Five Facts Thursday - please welcome Guy Ogan

Five facts  

1. The first book in the series starts when the main male character discovers that his father had had a tryst while stationed overseas at the end of World War Two. This, in fact, was something the author found out about his own father and was the event that started him writing the series.
 
2. The first book contains "Explicit Togetherness" (sex) and I had to look up some of the anatomical information in order to write about it!
 
3. Most of the combat information in the series comes from my own military background and knowledge.
 
4. Gary Logan's actions and beliefs are those of the author (or at least how I hope I would react in similar circumstances). LOL
 
5. The history of Vlad Dracula contained in the third book is a liberal interpretation of the stories about Vlad. 

Today we have some materials from G. D. Ogan's paranormal-romance three book series which very much goes against vampire stereotypes:

 "Immortal Relations" is the first in the series written after it was discovered that Guy's father had had a tryst while assigned to assist the Czechs at the end of WW-II in their quest to develop a government along the lines of a Constitutional Republic. Alas the only "government" that was allowed the Czechs was that of a Soviet puppet (fortunately things changed after the fall of Communism in Russia). There is a photograph on page two of the book showing Guy's father in front of the Old Town Hall in Prague, but in the story the photograph is said to be that of Gary Logan's father (Guy's alter ego). In the story, Gary Logan travels to Prague to see where the photograph was taken and possibly find out more of what the American team did while trying to help the formation of the new Czech government. He had arrived very early on a weekend morning with virtually no one around, but while he was looking at the building he saw what appeared to be a super-model in a window’s reflection. When he turned to get a better look, he was almost eye to eye with a lady named Magdalena. It isn't long before Gary discovers that Magdalena knows far more about his father than seems possible and within hours they have struck up a friendship. Gary soon realizes Magdalena is a vampire, but doesn't care...he is in love and pledges himself to her in whatever capacity she will allow. She explains how the majority of the group she belongs to was turned against their will and how they now protect innocent humans from rogue vampires, human criminals and evil politicians. The story then follows as Gary, a retired military officer is permitted to become a vampire, learns how these good vampire receive what blood they need from funeral homes they own and in turn safeguards both the vampire coven and the human population of Prague. With the help of Gary's young vampire son, they put flight to rogue vampires’ intent on destroying the Guardian Vampires. Later, Gary, his son Adam and Adam's human military commander, aided by a no-nonsense Russian General, deal with the rogue vampire army before they can steal weapons of mass destruction with which to blackmail governments.  

Guy warns that the first book has what he calls "Explicit Togetherness" (sex) and suggests those for whom sex in their reading material is an issue start with the second book in the series, "Immortal Relations, Love and War."  He tells us that there is a conversation in the second book that covers some of the more important material in the first book; however, the second book is mostly about the good vampires stopping a war between an army from Communist China invading Siberia, part of the Russian Federation. The vampires must stop this war before it goes nuclear and threatens life on the planet. Along with this, our good vampires save mankind from ecological disasters. Guy calls the book, "Action on Steroids." He said if a reader's "significant other" wasn't into romance novels but loved action novels, this story would give the person a different outlook on how exciting a romance novel can be. There is still some intimacy in the second story; however, "love bites" where blood and venom from each partner mixes has a amnesiac effect on Gary so his memory doesn't provide the explicit recall of the first book and since the story is from Gary's first person view reporting of the sex is curtailed and somewhat humorous. Magdalena and Gary have their wedding at the Hermitage at the request of the new President of the Russian Federation who has himself become a vampire to save him from a deadly illness.

The third book in the series, "Immortal Relations Coming Out" has our good vampires discussing coming out to the world of the humans in order to form a stronger bond and to better protect humans. While this doesn't appear feasible at the time, they do decide to set up a coven in Southern Canada to monitor the regime in Washington which seems to have no regard for either the founding documents of it's own country nor the defense of it's populace. Fortunately for those in the coven, the good vampires are seen in a favorable light by the Canadian government who are willing to grant them asylum when the group is bullied by Washington. Spinning the facts is a game well known to Washington and they attempt to brand the good vampires as a danger to all of humanity. But when a huge "mini-planet" is on a collision course with Earth, "who ya' gonna call?"  One of the interesting parts of this novel take place when Gary's hybrid human-vampire granddaughter meets a young, inexperienced, shape-shifter werewolf and they find that they are far more compatible than originally thought. One of Gary's vampire daughters also becomes married, at the Hermitage, to a Canadian police detective at the behest of their friend and fellow vampire, the Russian President.

 Buy Links (Each $ .99 on Kindle or the Kindle App):

 Immortal Relations: http://amzn.com/B006ZCBT6G

 Immortal Relations, Love and War: http://amzn.com/B00A4IEHL6

 Immortal Relations Coming Out: http://amzn.com/B00G5BQS18

 Here is the blurb from the back cover of each along with an Excerpt from each:

 Immortal Relations Blurb:

When Gary Logan discovers an old black-and-white photograph of his father in Prague with a woman’s handwriting on the back, he flies there to investigate where his father worked while in Europe, only to meet and fall in love with a beautiful lady who he believes to be a vampire. In love with her, Gary is initiated into her coven of guardian vampires, beginning a journey of epic proportions.

