Author Spotlight: Kelley Grealis, Author of The Descendant

Today we have an interview with Kelley Grealis, author of the vampire novel The Descendant. Kelley was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a B.A. in Accounting from Baldwin-Wallace College and a Masters of Business Administration from Cleveland State University. She has loved all things vampire since she was a little girl, and it was that passion, combined with thirteen years of Catholic schooling, that inspired her to write The Descendant. She lives in a Cleveland suburb with her husband and two cats. She is currently working on The Search, Book 2 in The Descendant Vampire Series.

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What role do you believe speculative fiction plays in society?

Like all books, speculative fiction provides a great escape for readers. But unlike other genres, it provides that escape through stories about creatures that go bump in the night (vampires, werewolves), characters that save the world (superheroes), re-writing history with endings that the author would prefer or that make the reader wonder 'what if'?'  It's entertainment that plays on people's fears, hopes and curiosities.

Why do you write in this genre? 

I've loved vampires since I was a little girl. When I decided to write a book, it was only natural for me to want to write about vampires.

How did you come up with the idea for The Descendant?

There was something that I had noticed in the majority of vampire books I had read or movies that I had seen - the vampire was always just "there." I never really heard how the first vampire was created, or the stories I did hear simply weren't plausible. So I knew that I was going to write a story about the origin of the vampire and I then decided to put my Catholic schooling to use, so I tied the vampire's origin to popular biblical stories.

What was your biggest challenge in writing it?

Finding the time to write! I have a day job so the amount of time I have to dedicate to writing is limited to evenings and weekends. Then when life simply happens, I have even less time to write.

What are you working on now?

The Search - the sequel to The Descendant.

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About The Descendant

No sparkling vampires, teenage romance or werewolves here. The Descendant is a different type of vampire novel. Dubbed a vampire tale of biblical proportions, the book reveals the vampire’s biblical origin through the experiences of a woman who discovers that she is a descendant of the first vampire.

Allison Carmichael is plagued by common yet undiagnosed symptoms and is desperate to find her life’s calling. A car wreck leaves her with no memory of the past three years and in a life she doesn’t recognize. Allison soon discovers that she is a mortal descendant of the first vampire and the first of her kind to exhibit signs of vampirism. She must decide between mortal death if she cannot control her symptoms or eternal damnation if transformed into a vampire. Her decision is further complicated when she learns that one vampire has manipulated every aspect of her life and another seeks vengeance for her ancestor’s actions.

Available at:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Connect with Kelley Grealis at her website, Facebook or Twitter.

2013: A New Beginning

Due to being tied up with my own projects as well as the general insanity that occurs from Thanksgiving to New Year's, SpecFicPick has been on hiatus. But, with the beginning of a new year, we are back and looking forward to delivering great new speculative fiction content!

There will be some changes going forward. From now on, we will no longer post separate Book Features and author interviews. They will now be combined as Author Spotlights. See the Submission Guidelines for more details.

I have also removed the review requirement for submissions. I know how much some authors struggle to get reviews of their work. Now, a sample reading alone will be used to determine whether or not the book will be accepted. Although I cannot vouch for the quality of each and every book featured, I hope that by reviewing the samples I can ensure that a high standard is maintained and that readers looking for books via SpecFicPick will not be disappointed.

One final note: when, in the future, we are closed to submissions, please do not send them in anyway. From now on, submissions received when we are closed will be deleted unread. That being said, submissions for reviews and articles are now open. Submissions for Author Spotlights will reopen on January 5, 2013. Once again, see the guidelines here.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

Holiday Hiatus

Hello, all! SpecFicPick is going on temporary hiatus for the holidays. There are some book requests outstanding, so if you've sent one in and haven't heard back you'll be getting a reply when we go live again in January. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Best,

Michael K. Rose

Book Feature: Datafall by Rich Larson

In Datafall: Collected Speculative Fiction, seven shorts by Rich Larson range from far-flung space opera to near-future noir, sinister steampunk to mind-bending time travel, and darkly humorous to subtly thought-provoking.

"The Garden" pits a weary technician against a starship AI with delusions of divinity while the fate of a colony planet hangs in the balance. In "Every So Often," Victor has been living in the past for a long time—his job is to murder anyone who might try to alter it. In "Memory Cathedrals," a star footballer whose career has been cut short by injury decides to sell his memories...but that's not all he's doing with them. "Loopholes" takes us to the 22nd century, where a wealthy murderer has found a new way to dodge the law. But Klaus Barbier, part-time reamer addict and full-time homicide detective, has never been above bending the rules himself. In "Back So Soon," a bored businesswoman is determined to add someone interesting to her life—and she seems to have hit the jackpot when a shell-shocked colonist returns to Seattle, Washington, Earth. "Factory Man" visits the steampunk city of Colgrid, where a young soldier returns home to find that corpses are no longer wasted on caskets. In "Datafall," the titular tale, Solomon and his father take their technology out of hiding and await the Cloud.

