P.N. Elrod Official Website, Dracula, QUINCEY MORRIS

P.N. Elrod's sequel to DRACULA

"I dropped back in the tangled sheets, stretching wide, feeling mighty pleased with myself. Lying sated in a French whorehouse sure beat the hell out of a cold grave in the Transylvanian earth."

Rough and ready Texan Quincey Morris thrust his Bowie knife into Dracula’s heart, bringing an end to the quintessential battle between the living and the Un-Dead. It also brought an end to Quincey as he bled his life away into the chill earth of Transylvania.

Or so he thought.

Waking to the night, surrounded by ravenous wolves, he finds himself plunged into his greatest adventure yet: life beyond life—as a vampire.

To survive, he must quickly adapt to his dark change. At the hands of his savage mentor it’s a hard, painful process, but Quincey is determined to escape the wilderness and return to his grieving friends.

However, Professor Van Helsing has convinced them that the only good vampire is a dead one. Seen as an acolyte of their greatest enemy, can Quincey persuade them to accept his change or will a lifetime of friendship end in bloody betrayal?

And for whom?

* * * Read an excerpt! * * *

For those planning to read the excerpts be warned
that here thar be nookie! (Tastefully written, I hope)

It's part of the plot and all that kind of thing.

Okay, that lets me off the hook with your parents. It's on your head now!

Another detail--the paperback is officially OUT OF PRINT. Only used copies are available through private sellers on Amazon.

If you want an instant copy you can download the e-book directly from the Baen Publishing website.

Pat sez:

The back story for Quincey Morris began in the early 90's when I was asked to write a short story for a Dracula anthology. I had the idea that Quincey, who bled to death at the end of Stoker’s novel, might well have become a vampire himself—if he dated the right girl.

For this I linked him to the character of Nora Jones, a vampire who was in the Barrett series. When Quincey dies, then wakes himself as a vampire he does have a major freak out, but pulls through.

The first chapter of originally appeared as the short story, The Wind Breathes Cold in the anthology, Dracula, Prince of Darkness. I’m rather pleased with that one.

When it came to writing the full novel I didn't have an easy time of it. I was putting a voice to another writer's characters, after all, and had to reread Dracula several times to try to catch the flavor of their dialogue. It is a subtle thing that Stoker understood VERY well: each of his characters has a "voice" distinct from all the others. I not only had to capture that, but sustain it for Quincey--who had the fewest pages of all.

What was there of him impressed me. Obviously he was a highly intelligent, well-respected, likeable fellow, a natural leader, and always in the forefront of any battle. He must have been modest, too, for he is the only one in the book with no real diary in which to speak his mind. Most of what is said about him are the observations of the other characters.

My original contribution was adding a sister to Arthur, Lord Godalming's, family tree, along with a pack of relatives to liven things up. Lady Bertrice is quite the firecracker in that barrel!

Also included is Richard Dun! He makes a cameo appearance at a fancy-dress ball, costumed as a Medieval knight. He IS referred to as "Lord Richard d'Orleans," so evidently he feels confident enough in the 19th century to revert to his original name. Mentioned in passing: The Lady Sabra du Lac, who posed for a portrait commissioned by Richard, and painted by Bertrice. (If I got everything right in the descriptions about painting, it's due to Jamie Murray's technical advice!)

Worthy of a mention: Sabra is the star of her own short story, Wolf and Hound, that Nigel Bennett and I wrote for my anthology Dracula in London. The prince of the Un-Dead comes to England and starts making trouble. He soon finds that Sabra has more than a charming smile at her command when it comes to defending the realm from invasion!

I hope to do another novel with Quincey, building a bit on what was in the first book. He's just too much fun to not tell more!

Jamie Murray’s inspired cover is a favorite of mine.

I didn’t ask for him, knowing that most writers have NO choice on the covers at all. Baen books called him all on their own and asked if he could paint a cover for a vampire book they had.

Much to his surprise it was from the book I'd been telling him about for several months.

He phoned up right away, and we tossed around ideas. I suggested that he use our mutual friend J. Kevin Topham as the model for Quincey, since Kev has a beard.

He was pleased to pose for pics. Jamie snapped off a roll of film, while Kevin struck various brooding poses, and I held a white reflector sheet to help with the lighting.

It turned out Jamie needn't have bothered.

Some weeks later Kevin was at a formal party in his tuxedo and a guy took his picture, which appeared in the event’s newsletter. Kevin had been on the verge of snarling at the time, and when Jamie saw the print, he knew that would be the one to use. The girl in the painting's background is one of Jamie’s old girlfriends, who modeled for lots of his paintings!

The picture that made the cut!

Formal in his tuxedo, Pat's good bud, J. Kevin Topham caught by photographer Byron Flynt in 2000. Though Jamie Murray had dozens of studio shots of Kevin, this off the cuff photo was the one that captured the right mood for the artist.

Kevin's hard to read at the best of times, but he DID give quite a snort when he saw the "Brad Pitt" hair Jamie put on his image!

The final art work in all its gorgeousness!

Here's a different version of the Quincey cover, not used by the publisher. Jamie later gave the original to model Kevin Topham as a Christmas present. Kev is still in recovery! It is a terrific portrait!

And brace yourself.... THIS is Jamie's idea of a "rough sketch."

Check out MORE of Jamie's fabulous art at:

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/sueg/art.htm