ISBN 1-85798-111-1 (UK pbk)

"Castle Banat: a stronghold of insane enormity, created by a monstrous architectural genius. The size of Banat is such that it even has its own weather. Inside, room after room is filled with fantastical horrors: Banat holds an infinity of mystery and terrible wonder.

"The castle is home to the Family, the clans that make up the vampires of the world. One of their greatest rites is the Golden, the sacrifice of a victim whose blood is the sweetest and most powerful there is. But in 186_, at a gathering three centuries in the planning, the Golden is murdered, brutally devoured by person or persons unknown.

"The Parisian vampire Beheim, new to the game, is charged with finding the culprit. So begins a journey through the vastness of Banat and into the very core of the vampire mind; a personal odyssey of sublime terror.

"Set against a backdrop that is one of the greatest imaginative feats since Gormenghast, and full of the passionate games and sheer sexual force of the vampire, The Golden is fabulous gothic mystery and exceptionally powerful storytelling". [jacket blurb, UK pbk, 1994]

"I started by thinking about the original vampire, Bram Stoker's version... elegant and intelligent and prone to evil. And I was thinking about personal power, what it is and how you use it and how it makes you different. I figured on an intense period of coming to terms with power if you're turned into a vampire.

"And then there's the old evening clothes, the classic elegance. Gothic richness -- it's part of the fun of a good vampire tale.

"Castle Banat? I was 17 or 18 and I found this Piranesi book, all his monstrous, gigantic designs that were never built. Wild. Castle Banat started there...". --Lucius Shepard.