Guest Author Monday

Please welcome our Guest Author — Michele Drier

How I Fell for the Vampires

Although I tell people I don’t read much in the paranormal genre, years ago I read a series about the vampire colony living underground in L.A.

I buried the author’s name and the titles but remembered the basic plot, so the vamps made an impression that came back when my daughter said “Write a vampire book!”

I’d just contracted for my first book, a traditional mystery, and was planning the second when my daughter and her husband started hammering on me about the undead. They both read, voraciously. Between them, they have three Nooks and four Kindles, plus iPhones, iPads and computers. They’re so wired in they just bought their two-year-old a Kindle for games and kids’ show and she calls it her book. A little scary!

With all these reading devices (plus paper books) scattered around, I figured they were au courant on the hot literary trends so I listened when my son-in-law said, “Go into any bookstore and see the size of the mystery section. Then look at the paranormal section. Then decide.”

But I was a mystery writer. How could I find a hook? I batted around a few ideas with my daughter until she said, “You’re over-thinking this. Look at celebrities. They all wear oversized dark glasses, don’t come out much during the day, ride around in limos with tinted windows…they could all be vampires.”

And SNAP, the world’s biggest and best international conglomerate of celebrity gossip was born

I also dredged the underground colony from the depths of my mind and discovered that my protagonist, a regular named Maxie Gwenoch, had heard all the vampire rumors while at UCLA.  They continue to this day.

The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency lists the Sunset strip area of L.A. and Hollywood as one of the five mostly likely places in the United States to find vampires, due to the crush of nightlife activity.

There are vampire nightclubs, vampire bands, vampire games and a listing for “real vampires in L.A.” Clearly, my daughter was on to something.

Now I’m finishing my seventh book in The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, SNAP: White Nights. And the eighth, SNAP: All That Jazz, is plotted out.

I confess, I’m more attached to the Kandeskys than I am to my real, daylight life!

Michele Drier was born in Santa Cruz and is a fifth generation Californian. During her career in journalism — as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers – she won awards for producing investigative series.

Her mysteries include Edited for Death, called “Riveting and much recommended” by the Midwest Book Review and Labeled for Death.

Her paranormal romance series, The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, include, SNAP: The World Unfolds, SNAP: New Talent, Plague: A Love Story, Danube: A Tale of Murder, SNAP: Love for Blood, (finalist for Readers’ Crown, Romcon 2013, Finalist, Best paranormal book of 2013, Paranormal Romance Guild Reviews Choice) SNAP: Happily Ever After? and SNAP: White Nights (due March 20.)

All her books are available at Amazon, B&N, Kobo and iTunes. Visit her website: http://www.micheledrier.com or facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMicheleDrier or her Amazon author page, http://www.amazon.com/Michele-Drier/e/B005D2YC8G/