book in the series nominated for best horror. I'll say again, I'm not entirely certain that I see how these are "horror" novels, though there are several reviews that make me thing I scare the bejeezus out of more than a few.

Then again, I did show much concept of minions...

I also had an off page, vaguely implied lesbian rape sequence...

Okay, maybe there were one or two vaguely scary things here and there.

Merlin "Merle" Kraft has been fighting the darkness for months. He left San Francisco in the capable hands of Marco Catalano and his anti-vampire team to defend them against vampires. With special operators at his command, Kraft has been killing every vampire he can find in the Middle East. After clearing out a nest in Tora Bora, he is finally brought back to New York, and the investigation that led him to vampires in the first place.

Marco is starting to spiral. He knows it. His team knows it. Everyone around him can see that he's just a bomb waiting to explode. The only woman who can bring him back from the brink is also the woman who lit his fuse.

Ever since "Mister Day" tried to murder Marco, Amanda Colt has been hunting down every lead to find the ones ultimately behind the attempt. After months of investigation, she learns that something in the dark is colder than the dark. It is a vampire assassin that Amanda has faced once before .... and last time, Amanda lost. This assassin is stronger than anything they've face before, and it isn't alone.

With Marco ready to self-destruct, and the armies of Hell ready to descend, the three of them must come together and stop a thousand-year-old assassin that has never been stopped, and has never failed to kill her target.

THIS BOOK WILL BE RETURNING SOMETIME IN JULY 2018.

Good to the Last Drop

In all honesty, I suppose I could just ask every reader on this page to go forth and vote for this book in best horror, or even fantasy, but ... eh. Not really. I'd much rather people read it, like it, and vote for it.

I'm figuring that this year or next year is going to be my last shot at even getting nominated for the Dragons. There were over 8,000 people who voted in last year's Dragon Awards. If all of them vote to nominate this year? I may have all the nominations I'm going to get

But I'm going to keep trying. This works for horror this year, and I have a horror novel coming up that was supposed to be Urban Fantasy ... I kinda wrote a horror novel by accident. Oops.

Anyway, this is your last shot to get it before the Dragon Award nominations. The good news is that if I do get a nomination, the book will be back on the shelves just in time.

The final war is about to begin, in this conclusion to the Dragon Award Nominated series

Merle Kraft, Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt have battled against the mythical Council, a supernatural conspiracy that monsters fear. This war has brought them up against vampires, minions, and demons from Hell.. Along the way, they have accumulated allies among the police, the military, the mafia, college students, lowly street gangs, and even other vampires.

Marco and Amanda have overcome their biggest terror -- their passion for each other.

But now, they face the final threat, one that is the culmination of every threat before them. This creature from Hell has powers beyond anything they've ever seen before, and has allies of his own: including SpecOps minions, an army of vampires, and packs of werewolves.

And that was before Marco got bit.

AS I SAID, IT'S COMING BACK IN AUGUST.

And, while I think of it, enjoy the Dragon Award nominations.

Love at First Bite is going to die

In case you haven't noticed, my Dragon Award nominated series, Love at First Bite is no longer on Kindle Unlimited.

In fact, very shortly, it's about to be pulled from shelves entirely. So get it while you can.

Why is it leaving?

Well, as you might remember, I hate marketing. I hate banging my head against a wall. I'd much rather just write books and move along. I will do what works. I'll put in as much effort as I can until it kills me.

But, frankly, my ability to even maintain the blog is starting to become a trial. So I'm going to unpublish the book series....

Then I'm going to let my publisher do the hard work.

Yes, that's right, Love at First Bite is going to be getting a publisher. The series will die, but you can't keep a good vampire down. The publisher is Silver Empire Press again, the people rereleasing my Pius novels.

we’ll be republishing Declan Finn‘s multiple Dragon Award nominated Love at First Bite series. For those of you who have already read the books, there won’t be much call to buy the new ones. We’re doing only the lightest of editing touches here. But we will be getting them all new covers and putting the marketing push behind them that these books deserve.

But wait, there’s more!

In addition to this excellent series, we’ve also commissioned Mr. Finn to create an entirely new Urban Fantasy series. We’re not ready to share the details on this just yet, except that I can say a few things. The book is set in New York, the city that Mr. Finn knows so well. It does have some of the religious elements his fans love so much. And it will proudly feature the insane action that we’ve all come to expect from Mr. Finn.

