Getting to Know the Characters

I make no secret of the fact that I never had an urge to write a vampire novel prior to To Touch the Sun. I liked reading the genre, I just never had a character or story in mind.

That all changed with TTTS. There was a huge amount of evolution that went on with that novel. I decided to take on the project in the hopes of attracting an agent but I still didn't have a character or story. Just a two word idea: vampire chef. I played with plot, narrative, perspective. Eventually I came up with characters I really love and a plot that suits them. I'm sure that's why the series that grew from it is so close to my heart: Because it came about as such a surprise.

Once I had the novel (and the agent thing fell through) I became desperate to find a publisher. Again, more so than any novel I've written, I wanted this published. It took years to find a publisher, and I'm happy with Dagda, but those were frustrating years.

Looking back on it, however, I'm kind of glad for the wait because it offered me the chance to write the next three novels in the series and enabled me to know my characters better. Now, when I talk of TTTS, I can also talk of the series which lends excitement to talking about TTTS. I understand Narain, for example, in a different way then I did right after finishing TTTS. I understand the friendship between him and Dom or the love between him and Cassie in a much more complete way.

Actually, it can sometimes be frustrating to have the next three novels written. There are some surprises in the next two novels that I have to be careful not to reveal when talking about TTTS. But there's an arc to some characters that I'm extremely excited about and would love to discuss.

Hopefully it won't be too long before the next books are published. but I'd like some saturation for TTTS before that happens.

To Touch the Sun is available in Kindle and paperback formats at Amazon. 

Sense of Family

Narain's loyalty to his family plays a big part throughout the series. He's surrounded himself with people who become his family: Sophie, Dom, Cassie in some respects the staff of his restaurant who he treats like family (though he has yet to reveal his secret to them). Perhaps all to replace the family he's lost when he left to fight in the fields of France so many decades before.

Narain was 25 when he left for the First World War. He was the oldest of four children which included Aziz who was 13 in 1916. Aziz could be petulant and headstrong. The brothers shared a resemblance in looks but not one in temperament as Aziz felt a sense of rivalry with an older brother who seemed much more in sync with their beloved father. Zaheer, 10, was the quiet brother. The compassionate child. The brother always ready, even at so young an age, to offer a comforting word. The one often breaking up disagreements between his older brothers. Then there was Ujaali, age 5 when Narain left, the light in everyone's hearts. As headstrong as Aziz yet sharing the compassionate trait that ran so strong in her brother Zaheer.

When news of Narain's death reached the family after he promised Ujaali he'd return, Ujaali was inconsolable for days. Zaheer cried himself to sleep all night but did his best during the day to put on a brave face for his parents who were dealing with their own loss.

Aziz went off on his own to deal with his grief for while he and Narain had had their differences, there was love there as well. Sometimes his grief would lead him to look for trouble as if a street brawl could take his mind from the loss. That sense of directionless grew, leaving his parents to wonder what would become of their second son.

After Narain became a vampire and, thanks to meeting Alphonse Reno, he learned to understand the condition better. Alphonse was able to convince Narain to return to India. If Narain could sit down with his family, explain what had happened, what he'd become, help them understand the condition the way he did, perhaps they would accept him.

Alphonse yearned to be reunited with his son and didn't care what his son had become. Would the joy of Narain's return help his family look past what he now was?

The question was never answered.

Narain traveled back to India and returned to his village but couldn't bring himself to take the final step of meeting his family. The thought of the looks on their faces should the horror over what he told them be too much held him back.

And it was a chance meeting with Aziz in his hotel room that sealed his decision. Aziz, now not very much younger than Narain had been when he left, had heard that his brother's look-a-like had been spotted in town and he came to investigate. But his demeanor when they met was cold, a bit calculating, as he told Narain that the family had grieved for him. He should remain dead to them. It had been too long.

Narian's own cowardice had already made up his mind. This stunning hardness on the part of his brother only confirmed the correctness of his decision.

