DANCING IN THE DARK from Amber Quill Press, which you've read and which triggered this interview, is sort of hard to categorize. It's a vampire/crime/forensics novel with romantic undertones. And it's an exploration of desires and the meaning of freedom. Jack Niemczyk is an experience FBI profiler, a little jaded by life but never by the job. He's lived his life being the perfect agent. Then he meets Baby Roxton, a vampire who's everything he claims is anathema. But she offers him the two things he wants most - eternal youth and freedom from society's rules. While Jack tries to figure just who he really is, he's also trying to stop a killer because regardless of how disillusioned he may be, Jack's still a hero at heart.
What is it about vampires that for you as a writer make them such interesting characters?
I fell in love with my first vampire at the ripe old age of six. I've always found them fascinating as a reader. I've studied them both as fiction and as non-fiction. As a writer, they are wonderful because they represent human desires. They are a strong icon in almost every culture for sexuality and lust/desire. What better to drive a novel? With a vampire, you have a character who can trigger things that a more traditional character wouldn't be able to. Jack would never give Baby a tumble if she were a normal mortal. But you add that touch of the supernatural and she's everything he wants. There's something appealing about taking someone outside the everyday - doing something that turns their world upside down. Vampires are great for that.
