Thanks to everyone who attended the DRACULA IN LOVE book launch party on September 20th. We are just revving up for the fall, so please check the calendar below for upcoming events in your part of the world.
Thanks to all stalwart readers who came out yesterday in the sub-Sahara climate to attend the WEST HOLLYWOOD BOOK FAIR. In addition to the panel, I chatted with Amber Benson (Tara on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER), who is going to perform the ASYLUM piece with me on Halloween! See below for details. Also chatted with Julie Robinson who organizes the BEVERLY HILLS LITERARY ESCAPE WEEKEND in October. I’ll be involved all weekend in various events and lunches, and Julie has generously given me tickets to the event to raffle. Stay tuned for details! LOS ANGELES WOMEN: Join me at HOITY TOITY BOUTIQUE on Friday, October 1st for a wine, book signing and fashion party. Hoity Toity’s unique, designer clothes will be featured with most on sale. This is a chance to get your goth’n’glam on for the fall season. From 6pm. Location below.... Read more.
How much sex is too much?
Published September 6, 2010 in Publisher’s Weekly
During an auction for the audio rights to my new novel, Dracula in Love, my editor forwarded me an e-mail from one of the bidders. “This book is so hot that I can’t wait to get home to my wife!” he proclaimed, and then outbid everyone else and presumably went home and made his wife happy.
We were delighted to hear that feedback because during the writing process, we had tortuous debates over just how much sex would be too much. My most trusted readers are my agent, my editor, and my manager (yes, I’m lucky), and each had very different responses. Without giving away proclivities, two on the team kept begging for more, though what one thought erotic, the other sometimes found terrifying. The third loved every sensual drop, but kept reminding us of the puritanical level of the basic American reader, specifically, the literary reader, that elite creature who relies on a host of signifiers to be distinguished from the genre reader. She pointed out that the book had the elements that discriminating readers look for in a literary work: a strong, authoritative voice, painstakingly composed prose, and serious themes. “This book is too rich to have its seriousness dismissed because of the sex scenes,” our cautionary voice reminded us. “You know how readers are! They see some sex on the page and assume it’s a bodice-ripper.”... Read more.
In honor of the official publication date of Dracula in Love, the vampire’s muse has broken her century-long silence in an exclusive interview with Fangoria Magazine. Read what the once quintessential Victorian virgin has to say about 21st century rehab, Internet porn, and her nostalgia for velvet:
EXCLUSIVE: MINA HARKER SPEAKS!
Meanwhile, one of America’s top mortal voices, the esteemed Bruce Feiler, New York Times columnist, peripatetic historian, and repeated New York Times Bestseller list offender, has posted his thoughts about Dracula in Love on Amazon:
I am hanging onto my rain hat here in London as August 10th, the pub date for DRACULA IN LOVE approaches. Reviews thus far have been absolutely amazing, more than I dared wish for. From book bloggers who compare it to novels by the Brontës and Anne Rice, to a veritable rave in FANGORIA Magazine, the number one horror publication in the world, I’ve been gratified and humbled by this outpouring of generous words.
Let me assure you that THERE WILL BE BLOOD AND THEIR WILL BE PARTIES. The kick-off celebration is on September 20th at Fraiche Santa Monica, and you are all invited. We will provide delights of all kinds, including special appearances by the Undead. The festivities will move through Southern California and then across the country, culminating ‘round Halloween in New Orleans at the Vampire Film Festival.... Read more.
After forty-three months of research and writing, and a lifelong fascination with the esoteric, I am happy to announce that DRACULA IN LOVE, my fifth novel, will be published by Doubleday in August 2010.
There is blood on the pages, faithful readers, but it is not only from the vampire’s bite. I would like to share with you just a little of the bizarre process of writing this most rebellious of books. It was as if a supernatural being had taken possession of my research and my typing fingers for its own purposes.... Read more.
Thanks to everyone who attended the DRACULA IN LOVE book launch party on September 20th. We are just revving up for the fall, so please check the calendar below for upcoming events in your part of the world.
LOS ANGELES WOMEN: Join me at HOITY TOITY BOUTIQUE on Friday, October 1st for a wine, book signing and fashion party. Hoity Toity’s unique, designer clothes will be featured with most on sale. This is a chance to get your goth’n’glam on for the fall season. From 6pm. Location below.
