Author Derek Gunn announces that Descent into Chaos, the follow up novel to A World Torn Asunder (part of his Vampire Apocalypse series) is now available to preorder from Black Death Books. It will be released this autumn. Sample chapters are also available on his website.
Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder, published in September 2006, was Gunn’s debut novel. It was optioned for film by producer/screenwriter Richard Finney, who co-wrote a script with Franklin Guerrero, Jr. The project is currently being shopped by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Finney says he was attracted to Gunn’s twist on the rather played-out vampire genre. “It seems like we’ve [already] seen everything, but this novel puts forth a [new] take on the universe. The original concept will allow us as filmmakers to explore new terrain in the subgenre. Gunn’s story also takes the sexy posturing out of vampires and turns them back to what they are: bloodsucking animals that feed on humans.”
Gunn says “the stories are set in the near future in a world grown insular after a brief war has left the world depleted of resources. Fuel is rationed, States close their borders, communities die, and technology stagnates. As the world struggles to cope with these problems, the vampires come from the shadows and quietly begin to take over community after community. They offer power to those who will join them, and death to those who don’t. It doesn’t take long and, after a brutal but brief war, they take control. They use a serum and Thralls to control the population, wall the cities off, and breed humans as stock. The Thralls are humans who have been bitten but have not fully become vampires. They have enhanced speed and strength and guard the vampires during the day when they could be vulnerable.”