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Toby Wilson's enigmatic friend from school, Raymond, has a secret, and Wilson is determined to help him keep it. So far, he has managed to keep the fact that Raymond is a 'sort-of vampire' hidden even from his best mates, Callum and George. As far as they are concerned, Raymond is just 'unusual', or 'eccentric'; after all, so long as he can play basketball with them and Wilson, what do a strange accent, a curious eye-colour, and an extraordinary amount of poise, matter?
But then a new student arrives at their school and starts to show a discomforting amount of interest in Raymond. The new student has a bullying streak, and seems to suspect that Raymond is … different. If he figures out what Raymond is hiding, Raymond and Wilson will be in the biggest trouble of their young lives: blackmail, lies, and difficult questions from parents and teachers could be just the beginning. Once again, Wilson finds himself in a graveyard at midnight with questionable company, and, suddenly, keeping Raymond and his dangerous secret safe becomes far more difficult and frightening than either Wilson or Raymond had imagined it could.
‘Raymond’s Nemesis’ is the second story in the ‘Raymond’ series.
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Raymond was published on 31 December 2017, as an end-of-year surprise for my readers. Raymond's Nemesis is scheduled for publication on the same date this year: 31 December 2018 – though if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, that will be the 30th for you, and websites that are based in the Northern Hemisphere will show the release date as the 30th.
If you want to receive Raymond's Nemesis the moment it is released, you can pre-order it.
If you're not familiar with pre-orders, they are quite simple: you can order the book in advance, but you will not be charged until the day the book is released.
Pre-orders are open now at Barnes & Noble, and should soon be available at Kobo and iBooks. You can also view the book's page at Smashwords, though pre-orders won't be available there (but you will be able to buy the book there when it is released). The price is US$0.99, which is about $1.55 in New Zealand dollars as I type this.
The cover is to be revealed in November.
Here is an extract from the story.
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A couple of weeks later, Raymond e-mailed
me to ask if we could meet at the graveyard again after school someday that
week. I replied that I had agreed to meet with Callum and George that
afternoon, but the following afternoon, which was Thursday, I would be
available.
As always, he was at the graveyard before
me. I usually chatted with George and Callum for a few minutes after school,
and that pause gave Raymond time to get a head start, so that we wouldn’t be
seen walking together.
We dumped our backpacks in the shade of the
great oak tree, and Raymond sat cross-legged in the short grass.
“What’s up?” I asked, flopping down beside
him.
“Do you recall Logan Graves, the student
who joined our school at the beginning of this term?”
I pondered. “The tall guy with dark hair?”
“Indeed. He has been displaying an interest
in me.”
I looked at him uneasily. Raymond had such
an unusual way of putting things. “What sort of … ‘interest’?”
“It is difficult to say. On numerous
occasions I have seen him observing me with definite interest, perhaps
curiosity. Generally I try not to be obvious, but this Logan seems to have noticed
me. He seems to have perceived that I am … different.”
I frowned. We were silent for a moment.
“I suppose … it was bound to happen
eventually,” I mused heavily.
“Of course,” Raymond agreed, “and I must
admit that I never had a completely satisfactory plan as to what to do when it
did.”
I looked at him. “Oh.
“… I sort of hoped that you did.”
“Most of what I do can be explained,”
Raymond said. “I have an unusual eye colour; that is remarkable, but not
abnormal. I seldom blink –”
“You never
blink,” I interjected. “Not when anyone’s looking, anyway.”
“That is true,” Raymond conceded. “I could
invent a medical condition to explain that, and also to explain why I stay out
of the sun and wear sunglasses when outside.”
“You’re pale, but lots of people are pale,
and you would be if you stay out of the sun all the time,” I supplied. “And you
have an accent because you come from Romania.”
“Just so,” agreed Raymond.
I grinned. “Your dress sense is a little
harder to explain.”
Raymond looked at me. “What is wrong with
my dress sense?”
“Nothing. That’s the whole point. You dress
better than anyone I’ve met. Certainly better than anyone else at school.”
“Ah, I see. Thank you.”
“But then most of the time we’re wearing
uniforms at school anyway. And the reason you speak like that – all politely
and properly – is that English is your second language.”
Raymond looked at me appreciatively.
“Precisely.”
“So if we can explain everything about you,
what’s the problem?”
Raymond inhaled deeply. “When you first began
to notice me, did you not say all these things to yourself in your mind?”
“Um … I suppose so.”
“And yet you still found yourself wondering
whether or not I was a vampire.”
“Well … yeah. But there was the blood
thing. That was what really made me wonder. You could have been just a really
unusual guy, except that you couldn’t keep your eyes off other people’s blood.”
“Indeed.”
“So … all you have to do is disguise your
–” I shrugged, not knowing what to call it. “Your blood obsession.”
Raymond was silent.
“It’s not that hard, is it?” I asked.
Raymond sighed. “It should not be.”
“Just stay away from anyone who bleeds,” I
told him. “You managed when Bertha threw that basketball at me. My nose was
bleeding, but you didn’t even look at me.”
“I was focussed on preventing Bertha from
harming you further.”
“Right. So … focus on something else.
Distract yourself. Just don’t let Logan see you staring.”
Raymond nodded. “You are right. It should
be easy.”
I hesitated. “Then why don’t you sound
convinced?” I pressed him. “Come on, you’re the guy with the amazing
self-control. The guy who never blinks or raises his voice. You can make
yourself look away if you have to.”
The corners of Raymond’s mouth quirked in
the merest of smiles. “You flatter me.”
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”
“Sometimes, as you know,” Raymond said
slowly, “there are moments when I am more vampiric than even I intend to be.”
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