Saint Sanguinus by Julia Phillips Smith

Book Genres: Historical, Horror

Description and Word Count: Novel – 73,000 words

Average Starred Reviews: Average Amazon review is currently 5-stars

Price: $2.99

Sale Price:$.99 until Jan.15, 2012

Blurb:
An elite brotherhood stands between humans and vampires, preventing one side from annihilating the other. Who are called to this service? Only those warriors who curse God with their dying breath.

Welsh warrior Peredur falls to a spear before he can claim Tanwen for his bride. Raging on the battlefield, Peredur utters the curse that seals his fate and leads him to another life. Using the power of a saint whose bone makes up an amulet, Peredur takes on the trials to become a true member of the brethren. Yet his need for the chieftain’s daughter Tanwen still burns.

Tanwen resists her father’s command to take a husband. The only one who understands her sorrow is Cavan, the wise woman’s son. When he promises that he can reunite her with her beloved, she agrees to his terms. But does Tanwen truly understand the depth of the price that must be paid?

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Find the Author Online at: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn

Review Quotes & Endorsements:

When Julia Phillips Smith asked me to read her debut paranormal-historical romance, SAINT SANGUINUS, I was delighted. This book kept me awake into the wee hours as I devoured the dramatic, passionate story of Peredur and Tanwen. A dark, dramatic take on the vampire genre.
- Anna Campbell, Romance Bandits

I do love an awesome vampire tale. This book is savagely beautiful and true-to-the-blood-thirsty-core. Julia Phillips Smith weaves a spell over her readers with her subtly brilliant dialogue and lush descriptions. I was right there in the cavern with Peredur and the Brotherhood. I could smell the forest, hear the crackle of the fires and oh my God can she write fight scenes in all their bloody, violent glory. Putting this one down was almost impossible.
- Melissa Bradley, Melissa’s Imaginarium

Julia Phillips Smith has crafted a believable mythology for her vampires. They are dark and ravenous; monsters more in the tradition of the vampire as deadly dangerous and blood thirsty. But it’s not a horror story. It’s a dark romantic adventure with appeal to men and women. All together an outstanding debut.
- Travis Cody, Trav’s Thoughts

Chapter One or Long Excerpt:

The first chapter or excerpt is posted as submitted by the author. We requested that the author send us the text EXACTLY as published in the eBook.

1

Near Caer yn ar-Fon, 577

Peredur coughed up blood.

Moans hung in the autumn air as women picked carefully between the tangled embraces at their feet. He could only watch them pass. A spear pinned him to the ground as the sun made ready to set without him.

His lips fought to form the name of his beloved. Tanwen.

“No…” forced its way out as a sigh, sending more blood to bubble up. The sticky smell filled his nostrils. This wasn’t happening. Not to him.

A voice beside him prayed in sobs for deliverance. Another voice whispered to be forgiven. ‘God,’ Peredur longed to scream out. But not to beg.

A grimy face loomed over him, searching for signs of life. Peredur lay in outrage as the ragged man frisked him for valuables. He heard the snick of his own knife leaving its sheath at his ankle. His body jerked as every last bit of silver ornament was cut from his clothing.

A grasp of his hand – only to have the rings pulled from his fingers – gave Peredur the strength he needed. He grabbed the vulture’s wrist as if it would prevent the last of his breath from passing through clenched teeth.

“Holy Mother!” blurted the man, drawing back. “Save me!”

The man wrested himself free, taking with him the ring once given Peredur by his father.

“God,” Peredur whispered, choking horribly on blood. He knocked his head backward into the ground. The battle against this latest band of Irish raiders had been Peredur’s final grab at loot for his wedding coffer. On his return, he was to formally ask for Tanwen’s hand.

Whispered prayers surrounded him, unrelenting and pathetic. He would ram those prayers down all their throats if he had a chance. His life had amounted to nothing but this monumental joke; his fury smoldered as the horizon lit to an impossible red.

A row of birds perched on a limb along the forest’s edge, staring down at the littered battlefield.

God! I curse you!

Peredur flailed his hand against the mud, his legs stiffening. The image of Tanwen rose in his mind as if gesturing to stop him from forming those words. But he would not be stopped.

I curse you for this day!

An irresistible dragging sensation upon his soul made him thrash to hold on.

“I curse you, God!” he rasped.

A figure appeared just as Peredur’s body seized with a powerful shudder.

No battlefield scavenger, he stood tall and powerful, a black silhouette against the blue of nightfall. Kneeling beside Peredur with easy grace, he gazed down upon him like a carrion bird.

“Peredur of Gwenedd,” he said.

He should be terrified. He should be begging at long last – begging for mercy. On the brink of hell, the only thing Peredur could muster was the gob of blood he spat in disgust.

What do you want of me? Peredur’s lips no longer formed words.

Barely flinching, the stranger wiped an elegant hand along his soiled cheek. Peredur watched as the man licked the blood from his fingers as one would lick honey.

I offer you another chance at life, the being said, though the words merely rumbled in Peredur’s head.

Peredur started to smile but had no strength to finish it.

Do you want another life? the voice persisted. I can give you a new life.

