Embedded Files
Welcome to the first issue of my new interview series. I'm planning on releasing three issues this month, on December 1st, 8th, and 15th. I have some great authors and artists lined up, so I hope you'll all tune in and then tell all of your friends about us.
Who am I? I'm an author, a reader, a big fan of music, movies, comics, novels, video-games, nature, philosophy, poetry, mythology, and whatever else you have on hand. I hate pickles, and I hate zombies, which is why I write about them sometimes. (The zombies, not the pickles. NEVER the dread pickles....) If you would like to learn more about my own recent work, please click here or go to my Amazon Author page.
This may be the first issue of my new series, but this is not my first time interviewing authors. I spoke with roughly 70 authors when I first began my "Noahan Author series" a couple of years ago. All of those interviews are still up and you can read them any time you want here.
My first guest is a comic book legend. I have personally read hundreds of comic books written by this man. From Batman to Nightwing to Birds of Prey to The Punisher to Booster Gold to Claw to, well, look him up if you don't know. His resume is unbelievable. For one thing, he created Bane, the Batman villain you may know from the most recent Batman movie.
CHUCK DIXON
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Chuck, thanks so much for joining us. I've personally been reading and enjoying your work for decades now. In your career, you've written hundreds of Batman and Batman family comic books, and I'd be willing to bet that, as large a number as that is, you've read even more of them. What makes for a good Batman story? What mistakes do you see made again and again? What would you like future writers of the property to keep in mind?
CHUCK DIXON: Most writers just portray Batman as a badass. And he is that. But they fail to also bring his intelligence center stage beyond some kind of supernatural omniscience. Like, “he knows everything.” His deductive reasoning and forensic skills are rarely on display or the mysteries are simplistic and weak. That’s plotting taking a backseat to characterization, I guess.
Back during the first Batman Black & White deal I was contacted by Mark Chiarello, the editor, and asked if I’d like to contribute a story with Jorge Zaffino. His one proviso was that it had to be an actual mystery story. Turned out that, of the dozens of stories contributed to the project, all of the authors went for Batman as badass or a slice of life story. Batman never gets to be a detective in any of the stories but the one me and Jorge did.
The PERFECT Batman story, to me, would have a mystery, an interesting badguy and either a trap or a tight spot that Batman has to get out of using his wits. Oh, a punch-up or two. There’s NOTHING wrong with what Bill Finger laid down.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Your over 100-issue run on Batman was incredibly traumatic for the Dark Knight. Your broke his back. Gotham went through a Cataclysm, Contagion, No Man's Land, disaster after disaster on a scale we haven't seen before or since. You broke the Bat, and then you broke Gotham. It was a wild ride, and worth reading in paperback even now. Can you talk a little about what you were trying to show about Batman in these stories?
CHUCK DIXON: I think the plan was to show that Batman can overcome anything given the time and resources. Some of those stories, to be honest, I wasn’t happy with. I felt that Cataclysm was more of a Superman story or a cross-company event. I think a lot of readers were disappointed that this horrible disaster was kept entirely Batman-centric. I didn’t think it was well thought out either on a concept level. I like comic book logistics and most of the actual challenges of knocking Gotham down and re-building it were simply ignored or passed over by “And then, six months later…”
I remember that I proposed that one of the bridges in Gotham should be replaced with a bridge made of high-tensile glass. How cool would that look? And it is possible to do so and had the added bonus of being faster to construct than a standard steel suspension bridge.
I also brought up the difficulties of rebuilding Wayne Manor. Any contractor would have found the Batcave beneath the rubble on their first day on site. Shared power and water lines. A shaft leading from the building’s foundations to---what? I suggested that Wayne Manor be built off site and, when completed, be moved by…let’s see…perhaps a certain strange visitor from another world? One day the crew leaves the build and the next morning the whole place is gone. It’s now situated right back where it was. How cool would that be? But I got nixed.
I think we left some very good stories behind on that.
No Man’s Land was kind of mess too. I wasn’t that involved on that one and less involved when I voiced my opinions on it. That story could have been a lot better than it was if they had considered the ramifications on the entire DCU and, again, the logistics.