And so he left (though this meeting would figure in later novels), returning to Europe but not to Aphonse. he didn't have the heart to return having failed in his task. Narain wrote to Alphonse every so often, letters full of positive news and contentment. All lies, for Narain's life upon return to France became a life of wandering and uncertainty as he fought to do that which he had to do to survive, all the while fearful of passing the condition on as it had been done to him. He roamed town by night, sleeping in caves or crypts during the day, uncertain in how to turn things around.

It ws during his wandering at his lowest point in life that Narain met Sophie (a meeting described in the second book), the daughter of millionaire industrialist Harrison Grayson. She and her father allowed him into their lives and after the father had died and and Germany invaded France, Narain and Sophie opened their mansion to war orphans. It was Sophie's suggestion but Narian agreed, the couple somehow making it work while hiding what Narain was from the children. To them, he was simply curious "Uncle" who appeared to interact with them as soon as the light faded. Playing with them, giving them cooking lessons.

After the war, when Sophie and Narain made their way to Chicago they kept the mansion open as a school for children from around the world. In the meantime, Narain collected what family he could in Chicago. His staff, who, in a business with high turnover, often stayed on at the restaurant because of the way he treated them. Dom who became like a brother. Cassie, his new love once Sophie had gone.

To Some he revealed his secret, the secret he couldn't bring himself to reveal to his family in India. To some he he didn't. But those who received Narain's trust and loyalty received the sort of loyalty he would have showed his family from so long ago had he found the courage to return to them. Decades later their loss occasionally hits him. 

In To Touch the Sun it's revealed that he's been searching for Ujaali, the one person from his immediate family who might still be alive. He isn't sure if he simply wants to know if she lives or if he would take the next step if she does and go to her.

The biggest regret in his life was when Narain promised his weeping sister upon his departure from India that he would return to her and he never did. It's a promise that haunts him through the decades that follow.

Vampirism as a Disease

In the novel The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, the cause of vampirism is a pathogen that once set loose begins a pandemic. Anyone bitten by someone suffering from the disease becomes infected and carriers of the disease themselves.

The Strain is one of the creepiest novels ever written. A highly engrossing read.

When I decided to write about a vampire I knew I had to set up some ground rules (something every author whose written about vampires has done). I liked some of the old standbys (the need for blood to survive, toxic affects of sunlight, immortality), but as the authors of The Strain did, I wanted to jettison the whole metaphysical aspect of it: Vampirism caused by black magic, evil spirits, etc. Which is fine for certain novels but didn't really work for mine. I wanted--well a mundane explanation. So I turned to science (albeit a fantastical version).

It has been done before, perhaps the best by Richard Matheson who wrote I Am Legend, offering a pathogen carried on the wind to explain the vampire plague, and scientific explanations for old legends. A vampire must be staked, for example, and the stake remain in the wound because withdrawing the stake will allow the tissue to knit back together before the vampire dies. A vampire can't look at his own reflection because the affect of the illness messes with his diseased mind so much that the reflection frightens him. The illness has also made vampires allergic to certain properties in garlic.

It remains one of my favorite vampire novels.

Unlike Legend or The Strain (which I read after writing my first novel) I didn't want an illness that wasn't naturally regulated. The hero in I Am Legend becomes legend because he is the last uninfected human on Earth. Anyone else not outright killed by vampires is infected and becomes a vampire. The same with The Strain.

I wanted to afford my vampires the option to not need to kill their host. As long as they're of healthy minds and bodies they can control themselves and take only what's needed. It goes back to what I've written about moral compasses. Those who have no compunction about hurting people will probably have no problem killing the host. Those with higher morals before conversion will do what they need to survive but try not to hurt the host.

But that can only be done if the infection can't be spread. In essence, when it came to vampires, I needed two possibilities: A human that could be infected and one that couldn't. There had to be something in the physiology of the future vampires that allowed the disease in and an immunity in the nonvampire that conquered the disease.

And so begat the vampire gene. Explained as a gene that might have survived on from prehistoric times, those with the gene are susceptible to the disease. If a vampire bites someone without the gene, the disease dies within their system.

