The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith

The Greyfriar, an interesting blend of steampunk, alternate history and paranormal fantasy, introduces us to a British Empire that has relocated to North Africa after a hugely successful assault by organized armies of vampires. Humankind now lives in areas of the globe that offer the greatest chance for survival and resistance to the vampire threat. (This felt very much like the setting of S.M. Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers in which Britain relocates to India after England was destroyed by a comet.)

The Vampires in The Greyfriar are similar to humans; scientists use the term Homo nosferatii to differentiate between the species. One of the biggest differences between them is that humans consider vampires to b... Read More

The Rift Walker by Clay & Susan Griffith

The Rift Walker is Clay and Susan Griffith's anxiously awaited sequel to The Greyfriar. The Greyfriar was a wonderful start to the Vampire Empire trilogy and left me wondering if it was going to be a flash in the pan or if the authors were able to sustain the quality of the first book. The answer is an emphatic thumbs-up.

Princess Adele's adventures continue as she is forced to deal with the conflict between the requirement of her royal rank to marry Senator Clark from the American Republic and the feelings she has for Gareth the vampire, also known as the heroic Greyfriar. In order to save her life, Adele is swept straight from her nuptial ceremony into Gareth’s arms. Unknown to Adele, elements of her own nation are willing to commit murder in... Read More

The Kingmakers by Clay and Susan Griffith

The VAMPIRE EMPIRE series is an interesting combination of almost-steampunk, alternative history and fantasy all wrapped together. Clay and Susan Griffith have used a solid mixture of adventure, intrigue and world building to create a vibrant tapestry as the background for the story. In The Kingmakers all of this grows more and more intense as war rages and the battle for the survival of two different races grows more desperate.

Adele, now Empress of Equitoria, has unleashed her armies on the European continent despite the setbacks in the seasons and the loss of some of her more important weapons of war. Gareth, in his Greyfriar persona, is in the midst of the fight and doing his part to help the humans drive the Vampires back from the South of France. The weather, which favors the vampires, has not helped and things are growing more and more desp... Read More

The Geomancer by Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

The Geomancer is the first book in a new series by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith. This series is called GARETH AND ADELE, and The Geomancer follows Empress Adele and Garth, her lover, the turncoat vampire prince who uses an alias to fight his people.

In the alternate world these stories inhabit, it is the late 2020s. Two hundred years earlier, vampires, which are a separate species, banded together in clans and over-ran human settlements, particularly in cooler climates. While they do not use weapons, these vampires can go airborne by changing their density and they are inhumanly strong and fast, with claws and fangs. They do not like heat, so were unable to conquer equatorial areas. Adele is the Em... Read More