I was no fan of the then-current occupant of the White House and have a general deep distrust of the federal government. But I could not believe that Gotham City would be isolated by our government simply because its crime problems had gotten out of hand. I argued for more compelling and realistic ideas why this might happen but the grain rolled on without me.
I just didn’t see these stunts as worth follow-ups to Knightfall.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I recently read the first graphic novel of the classic Winterworld series and I have pre-ordered the first collected edition of the new Winterworld series. Could you tell our readers about this story and why they should be reading it?
CHUCK DIXON: If anyone hasn’t seen the art of Jorge Zaffino then they must. That’s the first thing.
The story of Winterworld is of a future where the whole Earth is locked in perpetual arctic conditions. It’s cold everywhere with no relief. The population has mostly died off and resources are scarce and getting scarcer. The stories focus on Scully, a nomadic traveler who’s survived on his own by compromising anything like morality or ethics for another day of life. This changes when he rescues Wynn, a young woman who’s survived her own horrific past. The pair have another person they can trust for the first time in their lives. Their only other companion is Rah-Rah, a European badger who’s not really a pet. I sense he hangs with them because they routinely find food he can share.
The ongoing builds off the original pair of mini series that Jorge and I did in the 80s and 90s. Scully and Wynn continue on in a monthly with gorgeous art by Butch Guice, Toma Giorello and Tommy Lee Edwards.
I also have the first in a series of Winterworld prose novels coming out in February. I finished writing it last month. It tells us more of Scully’s origins than the comic ever has or will.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I've also read the first two books of the Bad Times series and will be reading the third very soon. It's a really exciting full-throated action adventure about time traveling marines. I usually end up hating time travel stories because the writers are less than careful and the logic doesn't hold up, but that's not a problem in your books. What draws you to this concept? And, assuming that the third book is not the end, what can we look forward to in future installments of Bad Times?
CHUCK DIXON: I’ve been in love with time travel ever since seeing George Pal’s version of The Time Machine at a Saturday matinee when I was a kid. I read the Wells novel and fell in love with the sub-genre even more. I sought out every example of it that I could find in SF paperbacks. A Gun For Dinosaur by L. Sprague DeCamp is a favorite. And I love the Richard C. Meredith trilogy of time travel adventures. And, as I have often told Bob Gale, I stand in awe of the back to the Future movies. Three movies that ostensibly all take place on the same relative day and loaded with paradoxes and alternate realities and never once drops a stitch.
So, in spite of a promise to my wife never to write time travel again (she says it makes schizoid), I chose Bad Times for my first jump into creator-owned prose. I think she has a point. It messes with my head. It’s a kind of story that I can’t stop thinking about until I’ve worked out the bugs to my satisfaction.
I plan on staying at this series until the wheels come off. I started the fourth book and it’s kind of my homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs. As indicated in Book Three, the team goes back to the time and place of the first book in the series. But it’s an extended visit and they explore more of prehistoric America than they had an opportunity to do before. I can’t wait to write about giant beavers!
Beyond that I’m not sure what’s next except that I want to avoid well-known historical locales and personalities. Book Three was kind of an exception to that rule. The concept of going back in time to save Jesus Christ was low-hanging fruit that I couldn’t resist. I’m looking for a way to involve the Rangers in the Tai-Peng Rebellion in China in the 1800s. I’ll get there. I also want to re-visit the effed-up future world that Samuel calls home.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I haven't yet read any of the Seal Team Six series, but it looks like you have a half dozen volumes of it out already. Please tell our readers about that series.
CHUCK DIXON: Nick Barucci at Dynamite (a comic book publisher) wanted something to sell to exploit the death of Usama Bin Laden and he wanted it for Christmas. There was no time to get a comic book property of any kind out in that timeframe. So he asked me if I could write a novel about the Navy SEALs in thirty days. I’d dabbled in prose with some short stories for anthologies but never plunged into a novel before. I took the challenge because it was the only way I was ever going to write a novel. I had an advance and a deadline and that was all the kick in the ass I needed. I got the first one done in twenty-eight days. I did five more to complete my commitment.