Also, the one-paragraph pitch that Mr. Finn gave me is the best book pitch I’ve ever heard. And the outline for book one more than lives up to that pitch. And… book one is already half done.

Expect this new series to go live right after we finish republishing Love At First Bite.

Yes, the book series, code named "The Patron Saint of Detectives" until we can get a better title, is coming along fairly nicely. I haven't managed to blow up anything yet, but give me time. I'll usually find a way.

Now, obviously, this is going to be a little strange as far as the schedule goes. Since everything Love at First Bite related will be pulled from the shelves by the end of January, or February at the latest, it seems unreasonable to expect another nomination at the Dragon Awards (this time, for Good to the Last Drop). If the book isn't on the shelves, hard to say "Read the book, then nominate it."

But yeah, I'm looking forward to a little less banging my head against a wall in the foreseeable future. 

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP LAUNCHES TODAY

Coincidentally, the epic conclusion to my Dragon Award nominated series is live TODAY, on Kindle.

And in paperback. The pages are spear right now.

Also, coincidentally, this is the last day you can register for a Dragon Award ballot.

Coincidences are funny like that, aren't they?

But yeah, as you saw earlier today -- literally the previous post-- you can see that I've got a roundup post made for all of the prior posts. So... that's it. I think Hopefully. Yeah. Go buy it... please. Thank you.

Anyway, if you're one of those people who don't bother buying the series until the entire series is out, click here and buy all four.

Or click here to grab Good to the Last Drop.

..... Okay. I think we're done here. Be seeing you.

Illegitimi non carborundum

A Short Biography of a Catholic Vampire

One of the fun things about being a historian who writes about vampires is that I get to plug vampires into history.

Obviously, in this particular case, there's one very special vampire I want to plug in. A vampire with a certain set of skills.

Enter Amanda Colt, the heroine of my vampire series.

Yes, for those people who have read Live and Let Bite, I recall that's not her birth name, but I don't want to confuse people by having two names for the same character.

It's even worse, given that she's Russian by birth. She could have up to three or four different names, depending on how the patronymics are utilized.

Obviously, some of these are a little vague. In part because I haven't written that part of the biography yet ... and in part because there are some stories I'd like to be able to tell if I ever do come back to this universe.

1899 Born
1919 Bitten
1920 Left Russia with AEF

• There was an American Expeditionary Force sent into Siberia at the end of World War I. There were a collection of 15 countries (depending on how you want to count them). They were supposedly sent to put down the Communist uprising, but the orders were so muddled, and the support so lax, it looked more like soldiers were sent to get shot at.
• In this particular case, Amanda helps the AEF out of the area. She is allowed to live, due to services rendered. Also, a box of dirt is brought along.

1920s: She occasionally works with the British Government. Amanda watches the Russian Orthodox Church first suppressed by, and subverted by, Communists. Abandons faith. She tries to explain just how much of a problem the coming Soviet Union is, but everyone believed John Reed's propaganda that "I have seen the future, and it works." Also, she notes this Mein Kampf book, and has a bad feeling about this.

1933: After seeing the rise of this Austrian paper hanger in Germany, she reports the demonic activity and influence she sees in Mein Kampf, AND the vampire activity in Gulags. She is ignored.

1935: After years of Amanda looking at Germany with horror, and getting NOWHERE, Amanda hears of a guy in Lourdes speaking out against the Nazis as dressing up old ideas in new tinsel. He was a Catholic Cardinal name Pacelli.

1937: The Catholic Church officially condemns Communists and fascists the same week.  After finding SOMEONE who concurs with her on both of these horrors, Amanda starts the process of becoming a Catholic.

1939: War breaks out. She's generally considered of the Allies, but spends much of her time in the West, going between the Allies, as well as the Vatican.

1941: Operation Barbarossa breaks out. Amanda still doesn't go into the Soviet Union. The vampires for the Germans and Soviets do not go to war with each other, preferring to be camp guards. Nazi vampires go West on occasion.

1939-1945: Puts down multiple operations and experiments of a supernatural nature.

1947: She is recruited by an old acquaintance during the War, Allen Dulles. She knows him less through his OSS days, and more through his nephew Avery, who had joined the Jesuits the year before. She is brought into the newly minted CIA.

1947-1993: Hilarity ensues.

1993: Amanda Colt fired due to the "peace dividend" of Bill Clinton.

1993-Honor at Stake.... will be discussed in Good to the Last Drop.

Pre-order Good to the Last Drop, the epic conclusion to the entire Love at First Bite series, and see how the journey ends.

