The Facts About Fiction
Current mood: creative

I am almost finished writing A Vampire in Waikiki. This has been so much fun to write and I've developed quite a crush on my hero, Jimmy Thunder. I didn't think I could love another man after Phantom Lover's Kimo Wilder, but I'm just a fickle guy, I guess.

Stephen King, the lit horror maestro continues to inspire me with his battle hymn On Writing, which is my bible. He pushes the envelope in each and every single story he writes.

I read everything I could about vampires and learned all the 'accepted' depictions of them, then threw it all away. I am not Anne Rice, Jimmy Thunder is not the Vampire Lestat and once I quit fretting about being true to the 'beast' as it were, I realized that's the first rule of fiction. Make of your chosen genre what you will. don't duplicate. Make it fresh and original...make it yours.

So my book (like all my books) is set in Hawaii. My vampire likes sunsets, Mai Tais and dips his fingers in poi. He also has tons and tons of sex and depicting hot beach encounters late at night on tropical islands has presented an interesting challenge for me.

Jimmy's story is already developing in my mind as a sequel...but for now, I am savoring the moment of falling in love again, of feeling another character stealing the keys of my literary car and taking it for a joy ride. My hope is that now that Jimmy's also stolen my heart, he'll give it back to me, even if it's in pieces.

Aloha oe,

A.J. 

Currently listening : Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding Release date: 18 September, 2007