All are welcome to a conversation with award-winning YA author Victor Dixen about his latest novel to be translated from French to English, La Cour des ténèbres (The Court of Shadows). In this captivating novel, a fiery heroine seeks vengeance against a royal court of deadly vampires at Versailles.
From the Press Release:
Victor Dixen, who grew up in Versailles, has long been interested in the Grand Siècle, which shaped France into what it is today: centralization of power, development of architecture and the arts, the rise of gastronomy, and the art of living. It’s a pivotal moment in French history that brims with paradoxes. It’s the time of Descartes, of Pascal, and of the advent of reason, which prefigured the Age of Enlightenment. But paradoxically, it’s also an age of darkness, with an incredible resurgence of superstitions and of the occult. Witchcraft was never more practiced in France than under Louis XIV, while in Spain, the Inquisition reached its sinister apogee, and in America, suspected witches were burned in Salem.
In THE COURT OF SHADOWS, Dixen has composed a baroque and horrifying alternate history of this pivotal period in history. "Essentially, this story is a way for me to tackle an icon that has always fascinated me, the vampire,” says Dixen. “The vampire is, in fact, the supreme literary creation, truly immortal, always reborn from its ashes, from century to century, from book to book." In writing THE COURT OF SHADOWS, Dixen was inspired by Anne Rice for her intoxicating Gothic ambiance and characters with psychological depth; Alexandre Dumas for his breadth of epic adventure; and Quentin Tarantino for his frenzied pacing, the eruption of “pop” patterns in the narrative, and psychological tension.
Praise for The Court of Shadows:
“Supernatural alternate histories don’t come much more suspenseful or fully realized than this impressive series debut from Dixen.... Dixen excels at concocting unexpected detours and jaw-dropping cliffhangers. Anne Rice fans will be especially enthralled.” –Publishers Weekly
“Seductive, thrilling, and deliciously dark, THE COURT OF SHADOWS brings the glamour and danger of eighteenth-century Versailles to life. This is historical fantasy at its finest!”
–Kass Morgan, bestselling author of The 100
“I loved it! The tension, the intrigue, the undercurrents of revolution, and above all else, a warrior girl who still wants to love and be loved. This will be an immediate classic. Bravo!” –Amy Harmon, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author