Sumiko Saulson

This interview is being included in the 2013 Women in Horror Interview Series. Every February, Women in Horror Recognition Month (WiHM) assists underrepresented female genre artists in gaining opportunities, exposure, and education through altruistic events, printed material, articles, interviews, and online support.  You can find out more about WiHM here:

http://www.womeninhorrormonth.com/

The Author

Dark Paranormal Romance/Horror author Cinsearae S. is the creator of The ABRAXAS Series and BOLEYN, Tudor Vampire, a Top Ten Finisher at the Predators & Editors Readers Poll in 2010. A digital artist, jewelry designer, and still photographer, she is also Editor/Publisher of award-winning, Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine (http://BloodTouch.webs.com/darkgothicmagazine.htm ). She also received the Author’s Site of Excellence Award in 2007 from Predators & Editors, and is a Cover Artist for Damnation Books and independent authors. Her website won a Golden Horror Award from Horrorfind.com, and her Etsy shop, Mistress Rae’s Decadent Designs won the Fright Times 2012 Award for “Best Horror Collectible”.

An avid fan of ‘old school’ horror movies and their villains (Freddy, Jason, Michael, Pinhead…) Halloween is her favorite time of the year. She has always been drawn to the flipside of life — the supernatural, odd, bizarre, Gothic and ‘darkly beautiful’ always being an inspiration to her. Find her on Facebook/YouTube/Twitter @ Cinsearae. You can also reach her through her website: http://BloodTouch.webs.com . She welcomes all writers/authors, artists, and lovers of the darker side of life to join her writers’ group on FaceBook (search: Gratista Vampire Clan).

The Book

DIARY OF A VAMPIRE STRIPPER

Her best friend is a werewolf. Her boyfriend is a ghoul. And she really, REALLY, can’t stand her vampire husband.

Trying to juggle college tuition and rent, young Audra Perez seeks a fast fix to her financial woes by auditioning as a stripper for the Hoochie Coochie Club. What she didn’t expect was to actually be chosen. Barely a few months into her new job, she becomes acquainted with a mysterious, distinguished gentleman by the name of Darren Von Eldon, and they secretly begin dating against club rules. Then one passionate night at his beach house changes Audra’s life forever.

Now as a newly-awakened vampire, this only adds to her day-to-day mundane burdens. Refusing to drain humans, she hunts birds for nourishment, and finagles a way to avoid going to classes during the day. But bigger problems loom ahead. Radical cops that know about her kind roam the night, seeking to destroy any and all ‘monsters’, and her best friend’s family has a bone to pick with Audra’s. Headless human bodies are turning up on vamp and were turf, each side blaming the other for the murders. It’s up to Audra and her friend Lu to figure out who’s doing the killings before an all-out war happens between their families, their search leading them beneath the city streets to encounter an abomination neither one of them will ever forget.

And the relationship issues? Well, it’s not easy dealing with a boyfriend and a vampire husband, so let’s not even go there…

Life’s a bitch, and then you DON’T die.

The Interview

Q. I love that in “Diary of a Vampire Stripper” you chose to mix dark humor with paranormal romance. So many romances are very serious, and it’s a somewhat daring choice. What made you decide to include the humor?

A. When it came to this story, I let my MC Audra, lead, and her ‘voice’ was very cynical and snarky, to say the least. Already having a dark sense of humor myself, I already knew the tone of the book would be the same. I’m a HUGE Vincent Price fan too, and I’ve always loved the oily and darkly humorous tone of the characters I’d see him play in certain movies. Adding a bit of camp to the horror in Diary of a Vampire Stripper helps most readers ease into the creepier, disturbing aspects of the book. There’s a few scary situations that happen to Audra that would make some folks squirm, if she didn’t handle it with her own sarcastic flair.

Q. I’ve always been a fan of vampire stories. There are many different types of vampires. How would you characterize the ones in your book?

A. These vamps survive on blood, and have some aversion to sunlight. They can dwell in the daytime hours if they choose–being able to stay up during the day is tougher–something like that comes with age. They also have telepathic abilities and can compel humans if necessary. These vamps are in stark contrast to the vamps I created for my ABRAXAS series a few years ago–those vamps feed from pranic energy–the life force of others. They also have telepathic and telekinetic powers, among others, and have no problems with being out in the daytime, and they can eat food. My Abraxas vampires are definitely more ‘human’ then my current ones.

Q. I was intrigued to learn that your protagonist Audra Perez has a ghoul boyfriend – I wrote a book about ghouls called “Warmth” about a year ago, but we don’t see a lot of tomes on ghoulish culture anymore. What can you tell us about ghouls in the world of “Diary of a Vampire Stripper”?

A.Well, there are no actual ghouls in Diary of a Vampire Stripper per se, except for Audra’s boyfriend Paul, and he only became that way through an act of rage. Audra’s husband, Darren, snapped Paul’s neck, and she revived him by giving him her blood. The incident doesn’t happen until near the end of the story however, so the book is pretty ghoul-free until then, lol.

Q. Speaking of boyfriends and husbands and the like, Audra has both a boyfriend and a husband. Is she practicing polyamory, or is she just stepping out on her husband because their relationship – well, sucks?

A. She hates the idea of being in a polygamous relationship, and this unfortunate triangle happened out of her assumption that Darren was not coming back into her life after he turned her. Waiting on him for months without a single word from him, she gives up and starts dating Paul. When Darren finally returns, that’s when things definitely start getting awkward!

