Are you a Flay?

Which Vampire Empire character resonates with you most?

We've got a little survey going on our Facebook page

www.facebook.com/vampireempire

Go there and give us your answer. Or respond here if you wish!

The Internet is like a party with different groups of your friends

Sometimes they stay in different rooms and don't mix.

The interesting thing about the internet (other than hilarious pictures of talking cats) is all the ways to connect with people. And just like the real world, you make different friends in different places.

For instance, some people follow Vampire Empire through this blog. Others use Goodreads. And even others found us on Facebook. Plus various other ways. We have different numbers of friends or followers or fans on each of those sites. There's likely some cross-over where the same reader comes to this blog, likes the Facebook page, and is a friend on Goodreads, but there are also plenty who don't move between the sites.

There's no great profound revelation here. We were just thinking about making contact with our readers in better ways. We're making plans for cool stuff in conjunction with The Rift Walker coming out in September, and we want to make sure we're reaching everyone with an interest in Vampire Empire.

We hope to launch a new website before the new book comes out, and to continue to update this blog with book info, and general thoughts about writing and pop culture. We would tell anyone who wants more immediate updates and info to go to our Facebook page and hit the Like button:

www.facebook.com/vampireempire

We want our friends in the kitchen to talk to our friends hanging out by stereo. Mingle.

I Think Green TV and I Are Through

And We Had Such a Good Thing Going...

This is from Clay. Susan recuses herself from anything I'm going to say.

I watched a lot of the live 4-hour Destination: Truth episode from Ireland on St. Patrick's Day. No, I wasn't too drunk to change the channel. I did switch over frequently to check scores in the NCAA tournament. But I always switched back.

I said four hours. Four Hours. FOUR HOURS.

Josh and crew are stunned anyone is still watching.

Josh and his crew of professional truth-seekers spent 4 hours wandering through some places in Ireland...I wasn't paying much attention...it was a castle or a forest or something. I think they were looking for a banshee. A banshee? Really? A BANSHEE?!?! Or ghosts. Or kelpies. Or whatever the hell it was. All I know is, it was night time. Because they used the green thing. Oh yes, the wonderful green camera.

It's right behind me, isn't it?

So Syfy showed 4 hours of green night-vision close-ups of Josh and his people and grainy green shots of castles or forests or something. Lots of asking questions to the spirits and listening for something ... anything. So what did Destination: Truth find?

Nothing.

What do they ever find? Nothing.

Josh has got the sweetest gig on the planet. These guys travel all over the world investigating monsters. Or at least, they used to. Apparently they ran out of local monsters, so now they basically copy Ghost Hunters, another green-screen show (although their green screen is a little more grey). They never find anything except a bigger budget to keep doing it.

But I watch it. Or I used to. I once was a frequent viewer of Destination: Truth and Ghost Hunters. Do I believe in ghosts and monsters? Not really. Do I want to believe? Sorta. I'm a horror buff, and I'd like to think weird things are out there.

Have these shows come close to proving it? NO.

Josh is ripping off our schtick.

Has Destination: Truth or Ghost Hunters ever found a shred of evidence that would convince even the least skeptical person? NO. People who used to believe John Edwards: Crossing Over wouldn't buy the evidence on these two shows.

They turn up garbled sounds that sound exactly like garbled sounds, but they claim sound like words. They show photographs of shadows that look like shadows, but they claim are disembodied figures. Josh hears noises in trees or sounds in the bushes. Those noises COULD be a monster. Or it could be a bird, or a squirrel.

Oh My God! Was that a noise! It was!

So why do I watch?

I don't know. I don't watch as much as I used to, but as I said, I tuned in to a lot of Josh's FOUR HOUR live broadcast from Ireland. For some reason, I'm mesmerized by the green screen. I want something to show up, to walk by, to jump out. Please let SOMETHING happen. Please GOD these people can't waste more of my time and their network's money, can they? They have to find SOMETHING at SOME POINT!

Why am I still sitting here?!?!?

It must be the green screen. If they shot every tv show in luminescent green, I would watch it.

