A monstrously funny and devilishly dark new adventure from debut talent Alex Foulkes, illustrated throughout by the award-winning Sara Ogilvie, Rules for Vampires is the series that fans of Lemony Snickett and Skulduggery Pleasant will devour for breakfast.
There are highs and lows to being a vampire. On one claw, you get cool powers like beastly strength and hypnotism and the ability to GRIMWALK. On the other claw, however, vampires are bound by the Vampiric Laws: rules to protect the balance between the worlds of the Living and the Undead. And unfortunately, 11-year-old Leo has just forgotten rule number one... The Rules for Vampires don't tell you what to do when you make a ghostly enemy, or accidentally restart an ancient war.
But Leo and her very unusual family are more than up to the job.
Vampire and ghost friendships are unheard of. Especially since the two factions have despised one another for all eternity. But . . . Leo the vampire and Minna the ghost have battled together side-by-side. They're sisters-in-arms, they're best friends, and now, they'll have to work together to vanquish a new, deadly threat.
Summoned to the Ghostly Realm for the murder of the Orphanmaster, Leo must prove herself worthy of her unlife. Can she convince the Ghostly Realm of her innocence and earn her freedom, or will she be trapped there forever?
UK Publisher: Simon & Schuster, September 2021-September 2022
UK Editor: Lucy Pearse
US Publisher: S&S USA, November 2021-July 2023
Extent: 368 pages (book 1), 352 pages (book 2)
Illustrations: Black and white, by Sara Ogilvie
Primary Agent: Caroline Walsh
Film/TV Agent: Clare Israel
Co-agents: Chinese: Andrew Nurnberg Associates; Japanese: Japan Uni
Rights Sold: French - Bayard Editions Jeunesse; Italian - Mondadori Libri; Spanish - Anaya
<aside> 🧛♀️ "Alex has created such a vivid, immersive world. I love the Tim Burton-esque castle, nestled amongst Mount Moth’s peaks and hidden from mortal sight. And I love Leo’s family – so dysfunctional and dark they make the Addams family look positively conventional." - S&S
</aside>
<aside> 🧛 "Fans of fast-paced, well-written gothic romps will devour Rules for Vampires." - Phil Earle, bestselling author of When the Sky Falls
</aside>
<aside> 🧛♀️ "A wickedly fun debut by Alex Foulkes, with a wonderfully strong girl hero in Leo the vampire, and delightfully dark illustrations by Sara Ogilvie." - Cressida Cowell
</aside>
<aside> 🧛 Alex was inspired to write the book after one of her students suggested she write him a vampire story. When she went home that evening, she had an image in her head of a strange vampire girl, running through a deep, dark forest and the story spun out from there.
</aside>
