ASCENDANCY OF BLOOD

In a magic forest where deep shadows pulse across the surfaces of lace-veined leaves, and night blooms ripple in shades of swirling indigo, there is an enchanted castle. Courtiers, pages, cooks, and stable boys slumber as still as death, and a golden princess languishes in her rose-strewn bower, waiting for her prince charming.

But the princess sleeps with a black wood stake through her heart, and her petal-soft lips conceal a pair of razor fangs. Is the prince savior or her ill-fated prey, lured to sinister purpose by a night fiend ruling a castle of the damned?

This is not the fairy tale you remember.

32 pages
Chapbook (2004): SOLD OUT
ISBN-10: 0-9748340-7-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-9748340-7-8

This chapbook is out of print, but “Ascendancy of Blood” is now available at anthologybuilder.com.

Combining elements of Sleeping Beauty and vampire tales, Ascendancy of Blood is a quick, sharply-told, gorgeously-described chapbook by up-and-coming author, Eugie Foster. Her strength here lies in the lush prose and seductive imagery that permeates the pages.

—Michael M. Jones, SF Site

“Ascendancy of Blood” is Eugie Foster’s retelling of the fairy tale, “Sleeping Beauty.” But this retelling is sinister, a children’s tale no more, fraught with peril and filled with blood.

—Michael Gabriel Bailey, Tangent

A refreshing look at a traditional tale. Eugie Foster has written an enchanting little tale that keeps the reader interested until the very last word.

—Lesley, The Eternal Night

Foster’s got this style, this way of phrasing that makes you forget that you know what’s going to happen, and instead get lost in the flow of her words . . . . She’s a very good writer and I hope we start to hear a lot more from her.
—C. Dennis Moore, The Swamp

Just when readers think nothing new can be done to an old fable, along comes Foster. She reinvents sleeping beauty. Her take entertains and her twist, surprises . . . A fast, horror read that will surprise fable lovers.
—Christina Francine Withcher, Yet Another Book Review Site