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Lady Dorn
Lady Dorn is anything but a lady, she’s a vampire. A former member of the imperial guard and ennobled for saving the emperor’s life, she gave up on life and retired to her airship home. Now, the person responsible for the attacks on the vampire population has resurfaced, and Lady Dorn may be the only one who can stop them. Or will her luck come to an end at the hands of her most treacherous ally?
27 pages, Nook
First published February 21, 2011
About the author
Sean Hayden
22 books212 followersBorn the son of a fire chief, Sean naturally developed a love of playing with fire. His family and friends quickly found other outlets for his destructive creativity. Writing is his latest endeavor.
Always a fan of the macabre, mythical, and magical, Sean found a love of urban fantasy and horror. After writing several novels in this genre, he found, fell in love with, and immersed himself in steampunk. He has always wanted to rewrite history and steampunk gave him that opportunity.
Sean currently lives in Florida as a fiber-optic engineer as well as an author. He was blessed with the two most amazing children he could ever hope for, has met the absolute love of his life, who coincidentally is his partner in everything. His hobbies include grand designs on world domination as well as a starring role in his own television sitcom.
Always a fan of the macabre, mythical, and magical, Sean found a love of urban fantasy and horror. After writing several novels in this genre, he found, fell in love with, and immersed himself in steampunk. He has always wanted to rewrite history and steampunk gave him that opportunity.
Sean currently lives in Florida as a fiber-optic engineer as well as an author. He was blessed with the two most amazing children he could ever hope for, has met the absolute love of his life, who coincidentally is his partner in everything. His hobbies include grand designs on world domination as well as a starring role in his own television sitcom.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 29, 2021
I enjoyed this! It's a little novelette that mixes up clockwork spiders and vampires, which is a frankly appealing combination that I'd like to see more of. Unfortunately I think this is a one-off story, though, which seems a bit of a shame, as it could have been the start of a fun series. I liked the imagery in particular (those spiders!), and I liked the main character. I even enjoyed the antagonistic vampire emperor, in the sense that he was an interesting character even if he was a horrible one... and he thoroughly earned his deserts, here. (I don't know what it is about child vampires that is so creepy, but creepy they are: Claudia was the best thing about Interview with a Vampire, and the child emperor here is very much of her disturbing type.)
March 3, 2011
A fantastic tale, superbly written in the steampunk genre, with vamps too of course. I loved Lady Dorn, but strong women are always my favorites :) Despite being a short the world is very well evolved and described, the characters are unique and wonderful. Beware Haydens works... they will draw you in and never let you go. Looking forward to more from this author!
May 5, 2011
Really nicely done steampunk short. Strong female protagonist, well drawn characters, engaging world. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
August 23, 2014
Elizabeth Dorn, airship captain, widow and vampiric ex of the royal guard is currently the best hope the child emperor has against mechanical spider like devices which steal the energy of their target; man, woman or child. Devices which come from the mind of a mad scientist long dead. Now a few things, first when I say Vampiric I mean that quite literally, as in pointy teeth, hindered by sunlight the whole nine yards. Also when I say child emperor I mean he has the body of a child but a mind of the ages for he too is a Vampire and when I say mad scientist I mean old creepy castle and well you get the point. Now the story goes that Dorn saved the Emperor once from the machinations of this man so surely it must be easier when he is already dead. Or at least it can't be worse than last time. Right? This begins Dorns race across the English countryside by airship and mag rail, coach and foot to figure out who has stirred up the past and for what end.
Written by Sean Hayden and published by Untold press Lady Dorn is a seat of your pants action adventure through an empire ruled by Vampires, manned by werewolves, powered by wizards and headed by a physical child. Now it should be said that the story is just as camp and fun as it sounds with one of the key words here being fun. The idea of Vampire ruling over humans has been explored and tested before but never with such absence of sorrow and gloom. Dorn greaves far more for her lost love, who fell last time these spiders walked the earth than she does for any lost humanity her vampire nature has denied her. As for humans they hold little real power and have long been denied for serving in the royal guard, though they are starting to seep in as the story begins, and are expected to donate blood once a month to feed the Vamps in power. It is to the stories credit that it never lingers on these downs instead trying to keep itself going like a runaway mag train with all the suspense and mystery that would bring. Never does ‘Lady Dorn’ loose it’s fun pulpy nature to the melodrama of the human soul.
