Reviews, Reader Comments, Interviews, and Listings
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Just finished and advance copy of a new series Darkhour Vampires, Captivity by Linda Suzane. Published ebook date July. This is a character driven erotic Vamp. Characters are great even the
villains are likeable in a bad boy sort of way. Suzane is building a vamp reality. This is the first book in a series of many. Second will be in spring of 2003. This is a keeper. Lots of well defined sexually scenes but with a real story that develops the good guys that you will just fall in love with. HOT, HOT, HOT!
Great book. Characters to fall in love with. HOT, HOT, HOT. Move over Laurell K, new kid on the block.
-- Patricia A. Ard, Reader
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A fast-moving "good vampire vs. evil vampire" adventure, with the two sides
fighting over a kidnapped teenage boy, CAPTIVITY has rich characterization as
well as sustained suspense. The "evil" vampire is sometimes almost pitiable
in her madness, and the "good" vampire has enough of a dangerous edge to make
him believable as a centuries-old creature of the night. Linda Suzane achieves a fresh approach to the familiar vampire problem of tension between
living ethically in the human world and protecting the secret of the immortal
blood-drinkers' existence.
-- Margaret L. Carter, author of DARK CHANGELING (www.hardshell.com), winner
of the 2000 Eppie Award for Horror
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Captivity is volume one of the Darkhour
Vampires. The story opens with Wade Kain and his two friends camping
in the Santiam Wilderness south of Portland. They spend their days
skinny-dipping and drinking beer, their nights passing around a joint
and telling scary stories, but unbeknown to them, one of those stories
isn’t a story at all. Enter Cassandra, sexy and insane vampire.
Cassandra has been sentenced to seventy-five years of
exile by the Directors of Darkhour-the vampire’s ruling body-for
slaying another vampire. But fifty years has passed since she killed
Amanda and her daughter, and there is a growing sentiment within
Darkhour that she has been ‘punished’ enough. When Wade and his two
friends disappear, vampire psychologist, Donovan Reed, goes to
investigate. He knows Cassandra of old and can never forgive her for
killing Amanda and their child. He vows to find the truth and prove to
Darkhour the depths of her evil.
Linda Suzane has not only created a believable world
where vampires exist, she has created one where they manage a huge
corporation-Darkhour-and use modern science in the form of DNA scanning
to choose who is suitable to receive their ‘gift’ of vampirism.
Captivity is a well-written and excellent
beginning to this series. Dialogue is believable and appropriate to the
scenes, and the reader is never subjected to over the top narrative or
description. The main characters come to life leaving a lasting
impression-especially Wade and Donovan. If I had one criticism, it would
be that the author dwelt too long on Wade’s captivity. I found myself
wanting to skip ahead when I read yet another scene detailing Wade’s
mental and sexual abuse at the hands of Cassandra. I also wanted more
about the politics within Darkhour, but this was a minor lapse when
considering the story as a whole. Perhaps Darkhour itself will be
addressed in the next book, I hope so.
Overall, Captivity is a fine addition to any
vampire lover’s collection. I look forward with great anticipation for
Freedom, volume two of the Darkhour Vampires.
Mark E. Cooper, Author of The God Decrees
EBook Reviews Weekly
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http://www.eternalnight.co.uk/books/s/suzanelinda/captivity.html
Score 8 out of 10
Wade, Mike and Josh are on a camping trip to celebrate Wade's birthday. The first night they are sitting around the campfire swapping horror stories and urban legends when they are attacked. Within seconds Josh sees his companions brutally murdered while he is taken captive by a rather strange woman, Cassandra. He soon comes to realise that Cassandra is more than strange - she is a vampire and she wants to make him like her so that he can be with her for eternity.
Donovan Reed is the Dark Hunter. A vampire who looks for evidence of vampire attack, captures them and attempts to turn them away from their destructive path. One day he hears how the bodies of two young campers are found, apparently mutilated by wild animals and how a third camper is still missing. Knowing that the corpses were found close to the lair of a known vampire he sets out to find out what is happening and to see if he can find the missing boy.
Captivity is the first in the Darkhour Vampires series and it sets the scene well for future volumes. Donovan Reed has two separate identities. One, Dr Donovan Reed is an eminent psychiatrist who, to the outside world, specialises in treating people with delusions of vampirism. However, this is merely a cover for his true identity, The Dark Hunter. Cassandra, the villain of the piece, is a beautifully written succubus with few, if any, redeeming features. She is unashamedly evil!