Exciting, erotic, and full of heart-stopping action, this debut novel turns human vampire lore on its head, with a symbiotic relationship between the species that deepens emotional connections to astonishing effect. But a coven of evil vampires bent on destroying the guardian vampires and feeding on the humans at will have other plans. Gary’s full vampire son helps humans to almost wipe out the evil coven, beginning the ever-increasing relationship between vampires and humans. Probing the gray areas inherent in sexuality, family and legend, the tale examines the very nature of existence.

Excerpt:

This pertains to something I feel very strongly about. I believe dogs are God’s gift to mankind to teach us about unconditional love and loyalty. They deserve both our love and loyalty in return.

We continued to monitor the screens, but nothing else happened until about 9 p.m. when I saw a large man chasing a little dog down a side street. He carried what looked like a rusty old pipe. Fearing he’d kill the dog, I asked Evy if we could do anything! She said they’d never responded to help an animal…I felt that I had to do something to help the dog and asked where that street was.

“Four streets to the north and about a mile to the east,” she said.

My love for little animals hadn’t abated any by my becoming a vampire, and I said I needed to do something to help that dog.

Maggie said she’d go with me. It was dark and a weeknight, so little traffic and no pedestrians were out. I ran the mile without stopping to confront the man. I moved so fast, no human could see me. As I flew by the man, I tapped the end of the iron pipe, causing it to fly out of his hand and I caught the pipe as I continued on. This occurred so fast, his brain couldn’t register what had happened; he slowed and looked at his hands and then stopped to turn around, looking behind him for the pipe he believed he must have dropped. By this time, I’d stopped in the shadows under some trees a mile farther down and simply crushed the old iron pipe into dust.

It was then that Maggie found me. “I’ve never seen anyone run that fast. You didn’t run that fast at the quarry…how could you run so much faster now?”

I looked at her and said, “I was running for fun at the quarry, but just now, I had to save that little dog. I just can’t stand to see a small animal hurt or killed.”

She hugged and kissed me, “I think you are one of the most softhearted people, let alone vampires, that ever existed.”

I shrugged, “I wish it were this easy to save all the unwanted animals; in America, they kill many thousands of dogs and cats each day, just because no one wants them. It always broke my heart to even think about it…”

I told her I couldn’t think of a more terrible condemnation of someone than they would harm a dog or a cat!

She kissed me again and said, “Let’s go back to Evy.” as we walked back arm in arm, we saw a woman, who must have been the man’s wife scolding him, as she carried the little dog in her arms, so I felt it was safe. Once back in the monitoring room, Maggie told Evy what happened as I sat in a chair, my head down, trying not to think about little animals being harmed. Evy turned and asked if I’d heard the story of “Ferdinand the Bull” and said I was like Ferdinand, strong but with a soft heart…I could only say, “Thank you.”

Immortal Relations, Love and War Blurb:

The second book amps up the action to a fever pitch. While Maggie and Evy hope things have settled down, events have a way of foiling the best of intentions. Death stalks a close friend, but our vampires can help him cheat death if he will accept the offer. His expertise is vital as international events are about to happen that only this old friend can solve! Greed is at the bottom of so many of histories problems, and this book shows just how greedy some governments, rogue OPEC Ministers and terrorists can be and the troubles they can cause. Who is available to thwart their greed and what about the ecological disasters of the impending failure of Chernobyl 's containment cap and possible reactor collapse at Fukushima, Japan. When the reactor building at Fukushima falls, a possible ''Extinction Level Event" has been predicted! Our heroes will help, if their help will be accepted!

Excerpt:

It was a short flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg. There our party was met by two limousines and whisked along to the historic Hermitage Museum. Arriving, it looked to me like the whole world was there. I didn’t know why President Kolukov had asked me to wear the Russian General’s Uniform he gave me, but I wanted to humor my good friend. We exited the limousine onto a red velvet carpet that had wide gold piping down each side and which looked to be almost 400 meters long. I thought it odd that President Kolukov had me stand to his left and next to him, when Stephan was senior in rank to my uniform. When we got to the head of the carpet, we turned. Stephan and Adam moving behind us, I looked up and turning the corner onto the same red carpet we had just traveled was someone I would recognize anywhere, under any circumstances. It was Magdalena, on the arm of Roger, our doctor. At first I was confused, but when I saw the dress she wore, an exact copy of her hand made blue dress, only in brilliant white and then heard the music, I realized what was happening; Magdalena and I were getting married! My friends had somehow arranged all this without even a hint that I picked up on. I had already glanced at some of those on either side of the isle and thought I recognized some political figures from various countries.

