Friday Freebits with Diane Scott Lewis #frifreebits #halloween

Throwing in Vampires with Napoleon on the remote island of St. Helena, by Diane Scott Lewis

Years ago I spent untold hours researching a remote island and the history that happened there during a famous man’s exile. Napoleon’s last six years of life (1815-1821) fascinated me, as well as the strange flora and fauna of his final island, St. Helena.

Back in the days of no internet, I pored over rare books at the Library of Congress for my research. I published a book, with an alternate twist to the story with a publisher I won’t name. They put the book up for sale at an expensive price (the book was quite large) and my precious novel sold little. The publisher refuses to give me back my rights, even though neither of us is making money from it.

So, I decided to use all that wonderful research with a new story. I added even more research on the island, a place I wish I could visit, but it’s thousands of miles from civilization—especially in those days of sailing ships for transportation.

On a whim I put vampires (which were so popular at the time, and I hope will be again) on this island near the bottom of the world. I tried to make my vampires as real (even if many don’t believe in them) as possible, did more research, read some terrible vampire books, and produced my adventure with romantic elements: A Savage Exile.

Here’s the blurb: Isabelle, a young French maid, follows her notorious mistress to the island of St. Helena after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. She discovers quickly that a “beast” roams this remote island, and people are vanishing or found drained of blood. She falls in love with Saint-Denis, Napoleon’s valet, but this enigmatic young man hides a deadly secret. Hudson Lowe, the island’s governor—a vampire himself—plans to destroy the French. Isabelle rushes with her lover to stop the vicious outcome, and save her own life.

It took two and a half months for Napoleon’s entourage to reach St. Helena, a volcanic fist spewed from the edge of the ocean, and his followers fell in despair at where they were forced to live. Imagine the complication of creatures that creep and fly through the night in search of prey.

There’s humor, drama, murder, sex, and of course, vampires. Some are loving and sexy, others are vicious and driven, haunted by their curse and thirst for blood.  A spooky story for a Halloween night 

Click here to purchase A Savage Exile

http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Exile-Vampires-Napoleon-Helena-ebook/dp/B00O2U96FE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414438663&sr=1-1&keywords=diane+scott+lewis

For more on my historical novels, check out my website:

http://www.dianescottlewis.org