Alastair's Blog

After a long delay, book two of A Grey Raven Tale is finally here. It has taken several rewrites, countless revisions and the patience of a saint before I finally wrote those two words The End… for now.

Oddly enough, The Nosferatu Project was initially supposed to be the first book in the series but a detour to an archaeological dig at the Wallace Monument in Stirling led to Angel of Mercy as the first book. This of course gave me time to explore and colour my vampire world, which is set in the world that we inhabit. Launched just before the Independence Referendum in Scotland, it was topical enough because my main character, Cat was at Stirling Bridge in the aftermath of the battle. Her perspective on the battle for independence and life in general at the time felt in keeping with the debate dividing the country.

Fast forward a few years of course and whilst writing and rewriting The Nosferatu Project we’ve seen the rise of the far right, the election of a man so unfit for the Oval Office it’s almost grand satire, and closer to home the current shambles of Brexit. One of the reasons this has taken so long to write has been the vague idea that this book should keep pace with current events. It’s a good idea in theory but in practice you’re constantly playing catch up. Who could have predicted any of these events?

So where are we with The Nosferatu Project and The Grey Raven Chronicles as a series?

I’m glad you asked! I had to go back over the last chapter of Angel of Mercy to find out where I’d left off. It seems one of my main characters, Elizabeth McIvor was planning on launching the UK branch of her successful House of McIvor clothing chain. That diary entry from Cat however was dated around 2014, just before the Referendum and bearing in mind that The Nosferatu Project was set in Glasgow, 2018 how was I going to explain this extra time? As it turned out, current events turned out to be beneficial (at least for my universe) and Brexit along with the election of my US President, Tom Caine worked in well. Elizabeth wasn’t taken totally by surprise by either of these things, let’s just say that vampire Intelligence networks are far older and much more efficient than the mortal equivalent. She stepped back from the brink and did a rethink before launching her House of McIvor UK.

So, to cut to the chase if you’ll pardon a cliche, Elizabeth is set to launch when the body of a young woman is found on Glasgow Green. She has a stake through her chest but she is no vampire, Alise is Jana’s one percenter. When a second intended victim, Fiona escapes and manages to kill the ‘vampire’ it ups the ante. The dead vampire is a hybrid probably created by a laboratory with very sophisticated technology but she also has the power to restore the power of taste to vampires, permanently. The only other person to have this power is Elizabeth and her blood needs to have additives, whilst Fiona’s blood can be used straight from the source. It also seems as if she has the power to drain a vampire of their power and this makes her a prized asset for both both vampires and those who would seek to use the vampire virus for their own ends.

I won’t go into any more detail there, you’ll have to read the book for yourself. This site will serve as the most up to date information on the Chronicles of the Grey Raven and the vampire world in particular. Some of the older interviews and articles will be used for this site once I’ve reworked them but I’ll also be writing new interviews. I’ve found that the interview format is much easier to write and lets me do a bit of wandering and pondering. The short stories will be included as well, these stories were referenced in both books but I couldn’t tell them in full because it took away from the story and bogged the the narrative down. I hope at some stage in the future to create an anthology of vampire short stories where my vampires could talk about life back then, whether it’s Roman Britain or Occupied Europe during WWII.

That’s all for now though, please stop by and see if I’m keeping up my end of the bargain and updating regularly and don’t be afraid to comment. I may not reply straight away but I will get around to replying as soon as possible.

The Nosferatu Project can be found here and Angel of Mercy can be found here.

Thanks for reading to the end!

Cheers,

Alastair