If you removed the vampiric theme this would still be a well written murder mystery with the hero trying to track down a kidnap victim before the psychotic killer murders him. Add in the teeth, the taste for blood and a definite dislike of sunlight and you have a cracking good story. Now the scene is set I look forward to reading more about the Darkhour Vampires.
Steve & Lesley Mazey
The Eternal Night Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Fiction Web Site http://www.eternalnight.co.uk
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Reviewed by Kate Hill, Author of God of Grim
Wade and his friends are on a camping trip, scaring each other with stories about a red-eyed demon who slaughters victims in the forest. The stories are
true, however, as Wade discovers when his companions are killed and he is abducted by the evil vampire Cassandra.
Cassandra has some violent desires. She likes to keep Wade chained up to abuse emotionally and sexually. She brainwashes him and forces him to kill a
girl he likes. Wade is discovering that real vampires are even more terrifying than the ones in the movies.
Back in the city, someone else is learning that the vampiric life doesn't have to be so bad. Thom has awakened as a vicious newborn vampire, but he's
taken into the custody of Dr. Donovan Reed, a psychiatrist who works with vampires. Dr. Reed is an old, experienced vampire who has long since
outgrown his angry youth. He teaches Thom how to cope with what he's become and introduces him to his "parent," an attractive female vampire called
Valentine. With the help of Dr. Reed and Valentine, Thom learns that he can enjoy his new powers without resorting to murder.
Cassandra and Dr. Reed are opposites in every way, yet they're joined by the horrors of the past. There is much between them, including love and murder.
Cassandra's evil must end, and Dr. Donovan Reed is willing to risk his own life to stop it.
Though Captivity relies on many traditional traits of the vampire, there are some interesting novelties. These vampires don't fear religious object or
sleep in coffins. Unlike many vampires, Linda Suzane's are living creatures who age, and she's created a complex and believable parent/child explanation
for vampires' existence.
Captivity's breed of vampires have some intriguing characteristics, and their world is interesting.
At first I was unsure whether this book was geared toward young adults or adults, since the beginning focuses on a group of youths who meet
vampires in the woods. The story then switches to Dr. Donovan Reed's clinic, where the vampire psychiatrist is attempting to ease a recently born vampire into
his new life. Since the story contains plenty of sex - though very little romance - and violence, I'd say older teens as well as adults who enjoy
vampires would like this book. Don't be fooled by the first chapter; this is not a book for younger teens.
Though there is a variety of characters, from villains to good guys, few of them are easy to become attached to. Captivity's villain, Cassandra, has
suffered a cruel past, but her background evokes no sympathy for her character. Nor does her insanity. She is too evil. Cassandra is the most
interesting character in the book, however. She personifies the passion expected in a wicked vampire temptress. This woman means business, and she
loves to control the male sex. She spends most of the book torturing eighteen-year-old Wade. She keeps him chained in her lair, feeding him raw
meat and using him to relieve her sexual perversions. When her old lover, Dr. Donovan Reed, falls into her clutches, she chains him up as well,
exposing him to dreaded sunlight and beating him. It's a bit disappointing toward the end when Cassandra makes a sudden change from a very strong,
though crazy, vampire to a more vulnerable character. The change doesn't seem believable for this powerful woman.
Wade, one of Captivity's male leads, is difficult to define for most of the story. For half the book, little is gathered about his true personality
since he is captured by Cassandra in chapter one and seems to fall under her power, therefore distorting his true thoughts and feelings. Eventually,
however, he is able to make an attempt to stand up to her. Though he is in a terrifying situation, he tends to be a whining character who's difficult to
like.
The story's hero, Donovan Reed, is a good man. He cares about people and genuinely tries to help them. He has inner strength and the makings of a
hero. Unfortunately in his change from raving young vampire to upstanding psychiatrist, he lost his passion and doesn't excite the reader. The concept
of a vampire psychiatrist is very interesting, as is Dr. Reed's compassionate manner of dealing with out of control vampires and helping
them become decent members of society.
Two secondary characters, Thom and Valentine, are the focus of a sub-plot about the relationship between a vampire parent and child and add much to
the book. Valentine is amusing and likeable, someone who seems to have many of her own stories to tell. Thom starts out as a monster, but turns out to
be a nice guy torn between enjoying the erotic pleasures of his vampiric nature and trying to cling to what's left of his humanity.
