The Avebury Legacy and why I wrote it.

I love vampires, there are no two ways about it, that is a simple fact. I love vampire movies and vampire books and I love writing vampires. I own nearly 200 vampire films and have a shelf full of vampire novels so I'm not kidding :).

Now I know lots of people think vampires are over done and passé, but I have to disagree. The thing about the vampire genre is there are so many ways to go with it and so many possibilities. I saw a vampire film just last night that was fresh and new and I hadn't seen done in quite that way before (I'm going to review it shortly :)).

The Avebury Legacy is not your romantic vampire seducing the heroine/hero (be they evil or not) kind of story. I have written those, in fact my best selling book is kind of along those lines, but Avebury's vampires are more of the rip your head off than wine and dine you types.

When I set out to write this novel I knew from the get go that these vampires were not sympathetic in any way. They're also not overly civilised.

• They are driven by powerful urges and kill and take what they want when they want. 
• They live in a kind of hive like structure where the queen bee, or alpha, has a brood of workers known as spawn that are subject to her/his every whim. 
• An alpha is the brains of the operation and spawn have any intelligence they may have once possessed suppressed by the will of their alpha. 
• Only if an alpha dies or abandons their brood will one of the spawn rise to the level of alpha, regaining their faculties. 
• A more powerful alpha might have more intelligent spawn, their will being strong enough to deal with more creative minions, but no alpha allows rebellion.

Most people don't know vampires even exist and the vampires live on the edges of society, hidden away. The people who do come across them tend to not live very long or become hunters. The world church is united about one thing even if they disagree about every other doctrine; vampires need to be destroyed. Most vampire hunters are affiliated with a religious organisation in some way, but there are independents, like Nate, my main protagonist.

In this universe, becoming a vampire is a fate worse than death.

Which is the whole premise behind the plot.

Another thing I love to read and write is a character stuck between two world. My entry drug to vampire movies was The Lost Boys and I think Michael had a great effect on my psyche :). My two main protagonists, Nate and Lexie are both infected with vampirism, but Lexie's magic is keeping them partially human using a ritual she invented.

They would have made wonderful characters just like that, but, of course, they needed an impetus to do something, hence they are running out of time. Lexie's magic is bringing them back to further away from human each time and sooner or later they will lose the battle and become full vampires. Something neither of them want. They need a cure.

The cure is offered by the legendary Avebury ritual, designed many centuries ago by a pagan/Christian coalition to destroy the most powerful vampire who ever lived: Morigan of Leyland.

This is where yet another of my favourite things comes in: the quest. I've been a fantasy fan since reading The Hobbit as a pre-teen (or rather at the time having it read to me), so quests are awesome as far as I am concerned.

Nate and Lexie's quest is to find the four relics from the Avebury ritual and the scolls which explain how to use them.

Their big problem is Dahlia, Morigan's undead sister, who is also after the relics because they can give her Morigan's power. That and the fact that if any hunter realises they are infected they are likely to end up staked on principle. Which is why enlisting the help of the most renown vampire hunter alive, Brian Hawker, is something of a risky strategy, but he is also researching the relics and has a head start.

So, basically, I put a whole load of things I love to read in a book that I hope others will love to read too.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my twisted mind :).

Are you a vampire fan? If so what kind of vampires do you like best, romantic leads, evil bastards or something in between? If not, what don't you like about them?

Buy Links

The Avebury Legacy is on sale for 99c ($2.99) until the 21st Dec, so get it while it's on offer.

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