Building Lycanthropy Lore

For Good to the Last Drop, I decided it was time to expand the universe of Love at First Bite, with the usual next step in the monster guide: werewolves.

When I built the vampire lore for the series, I decided that I wanted my old-school, allergic to crucifixes, with an option for free will thrown in.

When I decided on adding lycanthropy to the mix, I actually thought back to a DragonCon panel by Jim Butcher, where he said that, if you really want to get books on old school monsters, you go into the kid section of the bookstore -- otherwise, you couldn't read five pages without the "adult" books on monsters going into Freud and Jung.

At which point, I'd have my shape shifters be less a matter of virology dictating shape, and more a matter of soul.  Which, considering what I did to vampires, is at least somewhat consistent. Temperament and attitude shapes what the human changes into. After all, if all of the head shrinkers want to make it about Id, Ego, and archetypes, well, hey, I can play with that. The furry form that comes out in the full moon is representative of the dark side of the infected.

It's why, going through the series, I had George Berkeley-- which is pronounced "Barkley," see what I did there? -- a shape shifting Irish wolfhound. He's a nice, easy going fellow, who will rip somebody's head off, if threatened. There's a reason the motto about wolfhounds is "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked."

From day one, vampirism was transmitted by a blood born virus. The way I had it set up was as a metaphysical virus. Like many viruses that have a symbiotic relationship to their host, the vampire virus helps with the host's continued existence: it aids the food stock's continued survival by increasing the strength and stamina of anyone bitten. Obviously, for the vampire itself, it brings a lot of advantages and disadvantages.

With a werewolf, it's going to suck for a while. A person's dark side becoming manifest as a furry is going to be disruptive for a while. Also, the more violent the dark side, the more difficult it will be to control all the time. The impulse control of the newly bitten werewolf is going to be a bitch and a half, if you'll pardon the expression.

As the vampire's virus constantly needs feeding, as does the were virus. Meaning the infected is going to need fuel. Obviously, a lot of fuel, considering what happens to the body in a standard transformation.

Of course, if a werewolf isn't made because he's bitten by another werewolf, but by a matter of soul, why are werewolves the most common?  Because people are pack animals by nature. And the dark side has to be represented by some variety of predator -- they can't turn into sheep. Even the least of us have a dark side, even if that dark side is a beta or a gamma wolf.

Of course, if I'm going to add weres to my plot, the obvious--truly obvious--move would be to make them henchmen for the vampire.

Now, since I've had some complaints about how "easy" some of the main bad guys were, I decided to build on the threats. Frankly, the villains were "easy" to take out because, well, if they weren't killed in short order, pretty much everyone would be dead. Imagine if any season-long Buffy villain just skipped directly to trying to murder everyone immediately. It would be a really fast, continuous plot that takes place over a few hours or days .... or everyone would have just been dead.

Good to the Last Drop was going to have every element build on top of each other from all of the other books.

• Honor at Stake had a vampire with his own nest. That's easy enough to supply.
• Live and Let Bite had minions. Those are easy.
• Murphy's Law of Vampires ... had a different creature entirely. Slightly different problem. Difficult to reproduce.

Then we pile on the werewolves.

Now, I've had a few reviews state that Marco seems more than human, which has usually been a result of Amanda's vampire bite enhancing his strength and stamina, part of the vampire virus. Some of it has been he's been too stubborn to die. I'm almost afraid some of it bad writing on my part, but I've been told that's not the case by multiple people who don't know me from a hole in the ground.

But either way, I figure I have an easy fix for a difficult conflict-- one that Marco has never tried confronting, but has been around since Honor at Stake.

He's going to get bit.

How would you like to see that dark side?

Anyway, the complete Love at First Bite will be available next Monday when Good to the Last Drop is out.

The Dragon Nominees, on Radio

Three items to discuss before today's post begins.

• Please remember the Dragon Bundle has kicked into high gear, and works through next week.
• Please vote in the Dragon Awards
• Remember that Good to the Last Drop is up and running for Preorder.

One of the nice things with all of the Dragon Award nominees ... I've interviewed most of them before, on my radio show.

Since loading all of these players onto the main page at once will jam the blog from loading, you're going to have to click below.

Why Catholic Vampires?

Love at First Bite is my My Dragon Award Nominated series. Usually, my elevator pitch is "Traditional Vampires that integrate free will into the mythology, resulting in a unique end result."

