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New Book Release: Blood of the Summoned

Please join me in congratulating Philip Adams on the publication of his debut novel, Blood of the Summoned! I was privileged to work with Phil on a copyedit of this imaginative twist on history. Blood of the Summoned is a paranormal historical thriller set during the last days of the Anglo-Saxon age, weaving a terrifying twist on traditional vampire lore seamlessly into the fabric of actual world events. Though there are some elements of horror in the story, they are not overpowering, and Blood of the Summoned is perfect for anyone who likes plenty of intrigue and action in their historical fiction! Here's the book description:

It is the fateful year of 1066, the last days of the Anglo-Saxon age. King Edward the Confessor lays dying, having neither produced an heir nor named a successor, and the struggle for the English throne is on. 

Eadwyn, the son of a peasant sheep farmer on the cusp of manhood, is away on a journey to York when he learns that Scottish raiders have sacked his home village and killed everyone, including his mother, his sister, and his father, Wulfric. What Eadwyn doesn’t know is that a demon spirit has entered Wulfric’s body and has begun using it to satisfy its lust for sex, power, and above all, blood. 

With nowhere else to go, Eadwyn takes refuge at an old English abbey, where an ancient book, the Codex of Qedesh, has been hidden away for generations and is now under the protection of the abbot, Prior Cuthbert. Obligated by monastic tradition, Cuthbert has studied the book and kept it safe over the years, though he’d long dismissed it as no more than a bizarre tale. But when bodies turn up bearing the hallmarks of a vampire attack, the signs become too clear to ignore. And when Molly, the pretty maidservant to a local lord, shows up at the abbey, having narrowly escaped the clutches of the vampire Wulfric, they learn the ghastly truth about Eadwyn’s father. Suddenly, the secrets of the Codex come horribly to life, as Eadwyn, Molly, and Cuthbert find themselves swept up in a larger, more deadly power struggle that threatens to turn loved ones into mortal enemies and humans into bloodthirsty beasts. 

Kato Sakros, a vampire as old as civilization itself, holds the powerful Earl of Northumbria, Tostig Godwinson, in his thrall and is using him in his search for the Codex of Qedesh, which Sakros has been seeking relentlessly for centuries. Under Sakros’s influence, Tostig’s cruel tyranny has inspired a revolt among the Northumbrian nobility and put him at odds with his own brother, Harold Godwinson, whose likely ascension to the throne is now threatened by rebellion in the north, even as William, the Duke of Normandy, threatens to invade England from the south. 

When the rebellion escalates into a massive, bloody uprising, Harold must choose whether to side with his brother and face a full-scale civil war, or to forsake his own flesh and blood and make common cause with the rebels. Harold's decision sets the stage for the battle that will plot the course of English history for the next thousand years.

Blood of the Summoned is available now on Amazon! And check out Phil's great website, where he has a lot of interesting posts on history and vampire lore.

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