Another life? He just wanted his old one back again, to hold Tanwen in these useless arms. If he said yes, would Tanwen be returned to him? That’s all he wanted – Tanwen, to feel her embrace one more time.

I want her… Peredur’s thoughts were barely thoughts anymore.

Do you want another life? the voice repeated.

Tanwen…

Another life? the voice persisted.

He could barely hang on to the word…yes…

Something sharp pressed hard on his neck. Peredur’s blood surged away as though ripped from his veins.

His vision swam, then cleared enough to behold a figure bent close as though in a lover’s embrace. The thing’s teeth were at his neck. New pain blossomed where the fiend bit deeply.

So he was in Hell. This must be the very first of an eternity of torments.

Tanwen. All I wanted was one last glimpse of your eyes looking into my own. For that I cursed God. And for that I am damned.

The being cupped Peredur’s head in an iron grasp. He was like an infant, held in his father’s battle-worn hand. The figure looked down and Peredur saw two pale eyes gleaming from the shadowy face.

“Peredur.” Such a voice.

Though Peredur lay at the mercy of a fiend here in this first hour in Hell, he couldn’t remember ever having felt so contented.

“Do you want another life?” the demon whispered, so enticing.

Am I not claimed by death?

“You can still be spared.”

A tongue licked his throat up to his ear, sending a shiver to erupt over his skin. Who are you? Peredur asked.

“I can yet send you to God,” the stranger said.

The night lost some of the clarity that the demon’s bite had bestowed. Stars seemed to buzz around Peredur like flies. He must be finally slipping away.

The demon’s face drew close, ghastly and pale. The creature’s eyes took on a lurid glow that cast fear like a rock into Peredur’s gut.

I have come for you, Peredur, the demon said. I was sent to call you to the Brotherhood.

Peredur heard the horrible sucking noises coming from the wound in his chest. Who sent you? His wheezing body could not go on much longer. There would be nothing for this stranger to gather up for his brethren.

When you cursed Our Father in Heaven, you yourself called me here.

Will you turn me into a demon? The fiend stretched its body to lie beside Peredur.

All I ask is whether you desire another life, it whispered in his ear.

Chills swept over him, and Peredur shut his eyes against an unbearable tugging on his soul. Would I have cursed Him if I had not wanted to live? Peredur turned his head away from the being, but it read his thoughts. There was no escaping it.

The demon curled itself around Peredur like a man about to take a woman. Iron hands bent Peredur’s head to the side, exposing his neck. Terror burst through Peredur as it had never done on any battlefield – not even this day’s.

Live, then.

For a brief instant Peredur saw impossibly long pointed teeth between the demon’s lips. Then his mouth opened wide in a silent cry of horrified shock as the fiend clamped its teeth down deeply into Peredur’s flesh. His life force gushed from his body, convulsing him like one demented while a sound like sea birds hung in the air overhead.

Get It At:  Kindle | Nook | Kobo | Apple | Diesel | Sony | Smashwords | Print Book

Find the Author Online at: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn

Author Bio:

Debut author Julia Phillips Smith is honored to add this special milestone to her arts industry background.

A graduate of Ryerson University’s film program, Julia’s previous writing credits include scripts for radio and television. She has donned various creative hats, including stage manager (theatre), 3rd Assistant Director (independent feature film) and editor (TV documentary).

Julia lives on Canada’s east coast with her husband and her mom. A longtime blogger, she invites you to visit A Piece of My Mind.

Author Interview:

Interviewed by Amy Ruttan @ Beyond the Veil

I’m honored to have Julia Phillips Smith on the blog here today. She’s been a long time advocate of all things author. She’s been my cheering section for as long as I can remember and now I have the absolute pleasure to cheer for her.

Thanks for coming here, Julia! Tell us about your upcoming release.

SAINT SANGUINUS is my debut novel which combines vampires with a Welsh Dark Ages historical setting, and a superhero origin story woven throughout for good measure.

What gave you the idea to write SAINT SANGUINUS?

If I go back a little ways, I’ve been a fan of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Count Saint-Germain series since I read my first taste of them, TEMPTING FATE (original publish date 1982,) when I lived in Toronto in the 90s. All of her books center around the constant need for an eternal being to relocate before the locals realize that the count never ages. The books are filled with all of the hassles of moving house, making arrangements for the house to be left to a faraway nephew in the future – which will be himself in a few generations – and I always loved the practical problems that Saint-Germain had to deal with, which get brushed aside in most vampire tales.

So my own story began with me wondering how it would feel to be a brand new vampire asked to consume the blood of men, when he’d been a man himself only days before.

Rather like the post-accidental-shooting car clean-up scene in Pulp Fiction, I love scenarios that aren’t addressed as often.

Is there a sequel planned?

Definitely. In the superhero origin story category, SAINT SANGUINUS sets the stage for my main vampire character, Peredur, who will be called upon to use these new powers in upcoming showdowns. But Peredur isn’t the only new vampire to rise from these pages. There’s another one who many readers may feel takes them into the POV of a vampire in a way they’ve never encountered before.