What I don't say is that by "Traditional Vampires that integrate free will," I mean "Catholic Vampires."

This is in part because, as one person replied: Weren't Vampires always Catholic?

There's a point there. In the original mythology that I can recall, Vampires weren't repelled by a cross, but to the crucifix. They reacted to a consecrated host.

But they were also automatically evil. And that was the part I drew the line at. How did that make any sense?

In Dracula, the novel, Vlad Tempes was never considered a nice guy. And I'm certain that Stoker's history wasn't exactly half as detailed as ours would be today. For Stoker, Dracula was probably evil even before he was a vampire. When Lucy was turned, she could be little more than a feral dog, overwhelmed by urges and appetites she'd never had before. All easily explained.

But after a while, once you get into other vampires, why would all of them in fiction become automatically evil? Doesn't that subvert free will? Unless you go for the Buffy solution, which was that all vampires were soulless, and the soul was replaced with a carbon copy of a demon. Basically, people were the skin suits that a demon wore. They drank blood as a perverted mockery of the Eucharist, and that's that.

But otherwise, it's generally unexplained. I don't even remember Larry's Monster Hunter International series addressing it, really. It was just "Vampires are evil, they don't sparkle, just kill the f**kers." (Though if anyone has a better recollection, let me know.)

My vampires at the very least needed to address free will.

Which becomes a problem. How can I have people become vampires, and then automatically afflicted by holy artifacts? Unless I go the "demon wearing a skin suit" route, it doesn't make much sense.

But what if vampires, like people, are formed by their actions?

Catholic theology states that a resurrected body is a body that is perfectly controlled by the soul. So, the more actions one makes, the more the vampire is formed, and the closer body and soul comes together. The more evil actions one commit, the vampire becomes more powerful, but is also more afflicted by religious artifacts.

Anyone who is "good" is something different.

Here's yet another tenant of Catholicism that ended up in the novel: Aristotle. Yes, the vampires are based around Catholic philosophy because the Church still uses Aristotle. "Actions form the person" is straight out of his Ethics. RPGs also use a similar system (the one I'm familiar with is Knights of the Old Republic).

Now, even under this model, I would not, and will not argue for being just "people with fangs." I submit that when you take a person, remove all sense of personal consequences from their life, and give them the powers of a vampire, then they are not "people with fangs," it's a grave temptation to become a serial killer with fangs. One monster or another, there's very little difference except in scale and scope.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying "people are naturally evil." I'd say at least half of my vampires are just folk who would like to survive and move along. Wearing a cross is gonna hurt, unless they go to frequent confessions, because even venial sins are going to mount up after a while.

And yes, I want redemption to be a possibility. Why? In part because I sometimes write bad guys that I like enough to want to redeem. They're not pure evil, they just try to be. Also, hell, if you're still on the planet Earth, and not in Hell, I'm fully convinced that Heaven continue to try to catch sinners until the last possible moment. When you consider the number of Catholic saints who used to be schmucks, redemption will sneak into my series eventually.

Keep in mind, this still circles back to the "actions maketh the man" aspect. Evil people can still do good things -- it's rare, but it happens. Granted, some of the most evil pricks on Earth have ironic "virtues" that are comedically small in comparison to their crimes, but some don't even have that much. I don't recall anyone trying to spin Stalin as having a single quality that made him look like anything less than a total prick, while Hitler was a vegetarian who painted flowers.

Granted, the levels of evil I'm dealing with ... well, let's just say that their isn't a LOT of redemption from the antagonists. I may have redeemed two vampire antagonists over the course of the series.

But then again, look at my protagonists, will you? There's Marco ... who's his own type of dark. There's Amanda, who had to participate in things that she still thinks about sometimes. Let's not even discuss Rory, shall we?

Okay, I know what you're thinking: That's all very nice, but how do I do this as a "neutral" thing? How do I leave Free Will while having an obviously supernatural problem? Well, vampirism is transmitted by blood-to-blood contact, so it's a blood born virus. We know the vector.

Obviously, it must be a supernatural virus, transmitted from human / supernatural contact.

In Honor at Stake, I suggested Nephilim were the origin, but I've kept it vague, if only because I don't have any vampires that old to confirm it, nor is there anyone kicking around who has that much history.

If I ever continue the world, I'm going to have to dive into the virology more. After all, vampires have worked with governments -- Nazis, Soviets-- so we know there were experiments. I'm just never going to do those stories, because I suspect it's going to look like Wolfenstein or Hellboy if I do that.

