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Blood Roses Press Release

I’m super-excited to reveal the press release for Blood Roses, book two in my Blackthorn paranormal romance series! HUGE thanks to the blogs that reviewed book one, Blood Shadows, and for providing such fantastic quotes.

 

Blood Roses by Lindsay J Pryor Press Release

 

And if you’d like a taste of what’s to come, the first 3 chapters of Blood Roses will be available for you to read HERE on Friday! Darker, more intense and introducing a vampire with an attitude to rival Kane’s, I’m hoping Blood Roses will be another enjoyable step into Blackthorn for you.

 

Beneath Blackthorn #2

Welcome to my new series of posts aimed at avid fans of Blackthorn who want a little extra insight.

Being Different

Some readers and reviewers have already picked up on and commented on the social and political underpinnings of Blackthorn and have quite rightly made comparisons with some aspects of our own culture. There is most definitely a theme in my Blackthorn series that deals with prejudice and stereotyping and, not least, the judgments and assumptions we make about others. After all, the creation of Blackthorn was triggered by one simple thought – segregation.

Avid followers will already know I was inspired to create Blackthorn when I got lost in a city I’d only lived in for a matter of weeks. Finding myself alone at night in a run-down, isolated area with reinforced doors, boarded-up windows and an eerie sense of disquiet evoked all sorts of possibilities on that frightening walk home.

By this point, I’d already been writing paranormal romance for about five years – random, handwritten stories that piled up under my bed. After that night, a world started to form and, with it, a structure. And, as barricaded societies were forged, forbidden romances based on that conflict became inevitable (more of that in another post).

There’s nothing like segregation to bring out the raw instincts intrinsic to our nature. Humankind needs to control threats to its wellbeing or, more relevantly, what it perceives to be a threat. It is inherent to our survival. If that threat cannot be destroyed, at the very least it needs to be contained or monitored. Our very existence is structured on this principle. Even basic things such as locking our front door and checking over our shoulder on a dark night is evidence enough that, by nature, we don’t trust our own kind, let alone those we deem ‘different’. And if those outsiders are a potential threat against those we love? There’s no greater catalyst to intensify and justify that instinct ready to erupt inside us.

So what if vampires (as well as other third species) came out into the open? What if they did so claiming they weren’t a threat at all? That they were subject to centuries of misunderstandings fuelled by rumour and media? If instead of hiding, they wanted to become an active part of our society? What would the powers-that-be do? More to the point, would you give them a fair shot at proving themselves? Would you agree to one living next to you or your family? (Kane fans need not respond to that one!) Doubtful. Even the empathetic humanitarians amongst us would probably have alarm bells ringing. Accept them maybe, but at arm’s length surely?

Thus segregation would be put in place – at least in the first instance until more could be learned. This is even more likely if the powers-that-be hear of whispers that the third species coming out was, in fact, due to an ulterior motive. With that in the mix, those walls are going to be reinforced.

And so the Blackthorn district was created – a neglected and rotten core in a human-controlled locale from which there is no escape (you can learn more about the structure of the locale by checking out ‘About Blackthorn’ in the tab bar). I wanted a world that was dark, unfair and oppressive to maximise the conflict, enhanced by borders that, for some, could never be crossed. A locale not only prejudiced against the third species, but some humans too. No one has a right to equality in the newly structured locales – everyone has to earn it. An equality that, if the powers-that-be continuously alter the goalposts, will never be achieved by some.

In that respect, the Blackthorn series is about vampires as the underdog. I wanted the so-called predator controlled by the prey. Whether the predator will succeed in living up to its name, whether it’ll overcome its oppression, is one of the core questions of the stories. As to whether it even deserves to, whether the powers-that-be are actually right and justified in their approach, well, that’s wide-open at the moment.

But before I delve a little deeper into the human-orienated Global Council’s regulations, I’ll tell you about the principles they base those regulations on. I’ll be back with Beneath Blackthorn #3 on Friday, where I’ll share what is meant by ‘third species’ and why I’ve given them all ‘shadows’.

Beneath Blackthorn #1

From The Inside Out

The most exciting aspect of writing fantasy is artistic license. There is no right or wrong, only what those before you have created. If you love fantasy, you’ve probably already got that switch in your brain that is willing to accept that, when it comes to fiction, anything is possible. And, if you’re anything like me, you like your writers to create a few new slants and concepts here and there to keep the subject fresh.

I always wanted Blackthorn to be an intricately built, complex world that included my own creations. I’ve lived with it a long time now. Avid followers will know it’s been sixteen years, in fact. That’s sixteen years scribbling away in the background creating things just as I wanted them, without subjecting them to scrutiny or reviews or trends. Soon, various stories became a series as I interwove naturally occurring threads that increasingly bound these standalone romances together towards an eventual conclusion.

