Journals of the Undead

Tag: immortals

  • What’s Next?

    What’s Next?

    This has been one of the most frequently asked questions recently. Yes, I am working on my next novel. I don’t like to talk much about ongoing projects but there are a few things I can share…

    The new novel will be a spin-off of Journals of the Undead and will focus on Beatrice. As I’ve mentioned before, she was supposed to be the female lead in my debut novel, however, life (and Lucretia) had other plans. I always felt bad about that so now I shall use the opportunity to rectify things.

    Unlike JotU, the spin-off will be set entirely in the 19th century, apart from the occasional flashback. Readers of my debut novel said that they loved the stories but thought that covering four centuries in 12 short stories was too much and I agree with them.

    The novel will show Beatrice’s life as a vampire at a particular point of her life, reveal how she became a vampire and tell what her human life was like. It will feature a few vampires from JotU, as well as introduce some new characters.

    I love mixing real life with fiction, so expect historical facts woven into the story. Some of the plot is inspired by real events.

    When will the novel be available to buy? Best case scenario, Autumn 2025 for the Latvian version and Autumn/Winter 2026 for the English edition. This time I want to write in both languages simultaneously as opposed to translating the Latvian manuscript like I did with Journals of the Undead.

  • What Would I Do Differently…

    What Would I Do Differently…

    …if I were writing Journals of the Undead today? I’ve thought about it every now and then, especially as I was preparing the Latvian edition for publishing. In short, quite a few things but here are the main ones…

    Firstly, I would not cover four centuries and the stories would be in a chronological order. With JotU, I left them in the order in which they were written. I came to know my characters, their background and the events that shaped them gradually and this is reflected in the pace of the novel.

    Secondly, since I’d cover a much shorter period of time, there would be less characters. Four protagonists is fine but there’s a considerable amount of supporting characters in JotU who only appeared briefly and that’s a shame as some of them deserved more time in the spotlight.

    Thirdly, there would be at least one Latvian character.

    And, in general, the stories would be more light-hearted. My characters would still deal with the worldly winds and the pros and cons of eternal life but there would be more humour.

    I could have added all this to the manuscript but I chose not to. I have edited JotU several times over the years but those have been minor edits. The biggest change I made was re-writing a dialogue between two characters in the 5th story, The Encounter, where they discuss whether vampires have a soul. My thoughts on the subject have changed so I replaced the original dialogue with a new one. Apart from that, I’ve left the stories as they were, concerned that any cardinal changes would weaken and worsen the novel instead of improving it.

  • The Black Vampyre & Carmilla

    The Black Vampyre & Carmilla

    I never run out of books to read. In fact, I have 50+ unread books at the moment on my shelves, but that doesn’t stop me from buying some more. The latest additions are two 19th century vampire stories: Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Uriah Derick D’Arcy’s The Black Vampyre.

    I chose them because I’m working on my next vampire novels that are set in the 19th century and reading books from that historical period helps me get into the mood. I also pay close attention to the language, to how people addressed each other and how they described the world around them. Whilst I don’t want to sound like a 19th century author, I don’t want to sound too modern either.

    I haven’t started reading Carmilla so I cannot provide any feedback at the moment. I chose it because this 1870s novel inspired Dracula and the vampire is female.

    The Black Vampyre (1819) I have read. It sounded very promising: the first black vampire story and the first comedic vampire story that also had a revolution going on in the background. The main character is a slave who transforms into a vampire after being killed by his captor and seeks revenge. So far, very promising. Yet I was left with mixed feelings. The plot summary was better written than the story, in my opinion. If I were reading this in the 1820s then I would have been excited for this was an entirely new genre and I love a good revenge story. However, I was reading this as a modern reader (that is difficult to surprise). The author (whose true identity remains unclear) wrote the Black Vampyre as a response to John William Polidori’s The Vampyre. Polidori’s story became a sensation and what usually happens when something becomes a sensation? Many others try to create something similar. Personally, I found the language in The Black Vampyre difficult to follow but maybe that’s because it’s written in English as it was spoken in the United States 200 years ago. Overall, it was an interesting reading experience.

    I’m also planning to read The Pale Lady by Alexandre Dumas père. I had no idea that the author of The Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo had also written a vampire story!

