Join in a book talk with Markus Redmond on “Blood Rising.”
BOOK TALK DETAILS
8/25/2026
SCHULER BOOKS INC
2513 JACKSON AVE
ANN ARBOR, MI 48103-3818
About the Author:
Markus William Redmond (born February 5, 1971) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter.
In 2024, Redmond signed a three-book deal with the Dafina imprint of Kensington for “Blood Slaves: The Blood Saga”, to be distributed by Penguin Random House. The saga is a reimagining of the vampire origin story set during the early days of American slavery. The story blends alternate history with supernatural horror, as the last surviving member of an ancient African vampire tribe meets a slave desperate for freedom, and together, they lead an army of enslaved people in a blood-soaked battle for freedom and revenge. The hardcover was released on July 29, 2025.
About the Book:
In a brilliantly terrifying blend of supernatural horror and alternate history for fans of Ryan Coogler’s?Sinners?and readers of Victor LaValle, Tananarive Due, and Stephen Graham Jones, a vengeful vampire tribe formed of formerly enslaved Africans wages war across the Southern colonies in the ultimate battle of blood and betrayal.
Kwadzo Okoro never believed the bloody legend of Ramanga was real. Now, he stands as the leader of a new Ramanga Tribe, one that sieged the Barrow plantation in a storm of righteous carnage, liberating its formerly enslaved Africans. Reclaimed as the Crimson Plantation, it is now also home to the wronged Natives who fearlessly aligned with the Ramangans.
But Kwadzo knows that freedom is not secure. Bartholomew and Constance Crabtree, the most influential slaveholders in the region since the demise of Big Jim Barrow, are galvanizing the Lakeside community to strike back—violently. The threat they pose, however, pales in comparison to the insidious menace of Penelope Knudsen. Her white-hot hatred, now fueled by Ramangan blood, and an ability to survive the sunlight—a power Kwadzo doesn’t have—threatens to upend Kwadzo’s advancement of Ramangan might throughout the colonies to free his people.
But the gravest threat comes from within: Rafazi. His blood fathered the rebellion, but he will not take orders from his own creation. And when Rafazi makes a deadly deal with the Crabtrees, Kwadzo is forced into a battle with his maker that he may not survive, while the everlasting freedom of every enslaved person in the colonies hangs in the balance.
In Carolina and beyond, a reckoning is coming that will change the colonies forever.
