August 12, 2007 (Herald-Standard / Jenny Susa) -- Most people probably have seen movies or read love stories that portray vampires as alluring, seductive creatures. Brownsville author Sheryl Nantus was tired of seeing vampires, who are supposed to be evil, shown in the "sexy boy toy" kind of image. So, for her new paranormal novel, "The Second Line," Nantus made sure that her vampire villain, Janus Rosethorn, was a "classic bad guy."

"I was so tired of people being in love with vampires," said Nantus.

In the book, which will be released at the end of August, a woman who is in the business of corporate espionage makes a shocking discovery while spying on a candy company that is working with Rosethorn to help him with his evil agenda.

After recording a meeting with Chocofun to sell to the company's competitor, Jackie St. George overhears Rosethorn discussing "the second line" of Chocofun's new product called "bloodsuckers" with the company's president. She also overhears the vampire threaten the man's life, just before she runs into Rosethorn herself on the roof of the building.

A self-proclaimed vampire hunter named Fletcher Dillon rescues the corporate spy, who does not know whether to believe that she has encountered a real vampire or a vampire hunter. She doesn't know what to do or who to trust, but she does know that she has gotten herself into something much more serious than selling company secrets.

"She has to find out who these guys really are and decide what she should do," said Nantus.

Will St. George decide she believes Dillon is who he says, and will she help him stop the vampire from hurting anyone else? While readers will find that at first St. George wants only to earn a living, the character could end up trying save the world after all.

Nantus said that in the story, Rosethorn is not a vampire who is "out to seduce you for fun or to make more vampires."

"He's out to kill you because you're in his way," said Nantus.

She commented that while she has written speculative fiction in the past, this is her first paranormal novel.

"I'm a huge fan of the paranormal genre," said Nantus.

The Canadian writer grew up in Toronto, Canada, and graduated from Sheridan College in 1984. She met her husband, Martin, in 1993 through fanfiction.net, an online community for people interested in writing fiction. She moved to the United States in 2000 to marry him.

"The Second Line" is being published by Mundania Press, and after its August release, Nantus is planning to have a book signing at Borders bookstore in the Uniontown Mall.

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Posted by Vladimir Mon, 08/13/2007 - 17:43

 

Chapter 14: Decision

Were anyone to walk by that section of wall, they might have noticed a small curled up figure sitting on the ground. If they were of preternatural learnings. Otherwise she hid rather well in plain view. Not that she exactly cared if anyone saw her, Koreena was rather wrapped up in her own thoughts again.

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S.P. Somtow: Opening All The Doors

Somtow Sucharitkul, who writes as S.P. Somtow, is coming to terms - both personal and literary - with his remarkable multicultural background and a lifetime of traveling.

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03: The Disappearance of the Body. -- Flora's Recovery and Madness. -- The Offer of Assistance From Sir Francis Varney.

"He is human!" cried Henry; "I have surely killed him."

"It would seem so," said M. Marchdale. "Let us now hurry round to the outside of the wall, and see where he lies."

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Rapture

When two hearts meet
That were destined to be,
It is simply reality,
Colliding with fantasy.
Souls that were joined
since before time began,
Having lived other life times,
Are awakened again.

Discovering each other,
Love envoking true passion,
Fires burning within them,
A lust unimagined.

Entangled with rapture,
The night stands still,
Sedated with pleasure,
Their life at last fulfilled...

CamilezaVamp
March 28, 2002

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Chapter 17: The One and Only

*Deep within the caverns he calls his home, Deadend broods. Long has he remained enclosed in his halls, awaiting the day he felt the desire to return to the surface. As he sits in front of his fireplace he reads the journal he has kept these many long months since the Black Raven Inn closed it's doors. His thoughts turn to those he once called family. Something pulls at his consciousness, however...something very familiar. Slowly, he closes the journal and rises. He is ready...it is time. He grabs his favorite smoking jacket and walks to the entrance to his caverns.

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