The story is not perfect however and it has one major flaw and this is its length. Now before I begin talking about this I should mention that even the amazon blurb notes that the tale runs under ten thousand words so there is no duplicity here, nobody is trying to slip a short story out under the cover of a novel. It’s just that I don’t think most people realise how little you actually get for ten thousand words and this is made all the worse when it seems like the story was planned for almost a hundred. Characters come and go, the plot twists and turns and there is no time to notice. It feels like someone was so scared of Basil Exposition that they ended up removing anything and everything but the bare bones of the story. It feels like the beginning has been cut off, the middle starved down to a size zero waist and the end drops off like they run out of budget. Please bear in mind that I don’t mind a short story I just prefer them when they feel like they are designed as such, instead this ends up feeling like renting a dvd and finding out your player is stuck on fast forward. Though better that than a lot of stories at the moment which feel the need to drag everything out to pad the book and squeeze a few more coppers from your purse.
Is this a good book? Well to be fair if I am complaining that there should be more in the book then I that means I enjoyed what there was. Also with a selling price of less than eighty pence I suppose I shouldn’t expect the next three volume epic. In the end Lady Dorn is an enjoyable piece of fluff that could have been more. If we were to return to this world, and I hope we do, I hope it is in either a true novella, instead of this weird bridge between one and a short story, or a true short story. This sounds like it could be a fun world to walk around and the characters we have met seem interesting enough thus far only time will tell if this spirit rises from the grave stronger than before.
Written by Sean Hayden and published by Untold press Lady Dorn is a seat of your pants action adventure through an empire ruled by Vampires, manned by werewolves, powered by wizards and headed by a physical child. Now it should be said that the story is just as camp and fun as it sounds with one of the key words here being fun. The idea of Vampire ruling over humans has been explored and tested before but never with such absence of sorrow and gloom. Dorn greaves far more for her lost love, who fell last time these spiders walked the earth than she does for any lost humanity her vampire nature has denied her. As for humans they hold little real power and have long been denied for serving in the royal guard, though they are starting to seep in as the story begins, and are expected to donate blood once a month to feed the Vamps in power. It is to the stories credit that it never lingers on these downs instead trying to keep itself going like a runaway mag train with all the suspense and mystery that would bring. Never does ‘Lady Dorn’ loose it’s fun pulpy nature to the melodrama of the human soul.
The story is not perfect however and it has one major flaw and this is its length. Now before I begin talking about this I should mention that even the amazon blurb notes that the tale runs under ten thousand words so there is no duplicity here, nobody is trying to slip a short story out under the cover of a novel. It’s just that I don’t think most people realise how little you actually get for ten thousand words and this is made all the worse when it seems like the story was planned for almost a hundred. Characters come and go, the plot twists and turns and there is no time to notice. It feels like someone was so scared of Basil Exposition that they ended up removing anything and everything but the bare bones of the story. It feels like the beginning has been cut off, the middle starved down to a size zero waist and the end drops off like they run out of budget. Please bear in mind that I don’t mind a short story I just prefer them when they feel like they are designed as such, instead this ends up feeling like renting a dvd and finding out your player is stuck on fast forward. Though better that than a lot of stories at the moment which feel the need to drag everything out to pad the book and squeeze a few more coppers from your purse.
Is this a good book? Well to be fair if I am complaining that there should be more in the book then I that means I enjoyed what there was. Also with a selling price of less than eighty pence I suppose I shouldn’t expect the next three volume epic. In the end Lady Dorn is an enjoyable piece of fluff that could have been more. If we were to return to this world, and I hope we do, I hope it is in either a true novella, instead of this weird bridge between one and a short story, or a true short story. This sounds like it could be a fun world to walk around and the characters we have met seem interesting enough thus far only time will tell if this spirit rises from the grave stronger than before.
October 25, 2011
Lady Elizabeth Dorn - beautiful, intelligent, heroic, passionate, loyal to those she loves, and utterly lethal. A femme fatale in more ways than one.
