Thursday, September 15, 2011

Jaz Primo on Vampires/Book Giveaway Sunrise at Sunset

Please Welcome Jaz Primo!  He's part of the Romancing Your Darkside tour.  One lucky commenter will win an ebook copy or trade paperback of Jaz's book, Sunrise at Sunset.
Winners will be chose by random drawing.  Contest ends on 9/21/11 T 11:59 pm. EDT.  Please become a follower of this blog and leave an email where you may be contacted.




Seriously? Vampires Dwelling Among Us?


Vampire lore and literature has been filled with the traditional tenants of "creatures of the night" that we love so well. When you say the word "vampire" the average person knows precisely what attributes to expect: sharp fangs, reanimated corpses seeking the blood of innocents, aversion to sunlight and garlic, arming oneself with holy relics and wooden stakes to combat the enemy, and supernatural strength and speed. Many successful authors of vampire literature rely upon these long-held doctrines as the foundations for their paranormal romances and urban fantasies. However, when I created my Sunset Vampire Series I wanted to do something fresh and different. My vision of the perfect vampire wasn't a cold-skinned animated corpse, but rather a living being whose human body had been transformed into something new and powerful. And while I incorporated some of the customary properties of traditional vampires, I wanted the key attributes to make sense and fit seamlessly within the boundaries of a logical structure.


Are you intrigued? Then please, let's proceed...


My Sunset vampires are living, breathing beings whose cells have preternatural qualities. Their bodies command vastly superior strength, speed, senses, and restorative constitutions that far exceed that of humans. However, they are not invincible. Their cells can be damaged by high doses of ultraviolet radiation, particularly sunlight. As living beings, they are susceptible to blades, bullets, and fire, though much larger proportions of damage are required than what is needed to kill or maim a human being. The cells of my vampire's bodies are fed by breaking down blood, thereby justifying retractable fangs for withdrawing such live-sustaining sustenance from their victims. Of course, since a vampire's cells have highly regenerative qualities, it stands to reason that their blood and saliva has healing qualities, as well. The cautionary element is that too large of a dose of such blood could threaten to overtake the cells inside of a human's body, thereby transforming them into a vampire.


By creating vampires with a living physiology it was much easier for me to imagine the plausibility of their existence. It also made them more realistic to combat, because as living beings, they're no more affected by garlic, holy water, or crosses than you or I are. Also, like humans, they aren't bound to a particular behavioral pattern. They could choose to act with either benevolent or dangerous intentions; merely with more influence and impact given their enhanced abilities. However, the challenge still remained to incorporate them into present-day society. In today's world, technology is a double-edged sword for vampires. While some advancements such as refrigeration for blood storage, UV-filtering film for exterior windows, and Internet-based commerce and communications have aided vampires with some of their challenges, other concerns remain. For extremely long-lived beings, the hiding from society or spontaneous creation of new identities is much harder with the increasingly collaborative information and surveillance systems utilized by governments. Such developments generated a host of new challenges. Given such concerns, it's only natural that vampires might collaborate into loosely-organized networks to maintain their secrecy or to profit from such services needed by their peers. Once the most obvious obstacles for societal integration were confronted and overcome, it became entirely plausible to me that a vampire might be living next door!

I hope that you appreciate my new approach to vampires, and that you will consider reading my Sunset Vampire Series. The first novel, Sunrise at Sunset, was published in October 2010, and the second novel, A Bloody London Sunset, was published in May of this year. A third installment, Summit at Sunset, is being released this November. All novels are available in both trade paperback and multiple eBook formats from major retailers including as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Apple iBookstore. My sincere thanks to Denise for the opportunity to appear on Immortyl Revolution and for her support of the Romancing Your Dark Side Paranormal Blog Tour that I am participating in.

  




Here's the teaser for Sunrise at Sunset:

When is a bloodthirsty predator the best protection against a psychotic killer?

When the predator is both a vampire...and the woman you love.


“We vampires are focused and tend to shape our own realities.”

My name is Katrina Rawlings, and I am a vampire. I declare that with neither pride nor ego. I am simply nature’s most dangerous predator. On occasion, it’s a very valuable quality. It helped me protect Caleb Taylor one day when he was very young. But that single, traumatic day is behind him now; wiped from his memory, or so I hope.

Caleb has finally matured into a rather striking young man, and believe me, I like what I see. I’ll readily admit that there are issues for us to confront and overcome, though a sense of mutual commitment isn’t one of them. I’m feeling hopeful for our future together, in fact. But an adversary from my past has returned to haunt me, and she’s trying to get back at me through Caleb. That was her first...and last...mistake. I’ll protect my Caleb at all costs, and I’ll make her regret the day she was born.

So, I suppose that I’m not just a vampire. I’m about to become someone’s worst nightmare!



You can find or follow me at the following locations!


Jaz, thanks for joining me here today at
Immortyl Revolution! 












7 comments:

dawnmomoffour said...

I have to say Jaz, I learn something new about you every interview! I've already won your book so if I am pulled as winner please let someone else have it, but I keep on commenting for two reasons: 1) I can't help myself, you are an interesting, humourous guy and 2) I have to keep plugging ahead for that kindle at the end LOL
-Dawn aka dawnmomoffour
thedoyle6@rogers.com

Jennifer said...

I can't wait to read this book! What an awesome fresh take on Vampires..:)

Jaz Primo said...

@Dawn: Thank you for the very kind compliments! And thanks for continuing to follow me and my fellow authors on the Romancing Your Dark Side Paranormal Blog Tour on the way to the big Kindle giveaway! :-)

@Jennifer: Thanks! I hope that my Sunset Vampire Series can work its way to the top of your TBR pile, too! :-)

Kindly,
Jaz

Denise Verrico said...

Jaz, I'm so happy to have you here today!

Denise Verrico said...

Your look at vampires is similar to mine. I like a biological basis.

Jaz said...

@Denise: Thank you for the opportunity for me to appear on your blog, Denise! I'm intrigued by your vampires also being living corporeal beings, and I will add Cara Mia to my TBR list.

Sincerely,
Jaz

Unknown said...

I don't know Jaz...when I think of vampires the first word that pops into my head is...sexy! Even in older literature, the vampires were almost impossiable to resist and then there is the fact that you literally have an undying love? Definate plus!!! Great Post!!
viajeradelmar@aol.com