Guest Post with Author Susannah Sandlin and Giveaway

Today I would like to welcome author Susannah Sandlin to RFTC. Susannah is celebrating the recent release of her book Absolution and has stopped by to chat. Please give Susannah a warm welcome.

Susannah Sandlin is the author of paranormal romance set in the Deep South, where there are always things that go bump in the night.

A journalist by day, Susannah grew up in Alabama reading the gothic novels of Susan Howatch and the horror fantasy of Stephen King. (Um…it is fantasy, right?)

The combination of Howatch and King probably explains a lot. Currently a resident of Auburn, Alabama, Susannah has also lived in Illinois, Texas, California, and Louisiana.

Places to find Susannah:

| Site | Facebook | Twitter |

The Well-Dressed Vampire…or not

Susannah Sandlin here. I was fortunate enough to sit down just before dawn with Penton’s vampire leader Aidan Murphy and his two senior lieutenants, Mirren Kincaid and Will Ludlam, to talk about hobbies. Because every vampire needs a hobby, right?

A quick intro to the guys: AIDAN was an Irish farmer in his human life, which ended when he was turned vampire in 1601, in his late twenties, during the Battle of Kinsale. He’s serious and steady. MIRREN (whose book has just been released) was a Scottish-born Gallowglass mercenary until turned vampire in 1605 Ireland in his early thirties. He’s big, grouchy, and likes to behead wayward vampires with his sword, Faolain. WILL was a 22-year-old college student when he was turned vampire (by his father, no less) in 1969. He’s a total smartass.

Okay, guys! Let’s talk about clothes.

Aidan: What about clothes? Who cares about clothes?

Will: I care about clothes. You only don’t care about clothes because you have someone to buy them for you—so I’m not even sure how you got included in this interview. And let’s not even talk about Mirren the Moose over there, Mr. Green T-shirt and combat pants.

Mirren: This is a black T-shirt.

(silence)

Um, Mirren...Your T-shirt really is green.

Aidan: I can’t believe I’ve known you 150 years and didn’t realize you were color-blind. I thought you only wore black to scare people.

Mirren (looks down at shirt): You sure this isn’t black?

Will: You two are pathetic.

Mirren: We have character. All you have is a closet full of clothes, (bleep)tard.

Um..guys. Let’s get back to the subject at hand. Aidan, you tend to wear a lot of natural fibers, with blues that set off your eyes. Do you tell your fam what to buy for you?

Aidan: What’s a natural fiber. What’s an unnatural fiber? Hell if I know. She just buys what she wants to.

Will: *coughs* She calls you her vampire Ken doll.

Aidan: Yeah, I never understood that. Who’s Ken? She won’t tell me.

Mirren: Another (bleep)tard like William here.

Okay, okay. Mirren—you tend to like black combat pants, and black boots, and T-shirts that you at least think are black. Is it really to camouflage the fact you’re color-blind or so people will think you’re a badass?

Mirren: *arches brow* You think I’m not a badass?

Um, okay, Will. You’re the clotheshorse here.

Aidan: More like a clothes-ass.

Mirren: A clothes-donkey.

Will: Hey, this is my question. Let the woman talk.

Thank you. How would you describe your fashion style?

Will: Earthtones make my eyes stand out for the ladies. Looks nice with the hair, too. I like browns and golds and deep greens.

Mirren: I’m going to be sick.

Aidan: Me too. Let’s get out of here and leave the ladies to talk fashion.

Well, that went swimmingly. Think they enjoyed themselves?

Will: Who cares? They’re gone now. We can enjoy ourselves. You never have let me bite you, you know. It will be SO worth your time and just a flash of pain.

Don’t you have patrols to do or something? A war to start? A partner to annoy?

Will: Right. I’ll catch you later. Literally.

With the vampire world on the brink of civil war over the scarcity of untainted human blood, battle lines are being drawn between the once peaceful vampire and human enclave of Penton, Alabama, and the powerful Vampire Tribunal.

A Scottish gallowglass warrior turned vampire in the early 17th century, Mirren Kincaid once served the Tribunal as its most creative and ruthless executioner—a time when he was known as the Slayer. But when assigned a killing he found questionable, Mirren abandoned the Tribunal’s political machinations and disappeared—only to resurface two centuries later as the protector and second-in-command of Penton. Now the Tribunal wants him back on their side—or dead.

