Interview with Julie Ann Dawson, Author of a Game of Blood

A series of kidnappings leads detective Mitch Grogan to the home of the wealthy but eccentric Darius Hawthorne. What he discovers unleashes a chain of events that not only threatens his life, but also his sanity.

LL: Please tell us about A Game of Blood. How did this book come about?

JAD: This novel started as a short story about a teenage girl that meets a sexy vampire in a club. The story was an anti-Twilight take on the vampire romances that have flooded the market. When I finished the story, I felt compelled to continue sorting out the sordid details of Darius Hawthorne. He demanded a bigger format that the short story.

LL: So your story features a different kind of vampire? What is Darius like?

JAD: In a way, Darius brings the vampire back to a more classical interpretation. A modern day Dracula who is charming, sensual, and completely monstrous. There is no pretense of humanity with him. He considers himself a member of a species that is the true apex predator of the world, feeding on humans and using them as puppets for their own bizarre games. He's not struggling with any inner angst. Most humans are either food, entertainment, or useful tools to him. Sometimes all three. He finds the modern popular interpretation of vampires both amusing and useful for his own agenda.

LL: He reads contemporary vampire novels?

JAD: He thinks the Twilight novels are comedies.

The nature of vampires in A Game of Blood is that vampirism makes an individual more of what he or she already is. While they all share some features such as superhuman strength and regenerative capabilities, each develops differently based on his or her intrinsic nature. If someone was brutish and violent in life, he becomes more feral as a vampire, taking on animalistic features. If someone is cunning and manipulative, he becomes more so through the development of paranormal powers like domination. Darius had been a lawyer in life, extremely competitive and always outthinking his opponents in court. Becoming a vampire magnified those qualities. Now the whole world is one giant game board to him, and he spends his time moving the pawns around to his advantage.

LL: Does he have some big purpose or is he simply enjoying his power?

JAD: Darius' only real goal is to avoid boredom. As most vampires age, they become set in their ways and cling to the way things were done in their own times. Formality, ritual, tradition mean a lot to them. But Darius likes to be stimulated. He wants to experience new things. He views his condition as a blessing that allows him to indulge in whatever he wants, whenever he wants. That's not to say he isn't waist deep in vampire politics. But his involvement is more to prevent certain parties from disrupting things to the point that it would prevent him from enjoying himself.

LL: When detective Mitch Grogan first meets Darius, he probably doesn't believe in vampires. How does he deal with the situation? Can a mere human stand against someone so strong and so sinister?

JAD: No, Mitch doesn't buy into the vampire thing at all. He starts the investigation assuming he is dealing with a sociopath who just uses the vampire culture as a cover, and in a weird way that is exactly what Darius is doing! But Mitch approaches the investigation as a detective and is looking for a scientific explanation for things.

When he finally realizes what Darius is, he also realizes he can't fight him like he would a normal criminal. Shooting him does nothing. He can't physically beat him. He can't quite just go to his boss and say their suspect is a vampire. But then he realizes that Darius isn't going to admit in public he is a vampire either. And that is where the playing field levels. Darius' hands are tied in certain respects, because Mitch is immune to a lot of the mind-influencing powers that vampires have. And just like Mitch can't go public with what he knows without looking like a mental patient, Darius can't exactly do anything that would risk his cover.

LL: Is the story completed or do you plan to write a sequel?

JAD: It is a stand alone title, though there are sequels in the works. My hope is that each title won't be dependent on the one before it. One of the things that can get annoying with some series is that if you didn't read one book, you have no clue what is going on in the next. In a good series, each book in the series should be able to stand on its own merits without the reader having read the ones before. Of course, if you have read the book before that can provide additional insight and "Easter eggs" for the reader. I think where a lot of collections start to break down is when you get to book seven or eight and you have no clue what is going on unless you read book three.

LL: Why do you think the vampire theme is so popular today?

JAD: I think you have to distinct vampire paths at play in popular culture. You have the "traditional" vampire fan base, which are horror fans. The vampire motif is a powerful one and has always had a place in human history. Vampires are the ultimate manifestation of our fears. They look like us. They talk like us. But they feed on us. They remind us of our place in the cosmic pecking order. There is the allure of immortality, but coupled with the loss of what it is that makes us human: our spirit and our empathy. Vampires are the great horror icon because they force us to confront a lot of our communal fears. The fear of the other. The fear of the unknown. The fear of mortality.

Then you have this other phenomena of the paranormal romance. It's all the benefits of being a vampire without the sacrifices. By the gods, Meyer's vampires walk around sparkling in the daylight and some are vegetarians. But this phenomenon is also tied to a lot of our communal fears. Fear of aging. Fear of fading youth. Fear of loneliness. But whereas the classic motifs are more concerned with confronting and overcoming our fears, the fears of the paranormal romance genre become twisted fantasies of denial. The idea of staying young, attractive and powerful for eternity feeds into the modern self-absorbed ethos.

LL: Have you written any other books?

JAD: I have a dark fantasy out called The Doom Guardian. It follows a dhampir and her companions as they are trying to stop the resurrection of the undead god Vagruth. Which I am sure you can understand is something rational people would want to prevent as well. Gods of undeath amassing huge armies of undead...generally a bad thing for the living. Before that, most of my publications have been short horror fiction.

LL: Does writing come easy to you or do you struggle with every page?

JAD: You know, my theory is that it comes when it comes. I don't fight with it. I've always said "Writer's Block" is a myth. There is no such thing as writer's block, only writers trying to force something that isn't ready yet. Sometimes I don't write for weeks. And then all of the sudden I'll get a rush of inspiration and you can't drag me away from my notebook. But I don't stress out if I don't hit some arbitrary word count each day or if I go a few days without writing something.

LL: What is the most important thing to you as a writer?

JAD: Knowing that people enjoy the stories and connecting with the characters. When people send me e-mails or post things on my Facebook page about specific characters, I get such a kick out of that. I swear, Nigel from The Doom Guardian has a few dozen stalkers. But I love the responses and the interaction with readers in regards the stories.

LL: What would you say to those who think they could write a masterpiece "if they only had time"?

JAD: Well, they can keep thinking that. But the fact is that writers write. Period. If you don't write, you aren't a writer regardless of how much you want to be. I think too many people don't appreciate the amount of skill and work involved to actually produce a story. It is more than just a cool idea. Frankly, ideas are like pretty girls. They are a dime a dozen. An idea means nothing without both the skill to shape it into a story and the will to put forth the effort to do so.

LL: Thank you Julie for this interview!