Right now, I am working on editing a manuscript. I first wrote it three years ago, and together with Thorn Heart it was the other manuscript that was stolen by a fake publisher – yes, there were two he got his hands on, but luckily I got them both back.

Thorn Heart is already released, and this new book, Seraphin, will be out soon as well.

An Uncommon Character

Seraphin is an important character who makes many appearances in Aurelie, Survival; Aurelie, on the Road; Aurelie, Gates of Immortality; and also in Lucan, Book II. He is a complicated character with many flaws but he hardly feels encumbered by them. On the contrary, he is quite confident ;-). He has a temper and he is impatient, and he is known to be a notorious philanderer, but he is 100% loyal to those he loves.

Writing his story was a little different, because he is simply unlike any character I have written before. While all my characters certainly have flaws (how could they not?), Seraphin has a few more imperfections than the rest, but I hope that his charms will persuade the reader to still root for him 🙂

Two Points of View

The other difference is that there are two narrators, Seraphin and Fantine. This is also a first for me. Both tell the story from their perspective, adding their social backgrounds, experiences, and emotions until events finally bring these two together and Seraphin has to turn his world upside down and betray his desires in order to keep Fantine alive and safe.

Although his story is a spin off from the Aurelie series, you can read his tale as a standalone book.

What Happens in Seraphin’s Story?

In her memoirs, Aurelie tells us how she met Seraphin in the French Revolution. Seraphin’s story begins in his youth, 8 years before the revolution even started.

Part 1 covers his mortal years as a human, following his adventures in the French Revolution, his liaison with the radical Jacobins, and the terrible fates of his friends while Fantine, an aristocrat, loses everything and barely escapes with her life. Fate brings these two together. Although they come from different social classes, a bond grows between them, and Seraphin feels drawn to Fantine, wanting to help her after everything she has suffered in the revolution. Aurelie also makes some appearances.

In part 2, Seraphin meets Aurelie again who – as we already know from the Aurelie series – is the reason why he is launched into immortality. Very unexpected, though, she is not the one who gives him eternal life and due to an unfortunate feud between Aurelie and another vampire, Seraphin turns into something more than expected, not quite vampire, and not full werewolf, but something in between.

Now that he is a danger to the mortal Fantine, shunned by vampires for being a “half-breed” and trusted by only few werewolves, Seraphin makes his way in this new world of immortals, but he cannot stop events from dragging Fantine into it.

A lot happens in this book, there is still much to tell, but I am not one for giving spoilers. I still have to work on a blurb, and that is always difficult to do for an author. So, although I have just given a glimpse into the story, I am going to need some time to create the book blurb 🙂 After all, I need to entice you to read it, right? 😉

Real Events and Fiction

I love history and I always found the French Revolution fascinating. There are so many interesting characters, such as Georges Danton, Saint Juste, and the tragic Camille and Lucille Demoulins. So, I included the stories of these real life characters in Seraphin’s tale. Of course, the controversial Maximilien Robespierre also makes an appearance; and not to worry, I stayed true to historical events. Hey, I’m a high school history teacher, I got this 😉

The story spans the time period from 1785 to 1821, covering not only the French Revolution, but also Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic times. The proud Corsican leader makes no appearance, but he is obviously mentioned to get a feel for the time period. I am not going to wake too many ghosts from the past. Robespierre is more than enough 😉

What are the Next Steps?

At the moment I am revising the manuscript, adding and deleting sentences, tweaking here and there, and checking sentence structure and grammar and spelling, making sure it all fits; in other words: the dreaded editing 😉 .

Soon, I will be looking for beta readers who will help me improve the manuscript, and I have to think of an idea for the book cover. I am also considering taking pre-orders for this book. I have never done that before, but I think I am going to go for it this time. As soon as I have the book cover, Seraphin will be ready for pre-order and a publishing deadline will be set.

I’m excited to finally write about this and share it with the world. I hope you’re ready for Seraphin 🙂 He’s quite the charmer and a little too confident, but he has grown on me ❤️.