Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Vampire Anatomy 101 and Love Fang Giveaway with Guest Author Susan Blexrud




Thanks, Roxanne, for inviting me to share my insights. I can never resist talking about my favorite subject…vampires.

At the risk of getting clinical…Oh, what the heck, let’s get clinical. My experience in writing about vampires started with a life-long fascination that led to a potential storyline that led to oodles of research. I incorporated much of what I learned about historic vampires into the world I built for John Wright, my Vampire Vigilante. His energy field can stop or start appliances. He can morph to bat form. Humans are instinctively drawn to him. His hearing and eyesight are superhuman, and of course, he’s more gorgeous than the average hunk. Anatomically, he has a heart. The way I see it, how could any creature fall in love without a heart? The Twilight vampires and Charlaine Harris’s undead don’t have heartbeats, but let’s think about this for a minute. For a creature who subsists on blood, wouldn’t you have to have a circulatory system? Where would the blood go, for Pete’s sake? Don’t hearts beat to the rhythm of romance? And ladies, we all know it takes pumping blood for our guys to get it up. Without a circulatory system, the hose would be mighty limp.

Then there’s reproduction. My vampires beget vampires, and a born vampire, in my undead world, has exceptional powers. If vampires were sterile, they’d be shooting blanks, and does that make sense for an Alpha vampire male? Not to me.

Here’s another bee for your bonnet. Most everyone agrees that the transformation to vampire must be made BEFORE the human is pronounced dead. Therefore (or at least, therefore for me), the life form remains, meaning a beating heart and other anatomical accoutrements.

Have you ever seen a vampire use the bathroom? It stands to reason that without food or drink, there’d be no need. My vampires don’t eat, but they do drink liquids besides blood. I’m assuming my vampires would need to use the bathroom after a few pints of Guinness. I just don’t talk about it. Lyndsey Sands’s vampires eat when they’re in love. And Mario Acevedo’s vampires are down right gluttons. They eat like a reincarnated Henry VIII. Sure, I’ll have leg of lamb with a blood chaser, and then I’ll need to make a pit stop before I fly off into the night.


Okay, enough of that.

What do you think?







Susan Blexrud is the author of Love Fang and Fang Shui, both currently available from DCL Publications (www.thedarkcastlelords.com). She is working on the third book in the series, Real Men Have Fangs, and the fourth story, Mistletoe Fangs, will appear in a DCL Christmas anthology, Season of Love.

Visit her at her website, www.susanblexrud.com.

She welcomes your comments at: susanblexrud@bellsouth.net

Would you like to win a pdf copy of Susan's first book in the series, Love Fang? Answer this question in the comments section below to be entered to win.

"Do vampires have hearts?"

3 lucky winners will receive a free download of Love Fang. Make sure to include email contact info. Thanks.

25 comments:

Heather B. said...

What a great interview and I am definitely going to have to check out these books. I love all books paranormal.

Lynsay Sands books are some of my favorite vamp books. I also love Lynn Viehl's Darkyn series it's great.

I agree with your logic, it makes sense for vampires to have hearts and a heart beat. In some books I think they do.

I think that's one thing I love about this genre is that you have such a variety of books to chose from with a lot of different takes on the norm so not every book is the samething over and over again.

Heather
habrewer@rocketmail.com

Roxanne Rhoads said...

Thanks for dropping by Susan, I love your take on vampires and your curiosity. I often think the same thing. My husband and I have long talks about the myths and legends of vampires and how a vampire would really function, in fact we had a conversation last night about what would happen if a vampire were frozen for a long time.

Susan Blexrud said...

Heather, Thanks for commenting. I'm a fan of Lyndsay Sands, but haven't yet read Lynn Viehl. Thanks for the tip. And you're right, vampires are here to stay because writers have such a broad range of characteristics from which to fashion their undead hotties. One characteristic I insist on for my vampire guys is that they have a good sense of humor.

Susan Blexrud said...

Roxanne, Thanks so much for having me and for the fabulous resource you provide for paranormal writers and readers.

DCL Publications said...

Of course Vampires have some sort of heart! Smile! Great interview Susan!

Kayelle Allen said...