The robust sales on them convinced me to start the Bad Times series. Why not make that money for myself?
The series follows a nameless SEAL team (the real team that kakked UBL has a name so secret that only a dozen people know its code designation) on one perilous mission after another. It’s blood and guts military action but I spiced it up with a lot of dark humor and nasty surprises. I make NO claim as to the books’ accuracy. But I did my damnedest to keep the attitude of the SEALs and the rest of our fighting men and women. I talked to a LOT of guys back from Iraq and Afghanistan. They have their own language and their own worldview unique from other conflicts.
The vets I gave books to told me I caught how they talk to each other.
I got some grief from navy guys over paygrades. Hey, what do I know except that these guys are WAY underpaid?
I also tried to avoid the usual war story clichés. The action comes fast and brutal when it happens. Nobody gets killed right after getting a letter from home. I was the only guy in the theater laughing when the guy gets killed right after listening to a cassette tape from his mom.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Busy guy that you are, you also have a story in the works called Sword of Wood. As I understand it, this is going to be both a graphic novel and a feature film. What can you tell us about that?
CHUCK DIXON: Well, it shares the same fate as every other “soon to be a major motion picture” property. These things are like the children of alcoholics right up until principal photography begins. It’s all promises and delays. “Daddy will take you to the zoo tomorrow, okay?” And there you sit at the curb with a bag of peanuts for the monkeys but Daddy never shows.
The story of Sword of Wood is a medieval horror story about a crusader who returns to his lands in England to find that they’ve been overrun by what I’m not supposed to tell you are vampires. His wife and kids are gone and he takes his squire and a monk to pursue this army of the dead.
It’s not just guys creeping through misty woods with swords. The vampires are a real military force, a Satanic army laying siege to forts and castles. Big action stuff. It’s a different take entirely.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: How the heck do you manage to be so productive?
CHUCK DIXON: I stay way, way, way ahead of schedule. That way I can accept assignments on the fly. I’ve never had to say no to an assignment and if I have downtime I turn back to my novels.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What do you do to inspire yourself?
CHUCK DIXON: Driving around listening to music seems to spark ideas. Also long walks. And wife is great at running across material that might be grist for stories. She really is the perfect writer’s wife.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Are you prepared for the fall of civilization?
CHUCK DIXON: I’m prepared to take from those who are prepared. I watch those crazy prepper shows with my boys and say, “These are the people we will feed upon when Wormwood returns.” They laugh like I’m joking.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Is there life in the universe outside of the planet Earth?
CHUCK DIXON: There has to be. It’s not even debatable. This entire universe is conducive to the creation of life. Even on this planet we have species that could survive in the harsh environment of other planets. Extremophiles that can live in arctic ice or at the heart of a nuclear reactor.
We’re not alone. But everyone else is so far away.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Would you like to ask me a question?
CHUCK DIXON: Did you ever think of writing one of those fantasy-by-the-pound series? If not, why not?
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Well, if we're just talking weight, The Secrets of the Universe is apparently 1.9 pounds of science fiction. If we're talking about fantasy, I have a complicated relationship with the genre.
I discovered Dungeons & Dragons when I was about 8 years old and I first saw the first edition Monster Manual in a bookstore in Westchester, NY. I was amazed to think that a single book existed, with such beautiful artwork and ALL the monsters. I begged my father to buy it for me that day. He said, "No," but soon after, Christmas came and he surprised me with the D&D Basic set. I read it and I re-read it, and I couldn't understand what it was saying to me. The concept of role-playing was so new and so abstract, that I didn't get it. (And I was only 8 or 9.)
I thought about it for months. Then, I was on an airplane. My mother was taking my brother Dhanny and I to go and live in Australia for a year, when it clicked in my brain and I got it. I turned to my brother and said, "What do you do?" And I led him through our first adventure.
