Blood Rising

In a brilliantly terrifying blend of supernatural horror and alternate history for fans of Ryan Coogler's Sinners and readers of Victor LaValle, Tananarive Due, and Stephen Graham Jones, a vengeful vampire tribe formed of formerly enslaved Africans wages war across the Southern colonies in the ultimate battle of blood and betrayal.

Kwadzo Okoro never believed the bloody legend of Ramanga was real. Now, he stands as the leader of a new Ramanga Tribe, one that sieged the Barrow plantation in a storm of righteous carnage, liberating its formerly enslaved Africans. Reclaimed as the Crimson Plantation, it is now also home to the wronged Natives who fearlessly aligned with the Ramangans.

But Kwadzo knows that freedom is not secure. Bartholomew and Constance Crabtree, the most influential slaveholders in the region since the demise of Big Jim Barrow, are galvanizing the Lakeside community to strike back—violently. The threat they pose, however, pales in comparison to the insidious menace of Penelope Knudsen. Her white-hot hatred, now fueled by Ramangan blood, and an ability to survive the sunlight—a power Kwadzo doesn’t have—threatens to upend Kwadzo’s advancement of Ramangan might throughout the colonies to free his people.

But the gravest threat comes from within: Rafazi. His blood fathered the rebellion, but he will not take orders from his own creation. And when Rafazi makes a deadly deal with the Crabtrees, Kwadzo is forced into a battle with his maker that he may not survive, while the everlasting freedom of every enslaved person in the colonies hangs in the balance.

In Carolina and beyond, a reckoning is coming that will change the colonies forever.

Markus Redmond is an actor, director, screenwriter, and author. Known for his roles on Doogie Howser, MD, NYPD Blue, Murder One, Mad About You, Angel, and Fight Club, he wrote and starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Sharon Stone in the indie film If I Had Known I Was a Genius. He wrote, directed, and starred in the Amazon Prime thriller The 6th Degree, and has multiple screenplays in development. He lives in Los Angeles.