A Contribution by Lorelei Bell, author of Vampire Ascending. For more information, see her Facebook Page and her section on this website.

“Huskie Bus driver crafts killer vampire literature”

Tony Martin ~ columnist for Northern Star

4 1/2 STARS

“ Inspired people are everywhere in this town, and Lorelei Bell is one of them.

I first met Bell on a Huskie Bus, and she recognized me from the paper and asked me to review her book, Vampire Ascending.

However, Lorelei isn’t a student here. She drives the Rout 2 bus, and has been driving for NIU for over a dozen years.

At first I was hesitant, because the vampire genre is so saturated that having a book succeed is somewhat difficult, to say the least. However, Bell is not only published, but her book is available on Amazon, and she has done in-store signings for Borders and the like. Not a bad gig, if you can get it.

It should go without saying that Bell must be a decent writer for her to have made it as far as she has in the genre.

However, Vampire Ascending is quite the story, genre aside. Bell’s voice is active without being over-bearing, intelligent without being condescending and a breath of fresh air in a genre that will, at its apex, be remembered for birthing some sparkly British super model vampires who wants to save it for marriage (yeah, I’ve seen the Twilight movies, deal with it). Her characters are three-dimensional and have the moments of indecision and confusion that most characters lack.

Bell refuses to fall into the pre-teen vampire fiction, and instead delves into the gritty, violent, dark and sexual world of Anne Rice’s vampires (before she got all religious and her writing lost focus). As more of a zombie fan myself, I actually found protagonist Sabrina Strong’s tale compelling, which was surprising to me. Bell’s story has vampires existing in our reality, instead of some hypothetical alternate universe, and it works.

I spent my spring break this year reading this book for fun whenever I had a chance, and I feel better for it. Localized art, especially literature, allows the reader to make schematic connections, even if they have never met the writer of been to the places being written about. Lorelei Bell’s Vampire Ascending is a lot of fun, even for those who’s interest in the vampire literature genre ranges from “scarce” to “none”.”

VAMPIRE ASCENDING
by Lorelei Bell

Exciting Hunt For A Vampire Serial Killer in Chicago

Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...]

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.