For the very first time, the executive administrator of Cedarcrest Sanctum, Janiss Connelly, takes the reigns of the annual holiday address from Timothy Harker to wish a happy holidays to all – and why she’ll never turn anyone into a vampire.
Let’s just say this isn’t your usual Christmas message; read it HERE.
And Happy New Year!
58,800 words written in 48 days completes the first draft of this third book (out of a planned four-book series). Now it’s time for a well-earned step away, letting the words settle on the page for a bit before trading “good enough for now” up to “as near to perfect as any mere mortal can hope to be.”
Like the first two novels, I have strived to infuse as many human elements as possible into this vampire story. There are plenty of individual elements, but to bring the adventure to life, the risks and the rewards, you must also show love, hate, fear, surprise, betrayal, jealousy, and all the rest. Plot is what happens to our characters; story is how it affects them.
Coming soon: the official title, the actual cover, chapter teasers, and the publication date! As always, there is plenty more information and other goodies at Cedarcrest Sanctum.
I cannot wait to show you what I’ve been working on!
Whether you love or hate the Bard…or vampires.
When I expanded my stand-alone vampire novel into a book series, it required me to re-envision the first novel as “part one” to create a story progression (don’t you hate when a great story falls apart at the end?) I tried to think of The Matriarch as a trilogy, but it was going to take four books to get to the ending I wanted and wrap everything up with a bow.
This meant each self-contained novel – intended to be enjoyable unto itself – had to seed the entire arc to show the main character progression, especially in her capabilities and the challenges she would have to overcome. Those knowing the story line of my current work in progress, the untitled third, have dubbed it “Shakespearean” in reference to characters withholding critical information that escalates the situation. The Matriarch: Guardians did this, too, but to a much smaller degree.
It’s a classic and flexible trope: if Boy-X would have just told Girl-Y about Suitor-3, Villain-Z wouldn’t have tried to kill Girl-Y over the perceived slight from Boy-X. Then there’s my favorite: the character who knows everybody’s secrets but keeps them to manipulate others and/or just enjoy the show. If we would all just learn to talk to one another, we wouldn’t have to go around threatening to kill everyone…I know, I know: where’s the fun in that?
The first draft of The Matriarch III is nearly complete! I credit Linda S. Cowden with the title of this post; I love my wife!
This is what happens when you give a couple of Texans a description for a new kind of vampire hunter weapon: they build one, and the case it comes in.
The modular fauchard, aka “the decapitator.” Designed for ghouls to subdue and/or destroy neophyte vampires. Not recommended against elder immortals with a true understanding of their power. This weapon is featured in The Matriarch: Guardians.
Special thanks to Dragon’s Fire Forge who hand-forged the blades, created the connecting polearm and stake tips (mmm…steak tips). Box, “Osage Orange” stakes, and leatherwork by Tobin’s Turnings. These folks really outdid themselves, didn’t they? Here’s the original text this was taken from along with a hasty sketch I cobbled together:
Continue reading ““The Decapitator” from The Matriarch: Guardians is complete! #VWSG”
“Just when you think you know what to expect from a sequel, Kevin A. Ranson completely shatters predictability with The Matriarch: Guardians. The perfect pace and continuity of the different subplots fuse together seamlessly (to) deepen the pull into each character’s motives.
“Allow yourself to become emotionally charged in this modern-day vampire thriller. It is so tangible and believable that you might even second guess the intentions of every administrative professional that you put in charge of your loved ones. You might also start to desperately want to find the quality care of a qualified vampire. I now see the situation as being a Win/Win…just don’t ask too many questions. Although the first book The Matriarch delivered a dark and intense sojourn, the sequel has managed to launch the story out of the atmosphere!”
~ by Kimmie Chameleon for DarkMedia.com
I get this question all the time. A LOT.
Fox Mulder inspired my preferred answer…with a heavy influence from Bela Lugosi.
The Matriarch: Guardians is available NOW, but here’s a “mood trailer” for you with bits of dialogue lifted from the text. Enjoy…and feel free to comment and share!
Extra fun bit! If you have a cool sound system or really great headphones, you’ll get a bit of a treat; I put a lot of cool and creepy stuff into the soundtrack that you’ll miss on a teeny phone speaker. Turn it up!
It took over a year to capture the original pictures and longer still to process them into a storybook format. I’ve had to learn a few new music and media skills to get this far, but this trailer is 100% created by me. PLEASE let me know if you do or don’t like it; any and all feedback will help me improve my work in the future. I hope you enjoy it.
The sequel to The Matriarch has been published! The Matriarch: Guardians now available in Amazon Kindle and paperback!
“… BETTER than the original! The reader can tell that Kevin Ranson really grew as an artist between books…Vampire lovers have found their next favorite vamp series!”
http://cedarcrestsanctum.com/the-matriarch-guardians/
If you like it or enjoyed The Matriarch, please tell a fellow reader or give a copy as a gift.
Enjoy!
According to TheGuardian.com, there are 10 specific points regarding whether or not a novel ought to be deemed “gothic,” citing Horace Walpole’s 1764 publication The Castle of Otranto as the first such work. While I had no such specific intention to do so, it appears that The Matriarch is, indeed, mostly a gothic novel! I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, so here we go!
1. The villain is a murderous tyrant with scary eyes. Check and check. +10%.
2. The heroine is a pious, virginal orphan, prone to fainting. Well, not so much. Janiss is neither an orphan nor prone to fainting, but she certainly fits the bill of “good girl” although she isn’t actually a virgin. To quoth ye olde The Cabin in the Woods, “We work with what we have.” +5%.
3. It’s set in a spooky castle or stately home. You caught me; I did this on purpose. It wasn’t done to make it gothic, but I was thinking about the equivalent of a modern-day Dracula’s castle when I created Cedarcrest Sanctum as a vampire stronghold. +10%.
4. There is (probably) a ghost or monster. Yep: vampires AND ghosts, but with the requisite twist and fresh take. +10%.
5. It’s set in the olden days. While the setup for The Matriarch does refer to century-old events, it isn’t set in the distant past; no points for this question. 5 more to go!
Continue reading “Is The Matriarch a Gothic Novel?”
Kevin A. Ranson 