Michele Drier Guest Post

I Owe it all to My Daughter

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 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.”

I started reading. Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Karen Moning. And then I picked up Kelly Armstrong and was hooked. These guys were writing involved, intricate books full of imagination and other worlds.

But I was a mystery writer. How could I find a hook? I batted around a few ideas (lame) 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 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.

Google some combination of vampires, L.A., night, underground and up come more than 10,000,000 hits, including a Meetup listing of groups in the L.A. area having to do with vampires in some way.

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

I did some research, then imagined my vampires, the Kandesky and Huszar families, in different ways.

Over their 500-year history, the Kandeskys have given up killing and found ways to feed themselves non-violently. They also found a love of wealth, and amassed a fortune from their businesses, which only grew once they went into celebrity journalism. And when Maxie goes to work for SNAP she finds the truth about all those L.A. vampire rumors!

Now I listen with a little tinge of fear when my daughter suggests something. All I am now is due to her!

Michele Drier was born in Santa Cruz and is a fifth generation Californian. She’s lived and worked all over the state, calling both Southern and Northern California home.  During her career in journalism — as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers – she won awards for producing investigative series.

Her mystery Edited for Death, called “Riveting and much recommended” by the Midwest Book Review is available at Amazon. She’s working on the second book in the Amy Hobbes Newspaper mysteries, Labeled for Death, out in spring 2013.

Her paranormal romance series, SNAP: The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, is available in ebook, paperback and audible at Amazon.  The first two books, SNAP: The World Unfolds, andSNAP: New Talent, received 4 stars from PRG.  The third, fourth and fifth books, Plague: A Love Story, Danube: A Tale of Murder  and SNAP: Love for Blood rated 5 stars. The first four books are available in a boxed set at Amazon, B&N and Kobo. She’s writing SNAP: Happily Ever After? for release in summer 2013 and a seventh book in late fall 2013.

Visit her website: http://www.micheledrier.comor facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMicheleDrieror her Amazon author page, http://www.amazon.com/Michele-Drier/e/B005D2YC8G/

One lucky commenter will receive a copy of her set of books seen above! Good luck to everyone!