![\"Rainville\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/selfpublished\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/SINGLE-PAGE-COVER-195x300.jpg?resize=195%2C300\" "\\"Rainville\\"")
Author<\/h2>\nE. Lee Zimmerman<\/p>\n
E. Lee Zimmerman wrote his first “epic” in the sixth grade \u2013 a gripping science fiction yarn pitting Earth\u2019s first sentient robot against a supreme galactic threat. His teacher promptly rewarded him with a trip to the principal’s office. Although suspecting he was in trouble, the truth turned out to be much more benign: The Powers That Be were only interested in encouraging that impressionable young lad to continue exploring his craft but \u2018go easy\u2019 on writing short novels as homework assignments.<\/p>\n
He kept at it, continuing to pen short stories, one-act plays, and the occasional business article for the next thirty years \u2026 but, like most budding authors, he’s spent an immeasurable amount of time toiling in obscurity, a condition he\u2019s hoping to now change with the self-publication of Rainville. Vampires figure prominently into the world he\u2019s created, but they\u2019re a far cry from the cuddly teenagers populating the literary scene as of late. He returns them to a point where they began as monsters mankind had every cause to fear. While this book in what he\u2019s planning to be an ongoing \u201cTales of the Freeborn Saga\u201d isn\u2019t the first novel he\u2019s written, it is the first novel he\u2019s actively promoted.<\/p>\n
He lives in Arizona with his lovely wife and an endless number of stray animals who rely on him for sustenance and goodwill.<\/p>\n
In days of old, human immigrants arrived to the United States at Ellis Island. They were registered and allowed entry into the new world where they could start a life, make a living, and even begin a family.<\/p>\n
But what about the inhuman ones? What of the Undead?<\/p>\n
They, too, had a private port-of-entry. It was a dark stop lying just to the north of New York City in a waterfront town known as Port Gallows. There, the first thing these arrivals saw was the waiting scaffolds and a dangled hangman\u2019s noose. The town elders put it there to serve as a warning to them that America \u2013 the land of opportunity \u2013 will not tolerate the lawlessness these monsters have known before. So long as the Undead follow The Code, they were free to come-and-go as they pleased \u2026 but the minute they strayed from those simple rules they were put to death without question or defense.<\/p>\n
Thirty years ago, those same town elders threw Delbert Mills out of the city of Port Gallows.<\/p>\n
Those who remember call it ‘Blood Town,’ a horrific scandal that sent shock waves through the small coastal community. It was the day an entire Clan of Vampires met their bitter end. So far as he cared, Mills knew those vampires wanted a fight, and all he did was send them to their grave as a price for disobeying The Code. For his part in the affair, he was exiled from the home he’d been sworn to defend.<\/p>\n
Thirty years later, Delbert Mills may be the only man who can save them.<\/p>\n
Vampires have run loose over Port Gallows. When a bloodsucker sets his sights on murdering one of the Freeborn — a secret caste of warriors officially sanctioned to police the Undead — Mills will be drawn back into a mystery almost as old as he is …<\/p>\n
… and it may cost more lives than his own.<\/p>\n
However, he won\u2019t be able to serve justice alone. He\u2019ll return to the Rainville Social Club, and he\u2019ll be joined by<\/p>\n
Rainville is Book 1 in the Saga of the Freeborn.<\/p>\n
Book excerpt<\/p>\n
For better or worse, I\u2019ve always done the right thing.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t much care what the Bible said, though I used to preach the Good Book. Folks would tell me they didn\u2019t see a difference between followin\u2019 a Commandment \u2018n doin\u2019 right by their fellow man. I\u2019d tell \u2018em that knowin\u2019 right from wrong didn\u2019t make it so. Ya gotta do good in order for it to have meanin\u2019. Anyway, I did what I\u2019d been told was required in my service to the Freeborn Brotherhood. I checked in with the local parish when I got to town. I checked in with the Church. Father Giannetti \u2013 the local minister \u2013 agreed to pass word up to New York. They\u2019d pass it wherever it needed to land. I never expected to hear back. I never did.<\/p>\n
After I pissed in the privacy of the woods, I found the man waitin\u2019 \u2018neath the trees along the edge of our drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI presume it\u2019s safe, Brother Mills?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs what safe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sun-up,\u201d he reminded me. \u201cI assume your children are asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould be,\u201d I said, \u201cbut, just so\u2019s ya know, that\u2019s a myth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI beg your pardon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat whole burnin\u2019 up in sunlight? It ain\u2019t true. See, rays from the sun damage \u2018em plenty, but it takes time. A vampire\u2019s heart is dead. When vamps move around the blood circulates all of its own. The body becomes one big pump. Blood ain\u2019t coursin\u2019 through their veins, not the way it does through yours \u2018n mine. Blood has to soak in. Too much sunlight gives vampires a nasty burn that takes a while to heal, so it ain\u2019t good for \u2018em. They sure as shit don\u2019t much care for it. But it\u2019d take quite a long time to kill one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man visibly swallowed, then turned pale. \u201cI see.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe myths of man remain just myths.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slowly, he glanced past my shoulder. I figured he\u2019d be on the look-out now that he feared for his safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cYa can rest easy, Father,\u201d I said. \u201cVampires don\u2019t much care for men o\u2019 the cloth, seein\u2019 the part we played in writin\u2019 the Code they follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWeren\u2019t you a man of the cloth?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was. I gave it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enthusiastic, he smiled. \u201cThat\u2019s good to know. About the sunlight, I mean. I\u2019m sorry to hear that you \u2026 that you set the calling aside \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can I help ya?\u201d I quickly cut \u2018im off.<\/p>\n
Clearin\u2019 his throat, he studied me briefly. \u201cI registered your presence with my superiors. Last night, I received a telephone call from Father McKinnon out of Port Gallows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Father Mack well enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked for me to tell you that you\u2019re needed back in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
His words hit me like a brick in the chest. My stomach grew cold. I thought I felt sweat on my palms, so I rubbed \u2018em together, then on my pants. I blinked.<\/p>\n
The sun suddenly shone a bit brighter.<\/p>\n