South London Gothic: Book 1
Publication Date: September 29, 2026
Join a new kind of vampire hunter-former gangster Freddie Burns-as he fights for his place, for his family, and for the hell of it in London’s gritty magical underworld. Mostly for the hell of it, to be honest.
Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a spot of football violence, and to take over his uncle’s fading South London crime business. But when a gangland execution goes wrong, Freddie discovers a new kind of organized crime-one where vampires are spine-breakingly real and monsters hide just out of sight.
Good thing Freddie has a supernatural gift for giving vampires a kicking-them and anyone else that looks at him funny.
Dragged into a world of shadowy organizations, secret sorcerous pacts, gruesome vampire initiations, and a plot to rule it all, Freddie realizes it’s up to him to save the world -or at least not wreck it entirely. He just needs a drink first.
What initially starts as an opportunity for Freddie to see how London gangs mete out justice evolves into a nightmarish event.
Author Ben Shepherd provides the foundation for a new sort of vampire story in Blood Drunk. South London plays host to a shadowy world of vampires, combining a vampire thriller with urban fantasy.
Freddie’s character evolves tremendously throughout the story as he learns how to leverage a unique magic that makes him a valuable vampire hunter.
He’s also the least likely person to pick up the mantle of heroism. As the story progresses and Freddie gets caught up in a ruthless plot, he must match wits with a high-status vampire.
Blood Drunk takes the basic vampire story and retools it with the aid of speculative fiction, ending up with something that will appeal to a specialized group of readers.
I’m a London-based writer of speculative fiction and a former political analyst – my debut novel Blood Drunk is an urban fantasy about vampires, binge drinking and death magic, set in 1990s South London. I’m interested in the stuff that falls through the cracks; the hidden and overlooked bits of cities and the people (and things) that live in them.
