Non-Romantic Vampires

This is a pet peeve of mine, that is, vampires that are all about romance. I'll confess, I don't read romance. It just doesn't 'do it' for me. There's something that really irritates me about Happily Ever After (aka HEA). Life doesn't end in an HEA. Ever. I know that really sounds as if I'm a pessimist, but for clarity sake here, I'm not saying that people can't be happy, but rather that the EVER AFTER part is bogus. There's always something that crops up to cause change or unrest.

Now onto the real issue - the vampires and romance. Of course there's a ton of books out there with vampires and romance - including the wildly popular Twilight Series. It's not my cuppa. Believe me, I've tried to read some of these Best-selling fiction, but each time I find I'm disgusted with the leather-pants wearing vampire hottie man (usually with long hair) who falls in love with a mortal woman, though he knows he's not supposed to be with her, thus making him a bad boy too. And she is strangely attracted to him, all of his hulking mass, and despite him being a 'monster' (yeah right), she loves him anyway. Ugh. Tell me how many novels that little blurb describes - probably the majority. They're all the same underneath, and the paint on top is just a slightly different color (if you get my drift).

Let's face it, romance sells. Period. No matter what other genre trappings, if there's romance in the novel, it'll more than likely have a better chance of hitting the shelves than those that don't. And mine don't. To go one step further down that path, I will not consider adding it either. It doesn't make sense in the way I wish to portray my vampires and world.

I KNOW there's a readership out there, hungry for vampire novels that don't have romance. I know this as fact since I've spoken with a lot of you at conventions, book signings, and other events. I also know that there are always changes in what is popular, and I'm placing my money on a movement away from the shiny, leather-pant, long haired, hunky vampire toward a darker, more evil fanged friend. When you look at vampire lore, you'll see that vampires are evil, undead creatures of the night.

And what about a strong female vampire lead? Novels like that are definitely far and few between. This is where I'm going with my vampire series. I have a strong female lead, with a funny, yet strong male counterpart. One of my beta readers said their relationship is very much like Scully and Mulder from the X-Files. Even my vampire is different. I went out to mythology to find a different take on vampire lore. While it is a loose interpretation, I'm using the myth of The White Women of the Scottish Highlands.

Now, to be fair, I will say that there has been some interest in the series by a few select publishers. To date, we do not have any offers. Yet. And certainly when we do receive the offer, I'll be certain to let you all know. :-) (See I'm really an optimist).