This article is about the A. J. Harper novel Night Biters, a Tale of Urban Horror
Night Biters is a fantasy novel by A J Harper released in 2008. It is the first novel in the a Tales of Urban Horror series.
When fourteen year old Omari and his sixteen year old sister Jamilah arrive in Oakland, a mysterious stranger gives Omari a magical compact disc and a crucifix. Upon listening to the CD, the siblings learn that the lyrics and the crucifix can aide them against the danger of vampires.
But danger has never been as attractive as the handsome and charismatic heart breaker Tyrone, or as beautiful and deadly as the vengeful Jennifer.
The two unwittingly are caught in a growing conflict between two local gangs, the Crimsons and the Cobalt’s. Both gang leaders transformed into vampires. Their hatred teamed with their newfound powers, takes the term gang war to another dimension and threaten to destroy the city.
Characters:
- Omari Jackson
- The red-dreaded, freckle faced Bi-Racial kid who feels that his life is crumbling apart. His parents passed away when he was three; his Grandmother passed away when he was five, and now his adoptive family is coming apart. Omari’s adoptive father taught him that a man always stood by his family, and yet, he abandoned his own family without a word. To top it off, his adoptive mother is having an affair with a police officer, of all people. His only source of security is his sister Jamilah, and she has started dating his best friend. Hurt and confused by these events, Omari finds himself longing for the parents whose faces he can’t even remember.
- * Jamilah Jackson
- Once the skinny, long limbed fodder for cruel preadolescent humor that developed into an African American swan of manipulative beauty. The same boys that once teased her would now go to any extreme for her attention. Jamilah is aware of this and uses her newfound powers for her own amusement, even using them on her brother’s best friends. But the one male whose attentions she desires the most is her fathers who walked out on his family, leaving Jamilah to wonder what did she do wrong
- Jennifer Twan
- The fleet footed Vietnamese girl whom Jamilah refers to as her sister. Jennifer drops out of school to assist her severely depressed mother and her six-year old sister. When her mother’s abusive, drug addicted boyfriend moves in and contributes to the deterioration of her home and life, Jennifer contemplates the offers from the dark side. She asks herself if it could possibly be any worse.
- Joseph Babay Jr. (Dragonbrush)
- The longhaired Filipino Tagger, who is thrown out of his home after his father is forced to pay an enormous restitution for all the graffiti Dragonbrush wrecked on the city. He moves in with his tagging buddy Omari and his family. Dragonbrush finds that he is drawn to Omari’s sister Jamilah, and wonders if his attraction to her is because she is “so hot” or because she reminds him so much of his late sister.
- Tioni Anderson
- The daughter of a prominent Oakland minister. She resents her parent’s expectations that she be more spiritual and better behaved than those around her. Tioni rebels in an attempt to distance herself from her family’s beliefs. She becomes involved with questionable individuals and gets caught up in their activities.
Location
The story takes place in [[1]] and [Francisco], California and uses elements of the past (the 1863 designed [View cemetery]) and present, (the [Area Rapid Transit] (BART) as backdrops for the story.
About the Author
AJ Harper is the author of
Night Biters
Werewolves the Mix Tape
Smoke & Demons
and the soon to be released Zombie Television
He attended California College of Arts and Craft and is a program director for a non-profit agency Tales of Urban Horror was born from his experiences of working with multicultural youth and their need to read fiction that reflect their lives.
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