Interview and contest: Denise Verrico, author of the Immortyl Revolution series

Joining me today is author Denise Verrico, who just released Twilight of the Gods, the second novel in her Immortal Revolution series. Denise is offering a giveaway to help celebrate the new book, so be sure to check out contest details at the end of our chat.

SUBURBAN VAMPIRE: Welcome to Suburban Vampire, Denise.  You've created an intricate plot with the Immortyl Revolution series. I know squeezing one's novel into a few sentences can be torture for a writer, but in a nutshell, what are these stories about?

DENISE: Book One is the prelude to the revolution. Mia and Kurt are locked up in a biotech lab in California. The story that she tells deals with becoming a vampire and her struggle to survive as a modern woman in an ancient culture. She and Kurt strike the first blow for freedom by stealing their masters' secrets and taking them to science. In Book Two, Twilight of the Gods, Kurt rises to become the rebel leader. Mia and Kurt's relationship faces challenges from their followers, the war they're fighting with their enemy Gaius, and the intro of a third partner, Arturo.

SV: Kick-ass female protagonists seem to dominate urban fantasies, but you also throw in a strong male lead to work alongside your heroine. Tell us a little about Mia Disantini and Kurt Eisen.

DENISE: I always liked the Thin Man stories with Nick and Nora Charles, that kind of witty, working relationship between two smart people. Not that these books are anything like that, but Mia and Kurt are perfect foils for one another. She's brusque, opinionated, passionate, headstrong and fiercely loyal. Kurt is thoughtful, compassionate, logical, stubborn, and charismatic. She's a talker. He's quiet. She's a fighter. He's a diplomat. She doesn't trust others. Kurt wants to believe the best of those who follow him. Both share a deep sense of justice and a desire to right wrongs. Mia is definitely the kick-ass variety, but Kurt is more of a politician. He's not your alpha male type, but he can kick some serious butt when the need arises. They have a deep love and respect for one another. In view of their potential lifespan, the relationship is open, but they are sometimes prone to jealousy. These are not uncomplicated teenagers, but a woman and man who have a lot of baggage to cart around through eternity. Kurt was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany and lost his entire family. He made what he considers a Faustian bargain to survive. Mia lost her parents young and was enslaved by her master, Ethan, for fifty years.

SV: How did the original ideas for the series first come to you?

DENISE: I had a dream about a female vampire. I'd never read a book about one at the time. My husband suggested I really deal with the fact that my protagonist was a woman and the implications of being both female and a vampire. Then I got interested in biotechnology and came up with the idea of a race to harness immortality. The revolution came to be when I created a multi-layered society that enslaved three fourths of their population. Kurt grew into this charismatic figure to the downtrodden. It was his idea entirely. He decided to take the series this way. Characters sometimes have a mind of their own.

SV: Your novels offer a science fiction twist on the vampire genre. Have you been a longtime sci-fi fan? Any favorite authors?

DENISE: Truthfully, I watch more sci fi than I read. On TV I loved Star Trek in its various incarnations, Firefly, and Dr. Who. There are a lot of great sci-fi movies that I've seen. Books I've liked include The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Tripods, 2001, and I Am Legend. The sci fi in my series is more of the biological type rather than technological. Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is a favorite of mine. I love Ursula K. Le Guin's books, particularly The Left Hand of Darkness, because I'm interested in gender and sexuality issues.

SV: What first sparked your interest in vampires?

DENISE: I was a big fan of the TV series Dark Shadows as a child in the late sixties. I used to rush home from school to watch Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, the vampire. I got to visit Mr. Frid's home in the eighties when a friend of mine was his personal assistant. He lived on Gramercy Park in New York at the time. As a tribute to him, I have Mia living on Gramercy at one point.

SV: One reader review says of your first Immortyl Revolution novel, Cara Mia, "Horror readers will find it horrific. Romance readers will swoon. Paranormal romance readers will say, 'Finally, something with soul.'" Were you concerned about fitting into a specific genre while you were writing?

DENISE: No. When I first started Cara Mia I'd read Anne Rice, Fred Saberhagen, Bram Stoker, Richard Matheson, and some other authors' vampire stories. I really didn't discover urban fantasy until a few years ago when I read a book by Laurell K. Hamilton. Since then I've read others in the genres of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I did a lot of looking into older vampire stories and legends to figure out what I liked and how my story would make new rules. The great thing about speculative fiction is that you can change the rules, as long as you stick to the ones you create for your world. Immortyl Revolution is urban fantasy, but there is a strong romantic subplot. I set out to tell a story about a person, whether they be “human” or not, and you can't tell a story of a person's life without some romantic element. Nor do I think can you tell a story about vampires without some horror in the mix. If being a vampire is so great, then everyone would want to be one. Where then is the conflict for your hero or heroine? My main concern is to create flesh and blood characters and throw some major conflicts at them. I do tend to write how big events affect the everyday lives of my characters. The backstage story is often the most interesting to me. Then I shake things up by adding this biological sci fi into the mix.

SV: You were a member of The Oberon Theatre Ensemble in NYC, with whom you acted, directed, and wrote plays. Did preparing for roles as an actor help you figure out ways to develop your characters in these novels?

DENISE: Absolutely. As an actor one is taught to flesh out the skeleton of a character that is given by the playwright. There are clues given, but it is up to the actor to come up with a complete back story for that character, his or her mannerisms, likes, dislikes, deeply held beliefs, and relationships to the other characters. I was taught to keep a character notebook. This tool is still valuable to me. As a writer I have to squeeze into my characters' skins to really make them come to life. Acting is all about motivation and conflict. Improvisation and writing plays also have helped me to understand rising and falling action and dialogue.

SV: Can you give us any hints about the next book in the series, Fearful Symmetry?

DENISE: Fearful Symmetry switches POV to the irreverent person of Cedric MacKinnon, a nineteen-year-old, adept of the ancient arts. An adept is an Immortyl temple dancer/musician/courtesan of the chief elder's court. It takes place mostly in India. I needed an observer within the inner sanctum of Immortyl power to move the saga along. This book will be the sexiest, because of Cedric's profession, but the sex isn't pornographic in its depiction. My intent is to show a society where those like Cedric are used political pawns. This story veers off the sci-fi bent a bit and deals more with intrigue, vampire politics, and sexual politics. Book Four, Ratopia will bring Cedric to New York to team up with Kurt and Mia. Mia will again take up the narrative.

SV: Last, but not least, in your bio you state that you "enjoy climbing to heights of four-hundred-plus feet at speeds exceeding one-hundred-twenty miles per hour" on your favorite roller coasters. Which is your top favorite coaster?

DENISE: My favorite steel coaster is Millennium Force at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio: 310 feet tall and top speed of 93 MPH. It's like flying! My favorite wooden coaster is The Beast at King's Island in Cincinnati.

SV: Thanks so much for joining me at Suburban Vampire, Denise. Best wishes to you and the Immortyl Revolution series.

DENISE: Thanks to you, Catherine! I'm happy to have been your guest.

To learn more about Denise's novels, head to www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com, www.deniseverricowriter.webs.com, Fans of Denise Verrico Facebook Page, and twitter.com/deniseverrico. She'll be listing updates on the upcoming ebook versions of her novels at her sites.

CONTEST RULES:

Denise is offering a signed 16- by 20-inch Cara Mia book cover poster--a lobby card type suitable for framing. In honor of Denise's love of thrilling rides and stories, go to the comments section, tell us your favorite roller coaster, and you'll be entered into the drawing. U.S. and Canadian entries only, please.

DEADLINE: Thursday, September 30, 2010.