PRESS KIT

home // Press Kit

Julie Rogers Books Julie Rogers Books Ghostwriting & Editing Julie Rogers Books Ghostwriting & Editing Julie Rogers BooksGhostwriting & Editing

press kit

In A Gripping Tale About Mortality And Life’s Magical Resilience, An Award-Winning Author Creatively Crafts A Vampire Book Like No Other

2023 International Firebird Book Awards First in Urban Fantasy

2023 Pinnacle Book Awards Best Book in Fantasy

2023 Global Book Awards Bronze in Fantasy

2023 Global Book Awards Finalist in Vampire Books

2023 Hollywood Book Festival First Runner-Up

2023 American Fiction Awards Finalist in Fantasy

2023 IAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist

2023 Outstanding Creator Awards First in Medical Fiction

2023 Outstanding Creator Awards Third in Vampire Literature

2023 Outstanding Creator Awards Honorable Mention in Best Character

2023 Outstanding Creator Awards Honorable Mention in Funny/Strange/Bizarre

2023 Best Book Award in Fantasy

Tommy’s stoked when he discovers an e-zine series about urban legend Viscount Claudius Fallon, a dhampyre from Cardiff who traveled to Eureka Springs seeking a cure for his own leukemia during WWII.

2023 First Place in Urban Fantasy

Tommy’s quest leads him to befriend a local artist, who struggles with his growing affection for June—for he is Fallon, cured in 1939 at the Baker Cure-for-Cancer Hospital. Fallon must decide whether he’ll take the risks involved in helping Tommy or falling in love with June.

2023 Finalist in Vampire Books

2023 Bronze in Fantasy

2023 Finalist in Fantasy

2023 First Runner-Up in Genre

2023 Finalist in Fantasy

2023 Outstanding Creator Awards

“A genre-bending mother-and-son tale . . . a compelling twist on the classic vampire story.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A young boy’s belief in the supernatural builds to the ultimate payoff in Rogers’s surprising, discursive, deeply heartfelt novel, an urban fantasy that edges into warm family drama . . . a new, rich vein to explore, and this often-contemplative novel grapples with love and death and our common humanity. . . . It offers a unique exploration of the convergence of grim reality with the supernatural realm. Sprawling, family-driven novel of a dying boy who aches to be a vampire.”

— BookLife Review by Publishers Weekly

Falling Stars, an urban fantasy by Julie Rogers, is about nine-year-old Tommy Lucas, who needs a bone marrow transplant within the next six months to survive. But Tommy’s convinced his cancer is a curse on his bloodline, that he’s a vampire. His mom, June, is an oncologist. She allows Tommy to continue a soft practice of his fantasy (like eating only red-colored foods) because she doesn’t want him to lose hope. A uniquely moving story that leaves readers thinking about it long after they put it down.

Falling Stars is not your typical vampire story. It’s about:

  • The lies we need to tell ourselves when we feel overwhelmed and afraid.
  • An oncologist mother giving her son hope in the face of death.
  • Seeing life through a child’s eyes and experiencing the power of possibility.
  • A magical place of healing called Eureka Springs.
  • How we confront death’s imminence.
  • The power of role-play and the imagination.
  • Love and the choices that we make.
  • The special bond between mother and child.

Rogers’s real-life muse behind this story is a young boy the author knew in school, who role-played Barnabas Collins, the 175-year-old vampire in the 1960’s TV cult-classic series, Dark Shadows. The book was also influenced by the true story of charlatan Norman G. Barker’s alleged cure for cancer and his discovery of a magical place called Eureka Springs. She also saw the realities of battling terminal illness up close when both of her parents passed away recently.

Falling Stars is a gripping tale about mortality and life’s magical resilience. The urban fantasy toggles between a dual timeline—the present and 1939. An exceptional novel, the storytelling and emotional momentum are enthralling.

Rogers presents sharply-drawn characters—Tommy and June—who provide a light pulsing in what might seem like infinite darkness. The book is a triumphant magical feast, moving readers deeply and profoundly. The book’s narrative approach adds pleasing depth to a gripping story, charging it with realism and raw emotion. Her seventh book is a deeper exploration of our own biological mortality. 

“I set out to write Falling Stars to encapsulate surreal, universal life themes,” says Rogers, “ones that will hopefully compel readers to think and even reconsider how those come to be.”