Hawkesmoor: Novel of Vampire & Faerie by Anne Merino


Publisher:  Rivercliff Books & Media (an imprint of Wetware Media) – May 18, 2020
Category: Vampire Romance, Romantic Fantasy, and Paranormal
Tour Dates June and July, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9971416-8-9
Available in Print and ebook, 486 pages

Description Hawkesmoor: Novel of Vampire & Faerie by Anne Merino

Vampires, Romance and dark Celtic Mysticism fuse and blaze in this epic tale set in Manhattan, Yorkshire, England — and time itself.

Robin Dashwood, a handsome and charming British vampire with long gone aristocratic connections, is about to be thrown into an epic adventure that will shine light upon the rise of the vampire. This is the last thing he could imagine himself doing. Robin prefers to hide in plain sight, having devised a quiet life for himself in New York as a history professor in hopes of avoiding other more powerful vampires and their dangerous, decadent political machinations.

A chance encounter in a Manhattan art gallery introduces him to the beautiful Lady Caroline DeBarry and reveals a vicious murder from Robin’s human past. In search of answers to this historical mystery, he returns home to England and to Caroline who has captured his heart. As Robin uncovers the truth, he finds traces of a far more ancient and shrouded realm than even that of the vampire. This will shake the foundations of vampire lore and its brutal hierarchy, placing Lady Caroline in terrible danger and setting in motion events that will lead to a final bloody confrontation between a revenant army and humankind.

Hawkesmoor is the first book in a trilogy that will continue the eerie adventures of Robin Dashwood — a very British vampire.

Advance Praise Hawkesmoor: Novel of Vampire & Faerie by Anne Merino

“The paranormal features are refreshingly unconventional and well handled. Fans of romantic fantasy will be interested to see where the series goes.”- Publisher’s Weekly

“Delightfully well-crafted, intricate and enchantingly imaginative, I was drawn deep into this enjoyable read with its complex world and fascinating characters. It actually makes me feel excited for vampires again!  Romance and adventure, with an odd charm all its own, and fully realized world-building. Highly recommended!”- Award-winning author of A Lady in Disguise, Nine Ladies Dancingand Miss Fortescue’s Protector in Paris

“Hawkesmoor is a delightful ride through vampires and time. Its mysteries draw in the reader irresistibly.  And it’s more fun than Anne Rice!”-Bryan Alexander, Georgetown University, Futurist, and author “Blogging Dracula since 2005”

“If you’re in the market for a new, fresh vampire saga or just a bloody good time, look no further!”-Steve Hockensmith, New York Times best-selling author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls

Excerpt Hawkesmoor: Novel of Vampire & Faerie by Anne Merino

From Chapter 1

He currently lived a dull life for a vampire Robin mused as he rode the old cage elevator up to the fifth floor. But its unremarkable qualities were what made it a private art piece.

It would have been easy to be like the handful of other vampires he had met over the last three hundred odd years; living out lives of world weary jet setters, flitting about in the guise of artists and rock singers. He too could be using his accumulated wealth to languish about trendy watering holes, drinking the chic dry and secretly pining for yesteryear when no one complained much when the odd serving wench or two went missing.

Instead he owned a colorful old five story building in Greenwich Village called The Bailey. The still elegant Bailey had always housed the theatre trade, from the days of Victorian music hall to vaudeville to Broadway. It remained a haven for retired stage personalities and young hopefuls. None of the Bailey’s roster of theatre folk knew Robin Dashwood for their landlord and he never revealed, even to the oldest performer, how he’d caught most of their acts in their heydays.

He loved the theatre and its people. Surrounding himself with their peculiar brand of humor and survival instincts kept him in touch with his human past. Since buying the Bailey in 1908, he had found it a fascinating way of measuring the passage of time.

Robin shoved open the elevator cage door with his elbow as he struggled to hang onto his unwieldy stack of student essays.

Robin unlocked his flat and unceremoniously dumped his students’ mid-term essays on the foyer table. He had little more than an hour to change clothes and dash over to the Art Institute.

Besides his history courses at NYU and his relationship with Kate, there wasn’t much else. He still saw a little theatre and worked on his fourth scholarly book for his editor at Mercury Press. Of course, about once a week he had to feed.

Most vampires fed more often for the sheer hedonism of it but in true aesthetic spirit, Robin had learned to quell the powerful urge to steal human blood for nearly seven days. He was literally starving by then so he usually killed, rather than deploying the more refined small drink favored by really skillful vampires.

He hunted among drug addicts, vagrants, pan handlers, pimps and hard core criminals. A particular favorite being drug dealers who could be counted on to be fairly clean of narcotics themselves and well-nourished in comparison to their clientele. It was fortunate that he was starving when he found one of his victims. It was the only way he could stomach the sour effects of their badly depleted blood.

Robin bent to pick up a note that had fallen from one of the student papers. It was a love struck message from Maria, one of his eleven o’clock lecture attendees. She had developed a major attachment to him and had just started to send him little notes full of promises to do wonderful things for and to him. It was far from the first time a student had fallen into such a trap.

Vampires were magnetic creatures. It was helpful in gaining quick confidences that led inevitably to feeding. And like most vampires, Robin Dashwood was beyond beautiful. He tried to hide his tall, imperially slender frame in baggy suits and his luminous green eyes behind round bookish tortoiseshell spectacles with fake lenses. He wore his gleaming chestnut-colored hair quite long in a severe blunt cut that nearly brushed his thin shoulders and hoped it would conceal his features. It only enhanced the flawless planes of his angular face and the cool pale of his skin.

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