Captivity also includes many references to Dr. Reed's relationship with his deceased vampire lover, Amanda. His relationship with Amanda opens up many
questions about their romance and their past. The couple's relationship is very important in tying the story together, however most of it is revealed
through a long conversation between two secondary characters. This leaves the reader wanting to go back in time and experience what happened along
with the lovers rather than hear it from a third party. Maybe this past will be explored more fully in future books.
I'm awaiting the next book in what promises to be an entertaining new series. I'm looking forward to more about the past, present, and future of
Linda Suzane's vampire world. I would recommend Captivity to fans of the vampire genre.
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Reviewed by Christine Janssen, Author of Dark Legacy
May 29, 2002
Three young men are accosted at their forest campsite. Two are
viciously killed, their throats slashed by sharp teeth. Wade escapes
death only because the leader, the demon-eyed Cassandra, wants him alive
-- as her toy. Cassandra introduces Wade to her hypnotic love-making and
makes him her (still human) sex slave in an underground fortress, while
keeping her murdering followers under tenuous control.
In the city, Donovan roams the night, seeking a "newborn" -- a
newly initiated vampire who has yet to learn to control his impulses --
that he senses is nearby. Donovan, having lived (and died) through the
California gold rush, runs a legitimate medical/psychiatric clinic as a
front to protect the tightly knit, secret world of vampires, and, not
coincidentally, for a legitimate source of the blood necessary for their
sustenance. The "newborn," Thom, serves as a vehicle to show
how vampires adjust to their near-immortal existence - a fascinating
world of young and old, with its hierarchy and rules (which Cassandra
callously disregards in her selfish quest for pleasure).
These two story lines collide when Donovan must find Cassandra, whose
risky behavior threatens to bring their shadowy world into public
scrutiny, and bring her before the elders, who had banished her for 75
years for previous unacceptable behavior. Can he save Wade before
Cassandra literally sinks her teeth into him?
Not a vampire devotee, I had no preconceived notions when I began
reading Captivity by Linda Suzane. Am I glad I started it on a weekend,
because I simply HAD to finish it RIGHT AWAY. In a word, Wow! The power
of Ms. Suzane's writing propels you into the story with vivid images,
strong characterization, and totally believable scenario. An unequivocal
thumbs-up!
-- reviewed by Christine Janssen,
who received the Golden Wings Award from Wings ePress, Inc. for her
romantic suspense, STAND ON YOUR OWN. Read an excerpt on her website,
www.christinejanssen.com
CHRISTINEJANSSEN@aol.com / WEBSITE: www.christinejanssen.com
NIGHTMARE RUN, October best-seller "A gripping
tale of suspense." Robin Peek, The Word on Romance.
STAND ON YOUR OWN - Golden Wings Award in Romantic
Suspense
Both in paperback from www.wings-press.com
DARK LEGACY - Who can she trust? - July 2002
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Reviewed by Karen Koehler, Author of
Slayer
To celebrate his birthday, Wade and his two friends Josh and Mike go camping in the Oregon woods. The haunted Oregon woods. For according to
local legend, a fiery-eyed demon haunts the idyllic woodsy area. Wade doesn't believe such nonsense--until he and his companions are attacked
by said monster. Three of them actually, and they aren't just monsters, they're vampires. Josh and Mike are slaughtered by two lesser vampires,
and their master, Cassandra, captures Wade as her "plaything", chaining him up inside her mountain hovel and keeping him prisoner as she
physically and sexually abuses him in an attempt to break down his personality and turn him into her perfect slave.
Meanwhile, Dr. Donovan Reed, a 200-year old psychiatrist, is busy running a clinic which acts as cover for the Darkhour Corporation, a
ruling body of vampires who control all vampiric activity in the world. Reed is a master vampire, a sire, and a hunter who has dedicated his
existence to recovering newly awakened vampires and preventing them from becoming cold-blooded killers. Years ago, he had taken Cassandra
under his wing as his student and lover, trying to reform her from a past drenched in violence and abuse at the hands of her creator. Having
failed her, and himself, Cassandra was declared unstable and a menace by the Corporation and was imprisoned in the Oregon mountains for 75
years for her crimes against the vampire community.
But after all this time, Cassandra's madness--and perversions--have remained intact. And once Reed discovers that Cassandra's up to old
tricks, he takes matters into his own hands and goes hunting his former protégé in an attempt to rescue young Wade before time runs out and
Cassandra turns Wade into another of her bloodthirsty servants.
