Origin of the Vampire - Book Tour and Giveaway

Origin of the Vampire
The Cycle of life Book 1
by Ruth Spencer
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Print Length: 254 pages
Publisher: Mirador Publishing
Publication Date: November 25, 2018

Christophe Haram is vampire, his skin is pale, his hair black. An avid reader of conspiracy theories, he is certain the mythical human race exist. During his wild youth he darkened his skin and dyed his hair, he remains unruly to this day.

A new dayclub, Sunrise, opens in his home town, Orionsby; and it appears to be a hotbed for trafficking missing vampires. While investigating Sunrise, Christophe uncovers terrifying tales of missing vampire spanning decades.

When, the manufactured bloods vampires drink runs out, vampires become feral.

Will chaos ensue?

And when an old friend returns with a proposition, is Christophe brave enough to accept it?



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​‘Remember when we bought the self-darkening lotion, we had dark skin for nights, everyone used to stare at us and we used to try our best to look sultry and moody?’ 
‘We were sultry and moody, we didn’t need to pretend. What about the clothes we used to wear?’
‘Oh no, mate, you had that awful suit.’
‘I thought I looked the business in it. It wasn’t made from the usual leather was it? It had a similar feel but was dimpled and more delicate.’
Logan started to laugh. ‘Remember when Miss Berry our science teacher turned up to school in a similar suit. You could almost see through the material.’
‘She was a bit way out wasn’t she?’ Christophe sniggered. ‘Remember that lesson about the vampire eye when she told the whole class that vampire must have evolved from a species that could tolerate the sun because of the structure of our eyes?’
‘Oh my goodness, that’s when we wrote our first article for the school paper and you started to get into your conspiracy theories.’
‘Ahhhh, the old vampeye conspiracy,’ and they started to recite their article in parrot fashion.



The Vampeye Conspiracy
We vampire are nocturnal and our eyesight reflects that. We have large pupils containing 960 million rod cells which are sensitive to low light; they help us to see clearly in the dark. Also inside our eyes are 7 million cone cells which are of no proven benefit. Some scientists say they function in daylight. 
If cone cells don’t work in the dark why do we even have them? Perhaps we have evolved from a diurnal species!



‘Mate, I think we could do with another drink, do you want the same again?’ Logan offered.

Ruth lives in Rothley, Leicestershire, England with her space obsessed husband Simon and her black cat Violet, who just wants a warm knee. She found her love of books at a young age and remembers the smell of the old library on her monthly visits with her mum. Together they would bring home books of many different genres and Ruth quickly moved from reading teen novels to digesting adult books.

Ruth was always afraid of horror films, she remembers the time her mum bought her The Thing to watch, thinking it a nice science fiction film. Ruth was terrified and her feelings for horror films remained until her mid twenties, when, suddenly she began to appreciate horror films and began reading Urban Fantasy books. Vampire films quickly became a favourite and the idea for her debut novel slowly began to take place.

Currently Ruth is writing the sequel to Origin of the Vampire and when she isn't writing and promoting her book she loves to relax by drawing portraits. The great outdoors is a big passion and holidays in The Lake District and by the sea in Cornwall and Dorset give Ruth great inspiration. But it was walking in the woods close to home where Ruth had her eureka moment and worked out the final piece of the puzzle for her debut novel. Walking in the countryside near home remains a weekly ritual, and of course coffee and cake is essential before returning home.


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What do I do to relax?
I love the big outdoors and walking on a Sunday is my favourite thing to do. Rain or shine, my husband and I are out strolling in the countryside close to home on a Sunday; and when it rains, we put our waterproofs on and still head out. I love the feel of the rain on my face, it makes me feel alive; and the peace and tranquility of not seeing a soul is wonderful, as we are usually the only crazies out in the rain.

I am a passionate gardener.  I love to grow my on veg, which as a vegan is useful, and I experiment with something new every year.  I also love my ornamental garden.  Friends and family give me plants, and I treasure them, I name the plants after the person who gave them to me. Our garden is becoming a mass of flowers and beautiful plants and I have started to pick flowers for wildlife: especially bees.

I enjoy drawing portraits and normally have a 'creative project' on the go.  I am a bit of a fan of 'Escape to the Chateau'.  Like Angel I love old furniture and nick-nack's.  Our home is full of old pieces and I love to ponder their history.  Old mirrors scare and fascinate me.  I wonder who has looked in them before, and if some of their essence is trapped inside.



What inspired me to write?
I was late getting into the vampire genre, horror films-especially vampire films scared me half to death.  In my early twenties I was too scared to watch the Terminator and Robocop films.  I was a total wimp!

I met Simon, my husband in my mid twenties and he loved horror films; he encouraged me to watch them.  It was okay, he would protect me from all things supernatural that might escape from the TV to attack me! I started to watch vampire films, they made me feel nervous and my heart would race. Strangely, I really got to liking that feeling and watched more and more vampire films.

From a young age I have been a passionate reader and in my mind I knew I would write a book one day. And as I read books about vampires and watched just about every vampire film going, the idea for my book started to take shape in my mind.  In all the books I have read and films I have watched, vampires were always the creatures of myth and legend. I began to think, 'what if vampires are the dominant species, while humans are creatures of myth and legend?'

My vampires live a very claustrophobic life indoors and they are quite removed from where their food comes from.  This idea really came from today's children.  When I was little, it was punishment to be sent to my room, nowadays  it seems its punishment for children to be sent outside to play, they spend so much time in their rooms. I also read an article in the paper that some children couldn't identify with certain vegetables and when asked where they came from, their answer was 'the supermarket.


Are my character real or imaginary?
My characters are all imaginary, but some of their behaviours and personalities are based on my friends.  Gideon, for example is the comedian, and often up to no good.  You know when he enters the room, and he is just like one of my oldest friends.  Christophe is the sensible one, obsessed with detail and stubborn.  He is much like Simon, my husband.  Audrey-who is named after my maternal grandma-is a little like me.  She is light hearted and caring but definitely no pushover.  

There are lots of excerpts in my book from my own life.  Christophe meets Logan in school at the age of six and to start with they didn't like one another.  This is just how it was for my best friend and I.

Christophe and Audrey like to go out walking on the weekends, and love not seeing a soul.  This is Simon, my husband and I, absorbed in our own little world.

The moment that Christophe meets Audrey is an adaptation of something that happened to me.  I used to work in a restaurant in a department store, and I was always somewhat keen on men with long hair.  The girls at work knew this and one day when a particularly good looking bloke with lovely long locks came in, they all stood behind the hot plate and watched me as I served him on the till.  Twice I keyed the wrong prices in, then I couldn't spit my words out.  He was looking at me, probably wondering what was wrong with me, and when I finally opened my mouth to tell him how much his meal cost, I dribbled down my chin. Embarrassing, I know, but worth putting in my book.
 

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