D.B. Reynolds Chats Worldbuilding & SOPHIA Contest

"Smart, suspenseful and sexy. D. B. Reynolds' characters linger long after the last page."

Kelley Armstrong, author of the Otherworld series

I'm very pleased to have D.B. Reynolds here today as a guest blogger. D.B. has built up a group of fans who appreciate her hot and steamy Vampires in America series. She's just released her fourth book in the series, Sophia, as both an e-book and limited print run.

Vampire Wire regular and paranormal fanatic Dot Salvigan reviewed D.B.'s Rajmund and said:

D. B. Reynolds writes such delicious bad boys. They are truly bad not sparkly but they are also the kind of guy you want covering your back in a tough situation. Her prose is such that the world of these vampires is vivid, so vivid that you can see the environment and feel the dark. The romance is tortured and long time developing and oh so sexy. There is mystery, action, suspense, sleazy characters to contend with, did I mention romance and sex?

Here's the book summary:

Sophia, beautiful and deadly, has spent the last hundred years dancing her way through the balmy nights and hot-blooded men of South America. But when her Sire sends an urgent summons, Sophia rushes home to Vancouver only to find he has disappeared, leaving nothing behind but three dead vampires and a letter with Sophia’s name on it.

Colin Murphy, a former Navy SEAL, came to the Northwest seeking a quiet place to heal the scars earned in more than a decade at war. But when someone starts killing local vampires and torturing their mates, Colin takes on the mantle of a warrior once again as he sets out to find the killers and do whatever it takes to stop them, even if that means hunting with vampires.

D.B. has generously offered a copy of Sophia (either the print or e-book version) in a contest, so read down for info. Now, let's welcome D.B.!

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I’ve been asked many times how I came up with the world my vampires inhabit, why I made the choices I did. Mostly I wanted to accomplish two things … no broody, sensitive,suffering vampires who hate what they are and who only drink blood when they absolutely must and then grimace in disgust. That’s not a vampire! My vampires are bloody and brutal and territorial and demanding. They’re the most powerful creatures on earth, the top of the food chain, the most deadly predator the world has ever seen. They don’t pinch their noses at the taste of blood, they savor its satiny texture, its delicate flavor as it rolls down their throats like warm honey. Ahhhh!

The other thing was I wanted the world to be real, to have my vampires to live in the same world the rest of us do. I wanted a reader to be driving down Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, pass an oceanfront estate hidden by a grove of Eucalyptus trees, and think … Is that where Raphael lives? Or to arrive in a new city and wonder where the blood houses were located, so they’d know where the very best parties and the most beautiful men were!

So … how did I create the world of my vampires? I didn’t. The world already existed. It’s the one we all live in. What I created were vampires who could live in that world, who could build empires and accumulate power, buy politicians and attend galas with the beautiful people … and no one would notice unless they wanted them to.

I love my vampires. How about you?

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Thanks, D.B.!

The series is: Raphael (Book One); Jabril (Book Two); Rajmund (Book 3); and Sophia (Book 4). You can find D.B. by visiting her website (where she has free scenes and an intriguing "for adults only" section!) or her Facebook page.

TO ENTER THE CONTEST: If you'd like to win Sophia, just leave a comment for D.B. about the kind of vampires you like or just a comment about her guest post. The contest runs through May 18 (new date!). CORRECTION: The contest is WORLDWIDE. The winner will be drawn at random.

GRAUTITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

In honor of D.B., the theme is dangerous and sexy vamps.



What goes better than a dangerous vamp and Ozzy, the Prince of Darkness? Warning: there's some naked Swedish butt in this one.



One of my faves, John Mitchell (Aidan Turner) of Being Human.



This is just a Friday treat, a video made from Ian Somerhalder's shoot for Italian Vogue.

Geek Chic and I Kvetch about Tim Burton

 I got my rewrite to my editor a few days late, so, yeah! (I have put off lots of tasks during my rewrite, including mailing things and answering emails, so be patient.) I also managed to connect my internet...but it's crapping out on me constantly so I will need assistance from the teen geek down the street. Let us take a moment to appreciate the geeks who keep our lives functioning.

The main character of my next book (still unnamed) is a girl geek named Jane Williams, and one of my favorite geeks of all time is Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I loved Willow's gentle spirit, her vulnerability, her affectionate nature, and her realization that she had powers. Her heartbreaks were heartbreaking.


Catherine Karp at Suburban Vampire has the cast list for Tim Burton's big-screen version of the cult favorite series Dark Shadows. Okay, I'm getting skeptical about this project. First, Tim Burton often lets his amazing visual style dominate over story/depth/substance. For example, think about Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp (who will star in the Dark Shadows movie).

The movie was spectacular to look at, but Burton let Depp play Willy Wonka giggling like Michael Jackson and luring children to his factory. Ew. But despite this pop reference, the movie didn't have the essential darkness and sadness of the world inhabited in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring the brilliant Gene Wilder as the Willie Wonka.

My main criticism of Tim Burton is: he always goes for cute.

Now, the second red light is that the screenwriter is the gimmick-dude who slapped a vampire theme on a Jane Austen novel (keeping her text because, hey, it's royalty-free) and a zombie theme on a book about Abraham Lincoln -- which conveniently avoided that whole messy slavery issue in a book about the Civil War.

These were books people bought because of the clever gimmicky covers. Another case of style over any substance.

On the plus side about the Dark Shadows movie, Johnny Depp was born to play the elegant, melancholy vampire Barnabas Collins. If Burton lets him act instead of imposing all kinds of visual gimcracks onscreen, we might see an astonishing performance.

Now the way the universe says "Screw you, Marta" to this whole complaint is that Rufus Sewell has been cast in the film version of the stoopid Abe Lincoln-vampire movie, so I suppose I'll have to see it anyway. I'll be the person sitting behind you at the theater complaining that the coffee is crummy and that the movie is awful, but isn't Rufus pretty.

What do Alyson Hannigan, Johnny Depp, Gene Wilder, and Rufus Sewell have in common? They all look fabulous in eyeliner.

GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

The theme is: actors mentioned in my post today.



Johnny Depp and Disco!





Look, if I'm going to have to watch a stoopid vampire-Abe Lincoln movie, I deserve a bonus Rufus video.