Synopses & Reviews
With her alluring saga of Saint-Germain, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro established the rich, gothic tradition that would be followed years later by Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton. Blending the dark eroticism of the vampire with riveting adventure in history's most compelling locales, the story of Saint-Germain is the enduring drama of a lonely hero who walks the earth throughout time, battling for honor...and love.
In the mid-1930s, Ferenc Ragoczy, le Comte de Saint-Germain, resides in Spain, where he owns a thriving aircraft factory. But when Spain plunges into civil war and Fascists commandeer the plant, the vampire Saint-Germain is forced to flee to America.
A world away from the horrors of the Spanish Civil War in "civilized" San Francisco, Rowena Saxon, a lover from his past, waits for him. A woman whose beauty has matured in the fullness of time, Rowena must now decide if she is ready for "the life" to become an immortal vampire.
Yet the haunted Saint-Germain will not find refuge in California, where his business interests suffer from the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl famine, even as he himself becomes the target of white supremacists. With his attention diverted between the attacks on his local winery and his love for the beautiful Rowena, Saint-Germain does not see the danger that follows him across the oceans.
For an assassin is tracking the dark count from Spain...and torturing his friends, his associates, and anyone remotely connected to him. With Rowena the next target, will the vampire come to realize the grave danger he faces, or will his ignorance accomplish what time itself cannot the death of Saint-Germain?
Review
"The difficulties 20th-century life presents for a vampire are well handled by the remarkably consistent author, who is, as always, true to her character. Like its immortal protagonist, this long-running series deserves to live on." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Nobody does historical vampire fiction better." Laurell K. Hamilton, New York Times-bestselling author of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series
Review
"Saint-Germain is just as fresh as the day Chelsea Quinn Yarbro introduced him to the world....Yarbro reminds us that there are things on this earth far more evil than vampires." Charlaine Harris, author of Dead Until Dark
Review
"Yarbro has constructed an intricate and, at times, interesting story. How unfortunate that the reader must slog through pages replete with irrelevant details and tedious dialog to find it." Library Journal
Synopsis
The Aspect relaunch program of the popular Saint-Germain vampire series has added two new original hardcovers and brought back to print the original first three novels.
Hotel Transylvania (Aspect, 9/02) has sold over 26,000 paperback copies. Night Blooming (Aspect hardcover, 10/02) will be published simultaneously in Warner paperback in 9/03. The Palace will be published in Warner paperback in 3/03.
The Saint-Germain series will appeal to the same audience that has made national bestsellers of Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton. The author has been nominated for the Edgar Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award.
Synopsis
Before Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro had already made her name with the vampire Saint-Germain. Midnight Harvest brings the Dark Prince to California during the Great Depression. Fleeing Spain at the beginning of their Civil War, Saint-Germain leaves behind his numerous business concerns for the States, unaware that a ruthless assassin is pursuing him. He settles in California where he reunites with the older and wiser Rowena Saxon who, after all these years, is considering following the Dark Prince to the eternal life. White supremacists use the Great Depression to force out farmers and since the Dark Prince has business interest in the vineyards, he must make preparations to protect his land. Meanwhile, unaware that he's being tracked, he leaves himself open for one of the most charming killers ever to grace the page: Cenere. Unbelievably smooth and utterly inhumane, Cenere trails Saint-Germain across oceans and continents. In his hunt for the Dark Prince, Cenere kills many, including those who are under Saint-Germain's protection. Will Saint-Germain finally awake to the danger that threatens him before all he loves is lost?
About the Author
A professional writer for more than thirty years, Yarbro has sold over seventy books, more than sixty works of short fiction, and more than two dozen essays and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing, in 1961-2, was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet. Divorced, she lives in her hometown Berkeley, California with two autocratic cats, Laetitia and Flannel. When not busy writing, she rides her Norwegian Fjord horse Pikku Hevonen or attends the symphony or opera.