I definitely get the impression vampires have a strong circulatory system that needs a fresh infusion so the "dead" blood is washed free on a daily basis. Where does it go? good question. The human body is designed to release toxins in several ways, thru sweat, urine, feces, and even such things as pheromones. Perhaps it's the pheromones with their blood scent, the scent of life itself, that draws people to them. I like the idea of vampire babies. I'd imagine they'd be adorable toothless little darlings who thrive on milk like humans as children, but soon outgrow that and grow up faster than one of us. Still, I'd cuddle one if given the chance. Very thoughtful questions and comments here.

Vampire romance is my favorite genre.
Kayelle Allen
kayelle@kayelleallen.com

The Scarf Princess said...

Thanks so much for joining us Susan! In answer to your question, yes I think they have hearts. If they didn't, they'd have no reason to try to form attachments to others.

The Scarf Princess said...

Drat, here's my email....

joderjo402 AT gmail DOT com

Estella said...

Of course they have a heart. One of the ways to kill a vampire is to drive a wooden stake into the heart.
They really do need a heart to fall in love!

kissinoak@verizon.net

Kayelle Allen said...

Oh, definitely try Lynn Viehl. Her Darkyn series is incredible. I swallowed them whole when I discovered them. She's starting a new series called The Kyndred which I can hardly wait to sink my own fangs into.

Raven Hart's Savannah Vampire Chronicles is also excellent. She and Lynn are on my must-have-now list.

Judy said...

I would think they have a heart. It just doesn't beat anymore.

I really enjoyed the interview. I love vampire books. I am sorry to say I have not read Susan Blexrud, but I will have to remedy that. I love finding new authors!!

Judy (magnolias_1@msn.com)

Susan Blexrud said...

Great comments, Kayelle. Pheromones, eh? Hadn't thought of that, but it certainly makes sense. As for the baby issue, my vamp babies aren't born with fangs, but they drink blood, not milk, from a bottle. They do grow up faster than humans. And now that's two endorsements for Lynn Viehl. She's definitely on my TBR list. Thanks!

Susan Blexrud said...

Thanks, Stuart. DCL rocks! You and Pam have provided the avenue for my stories, and I can't thank you enough.

Susan Blexrud said...

Joder, Judy & Estella, you all make good arguments, and of course, you'd have to have a heart to drive a stake through it. Excellent point! Thanks for contributing!

Kytaira said...

"Do vampires have hearts?" I would have said no before your interview. I have to admit that you convinced me though! Very nice interview.

I'm going to need to check out your books. Thanks!

LadyVampire2u said...

I absolutely think vampires have hearts! After all, they were human once, or if born vampire..they still are linked to humans on a genetic level at some point and look like humans as a species. Emotionally they love and hate which is an emotion said to be right from the heart. So my vote is definitely 'YES'.

Susan Blexrud said...

Thanks for commenting, Kytaira. I'm glad you enjoyed the interview and that it got you thinking about the vampire heart issue. It's certainly invaded my gray matter. You didn't leave your e-mail for a chance to win Love Fang, though. If you read this, please forward it. Thanks!

Susan Blexrud said...

Hi LadyVampire2U! Ah, my sentiments exactly! Thanks for responding.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Nice interview! I love paranormal books!

One of my favorite vamp series is LKH's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter. Anita starts out with the only goal in her life is to kill the monster, but as she grows, she starts wondering who the monsters are.

I too agree that vampire must have a heart and a heart beat, in LKH's books, this can only happen if they feed.

But it's what I love about the genre, everyone's ideas are so different about what this culture should be like and are they in or out of the closet. It makes each author unique in their story telling. Which read can have they're different desires fulfilled.

Dottie :)

gymmom_027@yahoo.com

L said...

I've read a lot of vampire books and in each one, it's different. I think that they do have hearts, but no heartbeat.

lovinfitch(at)aol(dot)com

Gwen said...

I think yes on the hearts. Why else would a stake through the heart kill them.

yarnedy(at)hotmail(dot)com

Susan Blexrud said...

Dottie, Alexa & Gwen, I appreciate your comments and the vote seems to be unanimous that vampires DO have hearts. It makes MY heart flutter to think about it. Thanks for commenting!

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan!
Great interview. I love paranormal books. I have to agree with you. Vampires do have hearts. Anatomically, it has to exist for all that blood to be pump and circulated.

Sue
okibi_insanity[at]yahoo[dot]com

Heather said...

Oh - I've very intrigued now! Susan, thanks for the comment on my blog, I will definitely have to read your series. It sounds delightful! :)

 
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