As Magdalena was escorted slowly forward, I was unable to look anywhere else; she was the only thing that existed in my universe. When she got close, I noticed she had a ribbon with a gold star hanging from it pinned over her left breast. I’d seen a similar medal, back when it was called “Hero of the Soviet Union,” but this one had the double eagle of the Russian Federation. Only an old “war horse” like me would notice that when the woman he loved stood in front of him!

An Eastern Orthodox Priest spoke the vows, translated into English for me. Magdalena didn’t need a translator as she spoke several languages, Russian being one of them. We both answered “I do” and “I will,” then I was asked to put the ring on Magdalena’s finger – I started to panic, but Kolukov stepped forward and handed me a ring. My eyes bulged when I looked at it as it must have been five carats of a Red Ruby mounted in Gold! He said it’s just a little bobble courtesy of the Russian people and the Hermitage. I placed it on the finger of my bride, we were officially married and we kissed. Maggie read my thought and on impulse we both turned and kissed Kolukov, each of us on one side of his face. He broke out in loud laughter and said, “Everything has been taken care of for tonight, but the car will be there to pick you both up at 0900 tomorrow. That’s 9 am in case you’ve forgotten Gary.” He joked, as if I’d ever forget the 24 hour military clock.

The two of us shook hands with Stephan, Adam and Roger, and then we made a bee-line to the limo that pulled up nearby, as the driver beckoned to us. I was too busy looking into the dark pools of eternity that were Maggie’s eyes! There were a million questions to ask on how they’d done all this and kept it a secret, but I didn’t want to break the spell I was under, I wanted the spell to last forever (or at least until we had to board the aircraft tomorrow morning).

Immortal Relations Coming Out Blurb:

The third in the series continues to rock the foundation upon which typical vampire novels are based.

After saving mankind from a war between two major powers before it could go nuclear and solving two ecological disasters, our guardian vampires discuss coming out to humans. Seeing a potential for an open relationship protecting humans from evil vampires, criminals & power-mad politicians, a newer member of the good coven proposes they support patriots fighting for humanitarian liberty. This idea for an open relationship seems doomed by negative stereotypes vampires have acquired from books, movies, and recent television series. Now a threat of being “outed” by a reporter looms and the only recourse seems to be the help of a young shape-shifter werewolf. Threats against the good vampires from a Marxist regime forms a bond between the local Canadians and their vampire guests; however, there are new threats on the horizon which astronomers must somehow gain the attention of a disinterested government to get them to mount a response to the threat if life-on-Earth is to continue.

Excerpt: 

Vlad has explained how he and other of the oldest vampires have progressed to the point where they need little if any blood. Gary has asked why the out-of-control vampires continue to attack humans.

Vlad replies (through thought transference) “They get a thrill from the hunt and then, as the life drains from their victims, it provides a rush from the feeling of power over the living.”
Gary: “If I may be so bold, have you had such feelings in the past?”

Vlad smiled and nodded slowly, “It was a very, very long time ago Gary. We were fighting what you would call ‘an asymmetrical war’ against Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror and his Muslim invaders who outnumbered us at least three to one. I was looking for anything to slow them down. I guess you would say I used psychological warfare by building the ‘forest’ of impaled enemy soldiers we had defeated in previous battles. While we had numerous successes against units of the invaders we unfortunately were unable to hold off so large an invading army. It was about this time I was changed into what I am today. I was always in the front lines of battle and routinely soaked in blood. Perhaps that is what changed me into a vampire. One of my own Generals saw me surrounded by enemies and saw blood spurting up in the air. Thinking it was my blood he sent word that I’d been killed. My dear wife was distraught and threw herself from the heights of our Poenari Castle into the Arges River below.

Then my second cousin, Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, from whom I had sought help in prosecuting the war, imprisoned me. Locked away, I soon became crazed with the desire for blood I would have otherwise found on the battlefield. Many fellow prisoners died because of it and after my escape I was a plague on the land. It took all too long before I regained some sense of my lost humanity.”
With downcast eyes Vlad thought, “Which is where the myths, legends and stories about me started – I’m afraid I earned them all.”

I reached over and patted him on the arm saying, “I’m sorry I brought up a topic that has induced clearly painful memories for you.”

Vlad smiled at me, “No, it is alright. If you haven’t heard the story before I think you need to know the type of vampire you follow. I hope it won’t detract from our relationship.”

“Never fear of my continued admiration and respect for you. You were a great leader fighting to free your people from an oppressive invader. Since you had no one to guide you after you were changed, as a ‘newborn’ vampire you did what came naturally. However, it begs the question, how did you stop?”

“I married again and she helped me overcome the constant thirst, giving me some of her own blood, and she brought me back to God.”

With tears in my eyes I thought, in reply to Vlad, “Women are clearly the superior gender, without them we men would be little better than wild beasts. “

For additional information, see http://immortalrelations.blogspot.com/