Blog tour and contest for The Cowboy and the Vampire

We have a special guest here at Bite Club, one you might need to be a bit careful with, otherwise she might just decide that she's hungry. My review for The Cowboy and the Vampire will be posted later this week, probably over the weekend, so check back. 

As a bonus we are part of a tour wide giveaway for 1 signed first edition of the original publication from 1999 and 5 signed copies of the current paperback edition, so be sure to fill out the form, and don't forget to leave a comment here for an extra entry! The contest is open to U.S. shipping only (darn shipping fees). 

Now, joining us today from the pages of The Cowboy and the Vampire is Elita, an extremely influential and powerful Vampire — and drop dead (sometimes literally) gorgeous, she’s been around for thousands of years, but doesn’t look a day over 300.

Hi Elita, welcome. Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

Yes. I’m a Vampire. And I don’t like interviews.

Any chance you could a few more details?

(Sighing). Fine. I was born, hatched actually, so long ago that I can barely remember the early centuries. Mostly it’s just a delicious blur of feasting on humans and avoiding the sun. Some of my first concrete — or rather, sandstone — memories are of life in Egypt as the pyramids were built. It is worth pointing out to your readers that I am of the Reptilian line, not to be confused with the half-human mongrels of Royal line, or the Messianic line as they like to boast. Little more than a genetic quirk that arose some 2,000 years ago. I should have strangled them all when I had the chance.

How is it you have stayed alive all these many years when Vampires are so vulnerable during the day
when you are dead?

Vampires are cunning, capable of planning for the future in ways your abbreviated minds — a function
of your abbreviated lives — cannot comprehend. And we are adept at exploiting your many weaknesses.
Centuries ago we very purposefully helped instill a fear of the dead — necrophobia — in your human
ancestors so that you would be reluctant to disturb dead bodies, a fear that was carried forward
generation by generation. It was laughably easy to terrorize a few cultures and to establish death cults in a few others.

Also, humans are greedy and short-sighted, willing to trade almost anything for power and sex. We have access to both. Many of us choose to cultivate consorts willing to watch over us in exchange for certain favors. It is much like developing a bond with a loyal dog.

It’s not a perfect system of course and even Vampires can make mistakes. Body bags have been very
helpful. On those rare occasions a Vampire is found in the daylight hours, the body is carefully sealed
up in a protective bag and safely wheeled into some air conditioned morgue. A few short hours later, as
long we haven’t been too disassembled by busy hands, we arise ready for a night on the town none the
worse for wear.

Speaking of consorts, you are strikingly, almost uncomfortably beautiful. You must have some
interesting relationship stories to tell.

Vampires do not have the same sorts of relationships as humans. We are bound by very few social
mores. With the exception of those high minded Messianic Vampires, most of us live for the sake of
pleasure. Among our own kind, sex flows freely like the blood from our prey, we enjoy sexual pleasure
and satisfy it freely with others of our own kind as the mood strikes, regardless of gender and with no
concept of partner or lover. As for you humans, delicate little Adamites, evolution has equipped us to be highly desirable to your kind, able to seduce almost anyone of at any time to suit our needs. And I assure you, those needs are terminal.

Scary. What’s like to see history unfolding for all these years?

Mostly boring. You humans have such a high opinion of yourselves. Thinking your monuments and
advances are unrivalled and exceptional. It’s quaint really. Imagine watching a tribe of monkeys fussing over a hill of twigs and then preening and crowing about it. Despite your enthusiasm, it is all but a quick march into the grave for each of you. Vampires, long-lived, know that true advances are made in the mind. It has been fun to take advantage of certain situations along the way. However, some of your advances in technology have been useful. Airplanes have certainly helped globalize the Vampire community. Automobiles make it so easy to get around. Safe rooms protect us from prying eyes and the sun like never before. But best of all, medical advances and more reliable access to clean water and food have contributed to a population explosion of humans. The world is an endless and ever-growing buffet and you taste better than ever before. Healthier.

You are really stunningly attractive.

Is that a question?

I guess not. What is your opinion of Elizabeth Vaughn, the new queen of the Vampires?

