Readers craving a story featuring Black vampires who are unafraid to wield their powers for good, bad, and the morally in between can look forward to Tigest Girma’s debut novel, Immortal Dark, which will be published next year by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Immortal Dark is all about “seeing the worst parts of someone first and still loving them—glimpsing the monster before the human,” Girma said.
The novel follows orphan Kidan Adane, the heiress to a fallen House of humans bound to vampiric creatures known as draniacs. As a human, it is her responsibility to study and nurture the relationships between draniacs and humans at Uxlay University. But when her sister is kidnapped and Kidan suspects that her own house draniac, the enigmatic Susenyos, is to blame, she heads down a violent path towards vengeance, willing to hurt anyone who stands in her way.
The concept came to Girma while spending the pandemic rewatching her favorite comfort TV shows and movies from the 2000s such as The Originals, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, which centered the drama-filled lives of vampires.
“I asked myself, what was it about these creatures that was so comforting? And how could I create something like this for Black girls?” Girma said.
Girma considers Immortal Dark her “revenge book,” as she had written three books over five years, all of which were rejected by publishers. Driven by her frustration with an industry claiming to want more diversity but not following through on its promise, Girma turned to TikTok to prove how important stories like Immortal Dark are to readers.
“I knew if I wanted Immortal Dark to have the best chance at success, I had to take it to the readers and prove there was demand for Black fantasy stories,” Girma said. “I love how the platform makes marginalized creators so visible that we’re no longer ignored. The book community is passionate about what it wants, and it will support new writers relentlessly, giving them hope in this rejection-filled industry.”
Girma’s first viral post last September blew up essentially overnight, and currently sits at more than 180,000 likes and almost 500,000 views; several more of her videos also went viral. Girma currently has more than 25,000 followers.
“I woke up the next morning to an explosion of comments,” Girma said of the experience. “Readers were saying we want dark-skinned vampires, and we want them now. It was overwhelming in the best way! I knew after that post nothing was going to stop me from getting the book into readers’ hands.”
LBYR associate editor Ruqayyah Daud is one of thousands who spotted Girma’s viral videos on BookTok. Daud and publishing colleague and friend Tyiana Combs were having similar conversations about shifts in publishing and about their own hopes of diversifying the fantasy space. “We constantly discuss how it is our dream to edit a Black romantic fantasy,” Daud said. “Our hope has always been to add to the growing list of Black books and publish books we can relate to, and that will resonate with Black audiences.”
Once Daud saw Girma’s videos, she reached out to Girma’s agent, Paige Terlip at Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and despite the fact that Immortal Dark was written for a slightly older audience than Daud typically works with, she “automatically loved the idea of an all-Black cast and vampires who are reminiscent of favorites like Klaus from The Vampire Diaries. We knew it would be perfect for LBYR.”
LBYR acquired Immortal Dark at auction, and Hachette UK, AUS, NZ, and France will also be publishing Girma’s debut. Immortal Dark will be released globally in fall 2024, and in the meantime, Girma says she is continuing to create more fantastical stories. “For now, I’m happy with my vampires, but there are endless creatures to create and reimagine.”
