IVFAF- And So it Begins...

Made it! I fell asleep in the train down from Cluj and ended up 3 hours further south than planned, but arrived eventually. My cold is worse but the pleasant company in breath-taking scenery is better than paracetamol!

Team IVFAF on an early tour of the city

My new writer's cottage :)

Sighisoara Cemetary- Ok by day, but come night-time...

The bells toll at the Clock Tower

Jacob (the 'Tech Guy') puts up one of many posters advertising the World Premiere of Aaron's Blood

Today will be the Meet n Greet, Film shows, Vampire Film Quiz and a midnight torch-lit tour of the city.

My turn to speak tomorrow! 

Now I'm off to buy some souvenirs...

Which to choose?

International Vampire Film & Arts Festival (IVFAF), 

Day 1 (On the Way)

I caught a stinking cold and I've been travelling since 4am. Now waiting in Munich for the flight to Cluj leaving in 30 min and then tonight I'll get a train to Sighisoara. 
Feeling excited. No vampires on the flight with me...but I guess it's still daylight and they'll be travelling there by other means... ;)

What is Blood Omen Book 1 All About?

Dea is in many respects a typical teenager we can all relate to- she falls in love, fights, questions, complains, she’s messy, artistic, fun-loving and a risk-taker. But her strength is in her unwillingness to give up. You won’t find Dea sitting in a window for months because her boyfriend has left her- you’ll find her picking herself up, brushing herself off and finding a way to keep going. And once you enter her life- you’ll feel every step of her pain, love and curiosity right along with her.

The book opens with the death of Dea’s mum- both in her dream imaginings, at the hands of a vampire, and in reality, from cancer, leaving Dea an orphan in the care of her Goth best friend Ana and her family.

Through the dream scenario and the events and dialogues after, we learn that Dea has the power to see the vampires living among us. But she chooses not to engage them, regardless of how much Ana begs her to hook her up with an immortal hottie.

The story moves fast towards Dea’s collision with the vampire world she’s been avoiding since childhood. Put in simple terms, the bad guys come to collect and the good guys save her with seconds to spare. There’s an exciting car chase, a few deaths, and then Dea finds herself safe in the vampire’s woodland cottage, protected from the outside world as long as they can keep her there. She’s not a prisoner, but it’s in their best interests to keep her there.

Who are they?

I decided to mix nationalities and personalities in this key group of vampire friends working to save the girl- and the world- from destruction. The Spanish vampire, Santi, is my personal favourite- cheeky, cute, strong, but with his own dark secrets. Next is the leader of the Coven, Elias, whose father runs the Vampire Council, secretive and serious Elias is a typical English aristocrat. We have David, seemingly loyal to the cause but with shady connections to the dark side, Lucas- an American who seems to hate Dea until we find out it's not so simple a relationship, Charlotte, the only ‘Made’ vampire among them, and Takeshi- a martial arts master there to get them ready for the war.

I develop and delve into all the characters throughout the book- revealing details by interweaving them through the main body of the story. I love cliffhangers and I love posing questions which the reader then has to continue the series to answer- and all questions are answered- I’m particular about that.

There a lot of discovery in the first book- laying the foundations for the characters and the world they live in, something of the supernatural but grounded in everyday modern reality.

The vampire world is divided into those who are happy to keep under the radar of human awareness- like the ones helping Dea out, and those who want to step up as the dominant and more powerful species. For they are a totally separate species. 

To help them tip the balance in their favour, the most extreme of them- a sect called the Apophi- plan to fulfil an ancient prophecy that requires a blood sacrifice to raise the Egyptian god of Darkness, Apophis. It won’t be the first time he’s walked the earth on the side of the vampires, but with the powers he can give them, if you’re human, you certainly wouldn’t want him coming back.

But this is the bigger side, and in the first book it’s all ahead for Dea. That’s not to say the first book plods along quietly and calmly- we get our fair share of car and bike chases, shootings, beatings, near-misses and a drop or two of teenage passion, all intermixed with the way Dea deals with it, learns from it and develops as a stronger person.

Interview With The Vampire (Festival Organiser)

Craig Hooper and Peter Phillips, IVFAF organisers, in Sighisoara

On Wednesday May 25th I'll be heading off to Transylvania to spend four fabulously vampiric days in the birth town of Vlad Tepes (Dracula).The event? The first International Vampire Film & Arts Festival (IVFAF). 

An ambitious project, the programme has been toned down a bit since it was first advertised- the workshops and studio tours were cut in favour of an academic symposium run by the University of South Wales (featuring academics from around the globe presenting their research into vampire films and the folk history behind them) and a theatre and film focus. Some of the highlights include a masked-vampire ball, the World Premiere of Aaron's Blood, which James Martinez will be attending, and a keynote speech from Dacre Stoker,  the Canadian-American author and filmmaker and great-grand nephew of Bram Stoker, the author of the 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. 

