Archives for August 2018

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Shira Anthony who is visiting with us today to celebrate the recent release of her newest book Blood and Eternity, the final book in her Blood Series. Leave a comment for a chance to win a handcrafted unisex bamboo bracelet.

Finishing a series always leaves me with mixed feelings. There’s nothing I love more than a happily-ever-after, but when it’s done, I find myself missing the characters. The Blood series is no exception, although writing a series that features time travel was one of the greatest challenges I’ve experienced as a writer.

There are many different concepts of time and how the choices we make affect our future. Speculative fiction is hot right now, and there are some great books out there that delve into what might have happened if, for example, Germany had won World War II, or the South had won the United States Civil War and slavery had never been abolished. These sorts of stories utilize a view of time as linear, but with many twists and turns based on events and choices. Decide you’re going to have dinner with Jim, and maybe you never meet John. Choose not to go to a party, and you may never meet your perfect man. Each choice becomes a fork in the road with many possible outcomes.

The Blood series features three MM pairings, but the main focus is on immortal vampire hunter Adrien Gilbert and the ancient vampire (born a vampire, not created from a human) he loves, Nicolas Lambert. Through Nicolas’s powerful blood, Adrien not only becomes immortal, but he gains powers beyond those of vampires or hunters. In book 2 in the series, Blood and Ghosts, Adrien discovers he has the ability to travel through time. Unfortunately for Adrien, controlling that power is something just beyond his grasp.

Blood and Eternity features three timelines, or “timestreams”: the original timestream Adrien lives in which is chronicled in Blood and Rain, the timestream Adrien inadvertently changes when he’s sent back to a time before he ever met Nicolas we first experience in Blood and Ghosts, and finally, a confusing new future Adrien finds himself at the end of the second book Keeping all of these straight, and keeping them understandable for the reader, was a monumental task. How did I do it? With a lot of input from my wonderful beta readers and my Dreamspinner Press editors. Oh, and a crap ton of rewriting! In fact, I rewrote the ending of the final series book more than a half-dozen times!

Adrien meets three versions of Nicolas in the series: the Nicolas he originally fell in love with, the Nicolas whose life he changes when Adrien finds himself in his own teenage past, and a Nicolas of the future who has never met Adrien. Writing each Nicolas was a great deal of fun. At his heart (or soul, as the vampires would say), each Nicolas is the same. But events and choices can change and shape a person, for better or worse.

Adrien wants to spend his immortal life at Nicolas’s side. But which Nicolas he’ll end up with is far from clear. Finding Nicolas isn’t the only challenge Adrien must face—he must also repair the damage created by Verel Pelletier, another immortal hunter bent on reigniting a war between vampires and hunters. And Adrien must fix both past and present before he loses everything he ever cared about.

Blood and Eternity ends with a happily-ever-after after plenty of trials and tribulations. Together, Adrien and Nicolas sacrifice a great deal to find their happiness. I hope you’ll enjoy their story and the conclusion of the series. I’ll leave you with an excerpt from the first book (no spoilers here!). Don’t forget to comment on the post to be entered to win the cool spooky bracelet! –Shira

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Excerpt from Blood and Rain:

“Monsieur Gilbert,” said Nicolas as he offered his hand. “Thank you for coming.”

Adrien didn’t take Nicolas’s hand. Nicolas appeared momentarily taken aback by Adrien’s rebuff but then offered Adrien a warm smile, revealing the tips of his sharp eyeteeth.

Adrien found it difficult not to stare. Nicolas appeared to be in his late twenties, although Adrien knew better. Vampires were immortal, or nearly so, since they aged slowly and could live for millennia. Nicolas could be hundreds, even thousands of years old. And yet his eyes seemed to sparkle with the curiosity of youth, and his pale, perfect skin glowed in the firelight.

