ORIGINAL BLOOD: Gailene's Vow (book one)

So Zondra, this 22-year-old coed and sometime sculptor, doesn't know any more about vampires than the splatter-drivel we've all seen in movies. Then one of them gets a powerful thirst and attacks her while she's out ice skating on a pond within sight of the Washington Monument. 

And she dies - not like she's bitten into an undead state - I mean she actually dies. Falls through the ice and drowns. But then she wakes up. Lying in a hospital bed being chatted up by a handsome but mysterious doctor whom nobody else can see. 

Thus begins the seemingly uncontrolled skid of Zondra's life into a wild new direction. 

She has always known that she was adopted, though she had questions when, at age 18, she was presented with a strange necklace allegedly worn by both her birth mother and grandmother before her. Then there's the matter of that odd birthmark on her hand. And the peculiar strangers who stare wonderingly at her, ask about her birthmark, then disappear in a blur before anyone else sees them. 

You know, the usual stuff any normal kid goes through growing up. 

But one of the odd side effects of having died seems to be a progression of terrifying visions - visions that abruptly commandeer her mind and throw her two hundred years back into the past where she experiences in real time the shocking events that had occurred to a woman named Gailene in the 18th century. 

This switching back-and-forth between the centuries stitches together a surprisingly compelling story. Now, I'll admit it - I was a huge fan of Anne Rice when her first three or four Lestat novels were released, and I... well... I devoured them. But by the time I'd gotten through The Tale of the Body Thief, my thirst for more vampire blood had been slaked. I laid the whole genre aside and paid it no more attention until this book crossed my desktop (yes, I read it in ebook format). 

And I have to admit, Original Blood not only held my attention, it gripped me. As in, I couldn't close the damned thing to go get some sleep. It's just simply a powerful read. 

The character exhibits a certain gravitas despite her youth, and although she has plenty of both attitude and mouth, she's basically a level-headed girl who's tough minded enough to stick up for herself in a scrape. She's mostly a loner with just one close friend. Zondra is on good terms with her adoptive parents, but considers herself adult enough not to lean on them. In other words, she's a self reliant young lady accustomed to standing on her own two feet, but with a life that's rapidly turning to quicksand. You'll find her to be a likable character grappling with serious problems, and all the way to the last page, you'll be pulling for her to win. 

Stuart Land has written several books, but his concepts are generally so original that the traditional industry gatekeepers - the agents and publishers - have been unable to slot his books into the simplistic marketing pigeonholes they so love. That used to be a bad thing, because so many really exciting books never made it past the gatekeepers to reach the public eye. 

But with the coming of ebooks and self-publishing, you and I now have direct, unmoderated access to writers and stories that were formerly kept from us. Original Blood is one of these, and according to the author, several more of his very novel novels are due in short order. 

I am glad to give this book my highest recommendation. 

Charles Burke 
Author, The Business Owner's Quantum Cash Pump (Kindle book) 
 

Gailene and Zondra live in two different times and places, but both are suddenly ripped from the comfort of their lives, and thrown into situations seemingly beyond their control. As the story switches between the present and the past, the tension builds. Both Gailene and Zondra slowly discover that they are impacting eachothers' lives as their timelines come closer to merging. Both learn to drawn on strengths they might not have expected to find to survive. Gailene leaves England to become a driving force in the new nation forming on another continent. As Gailene and Zondra uncover the ties bind them across generations, one sacrifices herself so that the other can fulfill their haunting love for the same man. The sensuality they share with those they love is warm and sometimes unexpected. 

Stuart takes a very unique perspective on vampires, while staying within much of the traditional "rules" regarding their physical behavior, strengths and limitations. I really enjoyed the closing line in the book, and hope that it is a teaser of things to come. 

As a boy growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana I was forced by my big Sis to go to the Hollywood Theater's Saturday Matinee of "COUNT DRACULA" series of B-Movies on more than one occassion. 

I was always into World War II, Air Force, cops & robbers, Superman, Dragnet and Perry Mason. My sister Janet was always into Tarzan, Count Dracula, Frankenstein, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and Zorro. 

HAVE I GOT A BOOK FOR HER!!! 

ORIGINAL BLOOD by STUART LAND was a great departure in my normal and preferred reading. 

When I first read the historic settings of Holly-on-Brighton, England, and then jumping to Gerogetown, Washington D.C., I was hooked. Then comes the election of my favorite President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln's bold mandate to free the "Slaves" precipitated the CIVIL WAR (another of my favorite historic topics). In all of my readings of the events of the Civil War, I missed the fact that families of VAMPIRES were quite active! There is Gailene, the Matriarch and Fenton, her want-to-be lover who becomes the nemises of Jeremiah who is her lover. You read about people living to be 100, 107 , 110 years of age. Well, little did I know, VAMPIRES can live for centuries - without the need for anti-aging cremes, plastic surgeons and hard phsyical work-outs at the Equinox Gym. 

Enter ZONDRA, Gailene's great granddaughter. A beautiful college co-ed who had been adopted at birth by a nice young couple in New Jersey. She meets Jeremiah and transcends time. Love is in the air. In the two hundred plus years it takes for STUART LAND to weave this MASTERPIECE, trials and tribulations come face to face with Zondra, and she handles every situation with the calmness of a pro. The VAMPIRE families remind me of the New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Las Vegas Cosa Nostra families - always feuding about something with often-time bloody results. 

STUART LAND had me turning page after page in awe, anticipating the next bite on my neck, feeling the blood being sucked from every vein and artery in my body. I was facinated as I read this tightly woven tale of fiction to the point Gailene, Fenton, Jeremiah, the twins, and Zondra seemed so real to me. 

Shortly before two A.M. (Sunday morning, 3 April), I could not keep my eyes open, I had to leave the last coulple of chapters for the morning. 

Funny thing, at just before seven-thirty this morning, I felt this cold, wet touch on my neck - I was startled, thinking it was Jeremiah! I jumped into an upright position, only to see the fangs on my beloved German Shepherd! He wanted to go for his ride to the park! 

FIVE STARS is not enough for ORIGINAL BLOOD by STUART LAND! This is a terrific book and his attention to historic detail and descriptive words for the settings are outstanding. His character development is pure perfection! Each character fully evolves and fills their intended position to make ORIGIAL BLOOD a facinating and truly enjoyable book. 

I purchased and read the Kindle Edition - NOW, I have to purchase the REAL BOOK to place in a prominent position on my bookshelves. IF you enjoy reading about VAMPIRES, or you just want to take a walk on the wild side, I highly recommend getting your copy of ORIGINAL BLOOD by STUART LAND. Having read this book, I wonder . . . DO VAMPIRES really walk among us? 

I certainly will be reading STUART LAND as long as he keeps on writing. 

Michael Phelps 
Author 
David Janssen - My Fugitive 
The Execution of Justice 
THE EXECUTION OF JUSTICE ("The Mike Walsh Detective Novels".)