One of the few things I've spelled out is one of the quirks of viruses: most of them try to not kill the host. In fact, if I treat vampirism as being a disease, it's actually a symbiotic relationship, as it keeps the host alive. Which means it would act like it. There are some viruses that actually aid the host by providing food (for example, one real life avian virus that encourages bugs to climb to higher altitude, making it easy for the birds to eat them).

And finally, the best reason I have for doing Catholic vampires ...

I'm Catholic.

Duh.

See if anyone else gets redeemed in the climactic conclusion to the series, with Good to the Last Drop. Or, if you're new here and haven't read the series yet,  click here to get the entire Love at First Bite cycle.

Good to the Last Drop, Chapter 2: Many Happy Returns

Good to the Last Drop, (book four of Love at First Bite) chapter two: Many Happy Returns

This is the first one that takes place to really kick off the story.

Surprising, isn't it?

Okay, this doesn't kick into high gear here. By the end of my sample chapters, trust me, it will. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about spoilers. I have barely begun to spoil.

When last we saw our hero, Marco was in a hospital bed. He had been a little beaten up ... and blown up ... and slightly charred... and a touch of smoke inhalation.

It's now about two weeks later, and Marco is back out and about in public.

And letting Marco out in public will never end well.

Heh.

Two items to discuss before the chapter begins.

• Please remember the Dragon Bundle kicks into high gear Monday / Tuesday, and works through next week.
• Please vote in the Dragon Awards

Chapter 2: Many Happy Returns

January 1^st San Francisco

Marco looked at his phone, reading email. There was yet another email from his… “friend”… Yana, who had the unmistakable handle of CyberWicca and a bunch of numbers afterward that meant nothing to him. Email had become the primary mode of communication with Yana; her cell phone bill wouldn’t handle the amount of information she wanted to give him.

Besides, I get the impression she’s distracted half the time as she writes these.

The source of the presumed distraction wasn’t hard to figure out: a woman named “Jackie.” All communication with Yana had gone from mournful and depressed over the death of her girlfriend Tara to overly excited over a new woman named Jackie, who was apparently…very fast and overly affectionate.

While Marco was familiar with the old practice of Irish wakes taking people out into the potato fields for a roll in the clover, he didn’t think a turnaround of less than a month was included.

Marco frowned to himself. Eh. I suppose she’s happy?

He saved her email as new, wondering if he should bother replying other than asking about the rest of the San Francisco brigade—the email was overly hormonal for Yana, who he hadn’t suspected had a sex drive.

Then again, after Nuala, I guess I should be glad that she’s going near sex ever again. I suppose it’s healthy? He sighed, wondering if he would have attempted the redemption of a vampire had he known what the assassin had done with, or to, his witch.

Marco sighed and scrolled down the rest of the email list. The one email account he was looking for wasn’t there. Which shouldn’t be a problem, because why send an email when you could be doing some…other things.

And, seriously, what are you worried about, moron? You made out, you both love each other, she told you her real name … maybe, assuming that wasn’t the pain killer … She’s not a scared teenager in her first relationship, is she? And me, I’m a predator, a self-trained killer, I am…

…such an idiot. He who hesitates is roadkill. You’re now a smear on the pavement. You let her get away. I don’t care if this Bosley person called her away. I should have told that blonde bloodsucker to suck my –

The PA student growled to himself and closed the phone, a hairsbreadth away from smashing it. He had been in the hospital now for weeks, but no one had even blinked in his general direction. Not a single vampire, good or ill. Not even the one he wanted to see.

He’d even missed Christmas. Freaking vampire assassin.

He closed his eyes, and did what he’d been doing every time he got angry for no reason at all. He said an Our Father, and ten Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be to round it off.

Marco looked around the hospital parking lot, cursing the darkness outside. Why did I have to be kicked out of the hospital after dark? Seriously, San Francisco, what is your damn problem? Or is everyone just out to get me? Honestly, why me? Did I do something to offend You, Lord?

He picked up his luggage, and prayed very hard that his ride would be there, and hadn’t been turned into a snack along the way.

“This the bruiser we want?”

Marco flicked his eyes left. He whirled, and grabbed the woman approaching him. He lifted her up in the air like she was a leaf, a moment before kissing her.

His broad smile caught the light as he let Yana down on the floor. “Um, hi, Marco.”

“How are you, sexy lady?”