Nicolas wore an exquisitely tailored velvet jacket in nearly the same shade of brown as his eyes. It accentuated his graceful body and strong shoulders. Nicolas’s matching wool trousers fitted his long legs so well Adrien could imagine the corded muscles beneath. The gold embroidery on the white silk of Nicolas’s vest made his hair appear even darker than Adrien remembered. Adrien wondered what that hair might look like freed of its binding. Long, past his shoulders, and nearly black. And although he told himself he was attracted to Nicolas because of what Nicolas was, Adrien couldn’t deny the intensity of Nicolas’s physical beauty, nor could he deny that being so close to Nicolas left him ill at ease. He felt underdressed and unsophisticated in his simple tweed jacket and trousers.

The doors to the sitting room opened again, and a servant entered carrying a tray with several glasses and a decanter filled with red wine. Adrien was thankful for the interruption—it gave him time to regain his composure. The servant set down the tray and quickly retreated, leaving the two men alone once more.

“May I offer you some wine, Monsieur Gilbert?”

“Thank you.” Adrien took the crystal wineglass from Nicolas’s hand and their fingers brushed, sending a jolt of energy up Adrien’s arm.

Nicolas looked at Adrien in obvious surprise, as if he, too, had felt something. Adrien hastily withdrew, barely managing not to spill the wine.

They stood in silence until Nicolas raised his glass. “To your health, Monsieur Gilbert.”

Adrien drank deeply and schooled his features, willing himself to focus on something other than his companion. Not a simple feat, given that every fiber of his being cried out for more of the vampire’s touch. He took a slow breath and allowed the alcohol to do its work, relaxing his body and allowing him to regain his composure.

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“My brother will join us for dinner.” Nicolas sipped his wine and turned back toward the fire.

“Your brother?”

“Jean is the leader of our clan. He was the one who asked that you come.”

Jean Lambert. The leader of the Lambert clan was known in the hunter community as much for his reclusiveness as for his immense powers.

Whatever they want from me, it must be very important to the clan.

Vampire hunter Adrien Gilbert never dreamed he’d fall for his prey or that his love, Nicolas Lambert, would give him the gift of immortality. But when a hunter bent on destroying the truce between vampires and hunters throws the gauntlet at Adrien’s feet, Adrien must travel through time to save Nicolas, and with him, the entire vampire race.

The time has come to make a choice—one they will live with for eternity.

In this final installment in the Blood Trilogy, Adrien and Nicolas must face their greatest enemy in a deadly last confrontation. But to prevail, they’ll need to master the enemies within.

When Adrien awakens to a future he doesn’t recognize, he faces an impossible decision: live a perfect life with Nicolas in a shattered world, or risk everything to repair a broken past. But before he can challenge vampire hunter Verel Pelletier, he must master the demon who lives in his own mind—and learn to control his ability to travel through time. With Nicolas by his side, he prepares for a final battle against a powerful adversary who likes to play games with the past and future.

But the price of ensuring a future for their loved ones may be an eternity spent alone.

About the Author: Shira Anthony was a professional opera singer in her last incarnation, performing roles in such operas as Tosca, i Pagliacci, and La Traviata, among others. She’s given up TV for evenings spent with her laptop, and she never goes anywhere without a pile of unread M/M romance on her Kindle. You can hear Shira singing “Vissi d’arte” from Puccini’s Tosca by clicking here: Shira’s Singing.

Shira loves a great happily-ever-after and never writes a story without one. She’s happy to write what her muse tells her, whether it’s fantasy, sci fi, paranormal, or contemporary romance. She particularly loves writing series, because she thinks of her characters as old friends and she wants to visit them even after their stories are told.

In real life, Shira sang professionally for 14 years, and she currently works as a public sector attorney advocating for children. She’s happy to have made writing her second full-time job, even if it means she rarely has time to watch TV or go to the movies. Shira writes about the things she knows and loves, whether it’s music and musicians, the ocean, or the places she’s lived or traveled to. She spent her middle school years living in France, and tries to visit as often as she can.
Shira and her husband spend as many weekends as they can aboard their 38′ catamaran sailboat, Prelude, at the Carolina Coast. Not only has sailing inspired her to write about pirates and mermen, her sailboat is her favorite place to write. And although the only mermen she’s found to date are in her own imagination, she keeps a sharp lookout for them when she’s on the water.

Buy the ebook and paperback at Dreamspinner Press.