Why Vampires?

I’ve been a fan of vampires since I was a small kid. I used to try to watch Dark Shadows, a gothic soap opera featuring vampire Barnabas Collins, although my mom would always switch it off. But I know I used to see it somehow.

When I was in junior high, a BBC version of Dracula completely captivated my cousins, my sister and me. It inspired us to write a script for our own vampire movie, for which we scouted locations and rehearsed without having any equipment to shoot it, whatsoever.

Then following high school I was the assistant director for a community theatre production of Dracula here in Halifax, where I got to audition child actors and direct my own transition scene pieces which held the audience’s attention away from set changes on the main stage.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading vampire tales, watching vampire films and TV series steadily all along.

Can you tell us a bit about your journey writing this piece?

My cousin used to urge me to write a vampire novel when I was working on gritty historical stories. She knew I had a vampire tale inside me, waiting to emerge. But nothing ever really came to me until I first decided to take up the challenge of doing NaNoWriMo.

I just started with that simple premise of going through the mental progression of being a human to being a vampire, and when the virtual starting pistol went off for the writing marathon, Peredur was born.

Also, I’ve always had a real affinity for the archetype of the Unknown Soldier. Perhaps having my birthday fall on Remembrance Day has something to do with it, I don’t know. But just thinking of fallen warriors laying on their last battlefields really wrings my heart into shreds, so I used that as my jumping off point for Peredur and went from there.

What made you decided to pursue self-publication?

Two things. The simple advance of technology making it possible for writers to viably self-publish, along with the eruption in the popularity of e-readers is the greatest reason.

The second reason is my own personality. I’m someone who never watched Friends, but watched Hercules and Xena Warrior Princess religiously. Although people who know I went to film school assure me that Under the Tuscan Sun has gorgeous cinematography, I’ve still never seen it. But I have watched Bubba Ho-tep in a packed theatre with other cult film enthusiasts. I’ve always known my writing would never fit into the mold being purchased for the Big Six publishing houses. I had no idea there would ever be such a thing as indie self-publishing, but in retrospect, it’s almost as though I’ve always been waiting for this development. I embrace it with joy.

You did an amazing trailer for this release, how did that come about?

I’ve always been a big reader, but my first love has definitely been film. I graduated from Ryerson University’s film program in 1995 and was more focused on screenwriting and gathering film credits. However, financially I couldn’t afford the whole apprenticing stage of gaining those credits. I really needed to keep my day job, so to stay in the telling-stories game, I switched over to novel writing, which turned into a decade-long learning curve. The way to tell screenwriting stories and the way to tell prose fiction stories is radically different.

In the meantime, I worked on several film and TV projects over the years, never losing my passion for my original medium of choice. I have several film projects rumbling around in the old noggin, and I used to say to myself, “I just need to find the right producer.”

Meanwhile, who should show up at my writers’ group but a woman who has her own production company. At last year’s writers’ retreat, we really hit it off. She suggested we do the book trailers, and I have to tell you – when she said that, I hadn’t realized how much I’d protected my heart over the years from the longing to work in film. Inside my chest I felt the Grinch-heart-grew-three-sizes thing, I was so happy.

So from January of 2011 Tara MacDonald of Charlie Mac Productions and I did pre-production on the trailers, which we shot in one day at the end of April, and I worked in post-production with Doug Woods of 902 Post to edit the trailers in time for the New York RWA conference, which I attended.

Tara blogs @ http://taramacqueen.com/
Charlie Mac Productions @ http://www.charliemacproductions.com/
Doug Woods @ 902 Post http://www.902post.com/

How much research did you have to do for SAINT SANGUINUS?

Quite a lot. I’ve always been very picky about authenticity, so personally I want to get it right in my own work. I’ve been attracted to the time period of Dark Age Britain since I was a girl and read Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy, and I’ve got a personal library of Arthurian research nonfiction books that I’ve devoured over the years. Recent discoveries about that time period always loom large on my radar, and I find it thrilling that we’ve been able to learn so much more about a time that wasn’t well understood until the past few decades.

However, the very murkiness of the time period makes it a perfect setting for a vampire tale, as who’s to say they weren’t roaming the countryside back then? Also, the following witch hunts that swept Europe in the middle ages makes a writer surmise that maybe there was a reason for such fear…

What made you decide November 11th for the release?

Because that falls on Remembrance Day, and because the brotherhood which my vampire joins then acts as a peacekeeping force between humans and vampires, I felt that this particular date held good resonance for the story.

And on this particular Remembrance Day, it will be 11 – 11 – 11. That certainly doesn’t happen every day.

Also, November 11th will be my birthday, and for me this is a major milestone present to myself.

Do you have anything else in the works?

I’ve been writing a dark fantasy series for a while, part of which is posted on Wednesdays on my blog as serialized fiction. I’m seriously in love with that main character. I can’t wait to send him off into the world.

I’ve also got a Victorian convict story, a Scottish gamekeeper story and a Jacobite post-Culloden story in various stages of development.

I’ve also got a few film projects that I’m looking to pursue, as well. And don’t forget the day job.

Thanks for reading!

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