Dallas, Texas, and Sanguinary by Margo Bond Collins

The title of today's post was originally "Things You Didn't Know about Sanguinary," but when I started thinking about what to include, I realized that almost all of the things I planned to include were about the setting of this urban fantasy. So today's post is now all about the way the Dallas setting influences the novel.  

The Metroplex
I grew up in a small town in Texas; the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex was the closest urban area and where we went to do "city" things. I didn't know until I was an adult that the term "metroplex" (meaning two almost-equal cities forming one contiguous urban area) originated with Dallas/Fort Worth. In Sanguinary, Cami Davis is a Dallas city police officer, but having to work with officers from Fort Worth or any of the smaller cities around the area always remains a possibility.

Most of the action of the novel, however, takes place in the Dallas Arts District.

 


The Winspear Opera House

I have season tickets to the Dallas Opera, so it's perhaps no surprise that I would use this wonderful building as a setting. Its curving exterior walls are a deep red, and the tinted windows that make up the exterior walls turn that color to a blood red. When I started writing Sanguinary, the image of a murder outside the building and the matching reds of the blood and the walls stuck in my mind. So the novel opens with Cami examining the latest in a string of murders—this one on the flagstones leading into the Winspear.

 


The Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe

This beautiful church serves the largest cathedral congregation in the United States, with more than 25,000 registered families in the congregation. It stands in the center of the Dallas Arts District, and is one of the most distinctive buildings in the area. And I couldn't imagine a novel about vampires that didn't include at least one cathedral.

 


The Adolphus Hotel

The beautiful beaux art Adolphus has been a Dallas landmark since it was built in 1921, and has hosted Queen Elizabeth II, the Vanderbilts, Oscar de la Renta, Donald Trump, U2 and Babe Ruth, among others. When I was deciding where the Sanguinary would hold their annual masquerade ball, I couldn't imagine a better setting than the Adolphus's glorious ballroom.

 


The Blood House

This is the only part of the setting that is wholly fictional, though of course all of the other buildings are used fictionally. The Blood House is a local vampire hangout, and this is how Cami describes it the first time she sees it:

An enormous crystal chandelier hung down from the ceiling, casting a sharp, glittering light across the scene below. The balcony overlooked the central area, a marble-tiled room with white floors and burgundy velvet drapes covering the walls and windows. A black marble staircase curved up to the balcony on each side of the room.

At the very back of the room, a bartender manned a bar made of dark wood. As I watched, several people (or maybe vampires) slipped through the door that stood directly behind the bar, always sure to close the heavy wood behind them.

Dark niches lined the walls under the balcony, many with velvet drapes drawn across them. The ones that were open held couches, some of them with figures draped across them—sleeping or dead, I wasn't sure. People—humans? vampires? both?—stood in small groups on the balcony and on the ground floor.

Soft, baroque chamber music swayed through the room from a hidden sound system, notes from the flutes dancing across the deeper sound of stringed instruments.

And it smelled like blood. The coppery tang of it shivered on the back of my tongue.


I imagine it looking quite a bit like this image of the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan Center in New York City.

 


Taken altogether, these buildings create a backdrop to Sanguinary's story of blood, lust, and power in Dallas. Check out the excerpt below for more about this first book in the Night Shift series!

 

Sanguinary, by Margo Bond Collins
A Night Shift Novel

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Sanguinary-Night-Shift-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00MR5VGV8/
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sanguinary-margo-bond-collins/1120452301?ean=2940046208542
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/sanguinary-1
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sanguinary/id925269933?mt=11
Paperback: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sanguinary-Night-Shift-Novel-1/dp/0990743322/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sanguinary-margo-bond-collins/1120491882?ean=9780990743323

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Blurb:

Only fifty years left before vampires rule the world.

When Dallas police detective Cami Davis joined the city's vampire unit, she planned to use the job as a stepping-stone to a better position in the department.

But she didn't know then what she knows now: there's a silent war raging between humans and vampires, and the vampires are winning.

So with the help of a disaffected vampire and an ex-cop addict, Cami is going undercover, determined to solve a series of recent murders, discover a way to overthrow the local Sanguinary government, and, in the process, help win the war for the human race.

But can she maintain her own humanity in the process? Or will Cami find herself, along with the rest of the world, pulled under a darkness she cannot oppose?

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Excerpt

 "Hey, Bradley." I beckoned the crime-scene tech, who had finally arrived and was snapping on gloves. "Is that a piece of paper under the vic's head?"

