TOPIC: What inspired you to write Christian Fiction integrating a Vampire character in the plot? How and Why was this particular book born out of that inspiration? Were you aware or trying to feed into any current market trends at the time or was that simply incidental to the topics of the book?
Why a Christian book about vampires? A lot of people have asked me that question and it’s actually pretty easy for me to answer. I want to entertain myself and others with the kind of story that I enjoy without the gratuitous sex and language that so many secular versions have. And further, I want that story to play upon the themes that I hold near and dear to my heart such as redemption of the soul. This is at its heart a redemption story with a fun and exciting plot wrapped around it. I love fantasy and horror fiction and particularly monster stories. It’s why when I wrote Scarlet Moon, my retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, I made the wolf a werewolf. Classic monster stories are fun and stretch far back into our storytelling past. For me the idea for this book and this series was born in high school, nourished in college, and is now ready for me to put forth to the world.
In high school I read two books that affected me deeply. The first was Dracula. The book itself is remarkable with the story told from several different points of view in a very unique way. It captivated me. The second book that really moved me was the scariest book I had ever read and it still is. The book was This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. The book shows the influence of angels and demons on people struggling in extraordinary circumstances. It showed me that someone could write truly frightening and deeply meaningful Christian fiction. In college I eagerly tried to find more horror books and films hoping to feel the way I’d felt when reading those two books. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything else which contained a positive portrayal of a Christian character. So one day it occurred to me that since I couldn’t find a book with a strong Christian fighting some sort of monster that maybe I should write one myself. I quickly seized on the idea of writing a novel where Christians had to team up with a vampire to save the world from other vampires. I realized that an essential component of the book would have to be the redemption story of the vampire.
Vampire fiction has been popular on and off for decades. The current hysteria about vampire fiction is not necessarily any greater than it was twenty years ago. So, I wasn’t trying to tap into market trends so much as write in a genre I’d been wanting to write in for years. Being able to share Kiss of Night and the rest of the trilogy with the world is a dream come true.
Enter the giveaway of this book. Read my review.
