The Vampyricon consists of three full-length
novels: The Priest of Blood, The Lady of Serpents, and The Queen of
Wolves.
It is the tale of Aleric, the Falconer, who -- in the
Middle Ages -- is conscripted into the Crusades, but abandons war to seek his
own destruction -- but instead finds new life within the bloody embrace of
Pythia, the Lady of Serpents.
From Douglas Clegg, award-winning author of
Afterlife and The Hour Before
Dark, comes his first-ever fantasy novel, dealing with the dark edge
of a fantastic medieval world. The Priest of Blood
is the first novel of The Vampyricon, a saga of sword and sorcery -- and
vampyres.
After rescuing Pythia, the creature who turned him into a vampire,
Aleric follows her back to the land of the Saracens. There, they must
raise an army, for Aleric's lost love, Enora, has become the Queen of the
Wastelands.
Aided by her minions and her legions of wolves, she has begun the quest
to call the Dark Madonna from beyond the Veil into the world of man.
To stop the end of all, Aleric must become what he was destined to
be-the Messiah of the Damned-and lead the undead in a final battle against
the Mother of Darkness.
A titanic battle that pits vampyre against vampyre in a war that will
determine for eternity whether the undead will coexist with the living caps
the conclusion to Clegg's majestic Vampyricon trilogy (after The Priest of
Bloodand The Queen of Serpents). Aleric, the foreordained Priest of
Blood, recounts his escape from the gladiatorial penal colony Aztlanteum with
his lover, Pythia, and their efforts to find a haven where they can safely
indulge their vampyre needs. Fate draws Aleric inexorably to Myrryd, the
former home of Medhya, Queen of Serpents, who was banished beyond the Veil for
her overreaching ambitions but who schemes to sneak back and enslave the world
under vampyre dominion. Empowered by Merod, the Great Serpent who spawned the
vampyre civilization, Aleric raises an army of vamps and mortals for a
cataclysmic clash described with the vivid color and intense imagination that
have been the saga's hallmarks. Clegg crafts a fitting finale ornamented with
prose that modulates between the sensual and regal and that distinguishes his
series as one of the more memorable modern vampire epics. (Sept.)
"Astonishing. Douglas Clegg writes of...nightmares with such clarity
and passion you don't end up reading his books; you end up drinking them
in. The Priest of Blood is a bloody gem."
::Christopher Rice New York Times bestselling author of A Density of Souls and
Light Before Day.
"Clegg's Vampyricon offers a bold epic of a shadowy medieval world and a
dark tale of swords, sorcery and vampires in The Priest of Blood."
::Christine Feehan
NY Times bestselling author of Oceans of Fire and Dark Secret.
"A master of the genre. Absolutely thrilling! Douglas Clegg is the future
of dark fantasy."
::Sherrilyn Kenyon
NY Times bestselling author of the Dark-Hunters.
"The Priest of Blood is a richly layered, beautifully rendered foray into a
past filled with sorcery and mystery -- and a rousing good story."
::Kelley Armstrong
Bestselling author of Haunted.
"The Priest of Blood is a dark, sensual epic of alternate history, grand
mythology, and the supernatural. This is Clegg writing at his best. An
absorbing read, an astounding accomplishment."
::M.J. Rose
Author of The Halo Effect.
"For decades, vampire novelists have been attempting to find the perfect
blend of Fantasy and Horror. With The Vampyricon, Douglas Clegg has reached
that summit. A work of dark, delightful vision."
::Christopher Golden
Author of Wildwood Road and Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels.