This enabled me to do a controlled "passing on" of vampirism, otherwise, it would indeed turn into a raging pandemic and the world would be peopled with vampires (even Matheson, knowing he needed at least one normal human alive for the story, gave that human an immunity to the plague turning everyone else into vampires). Other authors have tackled this problem of creating more vampires using other devices coming up with elaborate ways to pass on the condition. A certain number of bites before the host is turned. In some, vampirism is considered a gift bestowed carefully upon someone (anyone not allowed this immortality is drained to death or killed in some other fashion). An answered prayer from an evil deity.

I didn't want to go that route to explain why everyone hasn't turned because I wanted to use the possibility as a dramatic device.

Narain has feeding issues, partly because of his attitude toward what he's become. When he had Sophie to feed on it was easier. But prior to her and after, feeding was difficult not only because he felt like a thief but because he was afraid of passing the disease on. Not everyone he fed on succumbed to it. But some would. Some whose lives would altered forever. As his was. And if he passed the condition on to someone dangerous? While it had its inconveniences it also left him a nearly indestructible being. Someone without conscious possessing that power--well the idea disturbed him greatly. 

So it helped me give Narain one more hurdle in the story that he'd have to navigate. It's a hurdle that it takes a couple of books for him to navigate as Sophie's passing makes him realize just how complacent he's become about what he is.

It has also helped me come up with other types of vampires with which to people my stories. While most people with the gene are affected in the same way, there are those who may convert to vampirism with a slightly different result (the most striking example being those who become feral and those sentient). And as in novel four, some might not convert completely, yet have a connection to vampires after being attacked none the less.

It's opened up a variety of possibilities for me which I hope will be revealed in a long and successful series of novels.

To Touch the Sun on the Radio

Things have been exciting since To Touch the Sun was published. The marketing machine is in full swing. I'll be a guest on the Nick Digilio show on WGN radio at 2 a.m. March 12. Nick was nice enough to interview me when my book Vampires' Most Wanted was published and I had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to this. And I'll be live in the studio. Should be interesting to head to downtown Chicago at 1 a.m. The Tribune Tower has a great gothic-look to it. This design was the one chosen by the Chicago Tribune after a design contest held in 1922. Completed in 1925, it's 36 floors, 462 feet high and at night, you might even see some bats flying around the top of it. Maybe even a few vampires.

To Touch the Sun Book Launch Soon

The poster on my wall says it all!

Well this is pretty exciting. The big day is coming up and Dagda Publishing will be having a Facebook book launch for To Touch the Sun Feb. 25. I'll be popping in as often as I can during the day and am looking forward to meeting people and discussing the novel. And those who attend will have the chance to win a copy of the novel. 

She's on the case!

As I've stated often before, this novel is my baby. I've even taken publicity photos for press releases and I do NOT take photos.

Finding a publisher for it was like finding gold. I've been doing some interviews on it and writing a few guest blog pieces. It's given me a chance to reflect on the story and the various inspirations that went into it. I've been covering that in this blog. 

I remember when I was writing Chicago's Most Wanted: The Top Ten Book of Murders Mobsters, Midway Monsters and Other Windy City Oddities (My first book published in 2005 by Potomac Press). The day I signed the contract for that was the happiest and scariest day of my life. Happiest of course because I was finally going to be published. Scariest because I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, especially since I'd never done anything like that before. Once it was published, and I looked back on the writing of it, I have a lot of good feelings (even though I was going crazy while actually doing it). I guess it's all hindsight. 

On the left you'll see Lake Point Tower, home to Narain Khan

It's a bit like that with this book. Slightly different though because I didn't have a contract for it and it was a work of fiction, so there was nothing pressing on me in the way of deadlines. But I remember, once I had fallen in love with it, being very concerned that I'd never find a publisher for it. I really wanted that story out. And as I say, looking back on it, I can see things perhaps I didn't realize as I was writing it. For example, I didn't realize how vital the character of Sophie is to the plot even though she really only appears in a few reminisces. Sophie helped Narain live a relatively normal life (in light of his condition) for decades. When she died, his motivations were colored by trying to retain that normalcy. 