But now, they pushed it too far. On St. Patrick's Day, Josh promised me a lovely first class vacation to Ireland, but when I got there I found I was booked me into a crappy hotel where my wallet was stolen and all my tour vouchers were invalid. Oh, did I mention it was FOUR HOURS?

That's it! I am done with you and your emerald-colored promise of the unknown. Screw you, green tv!

The local convention in a global media world.

David and Goliath

We attended StellarCon in High Point, NC this past weekend, and it got us thinking about the place of the smaller, local convention in fandom. StellarCon isn't the smallest of cons; it's more of a medium-sized convention. We have no idea of attendance numbers, but it is small compared to the giants like DragonCon and ComicCon.

Conventions like StellarCon don't have the glitz and buzz of the super media events, but the local cons have a charm that you can't replace with seizure-inducing displays by gaming companies or panels complete with sneak preview footage of the latest upcoming blockbuster. Don't get us wrong, we LOVE the giant cons, but the local cons are about the fans. Fans who attend those local cons have an opportunity to meet and interact with both pros and other fans with an intimacy that doesn't often exist at the super cons. You can get your books signed without waiting in line for hours. You can ask a question and get an answer. You don't have to plan your whole day around standing in line to get in a particular panel. You can buttonhole people in the hall and chat. In fact, the pro guests are very available because a lot of the fans are really there to hang out with their friends, not monopolize the guests.

And since local cons tend to get their guests from the writing world, most of the programming is about writing and publishing. Movies, tv, and gaming haven't taken over the local con scene. These gatherings are first and foremost about reading. And that is really cool. People talk books. People buy books. People carry books around like they mean something to them.

There's room for both types of cons. We just hope that the smaller local convention stays around. They certainly seem to be thriving. There are new cons popping up every year. Some work, some don't. But there seems to be no shortage of people anxious to create their own con. They don't seem to care that ComicCon and DragonCon are out there. They must know that someone will always come along to fight the giant.

The Rift Walker: Vampire Empire Book 2

The title is out there.

We were hesitant to reveal the title, but our editor Facebooked it, so here it is. We are making final edits, and then the manuscript will go into production. Publication is expected in September 2011.

The story will take you to new societies (both human and vampire) and show you much more of the world made by the Great Killing. But at its heart, the book is a story about characters (both human and vampire), the ones you came to love in The Greyfriar, and new ones too. As with the first book, it's a pulp adventure story with romance, steampunk style, dark fantasy angst, against a background of epic politics and war. Oh, and vampires.

We're very excited about the new book and we hope that if you liked The Greyfriar, you will love The Rift Walker.

Places of Vampire Empire

Prince Gareth's home -- Edinburgh Castle

In the second installment of some visual bits of Vampire Empire, we decided to share some wonderful old pictures of a wonderful old city. Edinburgh. Prince Gareth lives there, high above the Old Town, in the ancient castle.

We love Edinburgh because we were married there in Greyfriar's Kirk (hence the name of the book and the hero). We'll post shots of Greyfriar's Kirk and kirkyard later, but now we're focusing on Edinburgh Castle.

The city is both lovely and grim. The historical heart of Edinburgh retains much of the architecture of the 19th century (and centuries before too). Most of the photos posted below come from the wonderful www.capitalcollections.org.uk from the City of Edinburgh. Check it out for more old portraits of that city.

Edinburgh Castle over Cowgate

Edinburgh Castle from the Grassmarket

Still looks the same, except in color.

The Places of Vampire Empire

Princess Adele's Home -- Alexandria

From time to time, we want to show you some of the images that inspired aspects of The Greyfriar and the entire Vampire Empire series. In addition to our own travels, we studied a lot of old photos and engravings, and poured over 19th century travel books, to get a sense of how Victorian cities looked and felt. Fortunately, the Victorians loved cameras and most of them couldn't wait to write books about their travels.

We'll start with some images of Alexandria, Egypt, the capital of the Equatorian Empire. These photos are from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. They aren't intended to depict the city exactly as it would appear in The Greyfriar, but they give a sense of that wonderful old city during the Victorian Era, which was the starting point for the Alexandria of our book.