Captivity, the first in a new, ongoing series, takes a slant on the old vampire mythos, combining a little of the old-fashioned legend and a
lot of the avant-garde attitude being injected into vampire fiction today. Ms. Suzane's vampires, much like the vampires in the Blade
universe, are not "undead" and do in fact age, only at a much slower rate. Magic realism has been removed and vampirism explained in much
more mundane terms, which is refreshing in light of the overflow of mystical coffin-sleeping, cross-fearing vampires which many authors
have taken direction from since the Anita Blake universe took off. Captivity reads fast and has excellent seat-of-your-pants pacing,
easily making it a one-sit read for vampire aficionados.
Captivity has a little something for everyone: action, romance, and a complex system of life, death and vampire behavior that is integral for
any ongoing series. There is much violence, but most of it is off-stage. There are some strong and violently sexual themes, but
description is budgeted and kept to a minimum, making the book more purposefully mainstream than I expected it would be.
Although perfectly paced and plotted, it is sometimes difficult to attach oneself to some of the characters. Cassandra, as the villain,
has a sad and abusive past, but her present behavior fluctuates between bouts of depraved insanity and whimpering annoyance. At times she does
not seem to be equally matched to Dr. Donovan Reed's opposing force for "good" (or at least decency) in society both human and
vampiric. Reed struggles with who and what he is, but his altruism seems a little
unreal: when given a chance to avenge the murder of the woman he truly loved, a woman murdered by Cassandra's hand, he falters. I was hoping
to see Cassandra receive payback for the many crimes she committed but it looks as though Cassandra has plenty more miles left on her and will
undoubtedly turn up in forthcoming Darkhour tales. The upside to this situation is that readers will feel an ever-increasing dislike for this
troubled and sadistic psychotic and her eventual end--if indeed it comes--will be spectacular and well deserved. Cassandra is most
definitely a villain readers will love to hate.
On the other hand, characters like the flamboyantly evil Stefan, introduced at the very end of the novel, make Captivity more than worth
the read despite its few flaws. Stefan, like many of the secondary characters, has his own agenda and a thousand stories of his own to
tell. Perhaps as we sink deeper into the secret society of the Darkhour Vampires, we will hear them all.
--Karen Koehler,
author of Slayer and Scarabus
Death Becomes Him...
The Black Death Books Special Collector's Edition of Slayer:
www.khpindustries.com/title1.html
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Linda Suzane pulls off this vampires' tale with finesse and flair.
She has an uncanny way in Captivity of combining two plot lines into one
incredible story. If vampirish stories are right up your alley, then you
won't want to miss this one! ~~
Patricia A. Rasey, author of Deadly Obsession and the Hour Before
Dawn
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Twisted Tales - July Issue
Reviewed by Annette Gisby
June 18, 2002
For as long as there have been people to tell stories, there have always
been vampire stories. Stories about creatures of the night who live on blood
and hold their victims in thrall. Eighteen year old Wade Kain doesn't believe in vampires, gives no credence to the legend that there is a
red-eyed demon haunting the woods.
When he and his two friends camp there to celebrate his birthday, the trio
are attacked and Wade's two friends are brutally murdered. Wade himself is
kidnapped and taken to the lair of a beautiful, but insane and sadistic vampire, Cassandra, who uses pain and pleasure to entice Wade into staying
with her and obeying her every whim. In the vampire's power, Wade has no
option but to do as she says, for in his trance-like state he thinks he loves her and doesn't want to lose her.
He will do anything to keep her happy, even if that means murder and death...
The plot starts off at a run and has you rushing headlong towards a finish
line, wondering what on earth will happen next. The pages just wanted to be
kept turning and I finished the book in one sitting, ready to read more.
There are quite a few subplots besides the story of Cassandra and Wade, the
machinations of vampire society, how newly raised vampires take the news
that they are no longer dead and why it's rude to show your fangs when you're introduced to another vampire. Some of it is quite lighthearted, such
as the vampires owning a corporation and having to deal with things like
taxes and staff shortages. (It's easy to have staff shortages when you're a
vampire.)
But it isn't long before the darker aspects of the tale unfold again and at
the end you are left wondering what will happen in the next installment of
the Darkhour Vampires.
A great read.
