The Avebury Legacy - Audio Chapter 1 Scene 1

So I have made a recording of the first scene of The Avebury Legacy so people can have a listen. I used Audacity and a ProSound Podcasting Mic, so I hope the quality is really nice to listen to.

Let me know what you think :) Thanks



The Avebury Legacy is also 99c (60% OFF) until 20th Feb - so get it while it's hot.

Buy Links:

Amazon | Smashwords | Google Play | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Inktera

Happy Valentine's Day and 99c Offer on The Avebury Legacy

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all.

To couples or moresomes, I wish you all the love and romance in whatever degrees floats your boats :).

To all the singles, be it from choice or from circumstance, I wish you lots of love. Love of family and friends, love of pets, love of a good book, love of your favourite TV show or movie, love of chocolate, just love, lots and lots of it.

Whoever you are, with someone or not, I hope you have a great day.

~*~

Now on to that special offer I mentioned.

The Avebury Legacy is 99c from today until 20th Feb - that 60% OFF.

When you're a vampire hunter infected with vampirism your life expectancy is short. Nate's a hunter and Lexie's a witch and they have less than six months before Lexie's magic can no longer delay the symptoms and keep them at least partially human. They must find the relics from the legendary Avebury ritual for a chance of a cure.

Buy Links:
Amazon |Smashwords |Google Play | B&N |iBooks | Kobo |Inktera

I also have a brand new blog post all about the book: Love, Relics and Vampires – The Avebury Legacy over at our Wittegen Press blog.

So I just got a 1 star review on Amazon ...

So I just got a 1 star review on Amazon for The Avebury Legacy from someone who gave the person I beat on Cover Wars a 5* review.

The review is one line and there is no verified purchase to go with it. People are welcome to their opinion, but I think this (and this is the whole review):

Not worth reading. Nothing but lies and negative horror.

seems to be nothing about the book. I'm not sure how there can be lies in a fiction book anyway - I mean, I made it up, it's all fictitious, but then I don't expect to walk down the road and meet a vampire and am not trying to tell people they will, so no lies.

Does anyone fancy helping me out and giving me some honest reviews in exchange for a free copy of the book. It's only 99c anyway until the 21st, but I would very much appreciate some reviewers and am happy to give you a copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion. The other reviews are 4 and 5 * BTW in case you were wondering what other people thought of it, there just aren't that many of them.

The book is contemporary fantasy with some elements of paranormal and horror. Nasty vampires, a quest, magic etc.

The Avebury Legacy - book blurb

Love your vampires nasty and your fantasy with elements of paranormal horror? "The Avebury Legacy" is the contemporary novel for you.

Nate was hunting a vampire when he first bumped into Lexie, a witch infected by a vampire bite. When Lexie used blood magic to save him from certain death, she passed on the infection to Nate. For a time Lexie's magic has been able to keep them both partially human as they continue to protect ignorant humanity from the vampire threat, but that magic is now starting to fail.

There are legends that the ancient Avebury ritual designed to destroy Morigan of Leyland, the most powerful vampire ever known, may hold the key to the cure they need, but to perform it Nate and Lexie require the four relics from the original ritual. Enlisting the help of veteran hunter, Brian Hawker, who has his own reasons for finding the relics, they must search across continents before it is too late.

In their way are vampire nuns, a crystal cave, shape changers, a labyrinthine catacomb, mummified monks and even librarians. However, their greatest foe is Dahlia, undead sister of Morigan, who will stop at nothing to retrieve the relics for herself and to claim Morigan's power. If Dahlia reaches any of the relics before them, Nate and Lexie face a fate worse than death, losing their humanity to the blood lust.

Exciting contemporary paranormal fantasy. "Tomb Raider meets vampires" with fast paced action and engaging characters.

Thank you to everyone who voted for The Avebury Legacy at Cover Wars

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who voted for The Avebury Legacy at Cover Wars :)

We won! :D

The Avebury Legacy is now book of the week.

You are all absolutely awesome.

The Bunny is safe! ;)

Great Review for The Avebury Legacy and Link to Vampire Archetypes blog post

I've just had an awesome review for The Avebury Legacy at A Creative Mind, which is a great blog with great reviews. I recommend it thoroughly. She was also wonderful and posted it on Amazon where it translates as 5 star :).

The Avebury Legacy (Vampires: The New Age #1) by Natasha Duncan-Drake Review @ A Creative Mind

Since I'm on something of a vampire kick at the moment I was also thinking about all the different types of vampire that show up in various forms of fiction so I wrote a blog post about them. The genre really is a lot more diverse than many media outlets would like us to believe.

