Joe Mikolay's Blog - Posts Tagged "dracula"
Influences For The Pack- The Older Generation
I really dig stories where one generation tries to do their best, only to fail spectacularly. It then falls to their children (or grandchildren, or great grandchildren, etc) to finish what they began.
That was partly where I was coming from with that group of characters in The Pack. At least, that was the case when it came to Jack Halliday.
The other main inspirations for Jack- or any experienced Venatores- were the wise old warrior/clinical expert sort of characters in the vein of Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula, or Dr. Sam Loomis from Halloween. I was always drawn to those types of characters, as they were unafraid of the evils they faced, since they were familiar with them.
This, of course, is the opposite of characters in The Pack such as Officer Hernandez or Dr. Kahler who are trying their best to save lives but are simply not prepared for the monsters they are confronted with. Think the merc/cleanup group in Predator, or the colonial marines in Aliens.
Which brings up to Caleb Slade, and the titular pack of werewolves. Slade is a very charismatic character, in many ways he's like a cult leader. The manner in which he- and by extension his packmates- makes the outcasts and the damaged feel special and accepted is very seductive.
In some way, Slade presents himself as more of an anti-hero than a straight up villain. His origin chapter, and his magnetic presence, make him a character that many reader would gravitate towards. Which makes it all the more startling (and, frankly, fun) when I pull out the rug, and finally display his truly brutal cruelty.
That was partly where I was coming from with that group of characters in The Pack. At least, that was the case when it came to Jack Halliday.
The other main inspirations for Jack- or any experienced Venatores- were the wise old warrior/clinical expert sort of characters in the vein of Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula, or Dr. Sam Loomis from Halloween. I was always drawn to those types of characters, as they were unafraid of the evils they faced, since they were familiar with them.
This, of course, is the opposite of characters in The Pack such as Officer Hernandez or Dr. Kahler who are trying their best to save lives but are simply not prepared for the monsters they are confronted with. Think the merc/cleanup group in Predator, or the colonial marines in Aliens.
Which brings up to Caleb Slade, and the titular pack of werewolves. Slade is a very charismatic character, in many ways he's like a cult leader. The manner in which he- and by extension his packmates- makes the outcasts and the damaged feel special and accepted is very seductive.
In some way, Slade presents himself as more of an anti-hero than a straight up villain. His origin chapter, and his magnetic presence, make him a character that many reader would gravitate towards. Which makes it all the more startling (and, frankly, fun) when I pull out the rug, and finally display his truly brutal cruelty.