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This time I get to write about myself and my book. I am an author whose
passions include vampires, murder and reading. I love hosting of this
column because I get to read great vampire eBooks and interview wonderful
authors. I started e-Vampires.net, because there wasn’t room here for my
long list of vampire eBooks, but it has taken on a life of its own and is
now the place to find the best bloodsucking fiction on the Web. I also
reviews print books, mysteries and vampire books, for several review sites
and have just started my own book review site, Midnight Blood Reviews, at http://www.midnightblood.com.
Here is where you can find me on the Web My official homepage: http://www.lindasuzane.com
The home for Darkhour Vampires: http://www.darkhourvampires.com
For book reviews, articles, vampire fiction: http://www.midnightblood.com
Where to find the best bloodsucking fiction on the Web: http://www.e-vampires.net
Murder mystery games: http://www.playmurder.com
INTERVIEW
So what is new and exciting in your life?
CAPTIVITY, the first book in my Darkhour Vampires series, is now available
from Wings Press in both print and eBook. This is my first print book. I
also started a new web site, http://www.darkhourvampires.com
EYES OF TRUTH, my fantasy mystery, which is available as an eBook from
Twilight Times Books, http://www.twilightimesbooks.com
, will soon be in print as well. Not only that, I made my first foreign
rights sale. EYES OF TRUTH will be translated into Rumanian and published
by one of Romania’s largest publishers. For a writer of vampire fiction,
I like the idea of my books being sold in the home of Dracula. For more
information about EYES OF TRUTH see my Vampire eBook Author column http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/vamp...
I have another Kingdom of Naj story, a short story called Daughter-in-Law,
coming out from Twilight Times Books soon.
My first book, THE MURDER GAME, has found a new publisher, Double
Dragon Publishing, and should be re-published sometime this month. http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com
In addition to e-Vampires.net News, I have started a new newsletter,
MIDNIGHT BLOOD, The Linda Suzane Newsletter, with stories, serials,
articles, and author news devoted to my two passions, Vampires and Murder.
How did you come up with the Darkhour Vampires?
When my daughter was a teenager, I wrote a story I called Mother’s Love
about Prane, a mother of two typical teenagers, who just happens to be a
vampire, a secret she is keeping from her children. I will let you make
what you will of the Freudian significance of such a story, especially if
you have raised teenagers. One day a character from the story, a policeman
named Wade Kain, demanded that I tell the story of how he was first bitten
by a vampire. I’ve heard writers talk about characters taking over, but
I’d never experienced it. What a trip! The stories literally wrote
themselves. If you would like to know more about how I came to write
CAPTIVITY, check out my web site http://www.darkhourvampires.com
Tell us about how you go about writing such a series?
I wrote the first book is less than two weeks, over 50,000 words. It was
actually the last book in the series. I then went back and wrote the first
book CAPTIVITY in less than three weeks. I was driven, the words just
flowed out of me, the story, everything just seemed to work. I started at
the end of March 1998, and by the middle of September, I had four books
and was well into a fifth. When I re-read the books, I kept thinking they
were really good, but I wasn’t ready to trust my judgement. I was
clearly too close to be rational. You know sometimes you write something
that you think is great and then when you re-read it, it really stinks or
you write something that you think really stinks, and when you get some
distance from it, you realize it isn’t so bad. So I went on to finish
EYES OF TRUTH. When I got finally returned to working on the series, I
knew they were what I wanted to spend my next few years writing about. So
I set about rewriting the first book in the series, CAPTIVITY. As often
happens things change. One of the minor characters, Thom Barber, the
newborn vampire, who was in the original story just as a device so I could
explain what these vampires are like, became a character in his own right,
so the book is no longer just Wade’s and Donovan’s story, but Thom’s
as well.
Now I’m working on book two and three in the series. I’m having
problems with these two books. Although I have Mignon’s story written,
it was supposed to be the second book, I know that there is a third novel
that completes this portion of the story. The first three stories take
place in the early 1980s. The next three books take place some eighteen
years later. I don’t think of them as trilogies. I was just telling the
story of how Wade was first bitten and how Mignon/Prane came to escape her
husband. As I worked on the stories, I realized that there needs to be a
third book to finish telling Thom’s story and to set up some things that
happen in the later books. It is the only one that isn’t in rough draft.
I’m not quite sure yet how I am going to make it all work. I thought I
had an idea, but as I am working, it seems to be changing. I’m sure that
the characters have their own ideas and will soon let me know where to go.
You serialized Captivity from Midnight Blood. Why did you choose to
serialize the book and will you be serialize the other stories?
