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The Night Cat #1
Katrdeshtr's Redemption
Ancient, brutal beauty, Katrdeshtr the Night Cat, Russian vampire and incorrigible mischief maker turns to old pleasures to relieve his eternal boredom, yet when his sometimes partner finds a new love, satisfaction takes on new meaning. This change of events can only end in someone's eternal death and Kat doesn't intend for it to be him! Gay vampire fiction.
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 2, 2010
35 people want to read
About the author
Red Haircrow
27 books114 followersRed Haircrow is an award-winning writer, educator, psychologist and filmmaker of Native (Chiricahua Apache/Cherokee) and African American heritage. Their first career was in law enforcement, and they hold a Master’s in Indigenous/Native American Studies and a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology.
Their research and support focuses include Autistic Spectrum Disorder, GLBTIIQ needs and suicide prevention, and inter-generational historic trauma of marginalized and minoritized groups. In 2023, they were the winner of the Ma’iingan Scholarship Award winner as an early career psychologist in Two-spirit, LGBTQ+, gender fluid, nonbinary and other gender expansive support work.
Current projects include a RPG educational adventure video game focusing on original and Indigenous peoples, continuing research on stigma and prejudice relating to psychological disorders and conditions such as ASD, and the short documentary on those themes, ALMOST.
Their research and support focuses include Autistic Spectrum Disorder, GLBTIIQ needs and suicide prevention, and inter-generational historic trauma of marginalized and minoritized groups. In 2023, they were the winner of the Ma’iingan Scholarship Award winner as an early career psychologist in Two-spirit, LGBTQ+, gender fluid, nonbinary and other gender expansive support work.
Current projects include a RPG educational adventure video game focusing on original and Indigenous peoples, continuing research on stigma and prejudice relating to psychological disorders and conditions such as ASD, and the short documentary on those themes, ALMOST.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 6, 2013
I love vampires and their multi-faceted, powerful, seductive, immortal, and mysterious natures. Moody, bored, and restless, Katrdeshtr takes pleasure in killing. He was saved from a grave illness and given the gift of eternal life by his on-again, off-again lover, Tal Trieska. Both men have endured hardships and being together for too many years has leached the passion out of their relationship.
As Kat looks to relieve his boredom, and Tal becomes enchanted with a golden-haired beauty named Evangelina, their troubles really begin.
Written in vivid detail and elegant prose, the author has created rich characters with emotional depth, and provided a glimpse into the heart, soul, history, and people of Russia.
I thoroughly enjoyed this haunting and beautifully told story and look forward to more!
Also reviewed at Outlaw Reviews
As Kat looks to relieve his boredom, and Tal becomes enchanted with a golden-haired beauty named Evangelina, their troubles really begin.
Written in vivid detail and elegant prose, the author has created rich characters with emotional depth, and provided a glimpse into the heart, soul, history, and people of Russia.
I thoroughly enjoyed this haunting and beautifully told story and look forward to more!
Also reviewed at Outlaw Reviews
March 17, 2012
great story, not very long and very carefully written.
September 5, 2013
Very interesting Vampire story. But I am bummed the sequel is not available.
August 12, 2011
Review: A story that is obviously meant to set the scene for a future series, but proved confusing on its own for me.
Review for Brief Encounters Reviews:
http://briefencountersreviews.com/201...
I usually dislike reading something where I’m totally unable to pronounce the character’s name :) though rather surprisingly, I soon learned the spelling for this review. And I had a certain bristling at “book one” in the title. In my experience this threatens a story that doesn’t stand sufficiently on its own and has contrived cliffhangers. This story partly fulfilled that expectation, although it also had plenty in it for the promise of an entertaining standalone.
I think that sums up the reading experience for me: there was a hell of a lot going on! The characters and the plot ran the gamut from sexual desire to the pursuit of eternal love, through horror and murder, and ending on grief, retribution and the tease of future reconciliation.
Katrdeshtr is the anti-hero of the title, a sensual and selfish vampire, used to taking whatever he desires and virtually invincible. The opening scene is all about him and his stalking of his next victim.
I found the language in this scene very sensual and powerful. Though sometimes he missed the wondrous experience of sunrise or pale blue afternoons, nights like these: full-mooned and thickly starred, intoxicated him far more than what he remembered of the sun’s rays. The author has a good command of language, with interesting alliteration and vivid description of each setting. However, after a while I found there were too many fanciful analogies and layers of prose that occasionally tended to purple: as he spewed pulse after pulse of demon seed inside the youth’s body.
After the initial scene, the storytelling changed to backstory and the introduction of several other characters. Whilst these all had connection to Katrdeshtr, I felt that this diverted the reader away from the vampire and diluted the impact of that first scene. I became confused at the connections, and lost focus with the info dumping.
The other characters had their own fascination, even the ill-fated Nadil, and especially Nakamiori and his brooding sense of mature and chilling power. Tal is the significant other in the main love story, a man of immortal age and influence like Katrdeshtr, yet very different. Their two characters were well differentiated, Tal defined by his love of the good life, and Katrdeshtr by his jealous determination to be with Tal again.
Plenty of information was offered for all of the characters, yet in the end none of them had enough time to connect with me. I’m sure they’ll be returning – at least some of them :/ – in future stories, but in this book they just confused the point of view.
For me, it remained a series of vignettes rather than a coherent story. It would appeal to a reader who immediately takes to the cast of characters, enjoys the more melodramatic vampire fantasy and the promise of an epic range of stories to come. I rate it B.
by pettyprose…my opinion alone.
Review for Brief Encounters Reviews:
http://briefencountersreviews.com/201...