Cuts and changes are inevitable- it's not been done before and for Craig Hooper and Peter Phillips, the brains behind it all, it's a learning process, as it is for the Romanian town, Sighisoara, which is hosting the event. Yet they are confident that the IVFAF will get better -and bigger- by the year!

The idea for a vampire festival first struck Craig Hooper, a documentary filmmaker, on a family holiday to Transylvania.

"We drove up to Transylvania and the medieval Sighisoara citadel, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” Craig said. "It’s everything you'd imagine Transylvania to be. It’s amazing but slightly spooky."

He realised Sighisoara's potential as a festival venue immediately, but having no experience in organising such an event, he turned to Peter Phillips, the man behind the Porthcawl ElvisFestival, for help.

Wanting to find out more, I got in touch with Peter Phillips this weekend to ask him how the IVFAF came about and his expectations for it. 

Peter Phillips, Co-Organiser of the IVFAF

Tell us a little about your background.

I used to own a group of companies that included corporate finance/venture capital/ marketing/ PR. I sold out in 2000 and started writing, later publishing two history books which led to writing, producing and presenting documentaries for the BBC and RTE and a number of theatre productions. The Porthcawl Elvis Festival was a throwaway idea that led to a comedy festival in Ireland and now a portfolio of events in Wales, Ireland, Spain and now Romania.

What was your reaction when Craig came to you with the initial idea of IVFAF?

It was one of those weird coincidences. One of my festival team had moved to Italy and I was out there around this time last year looking to see if we could come up with an idea of a Festival in Tuscany where he lived. We were having lunch in Volterra, which of course has a big vampire connection through Twilight. I couldn't believe there was no festival anywhere in the world that straddled the vampire genre in film and arts. The following week I was back in Wales and meeting Craig, who I've known for years, about a TV documentary we were looking at co-producing. He'd just come back from a family holiday in Transylvania and had also realised that there was no vampire festival in the market. He felt Sighisoara was the best location and after going out there myself to have a look, I had to agree. We quickly agreed to co-produce what became the IVFAF.  

What did you have to do to make it happen?

You just make it happen and the only way you do that is not be reliant on any third party. Do that and your event will invariably stay as an idea.  

How does organising a vampire fest in Romania compare with getting the Porthcawl Elvis Festival going?

The Porthcawl Elvis Festival 

In some ways it’s very similar. We’ll get some of it right at the start and some of it wrong. I can look back at the first year of all our successful festivals and think ‘what were we thinking doing X and why didn’t we have Y idea until Year 3?!

What were some of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge is getting to know a new location and finding the best people there to work with. This is obviously more challenging when doing an event in a foreign country with language barriers. But the only way to do that is to put on a first event and take it from there.

In what way ways were the Romanian tourism agencies/ Romanian Embassy involved?

We never had any involvement with the Romanian Embassy but the tourist agency in London introduced us to the regional office in Brasov who were key in effecting introduction in Sighisoara.

Peter with Anca from IVFAF Media Partners Radio SON and Ioana from the Sighisoara Mayor's office

Why Sighisoara and not Volterra (or near to)?

In fairness to Twilight, the books and films play a much smaller role in the history of the vampire genre compared to Transylvania – a region that has been synonymous with vampires in books and films for over hundred years. Plus, in practical terms, Tuscany is a very expensive place to visit and therefore staging a festival there would exclude lots of people wanting to attend on a tight budget.

Transylvania has been synonymous with vampires in books and films for over 100 years

Sighisoara City Hall unexpectedly withdrew funding earlier this year, meaning that the literary workshops and gaming sides had to be taken out of the festival programme. Why do you think they changed their minds and does it affect your plans to hold future IVFAFs there?

We've found that public funding for events has been significantly cut this year in every country we work in. I’m confident that Sighisoara will prove perfect for IVFAF

What are your expectations for this and future IVFAFs?

I think IVFAF has huge potential and the only place to start is Year One. 

Last question. Why vampires? :)

It’s an amazing genre that has been consistently popular across all film and art.

Thank you, Peter, and I'll see you there!

Jacob (the 'Tech Guy') and Peter, in Sighisoara

All will be revealed this week at the world's first vampire festival, in Transylvania. This author can't wait!

