Author Interview - Karen Essex, author of Dracula in Love - Part 1

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Dracula Week!  Today I am happy to share with you the first part of a two part interview with Karen Essex, the author of Dracula in Love.  I hope you enjoy!

Lions and Men:  What was it about Bram Stoker’s Dracula that made you want to revisit the story from Mina’s perspective?

Karen Essex:  From the first time I read Stoker’s Dracula in my teens, I just knew that Mina Harker, Dracula’s obsession, was not satisfied with her role as the quintessential Victorian virgin. I knew that there had to be more to her than that. (I knew that there had to be more to any woman than that.) Little did I dream that many years later, I would actually be a novelist and have the opportunity to revise the story, retelling it from Mina’s perspective.

LM:  Were you always a Dracula fan?

KE:  It began when I was a girl in grade school and saw Dark Shadows on TV. I remember racing home on my bicycle to see what blood-curdling adventures awaited the characters at the Collinwood Mansion. I’m from New Orleans, where we believe in the mystical, and the Anne Rice novels only fueled my fascination. I do a lot of screenwriting and have been influenced by vampire films as well, everything from Nosferatu to The Hunger to Coppola’s Dracula. I’ve always loved the glamorous vampires more (too much of the New York Dolls at an impressionable age, I guess), but have great empathy for the monsters.

LM:  Was it difficult/scary to attempt to write this classic story from a new angle? How did you tackle this challenge? How did you determine what to stick closely to and what to change up?

KE:  Yes, it was intimidating, and I knew that I would automatically alienate the purists. But what is life without risk? I believed that I had a lot of new elements to bring to the party such as a strong female perspective, a rich portrait of the era, and the lexicon of vampire mythology. At some point I realized that I had to “free” myself from Stoker’s text or I would be too beholden to its trajectory, so I introduced Stoker himself as a character. He runs into my characters and misinterprets what is going on with them. He goes on to write his own story, whereas Mina reveals the “truth.”

I want to send a big thank you to Karen Essex for taking time to do this interview!

You can catch the second part of this interview at The Maiden's Court tomorrow.  As for today, check out Heather's special "Caught on Tape" segment featuring Dracula films.

And don't forget to enter the giveaway of Dracula, by Bram Stoker.  You only have three more days to enter!

Guest Post - Mark Laxer, author of The Monkey Bible

Hi folks.  Today, I have a special treat for all of you who may be interested in reading The Monkey Bible.  Author Mark Laxer sits down to talk with us for a while about some of the more controversial aspects of his "modern allegory"!

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Sex in the Bible

"There's sex in the Bible-in The Monkey Bible-and the comments I've thus far received about it has got me thinking.

"One thoughtful educator wrote this: "I'm a little concerned about how Emmanuel's sexual fantasy about Lucy, the Australopitecine, will be received (especially since it occurs on the second page and before we have a chance to feel connected with Emmanuel), as well as the one-nighter with the woman from the airline. I know that sex sells, but we wouldn't be able to recommend the book to, say, high school teachers for their students. Might there be a work-around to this?"

"To which I responded: "I hear you about the sexual references within The Monkey Bible. Some number of pastors, who have provided wonderful endorsements, privately mentioned that they were reluctant to share the book with younger folks in their flocks for similar reasons as you mention. If you will indulge me, though, the book is an honest exploration of the line separating humans from all other creatures. In writing the book, I was not thinking about markets or whom I might or might not offend. Nor was I intending to introduce sex at all. The characters, after I was some years into the writing, in a sense helped define themselves and the sexual parts surprised me...

"I've spent a great deal of time pondering what I've written and what might be edited in or out (as has my editor!!!). The writing and rewriting has taken place over the course of 10 years. Emmanuel is not a sexual monster and his desires, I feel, take up a small part of the book. He is a moral character and he loves his friends and cares for them and to my way of thinking, he's as befuddled as most people are, about sexuality. And yet, particularly as he explores his "animal nature," sexuality is something which, if he is honest about it, is an integral part of his psyche which strikes me as a good thing. Without it, of course, most life on earth would die in a generation. It seems there is a good reason--good for society and good for young people to gently explore--for the existence of desires and fantasies. If Emmanuel becomes awash in such desires, if he loses control, if he hurts people, then it would be the wrong message to share with young people but I don't feel that that is the case here.

"If you feel the book is inappropriate for certain age groups, I certainly respect that. I do wonder though, in today's society, what 13 and 14 year olds have access to on the internet and I have the sense that, frankly, what people are exposed to within The Monkey Bible is fairly tame.

"In summary, I'm not sure how to craft a work-around, nor am I convinced that a high-school version would be effective or particularly helpful...Perhaps one work-around is to suggest that the book is best targeted for college-aged people and older...?"

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Thank you, Mark, for that insight!

And Readers, if you haven't already, make sure you check out my review of The Monkey Bible here.

Author Interview - Mira Grant, author of Feed

Hi Folks!  Today is an exciting day here at Lions and Men.  I am hosting my first author interview!  And I am so happy it is with an author of a book that I absolutely loved, Feed.  Read on to get the scoop behind the zombies, technology, and politics of Mira Grant's debut novel.

Lions and Men:  The zombies that are featured in Feed seem to combine classic mythology with new elements of horror.  Where did you find the inspiration for your "walking dead"?
Mira Grant:  Too many Romero movies, too many re-reads of THE HOT ZONE, and too many arguments about running vs. shambling zombies.  I really love some of the horrible things that viruses can do, and wanted to play with them more.

LM:  The majority of the main characters in your novel are young adults (in their twenties).  What made you decide to go with a younger cast of characters?
MG:  It was very important to me that my core cast be born after the Rising, and that the Rising be recent enough that it was still very fresh in the memory of the generation that came before them.  That sort of dictated the age of my protagonists.

LM:   I noticed that Feed is not your typical zombie horror novel as it tends to focus more on the characters, technology, and politics of the world you create than it does on decapitation and flame throwers.  Could you explain why you chose to put the zombies on the back burner?
MG:   No, because it wasn't really a choice so much as just the way the story developed.  Unless mankind falls completely and winds up living in tiny, isolated compounds, I think that zombies are always eventually going to wind up on the back burner in this sort of setting.  Plus, my main characters weren't stupid.  They weren't going to go out there more than they had to.

LM:   What's next for you?  I understand that Feed is part of a trilogy.  Could you give us any information about the sequel?
MG:  DEADLINE will be coming out in May 2011.  And...that's really about all I can say, since not everyone has read FEED.  It's a fun book.  I like it a lot.  It goes much deeper into the science and medical technology behind the zombie menace.  And there are bulldogs.

Thank you very much for your time and willingness to share, Mira!  Your novel is truly unique amongst others of the genre.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the full review of Feed.  I hope you enjoyed this interview, I know I did!