Both of these elements – creating an unfamiliar world and developing a series – became a challenge when I needed to switch Blackthorn from being my stories to being suitable for an audience. For the first time, I had to think how I developed my world and its characters for my reader, especially with a lot to reveal, whilst avoiding painful info dumps that come hand-in-hand with having fantastical elements and concepts. And how, when I already have the bigger picture in front of me, to choose what to reveal where, when and how. It takes faith on the part of my reader that they’ll find out what they need to know when they need to know, and it takes patience on the part of me, as the author, not to spill too much too soon. It’s a very delicate balancing act.

But I know there are some readers already itching to know more – sneaky peeks into how I created the world of Blackthorn and why I have done things the way I have. So, for avid fans of Blackthorn who want that little something extra, I decided to slot in this series of posts between now and the launch of Blood Roses.

Do you need to read all these posts to enjoy the books? Are they an essential guide? No. The heart of Blackthorn is not fantasy, it is romance. Take the backdrop and subplots away, my intention from the very beginning has always been to create dark and intense, sometimes claustrophobic, character-driven romances about two individuals colliding and how they get through the conflict inherent between them. Even the series element comes out of the impact their love is going to have on the other relationships and subsequently how all the romances are going to meld to eventually shape the fate of Blackthorn. The love developing between the central characters will always be at the core, and everything you need to understand that will be right there on the page.

Instead these posts are an addition as you await my next release and I work on book 3, which I can reveal is called Blood Torn (do let me know what you think!). No other spoilers yet!!

So, if you’d like to know why Blackthorn vampires don’t ‘turn’ humans, why they bite with incisors and not canines, why I refer to them as the ‘third species’ and what the underlying themes in the series are, please come and visit every Tuesday and Friday – what triggered the creation of this series is up next.

I hope you enjoy!

xxx

Blood Roses FULL Cover Reveal

Last Wednesday was the cover reveal for my upcoming release, the second book in the Blackthorn series, Blood Roses. I was thrilled with how much you loved it and, thanks to your sharing and support, it got almost 2,500 views on Facebook alone. Thank you to EVERYONE who made that happen.

I promised you a full cover reveal was coming soon and here it is! For those who will be buying the ebook only, it’s a great way to get a sneaky peek at what the POD version will look like.

BLOOD ROSES full cover final

I avoided commenting too much last week, but needless to say I’m overjoyed with what the super-talented Mr Henry Steadman triumphed with again. I think he has captured the mood of the book perfectly – not least how much darker it’s going to be. Leila is so close to the images I provided on my Pinterest board that it’s uncanny. I think the cover is unique enough to make it stand out as a separate story from Blood Shadows, whilst maintaining the common threads that identify it as part of the Blackthorn series. As you would have guessed, I can’t wait to add this to the collection on my study wall!

And there’s more to come…

Although there are still a few weeks before the 26th April, there are plenty more teasers on the way including the new-look Bites that you were a part of selecting. I’m also going to be writing weekly blog posts in the lead up to the release to share more insight into why and how I created the world of Blackthorn. Hopefully they’ll make interesting reading for avid Blackthorn fans or anyone interested in some of the origins of vampire mythology as we know it today. But if you have any questions of your own, always feel free to get in touch!

xxx

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

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I haven’t been involved with a blog tag for a while, so I was chuffed to have been nominated for this award by the lovely Fiona Wilson. Huge thanks for the nomination, Fiona!

Here are the rules of The Very Inspiring Blogger Award:

  • Display the award logo on your blog.
  • Link back to the person who nominated you.
  • State 7 things about yourself.
  • Nominate other bloggers (the number seems to vary) for this award and link to them.

 

I’ve had quite a few interviews lately, so I had to try and think of things that I’ve never mentioned before. I’m going to stay away from the subject of writing/my books for a change and give you seven totally random facts about me…

  1. I was bitten by a snake as a child. Fortunately the Adder bit my shoe first and deposited most of its venom before biting me on the ankle.
  2. I once stayed in a real haunted house (Llancaiach Fawr Manor in South Wales, U.K) as part of a paranormal investigation team. I thought I’d be terrified but, despite all the spooky activity, I just fell asleep.
  3. I’m terrified of the dark and full-face masks.
  4. I’ve never missed an episode of Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries or Being Human (UK).
  5. I’m tea-total and always have been.
  6. I share my birthday with Sir Paul McCartney, which was much to my late dad’s delight as he was a huge Beatles fan – so am I.
  7. My first car was a off-white mini metro that I used to drive to university. The registration started with CL so I called her Clarice after Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. I was studying psychology at the time and was into criminology in a big way. Sir Anthony Hopkins, who used to live not far from me, signed a copy of the book.

 

And, in alphabetical order, I’m tagging the following inspirational bunch of bloggers who have all impacted on me one way or another:

Incy Black

Fiona Chapman

Linzi Clarke

Aimee Duffy

Tima Maria Lacoba

CC Mackenzie

Tim Pryor

Rae Rivers

Michelle Smart

Jessica Thompson

Hopefully you’ll be able to fit this into your busy schedules some time over the next couple of weeks. I can’t wait to read!

xxx

 

Blood Roses cover reveal

We’re very excited to finally reveal the Blood Roses cover… we hope you like!  We’d love it if you could help us share the cover via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and any other way you can think of – your help is much appreciated.