  • Vampires & Religion

    Vampires & Religion

    I recently finished reading The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice. Whilst I really enjoyed 2/3 of the book which focused on Armand’s different lives through the centuries, I started losing interest when his story returned to the 1990s. I simply couldn’t understand his obsession with Christian relics and Christianity in general. To me, vampires and religion do not mix. My own vampires turn their back to any religion after their transformation. They do believe in a higher power but they understand that their existence goes against the eternal cycle of life and death: everything that is born passes away some time later. They’ve cheated death and therefore there is no God available to them, they’re completely on their own.

    To each their own, obviously. Vampire literature would be boring if all writers had the same beliefs and there would be a strict canon.

    And yet I struggled. The thing is, I was born in an atheist country where religion was banned and grew up in a secular state. We did have some Bible lessons at school but I quickly realised Christianity was not for me. Therefore, to this day, I know very little about it. When Armand was in ruptures about Veronica’s Veil I had to Google it because I had no idea what it is and why it’s significant.

    So, when Pandora (who was born in Ancient Rome) didn’t share his excitement and Armand asked why, I shouted out loud when she said that Christ was never her Lord. Same thing, Pandora, same thing!

    But, as I wrote earlier, everyone’s different. And I did enjoy most of the book…

  • Music & Editing

    Music & Editing

    I usually listen to music whilst editing as it helps me: a) get in the mood; b) stay focused. When I find a song I really like I can listen to it for hours on repeat – I’m not exaggerating! One of such songs is Burn by The Cure. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve listened to it, one of my all time favourites! The Crow (1994), one of my favourite movies by the way, had a great soundtrack but I like Burn the most.

    And then there is the opposite… I realised early on that Type O Negative and editing don’t go together. I love the band but find Peter Steele’s voice to be too distracting. Instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing I ended up watching the band’s music videos instead.

    The trouble with editing is that I need to be super focused and, because I have a day job and other commitments, the time I can set aside for this task is limited and needs to be used as efficiently as possible. Writing is different: I let my mind wander and I write down everything without thinking about it much plus writing can be done anytime as I nearly always carry pen and paper with me and, if I don’t, then I record a voice message on my phone.

    Editing is when I assemble, filter and arrange text so my mind needs to be completely present. Also, as much as I like to burn the midnight oil, I cannot edit at night. Write yes, edit no – I’ve tried it and lost hours the next day dealing with typos and silly mistakes from the previous night’s editing session. So no editing past 9 pm for me.

  • “Šķautnes”

    “Šķautnes”

    I don’t like to talk about projects until they’re finished so I didn’t… But now I can. The Latvian version of Journals of the Undead, titled “Šķautnes”, which means ‘facets’ in Latvian, is out now! I feel happy and tired at the same time so this will be a very short post. I would like to thank “Sava grāmata”, the publishing company, and Santagora Torma, the illustrator. “Šķautnes” will be available in selected Latvian online and bricks and mortar book stores soon.

  • Journals of the Undead vs Parallel World

    Journals of the Undead vs Parallel World

    I have another vampire story, Parallel World, written in short chapters and available on Wattpad. Parallel World originated from some left over material that didn’t quite fit into Journals of the Undead. Also, JotU deals with tough stuff: loss, betrayal, loneliness and depression a lot, which was starting to have an impact on me. There is a bit of humour in my novel but not much so I wanted to write something more light hearted to keep things in balance. And that’s how Parallel World was born. Of course, as it often happens, the characters started to evolve and have their own ways therefore altering my initial idea.

    The main differences are…

    Number 1: less lead characters. Unlike JotU, Parallel World has only two protagonists, Elisa and Jack, and all but one of the chapters are told by Elisa. 

    Number2: Less jumping between centuries. All episodes take place in 2009/2010 apart from the occasional flashbacks.

    Number 3: Whilst writing my book, I discovered how I enjoy using historical facts (the more bonkers the better) and mixing them with fiction. I’m very interested in European history, especially Hungarian, and you’ll notice that when you read Parallel World.

    Number 4: the vampires in Parallel World are less homogenous. When I was writing Journals of the Undead, I was still working out what my vampires would be like. As a result, they all had roughly the same abilities and limitations, and no special powers. By the time I was working on the next story, I started to find it rather boring and mixed things up. Therefore the vampires in Parallel World are a very diverse bunch, including one who can turn into an owl. And I’ve thrown in a vampire hunter to make things even more interesting.

