Merci to Toni V. for posting this article for me and to the Fuzzies for allowing me to blog about my newest histoire courte, "Working-class Vampires," another entry in the Clan Andriescu series. Vraiment, are these three the most hapless of les vampires, n'est-ce pas?

They were living peaceably enough in Transylvania (no peasant uprisings or anything at the time). While big brother Marius--head of the clan--was cutting a swathe through the female populace, younger brother Valerius was attempting to following in his footsteps (or should that be wing-flaps?) Cousin Timon, on the other hand, was still a little batling and a pest as far as the older vampires were concerned. Then, Marius's swathe cut a little too deeply. He seduced one too many a female from the Prince himself and promptly found himself exiled from his homeland. When he protested, the Prince, totally uncharitable and completely beside himself with jealousy (and if one infuriated prince is bad, two you don't even want to think about), exiled Valerius and Timon, also--out of sheer, Royal spite. So here our heroes were...cast adrift in the Big Bad World of Humankind...flitting all over Europe...until they land in New Orleans, Louisiana, home of Bourbon Street jazz, the vampire Lestat, and voodoo (not necessarily in that order).

Some of you may be familiar with Marius' story ("Sometimes Love Returns") and its bittersweet ending. A few may have read the slightly slapstick tale of Valerius' marriage which I asked Toni V. to submit under her name because I was too timide to use my own. (At that time I was just dipping mes orteils in the writing world's mer and was incertain how I would fare. Today, I am the auteur edite, so I now have courage to place my own nom on my work.) That story "Love, Vampire Style" was published as a Black Rosette by editeur The Wild Rose Press.

This time, Cousin Timon, is the culprit...uh, hero. "Working-class Vampires" involves him and his new bride.

Like Marius' love, Caity, Timon's wife is human...Laura Atwood. She is a best-selling auteur of romans de vampire. She also is unaware her new husband is a vampire. Interesting, n'est-ce pas? One night, as they share a romantic evening and glass of wine (Laura drinking her favorite Bordeaux and Timon a specially-bottled dark red from the family cellars--and we can guess what that is, can't we?), they discuss the route her next novel should take. In a weak moment, Timon makes crucial suggestions, never believing Lisa will take them. (After all, she rarely does what he tells her, anyway.) The next thing he knows, his wife is advertising her new novel which proves vampires are real and living in New Orleans, and the Louisiana Undead community is up in arms. It seems there is a law against revealing the actual existence of vampires and Laura has just broken it! The punishment for such a crime is death...and at the request of the New Orleans' vampire Lord, the Prince's executioner is on his way from Transylvania to carry out the sentence.

Timon and Laura have to think fast in order to escape death by broadsword.

"Working-class Vampires" will be available this month in the August 1 issue of Sounds of the Night magazine, released by sams dot publishing. Here's the trailer. Appreciez!

I wrote a blog about my return to horses but my computer has hidden it from me so I'd like to pose a question instead. Below is the beginning of my new WIP. Is this too much scene setting for a romance or does it read more like a fantasy?

The final morning in April, night grudgingly faded to gray, and there took an icy stand against daybreak. The melancholy day, restless with the floating shadows of clouds, was short-lived. Long before the evening hour, torches smoked and flickered in the drafty passages of the castle. I smelled the storm brewing on the horizon, but fair weather or foul, from sundown to sunrise, the Demon Wind howled its lament, whispered through cracks in the stone walls, whipped up dust devils on the floors, ruffled heavy velvet curtains and wool tapestries. Whimsical gusts toyed with the hems of women’s skirts. The wind caused candles to flicker, fires to gutter and stirred ghostly shadows. An unquiet spirit, the Demon Wind, haunted the Castle Kharsag.

The Demon Wind had been born the night the King murdered my brother. Sometimes I wished we had all perished to the sword. Many were the nights I dreamed of murdering my brothers and sister in their sleep. If we’d died as babes, we might have become a legend. But we had not died, and most people considered our survival a great tragedy.

As a child, I couldn’t understand why having wings made me a freak. As an adult, I understood perfectly. The lesson had been shackled to my feet and chained to my wrists.

Beth Trissel's Somewhere My Love and my Black Swan are nominated in the paranormal category. Drop by and vote for your favorite book trailer: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/theromanceroom/surveys?id=12798064

Vampire Valerius Andriescu emigrated to America when his older brother was exiled for stealing one too many women from their Prince. With Marius out of the way, His Highness has been doing pretty good with the females for the past two hundred years--and Val hasn't been doing so bad, either--living La Vida American in New Orleans.

When Marius decides it's time his younger sibling gave up his wild ways and settled down, it's Open Rebellion! One spoiled, young vampire runs away from home...and heads back to the Old Country...to teach Big Brother he can't be pushed around.

It's Val who learns the lesson, however, when he meets a girl exploring the ruins of his family castle. Anike has all the features he likes in a woman--she's pretty, she's smart, she's makes him laugh--and some he doesn't...she's saving herself for that Special Someone. Determined to convince her he's Mr. Right and the ancient four poster in his old bed chamber is still usable, Val is startled to discover he's falling in love with a girl he can only meet at night in the shadows of a Transylvanian castle.

At home, Marius is starting to hand out Ultimatums--but everything pales beside the Big Problem: Anike's human...all right to bite, but not to marry!

What's a lovestruck vampire to do?

Love, Vampire Style, will soon be available as a Black Rose Rosette from The Wild Rose Press.