Datafall: Collected Speculative Fiction contains over 10,000 words of hard-hitting sci-fi by an up-and-coming young author and contains six original cover illustrations by artist Christopher Ruz.

Available at:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Rich Larson was born in West Africa, has studied in Rhode Island, and currently lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where he recently received the 2012 James Patrick Folinsbee Prize for Creative Writing. His novel Devolution was a finalist for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, while his shorter work appears in AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review, Word Riot, Monkeybicycle, >kill author, Prick of the Spindle, The Molotov Cocktail, Underwater New York, YARN, and many others. You can connect with Rich at his website or via Facebook.

Book Feature: The Wrong Sword by Ted Mendelssohn

For a thousand years, Excalibur has been the sword of heroes. Unfortunately, its new owner isn't one.

Henry of Sanbruc, medieval smartass, makes a pretty good living selling "magic" swords to gullible knights. When he's forced to steal the real thing from the Chapel Perilous, his troubles are only beginning. For Excalibur is not just the sword of heroes...it’s also the sword that won’t SHUT UP. It communicates with its owner, it knows what kind of owner it deserves, and Henry doesn't even come close.

To keep Excalibur and the world safe from the appalling Geoffrey Plantagenet, Henry will have to masquerade as a knight, crash a royal wedding, rescue a princess, break a siege, penetrate the secrets of the Perilous Brotherhood, and find Excalibur’s rightful bearer, all while trying to reach an accommodation with a snotty, aristocratic hunk of steel that mocks him, takes over his body, and keeps trying to turn him into the one thing he hates most...a hero.

Available at:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Please visit the author's website for more information.

After studying history at Columbia, fantasy at the USC School of Cinema-Television, and juvenile behavior in film industry, Ted Mendelssohn (or the man who calls himself Ted Mendelssohn) was ideally suited to write The Wrong Sword. He is a resident of New York and not cynical at all.

You can connect with Ted at Facebook or Twitter.

Book Feature: The Story in the Stars by Yvonne Anderson

Though heirs to an ancient, cosmic feud, he must save her life—and she must save his soul.

Ancient Gannah was well on the way to taking over the whole galaxy, until the people of Karkar engineered a virus that stopped them in their tracks. Now, eight centuries later, the plague has struck again. When the League of Planets receives the distress signal, Karkar-born doctor Pik is ordered to find a cure, despite his hatred of the whole Gannahan race. By the time he arrives on Gannah, it’s almost too late; Dassa is the only survivor. And she has a mission of her own.

Dassa and Pik survive a pirate attack, unsafe starcraft, food poisoning, vicious beasts, and a plane crash. But the hardest part is enduring one another’s company. The Creator who wrote the story of redemption in the stars has commanded her to share it with her reluctant savior. That’s not all He expects of her, but the rest is unthinkable.

" If you love fantasy, sci fi, adventure, romance or all of the above, don't hesitate to buy this book. It's the best I've read in a long, long time." - Amazon Review

Available at:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Formerly a legal secretary, Yvonne works part time as a Virtual Assistant but spends most of her time on the planet Gannah researching her books. She serves as contest administrator for Novel Rocket, named four times to Writer’s Digest list of the 101 Best Websites for Writers. She also shares a few wise words on her personal site at www.YsWords.com. You can connect with Yvonne at Facebook and Twitter.

Book Feature: Contract of Defiance by Tammy Salyer

In a few hundred years, the Algol system becomes humanity’s new home. The question is: is it a better one? When a crew of arms smugglers botches their latest job, Corp-deserter and crewmember Aly Erikson is separated from her brother—the only person in the system she trusts—and left behind to fight for her life. In the aftermath, as she tries to piece together what happened, a crew of desperate settlers pressgang her into a dangerous mission in the heart of Corp territory. With her enemies closing in, time is running out to get back everything she’s lost: her crew, her brother, her options. But no one is taking her gun.

Winner of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold contest for best action/thriller in 2010, and Finalist in the Kindle Book Review Best Indie Books of 2012 contest for science fiction.

“Meet the toughest gal in the galaxy and arm yourself for a riveting quest on the galactic fringe in Contract of Defiance by Tammy Salyer; an Amazon average rating of 4.8 stars.” - The Motley Chronicles

Available at:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Tammy Salyer won her first writing contest in the second grade and has been word-nerding ever since. As an ex-paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, her writing is often as gritty as a grunt’s pile of three-week-old field gear. Contract of Defiance is a hit with scifi fans worldwide, and its followup, Contract of Betrayal, will be out in Spring 2013. Several of Tammy’s short stories also appear in horror and literary magazines. When not hunched like a Morlock over her writing desk, she works in behavioral-science research and runs and bikes the foothills of Colorado.

You can connect with Tammy at her website or Twitter.