Donna Burgess- Darklands

Donna Burgess is an author of dark fiction and poetry who enjoys surfing, painting and has a deep affection for all things Monty Python and low-budget horror flicks.  Over the past fifteen years, her fiction and poetry has appeared in genre publications such as Weird Tales, Dark Wisdom, Sybil’s Garage and others.  She has been married for twenty years and has two children.  Her newest releases include Darklands: a vampire’s tale (the first book in the Darklands Vampires series) and Breaths in Winter, a short story collection.  Both are available in print and e-book. When she is not conjuring, she can be found surfing.

Product description:

Halloween night, twenty years ago, college student Susan Archer watched as her beloved twin brother was brutally murdered at the hands of a man she invited into their home.  Still haunted by the guilt of that night, Susan is now a tough but bitter cop in a nowhere town, trying as best she can to lead a normal life.  When she is nearly killed during a wild shoot-out, she realizes she is not as strong as she first thought.  Fearing a breakdown, she flees the confines of her safe boyfriend and familiar surroundings to find salvation in the arms of “Deathwalker” Devin McCree—the very man who killed her brother.

But things aren’t always what they seem and she quickly realizes Devin was not the monster she originally thought, but a kind of guardian angel instead.

On the run from a crazed Nazi vampire-hunter named Kasper, she and Devin must find a way to endure the dreary urban landscape of a dying metropolis and escape Kasper’s wrath.  
 
Darklands is a sexy and violent tale of survival, bloodlust and two people grasping to the edge of immortality while trying to hang on the last shreds of their humanity. Darklands: a vampire’s tale is the first book in the Darklands Vampire series.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?

It's fast-paced, descriptive and features adults in adult situations (yes, they are vampires, but there's more going on than just blood drinking and sex). Hopefully, I have added a new twist to the vampire genre.

Q: Why did you go indie?

Because of you, Scott!  Well, you, Joe Konrath, Amanda Hocking and a couple others. 

I went the traditional route with this book.  A couple of agents really seemed interested.  In the end, one tied it up for months, submitted it to one publisher, where (after about 6 months) it was rejected,  then decided the book was not a good fit for her, after all.  The other agent wanted me to rewrite the entire novel and turn it into a straight romance.  I'm not sure I've ever even read a romance novel, so I knew that would not work out. Looking back, it seemed like an incredible waste of time--I could have been published long ago, and under my own terms. These great indie authors have lifted the stigma self-publishing used to carry and that rocks!

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

I'll always be a Stephen King nut.  I also enjoy Caitlin Kiernan, Cat Valente, Kathe Koja--there's really too many to name.

http://www.amazon.com/Darklands-vampires-tale-Vampires-ebook/dp/B004GNFTQC/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2
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