Ocean's Blood

A dark, gay fantasy novel about the fine line between hatred and obsession. It combines CAPTIVE PRINCE and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, placing it into a world with a whole unique lore and complex, morally gray characters whom readers will simultaneously despise and adore.

Vindt’s tranquil life as a lord’s son comes to an abrupt end when his homeland is overthrown. Friends, family, his freedom—he loses it all to Singers and their dark song magic. Human in appearance, Singers are a different species. Their powers only fail against the demons hunting them. But even this flaw has a patch: humans with a rare and valuable “trait”. It allows Singers to take over their voice and use it like a weapon. Vindt turned out to possess this trait, and was bound to a Singer by blood. Ever since, he has struggled to break free.

Unexpectedly, a chain of events binds him to a new Singer: the smug and mischievous Asche. From day one, their egos clash. Only, their encounter was no coincidence; Asche needs him—but for what? To free the Singers from the curse that plagues them? Or because Asche is on a quest for power, as the Singer’s brethren believe, who are determined to bring him down? Caught in the middle of their fight, Vindt gets yet another unexpected opponent: his wayward feelings for someone he’s supposed to hate.

When Asche’s enemies offer Vindt freedom in exchange for delivering Asche into their hands, Vindt has to make a choice.

Thelma Mantey is an author of (dark) fantasy. While she was always interested in the darker sides of human nature, the heart of her stories is ambiguity. Characters who are evil because they are evil are not her cup of tea. Instead, she believes in people with motives, in moral being a fickle thing, and beliefs a product of the arbitrary circumstances of our birth. Moral grayness shrouds her stories, thick like English autumn mist.

In all the drama and high stakes, she likes subtlety, the dynamic between characters conveyed through quiet notes and undertones. This also holds true for humor. Her humor has always been dry as the Mojave Desert and as black as her morning coffee. She used to express it in (badly drawn) cartoons before she discovered that writing is an even better vessel to snub people.

Thelma has lived in many countries, and had as many jobs; she speaks five languages fluently. These days, her life is sadly dominated by her chronic disease (ME/CFS), which forced her to give up pretty much every hobby, and increasingly often even keeps her from writing. She lives in Berlin.