VAMPIRE UPDATE! Posted 30 August 2010.

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If you’ve read all the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer and crave more vampire stories, then sink your teeth into the Chronicles of Blood series of vampire books.

Confession Time! I haven't read Twilight, New Moon or Eclipse - or seen any of the movies. It's not that I don't think they're any good - several people I work with rave about the Twilight books and have been first in line for the movies, so I'm sure they are great reads. It's just that I don't want to run the risk of being influenced by these books. So it's safer to stay away from them (more confessions - I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books for the same reason).

Anyway, with all that soul-baring out of the way, welcome to the undead – and thanks for coming along.  If you like vampire stories, then you’ll love the Chronicles of Blood series

Plague of the Undead kicks the Chronicles of Blood trilogy off, with London being overrun by the Great Plague and an army of vampires. Empire of the Undead (released in 2010) and Swarm of the Undead (due out in 2011) sweep you across the seven seas (well, one or two of them anyway). You'll go to Mexico to meet the Vampiri, bloodthirsty mercenaries, gold hungry pirates, lots of vampires, and then head to Italy to confront a wild band of vampire killers that don't think anything of killing innocent people to get their way. There are tidal waves, mammoth sea battles, duels to the death in collapsing tombs and attacks of cities full of the undead.

I hope you find all this undead material suitably horrifying – and I hope it gives you a few nightmares and thrills along the way.

Plague of The Undead is now available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, so you can enjoy the vampire yarn without having the venture out into the sunlight.

EMPIRE OF THE UNDEAD UPDATE AND SWARM OF THE UNDEAD UPDATE (posted 13 August 2010)

Empire of the Undead is out now. Get a sneak preview of some of the new characters - I've just updated this list.

A few people have asked me if the Spanish really did commit the sort of atrocities I've described in Empire of the Undead. Well, sadly, yes they did. In fact, the tortures I've got Romero and his sidekicks committing are based on actual events and woodcuts from the Spanish conquest of the New World. Burning people slowly over an open fire was a popular past-time.

The violence in Empire of the Undead has been ramped up a bit from Plague of the Undead. The vampires still slaughter entire communities and to add more blood to the pot I've introduced an ancient race of Vampiri that feed on humans and vampires alike. There is also a band of Spanish mercenaries who torture their way across Mexico in search of the fabled city of El Dorado. Like Plague of the Underad, Empire of the Undead has its fair share of real-life historic characters and events that actually happened (just to add a bit of culture - and realism - to all the undead goings on).

Empire of the Undead shifts from straight horror to the kind of epic supernatural adventures that readers of Conan the Barbarian would be familar with. The golden temple is an obvious link, as is the sprawling battle on top, around and inside the temple (I've tried to outdo the climax of Plague of the Undead). I must admit that I really enjoyed Robert E Howard's Conan books when I was a teenager - and again when I re-read them in my thirties. Empire of the Undead is a bit of a homage to these great yarns.

Swarm of the Undead is a bit like Pirates of the Carribean with fangs. Most of the tale is set on the high seas, with Lucius and his followers chasing Baldwin's vampire fleet across the Atlantic. There are a couple of massive sea battles, attacks on coastal towns and a near mutiny thrown in for good measure. Swarm also goes back to the events leading up to the slaughter of Lucius's family and his early adventures (which, hopefully, will flesh his character out more).

I've joined the Book Council's Writers in Schools programme (where authors visit New Zealand primary and secondary schools to talk about their books, take creative workshops and discuss writing in general). So if you would like me to visit your school, please click here for more information.

Buy the books from these booksellers - and ask them for a copy of Empire of the Undead - it's out now!