Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Slayer Chronicles First Kill


This past week I was fortunate to hear author Heather Brewer speak at a booksellers' breakfast.

Brewer is the author of the popular, young adult series The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. Her newest book is the first in a new series, The Slayer Chronicles: First Kill, which is a spin-off of her Tod series.

Vladimir Tod is part vampire, but not the confident, sparkly kind. He isn't all that excited about being a vampire. Very few people know he's a vampire and his aunt brings him expired bags of donated blood so he doesn't have to kill anything. Really, he's an almost-regular kid trying to survive junior and senior high school.

Heather Brewer, the author, shared her experience of being constantly bullied and disliked throughout her school years. Even her dreams of wanting to be an author were squelched at every turn. Coming from a very small town in Michigan where everyone worked in an auto factory or as a waitress, wanting to be an author seemed unthinkable and unreachable.

Fortunately, Brewer found a safe haven at the public library. It was the only "bully-free zone" in town. But it wasn't until later, when one person - her husband - encouraged her to follow her dreams that she finally felt able to do so. And she did, in spades!

Brewer's latest book, The Slayer Chronicles: First Kill will fill in the "gaps" in the Vladimir Tod series. While Vladimir Tod takes place during the school years, The Slayer Chronicles take place during the summers in between. It will be fun for fans of Vladimir Tod to complete the story with The Slayer Chronicles, one summer at a time.




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