Vampire Archetypes and The Characters They Spawn @ Wittegen Press

There is a question at the bottom of the above blog post and I would love to chat.

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.

Amazon US | Amazon (non-US) | Smashwords | Google Play | iBooks | Kobo | Inktera | txtr

The bunny is in danger!

Keep the bunny safe! Vote for The Avebury Legacy over at Cover wars or the vicious kitty will attack!

• click here to go to the Cover Wars page
• check the radio button next to The Avebury Legacy
• click vote
• repeat daily until Sunday (if you would be so kind)

I'm in second place, but I'm 30 or so votes behind. If I win my book becomes book of the week so all their visitors see it in the side bar of their blog.

The Avebury Legacy in Cover Wars and 99c SALE

This week The Avebury Legacy is up in Cover Wars over at Author Shout and I would be really grateful for a little help with the voting please :).

All you have to do is click here to go to the post, tick a radio box next to The Avebury Legacy and then click submit. You can vote once a day until Sunday.

Many Thanks

99c eBook SALE - The Avebury Legacy

The book is also ON SALE for a limited time only for 99c ($2.99) (everywhere except Nook at the moment).

Amazon US | Amazon (non-US) | Smashwords | Google Play | iBooks | Kobo | Inktera | txtr

Nate was hunting a vampire when he first bumped into Lexie, a witch infected by a vampire bite. When Lexie used blood magic to save him from certain death, she passed on the infection to Nate. For a time Lexie’s magic has been able to keep them both partially human as they continue to protect ignorant humanity from the vampire threat, but that magic is now starting to fail.

There are legends that the ancient Avebury ritual designed to destroy Morigan of Leyland, the most powerful vampire ever known, may hold the key to the cure they need, but to perform it Nate and Lexie require the four relics from the original ritual. Enlisting the help of veteran hunter, Brian Hawker, who has his own reasons for finding the relics, they must search across continents before it is too late.

In their way are vampire nuns, a crystal cave, shape changers, a labyrinthine catacomb, mummified monks and even librarians. However, their greatest foe is Dahlia, undead sister of Morigan, who will stop at nothing to retrieve the relics for herself and to claim Morigan’s power. If Dahlia reaches any of the relics before them, Nate and Lexie face a fate worse than death, losing their humanity to the blood lust.

Nate Laven - An Introduction (Vampires: The New Age)

In honour of the fact that I have signed up with BooksGoSocial.com to promote The Avebury Legacy, I thought I would introduce you to my main protagonist, Nate (not that he'd get anywhere without Lexie, but she will have her own post). You can read the first page of the book over at BooksGoSocial.com and if you like that you can check out the whole first chapter at The Avebury Legacy's book listing on Wittegen Press, or use the look inside functionality over at Amazon or download the 20% sample at Smashwords. There are also sample options on all sites where the book is listed that offer that service, so you can try before you buy.

Name: Nate Laven
Age: early twenties
Description: Think surfer dude - blond, classically handsome, tall. He looks like he should be on a beach or in a frat house, not chasing vampires. That's him on the front cover above, but he's a little beaten up and has a small vampire issue going on.

Background:

Nate is British born, but his family moved to the USA when he was nine, so he mostly sounds American. He became a hunter when he was seventeen after his best friend was killed by a vampire and he became aware they existed. He was trained by an experienced hunter and started off as part of a group, but went solo after one of his comrades shot him while being careless.

Nate likes to rely on himself and no one else and he trusts only when he has to. Lexie, a white witch and his travelling companion, is the exception, because she saved his life. Nate was infected by vampirism himself when Lexie, already infected, had to use her blood to connect them and save him from a vampire's magic. They are stuck together, because Lexie's magic keeps them partially human and Nate has come to care for her more than he is comfortable with.

He's a good guy, but he definitely has trust issues.

He gets his jobs from a man called Macintyre, who is the main man when it comes to freelance vampire hunting. Macintyre pays well and has a network to rival the combined world churches who are the biggest players on the world stage of vampire hunting. Nate almost trusts Macintyre ... almost. Hunting keeps Nate's bank account healthy and his adrenaline dose high.

His parents think he works as a business consultant which keeps him travelling all over North America.

If you would like to read how Nate became infected with vampirism, then you'll enjoy my novelette, The Beginning (Vampires: The New Age, Prequel #1). The book is usually 99c, but if you have read The Avebury Legacy (Vampires: The New Age #1) and are willing to give it an honest review on one of the major book sites, I'll happily send it to you for free. There is a Google form at The Avebury Legacy's main page with easy fields to fill in to point me at your review and let me know how to contact you to send you the free book.

I've also written a piece of flash fiction for The Avebury Legacy (Vampires: The New Age #1) this week over at the Wittegen Press blog.