Follow TV Tropes

Following

Darth Wiki / A Lonely Road

Go To

A Lonely Road is a novel, currently in the final stages of polishing now finished, but yet to be submitted to any publishers. As for when it will be published... how long does it usually take an unknown author to get a first novel accepted by a publisher and then actually published? A Lonely Road is a working title, and if it's used at all it will be the title of the trilogy of which this is the first instalment.

The reality of being a teenage vampire is that you only get to stay in one place for a few years before people start to look at you funny. And that's if you're lucky. A chance encounter with an old friend forces eternally seventeen-year-old Alexis Micros to uproot his new life and move on yet again. Misadventures ensue as he crosses most of the US, eventually coming to rest in Los Angeles.

The death of a stray cat is the final straw in a chain of introspection, brushes with death, and encounters with old and new friends and enemies that leads Alexis to the decision to reveal the existence of vampires to the world.

Having found a journalist who will listen, the resulting interview becomes an extended flashback to his human life and first years as a vampire, in Ancient Greece. When, back in the present day, it is published, Alexis must now face the wrath of his fellow vampires.


A Lonely Road contains examples of:

The Ageless: Vampires in this incarnation are immortal, but less indestructible than many, and can be hurt or fall ill, and potentially die from either.

Byronic Hero: Alexis fits this trope.

The Determinator: Does two and a half years seem like a long time to hold a grudge? Try two and a half millenia, and Philip is still so determined to kill Alexis that being thrown off a cliff won't stop him.

Elderly Immortal: Youthful vampires are comparatively rare, and middle aged and older is not uncommon. Notably Barak, whose age is ambiguous, but certainly well into middle age.

Exposition of Immortality: The Incriminating Evidence version kicks off the story, when Fergus recognises his old friend, still the same teenager he was ten years ago. The Such Memories! version comes up more than once, most notably in an extended flashback that takes up a third of the novel.

Happiness in Slavery: Before he was a vampire, Alexis was a mild case of type one: though not averse to the idea of manumission, he wasn't unhappy as a slave and made no active attempt to win his freedom.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Barak is not a conventionally nice person. He takes the traditional vampire view that humans are basically animals. But even before he became a vampire, without that rationale, he was a pirate and slave trader. He doesn't have any problem with breaking the law, or hurting other people in general. But when a friend needs help...

Kids Are Cruel: Kyros, the only other young (chronologically, though not physically) vampire in the community, makes the fledgling Alexis' life a misery, and goes as far as attempting to kill him, and almost succeeding.

My Grandson, Myself: Barak mentions that he once spent over seventy years in one place, pretending to be four generations of his family.

Not Growing Up Sucks: Being forever a teenager makes immortality harder on Alexis than most older vampires.

The Quiet One: The monosyllabic Darius.

Really 700 Years Old: Not even close. Alexis is over 2500 years old, and he's not even the oldest person he knows.

Who Wants To Live For Ever: Not Alexis. This is central to the plot.

You Shall Not Pass!: Barak attacks Philip, telling Alexis to "Run, you damn fool".


Top