She is annoying. Self-righteous. Untested. Ultimately doomed. I sense great power in her, but her
ridiculous cleaving to her human cowboy lover leaves her weak and vulnerable. And draws the scorn of both Messianic and Reptilian Vampires alike.

And Tucker, her cowboy lover?

Filled with a foolish pride as if king of some great fortune. Tucker is surprisingly resilient though. Like
a cockroach. I’ve tried to kill him twice, unsuccessfully. That rarely happens. He seems quite bent on
protecting Elizabeth Vaughn and motivated by what you call love, what I might call a derangement of
already precarious sense. He and that traveling flea circus of a dog of his, I hate them both.

I may have mentioned that you are quite beautiful. With your raven hair and creamy skin. Is the room
getting hotter? I feel dizzy.

I think we should conclude this interview and get some fresh night air, some place private where maybe I can grab a bite.

Don’t you mean “we” can grab a bite?

Yes of course. We.

About the Book:

The Cowboy and the Vampire
By Clark Hayes and Kathleen McFall

Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: MIDNIGHT INK Release Date: October 8, 2010
ISBN-10: 0738721611
ISBN-13: 978-0738721613

Reporter Lizzie Vaughan doesn’t realize it, but she has 2,000 years of royal
Vampiric blood coursing through her veins. Neither she nor Tucker, her cowboy lover, has any idea that Julius, the leader of the undead, has a diabolical plan to reign over darkness for all eternity—with Lizzie at his side.

Lizzie battles for her life—and her soul— as she and Tucker find themselves caught up in a vampire war, pursued by hordes of Julius’ maniacal, bloodthirsty followers.

Who will be left standing when the sun rises?


The Cowboy and the Vampire brings together two iconic characters — cowboys and vampires — and
crashes them together in a story about true love, culture clash and evil plans to take over the world.

There’s also a healthy dose of laugh-out-loud humor, a rich portrayal of life in the modern West, a fresh new take on the Vampire myth and plenty sexy seductions at the hands, and lips, of Vampire vixens.

What People are Saying:


“Deliciously dark.”—BOOKLIST

While mashing up all the stereotypical plot elements of Paranormal Vampire and Contemporary Western Romance, THE COWBOY AND THE VAMPIRE delivers unremitting fun, and a damn
good read. --Diana Troldahl, Freshfiction.com

"The Cowboy and the Vampire" ... combined their interests - Hays grew up on a ranch, McFall
was curious about religion and history - and was an experiment to see whether they could live
and work together. --Jeff Baker, The Oregonian

...husband and wife writing duo Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall has succeeded in writing
a unique story among all the vampire books that are out there today. --Bertena Varney,
examiner.com

I enjoyed The Cowboy and the Vampire; the quirky characters, the new mythology of vampires,
and the focus upon the uncertainty between evil and good. --Joanne L. -- LuxuryReading.com

The vampires in this book are Hays and McFall's own version and have an interesting link to
early Christianity ... Some are good, some are less good, and some are joyfully bad. --Book
Lovers Inc.

Book Links:
Website http://cowboyandvampire.com/
Social Network www.facebook.com/cowboyandvampire
Book Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0hig70b-2U&feature=youtu.be

About our latest projects:

We are hard at work on Blood and Whiskey, the first in a trilogy that picks up where The Cowboy and
the Vampire ended. It will be out in early 2012.

In the meantime, check out the novella Red Winter, by Clark, edited by Kathleen, released exclusively as an e-book:

Summary of Red Winter: 

Sheriff Early Hardiman has seen a lot of bad things in his life, but nothing could have prepared him for the first Vampire to visit the Old West. It’s 1890 and winter is closing like a noose around tiny LonePine, Wyoming. Fans of The Cowboy and the Vampire know LonePine will see its share of Vampires 120 years later, but in 1890 the appearance of the fearsome Jericho Whistler — with an unquenchable thirst for blood and unwilling to die — created a new kind of terror.

Thank you Elita! Thanks to Bewitching Book Tours for arranging this stop on the tour. Be sure to click the link for the contest form. Sorry that the form isn't just included on the page, but I am having trouble getting the embed code to work properly:(