I had seen the interest other authors generated in their stories by
serializing them, so I decided to do so as well. It worked out really well
since the thing I hate most about writing is the copyediting, that stage
where you read and re-read and look at every word. By serializing it, I
only had to do a short segment at a time, but I was committed to work on
it every day. I couldn’t procrastinate. I was going to start serializing
the second book immediately, but it isn’t nearly ready yet, so I decided
to turn Midnight Blood into a monthly newsletter devoted to vampires and
murder. I am currently serializing a science fiction mystery story. Will I
serialize the next Darkhour Vampires book? That will be up to my
publisher. I would like to, but I am not sure if the publisher will allow
it.
How are your vampires different from say Anne Rice’s?
I like to think of my vampires as mundane vampires. I like the idea of
vampires living next door struggling to lead normal lives. Prane is the
mother of two teenagers. Donovan is a working psychologist. These aren’t
magical creatures, they don’t turn into bats or run from garlic or
crosses. They photograph and can be seen in mirrors. They do heal quickly,
are stronger, see better in the dark. They can tolerate some sunlight and
they only need to sleep all day when they are newborn. They aren’t
immortal or cursed. They are created, not born, the traditional three
blood exchanges. What is different is that I have taken the idea that if
you kill the sire, the offspring die and made it their fatal weakness. To
solve that problem they have created what are called second generations,
where five sires exchange blood, so if one sire dies, you won’t die. The
other factor is that only about 5% of the human population is genetically
capable of transforming into a vampire. By studying DNA, the vampires can
determine who will survive the change. The final unusual element is that
the vampires have created a corporation, the Darkhour Corporation, as a
shield to protect them. The Board of Directors are their ruling body.
Tell us about mystery games and what do they have to do with
vampires?
Mystery games are basically theme parties where your guests come in
character and attempt to solve a mystery, usually a murder. I have been
writing my own mystery games for years for special get-togethers. My first
novel, THE MURDER GAME, is about a mystery game designer whose game goes
murderously wrong. Right now I am exploring the possibility of creating a
game system, using the power of the Internet, that would allow the
purchaser to custom design their own game. Darkhour Vampires is one of the
game scenarios. You would be able to choose your favorite Darkhour Vampire
to play. It is different from role playing as it revolves around a mystery
to solve. Through September 30, 2002, you can help by filling out a simple
questionnaire about mystery games. When you do, you will be entered to win
a free autograph copy of either CAPTIVITY or THE MURDER GAME. http://www.playmurder.com/survey.htm
BOOK REVIEW
CAPTIVITY (DARKHOUR VAMPIRES: VOLUME ONE)
By Linda Suzane
Published by Wings Press
http://www.wings-press.com/gen_general.h...
Copyright 2002
eBook ISBN: 1-59088-127-3
Trade Paperback ISBN: 1-59088-904-5
Genre: General Fiction - Vampire
Vampires were the last thing eighteen-year-old Wade Kain and his two
friends, Mike and Josh, expected when they went camping in the Oregon
woods. Cassandra and her two get, Panther and Wolf, brutally murder
Wade’s friends. Cassandra takes Wade back to her lair, where she seduced
the naive young man, binding him to her with blood and sex, pleasure and
pain.
A newborn vampire stalks the streets of San Francisco. Thom Barber died
in a car accident, but the morgue was backed up, so he got up and walked
out. Dr. Donovan Reed must stop the newborn before the bloodlust drives
Thom to kill. He rescues Thom and takes him back to his clinic in rural
Oregon, where Donovan helps the newborn understand and cope with his new
existence.
When Donovan hears the report of two badly mauled bodies and a missing
camper, he is certain that Cassandra is involved. Almost 50 years ago,
Cassandra was sentenced to the mountain lair for the murder of Donovan’s
love Amanda and their young daughter. All these years Donovan has watched,
frustrated that the rest of the vampires would allow Cassandra to be as
wanton as she wants, just as long as it doesn’t attract attention to the
vampires. When a woman is kidnapped and the suspect looks like
Cassandra’s servant, Stanos, and the autopsy reports on the two boys
show two different bite marks, Donovan decides to investigate, only to
find himself Cassandra’s helpless prisoner. His only chance is Wade.
Here is what others are saying about Captivity:
Not a vampire devotee, I had no preconceived notions when I began
reading Captivity by Linda Suzane. Am I glad I started it on a weekend,
because I simply HAD to finish it RIGHT AWAY. In a word, Wow! The power of
Ms. Suzane's writing propels you into the story with vivid images, strong
characterization, and totally believable scenario. An unequivocal
thumbs-up! ~~ reviewed by Christine Janssen, who received the Golden Wings
Award from Wings ePress, Inc. for her romantic suspense, STAND ON YOUR
OWN.
A fast-moving "good vampire vs. evil vampire" adventure, with
the two sides fighting over a kidnapped teenage boy, CAPTIVITY has rich
characterization as well as sustained suspense. The "evil"
vampire is sometimes almost pitiable in her madness, and the
"good" vampire has enough of a dangerous edge to make him
believable as a centuries-old creature of the night. Linda Suzane achieves
a fresh approach to the familiar vampire problem of tension between living
ethically in the human world and protecting the secret of the immortal
blood-drinkers' existence. ~~ Margaret L. Carter, author of DARK
CHANGELING (www.hardshell.com), winner of the 2000 Eppie Award for Horror
Great book. This is a keeper. Lots of well defined sexual scenes but
with a real story that develops the good guys that you will just fall in
love with. Characters to fall in love with. HOT, HOT, HOT. Move over
Laurell K, new kid on the block. -- Patricia A. Ard, Reader
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Wings
Interview
Linda Suzane
by
Christine Janssen
July
1, 2002
Not
a vampire devotee, I had no preconceived notions when I began reading your
July release, CAPTIVITY. I’m glad I started it on a weekend, because I
couldn’t wait to find out what happened! I know your readers will want
to know more about you and how your mind works. So, here goes:
Most
interviewers ask where writers get their ideas, until it becomes a cliche.
Because of your subject matter--dark vampire novels--it is a very valid
question. How did you come up with the premise for CAPTIVITY?
When my daughter was a
teenager, I wrote a story I called Mother’s Love about Prane, a mother
of two typical teenagers, who just happens to be a vampire, a secret she
is keeping from her children. I will let you make what you will of the
Freudian significance of such a story, especially if you have raised
teenagers. One day a character from the story, a policeman named Wade Kain,
demanded that I tell the story of how he was first bitten by a vampire.
I’ve heard writers talk about characters taking over, but I’d never
experienced it. What a trip! The stories literally wrote themselves. If
you would like to know more about how I came to write CAPTIVITY, check out
my web site www.darkhourvampires.com.
How
much of your personality/experience surfaces in your books?
I
am not much into research so I tend to write from experience. In my first
published book, THE MURDER GAME, I used my experiences designing murder
mystery games and for a location a mansion in Mill Valley where I had
stayed on several retreats. In CAPTIVITY, although the settings are
fictitious, I drew very heavily from my experience of living in a small
town in rural Oregon and some of the picnics we had in the beautiful
Santiam Wilderness. Later stories in the series are set in Salem, Oregon,
and the surrounding area. When I envision the house where Prane lives, I
see the house, the street where we lived in Salem. Her kids go to North
High School, the same school my daughter went to. It was my daughter and
her friends that gave me lots of ideas for Wade and his friends.
When I write I tend to take some reality and
liberally season it with unreality. I like the image of Vampires living
next door, struggling to lead normal lives.
On
your website, you talk about hidden, secret sides to people. What is your
hidden side?
When
I was first writing, I took a class from Science Fiction writer Ray
Faraday Nelson. One of our assignments was to figure out our passion, our
obsession, the thing we kept writing about over and over. He explained
that our best stories would always be about that passion. I realized that
all the stories I was writing were about people with hidden aspects to
their character, a secret past, and the conflict of trying to integrate
two disparate aspects of the personality. Wade has a horrifying past, a
past he doesn't even remember; the series is about his dealing with the
conflicts that arise when he does learn about that past, what he is, and
what he is capable of. Prane was made a vampire against her will. She must
hide what she is for her children's sake.
So
what is my hidden side? My writing side. I am an ordinary, very
overweight, past-middle‑age woman, who spends her time plotting
murder and writing about vampires, sexy vampires at that. There is the
public part of me and the writer part of me and they don’t quite mesh.
Sometimes I have problems with that. Whenever a writer writes something,
especially of an erotic nature, even if it is just a steamy category
romance novel, they must wonder what others will think. Will they think
you’re like your characters? Will it change their opinion of you as a
person?
It
would be a lot easier to write about safe things. But it doesn't work. You
have to write about your passion. Joyce Carol Oates said, "Never be
ashamed of your subject, and of your passion for your subject. Your
'forbidden' passions are likely to be the fuel for your writing . . .Your
struggle with your buried self, or selves, yields your art." I keep
reminding myself of that and keep writing about my passion.
