Tell us about the Kingdom of Naj When I was in college I took a class on Japanese history and was really fascinated by the early history, so when I started building my world, I looked to that as a source rather than usual European or Tolkien roots. The first Naj story was called "Sarn's Dragon." I originally wrote it for Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series. She sent me a devastating rejection letter, calling my work hackneyed. I didn't let it stop me, and when she was reading for the next book in the series, I submitted a much rewritten and greatly improved version. Although it didn't make the cut, she sent me a letter praising the story, saying it was really good, but she had too many of that length. About that time I read Marta Randall's A SWORD IN WINTER, which is a great fantasy mystery. I started thinking about writing a fantasy mystery novel, about what kind of detective I wanted and what kind of powers he might have that would make him interesting, and Dar was born. Since I had already created the world of Naj, I decided to set Dar's story there.
You consider yourself a Vampire writer. How did you come to write about vampires?
The first short story I ever wrote, over thirty years ago, was a Science Fiction story about a race of telepathic vampires. Over the years I played with several ideas for vampire stories, although I never really finished them. When my daughter was a teenager, a rather traumatic time for her mother, I wrote a short story called "Mother's Love", which was about a mother of two typical teenagers who just happens to be a vampire. You can read what you would like into the Freudian meaning of that story. Anyway, a few years later, a character from "Mother's Love" stepped out of the story and demanded that I tell the tale of how he was first bitten by a vampire. That was the beginning of the Darkhour Vampires. You can learn more about my experiences at http://www.midnightblood.com. After years of trying out different formats, subjects, I had finally found my voice, that special something that I really wanted to spend my time writing about. I have rough drafts for five of the books in the series and plans for two more. I started doing market research on vampires, which led to writing book reviews and into the whole wonderful world of vampires on the Internet. I just finished serializing the first book of the Darkhour series on my web site. That was quite an experience. With six more to go, I have plenty to keep me busy.
