1916: France, World War I
Narain Khan was 25 when he left his
native India to fight in the trenches of the Western Front during WWI. It was
his hope that he could stay on after the war to pursue his dream of studying
the culinary arts and becoming a world class chef. Instead, he fell to shrapnel
amidst the carnage of that bitter war.
Carnage which, when darkness fell, attracted something terrifying: A roaming pack of feral vampires--mindless feeders--who fell upon the soldiers left wounded and dying in No Man’s Land. Attacked by the ferals, Narain was transformed into the other type of vampire: A sentient capable of moving about in society with only a few restrictions and able to feed without killing the host. While in the fugue state of his conversion, he was found by Alphonse Reno, a man who had lost his own son to feral vampirism and who is sure the condition is biological, not metaphysical. Working to find a cure in hopes of bringing back his son, Alphonse convinces Narain that, unlike ferals, he could lead a relatively normal life.
Carnage which, when darkness fell, attracted something terrifying: A roaming pack of feral vampires--mindless feeders--who fell upon the soldiers left wounded and dying in No Man’s Land. Attacked by the ferals, Narain was transformed into the other type of vampire: A sentient capable of moving about in society with only a few restrictions and able to feed without killing the host. While in the fugue state of his conversion, he was found by Alphonse Reno, a man who had lost his own son to feral vampirism and who is sure the condition is biological, not metaphysical. Working to find a cure in hopes of bringing back his son, Alphonse convinces Narain that, unlike ferals, he could lead a relatively normal life.
Present Day: Chicago, U.S.
Narain has reached a crossroads.
Helping him adjust to his condition through the decades was his beloved Sophie
who was not only his wife, but his food
source once they realize she wasn’t susceptible to the condition. Her sacrifice
enabled him to lead as normal a life as possible, making hunting for food
unnecessary. Cancer had taken Sophie the previous year and after the stock of
blood she had saved up has been depleted, Narain is faced with again having to
hunt for his food, something he is both morally opposed to, but also causes him
to fear passing on the condition to unwitting, perhaps dangerous hosts. If left
too long, however, hunger can bring out the deadly feral nature even in a
sentient vampire. As a well-respected chef and owner of a successful Chicago
restaurant, Narain has worked hard to promote a veneer of normalcy. The last
thing he and his business partner and friend Dom Amato needs is for Narain's
hunger to get the better of him.
Events conspire, however, to drag
Narain away from the safe life he has cultivated back into one of madness and
danger: The attraction he feels for microbiologist Cassie Lambert, who has a
link to his past Narain is unaware of, and the re-emergence of a ghost from the
Great War. Captain Reginald Jameson was a sadistic predator when Narain had
challenged him during their service in the trenches of France. The vampire
Jameson of 90 years later is infinitely more dangerous, his sadism backed by
the bizarre abilities of their condition. The discovery that Cassie Lambert has
made about the cause of vampirism is one that Jameson is willing to kill to
obtain.
Jameson has brought back another ghost
from their shared history in his search to find immunity to sunlight. The
experiments of his researchers, however, have resulted in the creation of a
third, more terrifying breed of vampire: Boris, a psychopathic monster who will
stop at nothing to destroy all in his path.
In trying to protect Cassie from
Jameson and Boris, Narain will have to rely on skills that he’s allowed to
atrophy over the decades. In a climatic struggle, Narain will have to learn
that to defeat the real monsters, he has to embrace what he is and awaken the
beast within. And to touch the sun, he will have to risk being burned up in its
fury.
And there's more where that came from. At this point there are three more novels waiting in the wings with a spin off novel featuring two paranormal investigators that appear in the third vampire novel. I'm hoping to give them their own series.
The bottom line is that I can't stop telling these stories. I love these characters that I've created more than any I've created before and I love the "universe" I've created for them. I have a great deal of fun writing these stories and I'm hoping readers will have fun reading them.
And to think it all started on a whim. But I'll explain that next time. That's why I decided to set up this blog. I want readers to get to know me and the characters that populate my novels. So next post I'll tell you all about the kernel of a idea that popped in ways I never expected.
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| OFF TO THE RIGHT IS LAKE POINT TOWER, HOME OF NARAIN KHAN |