The trenches of World War I

I used World War I as a backdrop for Narain's conversion to vampirism. I was inspired when I read that Albin Grau, producer of the film "Nosferatu" served in Serbia in World War I and heard the locals tell folk tales of vampires. It's what inspired him to produce a vampire movie. Narain left that war a very changed man. But it wasn't until I was writing up a blog entry that I stopped to consider that even if the feral attack hadn't occurred to so drastically alter his life, Narain would probably have returned to his family a very changed man. As most veterans of war do. Whether they wear that change on their sleeve or keep it buried deep inside, there's no way that the violence of war wouldn't change them in some way.

On a more personal note, and this is something I realized shortly after writing it, Narain's family dynamic somewhat mirrors mine. There were four siblings (though we had two and two). There's a wonderful scene in It's A Wonderful Life where Mr. Baily tells a young George, "You were born older." That's how I feel about Narain. He was actually born 12 years before the next child Aziz comes along, 15 before their brother Zaheer and a full 20 before their beloved sister Ujaali. So in some respects, even before he goes to war, he's on his own among the siblings. 

Denny and old time radio

It was such with my siblings. My older brother Dennis was only two years older than my sister Barbara (I came along seven years after Barb, my brother Robert a year after me). Yet from an early age, he was off working on jobs with my dad, an electrical contractor, while the rest of us had more to do with each other. Often, he came home very late at night, whether he was off working late, or with his friends. When I was ten, he had moved out of the house and popped in infrequently. I'd never even been to his apartment. Consequently, I knew very little about him. So while the age between us wasn't as expansive as Narain and his siblings, Dennis was just as apart. And sadly, as Narain was "lost" to his family (though he survived the war), my brother died at the relatively young age of 42. 

It's possible that's why I wrote Narain with so many regrets (and why he feels he needs to see if his sister, who would be in her late 90s, is still alive). He regrets never taking the chance to try to reunite with his family and help them understand what he'd become. It's that stuff that was left unsaid, for whatever reason, that makes loss difficult.

So reflecting on the novel for pieces to publicize it has led me to consider what went into writing it. Some of it done without even thinking about it. Which can be some of the best kind of writing.

And as I say often, I hope people get as much enjoyment out of reading To Touch the Sun as I got out of writing it.

My reaction to finding a publisher.

Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/251067985073893/ on Feb. 25 to stop in at the launch on Facebook and say hello. The novel will be available on Amazon for Kindle and paperback format. There have already been some wonderful reviews on Goodreads for it also. 

Sophie's Sacrifice

It's funny. I didn't stop to think of this before but Sophie Grayson who only figures into a few quick reminisces is none the less incredibly important to the plot of To Touch the Sun. In the second book I offer a scene on how Narain and Sophie met, and I plan to delve into their relationship in depth in a later novel in the series. But Sophie's presence in Narain's life make it so much easier. Her absence is palpable.

After Narain returned to Europe from his aborted attempt to reunite with his family, he was lost. Because of his vampirism, he could only move about at night and was forced to hide out where ever he could during the day (once his money was gone and he could no longer afford lodging). Feeding was difficult since, aside from what he considered the immorality of so intimate an act, Narain was worried he might pass the condition, and all its inherent power, on to someone who was dangerous.  

One of the themes I wanted to examine in this series was the inconveniences of this life altering condition. While Narain has the prerequisite strength and longevity found in so many vampire legends, he also has certain concerns that aren't often addressed. How does a man morally repulsed by the act feed from a host, even if they don't need to die for him to do so? Where does a man who must shun the sun hide when he doesn't have a castle to flee to or money to burn? And what does a man who craves human contact do when most of the people are in bed when he's able to roam around. I explore this even more in the fourth book of the series, but I touch on it in this first novel. After his conversion to vampirism, Narain's main motivation in his very long life is to achieve and retain some semblance of normalcy. 

