L. Marie Wood is the recipient of the following awards: Winner, Golden Stake Award for The Promise Keeper, International Vampire Film and Arts Festival 2019. A young girl, on the cusp of sexual maturity, in what is now known as Benin, West Africa, is seduced by a beautiful stranger, a man the likes of which she has never seen before. Their encounter changes her forever. She becomes an asiman, a vampire: one of the undead. The Promise Keeper comes to her, willing her to do his bidding--to keep an unspoken promise. He probes her mind and plants suggestions so she will follow his plan, until she fights back. She runs, her travels taking her to Europe and the Caribbean over centuries to escape him. She finally settles in New York City, convinced that she has eluded him... until she falls in love. The Promise Keeper is a story of love, despair, murder, and deceit.
Industry Reviews
"They call it the Death House. For the women awaiting execution at Raskin Correctional, it's the last place they'll ever know. This is where Lucky meets Angie, and the two forge a friendship through the walls of their cells. But Angie is no regular inmate. She is an asiman, a vampire-like creature from African folklore, and she's lived many lives before coming to the Death House. Before she's executed, Angie begs Lucky to become an asiman herself, return to the world, and protect Angie's son from the creature that turned her the Promise Keeper. This is a lush horror story that crosses continents and spans decades, with all the sex and bloodletting of the best vampire tales. But Wood goes deeper, using vampire lore to paint a moving portrait of two women forced to make impossible choices in an unforgiving world where the evil lies in both monster and man. Vampire fans will get their fill here, as will horror readers thirsty for a fresh, unexpected take on one of the genre's oldest mythologies." Library Journal
"For those who cannot get enough of erotic horror and want more diverse characters, The Promise Keeper is required reading. Fans of Jewelle Gomez's The Gilda Stories to L.A. Banks's Vampire Huntress series must read The Promise Keeper . It is addictive and compelling, and it will keep you turning the pages to race to the ending." Eva Roslin, Librarian, reviewer and author of Dark Heroes