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eBook Category: Dark Fantasy/Science Fiction
eBook Description: "Slums of Paradise duo"--two books in one volume. In the twenty-third century the entire solar system has been colonized. Life extension allows people to live hundreds of years. Matters religious and psychic are proved and are now a normal part of orthodox scientific theory. Society is collapsing under the weight of its own division, decadence and conflict. Pope Antioch III has a plan. He will combine holy relics with technology to change the resurrection of a vampire and create a champion for humanity. It is a desperate move, opposed by most of the higher orders of his own Church and likely to see his execution if the general public finds out. And, of all victims to save, perhaps the man with no past was the most dangerous of all.

eBook Publisher: Twilight Times Books, Published: 2002
Fictionwise Release Date: June 2004

7 Reader Ratings:

Great	Good	OK	Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [463 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [373 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [416 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [1.5 MB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [470 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [378 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [424 KB] , hiebook (KML) [1.1 MB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [522 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [382 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [480 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [525 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [634 KB]
Words: 142000
Reading time: 405-568 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Portable Document Format (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
ISBN: 1931201153

"This is certainly one of the most different vampire novels I've come across, blending elements of mysticism, religion, horror and science fiction to create a unique blend. There's even a bit of romance and adventure in there too. Each genre has a place in the whole, nothing feels as if it was tacked on without reason. Great characters and a fast moving plot that keeps you guessing right to the end. The author described the resurrection of Harker, this new vampire hunter very well, so that from the outset you were sympathetic towards him, even though you knew he was far from human. Great read."--Annette Gisby, author of Drowning Rapunzel and Shadows of the Rose for Twisted Tales.

"Slums of Paradise is a complex tale of the war between the two main factions--the armies of Pope Antioch III and the vampires. There are many key characters, each with their own agenda and the interractions between them are many and multilayered ... this is a well thought out, interesting twist on the classic vampire story and should suit those that have gotten a little too tired of Anne Rice clones or the more juvenile Buffy bite-a-likes."--Leslie Mazey, The Eternal Night

Night lay on the twin cities of the western coast. It swept away the human habitants and released the vampires from their tombs.

        In the north the wealthy hid behind the sturdy walls and military force money could buy. East of the hills farmer families of uncles, aunts, and siblings still did not bow to the conqueror. To the south of the great river were the poor. Here houses huddled together with their backs facing the streets, walls touching. Chimneys lay dashed to the ground, back doors were the only witnesses to murders which filled the drains with fetid, swollen corpses.

        Here, on the edge of the river in the slums they called the narrows, the corpse heard footsteps.

        "Is he dead? Was he bitten?"

        A workman turned the corpse's head. In its neck were two ragged gashes of half-congealed blood. Together the four of them wrapped the corpse in a gray plastic shroud. Kept safe by soldier guards, they carried it away.

        They went by secret route to The Citadel where the corpse was tested, scanned, and photographed. Decided over and argued about by faceless voices until it was finally dumped and left like refuse.

        Inside itself the corpse began to scream.

        The bitten who have yet to rise spend three days needing to reach out and touch those they hear and sometimes see, to move, and to breathe. For three days they drown. Is it any wonder they go mad?

        "I won't go mad. I won't. I've been trained."

        Two men entered the room. One of them opened the corpse's eyelid.

        A hawknosed man; medium build with thin lips and sharp eyes. The corpse recognised Pope Antioch III. The corpse wondered that the leader of the largest religious organisation in the world should harbor it, making himself a rebel against the Civil Authorities.

        But rumour always had it Antioch was never short of ambition.

        "You're moving too quickly, holiness. You will face opposition."

        "Agreed, Giuseppe, agreed. But his demonic affliction follows its own schedule, not our mortal whims. We shall have to face what comes."

        "As you wish, holiness."

        The lid remained open, for that at least the corpse was grateful. He could scan the room, know something of it if it needed to escape.

        A metal egg of dusted metal. Light came from no obvious source and cast few shadows. The corpse reckoned its head pointed toward the door, at the broader end of the egg. To its left was a chair which, like the slab on which it lay, seemed to be formed from the floor itself. The floor and the slab were silver mirror perfect.

        Antioch sat in the chair, grasping his bishop's crook for security as his barrel-chested friend paced about the room. The corpse racked its brains before remembering Giuseppe Muzarious, Cardinal of the Ecumenical Senate of the Church, Bishop of Malta, Naples and Sicily.

        The cardinal pinched the corpse's arm, ran a finger across the ribs.

        "He's very strong. Well fed, too. Who do you suppose he is?"

        "Does it matter, Giuseppe?"