Last week I reviewed Kirsten McKenzie’s latest: a thriller about very modern vampires running a property empire from the heart of New York.
I love books that put a twist on vampire stories to allow a vampire sub-culture to flourish. That’s the thinking behind my Galbraith & Pole series. This sees the urbane 21st century vampire, Pole, working alongside the very human Chief Inspector Galbraith to deal with crimes that involve the supernatural realm. Pole is anxious that these are solved quietly in case people turn on his kind, while Galbraith just wants to avoid the panic that would spread if the world at large knew of the monsters that walk among us.
As Galbraith gets to know Pole better, he comes to realise that Pole is not a monster, but a creature very like him, but with some specific dietary requirements and an unfortunate reaction to sunlight. Over the centuries, though, Pole and his kind have learned how to adapt to what they call the Mortal world and Pole tries very hard to live a decent life without killing people for their blood.
My vampires and those in McKenzie’s Vampires of York Tower both pass unnoticed in our world. Both have emotional lives as well and, though Pole is not prone to show his feelings, he does tend to get sentimental about tango.
“Ah, the tango.” They had passed out into the square by now and Pole cast his glance upward at the sky. Galbraith thought it looked as though he was gazing up towards the moon, but it was a cloudy night and above them was only the glow of the lights of London. “Tango is, I think, a point at which your world and ours converge. The music speaks of great beauty and unbearable sorrow; of love and of death. Humans and Others both find it touches them. And the dance hall provides a neutral territory – a safe place to meet.”
– Something Wicked
For Valentine’s Day this year, I’ve decided to show a little more of this side of my favourite vampire. Next Friday, my blog will be carrying a FREE short story, Love, Death, and Tango. It’s a stand-alone story but people who have not read any of the Galbraith & Pole books might enjoy reading Something Wicked first. And to make that easier, I will be giving it away free on Monday and Tuesday (10th and 11th). The remaining two Galbraith & Pole stories will be just 99p/99c on Kindle from Monday to Friday next week (10th to 14th).
Writers give their books away to generate interest in them. We hope people will enjoy the free book and read more of the series. And they hope people will review them.
I know reviewing can be a pain, but just a few lines makes a huge difference. When the Galbraith & Pole books first came out they got some very good reviews but, as time has passed, people have stopped reviewing them and this means that they no longer sell a lot. Unfortunately for Galbraith & Pole fans, I write historical fiction (the James Burke series) that sells rather better. That means that I am under some pressure to write more historical fiction and less Urban Fantasy. I like writing Urban Fantasy, but the sad truth is that it’s the historical fiction that sells.
In the end, what books get written is decided by readers. If you want to see more Urban Fantasy, please review the books you read. And if you enjoy Galbraith & Pole, please take advantage of the offer price to buy them. Thank you
There have been stories of vampires – or something very like vampires – for thousands of years. Modern ideas about vampires can be traced back to mediaeval times, with vampire myths being particularly popular in Eastern Europe. Vampires entered English fiction in the early 19th century, but really took off with the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897.
Given the long history of vampires and the different cultures that produced vampire stories, it’s hardly surprising that there are many different versions of the vampire myth. Since Dracula, though, there have been some recurring tropes. Vampires burn in daylight, they can be killed by fire, holy water, or a stake through the heart. They are driven off by garlic. They can take the form of bats or wolves. Not all the stories include all the attributes and, lately, writers have had fun in twisting and experimenting with the attributes of their vampires. My own vampire creation, Chief Inspector Pole, enjoys cooking with garlic and certainly can’t turn into a bat, but he is, if not immortal, very long lived and he needs to drink blood to stay healthy. These two attributes seem to be the bare minimum and almost all vampire stories stick with them.
Kirsten McKenzie’s vampires are very much in this modern tradition. They have lived hundreds of years and they have to feed on blood, but beyond that she has chosen to concentrate on some mythic elements of vampire existence and twist or ignore others. Garlic, for example, does not feature at all, and her vampires have no links to bats, but (perhaps in the wake of Game of Thrones) they do seem tied to ravens, which feature ominously throughout her story.
