Before we bite down hard, a neat piece of trivia related to our post on Blacula earlier in the week. Old greydog‘s talented writing partner, author and award-winning artist Alan M Clark, also noticed the review, and informs us that:

“I went to high school at Symbas Experimental High School in a warehouse commune in San Francisco. My ‘film’ teacher was the Joan Torres who wrote Blacula and Scream Blacula Scream.”

Rather cool. You can find the article on Scream Blacula Scream here:

SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM

Anyway, vampire fiction is again the mood of the day, as three more word-whisperers tell us a bit about their stories in the forthcoming SLAY anthology. This time we’re pleased to have Valjeane Jeffers, Marcia Colette writing as V G Harrison, and Miranda Riley, who provide three very different takes on the Vampire Noire…

‘Beautiful Monsters’ by Valjeanne Jeffers

Sanyu, the heroine of my story, ‘Beautiful Monsters’, is both a vampire and a freedom fighter. Thus, she is something of an anti-heroine, if you will. Sanyu is powerful and bloodthirsty. But she is definitely focused on her end game, which is slaying oppression. Her journey takes place in the town of Passion, in an alternative steamfunk universe.

I’ve been in love with vampires—werewolves too (really all creatures of the night)—since I was child watching Dracula and Barnabas from Dark Shadows, But when I saw the call for submissions to SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire, I realized that I’d never written a story about a traditional vampire, although I wrote about “time vampires” in the third novel of my Immortal series, Immortal III: Stealer of Souls.

So, I decided to challenge myself. I drew from the myths of traditional vampires, their birth, their fatal allergy to sunlight and, of course, their bloodlust. I decided to use a steamfunk setting because I love world building. I also included a tribute to my late sister Sidonie, who has a small but quintessential role in ‘Beautiful Monsters’.

I’m so very thrilled. and honored that ‘Beautiful Monsters’ has been published in SLAY, surely a groundbreaking anthology, the first of its kind, and to add my voice to the chorus of wonderful authors writing stories of vampires from the African Diaspora.

Valjeanne Jeffers is a speculative fiction writer, a Spelman College graduate, and a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Carolina African America Writers’ Collective. She is the author of nine books, including her Immortal and her Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective series.

Valjeanne has been published in numerous anthologies including: Steamfunk!; The Ringing Ear; Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler; Fitting In: Historical Accounts of Paranormal Subcultures; Sycorax’s Daughters; Black Magic Women, The Bright Empire, and, most recently, All the Songs We Sing, and Bledrotica Volume I. Visit Valjeanne at: www.vjeffersandqveal.com

‘Message in a Vessel’ by V.G. Harrison

Featuring Dr. Adelynn Jakande, ‘Message in a Vessel’ takes place on the moon in the distant future where a virus has turned most of the world into vampires. The few humans who are left can no longer feed the rest of the world. Vampire and bioinformatics specialist Dr. Jakande is faced with the task of helping her people look to the stars for new sources of food. There are no threats to the mission, so it’s a go… until Dr. Jakande double-checks what little humanity she has left.

For sci-fi visit: www.vgharrison.com

For paranormal/urban fantasy: www.marciacolette.com

‘Rampage’ by Miranda J. Riley

I’d say that my vampire is unlike any vampire written before because she is not originally human. When Nicole posted the call for SLAY submissions and I read the description of “unique, never before seen vampires”, I knew I could knock this out. I thought, “what if…we took the giant, most gentle being on the planet and turned it sour?” And so Talik, the vampire elephant, was created.

I lived with my family in Mozambique for a period of time and fell in love with a small village named Machanga. That is where I base my story, except in my world, Machanga was attacked by a league of vampires and killed Aziza’s family. Aziza trained to become a warrior who could protect her village and serve as a guardian.

But what is all that training good for if no one comes to attack?

Kruger National Park is losing elephants fast due to Talik’s rage and bloodlust. The Order of vampire slayers calls in Aziza, a warrior in the area and of interest to the Order, to help slay the beast and find the one responsible for transforming Talik into a monster.

This is Miranda J. Riley’s first published work! She has another short story in the works for publication through Prospective Press and she thanks Mocha Memoirs Press for the chance to share her talents. You can follow her on Twitter @TheSpunkyDragon and friend her on Facebook. You can also check out her beta website at https://mjrileyonline.co. Miranda is originally from Brazil and has lived on three different continents in her short lifetime. She gathers inspiration from the people, places, and events that have impacted her life.

SLAY, full of some fantastic authors, is due out on 13th October, and available to pre-order now: