Blud series

## Genre Information

Steampunk
Paranormal Romance

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Steampunk, Paranormal Romance
* **Theme:**
* **Narrative style**:

## Series Description

In a blog interview, Dawson talks about the underlying themes of her series: "The steampunk fantasy world in which my BLUD series takes place was built to be the perfect backdrop for magic, adventure, and sexy romance, and yet the books have deeper, darker themes that explore my own fears and past wounds. One heroine is escaping from rape and parental abandonment, another is nursing her dying grandmother and has just left an abusive relationship to find herself. Demi, the heroine of Wicked After Midnight, was a depressed art history major in our world who went into a coma from alcohol poisoning, woke up in a parallel universe, and was nearly killed by a warren of vampire rabbits."

Half the inhabitants of Sang are Pinkies—human—and the other half are Bludmen, who in Tish’s world would be called vampires. But they don’t mess with any of the bat/coffin/no sunlight nonsense. They’re rather like you and me, just more fabulous, long living, and mostly indestructible. (They're also very good kissers.) But when the evil Mayor of Manchester (formerly Bludchester) redoubles his efforts to rid Sang of the Bludmen once and for all, stealing Tish’s locket in hopes of traveling back to her world himself for reinforcements, Criminy and Tish must battle ghosts, sea monsters, wayward submarines, a secret cabal, and thundering Bludmares to get the locket back and allow Tish to return home…but has she found love with Criminy? Could she stay in Sang forever?

BOOK ONE: As the story opens, Letitia (Tish) Paisley Everett is making her rounds as a home-visiting nurse. Tish has just removed herself from a bad relationship with a man who tried to control her life, and she's not anxious to get involved with anyone new. One day, she makes a stop at an estate sale held in the home of one of her former patients and finds a gold and ruby locket hidden away in an old book up in the attic. When she examines the locket later, she finds a picture of a sexy man inside and strange writing on the back. After falling asleep, she wakes up, naked, in the strange land of Sang, and standing near her is the guy from the locket, whose name is Criminy (Crim) Stain. (Great name!!) Crim tells Tish that he sent for her through the locket because she has all the qualities he yearns for in his mate. Crim is a magician and a gypsy king who runs a magical circus caravan that travels across the "England" part of Sang.

## Books in Series

1. Wicked ss They Come (Blud Series Book 1) (2012)
2. Wicked ss She Wants (Blud Series Book 2) (2013)
3. Wicked After Midnight (Blud Series Book 3) (2014)

#### Shorts, Novellas, Anthologies and Guides

* 0.5. "The Three Lives of Lydia" in Carniepunk (prequel story, 2013)
* 1.5. "The Mysterious Madam Morpho" (e-novella, 2012)
* 1.6. "The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance" (e-novella,2013)
* 2.5. "The Damsal and the Daggerman" (e-novella, 2014)

## World Building

### Settings

Set in two realms: the present-day, 21st century U.S.A. and the land of Sang, circa 1904.

### Fantasy Elements

Vampires, gypsies, time-travel, vampire princess, sorceress, blud unicorn teaming with a blud peacock, gypsy sorceress, airship brothels, pirates, Van Helsing, Daimons, clockwork animals, steam-driven and spring-loaded oddities.

A weird created world with vampire killer bunnies... and horses, rats and other creatures of Sang

### World

Bludman are bad ass, sure they drink blood but that is where it all ends, they can be made or born. Blud is a world of magic and machinery, Moulin Rouge and the Wild Wild West, where the men and women dress like those of the 1800s and it is difficult to tell who is the predator and who is the prey. Where People with bird like tail feathers feed off emotions and you could be killed by a bludbunny in your sleep.

Sang is geographically identical to the real earth, but its political subdivisions have different borders and slightly different names. Sang (derived from the Latin word for blood) is a realm with two distinctly different groups of inhabitants: the Pinkies, who are normal humans, and the Bludmen, who have vampire-like characteristics, including sharp teeth, clawed black fingers, pale skin, super strength, and a need for blood as nourishment.

Years ago, Sang was balanced between Pinkies and Bludmen, but for some reason that balance changed. Blud-animals began to wreak havoc in the countryside, and the Pinkies retreated to walled cities where they now zealously guard their non-Blud domesticated animals. The Pinkies hate and fear the Bludmen, viewing them as blood-sucking terrorists, while the Bludmen seek only to earn enough money to buy a vial or two of blood every week or so and go about their business in peace. The Pinkies dress in clothing that completely covers their skin to prevent Bludmen from being attracted to their blood.

Added into the mix is an element of steampunk, or clockwork, with a variety of steam-driven and spring-loaded oddities and an abundance of clockwork animals, who are frequently used as security.

There is little contact between our modern-day mortal earth and the land of Sang, but in novel 1, we learn that some people from the modern mortal world can travel to Sang while their bodies are either asleep or in a coma state. The people of Sang call these time travelers "strangers" and they are immediately imprisoned if they are caught.

### Protagonist

Letitia (Tish) Paisley Everett
(need info)
Criminy (Crim) Stain
(need info)
## Book Descriptions

1. Wicked as They Come (3/2012)
First in a steampunk-tinged paranormal romance series in which a woman is transported to a world filled with vampires and magic. When nurse Tish Everett forced open the pesky but lovely locket she found at an estate sale, she had no idea she was answering the call of Criminy Stain, from the far off land of Sang. He'd cast a spell for her, but when she's transported right to him, she's not so sure she's ready to be under the spell of another man. (It didn't go so well last time with controlling, abusive, domineering Jeff.) If only Criminy wasn't so deliciously rakish.... Half the inhabitants of Sang are Pinkies - human - and the other half are Bludmen, who in Tish's world would be called vampires. But they don't mess with any of the bat/coffin/no sunlight nonsense. They're rather like you and me, just more fabulous, long living, and mostly indestructible. (They're also very good kissers.) But when the evil Mayor of Manchester (formerly Bludchester) redoubles his efforts to rid Sang of the Bludmen once and for all, stealing Tish's locket in hopes of traveling back to her world himself for reinforcements, Criminy and Tish must battle ghosts, sea monsters, wayward submarines, a secret cabal, and thundering Bludmares to get the locket back and allow Tish to return home...but has she found love with Criminy? Could she stay in Sang forever?
1.5. The Mysterious Madam Morpho (Novella)
Taking place after Wicked as They Come, this original eBook features a mysterious lady and a reclusive mechanical genius who find love and danger in a traveling circus.
An elusive woman arrives at Criminy’s doorstep with a steamer trunk, begging for a position in the caravan to perform her unique new act. She opens her trunk to reveal a menagerie of brilliantly colored butterflies. The woman, who calls herself Madam Morpho, is on the run from a dark past in London, where she was forced to leave her equipment behind and abscond with only her tiny performers. Playing a hunch, Criminy hires Madam Morpho on the spot. Taking her down to meet Mr. Murdoch, the reclusive talented engineer who keeps the carnival’s clockworks running, Criminy instructs them to work together to design and build a groundbreaking new circus for the butterflies. Amid the magical ambiance of the circus and the hint of danger from Madam Morpho’s pursuers, she and Mr. Murdoch soon find that their scientific collaboration has produced chemistry of a more romantic kind.
Note: Listed as Book 2 on Amazon. Actual Book 2 isn't listed as part of the series, but it is available.

1.6, The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance (Novella)
A lady with a penchant for pets meets a sexy fireman in this magical and saucy steampunk eNovella from the author of Wicked as They Come.
In a world ruled by blood, live pets are rare and kindness rarer still. London pet shop owner Frannie Pleasance has a mysterious way with animals and keeps her charges (and heart) locked in a veritable Eden. She thinks Casper Sterling is just another stray...until she takes in the troublesome lodger (and unwelcome suitor) and becomes the victim of a series of strange and dangerous occurrences.
When an unexplained fire threatens to destroy Frannie's carefully guarded world, firefighter Thom Maccallan is there to extinguish the blaze and help gather the lost creatures. The heat between Frannie and Thom begins to burn,but someone's still after the lady. Could it be Casper himself, or is Frannie’s new lodger just another victim of fate? Will they be able to figure out who's pursuing Frannie—and stop them—before she loses everything?
2. Wicked as She Wants (4/2013)
The second book in the darkly tempting Blud series, featuring a vampire princess who embarks upon a dangerous journey to claim what is rightfully hers.
When Blud princess Ahnastasia wakes up, drained and starving in a suitcase, she’s not sure which calls to her more: the sound of music or the scent of blood. The source of both sensations is a handsome and mysterious man named Casper Sterling. Once the most celebrated musician in London, Sangland, he’s fallen on hard times. Now, much to Ahna’s frustration, the debauched and reckless human is her only ticket back home to the snow-rimmed and magical land of Freesia.
Together with Casper’s prickly charge, a scrappy orphan named Keen, they seek passage to Ahna’s homeland, where a power-hungry sorceress named Ravenna holds the royal family in thrall. Traveling from the back alleys of London to the sparkling minarets of Muscovy, Ahna discovers that Freesia holds new perils and dangerous foes. Back in her country, she is forced to choose between the heart she never knew she had and the land that she was born to rule. But with Casper’s help, Ahna may find a way to have it all….
2.5. The Damsel and the Daggerman (Novella)
In this sizzling new e-novella from the author of Wicked As They Come, a knife-thrower meets a lady journalist determined to uncover his dark and dangerous past.
Bad boy knife-thrower Marco Taresque is the hottest and most dangerous performer in the caravan. He keeps to himself until a pesky female journalist arrives, anxious to interview him about his checkered past--his last assistant disappeared under mysterious and bloody circumstances, earning him the nickname "The Deadly Daggerman."
Unsinkable journalist and adventurer Jacinda Harville doesn't take no for an answer, and she's determined to wear down Marco no matter how threatening--or incredibly desirable--he might appear. He agrees to an interview--but only if she'll let him strap her to a spinning table and throw knives at her body. How can she say no? And how can she resist him when he leans close for a kiss that strikes her more sharply than any blade? It's the first time she's let a man get the better of her, and she's determined it will be the last...
Just when she thinks she can't take any more of his games, Jacinda receives a note from Marco saying he's finally ready to tell her the truth about what happened to his missing assistant. She sets out for an address miles away, but what she finds there turns the tables on everything she thought she knew about the tender lover who wears a smile as sharp as his knives.
3. Wicked After Midnight (1/2014)
Life as a contortionist in Criminy’s Clockwork Caravan should be the height of exotic adventure, but for Demi Ward, it’s total dullsville. Until her best friend, Cherie, is stolen by slavers outside of Paris, and Demi is determined to find her.
On the run from his own past, Vale Hildebrand, a dashing rogue of a highwayman, hides Demi from the slavers…but why? He pledges to help her explore the glittering cabarets of Paris to find her friend, but much to Vale’s frustration, Demi soon attracts a host of wealthy admirers. The pleasures of music, blood, and absinthe could turn anyone’s head, and it would be all too easy to accept Cherie’s disappearance as inevitable—but with Vale’s ferocious will and Demi’s drive to find her friend, they soon have a lead on a depraved society of Parisian notables with a taste for beautiful lost girls. Can Demi wind her way through the seedy underbelly of Paris and save her best friend before she, too, is lost?
## References

1. ↑ Fangfiction
2. ↑ Goodreads
3. ↑ Fang-tastic Fiction: Blud series
4. ↑ Fang-tastic Fiction: Delilah S. Dawson: BLUD SERIES