The Vampires of York Tower starts with a prologue set in 1793. I found it a bit confusing, but stick with it. All will be revealed over 200 years later.
We move to today (and there are some neat contemporary references scattered through the book). We’re in York Tower, an upmarket apartment block in New York City. There’s no strong feel of the city as most of the action takes place in the building. York Tower is its own little world. Bronzed windows filter the light. (Picking up any clues yet?) Round-the-clock security keeps residents safe, insulated from the outside world.
We see much of the story through the eyes of the two guards manning the front desk on the day shift. Will and Rufus are ex-cops, happy to be off the beat but taking their responsibilities for security at York Tower very seriously. They care about the tenants and they are sad when several of them die suddenly. But these are elderly people and there is no reason to be suspicious.
There are some strange things going on, though. A mysterious messenger, always making deliveries to the same room – a room that should be empty. There are unexplained power outages and inexplicable smells.
Something bites Will’s neck. Nothing so 19th century as the twin puncture marks of a traditional vampire. In fact, we never really find out how the bite was administered, but this doesn’t get in the way of a pacey story that carries you along with it. Will thinks it’s just an insect bite but soon he finds he loses his appetite, becoming thinner and almost literally wasting away. He thinks it’s cancer, but his sudden sensitivity to light and increasing desire for red meat might give the rest of us a clue as to the real problem.
We begin to meet more of the residents. There are a lot of them, but they are well-drawn and quite easy to keep track of. This becomes even easier as the story moves on and there are fewer and fewer of them. We also meet the Tower’s owner, Richard Blackwood. (I told you to pay attention to the prologue.)
The New York skyline glittered beyond the tinted windows of the York Tower penthouse, a view that had captivated Richard Blackwood for decades. But tonight, his attention was fixed on his wife, Elizabeth, as she stood on the terrace, her silk robe billowing in the evening breeze.
“My dear,” Richard called softly, “you shouldn’t be out there. The sun has barely set.”
I’ll say no more about the plot. At this point you could reasonably assume that you can work the rest of it out, but you’d be wrong. McKenzie’s tale is full of unexpected twists. The finale, a battle royal conducted, naturally, in darkness, brings the book to a thrilling and satisfying conclusion.
Since I started my own Galbraith & Pole vampire series, I’m naturally interested to see how other writers approach the subject. The Vampires of York Tower moves at the breakneck pace that you might associate with New York, while Galbraith & Pole is more attuned to the rhythm of London. The New York vampires also, predictably, have a much higher body count. The dramatic action allows little time for the quiet humour of Galbraith & Pole, but readers are unlikely to miss this as they hurry through the pages. I loved it. The ending does leave the door very slightly ajar for the possibility of a sequel. I’ll definitely read it if there is one.
Galbraith & Pole
If you enjoy vampire stories, do please give Galbraith & Pole a look. One of the characters in York Tower is a dancer “who had spent Sunday afternoons dancing the tango in the park”. I’d love to think this is a nod from McKenzie towards Chief Inspector Pole, who is a great tango enthusiast. It’s a wonderful hobby for a vampire as tango clubs famously operate mainly in the hours of darkness. When a girl is found stabbed through the neck with the stiletto heel of a tango shoe, Pole gets quite upset about it.
The first, tango inspired, Galbraith & Pole book, Something Wicked is just £2.99 on Kindle. (£6.99 in paperback). And look out for a FREE Valentine’s short story on this blog on 14 February.
(AI image of ravens from Microsoft Bing Image Creator)
They say that if you want to make God laugh, you should tell him your plans. I had some vague plans about using November blog posts to try to sell the odd book. Even with my attempts to cut back on blogging, I still post something almost every week and most of them are remarkably unconnected to the business of getting you to buy the stuff I write. So November should be nose-to-tail selling posts. Then I suddenly got my spot on the NHS waiting list to get a new elbow (details HERE if you’re interested) and my selling blogs skidded to an unscheduled stop.
So here we are in December and I hope that I still have time to encourage you to buy a friend one of my Galbraith & Pole books for Christmas.
