Jaunty P. Quills here with a special report! Release day is upon us for Colleen Gleason’s newest book, RISES THE NIGHT! Rises the Night is the second book in Colleen’s Gardella Legacy series. Buffy meets Regency England!

Colleen was with us for the release of The Rest Falls Away (Jan 2007), the first book in the series, and I have been in constant Quill contact to get her to introduce special vampire fighting quills for Victoria to use. Poisoned quills, danger, watch out!

To read an excerpt of Rises the Night, click here! But watch for spoilers for The Rest Falls Away, if you haven’t read it yet!

Colleen, can you give us a synopsis of the second book?

In the second installment, vampire slayer Victoria Gardella Grantworth has to deal with some of the decisions she made in The Rest Falls Away. She grows up a bit, and actually has to take a breather from fighting vampires because she begins to get a little berserker and goes off on a porcu–er, I mean a human. She also comes face to face with a creature that she stakes, but it won’t die! Eeek!

Then a famous author, John Polidori, makes an appearance and the next thing Victoria knows is she has to protect him from the vampires who are after him because of the “tell-all” story he wrote called “The Vampyre.” She also meets the infamous poet and lover Lord Byron, and she is betrayed by one of her most trusted allies, whom you would have met if you’d read the first book, my dear Jaunty. (pssst….you can still read Rises the Night if you haven’t read The Rest Falls Away…it stands on its own…but you’d like it more if you read the first one first!)

This book is a little darker than The Rest Falls Away–but pretty much everyone who’s read both of them liked this one even better than the first. (Particularly the Sebastian fans. And that’s all I’m saying on that!)

We learn a bit more about the Venators, and even visit their “headquarters”–for lack of a better term–and meet some other Venators, including a red-headed brawny Scot.

Let’s see…what else…Sebastian and Victoria have a duel, with the winner being able to ask a boon from the other. Max considers taking up gardening. Oh, and Victoria manages to annoy an Italian countess.

Any new places Victoria and co. visit?

She heads to Venice, and then to Rome, where the final showdown takes place.

Has Victoria decided to come back to me?

Nope. Sorry. She’s saving herself for–oops. I can’t tell you that! It would spoil everything!
(That is, unless you’re harboring vampires…then she’ll be there in a trice.)

Harbor vampires, eh? *puts on fake teeth* Ok, well what is your favorite way to eat stake (strikethrough), I mean steak? I myself prefer acorns, tubers and shrubs, but for you, my lady, I’ll cook anything.

I like it medium rare on the grill with a nice garlic/oil crust. And it must be filet, okay? No t-bones or porterhouses for me, darling.

What’s your favorite board game?

Balderdash (not really a board game, but you get the picture) and Trivial Pursuit. Yes, I’m lame.

Paisley or polka dots?

Paisley, most definitely. I’m a girl of the ’80s, and Prince made paisley a permanent love for me.

Thanks so much to the Jauntys for having me back–oh, er, and you too Jaunty. You’re so….delightfully cuddly.

*Jaunty swoons*

I’ll be happy to answer questions in the comments!