Georgian Book Cover Competition Winner Revealed

With Blood Omen 3: Fulfilment being translated into Georgian ready for a Halloween 2016 release, I got my fans on board to design the cover for it. I got around 50 entries. I knew my top choice as soon as I saw it- Natalia Nozadze's Dea & Snake, so well symbolizing the sentiment of the 3rd book: her facing her fears (she has a phobia of snakes), of Apophis (symbolized by the snake) trapping and squeezing the life out of her and of her strength as she deals with it- no panic, just calm logic; a strong character who tries to think her way out rather than scream and cry.

The runner-up cover, chosen by a fan vote, showed Dea and Ana in a face-off, well designed and also showing that the designer had an idea about the story and characters. However, good as it was, the Dea-Ana fight is not central to Book 3 (though it does feature and will continue into Book 4).

I went to Natalia's school yesterday to give her her prizes- a T-shirt, poster, pen and sticker, all with the Blood Omen logo, plus some other cool vampire goodies. Nina Kvibliani, the runner-up, also got a bag of vampire treats to say thank you for joining in.

It meant a lot to get so much interest from young designers, and to see so many people come out on vote day to choose their favourite! 

The winning design

The Fan Favourite 

Me and Natalia in her new T-shirt 

Now you may have noticed that Natalia's cover is hand-drawn and doesn't quite fit the style of the previous two Georgian version Books 1&2. What I was looking for in the competition was not a completed cover (though quite a few entrants gave it a try!) but the symbol, or image, to use to sum up the idea of the 3rd part. Natalia found that image but I decided to turn to the designer of my second favourite cover (below) to work some computer magic on Natalia's sketch to bring it in line with the first two of the Georgian collection. As co-designer, Beqa Giorgadze will also have his name on the cover beside Natalia's. I can't wait to see the results of his work...

Beqa Giogadze's first entry- showing Stuart and Santi in a face-off, it was my first choice until Natalia's Dea&Snake came along

Fan Quotes

Fan Art

My fans are great- especially their love for my characters and their enthusiasm for my storyline. Some change their profile names on facebook to Blood Omen character names, some write me messages asking questions or just saying, "I love you and your book!"

Each and every fan is a special and amazing person and it's an honour to say I have such special people in my life.

At the end of May there's a Book Festival being held in Tbilisi. As part of it there's a carnival for teenagers- and there'll be quite a few of my Apophi there as I understand! 

Here is some of the art work various fans have sent me over the years to show how much they let Blood Omen Draw Them In...

TVD Quotes I Like

I said in an earlier post that The Vampire Diaries (TVD) was the first teen vampire book series I read and which had a real impact on my ideas for the kinds of vampires I liked and didn't like. 

Damon was my favourite and when I present Blood Omen in Georgia and say to my fans: "I like Damon more than Stefan," 99% of my fans here think I mean the TV Damon. But I mean the Book Damon. At the start of the series he was much darker, much more powerful and much more consistent in his 'evilness' than the TV version. Don't get me wrong- TV Damon is also to die for, but for me Book Damon was the birth of what would later become my Stuart. 

Stuart has the same coldness, desire to play games, single-mindedness. But he is more complex still than Damon (Book and TV) because he has a whole heritage behind him, a cult of which he is a key player, and a destiny beyond simple relationships and the love of a girl. With Stuart, one minute you love him, want to invite him in and tilt back your head, the next you want to grab a stake and hit him where it hurts.

But I digress. I wanted to tell you about my favourite part of the Vampire Diaries books- it comes in The Fury. Elena has just died in a car crash and awakens as a vampire. The Salvatore brothers are fighting in the woods and she is drawn to protect the one who Turned her. We all think it's Stefan but things don't turn out the way we expect. 

The Books seem simpler than the TV version, but they are still capable of generating great excitement and emotion even years later. That must be true, because I still feel it so many years since I last read them! 

My wish: that the Blood Omen books will eventually leave the same legacy of emotion with my fans.

“Humanity is a vampire's greatest weakness.”

― Katherine Pierce

“Smiling doesn't always mean you're happy. Sometimes it simply means that you're a strong person.”

― L.J. Smith

“The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them.”

― L.J. Smith

“But before she could grasp it, he did something extraordinary. He caught her reaching hand, not roughly but gently, and held it in his cool slender fingers. Then he turned her hand over, bent his dark head, and kissed her palm.” (Elena and Damon, The Awakening, p. 178)

“I can waken things inside you that have been sleeping all your life. You’re strong enough to live in the dark, to glory in it. You can become a queen of the shadows. Why not take that Power, Elena? Let me help you take it.” (Damon, The Struggle, p.261)

"And who am I? Do you know who I am?" She smiled up at him, showing him her pointed teeth. "Of course I do. You’re Damon, and I love you." (Damon and Elena, The Fury, p. 10)

Gothic Eternity by Morbidia Morthel