I am really excited to have Awesome Author, Shane KP ONeill here today.
Shane O'Neill is the writer of The Dracula Chronicles, a new and exciting
series adding a new dimension to the Dracula myth. He has begun the series with
Chronicle 3 to give his readers the vampire first. Chronicle 1 will follow to
take you back to the beginning.
The author developed a fascination with Dracula from an early age. Like many
others he was enthralled by Christopher Lee's portrayal of him on the big
screen. It was in his late teens that he discovered Dracula the man and the love
affair began from there. An avid historian, he studied the period in which the
real historical Vlad Dracula lived, 15th Century Balkan, for many years. It
followed from there then that with his love of writing he would always choose
Dracula as his subject.
Away from writing, the author has a wide range of interests. He has lived and
travelled all over the world. He has a love for all things historical, with a
particular fascination for medieval Europe. Anywhere he travels he likes to
search out locations with an historical interest.
Shane and I have much in common: we both have a vampire series, and write in the paranormal and historical genres, so it is no wonder that he and I became fast friends.
BOUND BY BLOOD Volumes 1 and 2 and
BIRTH OF THE MONSTER which is a prequel to Bound by Blood, will be his featured books today. But I ask you all to take a look at all of Shane ONeill's works on his
WEBSITE. He's fantastic!! In the meantime, I was so pleased when I got wind of Shane's "essay" entitled The Recreation of a Legend. Here's what he wrote.....
There are few names in popular
culture today as famous as that of Dracula. I would go as far as to say that in
the western world the name conjures up an image of one description or another
for anyone who hears it, anyone above the age of twelve at least. For me
personally, as a youngster anyway and even now to an extent, I see the face of
Christopher Lee, who will always enjoy immortality as the on-screen icon. Of
course, the name Dracula is not limited only to western culture.
For his iconic status in the
modern age I guess we need to thank Bram Stoker, who gave us Dracula the vampire
for the very first time back in 1897. From that time forward his literary
classic haunted the imaginations of his countless readers. Of course, over a
dozen actors have taken up the mantle of Dracula on the big screen, beginning
with Max Schreck’s Nosferatu in 1922. Notable mentions to those who have
followed in his footsteps and helped cement the legend that is Dracula would
include: Gary Oldman; Bela Lugosi; Lon Chaney Jr; Gerard Butler; John Carradine;
and the best of all, Christopher Lee.
And then there is Dracula the
man, the true legend, but about whom so little is known by the wider audience
that is captivated by the on-screen vampire. This was a man famous in his own
times, as the ruler of Wallachia – one of the three main states that form modern
Romania today. He was a man famed for his brutality, even in his own day, and
whose method of punishment brought him notoriety long after he was gone. When
people hear the name Vlad the Impaler, they are a little more familiar with the
man I am describing. Note this is a nickname not used in his lifetime.
So, when the legend already
exists, and there are few bigger than this one, how do you create something
new? How do you breathe life into a subject that has already had so many
incarnations be it on screen, in books or in historical texts? What can you
write that will capture the imagination of those that already adore Dracula and
survive the obvious scrutiny that is sure to come? It goes without saying that
any such undertaking is never likely to be easy. If it is to succeed then it
will have to be something special and something that stands apart from the rest
to be judged on its own merits.
The first question anyone ever
asks me when he/she learns I am a writer, is naturally, “What do you write?”
When I tell them the subject of my books is Dracula, I always see the scepticism
in their eyes. Even if it is unintended it is always there, and this is the
point I am trying to address. How do you write on a subject that everyone holds
a pre-conception of, in a way that is not only going to capture their attention,
but also their imagination? If they take the time to investigate further and
allow me to explain the concept and premise of my books, then the expression and
the look of doubt inevitably changes. And it is then I know I have something in
my possession that will draw interest over a wide spectrum and possibly see the
birth of a new legend.
I have always had my own love
affair with Dracula, with both the vampire and the famed voivode. He has
intrigued me for decades and given me many a late night trying to understand and
know the man he was. I have always wanted to write, but more significantly, I
have always wanted to write about him. I wanted to write about both Dracula the
man and Dracula the vampire. Even in the earliest days of my project I knew it
was going to need to be something grandiose and epic in scope. And that is what
I set out to create. Nine years on and three books later, The Dracula
Chronicles is well on the way to achieving this.
My task, therefore, was to
formulate a concept where I could focus on building the world of Dracula the man
and move into fantasy with Dracula the vampire and successfully blend the two
together. I based my premise on the aftermath of the first Great War of the
Angels. This war is a consequence of Lucifer’s jealousy upon the creation of
mankind, which causes a great divide in Heaven and results in him and those that
had sided with him to be cast out. To end the carnage, God agrees a truce with
Lucifer. One of the terms of the truce is that they would contest the soul of
every man, though without any physical interference. If at any time Lucifer
controls a greater number of souls then he can return again to Heaven and
oversee the end of mankind.
When it seems that Lucifer might
triumph, God sends His son who is then crucified to free man from sin. This
undoes all of Lucifer’s work and leaves him in the same position as he was after
the truce. However, on the day of the Crucifixion the Catholic Church is born.
Fourteen hundred years on Lucifer comes to believe if he can destroy the
institution of the Catholic Church then he can turn man against God once more.
The candidate he chooses for this immense task is the young Vlad Dracula. In
the moment the young Dracula breathes life, so does his half-brother to a gypsy
woman on the other side of the country. The Powers of Light bestow the baby
Andrei with great power as a balance to Dracula.
This is the point where I build
the world of Dracula the man. There have been a few noble attempts by others to
do this and I am aware of another in progress at the moment. However, the best
effort I have read was that written by Michael Augustyn. But even then, his
book fell short of what I was looking for personally in Dracula the man. So
with the first books, The Path to Decay and The Gates Of Babylon I have created
his world in its entirety. I have built a profile of a most amazing man with
his struggles, his conflicts, his loves and his triumphs as well as his
failures. Despite the image the history books convey of him, my readers will
fall in love with Vlad Dracula. I daresay he will be as popular with readers
despite being the antagonist of the series from Book 3 onwards, as his brother,
Andrei, who is the protagonist of the story. It is in Book 3, Bound By Blood,
that I give you Dracula the vampire, as created by Lucifer. He then begins his
journey through the ages to bring down the institution of the Catholic
Church.
So for those of you out there who
may have been waiting for something new from Dracula, or even just a return to
the much darker and more traditional vampire with a little something different,
I give you the Dracula Chronicles.
A prequel to the series, The
Birth Of The Monster, is available now to give a feel for the Chronicles. Bound
By Blood – Volume 1 & 2 were released on December 1, 2012. I invite you to
join Dracula and I on our journey through time.
Follow Shane on:
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I'm happy to welcome Author Danita Minnis to my blog today, and am pleased to share her newest novel with you, 
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