Blood Will Tell
An extremely unconventional Vampire Novel by
Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Jeffrey Lyman
Characters - Vamp Legends - The Authors - Glossary - Links
Under Development
The Main Characters
Sasha "Sashi" (Kelley) Tolman – 23, widow, 4 months pregnant, 5’9”, solidly built. Has reverted to goth style clothing of her teen years in an unconscious effort to deny recent events that have left her to raise her coming child on her own. Natural hair is deep black, ends are currently dyed crimson. She has a brother named Logan. Though she lives on her own, she has been living at her parents’ house since her husband, Jeremy’s death rather than at the apartment they had shared. When her husband was alive they attended genre fan conventions and she is still loosely connected with that community. She takes early-morning walks alone in Sheffield Park because her family does not yet know she is pregnant and so she walks off her morning sickness where they won't discover her. She is a semi-permanent freelance layout designer for several publishers that specializes in genre publications. She is what the Kantasi call a Mare. She has eclectic music tastes. Her favors are Voltaire, Faith and the Muse, and Bitter Grace.
Read an excerpt featuring Sasha.
Oleksander “Olek” Bubek – (Ukrainian variant of Alexander, or defender of mankind) Combination hunter/enforcer for the Serkan (Turkish – Bloody Head), secret ruling body of the Kantasi race. Very tall. 6’5”. Muscular. Brown hair, brown eyes. He is a turned Kantasi rather than a natural born. Because of this his physical build is more muscular, and substantial. He feels constantly on the fringe of every group, but never a part. He is even set apart from the avci as he is their leader.
Read an excerpt featuring Olek.
Bernard Bubek – brother to Oleksander, also a Kantasi, born of the same mother at separate births, very unusual. Bernard is a partner in Griffon’s Claw Armoury and makes custom armor and weapons.
Shelley Hoth – officially a medical intern; unofficially he is a Kantasi veli, or guardian, entered into the medical field to watch for potential Kantasi births and either educate the parents that accept the nature of their child, negotiate the surrender of said child if parents cannot accept the nature of their child, or rescue infants that may come to harm out of their family's fear.
Read an excerpt featuring Shelley.
As with most folkloric or mythological creatures, different variations can be found in cultures all over the world.
Below are a few different types of vampires you likely haven't heard of. The curious thing is, while all of these
are vastly different from what we understand a vampire to be, there are threads of similarity that show some
lose relationship between the various myths.
For a more extensive list of world vampire legend check out Jonathan Maberry's Vampire Universe.
Albania - Liugat/Sampiro In this myth, unfortunate Albanians of Turkish descent will turn into a vampire upon death, driven to go out at night in a shroud and high heel shoes to spread death and destruction. A will-o'-the-wisp will indicate where the tomb lies. Like the rest of Eastern Europe, these legends were reported more frequently after the 16th Century - the Eastern Orthodoxy's flexible position on superstition seems to be a major cause for the myth's increase in popularity.
Croatia - Pijawika/Kuzlak occurs when an infant is not breast-fed enough and dies.
Germany - Nachzehrer/Neuntöter occurs when a child is born with a caul or someone drowns. Known for lying in its tomb with its left eye open as it gnaws upon its shroud or itself. Can causes plagues and is known for tying cows tails together. To deal with it, shove something in its mouth or chop the head off with an executioner's axe. Garlic will keep this one at bay.
Greece - Catacano/Bruculaco/Callicantzaros occurs when children born between Christmas and the Twelfth Night (5 January). Such children become Callicantzaros after death - appearing between Christmas and Twelfth Night each year to tear people to pieces with their extended fingernails. The rest of the year they exist in the nether world.
Italy - Strix/Strega Starting as Strix, a night demon from ancient Rome which attacked infants. Strix developed into the Stegra - a woman flying about in bird form attacking infants.
Japan - Kappa Ugly, green child-like creatures. They drag horses and cows into their watery homes where they suck the blood from their anuses. They leave the water to steal fruit, rape women, and steal people's livers. They can be bound by an agreement not to attack people. Another Japanese vampire legend involves a vampire cat taking the form of a prince's concubine after killing her.
Macedonia - Vryolakas A messy wine drinker when alive, it can be killed by a nail through the navel or pouring oil over the body. Scatter bird seed on the tomb and it will stop and count the seeds, one per century.
Mexico - Cihuateteo/Camazotz/Tlahuelpuchi A stillborn baby or a mother who died in childbirth. They attack and paralyse babies. Recognized by the ability to fly and being chalked white on its hands, arms, and face. Offer them bread or meteorites to eat will fill them up and they then won't attack humans. One of the few vampire legends that actually indicate the vampire will die in sunlight.
Yugoslavia - Vlkodlak/Mulo/Vukodlak - A Serbian Vlkodlak appears as a drunk over the age of 20. It can only be undead for seven years. It said to cause eclipses. To kill it, pierce its navel with a hawthorn branch and set it on fire with vigil candles.
Award-winning author and editor Danielle
Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for nearly
fifteen years. Her works include the urban fantasies, Yesterday's Dreams,
its sequel, Tomorrow's Memories (Mundania Press), and the upcoming
novella, The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale (Marietta
Publishing), the anthologies, Bad-Ass Faeries, Bad-Ass Faeries 2:
Just Plain Bad (Marietta Publishing), and No Longer Dreams, (Lite
Circle Books), all of which she co-edited, and contributions to numerous
anthologies and collections, including Dark Furies (Die Monster Die!