Sean Hayden takes his protagonist and weaves her into an elegant, strong story that grips you from the first word. His steampunk is delightfully refined and while it would have been very easy to turn Lady Dorn into a caricature of the standard ass-kicking hair-flicking scantily-clad leading lady of so many action-led stories, he has instead treated her with a light touch - and therefore the reader - which makes her deeds all the more dauntless. Bravo Mr. Hayden, she really is a very likeable character. In fact, I want to be her, but I am a bit of a wimp and decidedly un-vampire-ish.
On the flipside is the grotesque, babyish Emperor, and much as he has done with Lady Dorn, the author has painted just enough for us to be utterly repelled by the child leader.
A thoroughly enjoyable tale, elegantly told by a really great writer. It also has flashes of superb humour, my favourite line being '...hard to be nice to things which have a tendency to eat you when no-one was looking.'
Superb stuff, please give Lady Dorn the full-length novel to which she is so richly entitled.
Sean Hayden takes his protagonist and weaves her into an elegant, strong story that grips you from the first word. His steampunk is delightfully refined and while it would have been very easy to turn Lady Dorn into a caricature of the standard ass-kicking hair-flicking scantily-clad leading lady of so many action-led stories, he has instead treated her with a light touch - and therefore the reader - which makes her deeds all the more dauntless. Bravo Mr. Hayden, she really is a very likeable character. In fact, I want to be her, but I am a bit of a wimp and decidedly un-vampire-ish.
On the flipside is the grotesque, babyish Emperor, and much as he has done with Lady Dorn, the author has painted just enough for us to be utterly repelled by the child leader.
A thoroughly enjoyable tale, elegantly told by a really great writer. It also has flashes of superb humour, my favourite line being '...hard to be nice to things which have a tendency to eat you when no-one was looking.'
Superb stuff, please give Lady Dorn the full-length novel to which she is so richly entitled.
August 26, 2014
I received this book in exchange for a fair review. I have really enjoyed everything I have read by Sean Hayden. He is very creative and his stories are very enjoyable. The only complaint I have about this book is that he didn't write more books with these characters. The story is complete as a short, but Sean could build a whole series on this world and these characters if he wanted to. Lady Dorn is just a few chapters but a very enjoyable read. It is a great combination of vampires and steampunk. Worthwhile read, well written short story.
March 3, 2011
i have never read steampunk until i managed to get a copy of lady dorn. i'm now hooked on the genre and sean hayden writing. if you haven't read it yet i suggest that you do.
it is only a short story. sean hayden manages to create a world, while huge in scale, in a way that doesn't alienate the newbies to the genre.
it is only a short story. sean hayden manages to create a world, while huge in scale, in a way that doesn't alienate the newbies to the genre.
March 31, 2014
I would have liked a little more world- and character-building, but this was a fun vampire steampunk short with some nicely creepy scenes and fast-paced action. Lady Dorn needs her own series! There were quite a lot of distracting grammatical errors, though, so I'd love to see a re-edited version someday.
August 18, 2014
Absolutely love it! Not my typical choice in reads but I'm glad I chose it. Short but full of action and it draws you in at the very beginning and doesn't let you til the end and even then leaves you wanting more. Totally recommend to everyone.
November 12, 2011
Great short! Another home run hit out of the park!
March 11, 2011
Great short! I'm gotta say I'm really loving Mr. Hayden's work. Haven't read much steam punk and this has me ready to ask my friends for more recs!
December 26, 2012
Good short story. And the price is right for 99 cents on kindle.
April 1, 2017
Love/hate
I would have gave it 5 stars if the end was more resolved. The book seemed rushed. I feel as if thus could have been a whole long wonderfuk novel or a 3 book series. I found the emperors point of view at the end mind blowing, but as I said the author never gave you enough time to grow with the chara ters or for them to develop fully. Personally I liked the book, but I was disappointed in the fact so much was left open and unexplained.
I would have gave it 5 stars if the end was more resolved. The book seemed rushed. I feel as if thus could have been a whole long wonderfuk novel or a 3 book series. I found the emperors point of view at the end mind blowing, but as I said the author never gave you enough time to grow with the chara ters or for them to develop fully. Personally I liked the book, but I was disappointed in the fact so much was left open and unexplained.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews