CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO: I like vampire novels.
3. When you began the Saint-Germain series, did you start out to write a story about a vampire and then discover Saint-Germain or had you decided to write about Saint-Germain and then decided to make him a vampire? And what made you think he would be a good vampire?
CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO: When I began to put Hotel Transylvania together, I assumed I would have to invent the vampire. I decided to include the historical Comte de Saint-Germain as a major secondary character, and expanded my research on him, during which I realized I had my vampire right in front of me. Since it was my intention from the start to do a sympathetic vampire and to push the vampire archetype as far to the positive as possible and still remain a recognizable vampire the adaptation of the historical Saint-Germain was easier than had I gone for the villainous-vampire type of character. When it comes to anti-hero vampires, I have always thought that Bram Stoker did the job as well as it could be done. My addition to that paradigm wasn't likely to achieve anything close to what he did. On the other hand, the contrast of a sympathetic, non-Byronic figure might throw some new light on the old warhorse, so . . .
4. One of the Saint-Germain books, A FEAST IN EXILE, is available in eBook format from www.fictionwise.com, along with some of your other work. Will we eventually see the whole series available as eBooks? Or reprinted?
CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO: I sincerely hope so. What with mid-list shelf-life sinking to nano-seconds, the chance for a writer to make any money from initial publication is shrinking as steadily as woolen socks, and so other markets need to be found. And given the size of my out-of-print back-list, a means of finding alternate publication is increasingly important, not only for me but for almost all freelance writers. While I value used book dealers, not one cent of used book sales comes to the writer or to the publisher.
5. Is there a definite publication date for # 18 in the Saint-Germain cycle, STATES OF GRACE? What is it about?
CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO: I assume States of Grace will be out in November, although I have no specific information. By the way, it has a wonderful cover! I'm delighted with both the concept and the execution. The title is, as many of my titles are, an ironic comment on the prevailing social conditions at the time the novel takes place in this case, 1530-1532, during the Reformation, and the story moves from Venice to Amsterdam and back to Venice. The central issue of the story is the upheaval of the period, with emphasis on publishing (Amsterdam and Venice were major publishing centers at that time). And speaking of publishing, the book is somewhat shorter than most of the Saint-Germain novels Tor and most other publishers are asking most of their writers for books no longer than 100,000 words. It's a question of available shelf-space in the big bookstore chains, and almost all writers are impacted by this policy.