I usually dislike reading something where I’m totally unable to pronounce the character’s name :) though rather surprisingly, I soon learned the spelling for this review. And I had a certain bristling at “book one” in the title. In my experience this threatens a story that doesn’t stand sufficiently on its own and has contrived cliffhangers. This story partly fulfilled that expectation, although it also had plenty in it for the promise of an entertaining standalone.
I think that sums up the reading experience for me: there was a hell of a lot going on! The characters and the plot ran the gamut from sexual desire to the pursuit of eternal love, through horror and murder, and ending on grief, retribution and the tease of future reconciliation.
Katrdeshtr is the anti-hero of the title, a sensual and selfish vampire, used to taking whatever he desires and virtually invincible. The opening scene is all about him and his stalking of his next victim.
I found the language in this scene very sensual and powerful. Though sometimes he missed the wondrous experience of sunrise or pale blue afternoons, nights like these: full-mooned and thickly starred, intoxicated him far more than what he remembered of the sun’s rays. The author has a good command of language, with interesting alliteration and vivid description of each setting. However, after a while I found there were too many fanciful analogies and layers of prose that occasionally tended to purple: as he spewed pulse after pulse of demon seed inside the youth’s body.
After the initial scene, the storytelling changed to backstory and the introduction of several other characters. Whilst these all had connection to Katrdeshtr, I felt that this diverted the reader away from the vampire and diluted the impact of that first scene. I became confused at the connections, and lost focus with the info dumping.
The other characters had their own fascination, even the ill-fated Nadil, and especially Nakamiori and his brooding sense of mature and chilling power. Tal is the significant other in the main love story, a man of immortal age and influence like Katrdeshtr, yet very different. Their two characters were well differentiated, Tal defined by his love of the good life, and Katrdeshtr by his jealous determination to be with Tal again.
Plenty of information was offered for all of the characters, yet in the end none of them had enough time to connect with me. I’m sure they’ll be returning – at least some of them :/ – in future stories, but in this book they just confused the point of view.
For me, it remained a series of vignettes rather than a coherent story. It would appeal to a reader who immediately takes to the cast of characters, enjoys the more melodramatic vampire fantasy and the promise of an epic range of stories to come. I rate it B.
by pettyprose…my opinion alone.
June 9, 2011
Agile, aloof, and prone to inflicting torturous pleasures upon his prey, Kat (Katrdeshtr) is aptly named. The years have worn away at his soul, robbing him of his love for life and, in the process, the love of his life. Centuries ago, Tal saved him from a slow and agonizing death by turning him to the darkness, and their passion has burned hot for a very long time. Any love, of course, must ebb and flow over such a long period of time, and we meet Kat during one of those ebbs. Feeling very much alone, he has embraced his darker side, taking pleasure in the violent seduction of innocent men, stealing their lives away in a moment of rapturous sexual torment. When he discovers that Tal has taken – and turned – a new lover, the pain drives Kat beyond simple recklessness.
Tal, on the other hand, has become wiser and more compassionate over time. His reluctance to feed on the mortals around him has left him pale and gaunt, more a figure of horror than eroticism. He is still very much in love with his Kat, but has distanced himself from the other vampire’s dangerous ways. Sexually, they have always been intimately compatible, but time has widened the gap between their personalities and social origins. When Tal chooses to turn the beautiful woman who has so captured his attention, giving her Kat’s place in his life, not even the older vampire can anticipate the lengths to which Kat will go to protect his claim.
The best vampire stories always have an element of the exotic to them, but it’s rare that an author is able to saturate the story so thoroughly. Red Haircrow embraces the nature of the vampire, adds in a Russian setting, and then wraps it all up in a narrative that is exotic enough to capture your attention, but which flows so well you never feel interrupted. Most of their sexual escapes are in the past, but their romance remains intact – as troubled and damaged as it may be.
DISCLAIMER: This book was received from the publisher for the purpose of a review on Queer Magazine online.(less)
Tal, on the other hand, has become wiser and more compassionate over time. His reluctance to feed on the mortals around him has left him pale and gaunt, more a figure of horror than eroticism. He is still very much in love with his Kat, but has distanced himself from the other vampire’s dangerous ways. Sexually, they have always been intimately compatible, but time has widened the gap between their personalities and social origins. When Tal chooses to turn the beautiful woman who has so captured his attention, giving her Kat’s place in his life, not even the older vampire can anticipate the lengths to which Kat will go to protect his claim.
The best vampire stories always have an element of the exotic to them, but it’s rare that an author is able to saturate the story so thoroughly. Red Haircrow embraces the nature of the vampire, adds in a Russian setting, and then wraps it all up in a narrative that is exotic enough to capture your attention, but which flows so well you never feel interrupted. Most of their sexual escapes are in the past, but their romance remains intact – as troubled and damaged as it may be.
DISCLAIMER: This book was received from the publisher for the purpose of a review on Queer Magazine online.(less)
June 10, 2012
I'm a sucker for vampire fiction and this was very interesting in both it's Russian setting and in the fact that the titular character is more like Stoker's charismatic yet deadly vampire than the more modern day 'good' vampire. Kat has little in the way of a moral center and doesn't really seem to appreciate what he had until it was gone. I found my sympathies lying more with Tal who understandably is beginning to see his lover as a monster. This is just the first part of a series and I would like to see more.
June 14, 2012
This is your darker than usual (at least these days) vampire story. The titular character is probably very much in need of redemption (which is probably in other stories since this seems to be the build up to it). Kat is an old vampire who is becoming more and more monstrous to the concern and horror of his older lover (also made into a vampire the same time as Kat), Tal. It's more a story of their interactions than anything else. When Kat gets bad, he is very bad indeed. It's an interesting story. I'd like to see what happens next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2012
Took a chance with this one since vampire fiction isn't something I usually read but Red made it interesting in a different way than I expected!
Want to read
March 2, 2012$1.99 on Nook
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews