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Regan Summers Guest Post & Giveaway: Making Modern Vampires

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From Chelsea / VBC: Super happy to have Regan Summers on the blog again. Her Night Runner books are big on action and awesome. Make sure to read to the end for your chance to win Running in the Dark!

Running in the Dark by Regan SummersThank you so much for hosting me again, Chelsea. I’m so pleased to be here!

I love my vampires dark and mysterious, and occasionally fatal. A tortured past never hurts. Simmering sensuality is pretty much always a plus.

However, since the Night Runner series is contemporary urban fantasy, I thought it would be a disservice to the modern world to make all my undead characters ancient and broody. Humankind excels at adapting. We can move around the world, deal with paradigm-shifting setbacks, and invent new and remarkable things daily.

Vampires are no longer quite human, but for the experimental, scientific or entrepreneurial among them, there’s suddenly this whole new world of opportunities. Some of the inventions, as Sydney learns from Malcolm, are not so successful:

“…Is somebody running a meals-on-wheels service for the undead?”
“Don’t laugh,” he said, the light receding from his eyes. “That concept was tried once. Everything tasted like duck blood.”
I threw a hand up. “You don’t know what duck blood tastes like.”
He stared levelly back. “Hints of webbed foot.”
“Agh!”

But not every vampire invention is so innocent (or fowl-oriented). While vampires undergo a greater change than most humans can imagine, not all of them like it. Some can’t control the nature of their hunger and become despondent or angry. Others pine for the lives they left behind, especially for their loved ones – still living nearby – and this makes them desperate.

And there’s always someone – vampire or human – willing to make a buck by giving the desperate what they want, or think they want. But, as Sydney and Malcolm discover in Running in the Dark, attempting to control vampire hunger is a dicey and explosive undertaking – one that threatens the tenuous accord between vampires and humans.

ABOUT REGAN
Regan Summers lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and alien-monkey hybrid of a child. She is a huge fan of the low profile. She likes books, ottomans with concealed storage, small plate dining, libraries, Corporal Hicks, some aspects of pre-revolutionary France, most aspects of current Italy, and books.

Her Night Runner series includes Don’t Bite the Messenger and Running in the Dark.

GIVEAWAY: RUNNING IN THE DARK (2 WINNERS)

Regan has offered up two digital copies of Running in the Dark for VBC readers. Simply leave a comment on this post with your innovations for modern vampires (or why you like modern vampires). Contest is open through Nov. 14. Winners will be selected randomly.

20 Responses to “Regan Summers Guest Post & Giveaway: Making Modern Vampires”

  1. krista grandstaff says:

    I used to think that “old school” vamps were the only way to go, but after reading more and more vamp stories, and realizing it makes for a broader range when they can actually go outside in daylight, etc… it leads to a lot less predictable story lines , and ultimately a better read…

  2. Viki S. says:

    I really like all the new ideas with vampires. The creativity of the authors is a nice change.
    vsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com

  3. Amanda T. says:

    I love seeing new ideas in the vampire world. I think it is always fun when they try new things. I like seeing them talk about the ones that didn’t work 🙂

  4. Natasha says:

    I do like modern vampires. I like all the new things they do and have. Thanks for the chance to win!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

  5. Donna Barton says:

    I love that the modern vampires can walk in the sun….makes you have to look harder to find them….LOL!!!

  6. cindyg says:

    I like both the old and the new…what I need is be drawn in and held on to until the final word. I enjoy the variety authors bring to the table; it never gets boring for me…

  7. Laura says:

    Sound really good, looking forward to reading it

  8. Arely Z. says:

    What I like about modern vampires is that not all vampires are evil. Before what we call now “modern vampires”, there were very little “good” vampires. Also, being incredible sexy doesn’t hurt! 😉

  9. erinf1 says:

    Thanks for the great post and congrats on the new release! This makes a lot of sense actually. In order for the vampires to “hide” in plain site, they have to blend in. This day and age w/ modern tech would seem to make their lives so much easier. Instant communications, order online, high tech medical science… Kiinda like that movie w/ Ethan Hawke, Daybreakers, where Vampires ruled and had “blood farms” and armed cars with cameras so they could drive in the day.

    efender1(at)gmail(dot)com

  10. Liz Semkiu says:

    I loved Don’t Bite The Messenger! Looking forward to the second book.

    Do modern vampires have to wear those special gloves because their core body temperature is too cool to activate the touch screen on their iPhone? How about a drug to increase their hemoglobin levels so they don’t have to feed as often? Do older vampires need anti anxiety and antidepressants to cope with the stress of the rapidly changing world? How about a medication to increase their skin pigmentation so they wouldn’t need sunscreen? I prefer the modern vampires to be out and about during the day. Can vampire blood be given as a transfusion since they have no incompatabilities with any blood type without transforming you into a vampire?

    Oh there are so many possibilities….! Thanks for the contest!

  11. JenM says:

    Modern vamps definitely have it easier. With the internet, they can get pretty much anything delivered to them, so they never have to go out in the daytime. Plus, with opaque clothes and 50+ sunblock, I imagine they’d be fine even if they do have to go out.

  12. Pam B says:

    I like that modern vampires are not all evil, soulless monsters, but have relationships, their own morals and codes.
    Pam Blome
    blomette @ yahoo.com

  13. pc says:

    One of the best things about modern vampires is that they have more flexibility and humanity so to speak. Now they don’t just hide in the dark and stay in crypts or underground but could be pretty much anywhere and can have bonds of their own so they’re not mindless monsters lusting for blood and evil.
    ivegotmail8889 (at) yahoo (dot) com

  14. Allison Hickman says:

    I like modern vampires because they are not one note evil creatures who live in filthy conditions but groups with their own societies and rules. I do think they still have to have some weaknesses however or it seems to me that they would have to be ruling everything.

    As for innovations I’d actually like to see something where vampire blood, or whatever caused them to become vampire, studied as a means to ending disease. That’s not necessarily an innovation for vampires though.

  15. Sandy Lion says:

    I love reading all the different variations on the vampire species and the different ways vampires change the standard myths, for example, going out in the daylight. Having the ability to do so changes things in the story and makes different scenarios possible. I love the idea of a vampire product line or use of sunscreen. Such possibilities! sdylion(at)gmail(dot)com

  16. Mary Preston says:

    There is certainly more scope if the traditional boundaries for vampires are pushed. Modern vampires no longer just lurk in darkness, though I do love the old world reign of terror at night.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

  17. Elizabeth Kays says:

    I like the fact that modern vampires are able to be out in day light. It helps them blend in better with society and makes it seem more plausible that they could truly exist.

  18. Laurie says:

    I love to see what spin authors put on vampires to make them stand out a bit from the standard myths. I think the best part has been taking them from the scary, evil creatures of the night to sexy heros we wouldn’t mind meeting but still have that sense of danger to them.

  19. Keira says:

    I like modern vampires because they always bring new things to the table. While traditional broody vamps are always nice, there’s nothing like an intriguing modern vamp to draw the eye.

  20. Julia says:

    I love it how every other makes the classical vampire modern in their own ways!! I love for example that Jeaniene Frost’s vampires can walk in the sun and “greene eye” people and therefore can keep their existence hidden, whereas Chloe Neill’s vamps were revealed to society and have to deal with city politics, which adds an interesting sometimes frustrating side to her vamps!

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