For years I loved D&D and subjected any poor soul who happened to make the mistake of even speaking to me to my pleas. I just wanted to play it all the time. I had no interest in sports or much of much of anything except wanting to play the storytelling game. I rarely even bothered with dice or character sheets or modules.
But the time came when I moved on and started writing and put D&D aside (I still plan on doing nothing else but play when I'm ancient and living in an old folks home, but I have some time yet!) I look back at D&D now as a wonderful memory.
But the problem I have with most of modern fantasy is I see it as nothing but a regurgitation of the work of Gygax and Tolkien. At this point in time, I think Fantasy is often the LEAST creative genre on the market, which is amazing and counter-intuitive. There's nothing inherently wrong with the genre, but simply a tendency of so many modern writers to do nothing more than chronicle their games on a page, as if that was enough. I don't think it is. Simply including "Elves" and "Dwarves" doesn't make a story fantastic. I think it can get really hum-drum if you don't find a new and fresh take on it all.
So, I do want to write fantasy. In fact, I have a concept slowly baking in the oven which maybe I'll be ready to share in a year or so. But I won't, unless it is something actually and genuinely fantastic.
Which I think leads us perfectly into the fantasy work of our next guest: Daniel Arenson!
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DANIEL ARENSON
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Daniel, thank you for joining us. It's been quite a while since we've spoken. You were actually one of the first guests in my old interview series, and then you appeared a second time during our Post-Apocalooza event. Since then, you've been very busy writing quite a few new series. Frankly, I'm shocked at how much material you've produced in just a few short years. The last time I interviewed you, you only had two or three books!
Before we move on to discussing the individual series, I have to ask, from raw jealously, what is your secret to being so productive?
DANIEL ARENSON: I probably write at an average pace, possibly even slower than average. But I do this full time. I write for about 100 hours a week, every week, so it adds up!
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN:You've written a lot of books about dragons. What draws you about dragons especially?
DANIEL ARENSON: Back in 2011, I came up with an idea. I wanted to write the book version of Disney's Fantasia. To write a story that came into my mind while listening to classical music, then ask the reader to read the book while listening to said music. I chose Mozart's Requiem.
A few days earlier, I had been to an airshow and seen the Blue Angels, stunt pilots in F-18s. I remember thinking how, in fantasy literature, dragons were essentially the F-18s of those worlds -- loud, roaring, lightning-fast beasts who could destroy you from above. So the idea of dragons being the fighters jets of fantasy was on my mind.
While listening to the Requiem, I found myself writing a story about people in a medieval kingdom who could turn into dragons. I titled the novel Blood of Requiem. Once it was done, I realized that this was turning into more than a Fantasia-style exercise. This felt like a world I could turn into a series.
Now, writing a novel is a lot of work. I had two weeks' vacation from work coming up and no real plans. My workplace made me an offer: I could forfeit my vacation, and they'd pay me for an extra two weeks that year. That was very tempting. I didn't have a lot of money. I was living in a small 450-square-foot apartment, no car, barely any furniture. I needed the cash. And my ebooks at the time, including Blood of Requiem, still weren't selling much, only earning spare change. But... I was also tempted to take these two weeks' vacation, give up that desperately-needed money, and write a sequel to Blood of Requiem.
I talked to Amanda Hocking online about my dilemma. She told me to take the vacation and write the book. And I listened to her. For two weeks, I locked myself in that small apartment. I sat on the armchair (I didn't have room or money for a couch or desk) and just wrote nonstop for fourteen days. At the end of the two weeks, I had a rough draft of Tears of Requiem, the sequel to Blood of Requiem.
It was Tears of Requiem that finally started selling. In fact, it sold so well that I was able to buy a house, buy a car, buy real furniture, and quit my day job to become a full time writer. I've been writing dragon books since.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I'm a few years behind and it does seem a little daunting to begin reading your dragon series now. Are they all part of one larger epic, or are they separate series? In what order should a reader begin reading them? And could you tell our readers a little about each of the stories?
