Meet my guest today, Author, Tina Frisco. 

She has a brand new book release and I am happy to share it here.

Thank you for inviting me to be a guest on your blog, Jan. I appreciate this opportunity to talk about my new book, Vampyrie: Origin of the Vampire.

Vampyrie is not your typical vampire novel. It’s based in science and brings the myth of the vampire into the realm of possibility. Although the book is not part of a series, two primary characters from my first novel, Plateau, play major roles.

One day during my morning walk, the word Valkyrie came to mind. As you may know, a valkyrie is one of a host of female helping spirits of the god Odin in Norse mythology. Depicted as both loving and bloodthirsty, valkyries decide who lives and who dies in battle. They also assist Odin in transporting his favorites among the slain to Valhalla, the hall where he houses the dead whom he deems worthy of dwelling with him. In my novel, Valkyrie becomes Vampyrie and Valhalla becomes the Haven.

I always have been fascinated by the myth of the vampire and often have wondered if the phenomenon actually could exist. My background in medicine led me to speculate about how this might have a basis in reality. If rooted in science, how might this myth come to life? The most likely answer would be as a physical disorder or disease.

As I began writing, the story began unfolding. What if vampires were not the undead, but rather the dying? What if there were two factions among vampires: the sustained and the unsustainable? And what if those factions were at war with one another over the life of a young woman who promised them a future?

Vampyrie brings the myth of the vampire into the realm of possibility.

My protagonist, Phoebe Angelina Delaney, is a reluctant genius and a compassionate hothead. She loves deeply, agers quickly, often acts before she thinks, and curses with abandon.

She finds herself in a pitch-dark underground and doesn’t remember how she got there. Did she drink too much alcohol and wander off in a stupor, or was she kidnapped by a malicious element determined to make her life a living hell? Sir Michael Alan David is a vampire – an enigma, charismatic and mysterious, who weaves in and out of Phoebe’s life. Does he intend to use his title as a ruse to draw her closer to an unearthly fate, or is he a cloak-and-dagger knight in shining armor? Too many secrets have been kept for too long. Phoebe must unravel the mystery in order to survive.

EXCERPT:

“Where in the blazes am I?” Phoebe mumbled under her breath, afraid someone might be listening. “And how in the world did I get here?”

She crept along the cold stone wall, carefully placing one foot in front of the other. The last thing she remembered was saying goodnight to Lunah outside the club. Her head was splitting.  The pain dulled her normally sharp mind. Dazed and confused, she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled in pitch-black darkness.

Shivering in the damp cold, she waved her hand in front of her eyes but couldn’t see a thing. She felt drugged, hung over, and everything in her wanted to lie down. Fear growled in her belly, threatening to explode into unbridled terror. But Phoebe wasn’t the type to cave in the face of danger. If she were ever again to see the light of day, she knew she had to pick up the pace.

“Get up, you fool!” she whispered emphatically. “You’ve no idea what might be lurking in this damned snake pit.”

She tried to ignore the throbbing in her head. She tried to shrug off feeling she was captive in the lair of some hungry beast. She forced herself to stand, despite feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Guiding herself with one hand pressed against the wall, she walked slowly and paid close attention to every step. She didn’t want to make a sound.

Just when she started to rebound, something damp prickled her fingers from between the stones.

“Damn!” Startled by the sound of her own voice, she cupped her hand over her mouth as she lurched backward. The jolt cleared her mind. She was in a cave or underground tunnel.

“I’ve got to find a way out of this hellhole!” she murmured, too frazzled to whisper. She couldn’t help giving voice to the menacing panic . . .

She forced herself to keep going, in a futile attempt to keep the phobia at bay. But it resolved to have her in its greedy clutches. Barely able to breathe, her mind flooded with profanities, and escalating terror insisted on having a voice.

“Dammit!” squeezed its way out as she panted and broke into a sweat.

She couldn’t help repeating the obscenity until it echoed down the corridor, eerily and with telltale foreboding . . .

Her head was pounding. She felt as if she were spinning round and round on some horrific amusement park ride. Yet she knew she hadn’t drunk enough alcohol to cause such nauseating vertigo. She lost her balance and fell back against the wall, gasping for air and fighting to stay conscious. Her body slid down until she sat with her hands braced flat on the ground. The feel of the cold stone against her skin helped her catch her breath.

“Snap out of it, Pheebs; you’re stronger than this,” she whispered, mindful the darkness might be concealing something deadly. She repeated the reproach until she finally heard herself.

When the panic lifted, she grasped the flashlight with her teeth, leaned back against the wall, and slowly pushed her body upward until she stood. Although trembling and lightheaded, she managed to maintain her balance.

She brushed her hands together to remove the grit, but instead of falling to the ground, it rolled across her wet palms and stuck to her fingers. Aiming the flashlight downward, she saw something red covering her hands. Frantic to get rid of the nasty stuff, she rubbed her palms across the wall until they were chafed. But the red slime seemed to penetrate her skin. When she realized what it was, a sickening horror struck and dared her to regain composure.

“Oh my god, it’s blood!”

Shrieking, the flashlight dropped from between her lips and broke as it hit the ground. But Phoebe was too spent and disoriented to notice.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

I was hooked from the first paragraph. Phoebe has an indomitable spirit. I was rooting for her throughout her quest and her ordeals. As the tension built, I found myself riveted to the page . . . and then the next page and the next. I read this book in two days. I could barely put it down when outside forces demanded my attention. There is also an underlying metaphysical angle to the narrative that only enhanced the pleasure I experienced while reading this wonderful, wonderful story. —Andrew Joyce, Author of Yellow Hair and Redemption: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer

Pick up a copy of Vampyrie today!

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