    Number 5: the supporting characters are a truly motley crew. Unlike Journals of the Undead, where the vampires are essentially good guys and girls who only do bad things if the situation requires it, some of the vampires in Parallel World are rotten to the core and no-one can do anything about it. The good vampires tolerate the bad ones and vice versa but they’re all stuck together in this parallel reality.

    Number 6: Latvians! Journals of the Undead had none and it is one of my regrets about the novel. I rectified this in Parallel World, which features three Latvians, all very different, and one of the chapters is set in Latvia.

    The stories were originally written in Latvian and there are 35 chapters in total. So far, I’ve managed to translate 25.

  • Behind the Scenes: Arifay

    Out of all my characters, Arifay is the one I know the least about. How could this be if I created him and wrote the stories? Well, it’s more a case of writing them down. The characters all came to me and revealed as much or as little as they wanted.

    Arifay’s date of birth, surname and home town are never revealed in Journals of the Undead. He’s in his mid 20s and, like Yuri, was born in the 18th century. Romantic yet cynical, more of a thinker than a man of action, calm yet determined, often smiling but with a dry sense of humour, Arifay avoids the spotlight but leaves a big and lasting impression on the humans and vampires he meets. A natural born teacher, he loves sharing knowledge and has remarkable levels of patience. Arifay normally keeps himself to himself but, once he becomes close to someone, he is a loyal friend.

    People have asked me about the origins of his unusual name. The answer is: I don’t know. It just came to me.

  • Behind the Scenes: Yuri

    Described as a charming devil, Yuri is the only main character in Journals of the Undead who became a better person after turning into a vampire. Cold, cruel and manipulative during his human life, he achieved remarkable personal development as a vampire. Part of this is due to the fact that he encountered vampires of various social backgrounds and that made him get out of his bubble and see the world as it is. Also, Yuri discovered that he’s a good mentor and helped vampires, who felt lost in their new life, as much as he could to accept it or find a purpose.

    Although he was born and grew up in the 18th century, Yuri preferred the 19th century though not the Victorian era. The sudden strict morals and bizarre new customs were too much for him and he eventually left Britain.

    Although Yuri never truly lets go of his arrogance and narcissism, he is fiercely loyal, protective and caring and will always help his friends without asking many questions. His character is in contrast to Arifay, Vincent and Lucretia who were never evil during their human life and also the circumstances in which they became vampires are completely different – Yuri is the only one who wanted to become immortal and therefore the only one who had weighed the pros and cons of eternal life.

    I like creating complex characters and it means that all four protagonists have flaws, bad habits and can get on your nerves from time to time. They are neither good nor bad, living in the shadows and having all the time in the world to decide what they want to do next.

  • Music That Inspired Journals of the Undead

    Music That Inspired Journals of the Undead

    Journals of the Undead was written between 2008-2010 so I only remember the artists that I listened to the most.

    The Rolling Stones, one of my favourite bands. Wild Horses is one of my all time favourites and one of the songs that’s mentioned in the book. It has a special meaning for me and now it is a special song for one of the characters, too: Lucretia first heard the song when she was about to close one chapter of her life and start another and listened to it a lot.

    Sarah Brightman, one of my favourite singers. I saw a recording of her live concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in 2008 and it’s one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. When Brightman sang Fleurs du Mal, it was a magical experience. I love the song so much that I wrote it into one of the stories

    Sisters of Mercy. I was trying to come up with a name for the female lead when Lucretia, My Reflection came up on my MP3 player. I liked the way it sounded and, since she was based on me, the reflection thing, too, resonated with me.

    Take A Shot by the Finnish band Lovex. There was a time when I would listen to this song non-stop and that included the time when I was working on Tiredness, the first story. The lyrics made me think of Vincent and it sort of became his song. Every time I hear it I think of my story and every time I read Tiredness, I think of the song.

    The 69 Eyes aka Helsinki Vampires – an obvious choice but I started to listen to them several years before I wrote the first story. Wasting the Dawn, Brandon Lee and Velvet Touch are still my favourites.

    Over the years, I have edited the stories quite a few times and, when I was editing the English version back in 2020, I started listening to classical music a lot, especially Handel’s Water Music and pretty much anything by Mozart. There is a particular classical music for studying playlist on YouTube that I always play in the background when I need to focus. Apart from liking classical music in general, the fact that no-one’s singing means I don’t get distracted by lyrics.