DANIEL ARENSON: There are currently four trilogies set in Requiem, a world where people can turn into dragons. Each trilogy is set in a different era in Requiem's history, and you can read them in any order you like. The trilogies are Dawn of Dragons, Song of Dragons, Dragonlore, and The Dragon War. A fifth trilogy, Requiem for Dragons, will be released next year. You can learn more about them at the Requiem's page on my website: http://DanielArenson.com/Requiem
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Quite a few of these books have the word "Requiem" in the title. As I begin reading Blood of Requiem, it's a very passionate work, with passionate imagery and action. And of course, the term "Requiem" does make one think of music. Can you tell us a little about the operatic writing style you've chosen to use, and what relationship there might be between the story and music?
DANIEL ARENSON: I sort of answered this one already, but you're right -- the writing here is inspired by Mozart's Requiem. I wanted to capture that dark, operatic, larger-than-life feel. I wanted everything to feel BIG, almost over the top: so there's extreme violence, extreme hatred, extreme horror, but also extreme devotion, love, loyalty. Many of the characters in the Song of Dragons trilogy are even named after movements in the Requiem: Kyrie Eleison, Benedictus, Lacrimosa, Agnus Dei, and so on.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: In the Gods of Dream you've written a different kind of story, one about where dreams come from. Can you talk about this book?
DANIEL ARENSON: The Gods of Dream is one of the first books I've written. It's a novel about escapism. It's about two broken people, a brother and sister, two refugees in bleak circumstances. They escape into a fantasy world they imagined, only to realize this escapist world might be real and threatened.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Your series Moth is now up to six volumes, and even has it's own soundtrack. The writing style is very different from the Requiem books. Was this a conscious decision? And please tell the readers about this series.
DANIEL ARENSON:Moth is about a world that stopped spinning years ago, leaving one half in permanent daylight, the other in endless night. When the world stopped spinning, the people on each side evolved to suit their new environment. For example, the people on the dark side developed very large eyes, large ears, and pale skin. The ecosystem evolved to survive without plants, which can't exist in the darkness. For thousands of years, both peoples -- the ones in daylight and those in darkness -- didn't interact. For a long time, each side believed the other to be a myth. The Moth Saga is about what happens when these people meet, and it explores themes of prejudice and culture clashes. To a large degree, it's inspired by early contact between Europeans and East Asian cultures.
It was indeed a conscious decision to write this series in a different style. While Requiem is dark and gritty and visceral, I wanted Moth to feel like a work of classic fantasy.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: In my opinion, the amazing art which has accompanied your books is as good as anything in the industry. Cover after cover, it is really striking. How important do you think this is for fantasy novels? And, what are some of your favorite fantasy art pieces, outside of your own books?
DANIEL ARENSON: I grew up being a fan of TSR products -- the Dungeons and Dragons game, Dragon magazine, and their novels. A big part of their appeal was the artwork -- paintings by people like Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, Fred Fields, and others. I always used to be scribbling fantasy creatures and characters into my notebooks. Today, rather than hire designers for my covers, I hire artists and tell them to paint a character or a scene.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Now, you didn't begin as a self-published author. As you revealed in our 2010 interview, your first book Firefly Island was originally published by Five Star Publishing. Since then, I believe all of your work has been self-published. At this point, what do you think about self-publishing as opposed to traditional publishing? How has that evolved for you over the last few years?
DANIEL ARENSON: I don't have any ideological preference toward indie vs. trad publishing. I just do whatever can get me the most readers. Right now, indie publishing lets me keep my prices low and my book releases frequent, best letting me reach my readers.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN:What do you do to inspire yourself?
DANIEL ARENSON: I don't think it's anything in particular. My brain is always clogged full with ideas -- so many ideas that it would take hundreds of years to write them all. So I just sit down every day and write.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: There has been speculation that the myth of the griffon might have come from proto-stegasaurus bones found in the middle east. Do you believe there was an historical origin for dragons, or do they simply come from our subconscious (Or perhaps from the Gods of Dream?)
