The Book of Blood and Roses: An Author Interview with Annie Summerlee

Happy Friday! We hope you had lovely start of the new year. We're excited to be back to bring you more book recommendations and wonderful interviews! Let's kick it off with Annie Summerlee, the writer of sapphic vampire x vampire hunter romantasy, The Book of Blood and Roses. In this interview, Annie shares with us where the idea for the book came from, tells us more about the characters, and how she sprinkled her own academia background into the story.

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Thank you for joining us, Annie! Could you start by introducing yourself?

Thanks for having me! I’m Annie Summerlee, a half-Scottish half-Spanish author living in a sunny sea-side town in Catalonia. I have a rescue dog, two cats, and maybe a few too many house plants. I’m also a lesbian, and I love writing about couples historians would call very good friends!

We would love to know more about The Book of Blood and Roses and what inspired you to write it!

I’ve always loved vampire books, and one day, while I was watching What We Do in The Shadows with my girlfriend, the seeds of what is now The Book of Blood and Roses came to me. I thought: what would happen if a vampire hunter went undercover in a vampire university? 

It obviously had to be sapphic, and I wanted to set it in the Scottish Highlands, because that’s a very nostalgic place for me. Then I tapped into my own university days, and thought about what I would have liked my campus to have looked like, if I’d gone to a nicer one. That’s how Tynahine, the setting, was born. 

What do you love most about the genre of romantic fantasy? Do you have any favourite tropes? Do some perhaps appear in this book?

I’ve always been a sucker for a love story, and fantasy is such an exciting genre to combine with romance. You get double the stakes (pun intended!), and overall, romantic fantasy makes for such a fun read. My favourite trope is unsurprisingly enemies to lovers. I love the angst and tension that it brings, and it came out quite naturally in The Book of Blood and Roses. The main character, Rebecca, is a vampire hunter, so falling in love with a vampire is no easy business. In terms of micro-tropes, you’ll find the classic “who did this to you?”, which I may have twisted a little, along with forced proximity, “and they were roommates” and a dash of found family.

Can you tell us a little bit about your characters? Which, if any, do you identify with most and why?

The lead, Rebecca Charity, is a deeply damaged protagonist. She has spent the last four years hunting vampires, surrounding herself with violence, and losing a part of herself. She’s quite prejudiced at the start of the novel, but as she gets to know the rest of the cast, her worldview is challenged, and she grows a lot. 

Aliz, her love interest, is a total playboy. She comes off as quite stand-offish and spoiled at the start, as she’s the heir to the most powerful vampire family in Europe, and she does have a bit of a superiority complex. I loved writing a butch character who is very comfortable in her own skin, and as Rebecca gets to know her, she realises Aliz is actually kind of silly. 

Another character I think will leave an impression on readers is Elia, one of Aliz’s past flames, who is somewhat obsessed with pink. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but let’s just say that your impression of her might change as you get further along in the book. 

And which characters do you hope your readers will connect with the most?

I’d love people to connect with Rebecca! She has so many issues, but hopefully people can see themselves in her rough edges, and understand why she is the way she is by the end of the book. 

Are you a plotter or pantser? What did the writing process look like for you?

Definitely a mixture of both. For The Book of Blood and Roses, I had a general concept, but set out to write draft-zero without an outline. The end product was incredibly chaotic and basically had no plot, but it gave me the characters and setting to play around with. 

I think I wrote that first draft in two months, and then I sat down and wrote a proper outline, focusing not only on plot points, but on character arcs. That really helped shape the second draft into something that was readable. When I was reaching the end of that first round of edits and was about to start querying agents, we fostered a dog (who we’ve now adopted) and she had nine puppies, so it was one of the most chaotic periods of my life. 

Did you have to do any research for this book?

I went to Inverness a couple of times, mainly while I was editing, just to get a better sense of the place. I went there as a teenager with my grandmother, so it was really strange to be back with my frontal lobe fully developed. For the vampire lore, I wanted to lean into the camp aspects of traditional or classic lore, adding a weakness to garlic and whatnot. And Aliz not having a reflection makes for quite a fun scene early in the book. My research for that side of things mainly consisted of browsing a million different sites, along with a few books. 

You have a degree in History of Art. Is that something that helped you with the academic setting and parts of the book? 

It was really helpful, because I was able to dig into all the things that were missing in my own days in academia, and put those into the book. My alma mater is a very provincial university that no one outside of Catalonia has heard of, so I had a lot of fun coming up with this secret and elite university. I also had a few back and forths about academia in Scotland, mainly texting cousins who went to Glasgow uni. 

My degree in History of Art definitely shaped one of the side characters, Julia, who is a painter. I wanted her style to be a mix of some contemporary and early twentieth century art, so I borrowed from Alexandra Levasseur and James Ensor to visualise her paintings, which play an important part in the third act of the book. 

Have you come across any new surprises or challenges in writing or publishing so far? How have you overcome them?

I think AI is causing a lot of damage to the publishing industry as a whole, but one of the strangest experiences I’ve had so far is being tagged in a review that used AI-generated images of my characters. Aliz, who is a butch character, was depicted as a femme woman. It was uncanny. 

The Book of Blood and Roses is the first book in The Callisto Chronicles. We’d love a hint about what readers can expect from the rest of the series! Are you also working on something outside of it?

I’m currently editing book two, which has a proper title but I’ve been calling 2 Blood 2 Roses on my socials. It explores other mythological and paranormal creatures, specifically within Scottish/celtic mythology, and is also considerably spicier than The Book of Blood and Roses.

Our podcast focuses on media we’re currently loving. Are there any books, shows, movies, or games you’re enjoying at the moment? Any recommendations for our audience? Bonus points if it includes sapphics!

For a non-sapphic rec, I’m completely enamoured by Robin Hobb’s Realm of The Elderlings. Because I love suffering, I guess. My girlfriend got me The Liveship Traders trilogy for my birthday and I’m so ready to dive in. 

And then there’s The Locked Tomb series. I love my tragic space lesbians. I’m currently rereading the series to prepare for Alecto the Ninth, which I’m so sure will come out this year. If it doesn’t I may have a mental breakdown. 

About the author

Annie Summerlee lives in Spain with her partner, two cats, and a foster dog. She has a degree in History of Art, and is currently studying to be a history teacher. Her short stories have been featured in 404 Ink, Litro, So To Speak, as well as other magazines and anthologies. She also writes in Catalan and Spanish, and has been shortlisted for the Premis Literaris Ciutat de Tarragona as well as the Premis Ploma els 4 Gats.