I
won’t give away the plot of CAPTIVITY, but I can ask about Donovan, a
leader of the vampires. Will we see more of him? What about the evil
Cassandra?
Oh yes, Donovan and Cassandra both return in
later stories. There must be an end to the conflict between the two of
them that has been going on for over one hundred years, and in the fifth
book of the series, REVENGE, Cassandra, Donovan and Wade meet for one last
time.
If CAPTIVITY were made into a movie, who do you
see as playing Wade, the kidnapped young man who struggles to stay alive
– or should I say, to stay human? Who would play Donovan and Cassandra?
That is a hard one
since I see them so clearly in my mind and I can't think of any actor or
actress that I could picture them as. I will say that I've always seen
Wade as having the rather good looks and those extraordinary eyes of a
young Frank Langella or someone like that. Bedroom eyes with loads and
loads of sensuality and a wonderful voice.
The
vampires in your books live hundreds of years. If you could enter a time
machine, what year/era would you like to set the dial to? Why?
Another hard question since I am very content
to live in the now. Perhaps San Francisco in the decades after the gold
rush. I've studied that era and find it very interesting; besides, I was
born in San Francisco so I have an affinity for the city.
You
write as Linda Suzane. How did you choose it for a pen name?
Our last name is Melin, which most people mis-pronounce
as Melon or something sounding like that. I just couldn't picture people
coming in looking for books and asking for an author named melon,
especially since I tend to write with a lot of sensuality. My middle name
is Suzanne, so I made it Linda Suzane. I really like it and have found it
tremendously freeing. I am known on the Internet as Linda Suzane. It is
like my hidden, secret self, my secret identity, my identity as a writer.
The part of me that likes hidden secret selves really gets a kick out of
it.
You’ve moved around the country quite a bit.
Now that you’ve settled on the Oregon coast, have you finally found your
“home”?
I don't know for sure. We really enjoy it. It
is very beautiful and we like the cool, comfortable weather. Right now we
live here because this is where my husband has a job and our daughter and
grandson are here. I suspect that if she was to move somewhere else, we
would probably move to be closer to her. But I do love Oregon. It is a
beautiful state. I was a native Californian, born and raised in the San
Francisco Bay Area, but it has just gotten too crowded, too busy. Oregon
is more like what California was when I was young, slower paced, fewer
people.
With all the irons you have in the fire, tell
us how you organize your day to get everything done.
Lists
and more lists. But I wish I was more organized. I seem to work from one
deadline to the next deadline, one crisis to the next, focusing only on
what I absolutely must get done right this moment and there are always far
too many items on that list. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and literally go
escape into a good book or a long nap.
I
tend to tumble out of bed around 6 am when my husband leaves for work and
start working on the computer, and I keep working until my brain and
bottom are both numb. I know I should take more breaks, do other things,
but I am notoriously bad about not being able to stop in the middle of
something, and there is always one more little thing to do.
I’ve
been so busy lately with the business of being a writer and web designer
that I haven’t had the time to be a writer, to experience the joy of
creativity, of focusing solely on a writing project. After the furor of
getting CAPTIVITY published, I plan to devote myself to just writing about
my Darkhour Vampires.
What
does your family think of your writing?
My
husband has always supported my writing. He has been my best critic and
editor. He was an English major in college so he always has the answer.
Right now he is working two jobs to give me the opportunity to write full
time in the belief that someday I will start making money at this writing
game.
The
hard one was letting my daughter read my vampire series. Who wants to
think that their mother writes sex scenes like that? But she’s read them
and really enjoyed them. My grandson is only three, too young to read, but
someday I hope he will think it is cool to have a grandmother who writes
about vampires. Certainly not something that most grandmothers do.
Finally,
what advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Join a good critique group and learn from
them. Recognize that writing is a learning process. It isn't whether or
not you are published, it is what you learn from writing that particular
piece that is important. Learn enough and eventually you will find
yourself a competent writer. Unfortunately nowadays, being a competent
writer often has nothing to do with being a published writer. Thank
goodness the Internet and quality royalty-paying e-publishers like Wings
Press are allowing competent writers to be published.
Thank
you, Linda. It was a pleasure “talking” with you. I hope your readers
enjoy CAPTIVITY as much as I did.
Christine
Janssen
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