Sophie is key to this. 

The couple fall in love and thanks to her resources, she's able to help him have as normal a life as possible even later helping him achieve his dream of becoming a chef when they move to Chicago and open a restaurant. When it's discovered early on in their relationship, through necessity, that Sophie is immune to whatever causes vampirism, she becomes Narain's food source, freeing him from the guilt and worry of having to go out and hunt for his food. Aside from some other minor logistical inconveniences, Narain suddenly realizes that Alphonse may have been right. It is possible for him, with some adjustment, to lead a relatively normal life. Thanks to this, in many respects, he grows complacent to the realities of what he is.

When the novel opens, Narain has reached a crossroads. Sophie is gone, succumbing to cancer the year before. She had over the years stored blood realizing that she would continue to age and eventually die and hoping to give Narain a chance to transition back to hunting for food. Narain, however, in grief-induced denial, ignored the inevitable. Now the blood is gone, and he's left having to hunt again yet unable to bring himself to do so. He has to though since, if his starvation should drag on too long, the body will make the decision for him and it could be deadly for whoever he should chance upon in this feral-like state. The last thing he and his normal business partner need is for Narain to lose control.

It would put at risk everything he worked so hard for: That normalcy that Sophie helped him attain. Everything he does after that is done in an attempt to cling to that normalcy.

So Sophie's presence and absence is integral because they offer motivation to Narain. And after she's gone, he doesn't always make the wisest choices.

The Stuff of Legend

Discovering you're the stuff of legend is always a bit of a shock at first for the vampires in my universe. Those unable to process it become the ferals (more on them later). But for the sentients, how they deal with their new life depends on what sort of people they were prior to it. Those of a more evil disposition prior to the conversion will remain as such but be even more dangerous considering the abilities the condition gives them. One reason Narain finds "feeding" so difficult, even though he needn't kill the host, is because he's not sure if he'll pass on the condition. And if he should unknowingly choose a dangerous person...well you can imagine the rest.

Those people of decent conscience, like Narain, will remain decent even after the conversion and perhaps feel even more responsible for guarding others against the nastier realities of their condition.

That's one thing I wanted to convey in the novels: I wanted to project the confusion one might feel if he unwittingly falls into this situation where his life alters dramatically. And even for sentients it's not always an easy road to hoe. I view Narain not so much as a vampire but a man suffering from a dangerous, sometimes deadly condition that dictates how he maneuvers through the world. 

Narain found two key people who helped him deal with what he had become. The first was Alphonse Reno. A few days into the conversion (which would take a few weeks), when Narain's physical makeup was being altered, he was found wandering half out of his mind by Alphonse Reno, a wealthy land owner in the area. Alphonse had been researching vampirism since he lost his own son Laurant to the feral condition and believes that there is a physical cause behind it. It's his hope that one day he will be able to find a cure to bring his son back to him. Once Narain is out of his fugue state and Alphonse is certain he is the other sort of vampire: A sentient in full possession of his faculties. 

I really like the first scene between Alphonse and Narain when the old man breaks the news to his young guest what he has become. It's touching for Alphonse who takes on a fatherly aura when it comes to Narain; and to Narain who is now faced with an uncertain future.

Alphonse helps him adjust to the realities of his new life and even gets him to believe that a relatively normal life can be achieved. He even convinces him to try to reunite with his family in India who have longed thought him dead. But even after taking the trip, Narain is unable to bring himself to do so. (Still the trip would have ramifications in future novels).

Narain returned to France yet was unable to bring himself to go back to Alphonse feeling in many respects that he failed the old man confidence with his cowardice. Instead, he wanders, uncertain how to live a normal life with the constrictions of his condition. When his money is gone, he hides from the sun in crypts and caves, forcing himself to steal the blood of others yet unable to come to terms with what he must do to survive. 

It's during this time that he meets the second and most influential  person: Sophie Grayson, daughter of industrialist Harrison Grayson and the woman whose sacrifice would help Narain achieve what he thought no longer attainable.