I have always believed in vampires. Well—not literally. But there was a time I wanted them to be real. When I was in junior high, I’ll never forget one particular night visiting Austin. Near the seminary by UT campus there is a little park, and in the park a concrete foot bridge, where the creek beneath went through a broad manmade tunnel. At night it was spooky, because you couldn’t see through to the other side, unless you were very close. So I stood there, looking under that bridge, and imagining—nay, hoping—to see glowing eyes in the dark. It would have to be vampire eyes. And of course, me being the nearest blooded person, I would have to be chosen.
Maybe that’s the lifelong storyteller in me. What I know for sure is that since those days of junior high in Chapel Hill, NC, I’ve always felt vampires weren’t given their due. I find them the most persistent supernatural characters in all of fiction—and yet in most movies, books, TV and games they’re too limited in scope. Magnetized to extremes, they are either bloodthirsty monsters, seductive tempters, or apologists with hearts of gold, who whine that immortality isn’t any fun, because death and decay are what make life worth living? Right.
I never saw glowing eyes that night, and nothing came out of the dark under that bridge, but to this day I think I would have made a fantastic vampire (I would only hunt very bad people). What attracts me to the conceit is the idea of freedom—the ability to observe the world from a secure vantage, shrouded in unearthly power, present but unstudied, and to understand history from a perspective that mortals of the time could not authentically have.
So after six years of writing, and many dedicated beta readers—teens to octogenarians—my goal is to do something different: disrupt the vampire genre, and raise Gothic romantic fiction to new heights. I believe the best characters are relatable anchors, the best stories are invitations, and the best worlds are those you want to revisit. In these pages—rife with danger and darkness, warmth and wit, I hope you’ll find the tale of Emelyn Morley, and the immortals who cross her path, a feast for the senses. Welcome to Saunmoor.
B. Lawson Hull
UPDATE: Table of Contents and Glossary of Characters have been added to Book 1 and Book 2, all editions. Below are sample pages from Saunmoor, Volume I & II, ebook.
