Author Inspiration ~ Bebow-Reinhard @MonetteBebowRei

Please give a warm welcome to historical fantasy author,  

Bebow-Reinhard.

 

Vrykolakas – the word is a mouthful and seems to get caught in the throat, doesn’t it? But that’s as it should be. Let Arabus Drake, Greek vampire, grab you by the throat and pull you around the historical world in his tales. Kicking and screaming and saying no more please, and yet unable to stop turning pages, unable to walk away, because his world is your world, after all, and you’ve known he was out there all along. Give him a chance to get under your skin and you will find you’d rather go a day and a half without breathing than turn your back on Arabus Drake.

Arabus tells his tales of seeking acceptance in a living world since the day he emerged from the grave in 1503. Included are tales that give readers insights into how it feels to be undead. Along the journey his search evolves from seeking the soul of the woman that he was murdered with to finding a more unusual way of loving and acceptance, along the way fighting the Turk army, pirates, Tories, a vindictive lawman and a wily ghost who stands between him and a woman he thinks can finally love him.

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It’ll sound stereotyped but Arabus Drake really did come to me in a dream. I had no inkling of writing about vampires, not even any real interest in them.  But I woke up fully invested in this man’s life and death and undeath and had to start finding out more about him.

He was Greek in the dream, so I started with the Greek legends of vampires.  They are called “vrykolakas” (vre-KO-le-kus) and Greece had a lot of myths related to these dead people who could get up and walk. Some of my early research is in the book, such as how a person becomes undead, and why.

From there I wanted to involve him in world history.  Since I was raised on Bonanza episodes, I discovered that a lot of history involved people we will never meet, or ever know. Arabus Drake is one of those who travels history, having an impact on events like the Revolutionary War and the history of slavery, to name a few in this first novel.

And actually this first novel sounds like a series of short stories, and yes, it did start out that way. But this has an unusual connecting piece, as readers will learn if they pay attention.  I will not say this is an easy read. My novels seek smart and active readers, people looking for more than just time killers.

You see, when I first started writing, he was pretty much just your normal vampire. But then he got agented, and I asked my agent if I should try him in first person, telling his stories as though into a cassette recorder to be transcribed by the woman he wants to love him. It became a first person, three person mess, but in the process Arabus evolved. I learned so much more about him, and about the process of creating a character.

A couple of years ago I was circulating two versions—the first person, without the person who was transcribing the stories, and also I turned that first person back into third person. The third person was the format publishers seemed to prefer, but he’d come so much farther now than he’d been before. During this whole process, I discovered his expanded consciousness and his mortal feelings buried inside the corpse.

So Arabus is more than just another vampire who wants to be mortal again.  According to Greek mythology, all the vrykolakas wants is to be accepted—to find a place at the table again.  The way he goes about it—that’s where the creativity comes in, and each of the places he goes has its own challenges.

In the end, readers realize that Arabus is not so different from any of us. While we mortals all have a subconscious we cannot access, he can access even his past lives. His subconscious now is only demonic, as they can still blind him to attack and kill. But with his memory of mortality, he continually fights his cowardice and try to be accepted as just another normal person by keeping his demons hidden and trying not to smell like a corpse. Isn’t that something we can all relate to on some level?

I’m now working on two other books—not really continuations, though. BloodLove will be the connection he makes in contemporary times based on the ending of this novel, and “Misadventures in Death & Friendship” is another series of stories, this time connected by one of his attempted friendships, and what he learns about friends in the process of seeking acceptance.  Friendship is not so very different than love, after all.

I also have a short story I’m trying to sell separately—it’s a historical sci-fi about the romance between an alien and a vampire, where he tries to uncover her nefarious scheme even while she makes him feel mortal again.  I don’t know why it’s such a hard sell.

 

Where can I purchase this fabulous book? 

Amazon

About the author

Bebow-Reinhard holds a master’s in history. Along with a major nonfiction she’s promoting on Grant as General and President, she also compiles a master database of precontact copper artifacts found in the Americas, with over 57,000 compiled so far.  She has four historical novels out, one that’s co-authored through KDP, two authorized Bonanza novels with Write Words Inc., and her Vrykolakas Tales is with Solstice Shadows.  She has a fifth book, a collection of short stories called Grimms American Macabre, coming out with All Things That Matter Press. She’s publishing that one under her pen name, Lizbeth Grimm, because that was her grandmother’s maiden name. Publishing a Grimm collection has been a lifelong dream since finding out she too is a Grimm. She has two other books she’s marketing, one that has inspired her to offer a presentation to the Historical Writers of America conference this August on writing politically incorrect history.

See sample chapters at www.grimmsetc.com

Join her Facebook page, Grimms Etc., or friend her at https://www.facebook.com/mbebowreinhard