And the release date for Blood Roses?  26th April 2013…

The Blood Roses cover was designed and photographed (with three separate photoshoots!) by the uber-talented cover supremo Henry Steadman.

BLOOD-ROSES-book-cover-design-Blackthorn-book-2

Want a taste of what’s to come in Blood Roses?  Here’s a short introduction…

“She was supposed to kill vampires, not save them.  Those were the rules.  That was the lore.”

A rare and powerful witch whose blood is lethal to vampires, Leila has always viewed her serryn abilities as a curse.  After seeing her mother slaughtered as a child, Leila longs for a safe, quiet life.

That wish is shattered by Caleb Dehain – a vampire with a dark past and a darker heart.  The most feared serryn hunter of his generation, Caleb now needs the help of one of the witches he despises to save his dying brother.

A serryn who has no reason to help him.  Except that he has her sister.

Caleb and Leila are each other’s worst nightmare – but the slow-burning spark of attraction between them is undeniable.  Will Leila’s blood be his damnation?  Or could her kiss be his salvation?

 

 

Blood Roses Cover Update!

How excited am I? If you missed me mention it on Facebook and Twitter, TOMORROW is the day you’ll get to see the cover reveal for Blood Roses – the second book in my Blackthorn paranormal romance series. Not just that, but you’ll ALSO find out the date for its release in April!

The cover will be revealed here as well on some fantastic blogs stepping in to help spread the word. So a massive thanks from me to Fiction Vixen, GraveTells and Paranormal Book Club for their support. There could be a couple more too!

To give you a few teasers, yes, it has been designed by the superb Henry Steadman, the same cover designer who did Blood Shadows and, yet again, I’m absolutely thrilled with the result. I’ve already warned you that the second book is darker – and expect to see that reflected in the cover. It’s perfect for the story. No, you won’t get to meet Caleb yet, but you will. Soon.

I can’t wait to find out what you think!

xxx

Kane Malloy’s on GraveTells!

It’s up! Not long ago, I let you know that my anti-hero of Blood Shadows, Kane Malloy, was going to be interviewed on the fab paranormal website, GraveTells. Rather than me ask him questions, I opened up them up to you – and you didn’t let me down (thank you!).

So if you’d like to see what the elusive vampire had to say for himself, you can head on over to GraveTells now. He was actually rather cooperative and revealing for a change – well, revealing for Kane at least! I think we caught him on a good day, either that or he’s developing a soft spot for his admirers. 😉

You can also check out GraveTells’ amazing review of Blood Shadows itself: “….intense and dark, unlike any other vampire novel I’ve ever read…Blood Shadows honestly blew me away….a GraveTells Must Read!” Was I thrilled? You betcha!

 

Screen Capture

 

And for those awaiting news on Blood Roses, I’ll hopefully have something to tell you about the cover reveal shortly. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll know my line-edits arrived a couple of days ago so I’m currently reviewing those and then Blood Roses will be with the copy-editor. The weeks are ticking away – not long now!

xxx

The Winning Bite!

Last month, I was very excited to reveal the new style ‘Blackthorn Bites’ for Blood Shadows. I was even more thrilled with your response!

As you know, Bookouture and I had a purpose. Alongside our favourites from the series launch, we put these new Bites on their own Pinterest board and asked you to vote on your favourites. The ones with the most votes would help decide the Bites direction for the next book in the Blackthorn series, Blood Roses.

Huge thanks to everyone who participated by visiting Pinterest to vote, comment and repin your favourites, as well as all your likes on Facebook.

We had a clear winner and I’m super-pleased with the result…

Blood Shadows Vampire Paranormal Romance book

Simple yet striking with the background words taken directly from your reviews to date, this was undoubtedly one of my favourites too. Needless to say, I cannot wait to see what Bookouture come up with based on this!

And as it’s only two months until the release of Blood Roses, keep your eyes open for a few teasers coming very soon. 😉

xxx

Blood Shadows and the Minxes

I’ve been extremely lucky to have visited and discovered some amazing blogs lately, especially as part of my US blog tour. I met some terrific people willing to read, review and promo Blood Shadows, let alone take the time to interview me.

I also had an invite outside of the tour from Romy Sommer of the fabulous Minxes of Romance. Knowing of this talented team of writers, I was thrilled to be offered a guest spot. I was even more thrilled that Romy not only took the time to read Blood Shadows before the interview, but loved it too.

My interview went live today, so if you’d like to come and say hi, please do.

Screen Capture copy

And thank you to everyone who has sent in questions for Kane. Don’t forget the deadline is tomorrow if you’d still like to ask him anything. More news of that soon!

xxx