Richelle Mead, author of the young adult-oriented “Vampire Academy” series, will promote her new book, “Blood Promise” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25 at Borders Books and Music at Redmond Town Center.

She will read an excerpt from the book, answer questions, pose for fan photos and sign copies of the book. Raffles and giveaways will also be included.

Originally from Michigan, Mead now lives in Seattle and works full-time on her urban fantasy books. A former middle school teacher, she believes that the fascination with books/movies about the supernatural is partly due to the fact that “teens have opened up to fantasy as ‘The Harry Potter Generation.'”

Anne Rice’s vampire books from the early ’90s were also a help in making this genre popular with older readers, but “vampires go back to Bram Stoker’s times,” Mead noted. “We are attracted to the dark and forbidden but vampires also have a human edge. It’s hard to fall in love with someone who’s a total monster.”

The “Vampire Academy” series, published by Razorbill Books (Penguin), thus far contains “Vampire Academy,” “Frostbite” and “Shadow Kiss.” The best-selling series has won honors from the American Library Association and follows the war between two races of vampires — one good and one bad.

The heroine in the series, Mead explained, is a half-vampire girl who is training to be a bodyguard for the good vampires and has a romance with an instructor who is a little older.

“There’s action-suspense but also the romantic element is what teen girls love,” she said.

The biggest change in “Blood Promise” is that it does not take place at the school known as the “Vampire Academy.” The heroine is out in the world, traveling in Russia “and has been given a grim task ahead of her. Book three ended with a big cliffhanger,” Mead noted.

For more information about the author, visit this Web site.

For Borders information, call (425) 869-1907.