Twelve years after Christine Feehan's debut novel, Dark Prince, was published, readers can experience the book--and be introduced to the Dark Series--as she originally intended. An Author's Cut special edition, which went on sale last week (Morrow, $19.99, 9780062009623), has restored 100 pages to the text. It is also the first time Dark Prince has been available in hardcover.
"This is the version I wanted
to read," said Feehan. "There's a lot of new material, but it's
really the same book--just more of the same book." There are longer
scenes, enhanced character development and additional details about the world
and culture the paranormal romance series depicts.
The 21-volume Dark Series--one of four series Feehan is writing--features the Carpathians, an ancient race with extraordinary physical and psychic powers. They can live for thousands of years, surviving on human blood, although they don't kill. But a female Carpathian has not been born in more than 500 years. In the absence of lifemates, males lose the ability to feel emotions and to see in color and eventually either commit suicide or become vampires.
HarperCollins imprints Morrow and Avon acquired the rights to Dark Prince along with several of Feehan's other Dark Series novels (all of which are currently available as e-books). Initially Dark Prince was a tough sell with publishers. "Nobody was doing vampires at the time I sold Dark Prince. As soon as they heard the word 'vampire' they said no," recalled Feehan, who eventually signed with Dorchester Publishing and is now also published by the Penguin Group.
The first print run of Dark Prince sold out in about two weeks. "Readers wanted something different, and I happened to come along at the right moment," Feehan said. "I believe it opened the door. There is so much scope for imagination in the paranormal world, and I think writers were waiting to be able to use that."
The seeds for the series were sown
when Feehan took part in role playing games with her son, a Dungeons &
Dragons fan, and she wove in elements of the Carpathian world. After her son died
in a car accident, Feehan, a lifelong reader and writer, found solace in
storytelling. "When you lose a child, your world becomes dull,"
Feehand said. "You really feel as if you're walking through life. That
lack of emotion and lack of color came into the Carpathian world. I poured all
of that into the stories my son loved and wrote them for myself as a way of
healing."
On Feehan's website, christinefeehan.com, an online community has some 70,000 members from more than 100 countries. There are extras such as book trailers, screen savers, puzzles, deleted scenes, "making of" articles and, for the Dark Series, audios of the Carpathian language. On a message board, conversations about the new Dark Prince are already in full swing.
In addition to interacting with readers online, Feehan hosts an annual, three-day FAN convention with fellow author Brenda Novak. The gathering takes place on the Delta King, a riverboat hotel in Old Sacramento, Calif., and includes festivities like a speakeasy-themed event, bingo brunch, mystery dinner theater, author chats and book signings.
Feehan plans to keep going with the Dark Series as long as she "can feel fresh and passionate about each story." Luckily for fans, her enthusiasm for crafting Carpathian adventures is as strong as ever. In the works right now is Dark Predator, which has an unusual spin, Feehan said. The 20th title in the series, Dark Slayer, also "was completely different from any book I had ever done. I never know where these characters are going to take me, and I love that."--Shannon McKenna Schmidt