I used to joke about that. That the first book in the series which was supposed to have been a one-off, was 'Jane Eyre with vampires.' I had a different publisher in those far off days of 2010.
"How about writing another book, a sequel!"
I thought, sure why not! Then because I have always loved challenges, I went and did something that could have proven to be impossible! If Rose Baines, long-suffering heroine of The House on Blackstone Moor had been my chief protagonist, I decided on making the monstrous villain, Eco the chief protagonist in the sequel!
OMG! What have I done I thought! How will I write this?! He's such a monster! Well, I just decided to go through with it. I would go to the roots of his existence and try and see life as he did. Now, he is a demon--he's handsome and can be charming but he's a monster! I had no problem with that. By the way, he won Best Villain at the eFestival of Books for his frightening role in The House on Backstone Moor and the novel scooped Best Horror in 2013.
Everything to me is motivation. Why was he a monster? I knew I had to give him reasons if I wanted to get a book to follow, a book told from his point of view. Well for one thing, he was jealous of Rose's true love, Louis Darton who turns out to be Eco's cousin!
The book goes onto explain how Eco fell in love with Rose and the conflict is he detests, and is jealous of, his cousin! The book grew so much, it became a third book. And it grew still into a fourth when his friend, Dracula is introduced. Eco has deliberately, in that book, orchestrated his friend's appearance and will be responsible for a great deal!
Now this series is not written for any other reason than to tell the continuing story of these characters. It's not written to just bang out more books about vampires. It has its characters and is told against the backdrop of history Well, vampires are immortal they exist for hundreds of years, and in this series demonic characters like Eco exist for thousands.
Eco was not always a monster. Had he been, his character would have been flat. He loved a vampire priestess in Ancient Egypt, saw Christ preaching and felt unclean, felt every bit of the demon he was. As a reader said to me, 'Eco's problem is he's an intelligent demon.'
This depicts Eco's first appearance and it concerns his witnessing The Crucifixion.
https://carolegillauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/the-ointment-story-for-easter.html
You will read in that story, his bitter realization of knowing he's on the losing side which is what he says. Being so intelligent, he is driven mad. Poor Eco.
If you want to know what each book is about this is a post I did which has become hugely popular:
https://carolegillauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/vampire-saga-undeath-love-passion.html
The Blackstone Vampires are not 'lovable housemates' which another reader noted. They are tortured beings who love and lust and feed. Each is different from the other. Each is his own being.
All four books can be found in The Blackstone Vampires Omnibus. As I understand it, my publisher is only periodically going to promote the first book in the series, The House on Blackstone Moor, meaning that is the only book that won't be permanently priced at $2.99, HOWEVER!!!
The Omnibus is priced at $4.99 which is quite a bargain, I think as it comprises all four books. :)
“Stoker’s horror was there, along with the romance!”
2014 - Amazon Bestseller in Dark Fantasy - THE BLACKSTONE VAMPIRES OMNIBUS
2015 - Amazon Bestseller in Vampire Horror - THE BLACKSTONE VAMPIRES OMNIBUS
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