Breathless by Scott Prussing    Books by Scott Prussing · Helpless · Heartless · Unturned Stones · Fearless · Deathless                 >> View all
Category:	Fantasy	Publisher:	Scott Prussing Publishing	ISBN-10:	0615374778	Type:
Pages:	254	Copyright:	June, 2010	ISBN-13:	9780615374772	Fiction

Breathless is book one in the four book (so far) paranormal romance series The Blue Fire Saga. Buy your copy! Download to your Kindle (eBook) Download to your Nook (eBook) Amazon ScottPrussingPublishing ScottPrussingPublishing Weston College freshman Leesa Nyland has been fascinated by vampires since she was three years old. That’s when her mom started acting weird, refusing to go outside during the day and insisting the sunlight hurt her skin because she’d been bitten by a one-fanged vampire...  But fascinated doesn’t mean Leesa believes. Any more than she believes in blue fire, people who live for centuries, and kisses that can kill. But when her beloved older brother suddenly disappears, she is forced to consider all these and more.  She also has to figure out what to do about her mysterious new boyfriend. She knows Rave likes her a lot—so why won’t he kiss her? And why is he always talking about vampires?   As Leesa draws closer to finding her brother, she faces some gut-wrenching decisions. Should she risk her mom’s life trying to “cure” her? Should she continue seeing Rave, after he reveals his dangerous secret? And most terrifying of all, should she make the ultimate sacrifice—give up her humanity—to save her brother? But don't think of Breathless as merely another vampire book. Indeed, though vampires are the catalyst for the whole story, they are not the lead characters. Breathless is first and foremost a fast-paced story, with an underlying mystery and a strong romantic conflict. There are now FOUR books in this series (Deathless, Helpless and Fearless). Breathless is now available in eBook format at both Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com for just $2.99! “Breathless is a truly captivating read. The characters are impossible to forget.” ~ VampireRomanceBooks.com   “Breathless is a book you will fall in love with and want to read over and over again.” ~ Bite This! Vampire Book Blog   “Breathless is for sure a page turner. When I finished, I wanted more. I can’t wait for the sequel.” ~ Paranormal Book Club   “Breathless takes you on a spellbinding adventure. The characters are amazing.” ~ SassyBookLovers.blogspot.com Excerpt PROLOGUE Eighteen years ago Twilight was gathering when Judy Nyland stumbled out of the trees onto the narrow hiking trail, her right hand clutching her neck. Thin ribbons of drying blood streaked the back of her hand like a badly done spider web tattoo. Her long blond hair was tangled, and her normally pretty face bore a dazed, confused look as she fought to maintain her balance. At the moment, she appeared much older than her twenty-five years. Even in the shade, the air was still warm, but the woods seemed strangely silent. What was she doing out here? She winced when she turned her head to search the path—god, her neck hurt. Pulling her hand from her throat, she stared at her bloodstained palm. Was that really her hand, covered with blood? Gingerly, she touched her neck and felt a wet round hole slightly smaller than the tip of her finger. How the hell had that happened? She glanced down at her stomach, only recently beginning to swell with her second child. Thankfully, the front of her light blue T-shirt was unmarked. “Judy!” her older sister Janet shouted, hurrying down the trail. “You had me so worried.” Her eyes widened at Judy’s bloody hand. “What happened?” Janet gently grabbed her sister’s wrist and began examining her palm. “It’s not my hand,” Judy said. She tilted her head and pushed her hair aside. “It’s this.” Janet examined the wound. “Doesn’t look too bad,” she comforted. “The bleeding’s mostly stopped. We’d better get you to a doctor though, just in case. You might need a shot or something. What happened? Did you get poked by a branch?” Judy frowned. “I don’t think so… I don’t remember.” A faint image began taking shape in her brain. She struggled to bring it into focus. It was a man. Very pale and very thin. His eyes bored into hers, mesmerizing her. She knew she should run, that he meant her ill, but she was frozen, rooted to the ground. As he moved closer, his lips peeled back, revealing a single yellow fang. “Oh my god,” Judy said, grabbing her sister’s arm with both hands. “I think I was bitten by a vampire. A one-fanged vampire.” “Uhhh…sure. A vampire,” Janet said, a bit more sarcastically than she meant to. “With only one fang. Makes perfect sense. And much more likely than being poked by a sharp branch, for sure.” Judy touched her neck again, confused. What the hell had happened? Were her hormones running amok? Her husband had been teasing her about watching too many vampire shows. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember. It had been so clear just a moment ago…

Kindle Edition Paperback

Breathless: Scott Prussing
Review of Breathless: Scott Prussing
By: Renee C. Fountain 10.12.2010
Rating: 4 stars

Leesa Nyland’s childhood wasn’t like other kids’, as she watched her mother struggle with strange afflictions after claiming she was bitten by a one-fanged vampire. Things get even worse when Leesa’s brother, Bradley, suddenly disappears from college after meeting a mysterious girl.

Now 18, Leesa is attending the same Connecticut college where her brother’s disappearance remains a mystery and in the same town that her mother’s alleged vampire attack took place. Looking forward to her Vampire Science class in the hopes that she’ll finally get some answers, Leesa seems to find more even questions.

After a few weeks of settling in, Leesa meets the gorgeous and incredibly charming, Rave. Not only does Rave steal Leesa’s heart, but Leesa learns that Rave is different from the other boys—much different.

As she searches for clues of her brother’s whereabouts, Leesa ends up learning so much more than she ever imagined about love, life, family and things that go bump in the night—things that may also include her.

