Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: Hockey, small-town Ontario, alien vampires … we love it all! Arlene F. Marks, can you tell us about yourself and your latest fantasy novel, The Bloodstone?

Arlene: I’m a Canadian and the author of eleven published books of speculative fiction. Number 12 just came out on March 29, 2024, and that’s the one I’d like to talk about here. The Bloodstone is the second installment of The Nash’terel, an urban science fantasy series about a family of shapeshifting essence vampires who have fled to Earth from a genocide on their home world, only to find themselves dealing with a whole other set of problems.

Sixteen years after the events of the first book, the Nash’terel have resumed their quiet lives on Earth, hiding their true nature from the human population. Then…

“In small town Ontario, Travis Fiore lives with his adoptive grandpas, dividing his time between school and hockey practice. Everyone, including Travis, thinks he’s an ordinary Canadian teen, until a series of uncontrolled shapeshifts and a growing telekinetic talent reveal his Nash’terel heritage. Having “superpowers” sounds great, until he has to put his dream of NHL stardom on hold and move across the country to train them.

He may not like it, but he’s going to need control of those powers in order to survive. Someone has put a bounty on dashkra, the alien mineral that all Nash’terel carry inside them. While Travis struggles to adjust to his new existence, his grandpas and their contacts must work to find out who has turned their kind into prey—yet again.”

Sabitha: What inspired you to write this book?

Arlene: Actually, it was my own family history. My mother was a first-generation Canadian, and I grew up hearing stories about what it was like for her and her parents in the early days. I believe that all beings, regardless of their place of origin, will have things in common as they settle into a new home. So, I decided to explore the new immigrant experience from the viewpoint of aliens from another world. The first book was about the older generation resisting assimilation and the younger one embracing it. In The Bloodstone, old conflicts follow the Nash’terel to Earth, making life especially dangerous for the youngsters who were born here.

Sabitha: Do you have any suggestions to help people in our community become better writers?

Arlene: There are two things that I’ve always told my students. First, there’s no such thing as a minor character, just a minor role in some other protagonist’s story. Second, you should always read your work aloud when editing, since the ear will catch what the eye misses.

Sabitha: What’s your next writing project?

Arlene: I have two books coming out in 2024, The Bloodstone and The Stragori Deception, and I am currently working on a sequel to my paranormal mystery, Weekends Can Be Murder (Brain Lag, 2022).

Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Arlene: To learn more about me and my work, please visit my website (www.thewritersnest.ca) or find me on Facebook (Arlene Marks, Arlene F. Marks). The Bloodstone can be preordered from Amazon or Amazon.ca, or from the publisher, Brain Lag.