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Raven Belasco

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://ravenbelas.co/

Twitter

RavenBelasco

Genre

Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror

Influences

Samuel R. Delany Patrick Califia Robin McKinley ...more

Member Since

April 2020

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/ravenbelasco

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Raven Belasco has been fascinated by vampires since she was 12 years old. You probably shouldn’t let 12-year-olds read Stoker’s Dracula, but Raven grew up in a house where, if she could get the book off the shelf, she could read it. Anyway, the bloody seeds were planted both for her to become a fan of the paranormal, and a verbose writer. 😉

Raven also grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, with her backyard mostly comprised of a cemetery filled with graves ranging from the late 1600s through 1800s. If spending your childhood playing on old graves doesn’t prepare you for a career writing about the (un)dead, then probably nothing will.

Continuing in this vein (puns are not optional; sorry—not sorry!) Raven danced and performed for a number o ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

I noticed your Blood and Ancient scrolls books have a lot of history and darker magic in it. Is that because it's a subject you're into? Or did you have to do a lot of research?

Raven Belasco That's a great question, thank you so much for noticing!

Yes, I do massive research for these books. I've had long and detailed discussions with biolog…moreThat's a great question, thank you so much for noticing!

Yes, I do massive research for these books. I've had long and detailed discussions with biologists and forensics scientists working up the hows and whys of my "am'r" (vampires) (every detail you read about has been explained in my head, even if those details never make it into the books). In that case, it's to ensure that I'm always consistent with the am'r, and that their strengths and limitations fit within their universal rules.

I also deep-dive the history of all the historical figures who go in the books. For my longer-live characters, I have time-lines that I work on of all that has kept them busy over the centuries. So if one of the am'r tells you a story about their past, that is on their timeline. Again, that's for consistency as the series continues. I don't want to say in one book that Sandu was Italy in the 1600s, and then in another that he was in Mongolia.

But you totally saw right through me that this is a bunch of subjects I'm super into. I'm a huge geek. I love vampire myth and tradition, and having to think about the science of why someone would (and could) survive and become stronger ingesting only blood is a pleasure for me. And to "have to" research history for my books is really just an excuse to spend hours reading history books. This is me getting to have the most fun I could doing my job! 🤓

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How did you come up with your version of vampires? It's a fairly unique concept, though similar in it's way to other vampire mythology.

Raven Belasco Trae, you're my kinda fan! 😍

You've actually almost answered your own question: the fact is that I went over the vampire myths from around the world, a…moreTrae, you're my kinda fan! 😍

You've actually almost answered your own question: the fact is that I went over the vampire myths from around the world, and I decided what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to discard. The stuff I kept all worked with the "vampire science" that I was working up with a biologist and other experts. What I like about doing it that way is that it becomes a way to differentiate the "real" facts about my "real" vampires, as opposed to what us silly humans have made up in stories.

I felt that I kinda had to do it that way, because I was playing in the sandbox of something everybody knows about. I'm not creating some new kind of aliens or other beings--vampires are one of the supernatural creatures that are the most written about. So I had to find a way to stay within the basic definition of a vampire, and giving something recognizable to readers, while at the same time clearly putting my own stamp on it.

It wasn't easy--but was (and continues to be) fun!(less)

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Raven Belasco’s books

Average rating: 4.19 · 212 ratings · 84 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	Blood Ex Libris (Blood & Ancient Scrolls, #1) 3.80 avg rating — 90 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Together We Stand, Vol. 2 by C.A. King (Goodreads Author), M.A. Abraham (Goodreads Author), Rose Bak (Goodreads Author) 4.51 avg rating — 49 ratings — published 2022 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blood Sine Qua Non (Blood & Ancient Scrolls, #2) 4.58 avg rating — 38 ratings — published 2020 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blood Ad Infinitum (Blood & Ancient Scrolls, #3) 4.63 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Adventures in Bodily Autonomy: Exploring Reproductive Rights in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror by Raven Belasco (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Kathleen Alcalá (Goodreads Author), Elizabeth Bear (Goodreads Author) 3.94 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2023 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blood Triad: Stories in the Blood & Ancient Scrolls Series 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Raven Belasco…

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Raven Belasco's Blog

My interview in Publishers Weekly's BookLife!

I'm so excited! I've been interviewed in Publishers Weekly's BookLife! 🎉 (And talked about vampires with them!)
https://booklife.com/authors/06/14/20...

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Published on June 14, 2021 11:28 • Tags: booklife, darkfantasy, publishersweekly, ravenbelasco, vampire

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Series by Raven Belasco

Blood & Ancient Scrolls (3 books)
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Raven Belasco (Goodreads Author)

4.11 avg rating — 147 ratings

Raven is Currently Reading

Raven Belasco is currently reading

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)

by N.K. Jemisin (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 21, 2020 09:39AM

Raven Belasco is currently reading

How to Be an Antiracist

by Ibram X. Kendi (Goodreads Author)

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May 31, 2020 02:53PM

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Raven Belasco and 1 other person liked Saraphina Churchill's review of Adventures in Bodily Autonomy: Exploring Reproductive Rights in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: "This was an amazing collection of stories centered around choice. The choice to be a mother, to not be a mother, to redefine motherhood, to share or not share the choice you have made. Each story has a unique take on something that too many people ta" Read more of this review »
Sep 27, 2023 11:55AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Adventures in Bodily Autonomy by Raven Belasco. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Adventures in Bodily Autonomy by Raven Belasco <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Raven Belasco joined the groups FABClub (Female Authors Book Club) and Feminist Science Fiction Fans
May 18, 2023 06:05PM