He bent down over my shoulder to get a clearer view from my line of sight. "Looks like it's tangled in her hair," he said. He pulled a pair of long tweezers out of his kit and snagged the sliver. "Yep. Looks like it has a word written on it . . ." We both peered at the brownish, spidery writing.

"Sanguinary," I said. "Is that written in blood?"

"Maybe. I'll get the lab to run a basic analysis on it. If it's blood, we'll be able to let you know pretty quick if it's human and if so, what type. DNA will take longer."

"Sounds good." I stared at the woman a little longer. Her dark hair—almost the same color as mine—spilled out around her, matted with dark, coagulating blood. The two bloody marks on her neck shone like black stars on a white background.

Vampire.

I knew that if I lifted her dress, there would be other puncture wounds all over the body, and strange symbols carved across her skin—pentagrams within circles and other ritualistic signs. Exactly like the others. Ten murders in the four weeks since the beginning of September—all centered in downtown Dallas, and many with affluent victims whose families demanded action.

The department had been in a barely suppressed uproar.

I stood up, my knees popping a little. Five years ago, they wouldn't have done that.

And five years before that? Vampires hadn't existed, except in books and B-movies.

It took time for the world to believe. We hadn't even realized how to fight back when they'd first shown up.

This victim's ragged, bloody fingernails suggested that she had tried to resist, but obviously failed.

The red dress she wore would have originally matched the color of the relatively scant splashes of blood surrounding her, but those stains had dried to a muddy brown, the same color as the writing on the paper caught in her hair.

Her clothing suggested that she'd been at the opera that evening, though the manager, roused from her bed, swore that the building had been cleared and empty when she left.

One black, high-heel shoe lay several feet away, toppled over onto its side, the heel broken, as if she had stumbled out of it when it failed her as she ran from a pursuer.

Sanguinary.

I'd heard the word before from vampires I had taken down—whispered as a threat, shouted as a warning: the Sanguinary is coming, the Sanguinary will kill you all.

The Sanguinary is here.

It was why I was about to go undercover among the vampires.

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About the Author



Margo Bond Collins is the author of urban fantasy, contemporary romance, and paranormal mysteries. She has published a number of novels, including Sanguinary, Taming the Country Star, Legally Undead, Waking Up Dead, and Fairy, Texas. She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. Although writing fiction is her first love, she also teaches college-level English courses online. She enjoys reading romance and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, monsters, cowboys, and villains, and the strong women who love them—and sometimes fight them.

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Connect with Margo

Newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/03A21E5E161401F0
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/margobondcollins
Email: MargoBondCollins@gmail.com
Website: http://www.MargoBondCollins.net
Blog: http://www.MargoBondCollins.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MargoBondCollin @MargoBondCollin
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116484555448104519902
Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/vampirarchy
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MargoBondCollins
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mbondcollins/    
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Legally Undead ~ 99-cent Sale, One Week Only!

 

 

 

A reluctant vampire hunter, stalking New York City as only a scorned bride can.

 

Elle Dupree has her life all figured out: first a wedding, then her Ph.D., then swank faculty parties where she’ll serve wine and cheese and introduce people to her husband the lawyer.

But those plans disintegrate when she walks in on a vampire draining the blood from her fiancé Greg. Horrified, she screams and runs--not away from the vampire, but toward it, brandishing a wooden letter opener.

As she slams the improvised stake into the vampire’s heart, a team of black-clad men bursts into the apartment. Turning around to face them, Elle discovers that Greg’s body is gone—and her perfect life falls apart.  

$.99 for One Week Only

 

 

 

 

A Top-10 Preditors and Editors Readers' Poll Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel

 

 

 

Excerpt

 

The worst thing about vampires is that they're dead. That whole wanting to suck your blood business runs a close second, but for sheer creepiness, it's the dead bit that gets me every time. They're up and walking around and talking and sucking blood, but they're dead. And then there's the whole terminology problem--how can you kill something that's already dead? It's just wrong.

I was twenty-four the first time I . . . destroyed? dispatched? . . . a vampire. That's when I found out that all the books and movies are wrong. When you stick a wooden stake into their hearts, vampires don't disintegrate into dust. They don't explode. They don't spew blood everywhere. They just look surprised, groan, and collapse into a pile of corpse. But at least they lie still then, like corpses are supposed to.

Since that first kill (I might as well use the word--there really isn’t a better one), I've discovered that only if you're lucky do vampires look surprised before they groan and fall down. If you're unlucky and miss the heart, they look angry. And then they fight.