Yana, who still didn’t know what to do with him, said, “Ah, good. Marco, I’d like to you meet—”

Marco whirled on Yana’s companion, an olive-skinned brunette, and smiled, remembering Yana’s emails. “You must be Jackie, I could smell the hormones.”

She smiled and shook hands. “You must be Marco; I can smell the attitude.”

He gave a Gallic shrug. “That may just be my aftershave.”

“How are you?”

He glanced the woman up and down. Objectively, he was certain she was attractive. She was a sturdy 5’6”, with a frame that was more inverted triangle than hourglass, with wider shoulders and a larger upper body. Her outfit was standard leather jacket, even leather pants – which he saw as nice, knife resistant clothing. Though her jacket was zipped up part of the way, and he couldn’t tell if she wore a shirt underneath. He was a little worried about reading too much into that.

Well, Yana at least went for a woman who could probably hit well enough. Body strength helps. Legs have enough muscle on them for kicks, if one is into that sort of thing.

“Take a picture,” she told him, “it’ll last longer.”

“You even steal my lines,” he muttered. His smile didn’t flicker. “You’ll do. You’ve got the right attitude. I presume you’re already in the know on the vampire thing?”

“A little. Though Yana tells me there aren’t many of those left kicking around.”

Marco arched his brows. He knew that San Francisco didn’t really have a vampire population until recently—so little that they didn’t have a local Vampire Association—but this was ridiculous.

Marco looked to Yana. “Are we thinking that the vampire infestation is over?’

“Um, Merle has a thought on that.”

Marco cocked his head. “And that is?”

“That aside from the initial influx we saw, you may have attracted them. And you’ve dealt with most of the ones who came in before you did.”

Marco opened his mouth to object, and then thought it over. He had been going through a few busy months. He had gone on several rampages, including one that may have lasted a few months, depending on who you asked. After someone blew up his father’s hospital, he had kicked over all the vampire nests in the area. He had proceeded to launch a reign of terrorism that leaned heavy on terror. Then he’d killed a whole club full of vampires by locking them in and set it on fire. Then blew up an assassin with a swarm of ninjas. That had been eventful.

Maybe the general extinction of vampires in town wasn’t that much of a surprise. Marco had made the town a little off-putting for the locals.

The brunette punched Marco in the arm. “Don’t look so depressed, we’re doing our jobs.”

Marco arched a brow. “Our? How long have you been at it?”

Jackie shrugged. “A few months. Surprised I didn’t run into you guys earlier. Especially in September. I guess you were behind all the devastation?”

Yana shook her head and jerked her thumb at Marco. “Him.”

Jackie blinked, then nodded. “Oh, he led it.”

Yana shook her head. “All him.”

Jackie looked Marco up and down, and… Sheesh, she actually just licked her lips. Wonderful, Marco thought.

“Niiiiiice,” she stated. “Not bad. But you’re not that much to look at.”

Marco didn’t object to that. She was right. He was 5’9”, and most people described him as having a body like a dancer—more like capoeira than ballet, though. His blond hair and blue eyes went strangely with the last name of “Catalano,” and probably better paired off with “Hitler Youth.”

“Ah, so charming.”

They walked Marco outside to a large black SUV, which looked more like a small truck with armor plating—in fact, if he didn’t know any better, Marco would’ve sworn it was a fully-armored Army Ford F-350—mobile video system, on board PC, night-vision screen, high-voltage door handles, bomb detection, that sort of thing.

“It’s a loan from Merle,” Yana explained.

Marco merely raised an amused eyebrow.

The passenger side door opened, and Tiffany sat in the driver’s seat. Tiffany was as vapid as her name implied, and she was a walking stereotype—blonde, buxom (silicone, not natural), and would have fit in better with Los Angeles than San Francisco. The only reason Merle kept her on was that she was good with numbers. The only reason Marco didn’t kill her was that he was too busy to hide the body.

“Oh, Marco,” she huffed. “No one’s eaten you yet? Now we have to waste our time on you.”

Marco rolled his eyes. “No need. Just get me to the city. I’ll be fine.”

Yana pouted a little. “You sure? Okay…how’s Amanda?”

Marco sat in silence, looking at the scenery go by him. He didn’t ignore Yana so much as consider her query. He had barely spoken a word to Amanda since she’d left for the city. It was as if nothing had happened between them.

“She’s fine,” he answered.

He closed his eyes, and started praying again.

PREORDER THE EPIC CONCLUSION TO THE DRAGON AWARD NOMINATED SERIES TODAY.