DANIEL ARENSON: Finding dinosaur bones must have been incredibly rare back in the day, and probably very few people would have heard of such a discovery anyway. But there's something powerful about the idea of a giant, fire-breathing reptile. If you told an average person back in the day to invent a monster, there's a good chance they'd choose something BIG, something SCALY, and something that can BREATHE FIRE. So I don't think it's so surprising that different cultures have independently come up with the dragon. :)
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ELITA DANIELS
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Elita, thank you so much for joining us. Please tell us about your novel My Boyfriend is a Zombie.
ELITA DANIELS: My Boyfriend is a Zombie is set in Hall, a fictional small town in England. It's about a teenage girl, Victoria, who follows a shy man into the graveyard one day and finds out his secret – he's a zombie.
She falls in love with him, stitches and all. He takes her into his macabre world (Black Hollow) where all sorts of undead thrive, including zombies. There are two types of zombies: Delicates and
Unfortunates.
There are seamstress shops in Black Hollow. The Delicates keep themselves intact by going there and the seamstress sows their bodies parts together using needle and thread. The Unfortunates can't afford it so they have degenerated into mindless brutes. Victoria also discovers she's being haunted by the ghost of a dead bride.
Originally this book was going to be very tongue and cheek - about a girl dating a guy who is rotting and falling a part, which is why the title is “My Boyfriend is a Zombie”. But as the story came together in my mind it became more romantic and less funny. I also really like the idea of Victorian type zombies, classy but quirky.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: But My Boyfriend is a Zombie is not just a novel. It's now also a play. How did that come about? Have you been involved with the theatre before?
ELITA DANIELS: My mother used to do theatre acting before I was born but this was my first involvement in the world of theatre. I've always wanted to make movies, to work with a team of people who share a passion over the same project and watch the story come to life.
I experienced a similar satisfaction working with Towers Players. I introduced the novel to them two years ago. Right away they were excited to have the opportunity to put on an original never-before-seen show, especially because they hadn't done anything with zombies before. So when I got the chance, I wrote the script with the assistance of a UK playwright and then we had a table reading with the actors. The process of transferring a novel of nearly 500 pages, with many threads within the tale, into a stage play is not an easy one. Changes were made but I'm really happy with how it turned out.
The actors took to the characters very quickly and made them their own. We had a digital artist fly in to do digital imagery for the backgrounds. That had never been done locally before so it was very exciting. We also had really cool make up artists to make the Delicates gruesomely beautiful and the Unfortunates ugly and scary.
Hands were falling off and pieces of skin. On the first night a zombie's hand was blown off by a short gun and landed in the audience.
That made for some interesting screams!
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I can only imagine what it was like to see your story performed. Can you tell us a little about what opening night was like for you?
ELITA DANIELS: I had been very involved during the entire process, attending most rehearsals, but towards the end I got sick and missed out on the final dress rehearsals, but it actually turned out to be a good thing because I got to see the show for the first time with the audience without knowing what to expect. I had no idea what the background scenes were going to look like, or how the actors were going to look with the final make up and with spooky lights and fog on stage. It was fantastic to see how it had all come together, to see characters I know so well saying lines I know off by heart. I was impressed with the digital imagery. It created an atmosphere and a visual display that would have been very difficult to create with props alone. The show was performed fives times. Friday night was the big night. I was invited up on stage and presented flowers. It was a lovely evening.
It's been an experience seeing what goes on behind the scenes and all the passionate work that goes into a production.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Are you going to pursue dramatic writing further? Will we see theatrical productions of your other books, or even movie screenplays?
ELITA DANIELS: For sure. I'd love to write more scripts and perhaps convert some of my other novels. And even another screenplay in the future. I've been asked to do a sequel to My Boyfriend is a Zombie, so I'm thinking about that as a project in the near future.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I really enjoyed your novel, Guardian, and in fact I left it a 4-Star review. Could you talk about that book a little?