I have to give kudos to Scott Prussing for writing a book that, although it includes vampires, has managed to break away from the same old over-worked concepts and instead puts a new and creative spin on things. Rather than being the focus, vampires are the catalyst that brings in much-needed new blood to the supernatural world in the form deadly vampire hunters known as volkaanes.

With straight forward prose and a fresh perspective, there are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very last page has been turned.

A riveting tale of passion, danger and forbidden love; Breathless breathes new life into the vampire genre.
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Hardcover: 254 pages
Publisher: Scott Prussing Publishing; 1ST edition (2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0615374772
Buy it at http://scottprussingpublishing.com/

Scott Prussing Will Leave You Breathless
SCOTT PRUSSING WILL LEAVE YOU BREATHLESS -- Feature Interview
By: Renee C. Fountain | 10.11.2010 |

When a friend of mine asked me to take a look at a manuscript a friend of his wrote, I was a bit leery. Never one to turn down a friend's request for a favor, I reluctantly agreed—and I am so glad I did. Even in its early stages, Breathless was a pretty good read.

Now, after a little tweaking and a bit of polish, Breathless is a very good read. So without further delay, let’s meet the man behind the book:

So, Scott, what made you decide to write a para-romance type book?
It all started with an offhand comment by a friend. He had just read—and really liked—one of my unpublished mystery/suspense manuscripts. He’s familiar with the difficulties of getting published, and he said I “should write something with vampires in it. Anything with vampires sells.” I decided that was a pretty good idea, and thus was Breathless born.


For me, Breathless was a sort of Vampire Diaries Goes to College with a hint of Underworld—in a good way. Did you read the Twilight Saga, watch True Blood or Vampire Diaries?
I purposely did not read the Twilight series, because I didn’t want to “borrow” anything from it, even subconsciously. I read about the series to give myself some direction, since a paranormal romance was so far from anything I’d ever written—and not very close to anything I’d ever read.
I finally saw the Twilight movie on television in June. I haven’t watched True Blood because I don’t have HBO and I saw my first episode of Vampire Diaries just last week. I enjoyed the Underworld movies even before I decided to write Breathless and I watched some other vampire movies and TV shows to give myself some vampire background. Tax deductible movies—how cool is that?


The whole young girl at college, falling in love was well-rendered. How does a single 50 year old man "get into the mind of a teenage girl?"
I knew going in that this would be my biggest challenge. Since my primary audience is women in their teens and twenties (although women and men of all ages have been telling me how much they enjoy Breathless), I had to make sure whatever I wrote about clothes, music, dialogue, thoughts and feelings rang true. So, I placed an ad on Craigslist looking for a female college student to be my resource.
I heard back from a number of helpful women, but one stood out from the rest; Jessica was a junior at the time and was also interning at a small publishing company and writing a book of her own. She not only provided information and insight on teen/college life, she even did some preliminary editing for me. Amazingly, I've still never met Jessica in person.


You introduced a new supernatural “species”. Where did you get the idea for Rave?
I’m not really sure. I didn’t want the male love interest to be a vampire, because that’s been done and overdone, so I had to come up with something else. I wanted something original so I invented my own supernatural creature, a volkaane. Rave just kind of evolved. If he was going to be a vampire hunter, he would need a special power and I liked the idea of an “inner fire.”
Making volkaanes unable to use modern appliances because of that inner energy enabled me to put extra obstacles between Leesa and Rave. The story would have been much different if Leesa could have simply called him on his cell whenever she needed or wanted him.


Why did you choose to have volkaanes kill vampires by "kissing" them?
It wasn’t so much about having volkaanes slay vampires by kissing them as it was making his kiss deadly, to put another obstacle in his relationship with Leesa. It also made it necessary for any combat with a vampire to be at close quarters, rather than shooting a bolt of fire from his hand, for instance. Right from the beginning I thought “Breathless” was a pretty good title, and the idea of “taking her breath away” fit right in.


Would you date a girl who could incinerate you with a kiss?
As Leesa would say, “Ha!” I definitely did not expect this question. I guess yes, if I knew she had good control. I enjoy kissing, and an “extra hot” kiss would be pretty great. I’d make sure I stayed on her good side, though!


Did you do anything special in the book, ala The Sixth Sense and the color red?
Actually, every chapter of Breathless begins with the opening line—or partial opening line—of another book, poem or play. I mainly just wanted to do something different. It was very challenging, but also very fun to find the right lines and work them into my story without being overly obvious or jarring to the reader.
The lines are taken from authors as disparate as Dickens, Salinger, Goodkind, Poe and St. Exupery. Some are from classics, while others are from sci-fi/fantasy or other books that I think readers of Breathless might enjoy. My hope is that some readers will be motivated to find these other books and give them a try. There are also many other literary references sprinkled throughout the book.

So, you’ve basically included a literary version of the “Easter Egg” – you gamers know what I’m talking about.

Before we finish up, are you planning a sequel to Breathless?
If my readers demand it, I’ll be happy to write a sequel. I wrapped up most of the main conflicts in Breathless—I hate books that leave major things hanging at the end, so I wouldn’t do that—but there is an underlying magical phenomenon I named Destiratu growing throughout the book; and I made it clear that if Destiratu keeps growing, then trouble is on the way…
Well, I’m sure your fans will want more of Leesa and Rave, so we’ll keep an eye out for that sequel.

Thanks for taking the time, Scott, it’s been fun.
You can find Scott Prussing at
http://www.scottprussingpublishing.com