Vampire Fiction Without Romantic Or Angsty Cardboard Cut-Outs!

Mar 16
11:35

2011

Matt R. Jones

Matt R. Jones

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Vampire fiction is full of endless variations of the “greats” – Dracula and Lestat clones are EVERYWHERE.  Frock coat-wearing tragic princes and cape-clad villains have been the standard of vampire fiction for decades now.

Over the past few years,Vampire Fiction Without Romantic Or Angsty Cardboard Cut-Outs! Articles there’s been an explosion of brooding Edward Cullen clones roaming around – check out the vampire bookshelf at your local Wal-Mart if you’ve missed it!

There’s nothing wrong with this, mind you.  These characters are copied so much because they’re successful and sell a whole ton of books – that’s the bottom line.  They appeal to a mass audience, and they’ll always be here.  But…

Not all of us want the usual villains, princes, or teen hunks in our vampire fiction.  Some of us would rather have vampires we can understand, relate to, and even laugh with.  That’s what Unholy War and the Hollywood Vampires are all about.

With Unholy War, you’ll enjoy adventurous, interesting, and quirky characters you’ll be able to understand as human beings – real people you could sit down and have a drink with.

Most vampires aren’t much more than props – they’re just around to move the story along, with no real depth.  Or if they do have depth, they’ve always got some terrible, miserable back-story that fills them with melancholy, remorse, and makes them hard to hang out with.

And that’s what many readers want in vampire fiction.  More power to ‘em.  But if you’re like me, you want characters you can understand as PEOPLE, with real motivations, desires, and fears.  The way I see it…

When you’re a vampire, you’re still the same person you always were – just faster, stronger, and smarter than ever… and you can get away with a whole lot more!

You’ll thrill to the world of Unholy War through the eyes of Steele, a cocky, streetwise vampire who sings in an 80’s-style rock ‘n roll band, hangs out with his group of (often-wacky) friends, and has a girlfriend he’s madly in love with.

Though he’s an immortal, Steele’s a person just like you and I.  He laughs, he dreams, and he cherishes his friends and his city.  At the end of the day, Steele just wants to be happy.

So when the brutal, old-world cultists of the Crimson Order come Los Angeles intending to conquer the city’s hard-rocking modern vampires, Steele feels the weight of the world land squarely on his shoulders.

When the you-know-what hits the fan, Steele’s friends all look to him to lead them through this chaos – he’s not the biggest or the strongest, but his friends depend on him just the same.  It’s a ton of pressure when your loved ones are in trouble and they need your help, isn’t it?

While Steele has to deal with dead-eyed vampire monsters called revenants, hostile werewolves, and wild-eyed zealots instead of taxes or car payments, the heart-clenching, stomach-twisting worry he feels is no different than yours or mine.  This is because…

Steele’s not a cold, uncaring monster or a whiny wimp who’s always weeping – he’s a man who’s afraid for the people he loves… and he’s ready to do anything to protect them.

When you’re looking out for your friends and family, you quickly find out it ain’t easy at the top.  That doesn’t change when you’re a vampire.

Unlike most vampire fiction, Steele doesn’t worry about the moralities of drinking blood or wondering whether or not he’s “the bad guy” – he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.  It’s all about standing up for the people you love.

Just as you sacrifice for your loved ones, so does Steele – they’re depending on him to pull them through this crisis, and he’s not gonna let them down by hiding in a coffin and crying.

It’s vampire fiction that’s not focused on stereotypical vampires – it’s vampire fiction that’s focused on PEOPLE who happen to be vampires.  It’s a small, but powerful distinction, and the difference between delivering you yet another cookie-cutter tale or giving you something totally new and unique.

Steele and the Hollywood Vampires are people who love, laugh and just want to live their lives.  They cuss, joke around, and do things they probably shouldn’t – the same as you – and enjoy a good night out on the town.

They’re people you’ll come to know, laugh with, and care about through the exciting twists and turns of Unholy War.

So much vampire fiction misses out on the human element.  Not everybody cares about – or even likes – cape-wearing villains climbing through windows, tragic princes moping around in 18th century clothes, or moody forever-teens.

Just because everybody else likes ‘em doesn’t mean WE do.  I want characters I can UNDERSTAND.

With characters you’ll truly care about – like Steele and his lovably loony best friend Stacey – vampire fiction becomes a totally new experience!

It’s like seeing one of your friends in trouble – you’re cheering them on, hoping they succeed, and when the going gets rough… you really do FEEL it.

As Gregory A. Martin III from San Bernadino, California recently told me…

Your vampires feel like REAL PEOPLE who just happen to be vampires, instead of walking plot devices that I want to see get staked after 5 pages. Like Joss Whedon did with Angel and Spike, you've got vampires that are worth getting to know better. If vampires were real, they'd be like Steele and Stacey, not Lestat and Edward. Bravo!

Who says vampires can’t be people, too?  If you’re feeling it, if you’re hungry for vampire fiction loaded with characters who are more than just “walking plot devices,” come sink your fangs in Unholy War at…

Unholy War

You’ll be thrilling to the adventures of Steele and his friends in less than four minutes from now!