Alan Draven is the author of Bitternest, a horror
novel that combines the mythical threat of vampires with the real
threat
of the avian flu virus. Officers Terry Graves and Miguel
Vallejo
find themselves operating in a city overtaxed by an ailing population
when the
avian flu finally migrates across the world. Distracting the
officers from a murder investigation, an obscure group of vampires
informs Graves
and Vallejo that the
virus is
affecting their own species. When an infected person is bitten by
a vampire,
they transform into a sort of violent hybrid vampire without the
strength
and agility of a full bloodsucker. These hybrids, called
"bloodmongers," are growing in numbers and pose a threat to the
dwindling vampire population. The vampires propose an alliance to
defeat
their mutual enemies. While they're researching a cure for the
virus and
concocting a plan, another group emerges as a possibly even greater
threat:
carnivorous witch children with a vindictive agenda.
Mr. Draven afforded me the following
interview to enhance the reading experience of Bitternest.
What made you decide to become an author?
I always wanted to be a writer.
I've always written in one form or another: poetry, movie reviews,
short
stories, etc. I find it’s simply the best and easiest way to express
myself,
completely uncensored on paper. Writing got me through many tough times
in my
life; it kept me sane for the better part of the ‘90s. I have all these
stories
inside my head that are gnawing at me and they won't leave me alone
until I
tell them, so I write. Today, it’s all I want to do. I can’t wait for
the day
when I make a living solely with my writing.
How long did it take you to write Bitternest?
Exactly six months for the first
draft. The rewrites and various editing stages took another three
months. So
about nine months from first manuscript to book.
How do you create a character?
It’s strange, I never really
thought about that. They just seem to pop into my head effortlessly.
It’s
pretty intuitive I guess. Over time, they develop personalities of
their own. Before
I start writing a story, I have a good idea of what type of person I
want the
protagonist and his allies to be. The protagonist is always very much a
part of
me, in many ways; he possesses a lot of traits from my own personality.
I just
add a few different qualities to set them apart from who I am. As far
as the
antagonists are concerned, I try to make them either very evil or very
flawed
as human beings. I’m also a big fan of characters in the gray area,
where you
can’t tell if they’re good or bad and what their agenda really is. I
have an
idea for a novel where no one is really good, just shades of grey.
What other authors would you compare your writing style to?
I’ve had a few readers tell me that
I remind them of a young Dean Koontz. It’s very flattering. I think the
closest
might be Richard Laymon crossed with Frank Miller. I grew up reading
comic
books more than novels, so my style seems to be very urgent. I follow
Strunk
and White’s mantra, “Omit needless words” to the letter. I tend to
overuse
dialogue too, sometimes; that comes from the fact that I’m a huge movie
junkie
(I see over 200 movies a year). So I’d say I have a very cinematic
style of
storytelling also.
Bitternest combines quite a few different genres
into one book: mystery, medical thriller, and horror to name the
obvious.
Did you set out to create such an eclectic blending of interests?The two genres I enjoy the most are
horror and crime. Right off the bat, this was going to be a 50-50
split. The
medical aspect came along when I decided to include the pandemic as the
backdrop for the story. I researched H5N1 (avian influenza) on the
World Health
Organization’s website, in magazines and newspapers.
The market is flooded with vampire novels. What sets
yours apart from the rest?
I’d like to think that it’s not a
typical vampire novel. Don’t expect an Anne Rice or Jemiah Jefferson
kind of
book. It’s more of a novel with
vampires in it rather than a vampire novel. The central focus isn’t on
vampires; they’re equal players in the book. The detectives, the blood
mongers,
the children of the night, and Cortez and his gang all share the
spotlight. I
also find the premise of an alliance between humans and vampires to be
an
interesting concept.
Why do you think vampires are such a timeless draw for
readers?
Because they’re fascinating
creatures. They can be portrayed as flawed individuals cursed with the
gift of
immortality or as savage, bloodthirsty animals. They’re also deeply
rooted in
every culture; all around the world there is an equivalent of
vampires—they
simply don’t have the same name for them. For instance, the Chinese
believe in
the Cup-hu-girngsi
(corpse who
drinks blood).
Is the town of Bitternest
modeled after an actual town?
It’s a combination of Montreal, Canada (my hometown), New Orleans, Louisiana, and London,
England. I took all the creepy and mystical aspects of
each of
these locations to come up with a unique city where something evil
always lurks
in every fog-shrouded corner.
Bitternest encompasses the occult and
supernatural. You included references to some genuine myths and
practitioners, such as Aleister Crowley. Is this an interest you
are
engaged in aside from writing?
Crowley’s always fascinated me. I think a lot of people
mislabeled
him as a devil worshipper. He was so much more than that. I don’t
dabble in
black magic, if that’s what you’re asking (laughs), but I love reading
about
magic and various mystical subjects. I’ve actually read a lot about Crowley for the book that I’m currently writing. In Bitternest, I mentioned on a few
occasions that a practitioner of dark arts, Timothy Crane, had
disappeared
without a trace in the seventies. Well, he’s loosely modeled after Crowley, only Crane is the most evil man you’ll ever
meet. He’s the
antagonist of my next book and will have a major part in future novels.
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It's a little unusual in this era to read a
story set
in Louisiana and not
hear mention
of hurricane Katrina. Did you intentionally avoid the topic?
Yeah, it’s still very recent in
people’s minds and I think we’ve heard enough about the havoc it has
wreaked. I
think I put the city through enough without having a reminder of
Katrina. It’s
also for the readers, they can read between the lines; the whole
situation with
H5N1 in my book echoes Katrina.
How did you come up with the
idea of combining the very
real avian flu menace with a novel about vampires and supernatural
threats? Do you think today's reader would view the avian flu as
the more
terrifying aspect or the vampires and bloodmongers?
It was always going to be about a
drug lord, a detective, and a vampire. I wanted to raise the odds
against my
detectives a little and set the story against a terrifying backdrop
grounded in
reality. I began searching for something that scared me. I didn’t have
to look
far; the looming threat of a pandemic of avian influenza was all over
the news
on TV and newspapers. The thought of a 50% death rate if it were to hit
North America simply
scared the shit out of me. It was very real and it could happen any
day. From
that point on, I knew I had to use H5N1 in Bitternest.
I think a lot of readers will be more scared by the avian influenza
than the
blood mongers. Blood mongers aren’t real, the flu is.
The novel has a bit of an alluding cinematic flair to
the ending. Does this mean there will be a sequel?
Not a sequel per se, but Terry
Graves will make an appearance in a future novel. As for the other
survivors of
this book, I have something else in store for them in the near future.
I set
all my stories in the city of Bitternest and characters from one story might return in
future
stories. A supporting character in one book has a good chance of
becoming a
main character in another book.
What are ten titles on your personal bookshelf?
Top of my head, here goes: First
Blood by David Morrell (first
edition hardcover, a prized possession), Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman, Off
Season by Jack Ketchum, The Cellar
by Richard Laymon, The Stand by
Stephen King, The Summoning by
Bentley Little, Poésies Complètes by
Émile Nelligan, Moonchild by Aleister
Crowley, and last but not least, On
Writing Horror by the Horror Writers Association.
Thank you so much for your time!