The year is 1877. The reclusive vampire Lourdes has gone West to escape the temptation of the growing American nation; however, what he presumed was a pure land of only sky and sand turns out to be filled with vice and worse - more of his preternatural kind. And when Lourdes shoots dead a vampire preying on the closest thing to innocence in the Old West, a brothel worker named Katterina, he ends up igniting a war that puts himself, Katterina, and the whole of her little town in the crosshairs of a gang of vampire outlaws. To save the girl, Lourdes must do battle with otherworldly bandits, a corrupt priest, a cowardly sheriff, and the relentless desert sun.
And, even if Lourdes can overcome these obstacles, he will have to protect Katterina from his own vampiric hunger. Lourdes's story threads a central narrative rich with gunfights and fangs together with interludes into the inner workings and underbellies of the denizens the vampire cowboy encounters on his journey. It paints a portrait of a lawless world which no longer exists, one in which the difference between good, bad, law, and outlaw is often no bigger than a grain of sand.
"With Lourdes, Peter Tatara has delivered a well-crafted genre mash up and an unforgettable main character. Fans of Stephen King's Dark Tower cycle are sure to love this novel." - Robert Place Napton (Dark Wraith of Shannara, Son of Merlin, Battlestar Galactica Origins: Adama)
"Tatara is to be commended for his remarkable ambition, talent, and skill, and I am quite positive this won't be the last we'll be hearing from this vibrant new author." - Joshua Ortega (The Other Dead, Gears of War)
"Anyone new to the Vampire Western genre should most certainly allow Lourdes's odyssey to be their very first bite." - Matt Hawkins (FORT90, Attract Mode)
Cover Design by Eric Maruscak - PepperInk.com
Cover Photo by Olivier Le Queinec - Shutterstock.com
When the most destructive earthquake in America's history happens just south of St. Louis, seventeen-year-old Fallon Connelly is already on shaky ground. Her mom's alcoholism caused her parents to split and now her dad is constantly on the road, trying to make enough money to pay child support. It's all for nothing anyway, since his money just ends up in her mom's liver. At the same time, Fallon's best friend Cal Dorsey starts to act on his feelings for her and she wishes like hell he'd leave their relationship alone.
So when the fault line beneath their feet tears apart, without knowing the fate of her mom and barely escaping the inferno in her high school, she and Cal form a small group and set out on foot across a city in ruins. Fallon and Cal witness the backward-running Mississippi river, encounter city-wide panic that escalates into rioting, and examine what they really mean to each other. In the end, it'll take luck and a will to survive in order to make it home. Whatever home means.