SUNRISE: Sequel to "A Dry Patch of Skin" is ready to launch!

What can I say? I love a good sequel. 

Back in 2014 my one and only vampire novel launched. I was never very interested in vampire stories but with the world going crazy over the Twilight saga and TV shows, I had to do something. Even my own daughter got caught up it the frenzy, so I lectured her about the real background of vampirism and explained the medical side of the disease.

That led to my novel A DRY PATCH OF SKIN, the title referring to the first sign of turning into a vampire. I spent a lot of time doing medical research and scouring the legends to try to get at the truth of the condition. I formulated a story about a fellow who began to transform but didn't want to. I set the story in Oklahoma City, where I was living, and in the same year I was writing it, 2013-2014. In fact, the date in the story when novel ends was actually a week after the novel launched.

I thought I was done. I made my point about the medical accuracy angle (double checked and approved by two of my own doctors). I got a check on my Horror genre writing challenge. But a thread kept nagging at me, even as I moved on to other novels. Finally, I decided to see where that thread might go . . . and a sequel was born.

In this sequel titled SUNRISE (coming April 1st), our unlucky hero Stefan Székely has been living a miserable life in his family's castle in Croatia. 'Living' is a misnomer, of course. He is actually one of the undead. It's been 13 years and he can't stand it any longer. Determined to leave home and experience the exciting life of a vampire playboy, Stefan first faces a series of obstacles while trying to get to Budapest.

It is 2027 and Stefan is ready to party - but the world has changed while Stefan hid out. Now the new Hungarian Federation has consolidated much of southeast Europe and conflicts abound. Most importantly, State Security is on a vampire purge. As Stefan settles in, keeping away from the vampire gangs, one night he crosses paths with an unexpected stranger - an encounter which will change everything, including possibly the fate of Europe - if Stefan can resist temptations!

Starting on the sequel to what was supposed to be a stand-alone novel pretty much begs for a trilogy to complete the symmetry of the story. Fear not! The third volume of the DRY PATCH TRILOGY will be titled SUNSET. Look for it in 2019.

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