Time To Say Goodbye

That title sounds so melodramatic, doesn't it?  Let me explain. Last June, I published a little novella entitled Vampire Dreams. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it was a response to something I was dealing with in my professional life and gave me the catharsis that I needed. I never expected it to become what it grew into, but that little novella paid my mortgage for more months than even I can believe. However, now it's time to say my goodbyes to that terrific little story.

In truth, Vampire Dreams was the beginning of my Sons of Navarus series and the beginning of that incredible character, Vasilije. He's a hedonistic bastard and I love him. I still get the pleasure of writing him now because he's a focal character in the Sons series, but it all began with that little novella.

True confession time. It's not my best writing. Hell, it's nowhere close to my best writing. You want that? Try my other books, particularly the Sons of Navarus series and Destined Ones series. No, Vampire Dreams was just sexy. It has a lonely vampire who wants love and meets the woman of his dreams. At night, he visits her in her sleep and...well, Brandon may be lonely, but he knows how to seduce a woman.  The book was never meant to be more than it is. Unlike many of my stories, there's no underlying theme or meaning. It's just pure sexiness.

That it took off like it did still surprises me. It spent months on the Amazon Top 100 Erotic books list along with the Top 100 Vampire Romance books list, and even made it onto some private lists by readers. There have been a fair share of souls who didn't love it. One person accused me of writing rape because Brandon seduces Arden under hypnosis. But for every time I got a complaint, I got 20 raves. I've gone back and read it a few times and you know what? It's not me at my best, but it's damn sexy.

I rewrote Vampire Dreams to be an official sequel to the Sons of Navarus series, and that book, Vampire Dreams Revamped has gotten rave reviews. If you read both, you see the difference not only in the story but in the writing. As they say, I've come along way, baby.

So now it's time to say goodbye to the original Vampire Dreams. As of September 1, it will only be found in the Victorian Erotic Romance Trilogy, along with its sister novellas Love's Master and Masquerade. They'll remain as novellas found on their own and in the Trilogy, though.

I will always appreciate that first book and its success. While Vampire Dreams Revamped is a much better book, there will always be a place in my heart for that little novella that started it all, Vampire Dreams.