To break their rogue agent, they capture Glory Cummings, the descendant of a shaman, and send her to restore Mirren’s bloodthirsty nature. But instead of a monster, Glory sees a man burdened by the weight of his past. Could her magic touch—meant by the tribunal to bring out a violent killer—actually help Mirren break his bonds and discover the love he doesn’t believe he deserves?

It’s a town under siege, a powerful warrior in a battle with his past, and one woman who can make the earth move—literally—as the Penton Legacy continues.

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository |

What was Matthias thinking, throwing a human woman in the cell with a vampire who’d been locked up and starved for over a month?

Mirren waited on the bench, his back against the wall, his head down. Waited until Matthias climbed the steps, slammed the door, clicked the dead bolt home. Waited until he could get control of the hunger that had begun raging the second the woman stumbled down the stairway. She was unvaccinated, and he wanted nothing more than to take her, blood and body, until there was nothing left.

If he did that, he’d be no better than the version of Mirren Kincaid he’d tried so hard to leave behind. He’d be the Slayer again. His hands could too easily remember the mindless sweep of the sword, the heavy fall of the battle-ax, the controlled back-thrust of a heavy firearm. If the cold darkness ever fell over him again, he feared he’d embrace it.

“Mister, you awake?”

Shit. She would have to be a talker. Mirren hated a talky woman. They always expected you to talk back.
He raised his head slowly and caught his breath. She was young, maybe mid-twenties, and pretty in a rode-hard kind of way.

“Your eyes are silver—I’ve seen enough vampires since I was kidnapped to know when your eyes get lighter, it means you’re hungry. But I’ve never seen any like yours. How long has it been since you ate?

Umm…Make that how long since you drank?”

If the stupid woman kept walking toward him, he wouldn’t be held responsible. “Stay where you are.” He narrowed his eyes at her, thinking. How could she help him without sending his need so far over the edge he lost control of it?

She eeked when he shifted on the bench and turned his back toward her. “Untie me.”

She stumbled a little when she reached the bench and sat hard. The woman was stoned out of her gourd. He could smell the drugs on her.

“Your wrists are all torn up. That has to hurt.” She sat on the bench behind him, and Mirren breathed in her scent with his eyes closed. Damn, but he wanted to feed so badly his muscles ached.

She muttered as she worked, her drug-addled fingers slipping off the rope. “You’re so big that I’m surprised this rope could hold you. I should be able to…Let’s see here, it’s too dark. Man, this is funky rope.”

“Stop yapping, start untying.” She had that broad, soft Southern accent he found sexy, but she used it way too much.

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” She tugged harder on the ropes, burning his sensitive wrists with each pull. “Sorry, sorry. Why is it burning your skin like that?”

Mirren growled and spoke through gritted teeth. “It’s laced with silver, and I’m a freaking vampire. Just untie me.” Damn, he had to get himself under control, or he’d scare the woman to death and she wouldn’t finish freeing his arms or feed him either one.

“Well, you’ve got the funny eyes, but I don’t see any fangs.”

God help him, he’d show her some fangs. “I said I was a vampire. Now finish untying me.”

Mirren twisted his wrists and felt the rope give way—the woman had gotten it loose enough that he didn’t need her help.

“But wait, how do I know you—”

She gasped as Mirren pulled his wrists apart, popped the rope onto the cell floor, and shifted around to face her.

“Can you…?” She paused and swallowed hard, edging away from him on the bench. Mirren’s gaze dropped to her mouth. “Can you feed without killing me?”

Mirren nodded slowly. Maybe. Maybe not.

Check out the Penton Legacy series: 

Click for more info. 

Want to win some goodies from Susannah? Check out whats up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 1 lucky winner from the ENTIRE tour will win a Kindle Paper White or a $100 Gift Card to Amazon/Barnes & Noble
• 5 lucky winners from the ENTIRE tour will win a signed print or audio copy of Absolution 

To Enter:

• Leave a meaningful comment or question for Susannah.
• Fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  
• US Shipping ONLY

Good Luck =)

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