There are the other usual ways to kill vampires, of course, but these other ways can get a bit complicated. Vampires are notoriously difficult to trick into sunlight. They have an uncanny ability to sense when there's any sunlight within miles of them, and they're awfully good at hiding from it. Holy water doesn't kill them; it just distracts them for a while, and then they get that angry look again. And it takes a pretty big blade to cut off someone's head--even an already dead someone--and carrying a great big knife around New York City, even the Bronx, is a sure way to get arrested. Nope, pointy sticks are the best way to go, all the way around.

My own pointy stick is actually more of a little knife with wood inlay on the blade--the metal makes it slide in easier. I had the knife specially made by an old Italian guy in just about the only ratty part of Westchester, north of the city. I tried to order one off the internet, but it turns out that while it’s easy to find wood-inlay handles, the blades themselves tend to be metal. Fat lot those people know.

But I wasn’t thinking any of this when I pulled the knife out of the body on the ground. I was thinking something more along the lines of “Oh, bloody hell. Not again.”



 

 

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99-cent Sale Links

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Legally-Undead-Vampirarchy-Margo-Collins-ebook/dp/B00KKV44BK/

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/legally-undead-margo-bond-collins/1119607989?ean=2940149615803

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/legally-undead

Universal Kindle Link: http://bookShow.me/B00KKV44BK

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About the Author



Margo Bond Collins is the author of urban fantasy, contemporary romance, and paranormal mysteries. She has published a number of novels, including Sanguinary, Taming the Country Star, Legally Undead, Waking Up Dead, and Fairy, Texas. She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. Although writing fiction is her first love, she also teaches college-level English courses online. She enjoys reading romance and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, monsters, cowboys, and villains, and the strong women who love them—and sometimes fight them.

_____________________________________________  

Connect with Margo

Newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/03A21E5E161401F0
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/margocollins
Email: MargoBondCollins@gmail.com
Website: http://www.MargoBondCollins.net
Blog: http://www.MargoBondCollins.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MargoBondCollin @MargoBondCollin
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116484555448104519902
Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/vampirarchy
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MargoBondCollins
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mbondcollins/
Tsu: http://www.tsu.co/MargoBondCollins

Interview with Margo Bond Collins

What inspired you to write Bound by Blood? 

I knew I needed to write a follow-up to Sanguinary, and I've had an idea for monsters in a hospital for a long time. When I sat down to write, people were panicking over the admission of an Ebola patient to a Dallas hospital—that event definitely inspired this novella.

Do you have a specific writing style? 

My writing style changes depending upon the work, the characters, the genre. Several of my earlier books were pretty humorous, even though they dealt with dark topics. This one is probably the darkest of them all.

How did you come up with the title? 

Actually, I had the title before I had the plot! I found a gorgeous pre-made cover by Najla Qamber and had to have it, so I ordered it and gave it a title, then waited for the perfect book to come to me.

How much of the book is realistic? 

The setting is definitely realistic—it takes place in Houston. And some of the medical stuff is realistic, even if I don't show all the things that would actually happen. But there are monsters hanging out in a Houston hospital in the book, so I doubt that part's terribly realistic!

 

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life? 

Not really.  Or at least, no more than any other fiction book might be—and all of my characters are amalgamations of people I have known, just as settings are places I have been, and plots are spun from the 'what ifs' that surround me.

 

Have any of your characters been modeled after yourself?

All of my characters have a little bit of me in them—even the villains. I think it's impossible to write interesting characters without having some empathy for them, and that means injecting just a touch of me.

But none of my characters are entirely me—not even my narrators and heroines. Elle from Legally Undead is much braver than I am, Callie from Waking Up Dead is more determined to fight for social justice. Laney from Fairy, Texas is better at keeping secrets, and Kylie from Taming the Country Star is more afraid of being hurt. Cami from Sanguinary is more analytical, better at stepping back from a terrifying situation and examining it—but then, she's a cop, so she'd have to be. And Lili's background is completely different from mine, though her scientific curiosity appeals to me.

 

If you could exchange lives with any of your characters for a day which character would you choose and why?

Ack! NONE of them! My characters lead terribly interesting lives, full of mayhem and murder. I prefer to avoid tripping over dead bodies.

Well . . . okay. Maybe Kylie from Taming the Country Star. She's dating a gorgeous, funny, kind country singer. That might be fun for a day. . .

 

What books have most influenced your life most? 