Galbraith & Pole is my foray into Urban Fantasy. I didn’t even know what urban fantasy was until I started to write it. Apparently it’s fantasy stories (in my case featuring vampires, werewolves, and mad scientists doing exciting things with genetic modification) which are set in a realistic contemporary environment. If you’ve read Rivers of London, that’s the sort of thing I mean. (And if you haven’t, can I suggest that you should?)
I’ve written three Galbraith and Pole stories so far and I hope to write more. They are an awful lot less work than historical fiction (he said with feeling after nine months stuck in the world of 1812). I really enjoy doing them but, sadly, with only three they don’t have the visibility of the James Burke series. People who have discovered them seem to like them. Here are some comments on Amazon:
A cleverly-conceived, well-written and excellently plotted novel about murder, policing, vampires, and Tango… fresh, original, and hugely entertaining.
This is a fast paced good read … I shall never look at Brompton Cemetery in quite the same way again!
If a book can be too engaging and unputdownable, then this one is a great example of such a novel.
Fun and fast to read, with just the right amount of black in its comedy.
All three are available in paperback at £6.99. They make excellent Christmas gifts.
During covid (remember that?) one of my lockdown projects was to make an audiobook of my Urban Fantasy novella, Dark Magic. I was encouraged by a friend who is a professional voice actor but it was a very amateur effort, recorded under a desk with a duvet providing some basic soundproofing. The result was quite fun, but not really intended as a commercial exercise. Still, it’s available on Audible and Spotify and elsewhere. Spotify even sent me codes so I could give copies away but, because I wasn’t trying to actively promote it, I never did anything with them. I’ve got a lot left, gathering electronic dust in hyperspace.
But it’s coming up to Halloween and I’d like to give treats to anyone knocking on my virtual door. If you email me at tom (at) tomwilliamsauthor.co.uk, I’ll send you a code (until I run out). There’s no catch and I’ll not add you to a mailing list. (I once tried to run a mailing list but it seemed a lot of work for not much return.) There’s no warranty either. If the codes don’t work, that’s too bad (though I know some people have used them successfully).
If you like what you hear and you think you might enjoy the books, Dark Magic is available on Kindle and in paperback. You might also like to take a look at my Galbraith & Pole stories featuring the vampire detective Chief Inspector Pole.
Happy Halloween!
Header photos are from London’s Halloween skate. This year’s skate starts from Hyde Park Corner at 5.00pm on Saturday October 26th, weather permitting. Come and join the fun!
I saw a picture somewhere on social media posted by an author who is writing their first vampire book. I can’t find it now, but it showed a couple (presumably vampires) in a dance hold.
It will be fun if someone else produces a vampire tale featuring dancers with, let’s say, specialist dietary requirements, but I hope, dear readers, that you won’t forget that you saw it here first. My ‘Galbraith & Pole’ series (three so far, but there will be more) started with Something Wicked which features murder, mystery and tango.
They say you should write about what you know and I’m putting together this blog post between Monday night’s tango and Wednesday night’s tango with a couple more evenings of tango planned for the weekend. It’s fair to say that the references to tango in the book are well researched.
The idea of tango-dancing vampires came on one of my many visits to Buenos Aires, a city almost as famous for its spectacular cemeteries as for the celebrated dance. You seem to see so many more people after dark then are around in the day and, first thing in the morning, it’s easy to believe that the weary, somnambulant creatures propping themselves up on public transport are related to the Undead.
Buenos Aires street scene. Note that the dancers stay in the shadows
Chief Inspector Pole is not your typical vampire. He’s urbane and sophisticated and has been known to cook with garlic just to make a point. But mess with him and you can see a more ruthless side to his character. Fortunately, he uses his powers for good – mostly.
If you haven’t read my Urban Fantasy books before, give Something Wicked a go. It’s just £2.99 on Kindle.
Amazon reviews
Here are some of the things people have said about it on Amazon:
If you enjoy light, amusing and elegant humour and would relish the thrills and chills of the supernatural kind, then Something Wicked is definitely for you.
Cleverly-conceived, well-written and excellently plotted
I shall never look at Brompton Cemetery in quite the same way again!
A really great read! Who knew a story about vampires, detectives and tango could be so entertaining?!
