Today, we’re happy to welcome James R. Tuck to the blog. James is author of the recent release, Blood and Bullets, as well as a short story in the same world, That Thing at the Zoo. Despite his profile pic and his kick-ass main character, we won’t let this author fool you; he’s a super sweet guy with an interesting take on the creatures of the night. Remember to check out the giveaway below and help us give a warm Booklovers welcome to James! Take it away….

WHY I LOVE AN EVIL VAMPIRE
by James R. Tuck

Okay, this is not my public profession of love for a wicked bloodsucker who has stolen my heart, and I am NOT calling the Missus a vampire. I am talking about why I love evil vampires as monsters.

I have loved vampires for a long time. Even back in grade school I would scour the library for books on monsters. I read the grade school retelling of DRACULA as well as a ton of mythology and folklore about them. They fascinated me. Being undead, living off the blood they could steal, being unable to cross rivers or walk in sunlight. Dying by a stake through the heart.

I was fascinated by it all.

Even the weird things about vampires were intriguing. Like if you scatter a handful of mustard seeds in front of the vampire they have to stop and count every one of them before they could continue to chase you. (Which I found interesting when you think about the Count on Sesame Street and his obsession with counting. Was he truly a felt and glue fiend of the night, swooping through Sesame Street and drinking the blood of Big Bird?)

Most of my reading life vampires came up in horror books, and they were evil. Evil to the core.

Things changed in the 90’s. There was a shift to thinking of vampires as the tortured, dark lover in the night. It had been around before then, but only here and there, in the 90’s it became more common than the complex and scary monster of straight horror films and books.

When it came time for me to write what became BLOOD AND BULLETS I needed a monster to put up against my main character of Deacon Chalk. Now Deacon is a take no crap, honest to God, certified stone-cold ass-kicker. He carries a big gun and ain’t afraid to use it. He also lost his family five years ago and has nothing to live for other than killing monsters, so he has the strength to completely throw himself at a monster, holding nothing back. He doesn’t get scared because he wants nothing more than to go on and be with his family. If he wasn’t Catholic he would take himself there, but that’s a mortal sin. So now he fights monsters without hesitation or holding back.

I needed a monster that could stand up to that.

I went back to my first love. I reached back and pulled out the vampire and went with the scary. the vampires in BLOOD AND BULLETS are vicious predators. They are super strong, super fast, have powers and abilities, and a thirst for blood that is unquenchable. They are evil through and through without any remorse. They kill without compassion and they do not love.

I also went classic with my vamps, giving them all the traditional weaknesses. Sunlight, holy water, crosses, stake through the heart, the whole nine yards. (Except the seed counting thing. Although that may come up in the future.) Plus I developed a new origin for where vampires came from.

Oh, I’m not going to tell you about it. For that you have to read the book!

He lives to kill monsters. He keeps his city safe. And his silver hollow-points and back-from-the-dead abilities help him take out any kind of supernatural threat. But now an immortal evil has this bad-ass bounty hunter dead in its sights. . .

Ever since a monster murdered his family, Deacon Chalk hunts any creature that preys on the innocent. So when a pretty vampire girl “hires” him to eliminate a fellow slayer, Deacon goes to warn him–and barely escapes a vampire ambush. Now he’s got a way-inexperienced newbie hunter to protect and everything from bloodsuckers to cursed immortals on his trail. There’s also a malevolent force controlling the living and the undead, hellbent on turning Deacon’s greatest loss into the one weapon that could destroy him. . .

Blood and Bullets is available from Kensington, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and BAM!

For more information on James R. Tuck and what he’s cooking up next, visit his website.

So do tell us: do you prefer your vamps to be evil, dangerous and scary creatures of the night or romanticized and tortured heroes? (Or maybe both? 😉 )

About Jackie

Jackie is a quirky mom, living in Ontario, Canada. She's a bookkeeper by day and a book lover by night. She also blogs at The Novel Nation and writes occasionally for Heroes and Heartbreakers.

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