Blogtour: Thrall by Ravon Silvius

Please welcome Ravon Silvius with 

Thrall

Legend Of The Fallen Empire #1

Inspiration for a vampire story can come from odd places...

While I am much more comfortable writing prose, specifically M/M fiction like my upcoming release, Thrall, I do like to read poetry. And sometimes, poetry I read can make me think even more deeply about my writing and characters.

There’s a line in the first part of The Wasteland by T.S Eliot that goes

“April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers.”

There are a million different interpretations, of course, but one interpretation that comes to mind is that there is a paradoxical coziness in hardship. Winter is supposed to be the hard season, but the poem suggests that in truth, it’s the easier one, where hardship breeds simplicity, and thus ease. The lines from the poem reflect a bit on why I enjoy vampire stories, and stories with lots of conflict, like Thrall. A lot of people, myself included, have a fascination with reading about conflict, even if they may not enjoy it themselves. People who enjoy that metaphorical winter enjoy hiding themselves from it and reveling in that simplicity, relishing the warmth they find despite the harshness. Similarly, people enjoy horror and macabre, relishing in gothic stories because they are safe in that fantasy—because it is, after all, a fantasy. 

I think that is what draws me to vampire stories. A good vampire book is like snuggling in a warm blanket while crickets chirp on a crisp autumn evening. There’s horror and blood and violence, but also safety, especially in vampire romance—because the powerful vampire won’t hurt the one he loves, after all. It’s a trope, but it’s a trope because people enjoy it. Vampires are the warm blankets of horror and gothic literature. I’m fascinated by their stories and how they skirt death and violence, and comforted by the familiarity and humanness they still have. 

Kaiden, the main character of Thrall, also comes to mind when I think of the lines from that poem. As a thrall, he is supposed to be mindless and violent. His time as a thrall is his winter—harsh and horrible, but also offering safety in that mindlessness. It is only when Johann reminds him of what he was, and tells him what he could be, that his life becomes complicated and he has to work hard to overcome bloodlust and make something of himself. That is his April— “the cruelest month.”

I hope people who read Thrall will enjoy it, and that it will make them think a bit about Kaiden and his goal of self-actualization. To see if he succeeds, you can check out the book below!

Blurb:

The old Empire has fallen, and humanity is losing the war against powerful vampires. Kaiden, once the pathetic town drunk, is now a thrall, a mindless servant driven only by bloodlust and his master’s orders.

But when his master orders Kaiden to kill a vampire hunter, Kaiden disobeys.

Hunter Johann has spent years studying old lore and killing thralls, but he’s never seen one like Kaiden, intelligent and capable of free will. If he can convince Kaiden to help him, he might reclaim something thought lost forever: a chance for humankind. But he isn’t sure if Kaiden can be trusted, much less become a tool to kill the vampire who created him.

Kaiden doesn’t know who he is or what he truly wants beyond blood. Most of his memories are shadows, and nothing will bring back the life he lost.

Not a vampire, not a mindless thrall, capable of using the old magics, Kaiden is something completely different.

And being different means being alone.

Get the book:

About the author:


Ravon Silvius writes sci and fantasy M/M. I enjoy coming up with big ideas for novels, and hope to have many more in the future. Unfortunately, I am not actually a cat. A huge fan of anime, video games, and science fiction and fantasy, I appreciate a good story that is well-distanced from our current reality, whether it be in the far future, the distant past, or on a completely different world altogether. My work will always have a paranormal or fantastical element to it. In my spare time, I do research at a large university, but at the end of the day I love coming home to the worlds in my imagination

Find out more on Ravon's blog.

Promotional post. Materials provided by the author.