Vampire Dreams Blog Tour and contest with Gabrielle Bisset

Today we are hosting a Bewitching Blog Tour stop for Vampire Dreams by Gabrielle Bisset, and one lucky reader will win an ebook copy! All contest details will follow our guest post. So now let's give a big Bite Club welcome to Gabrielle Bisset::clapping and cheering::

 

Last June, the Huffington Post ran an article on the psychology behind why we love vampires. The author, a clinical psychologist named Belisa Vranich, listed ten reasons we find them so fascinating. Among her reasons were the common ones given—they’re good looking; they have fangs (hello, Dr. Freud—this must be an oral thing); and they’re bad boys. No matter how good they are, they can kill, so they’re bad.

But there were other reasons the doctor mentioned that are less popular but no less fascinating. Vampires are loners. This is her first reason, and it’s not surprising since psychologists often notice the tendency to spend time alone as a key to our psyches. But it’s an interesting point. Werewolves and zombies tend to be pack types. One were or zombie brings legions more. However, with vampires, it’s entirely different. Solitary beings, seemingly by choice, these characters are often without any fellow vamps to pal around with. The psychologist believes this is how each of us feels at one time or another. I don’t know about that, but there’s definitely a lone wolf vibe about vampires.

Equally as interesting is her assertion that vampires are minimalists. As she claims, they don’t rely on gadgets or guns or other weapons since they have all the weapons they need right in their mouths. Now this only works if you’re talking about strictly paranormal vampire stories. As soon as you enter the world of urban fantasy, all bets are off concerning this minimalism of the vampire. A quick stroll through the world of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood vampires shows you that these vamps are anything but minimalists. If anything, they love their toys, from phones, to cars, to computers.

What I think is most appealing about vampires and why they psychologically appeal to us, particularly women, is that they’re take care of business kind of beings. They see what they want, and they go for it. There’s no problem for them to simply see something and make it theirs. It’s who they are. And part of that taking care of business is knowing how the female psyche works. Find any vampire in romance and you’ll see a male who understands what turns women on. Vampires know the way a woman thinks and use it to their advantage. In other beings, this might be seen as villainous, but even with a bad vampire, readers are attracted because at their center, vampires may be manipulative, but it always feels so good when they are.

I’m happy vampires are so popular because I love reading and writing about them. Creating a good vampire in Brandon and an evil vampire in Vasilije made writing my novella Vampire Dreams so much fun. I hope readers never fall out of love with vampires because with so many authors writing about them, it creates a wonderful array of choices to read about our favorite bad boys.

Here’s an excerpt from Vampire Dreams:

The dark streets of the city lay sprawled out in front of her, filled with both possible danger
and salvation. As she ran, her feet pounding against the stones beneath them, her breathing came
in pants that stole the moisture from her mouth. Her eyes frantically scanned for someplace to
hide as she pushed her legs to run faster.
She could hear his feet as each one solidly hit the ground behind her. His stride much longer
than hers, he was coming closer with each step.

If he caught her...
The pounding of her heart hammered in her ears as the blood pushed faster and faster
through her body. Up ahead, she saw a door ajar in a rundown building. If it was empty, she
might be able to find a place to hide and hopefully escape from the pain of what awaited her if he
captured her.
She slipped through the doorway, but her cape caught on the doorknob, costing her precious
moments. As she worked to free herself, she heard his footsteps slow down to a walk, a sign he
was as sure as she that he’d won.
Finally, in desperation, she tore the fabric from the knob, and free to run once more, she
turned and ran headlong into the chest of a man who stood silently watching her.
“Please save me! He’s coming for me!”
Without a word, the stranger took her by the arm and led her to a table near the far wall.
With his hands on her shoulders, he hesitated a moment and then spun her around.
His voice deep, he commanded, “Place your hands on the table and bend over.”
Unsure if she’d chosen a fate as horrific as the one she’d fled from, she did as she’d been
told and waited in terror for what was to come.
The noise of her stalker entering the building caused her to turn her head, but the voice
behind her sternly warned, “Face forward.”
She felt hands lift her cloak and dress, allowing the cool night air to hit the bare skin of
her thighs. The feeling at once thrilled and shocked her, and she instinctively stood up to cover
herself.
The man behind her forcibly pushed her back toward the table and leaned over her to
whisper low in her ear, “Trust me,” as he pushed his body firmly against her backside.
“Hey you! Where’s the girl who came in here?”
With his hands on her hips, the man who gave her no choice but to trust him pushed his
hips toward hers and thrust toward her still clothed body to simulate sex, complete with throaty
groans.
“Hey! I asked you about the girl who came in here!”
Never looking back, Arden squeezed her eyes closed, shutting out the moonlight that
streamed in through the window above, and waited for the attack she feared. Instead, she heard
the man whose body continued to meet hers bark, “Go away! This whore’s mine!”
Indignant at the use of the word whore to describe her, she started to push herself up but his
hand held her by the neck and forced her to remain still on the table. A sound like a hiss came
from her protector and the other man hurriedly ran out of the building.


Vampire Dreams can be found at Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Barnes and Noble, and
Smashwords. Readers can contact Gabrielle at gabriellebisset@gmail.com and visit her blog at
http://gbisset.blogspot.com/


Contest details:

Leave a comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of Vampire Dreams. One winner will be chosen at random. The contest will run until July 4, and the winner will be announced the following weekend. Please include an email if one is not easily found in your profile so that I have a way to contact you should you be the winner.