Q. You’re an incredibly prolific writer. You have written the Abraxas series, which is about vampires, and “Boleyn, Tudor Vampire”. You’ve also written several zombie short stories. Do your vampires and zombies and ghouls occupy a single “world” or many different ones? In other words, does Audra exist in more or less the same time and universe as these other vampires, or an alternate or parallel one to them?

A. Oh, I lump them all in one world— it’s more fun, lol! I like having my characters/monsters very much in the ‘now’. Aside from Boleyn, Tudor Vampire, my stories are urban fantasy, and topics we hear about everyday sometimes find their way into my books.

Q. Women in horror are still relatively rare, but increasingly less so. Do you think that paranormal romance is helping to open up the field to female authors of the supernatural?

A. Most definitely, if they’re willing to take that step! Although seeing women in the horror genre is rare, and tough for those who already write in this field, I think it’s because horror is such a male-dominated genre. It’s a slow and steady race, but I’m actually seeing more women trying to conquer this genre, both in books and indie movies.

Q. You are just really creative, and with your Etsy shop and website as well as your published body of works embody the idea of DIY spirit of the goths and punks I grew up with. I really fell in love with the “Little Zombie Bottle Boy Duo” on your shop. Do you think that the electronic world we live in makes it easier for us to create, as individual artists, and to connect with lovers of art and literature? Where do you see these things going in the future?

A. Thank you Sumiko! And absolutely, living in such a digitized/technological age, it is definitely an enhancement and an asset, for sure. I might not have even begun Mistress Rae’s Decadent Designs if it weren’t for the advent of Internet retail and e-commerce. We can reach out to millions of folks with a few strokes on a keyboard these days, something our grandparents never imagined in their own youth, lol. We can garner new friends and fans of our work, and the possibilities in creating more art is endless. The only thing that bothers me about the digitized age (aside from thieves, scammers and spammers) is the ‘disconnection’ that comes with it. Some people ‘live’ behind their keyboards nowadays and lack socialization/people skills. We have to find a balance between the digital as well as the physical world.

Q. Is there anything we didn’t talk about that you’d like to let our readers know about?

A. I’m a Cover Artist for DamnationBooks.com. They, like I do, specialize in horror and ‘dark’ themes. I’m also a freelancer, and design covers for independent or contracted authors. Anyone who is curious can view many covers I’ve done for both DB and indie authors. I also have pre-designed ‘Covers for Hire’, that authors can purchase at a discounted rate. http://bloodtouch.webs.com/bookcoverdesigning.htm .

I’m also Editor/Publisher of award-winning Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine. This magazine started out as a way for newbie writers to ‘get their feet wet’ in the publishing world. When I first tried my hand at getting published, I was often met with more misses than hits, and the high-and-mighty arrogance of some editors really pissed me off. It was then that I decided to create Dark Gothic magazine back in the early 90’s, and back then it was run off of copier machines and hand stapled! Then unfortunately I became involved in a very draining relationship which made me put the magazine on hold for a couple of years. Once I was finally rid of the bad relationship, I got my ass back in gear and opened the zine up again. Plus, with the advent of print on demand, Dark Gothic became Dark Gothic Resurrected, and has grown more and more ever since. I know I’m doing something right when I have contributors return back to the magazine, and thanking me for being one of the best editors they’ve ever worked with. I always swore I’d never be like those stuck-up editors I’ve dealt with in the past, as newbie writers have to start somewhere, and I want DGR to be that stepping stone for them. I also love interviewing authors, especially indie ones, and anyone else with a talent for all things dark and creepy, from artists, musicians, poets, filmmakers, and more! http://bloodtouch.webs.com/darkgothicmagazine.htm

You had mentioned my Etsy shop, and the Little Zombie Bottle Boy Duo. I just love any way to express my creepy side, and when I discovered Etsy.com, there was no stopping me then, lol. The themes I create my work around are mainly Victorian, Steampunk, Gothic, Horror, and of course, Halloween! I create insect jewelry, creepy dolls, hair accessories and anthropomorphic creations. I also like to recycle and repurpose items too, which is how my “Little Bottle Boys” were born, made from mainly 1 oz. glass bottles. I also have “Lovely Bottle Ladies” that have Victorian and Steampunk flair, made from 12 oz. glass bottles. My shop also won the 2012 Fright Times Award for “Best Horror Collectible”. My dolls are one-of-a-kind, so everyone is guaranteed something only they will have. http://MistressRae13.Etsy.com . Mistress Rae’s also has a Facebook page too!

  I love making new friends and fans, so if anyone would like to get in touch with me, they can find me on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.

Thank you very much for having me at your blog, Sumiko!

The Video

Where To Find Buy The Book

http://www.createspace.com/3778782

On Amazon for Kindle: http://amzn.to/SrITEI

Visit http://bloodtouch.webs.com/doavs.htm for reviews, chapter downloads and more.

~ by Sumiko Saulson on January 26, 2013.

Posted in Interviews, Women in Horror Month
Tags: Abraxas, Author, Boleyn, Cinsearae S, Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine, Diary of a Vampire Stripper, DIY, Etsy, ghoul, Horror, Interview, Mistress Rae’s Decadent Designs, novel, novels, Paranormal Romance, Predators & Editors Readers Poll, Tudor Vampire, vampire, Women in Horror, Women in Horror Interview Series, Women in Horror Month, Women in Horror Month 2013, Women of Color, writing