A Taste of Blood & Roses - Vampire Fiction $2.99

[David.Niall.Wils]

My new collection - A TASTE OF BLOOD AND ROSES - is now available at Crossroad Press and Smashwords (shortly at Amazon). It's only $2.99 ...

(Vampires that don’t sparkle…)

This collection of stories spans two decades of work by Bram Stoker Award winning author David Niall Wilson. From the streets of Jerusalem to the historical life of Vlad Tepes, follow this prolific author through eleven tales of vampirism, lycanthropy, and darkness. There’s a bit of dark humor, a touch of the erotic, and a little something for everyone who loves creatures of the night. Also…these vampires are gauranteed not to sparkle… Contents:

A Candle in the Sun
Flash Fiction
Bloodstained Glass
Miracles in the Night
Smiling Eyes and Haunted Face
To Dream of Sheherzad
The Subtle Ties That Bind
A Taste of Blood and Roses
The Death-Sweet Scent of Lilies
Against His Bitter Judgment
The Sound of Drums

The foreword:

I’ve been writing since the mid 1980s, and during all those years,vampires have remained close to my heart. There were periods when it seemed as if you couldn’t have an anthology unless the theme was erotic vampire stories. There were other times when all you heard was, “no vampires.” I can say that I survived both – even selling a vampire story t two editors who said they didn’t think they’d ever buy another one. Both of those are contained in this collection.

I’m not going to bore you with a dissertation on vampires as characters, or why I think the undead remain … well … undead in fiction as well. I will give you a short introduction to each story, and then leave you to the words. As Mary says in the first story … I have walked this road, and my words should suffice.

A Candle in the Sun (originally titled The Fifth Gospel). was written on a US Navy ship. Someone – I don’t remember who – said, “What if Jesus was a vampire.” I said that wouldn’t work, but what if someone near him was? The rest, pretty much, is history. I turned it in to my writer’s group and Richard Rowand, then editor of STARSHORE magazine, asked to buy the story immediately. My first pro sale that wasn’t porn to a men’s magazine. This story has been reprinted several times. One of those times was by Karl Edward Wagner in Year’s Best Horror XIX – he was the first of the editors who said they thought they were done with vampires. He was also – over the years – a good friend. He is missed.

Flash Fiction is a brand new, unpublished story. It was inspired by something that vampire author Karen E. Taylor wrote in her online journal. It’s a humorous story – humor is something I like even more than vampires. You’ll have to let me know how they mix.

Bloodstained Glass was written for a now defunct magazine. I honestly don’t even remember the name of it. It’s a little old fashioned. I like the imagery of it, so I’ve included it here as a change of pace.

[Edited for length - MODERAT0R]

The final story in this book, The Sound of Drums, is also not exactly a vampire story. There are ghouls – or – sort of ghouls. There’s a cargo cult. There’s US Navy stuff from my days serving my country. This story was written for my buddy Brian Cartwright when he first started Cargo Cult Press…it was printed as a book and given only to the people who bought lifetime subscriptions. It’s a very, very rare book worth a lot of money…but the words still need to get read, and so I present it here. Some of you will recognize names in the story … Brian and I both appreciate you guys…Cargo Cult Press put out some of the most gorgeous books ever. I own a complete set from the Cartwright years…and as payment, will receive one of every book ever published under that line. Best deal I ever made.

And now…let there be vampires.

–David Niall Wilson

[Worldwalker]

Tell me it's DRM-free ... that's the first vampire book I've wanted to read in ages (since way before the sparklepires).

And why do you put.periods.in.your.name?

[Worldwalker]

Odd, other people use spaces. Who knows, maybe they changed it.

Anyway, book bought. Now to find some time to read it, and time to poke around the rest of the listings. I don't need more books; I need more me!

By the way, please, for the love of all that's holy, thumbnail those book cover images! A 1.5 MB picture (1,650px × 2,550px) doesn't get any smaller when it's wedged into the size of a postage stamp ... a page of those things made even my DSL connection slow to a crawl. They'll look better, too. (also, why the time/downloads limit? most of the ebookstores I buy from don't do that)

[David.Niall.Wils]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Odd, other people use spaces. Who knows, maybe they changed it.

Anyway, book bought. Now to find some time to read it, and time to poke around the rest of the listings. I don't need more books; I need more me!

By the way, please, for the love of all that's holy, thumbnail those book cover images! A 1.5 MB picture (1,650px × 2,550px) doesn't get any smaller when it's wedged into the size of a postage stamp ... a page of those things made even my DSL connection slow to a crawl. They'll look better, too. (also, why the time/downloads limit? most of the ebookstores I buy from don't do that)

Yeah, I know. I am working on resizing all of those. I thought the store was going to do it for me.

[David.Niall.Wils]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Odd, other people use spaces. Who knows, maybe they changed it.

Anyway, book bought. Now to find some time to read it, and time to poke around the rest of the listings. I don't need more books; I need more me!

By the way, please, for the love of all that's holy, thumbnail those book cover images!

Done. I brought all the larger ones down to reasonable size. The whole thing loads smoother and faster now. Should have done it a long time back...but things are always getting pushed aside...

D

[David.Niall.Wils]

Wow...Amazon.com is dead...but Smashwords still works ... so does Crossroad Press