Sunday, November 17, 2013

Author Isaiyan Morrison's Guest Post

I met Isaiyan Morrison several months ago when I reviewed Sphere (The Carriers,   Episode 1). She is quite the busy author.  Her novel Deamhan was released in August of this year. Her novella Kei, which takes place right after Deamhan, will be release on December 2, 2013.  I'm thrilled to welcome Isaiyan to Novel November.  She is not only sharing as excerpt but she has agreed to be my "first" guest host! 

DS:   Welcome to Novel November!  I'm so glad you could stop by!

Isaiyan:  First, I'd like to say thank you for having me on your site. It's good to be here!

Let me introduce myself to readers who haven't heard about me and my book. My name is Isaiyan Morrison and I was born and raised in Minnesota. I served four years of active service in the military and now I reside in Texas. I also play video games in my spare time. I've always been a gamer and at one point I was sponsored to participate in video game tournaments across America, Canada, and Caribbean.
Deamhan is the first novel in the Deamhan Chronicles. The novel follows a woman, Veronica, who goes back to Minnesota to find the truth about her mother's disappearance. The only thing she knows is that her parents worked for a secret organization in Minneapolis at the time of the disappearance and her father refuses to mention anything about it. Veronica decides to retrace her mother's footsteps by going back to the city. She finds out that her mother was tracking a Deamhan but she doesn't know why. However, she needs to find this Deamhan and to do that, she has to head into their dark and dangerous world.

For my novel I've researched vampire lore throughout different cultures and incorporated the most interesting ones into the novel which took about ten years to fully flesh out. There are so many different vampire types out there in lore that it was hard to choose. I wanted to write a vampire novel that was different and unique.

Deamhan are psychic vampires which is different from the popular sanguine (blood) vampires readers come across in majority of vampire novels. They feed different but have the same weaknesses (stakes, sunlight.) Four clans out of many are represented in the novel.

Ramanga - Live off the psychic energy in human blood. They have retractable and sharp canine teeth. 
Lamia - Feed by draining the psychic energy from their victim's mouths, sucking them into dry husks.
Metusba - Feed from the psychic aura of their victims around them. They don't have to kill their victims to live. 
Lugat - Feed on the psychic imprints of their victims and like the Metusba, they don't need to kill their victims to live. Often, the Lugat Deamhan prefer to move freely in the human world and enjoy human company.

They aren't romantic vampires. I prefer to stay away from that theme. I want readers to know that Deamhan aren't worried about sex. They don't attend high school and stalk pretty young girls. Their main focus is on survival and keeping their species alive. They are brutal and ruthless and they wouldn't think twice about killing anyone, even their own, to stay alive.

The first novella, Deamhan Tales titled Kei. Family Matters, takes place shortly after the first novel and it follows Kei, a Lugat Deamhan who's on the run from his sire Lucius and his sibling Selene. He's just been dethroned as head Deamhan in Minneapolis and he heads to the only person in his life who he thinks would help him in his plan to retake the city. He's vulgar, unconcerned, and downright uncontrollable because in the end, he believes that he's the only one can secure his future.

If you're interested in reading a vampire novel not marinated in romance, I suggest that you'd give Deamhan and Deamhan Tales a try.



Deamhan is now available in print and ebook on Amazon.
Kei. Family Matters will be available in ebook and print (exclusive) December 2nd 2013 on Smashwords.

Thank you so much for having me.

DS:  It was my pleasure, Isaiyan.  Thanks for stopping by.  

So now for the excerpt:                      



