Today's guest is Tory Michaels, author of two books in the Dream-Walker War series, Blood Rage and Blood Mage Rising. Originally from the Sacramento Valley, Tory packed up and moved all the way to Southwest Florida in 2004 with her husband (a Florida native) under the premise that ‘hurricanes almost never hit that part of the state.’ That year, 4 blasted the area. 4 more came the following year, and her husband blames her for bringing the hurricanes. She now resides in Jacksonville and is relieved that, thus far, no more hurricanes have followed her around.
She began writing in kindergarten when a turnip wished to be human and, other than a hiatus shortly after getting married, has never stopped. Her love of vampires began somewhere in junior high, and combining the two loves didn’t take long. She loves music, considers herself a ‘book slut’ whose reading habits would break her family financially if given free reign, and is (usually) delighted to be a mommy of twin Shrimpettes and a Shrimp.
Take it away, Tory!
Unreality in the Real World
First, let me say thank you for having me on your blog today. I liked your topic suggestions so much (why vampires or how did I pick my setting), that I’m going to combine them!
My Dream-Walker War (two books out with one almost done and the fourth/final one in the planning stages) takes place primarily in South/Southwest Florida (Tampa and Fort Myers). You might think that’s an odd place to put a bunch of vampires, but…not really, if you think about it. If you put them in somewhere like Washington State, you’ve got those super long days during the summer. Sure, you get nice long nights in the winter, but it’s still a pain. In Florida, and other more globally central locations, there’s far less of a seasonal shift as to length of day. So, to my mind, it’s logical that they’d cluster in Florida despite the frequency of rainy days.
Now, as to why I write about vampires. I’ve been fascinated by the supernatural my entire life. I remember loving the show Dracula: the Series when I was 16 (short-lived sit-com, believe it or not), and the Ben Cross incarnation of Dark Shadows (cut after a single season, which cutting I firmly blame on the first invasion of Iraq). But I look at the undead and see more than the broody/sulky vamps (a la the Angels and Edwards of the world) or evil, soul-less creatures (Angelus and innumerable other purely evil critters). I don’t get why they must lose their souls upon conversion to vampirism (yes, I know the mythology behind vampires). So, I decided to write about vampires who really aren’t that much different than humans. They’re who they were in life, just with really long life-spans and a liquid diet.
My fascination with vampires comes from the ageless/immortal factor. Being immortal seems like a pretty good deal, doesn’t it? Can you imagine the things people would see if they could live longer than our puny 60-100 years? Heck, just a century ago, we were toddling along in the first cars, no internet and movies weren’t even that huge yet. And now, here we are with instantaneous access to movies at home, easy communication from almost anywhere in the world, and we can go from New York to Japan in under a day (assuming you get the good connecting flights). What new and wonderful things are going to change in the next hundred years? Or how about a thousand?
The main male characters (I hesitate to call both of them “heroes” given one is a sociopath) of my books are 1200 and 1000 years old, respectively. One came from Viking society, the other from Celtic. Imagine the changes they’ve seen? Heck, even my heroines aren’t that young (one’s 200, the other 250). I don’t see why a 1000+ y/o vampire would prefer a fresh, young human over a woman who’s been around for a couple hundred years. Granted, Anthony and Dara (Blood Rage) met while Dara was still human, but they didn’t make a real go of things until she was close to her two-century mark. I just like the freedom you’d get after seeing and doing so much. So that’s why vampires.
Thanks for having me here and hope I haven’t bored you. Have a great week!
That is an interesting twist on the classic vampire tales, and thank you for coming, Tory! Now for the giveaway! To enter, just use the Rafflecopter form below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
2 comments:
Thanks for having me. :)
thanks for the great giveaway
kmichellec87(at)yahoo(dot)com
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