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Space Operas, Vampires and Living Forever
I first came across the term, space opera, a few years ago when I saw a publisher’s submission call. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and here’s what it says:
Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities…. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.
Well known film and TV examples are: Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Gallactica, and my all time favorite, Firefly. And I realized that I’ve actually been a huge fan of space operas for most of my life.
My Dark Desires series is primarily a space opera. The books follow the adventures, romantic and otherwise, of the crew of the space ship, the Blood Hunter. The series has romance, adventure, it’s set in outer space, and it involves opponents with advanced abilities. But it also has something not included in the Wikipedia definition—vampires.
Book 1 in the series, BREAK OUT, introduced us to the pilot of the Blood Hunter, Ricardo Sanchez. Rico is a vampire and he’s been around for a long time. He was born in the Middle Ages on Earth and he’s seen a lot of changes. Like me, he’s also a big Star Wars fan, which is probably why he’s ended up as the pilot of a space ship. He sees himself as a sort of Han Solo with fangs—he’s living a dream.
And, because I love vampires, in my latest release, BLOOD AND METAL, book 5 in the series, we have another. Daisy is the co-pilot of the Blood Hunter and a plant/human hybrid. She’s also a newly turned vampire, struggling to come to terms with the changes.
As vampires, Rico and Daisy are immortal and that’s one of the reasons I was happy to include them in my space opera. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of immortality—what people would do to gain it, what price would they pay, how they would cope if they did somehow find a way to live forever—and this is the main theme running through the Dark Desires series. It’s set in a future where man has fled to the stars. There they have discovered the secret of immortality—Meridian. Unfortunately, it’s exorbitantly expensive and only available to a select few, and a new ruling class has evolved—the Collective.
Daisy never really wanted immortality, she had it thrust on her when she was dying and Rico changed her to save her life (In book 4, Temporal Shift.) But everything has a price. The price Daisy is paying is that she lives with a darkness within her. A darkness that craves blood and death. She doesn’t want to lose herself totally and is fighting to maintain at least some of the person she was before. Rico has told her the best way to control the darkness is sex. Not much help when she’s liable to drain anyone dry, or rip out their throats, if they get too close. Then an old lover, Fergal, comes along. Fergal has found his own route to immortality—he’s a cyborg and his blood tastes—yuk—so Daisy is unlikely to drain him dry. He seems like the perfect match except… Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out what can go wrong.
So what do you think—would you like to live forever? Let me know for a chance to win an ecopy of Break Out.
Author bio:
Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia, which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of nine-to-five work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain.
Nina writes all types of romance, often mixed with elements of the paranormal and science fiction.
Social Media links:
Website: http://www.ninacroft.com/
Email: ninacroft@hotmail.co.uk
Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nina.Croft.author
https://www.facebook.com/NinaCroft.Writer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nina_Croft
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Nina-Croft/e/B004V2EML6/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3378320.Nina_Croft
Blood and Metal Blurb:
She’s his last chance for redemption…if she doesn’t kill him first.
Copilot of the Blood Hunter, Daisy is a newly-turned vampire, and she’s hungry. Really hungry and it’s interfering with her plans for revenge. Unfortunately, the only thing that can distract her from said hunger is sex…which is a problem when she can barely refrain from draining any man dry within moments. But old flame Fergal Cain might just be the sexy-assed solution to her problem.
Part human, part cyborg, and with a poison coursing through his system, Fergal’s running out of time to find the scientist who has the cure. Unfortunately for him, the misfit crew of the Blood Hunter put a serious kink in his plans. And if the poison doesn’t kill him, the hot little vamp he can’t resist might do the honors herself…
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