PRELUDE TO THE APOCALYPSE is a series of five works of short fiction written in Derek Gunn's VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE universe. Each is a diary entry written from a vampire's point of view and set in five different periods in history. From the author: The main kernel of my VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE series of books came from the proliferation of 'nice' vampires that are so popular in fiction today. I never saw the vampire as an aristocratic figure, noble to a fault and lonely for a good woman's, or man's love. I always saw them as creatures who had moved on from being human over the centuries. They do not consider themselves human, most have probably forgotten they ever were. They are creatures ruled by base hunger. For all their power they are slaves to a gnawing hunger that rules there very existence. I have written some diary extracts recently as part of a back story to the VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE series. Over the course of the centuries we can see the changes going on inside the head of a vampire, how his thoughts of humanity, religion and his place in the world change him. I have tied this into the 'real' history of the world, offering a different view of how some of history's events actually happened, and the impact this had on the mindset of the vampire. They are short vignettes that try to go some way to explain how these creatures can change so drastically. Even the most noble would change their attitudes over centuries and humans are food after all. How often do you have to eat meat to no longer consider the source as intelligent?

This is the first book in Derek Gunn's Vampire Apocalypse series. The war is over and the Vampires have won. The drying up of the world's oil resources leads to the fabled End of Days. Technology stagnates and communities grow ever more insular. With communication between cities lost and attention turned inward, the vampires rise from the shadows where they have survived for centuries and sweep across the globe. By the time word spreads it is far too late and Vampires enslave humanity and keep them in walled cities to breed. The Vampires are masters of the darkness but maintain control by day through the use of Thralls - humans who have been bitten but have not yet crossed over, and whose inhuman lusts make daylight as terrifying as night. In the midst of chaos, a small band of rebels lead a terrified existence, but their survival is threatened by the Vampire's new scanning procedures. Peter Harris is an ordinary man. Young and reckless, he is frustrated with the group's stagnation and pushes for one more daring mission. His recklessness has exposed the group - but it has also increased the size of their community. Now, as circumstances force them to take the offensive, and accompanied by a small group of professional Vampire assassins, John will make one last stand for humanity's survival in the Vampire Apocalypse.

DESCENT INTO CHAOS is the second book in Derek Gunn's Vampire Apocalypse series. The War is Over. The Vampires have Won. But a new campaign is about to begin. The first battle is over and Nero is dead. Now the human survivors will pull themselves from the ruins of their base to find that the world is a very different place outside Nero's territory. Nationally, the vampires have organized themselves into cabals but the scramble for power, raw materials and humans for their food, have led to an uneasy peace. Below the surface each state plots against the other and only the far-reaching power of the Vampire Council holds all-out war at bay. Now their control is slipping. And Peter Harris and his team have a plan that might just push them over the edge...

A New War begins The Vampires rule. Humanity are enslaved in a nightmare world where those who are still alive are bred as food for the vampires and the entertainment for the vicious thralls who guard them. The brief but bitter conflict between rival vampires has left Von Kruger victorious. However, the thralls have used the war to their advantage and they have grown in power and confidence against their former masters. Their rivalry is set to escalate but first they must eliminate another threat - the small band of human survivors. Harris and his team hold a secret of immeasurable power – a coating for bullets that can kill the vampires. The thralls want it and the vampires must destroy it. But first they have to find them. An uneasy alliance is forged until the humans can be destroyed but neither side can hope to trust the other. Across the country another power struggle threatens them all. There is a power play at work that Harris does not understand. Harris’s warning of the serum’s deadly effects has been ignored and the doomsday clock continues to tick relentlessly towards Armageddon. On top of all that there is a traitor in the human community and the small matter of a potential nuclear catastrophe...

On a cold and stormy evening the small human settlement celebrate their survival. Not all of their number have returned though and it is a bitter-sweet celebration. The festivities are interrupted when an elite force of Carter’s thralls find their hidden home and attack. The fallout from the nuclear plant is also creeping south with the prevailing winds forcing the humans to abandon their home. While they prepare to leave the weather worsens and they are forced to abandon many of their belonging and trek miles to what they hope will be a better life. Carter now knows where they are, though, and mounts a huge offensive to destroy the human threat and gain possession of the new, vampire-killing ammunition. Caught between the approaching thrall army, the violent storms and the poisoned air the humans make a desperate journey along the trail of tears. In California Von Richelieu must re assert his authority over the cabals or lose everything. The small rebel band become more than a nuisance and Von Richelieu puts plans in place to destroy them once and for all. The clock for the serum’s deadly effects finally winds down and humans die in their thousands. With food scarce and the vampires falling prey to their growing madness the world falls closer to its apocalyptic end.