Demented Hamster

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The Song of the Slayer

Orphaned at a young age, Tal, a mixed-breed Vampyr, is captured by raiding Ankeirans and sold into slavery as an errand boy at a far away gladiatorial school. Growing up around hard-bitten men, Tal learns the harsh lessons of life quickly...and how suddenly that self-same life can be extinguished. After witnessing friend after friend die in the arena, Tal vows that he will never die as a slave for man, and, at 13, begins his bid for freedom. For two years, Tal fights in gladiatorial battles until his youth and his prowess earn him recognition from the arena's proprietor, a Nos'fera-tu of the Vampyr who bargains not in gold but in living blood.

Tal's sudden rise to glory and acquisition of the nickname "Slayer", after the legendary Vampyr Slayer who brings balance to the blood-born race, stirs fear in the heart of his Nos'fera-tu master. Every Age, a Slayer is born who purges the Vampyr Clans of those who delve too deeply in their innate magics and upset the balance of Life and Death, Good and Evil. The Nos'fera-tu are of those who wallow in the depths of that magic, who trade soul and blood for endless power and eternal life. Seeking to gain the favor of the more powerful Nos'fera-tu in the capital Orthac by destroying a possible Slayer before he comes into his full power, Darien the proprietor stages a death match, holding as ransom Tal's heart's-desire: his freedom.

The Song of the Siren

The Slayer. Tal Mujhir has left his home in the mountains of Itoshani on a quest given to him by the Grey Ones of his clan. More and more of the Vampyr are Deciding to claim the forbidden magic of their heritage. They become the Nos'fera-tu, sorcerers who steal blood to strengthen their own magic. Can Tal, who does not even claim the full blood of his race, restore the balance between Good and Evil, Light and Dark...Living and Dead?

The Siren. Singer and Songwriter, Shama is more than her exotic looks imply. Much more. As a daughter of the mystical Sirens, she uses her powerful voice to bind humans to her will. Or slay the with a single note. She travels with the Midwinter's Carnival in search of fame and fortune, but will Shama ever find what she longs for the most, her father?

The Sentinel. Something more than a cat and something less than a man, Jerek has taken it upon himself to be Tal's protector and friend, liegeman and boon companion. He would do anything to keep the Slayer alive, even give his own life. Exactly who is Jerek, and what does he plan?

[Summary currently undergoing revision]

The Song of the Vampyr

No summary yet available.

Time Line

What would eventually become The Songs of Itoshani began one lonely day in my English II class in high school, American Literature. John Strawhorn will probably never know that one of his students was birthing a book while he muttered under his breath about how "marriage isn't a word; it's a sentence" (that would be as in a jail sentence, he meant).

Strangely enough, the idea of Songs came partially from the TV show X-Men: Evolution. I was watching an episode on the origins of Apocalypse, and was inspired by their representation of Apocalypse. The idea of a dark-haired, silver-skinned, ornately-tattooed, clothed-in-desert-garb, scare-the-pee-out-of-you warrior pierced my mind, and from that thought, Tal and the Vampyr were born.

It took a little bit of stewing, but eventually I came up with a plotline to match my rather, erm, unique character. I'd always wanted to do a story involving gladiatorial warriors, especially after reading Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman's Time of the Twins and watching The Gladiator, so a book where the main character had to eventually live in the desert was a great place to implement that idea. Add that to my fascination with all manner of vampires and vampire slayers, and—badda-bing, badda-boom: the creation of The Songs of Itoshani.

But, of course, like most of my other book ideas, Songs didn't get its series title until much later, when I was also coming up with the series title for The Chronicles of Talynith. Songs was, however, one of the few (or, perhaps, the only) series that I actually wrote on in chronological order. Slayer, as I said, was born in 10th grade English II, Siren came into the world a few months later on a slow, dreary sort of day in the semi-local library, and Vampyr, the late-blooming child, I didn't start until more than a year after Siren on another void day at home alone.

Not long after Siren, I came up with the opening line of Vampyr and wrote it on my wall above the head of my bed. I do most of my writing as I lay on my bed; I haven't got much of a desk to speak of and my bedroom is about the only private, quiet place in the house throughout the day. All kinds of interesting things are written on my wall, things like chapter titles, phrases that trigger an image I want to used in a book later, and quotes that haven't made it into dialogue yet. One of the strangest things written on my wall, I would have to say, is the word "antlers" derived from a dream I had once and decided I would put in Prophecy.