In addition to reading and writing about vampires, preferably ones with redeeming social value, my passion is cars. I have a 64 Studebaker Station Wagon (modified for reliability and safety) a modified 66 Mustang Convertible and a highly modified 05 Roush Convertible.
My Studebaker is currently in the shop to repair the gas gauge and change out the rear end ratio for cruising and gas mileage in preparation for the Power Tour starting 11 June in Gonzales, Louisiana, then traveling through Texas (Baytown, Austin, DFW Area, and then to Oklahoma City, Wichita, Kansas and finishing up in Kansas City on the 17th). With the extreme rain we’ve had in Texas this April I just hope it dries out enough to allow the tour to be safely held…older cars don’t do as well in rain as newer vehicles. My Studebaker has four-wheel power disc brakes, Heidts front suspension with power rack and pinion steering and is powered by an 05 Dodge Truck Hemi and five-speed automatic to nine-inch Ford rear with 4.11 Detroit Locker (being changed to a cruising gear). This Wagonaire model’s rear top slides forward allowing it to become more like a truck to carry tall items like a refrigerator.
The 66 Mustang has Heidts front suspension, front disc brakes, rack and pinion power steering. The engine is based on a Ford design but is a 363ci Dart-Iron Eagle four bolt main, with Siamese cylinder bores allowing for up to 383 ci. It has forged crank, H-Beam rods, and forged and coated pistons. It has a custom torque-grind roller cam, Edelbrock Performer Heads, intake and Thunder 650 carb, Hooker long tube headers & Dr. Gas X-Pipe for exhaust. We hogged out the radiator support and installed a larger Be Cool dual core aluminum radiator & twin electric fans designed for a 68 Mustang. Power goes through a McLeod Dual Clutch to a built up Tremec 3550 five-speed and limited-slip 3.55 rear gear. The engine produces over 400 rwtq w/o the nitrous and Global West sub-frame connectors with traction bars keep things all together.
My 05 Roush-Mustang has a Livernois 5.0 3V engine with ProCharger-D Supercharger & 3-row Innercooler detuned to 528 rwhp w/o the 250 shot of nitrous. We adapted the underside to accept a TR-6060 six-speed with McLeod dual-clutch. It has Kooks long-tube headers and X-pipe, high-flow cats and SpinTech Mufflers. A 3.73 limited slip rear puts the power to the pavement through forged GT-5 American Racing 19″ Wheels with P-Zero Rosso Assemetrical Pirelli 245-40×19 tires in front and 275-35×19 tires in the rear. These stick like glue when it has been on the road course, helped by J&M suspension goodies and Global-West sub-frame connectors. Stopping the beast is done with Baer GT Calipers & Zinc Washed Erradispeed 14″ front drilled and slotted rotors w/D&S Z-washed rotors in rear. It has flames & body mods also.
Now that I’ve told you about the three vehicles I’ve got, let me tell you a little about the three books in my three-part Paranormal-Romance series, “Immortal Relations.”
In the first book my alter-ego, Gary Logan, finds a photograph that proves something his late mother had said when he was just a young child, decades earlier, but which at the time he was too young to understand. His late father had a tryst while assigned overseas immediately after WW-II. Gary decides to travel to the site in the Czech Republic. In Prague he meets a lady who seems to know far more about his family than possible; however, Gary quickly figures out she is more than what she seems, she is a vampire…but love will not be denied. To be with her, Gary will need to be accepted into the group of vampires; however, these are not the blood-thirsty type. Having been turned against their will they’ve refused to abase themselves and have sworn to defend innocent humans from evil, be it the “Bram Stoker” type of vampires, human criminals or evil politicians who seek to force themselves on populations they had sworn to serve.
Picked up in a beautiful 1947 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith Saloon, Gary and his lover Magdalena and her daughter Eviana are chauffeured up to the castle of the Guardian Vampires in the deep forest well above Prague. While riding to Gary’s appointment to be interviewed, Eviana, whose love of cars includes driving fast at night without headlights (vampire eyesight is so good) tells Gary of the coven’s fabulous vehicles including brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Austin-Martin, Jaguar, a Bugatti Veyron SS and a very special, original Ford GT-40, one of those that won the race at Le Mann.
Initially Gary felt over awed by his meeting with the coven and doubted they would accept him, but the leader of the group known as “Grandmother” saw something worthwhile in his idea that the vampires were wrong in their belief that they were damned, especially since they had been turned against their will and rather than attacking humans protected them from evil. Allowed to join, the adult nature of the story comes out in the “explicit togetherness” they enjoy. This is after all an adult Paranormal-Romance series. But Gary must use his military training and experience to safeguard the Guardian coven from a large, evil gang of vampires who seek to destroy them so the gang can feed on the humans without interference. Action takes place in the Czech Republic, England and in the Russian Federation. The first book can be viewed at http://amazon.com/dp/B006ZCBT6G with the Kindle price reduced to $.99.
The second book carries the action to new heights as Communist China invades Siberia to capture the rich oil and mineral fields as well as living space for their burgeoning population. Our good vampires must stop a war that could easily turn into a nuclear Armageddon. There are also potential “extinction level events” at the failed reactors at Chernobyl and Fukushima, Japan that must be dealt with. The second book is at http://amazon.com/dp/B00A4IEHL6 also reduced to $.99 on Kindle’s App.
In the third book, the Guardian Vampires set up a coven in Southern Canada to monitor and help resist the efforts of Marxists in the U.S. who are trying to destroy the Constitutional Republic and replace it with a Socialist Dictatorship. The Marxists believe this new group to be the ones who thwarted their Chinese Communist friends from taking over Siberia so they try to destroy them, not realizing they are dealing with vampires who are more than just a little hard to kill. Their nefarious actions backfire and they sulk in the corner rather than being willing to help when the asteroid Ceres threatens the Earth. Once again our good vampires are called upon to solve the danger from outer space. The third book is http://amazon.com/dp/B00G5BQS18 and is also $.99 on Kindle.