                             KEI FAMILY MATTERS
DEAMHAN TALE
EXCERPT


“Stay back, you!” She screamed.
       From where I stood I could tell that the blade wasn't sharp enough to cut through butter, let alone flesh. The handle was barely sturdy.
       I took another step forward.
       “I said stay back!”
       You can tell a lot about someone by looking in their eyes. Hers revealed panic and worry while her mind raced with thoughts of rape.
       I may be a killer and torturer, but I don't rape women.
       What was it that made humans perceive me to be a rapist? It wasn't the first time I'd been called that. I didn't look like one. I liked to wear my brown hair slicked back to keep the tiny strands from my face. I still wore the same clothes I had on the night that Lucius and Selene crashed my gathering; a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and a white shirt-all chaffed, frayed, and ripped. If anything I looked like Fonzie from Happy Days.
       While Selene thought of me as a conceded little brat who Lucius saved one solemn day back in Tralee, Ireland in 1848, I looked at myself as the leader of a social movement underway. I stood by the side of my fellow Irishmen who protested against the British occupation of our homeland. I let every man, woman, and child know that I, Malachy O'Byrne, was part of the Young Ireland social movement, and I was not to be ignored.
       As we protested, our women were raped, tortured, and killed. My mother Johanna suffered greatly along with my little sister Eliza. I couldn't stand by and let it continue. I became more involved and more radical. Just another human who felt the need to protest, fight for equality, and to be treated like a human being. Looking back at it, as a Deamhan, I felt that I had wasted my time. Humans would always be humans. There would always be death in this world, just make sure you're not the one standing on the pointy end, suffering because of it.
       I stood there, watching Bobbi shake her weary hand at me as if the knife was the only deciding factor in our confrontation. I yawned and leaned against the wall, unsure of what I wanted to do with her. I woke up hungry but not for her. I craved a woman with a little meat on them, young, plush, and ripe with psychic energy. Bobbi didn't have that.
       But I couldn't ignore my cravings.
       “I'll call the cops. You just wait right there!” She waved the knife at me again. “You… you…you pervert.”
       “Go and call them.” I proceeded to walk in her direction but I took a sharp right to move to the other side of the room. Suddenly it hit me. It was the same idea I had when I first met Nashoba on his farm. After hiding out several days in the back shed, he surprised me with a shotgun aimed straight at my head. We chatted for a few minutes. He threatened to kill me and I dared him too. I easily subdued him, drained him, and sired him as a thank you of sorts.
       I didn't have anything to thank Bobbi for but having another Deamhan by my side, just in case I didn't find Nashoba, would be my first step in rebuilding my allegiance. I just had to get over the hump that she didn't smell like the type I'd eat. But desperate times called for desperate measures. I couldn't think of any human who'd turn away a chance at immortality. It's all the rage these days. Teenage girls screaming over cute, young-looking, pale men with sharp fangs. They dreamed about these “vampires” entering their home during the night, seducing them, falling in love with them. Thinking about those estrogen filled desires made me chuckle. Who'd want to be a vampire when you could be a Deamhan! It's like choosing to be a prey instead of the beast.
       Moving in breakneck speed, I grabbed the knife and phone from her grasp and threw them to the ground. I did all of this before she had the chance to blink. Her mouth widened enough to catch flies, showing a side of fear in humans that I loved seeing.
       “See what I did there Bobbi?”
       Shell-shocked, she didn't reply.
       “I know you saw it. Tell me you saw it.” I wanted to hear her say it but she didn't speak a word.
       “I can make you into what I am. I can make you immortal. You'll be fast, strong, and unafraid of anyone and anything.”
       “What?” She spoke in a high squealed voice.
       “I can make you immortal. It's easy really.” I paused. “Well, actually it isn't. Some humans don't survive the transformation.” I scanned her. “But you look suitable I guess. So, you want me to?”
       She screamed and lashed out at me. She drove her fingernails into my skin, creating long scratch marks that healed immediately. Angered, I grabbed her by her arm and easily tossed her across the kitchen. Her back smacked against the fridge and she fell to the floor.
       “I guess I can't make you.” I walked over to her. “Stupid move, Bobbi. If someone offered immortality to me, I'd take it in a heartbeat.” I knelt beside her and she lazily raised her head.
       “Well, actually I did and I don't have a heartbeat.” I slipped my hand underneath her chin and raised her head. “I'll give you a second chance, that's it. Bobbi, do you want to be immortal?” I've sired plenty humans in my time; too many to count, and not once did I regret doing so. Each human served me in different ways. Nashoba was my getaway card. Bobbi would be my…well, maybe she could be my extra pair of eyes while I remained town, if she awoke from her transformation in time. The more humans a Deamhan sired, the more support they had, even if Deamhan weren't known to be reliable. Broken bonds didn't matter.
       I waited for her to throw herself at the offer but instead she opened her mouth and she screamed again.
       And again. And again.
       She wailed, trying to move her body away from mine. Tears poured down her face. She moved my hand away from her face and she raised herself up by using the fridge as support.
       “Please, don't hurt me.”
       I stood up slowly. “I didn't say anything about hurting you. I asked you if you want to be immortal. Are you not listening?”
       She tried to run by me, but I blocked her way. She moved to the left and I followed her.
       “I have money. It's in my room. Just please don't kill me.”
       “I don't want your money.” I exhaled loudly and grinded my teeth.
       “Please, just go. I won't tell anyone, I swear.”
       This turned into a cat and mouse chase and frankly, I was bored with repeating myself. I reached out, grabbed her by her scraggly hair, and pulled back, yanking with such force that I heard her neck snap. I let go and her body fell to the floor like a limp noodle.
       Standing over her, I took the time to admire my handy work until I realized that I had just killed a potential meal. 
       “Damn it Bobbi,” I snarled as I kicked her corpse. “Look what you made me do.”



Isaiyan Morrison's links:
Deamhan Purchase Links:
Amazon (Paperback): http://amzn.to/14HXWzN
Amazon (Kindle): http://amzn.to/19fZPVf

Kei. Family Matters. Links:
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/374725

Author Media Links:

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