I'm an English professor in my other life, so I don't think this question is fair! I could probably list a hundred books that have influenced me. But here's a short list: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein was the first "grown-up" book I read, and it helped cement a lifelong love of reading. Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood helped me decide to specialize in eighteenth-century British literature when I was getting my Ph.D. The Wife's Resentment by Delarivier Manley helped me determine my dissertation topic. Sunshine by Robin McKinley influenced me to write my own first novel.

 

Who is your favorite author?

I don't have just one. I have hundreds. I ended up with a Ph.D. in literature in part because I just couldn't quit going to school and learning about new-to-me authors. And while I was reading more traditionally literary works for school, I was reading science fiction and fantasy on the side. So I have favorite authors in almost every genre you could think of. But here are some favorites from my area of specialization, eighteenth-century British literature, and some favorites from my preferred genres to read for entertainment, science fiction and fantasy:

18^th century: Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, Delarivier Manley, Fanny Burney, Jane Austen

SF/F: Neil Gaiman, Connie Willis, Kage Baker, Ann Aguirre, Anne Bishop, Jennifer Armentrout, Robin McKinley, Katie Hayoz, Rick Chiantaretto, Melanie Karsak

 

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor? 

I would love to have Connie Willis as a mentor. She's amazing.

What book are you reading now? 

Right now, I'm reading Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles.

What are your current projects?

It's a sequel kind of year! I'm writing sequels to just about all my books.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been making up stories. The first story I remember actually writing down was basically fan-fiction of The Wizard of Oz. I wrote it in long-hand in a yellow legal pad. I’ve been writing ever since. But about ten years ago, a friend suggested I join in National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org). Until then, I had always written short stories. That year, I finished the first draft of what would eventually become Legally Undead—it will be my third published novel, but it’s the first one I wrote.

I ended up as an English major in college because I was fascinated by the ways stories work. And then I went on to graduate school because I couldn’t figure out what else to do. I ended up with a Ph.D. in literature almost by accident; I just never quit wanting to learn about all the stories in the world!

So now I teach literature and writing in my day job, and the rest of the time, I write, both as a fiction author and as an academic.

 

Thanks so much for having me here today!

 

 

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Sometimes the monsters in the dark are real...

As a child, Lili Banta ignored her grandmother's cryptic warnings to avoid children outside their Filipino community in Houston. When many of those other children fell ill, Lili ignored the whispers in her community that a vampiric aswang walked among them.

Years later, Lili returns to Houston to work for the Quarantine Station of the Center for Disease Control—but she is plagued by dark, bloody dreams that consume her nights and haunt her days. When a strange illness attacks the city's children, Lili is called in to find its source, and maybe even a cure.

But in order to save the city, she must first acknowledge the sinister truth: A monster stalks the night—closer than she ever expected....

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Excerpt

 

Sitting straight up in bed, I gasped and threw myself back against the headboard, the thud dying away along with the remaining shreds of my dream.

But the word still ricocheted through my mind.

Aswang.

Until yesterday, I hadn't thought of the term in years—not since I'd left Houston for med school in Maine, determined to get as far away from home as I could.

But this resurgence of the same, odd illness that had swept my city years before was apparently also dredging up the old stories from deep in my subconscious: the aswang, a vampiric woman who lived a quiet life by day and fed on children in the night, flying back home on bat-wings just before dawn.

My unconscious mind had clearly also expanded on the idea, casting me in the role of aswang and adding schizoid conversations with a chorus of internal voices.

Great. I'm insane in my dreams.

And I'm a monster.

Shuddering, I wiped my hand across my gritty, raw eyelids.

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Buy Links

Only $.99 via Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Blood-Night-Shift-Novella-ebook/dp/B00PB3AIGC/

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Blood-Night-Shift-Novel/dp/0990743365/

Audiobook, Narrated by Hollie Jackson: http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Blood-Night-Shift-Book/dp/B00QUB5T9U/

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About the Author 

 

Margo Bond Collins is the author of urban fantasy, contemporary romance, and paranormal mysteries. She has published a number of novels, including Bound by Blood, Sanguinary, Taming the Country Star, Legally Undead, Waking Up Dead, and Fairy, Texas. She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. Although writing fiction is her first love, she also teaches college-level English courses online. She enjoys reading romance and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, monsters, cowboys, and villains, and the strong women who love them—and sometimes fight them.

_____________________________________________

Connect with Margo

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/margobondcollins

Email: MargoBondCollins@gmail.com
Website: http://www.MargoBondCollins.net
Blog: http://www.MargoBondCollins.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MargoBondCollin  @MargoBondCollin
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116484555448104519902
Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/vampirarchy
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MargoBondCollins
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mbondcollins/

 

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