My Inspiration for Message in a Vessel

My inspiration for writing Message in a Vessel had all to do with the cover of SLAY. I never would've thought in a thousand years, not even as my paranormal alter ego, that I would write a vampire story. I never wanted to write one because there are so many great stories already out there by even more popular authors than me. They made their mark on the fiction world because of that. Who am I to travel into their territory?

Still, the cover refused to let me go. Power and strength in the hands of a beautiful black woman who won't be deterred from her mission. I loved it enough to decide to explore what I could add to the vampire world without sounding like an idiot. So, naturally, I though this belonged to my other alter ego who was the paranormal expert. That was how I wrote my first story. Even though I enjoyed writing it, I still wanted something more challenging. The only way I could get more challenging was to allow my other ego to take the helm as V.G. Harrison, vampire storyteller. For some reason, that didn't sound right to me. I only know sci-fi and that's the way I like it. So, I tasked myself to come up with a sci-fi vampire story.

Numerous many ideas flooded my brain, but the main one was the vampires are the aliens. Where have we heard that story before? Check out episodes of Buck Rogers and Star Trek. Also, let's not for Lifeforce back in the day. Look through the Stargate series and I'm sure you'll find on there, too. I didn't want vampires as aliens. The only other option was to make them natives of this world. The best way to do that was via a virus that made them this way. Mosquitoes spreading a virus like they spread malaria was the obvious culprit. Only in this case, once they turned one person, that person could change another and another.

I also needed my vampires to be somewhat intelligent and not a bunch of rampant monsters, if they were to survive. So, my vampires are intelligent to the point that only those who provide a much-needed service to the community were the ones held in highest regards. No skid row vampires are allowed. They're only good enough to be food sources. My heroine and vampire, Dr. Adelynn Jakande, came from a family of scientists, so she's definitely not in that group. When it comes to who's worthy of inheriting the Earth now that food shortages have become a major concern, Dr. Jakande begins to doubt who's truly the stronger of the two species. The vampires for taking control of the world or the human food sources who have managed to do what they can to survive in it?

Message in a Vessel wasn't meant to be a high-octane story with fight scenes, gore, and domination over the weak. It was story meant to show that even the quietest person in the room can change the world. You just have to take a leap of faith.

Science Geek Moment

If you follow any science or technology news, then you know three scientists have won the Nobel Prize for their discoveries with black hole phenomena. That will either sound very cool or ho-hum depending upon who you are. For me, it's thrilling.

I'm working on a new series that's about 95% complete. Or so I thought. I'm going to dial that back to 90% only because this series depends heavily on what we know about black holes prior to their discoveries. I want to dive further into their research to see if there's anything I can add to the theories that my scientists and engineers are doing in my "black hole" series.

No worries though. I like having my work based in some sense of non-fiction without stealing all of the thrill out of a book. My goal is not to teach you about things like quantum physics or fine structure constant. However, I want to infuse enough science into my stories to make it really feel like escapist fun with exciting possibilities.

Oh, and before I forget, HUGE kudos to Dr. Andrea Ghez from UCLA. She's only the fourth woman in the history of the Nobel Prize to win the award in physics. That alone is worth celebrating. You go, girl!

Review of RAMPAGE by Miranda J. Riley

One thing I love about SLAY is that there are a plethora of vampire slayer tales to sink your reading teeth into. Make no mistake. These aren't your typical slayer stories. For instance, I checked out RAMPAGE by Miranda J. Riley, who takes vampire mythology to the animal realm. I shared a podcast interview with Miranda when I first heard about her story, and I just knew I had to read it.

RAMPAGE takes place in Africa and Miranda paints a beautiful landscape that brings to life all of the images of a small village that you would expect. Add the amazing Aziza as your slayer and it only gets better from there. Calling her the "village" slayer almost seems limiting, but it's what she does. Aziza is exactly what I like about a heroine. She's damaged goods--for a very good reason--but learns how to be the best she can be by the end of the story. But that's only part of what makes this an exciting read.

I mentioned vampires and animals all in the same sentence and I meant it. RAMPAGE is about Talik, a vampire elephant, that's stampeding across the plains and stirring up terror wherever she goes. Keep in mind, this is not your average wild beast. Talik is smart and that makes her even more dangerous. Aziza is asked to help hunt the monster down, but she has her own demons that are playing games with her head, which makes this hunt all the more treacherous for those involved. I want to write more about the story, but I can't. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who's interested in blood-sucking animals. I'm certainly a fan of them now.

With this being Miranda J. Riley's first published story, she knocks it out of the ball park. I loved RAMPAGE! It's a delicious twist to the vampire genre and one that probably won't leave me anytime soon. I would give almost anything to see where Aziza's story goes from here. Chalk this up as a definite read and only the beginning to what the rest of SLAY holds.