Am I a "Vampire" Author?

It has been said, albeit in jest

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At my very first book signing, my table-neighbor, Jessica Mathews was wrapped up in a blanket because of the colder-than-a-witch's-you-know air conditioning. Most everyone else in the room had on long sleeves or jackets of some kind. Meanwhile, I was as comfortable as could be in a short-sleeve, knee-high dress.

I've always loved the cold. I'm one of those freaks that say winter is my favorite season. There's something so pure and clean about crisp, cold air. There's simple beauty in the world asleep, appearing dead in the depths of winter yet still being so alive. Some people may prefer the bright colors of springtime or the warm colors of autumn, but for me the silent, white world after a blizzard is the most beautiful scene of all.

That day, Jessica (jokingly) accused me of being a real vampire on account of how much I liked the cold. Of course, she was probably poking a little harmless fun at my book, which incidentally has a couple vampires in it. Sure, I think I look best in red and black, prefer not to get tanned if I can help it, and love the cold, but I'm not a vampire (that you know of, winkwink). But am I a vampire author?

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First Billy, and now Archer

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It's true; my first book, The Un-Life of William Moore, centers around the un-life of one William Moore, who is, in fact, a vampire. The book I am currently querying, The Blood Knight, focuses on the adventures of Archer, a vampire hunter who gets turned into a vampire. Coincidence? The answer is yes!

At a glance, having 2 out of 2 of my published/announced projects being vampire books, one could probably make the assumption that that the pale undead is all I write about. Far from it!

I write urban fantasy, sometimes called magical realism or low fantasy, which I tell people basically means I write about fantasy occurring in the modern world.  Vampires surviving in the 21st century is one way to do urban fantasy, and a very popular one at that, but that's not all. Other popular urban fantasy books may feature werewolves, faries or fae, or witches. Sometimes all of the above!

​I'd even go so far as to say I write dark urban fantasy. You won't find many happily-ever-afters in my stories, and they'll often have dark themes. No fairy godmothers are going to save the day, heroes are flawed and complicated, and the villains can be  exceptionally wicked. I write the bitter, real struggles of the lives of those cursed or blessed (but mostly cursed) with supernatural power.

The darker side of urban fantasy

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It's sort of an accident that my next book after The Un-Life was another vampire book. My next project was planned to be this little thing with the working title Inner Demons, which has, you guessed it, demons as main characters. However, I've been a little stuck on this book for a while. I am about 25k words in, and have a general middle and end planned out, but filling in the gaps between those events has proven difficult.

So when I hit a road bump in the demon story, I took up The Blood Knight again to be working on something. Incidentally, I was blessed by the Muses with idea after idea after idea for BK. The story that was only meant to be a backstory for Archer (a rather minor character in the grand scheme of things at the time) turned into Archer being the main character for the entire trilogy. The hero! The title character, even. But it didn't stop there. By the time I was done with first draft of book one,  I was dreaming up spin-offs of Blood Knights, which will all feature a different type of monster and their culture.

Unfortunately my preferred title, "Moon Knight," is taken (thanks, Marvel/Disney), but I have intentions of writing a spin-off about a werewolf hunter that turns into a werewolf! It will be similar to its predecessor, but also vastly different, possibly even taking place in a different country. 

I also have a pretty good grasp on a spin-off centered around demons (unrelated to Inner Demons). About a...wait for it...someone who gets possessed by a demon (you thought I want going to say "a demon hunter that gets turned into a demon," didntja?). All of these "Knight" stories will take place in the same universe. These numerous knights may end up meeting each other some day... (Epic crossover, anyone?)

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Answering the original question...

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Long story short, no, I'm not just a vampire author. Maybe a monster author, but that's not even a perfect title. I don't strictly only write urban fantasy. I have an emotional realistic fiction on the back burner, a sci-fi concept struggling to come to fruition, and a couple plain-ol' high fantasy novels cookin' (one of them is romance, ooooh). Speaking of romance, I've also been debating putting all these romantic thoughts in my head that I can't somehow vomit out to my crush into a book instead. Vanilla romance with no monsters involved. So weird, but I want to give it a try!

When the fiction Muses aren't with me, I dabble in poetry, and hope to have enough poetry to publish in a book someday. In fact, it's on my to-do list (which you might be noticing by now is a rather long list!).

So put away your pitchforks and wooden stakes. I'm just a beautifully flawed human being, just like you.

Stay tuned for an update on my upcoming audiobook release of The Un-Life of William Moore!


We're all a little mad here,

-Dana Lockhart