1710, in the Province of Carolina, Willie seeks the unattainable: Freedom. With his beloved Gertie and their unborn child, Willie and family suffer under their brutal master, ‘Big Jim’ Barrow. Barrow’s plantation was built by the blood, sweat, and tears of the enslaved. To flee is to be hunted and killed. Then Willie gets a starnge offer from Rafazi, a mysterious slave with a blood-chilling path to liberation.
Rafazi hails from the Kingdom of Ghana, and is the lone survivor of the African vampire tribe the Ramanga. He had roamed for centuries seeking to replenish the power that defined his village. With Willie, Rafazi has a willing subject to help his hungry revolt. Willie will do whatever it takes to free his people from this terrible bondage.
An army of slaves, thirsting for blood, thirsting for revenge. Yet Gertie knows no good can come from this vampiric legacy. Caught between knowing only evil can fight evil and the love of his life, Willie is forced to make an irreversible decision.
Only one thing is certain: on the Barrow plantation, and beyond, blood will spill.
Why we’re excited about this book:
Markus Redmond is poised to take the horror world by storm with his chilling first novel. Redmond’s career covers film directing and producing (The 6th Degree), screenwriting (If I Had Known I Was a Genuis), and acting, with credits in such films as Fight Club, This Is Now, K-11, and tv series such as NYPD Blue, Mad About You, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. With his explosive debut novel, Redmond rewrites history with a blood-thirsty and relevant vampire battle for freedom and revenge. David Greenwalt (Executive producer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer) calls Blood Slaves a : “A stunning page-turner of a novel that has all the makings of a ‘must see’ television series: love, loss, romance, betrayal, tons of action, and a spectacular, timeless look at the eternal battle of good vs. evil. Blood Slaves is a wondrous new history of justice and revenge. It is the American Game of Thrones.”, Alex Gonzalez (REKT) says: “There’s a really impressive balance in the book where the disturbing, genuinely upsetting stuff is the reality and the fun, bombastic genre flare is the fantasy. In lesser hands, the vampires could’ve been sadistic and the slave abuse could’ve been farcical, but Redmond walks the line with acumen: equal parts enraged and, simply, a fan of vampires.”, and Nicholas Belardes (Ten Sleep) says: “Redmond paints such a disturbingly real portrait of inhumanity in the early American South that you’ll beg the vampires to rise and destroy every plantation and slave owner.”
Releasing from Dafina 29 July 2025, Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA