Annie Summerlee lives in Spain with her partner, two cats, and a foster dog. She has a degree in History of Art, and is currently studying to be a history teacher. Her short stories have been featured in 404 Ink, Litro, So To Speak, as well as other magazines and anthologies. She also writes in Catalan and Spanish, and has been shortlisted for the Premis Literaris Ciutat de Tarragona as well as the Premis Ploma els 4 Gats.

Hi Annie – thankyou so much for talking to The Fantasy Hive! The Book of Blood and Roses comes out this month, a perfect gothic read for the dark winter evenings. Can you share a little about the story to introduce it for our readers?

Thank you for having me! The Book of Blood and Roses is a sapphic paranormal romance about a vampire hunter who must infiltrate a secret vampire university in the Scottish Highlands to steal an ancient book, but once she’s there, she discovers her roommate is a gorgeous vampire. 

I loved that the story takes place in Scotland. What inspired you to set your story in the Highlands in particular? Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities, and it was a true pleasure to see its busy modern life contrasted with the wild hills and forests – a bit like the relationship between the humans and vampires?

I think I was fueled mainly by nostalgia! I went on a trip to Inverness with my grandmother when I was a teenager, and I thought it would be really cool to have an old university up there. I think the fact that Rebecca, the protagonist, is Scottish but not from the Highlands, still gives her journey a sense of adventure. It’s a landscape she’s not entirely familiar with, but feels closer to home than London, where the book starts. 

And there’s something to the setting that mirrors humans and vampires, especially since when we encounter vampires in the “human” world, like in Inverness, they’re not as nice as those who live on campus, surrounded by nature. 

I have to say it: at the start of the book, protagonist Rebecca seems quite prejudiced! I can’t blame her, what with vampires being the reason she’s a hunter, plus her young age. It was interesting to see her evolve and open her mind as she learned those ‘monsters’ weren’t everything she’d been brought up to believe, even when faced with violent vampire extremists. Is the issue of discrimination something you’ve experienced, or more of a story thread to explore in these politically-charged times? 

As a lesbian, my sexuality has certainly made me feel alienated more than once. While most of my close friends have been accepting, there are still people who I care deeply about who have said incredibly hurtful things, so I’ve been able to channel some of those feelings into how others react to Rebecca’s prejudice. 

It’s great to see your unique take on the ‘vampire academy’ setting: the whole vibe of the mission to find the Book of Blood and Roses seems almost like a locked-room mystery, isolated and almost like a prison. Mazes, tunnels, magical locks and a gorgeous library – this was a world I wanted to be real, even if I’d be sharing a nice normal bedroom with a vampire in their coffin! What made you decide to throw your heroine into this closed setting from the start, poor lass?

I wanted to channel my own excitement at exploring forbidden parts of familiar places. When I was fifteen, my class went to our highschool’s basement to set up a haunted house, and everything I saw down there appears here, like the indoor puddles, moss, white weeds…

To be honest, I’m not sure if I decided to place Rebecca anywhere in particular, she just showed up in the dreary halls of Tynahine, and didn’t want to leave. 

What I enjoy about a closed setting like this, however, is how it allowed her to deradicalise in such an effective way. Being away from the city, away from her violent missions, meant Rebecca could focus on herself and her own feelings for the first time in years, and that introspection led to her change in worldview. 

The relationship between Rebecca and Aliz is beautifully developed. Nothing’s clear-cut; they seem genuinely real as people (even if one is human and the other not), which made me care about them so much more. Why did you choose to have your vampires be less gothic and more contemporary, diving into the very real problems that they’d face every day/night?

I got the idea to write this novel while I was watching What We Do In the Shadows, which if you haven’t seen it, features a cast of gothic vampires in a modern setting, dealing with mundane problems. Aliz may have been more of a gothic vampire if she wasn’t so young. When I decided there wouldn’t be a giant age-gap between them, I knew I had to explore how a twenty-four year-old vampire would feel living today, faced with all her limitations. I also find traditional vampire lore incredibly camp, which is why I wanted to keep it. 

This also applies to Rebecca’s new vampire friends, Ife and Julia, who are also young and modern, but they contrast with the older vampires in the cast. The Night Dean, Faust Nocth, is a very gothic vampire in my mind, and has some tragic elements that I’d love to explore in the future. 

What really kept me turning the pages was the constantly ticking clock: the mystery to solve within a certain timeframe, high stakes (sorry!) and genuinely wondering if Rebecca’s feelings for Aliz were her own. This book isn’t gentle and steady – it takes you by the hand and yells ‘Run!’ I loved the action, and hope the sequel will be equally gripping. Are you able to tell us a bit about where the story goes next?

The next book, which I’ve been calling 2 Blood 2 Roses on my socials (I might campaign for that to be the official title, though I’m not sure how my publisher will feel about that), deals with the consequences of what went down at the halloween party at the end of the book, all while Rebecca discovers something about her past that is going to turn her world upside down. Her relationship with Aliz will be tested, and other mythological figures might make an appearance, particularly from Scottish mythology. 

Thank you so much again for chatting with us today! 

Thanks for having me!

The Book of Blood and Roses is out today! You can order your copy on Bookshop.org