Books), Breach the Hull, (Marietta
Publishing), Space Pirates (Flying Pen Press), and the upcoming science
fiction anthologies So It Begins (Marietta Publishing) and Barbarians at the
Jumpgate (Padwolf Publishing).
Her non-fiction works include a chapter on writer’s groups for Dragon Moon Press’s The Complete Fantasy Writer’s Guide: The Author’s Grimoire, a chapter in their upcoming Elements of Fantasy: Magic, a chapter on self-promotions in Marietta Publishing’s Profitable Publishing, and a standing column, If We’d Words Enough and Time, for the sadly defunct website, Fictionauts.
She is a member of The Garden State Horror Writers, the electronic publishing organization EPIC, and Broad Universe, a writer’s organization focusing on promoting the works of women authors in the speculative genres.
Danielle lives somewhere in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail, mother-in-law Teresa, and three extremely spoiled cats. To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com.
Award-winning author and editor Jeffrey Lyman is a 2004
graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. Since then he has been published in various
anthologies, including No Longer Dreams by Lite Circle Press, Sails and Sorcery
by Fantasist Enterprises, and Breach the Hull by Marietta Publishing. He is co-editor
of both Bad Ass Faeries I and II and has upcoming works in Blood and Devotion (Fantasist
Enterprises), and So It Begins (Marietta Publishing). He is currently finishing up
a novel about some pretty rotten fairies.
By day, he works as a mechanical engineer near New
York City. To learn more about his works visit
www.jdlyman.com.
Aradatasi—(Turkish for in between (arada) and man (tasi - originally oyun tasi, but shortened over time until three words became two, and two became one) in the context of this novel, this phrase applies to Kantasi that have been turned, rather than natural born. Derogatory. Not quite full vampire, but not full human, either. They are stronger and can digest food better than natural born Kantasi, but not as well as humans so there is a physical difference that sets them aside from others of their kind, who are slighter of build and shorter. They generally serve as avci.
Avci—(Turkish for hunter) more police than hunters in modern times, these are usually turned Kantasi due to their greater strength, making them further outcast by the task of policing their own kind.
Bitter
Grace—a Manhattan goth rock band active since around 1985.
Formed by Gustavo Lapis Ahumad in New York City, the band is known for their live set
that includes lighting, smoke and theatrical effects. The band still plays
throughout Manhattan with the current line-up of Gustavo Lapis Ahumad (vocals), Dr. Avi
(drums), Brandon Tubby (guitar) and Marcus Pan (bass).
’brother—all Kantasi are considered brothers, by their nature, if not by genetics. Few Kantasi have siblings by blood because most women do not risk getting pregnant again once they have borne a Kantasi child due to the difficult nature of the birth and the hardship face by the children growing up and as adults, having to hide their nature.
Intervention—in the context of this novel, an intervention is when a veli and other Kantasi must rescue an infant, either with the agreement of the parents, who relinquish custody, or without the parents’ knowledge, stealing the child away or faking its death to protect it from harm or neglect stemming from the parents’ fear or misunderstanding of the child’s nature.
Indoctrination—in the context of this novel, when members of the Kantasi Nation educate a parent on their child’s unique physical needs, giving the parent the option of either joining the Kantasi community, where a support structure is already in place, or to live independent of the community with the knowledge of how to care for a Kantasi infant.
Kantasi—(Turkish for blood(kan) and man(tasi – originally oyun tasi, but shortened over time until three words became two, and two became one). The name applied to those born vampire. While this is a condition that transcends ethnic groups and regions, localized groups are identified by names dependent on the original culture they came from. Not all Kantasi are Turkish, but the primary history of the particular group in this novel has Turkish roots. Because the genetic trait is carried by the mother, but only affects the son, all Kantasi are male.
Mare—an honorific applied to those women who bore the genetic trait that could result in a Kantasi birth. This term originated long ago because the horse is a prominent part of Turkish culture and many identify with the creature.
Serkan—(Turkish – Bloody Head) the leaders of the Kantasi Nation
Veli—(Turkish for guardian) - healthcare professionals that strive to be in place when a suspected vampiric birth is about to take place. Their tasks are to determine if the child is Kantasi; provide necessary and specialized medical aid to the mother and child, if necessary; educate the parents as to the child’s nature and needs; and claim the child by agreement or covertly if it is rejected by the parents.
Vlkodlak/Mulo/Vukodlak—Vampire Legends of Yugoslavia—A Serbian Vlkodlak appears as a drunk over the age of 20. It can only be undead for seven years. It said to cause eclipses. To kill it, pierce its navel with a hawthorn branch and set it on fire with vigil candles.
Voltaire—(birth name Aurelio Voltaire Hernández) (born January 25, 1967, in Havana, Cuba), is a musician popular in the goth scene. He takes his stage name from the pen name of the famous French Enlightenment writer François-Marie Arouet. Voltaire is also an experienced animation and comic artist, and is a professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Research Links
Bitter Grace - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Grace
Voltaire - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire_(musician)
Movie Data - http://www.imdb.com/
Rare Blood Types - http://www.bloodbook.com
Turkish-English Dictionary - http://www.ectaco.co.uk/English-Turkish-Dictionary/
Vampire Legends
http://www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/vampires2.html
http://www.vampgirl.com/vampmyth.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A273566
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire
http://www.geocities.com/jptempleuk/SBN/rules/vampire_legends_from_around_the_.htm
http://www.darknessembraced.com/vampire/content/category/12/36/87/