"Not merely one of the finest fantasy novels of recent years, but one of the finest ever. Should not be missed" - Brian Stableford

"Throbs with lush romanticism" - The Times

1918. A First World War battlefield becomes the cosmic battleground for two vampires, as Karl von Wultendorf struggles to escape his tyrannical maker, Kristian.

1923. Charlotte Neville watches as her father, a Cambridge professor, fills Parkland Hall with guests for her sister Madeleine's 18th birthday party. Among them is his handsome new research assistant Karl - the man Madeleine has instantly decided will be her husband. Charlotte, shy and retiring, is happy to devote her life to her father and her dull fiance Henry - until she sees Karl ...

For Charlotte, it is the beginning of a deadly obsession that sunders her from her sisters, her father and even her dearest friend. As their feverish passion grows, Karl faces the dilemma he fears the most. Only by deserting Charlotte can his passion for her blood be conquered. Only by betraying her can he protect her from the terrifying attentions of Kristian - for Kristian has decided to teach Karl a lesson in power, by devouring Charlotte.

Author's comment... I've always been intrigued by vampires, but frustrated by the fact that, in novels from JS LeFanu's Carmilla to Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, human-vampire relationships were shown to be impossible. (I'm talking about the late seventies, early eighties - clearly it's become rather more commonplace since then!) 

So I began to write a story about a shy heroine (Charlotte) falling for the most devastatingly gorgeous vampire I could devise (Karl), without it turning into a tale of victimhood and vampire-hunting. I began an early version of ToBW back in about 1983, as a form of escapism during a rather difficult period of my life. Much revised, it was published in hardback in 1992, long before the latest explosion of vampire popularity!

Later, a face came into my mind; a icily beautiful woman with ivory skin and jet black hair. I knew she was a dancer and that her name was Violette, and that she was somehow connected to the goddess Lilith. From that single image grew the two sequels "Velvet" and "Poppies" (see below).

A Taste of Blood Wine and its sequels are among my most successful and best-loved books, prompting The Times to comment that my writing 'throbs with lush romanticism'! I can't write without passion, and a huge amount of passion certainly went into these novels. I found vampires the ideal characters to explore questions of love, fear, death, religion, sex, psychology... all the stuff of life, in fact.

The series remained out of print for many years and extremely hard to come by, as I learned from endless emails that I still receive every week from frustrated readers. I was on the verge of republishing the books myself when at last I had good news - Titan Books made an offer to reissue the first three and commission a brand new fourth one. To my delight, their cover designs are gorgeous - the sort of luscious, sensuous covers I always dreamed of.

The Horslips lyrics are used by permission. Many of Stevie Nicks' dark, mystical songs also formed a 'soundtrack' to the series, but alas, I couldn't easily get permission to quote from them. Listen to Sisters of the Moon or Outside the Rain and you'll get the idea.