ELITA DANIELS: Writing “Guardian” I really wanted to keep the vampires as human as possible but still have traces of all those fantastic supernatural traits. The story depicts the co-exsistence of humans and vampires in
London and how messed up it could be - how would we control them and what would happen if they were all treated like criminals and forced to take sedating medications? Every vampire is assigned a (human) guardian to monitor them – kind of like parole officers. I thought it would make a great story to see through the eyes of a young female vampire, so the story revolves around Anna. I wanted her to be a kickass vampire but also vulnerable. She falls in love with her guardian but he abuses his position of power and has his own personal scientific agenda. The book was originally going to be stand alone but the ending is too abrupt, so I've decided to write a second book.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Zombies, Vampires, why all of these undead creatures having love lives? What does that represent for you? You live in sunny Australia!
ELITA DANIELS: LOL Dead people are interesting! Supernatural stories have always fascinated me. Maybe because there's always a mystery and a promise of something beyond what we know. Monsters as lovers cover a wide range
of "things that could never be," and paranormal romance writers including me have discovered that the otherworldly and sex are good together. It can bring something "extra" to the love scenes. The lines
blur and allow us to explore darker, mostly hidden aspects of ourselves and our sexuality while in the protective confines of fiction. Not to mention the thrill – he could kill you but he won't.
What a huge ego boast to have an immortal creature with unimaginable abilities resisting all of his most intrinsic urges and cravings, tormenting himself endlessly – all for love. It's a romantic concept.
There's also plenty of opportunities for Beauty and Beast situations seeing past the intimidating sometimes ugly exterior to the beauty within.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: You have also released two volumes in the Tree of Life series. Can you talk about them a little?
ELITA DANIELS: Tree of Life is a high-fantasy which is about a mage who is raised by elves after being tormented by his necromancer father. But instead of being grateful to elvenkind, he's jealous and angry and wants to destroy them. It's essentially about self-loathing and misunderstanding, and how comparison can steal away your happiness even when you're surrounded by beauty. It was my very first novel that I started when I was 25. It's written with an archaic English style of prose, which can bog a reader down, especially if you want a light read, but I think if you really let yourself become immersed in the world it's quite an adventure.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: There are a lot of books out just now about women falling in love with Or having sex with monsters. You've written a couple now. What do you think distinguishes the good ones in your genre from the bad ones? What
advice would you have for other authors thinking about writing these kinds of stories?
ELITA DANIELS: That's a good question. I'm not sure I know the answer, I don't often read the genre. “Guardian” and “My Boyfriend is a zombie” were purely experimental but I loved writing them and I want to continue writing
monster love stories. As with any subgenre of romance, the love story must be what drives the book. You're not writing a fantasy or horror novel. Most fans of Paranormal romance want to read about a hero and
heroine falling in love against all odds in an exotic setting. They don't have the patience for a world so richly detailed they'll know even the most ambiguous innards of your landscape. Still, the world needs to be richly imagined so that it feels real. It's also important to keep the story rooted to reality. No matter how far out you go, the reader needs to be able to relate to the characters. I personally like very visceral writing. It's more important to me to know what sensations the characters are experiencing than their surrounding world. But I love world building too.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: What do you do to inspire yourself?
ELITA DANIELS: Watch movies. Look at artwork. Read books. Listen to music. Go walking in fresh air.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN:. If you had the opportunity to become a vampire, would you take it?
ELITA DANIELS: Hmm...hard to say. I think I'd probably chicken out. But tempting.
Very tempting.
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: Would you like to ask me a question?
ELITA DANIELS: Thanks for a great interview, Noah. I enjoyed it. My question for you: do you have any interest in writing/reading monster romances or are monsters for you strictly horror?
NOAH K. MULLETTE-GILLMAN: I think monsters are usually most interesting when they are frightening. But, that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be romance in horror. The ending of my book, The Dead Have Ruled Earth for 200 Years might be a little gruesome, but I think it's as romantic as it gets. In any story, if we get to know our characters really well, romance is sure to be a factor. I think that's true in nearly all of my books, even though the main thrust of them might be horror, or science fiction, or fantasy. Yes, I might write about purple alien plant infestations and life on spaceship-planets in other galaxies, but even in my work, there's kissing from time to time... :)
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That's all for this week. Please come back in seven days for the next set of interviews. I have some really exciting guests lined up.
In the meantime, why not read a book or two from this week's featured authors?
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