10 Questions with Scott Baker
1. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
The biggest influence has been Graham Masterton. I loved horror and Science Fiction as a kid, but back then I only read the classics like Poe, Stoker, Wells, and Verne. All that changed when I was twelve. My mother bought me Masterton’s The Manitou as a Christmas gift. That book was the goriest, bloodiest, most horrifying book I had read at the time – and I loved every page of it. I stayed up until sunrise finishing the book it was so good. Masterton was the writer who got me hooked on modern horror, which led me to becoming a writer.
2. What was it like working for the CIA and how has that influenced your writing?
Naturally I can’t go into details about what I did for the CIA. Suffice it to say, it was the best job I’ve ever had. The CIA is often portrayed as the bad guys in books and films. In reality, it’s a group of highly motivated and dedicated men and women devoted to ensuring our country’s security. I got to travel and see things that most people only fantasize about. How many people get to stand inside an underground bunker surrounded by thousands of decommissioned nuclear warheads? I did my job, maintained my integrity, and walked away feeling as though I had honorably served my country for over two decades.
The biggest influence the Agency had on my writing was the opportunity it gave me to travel around the world. Many of the locations I’ve been to, either on business trips or visiting friends stationed overseas for the government, have made their way into my novels. Once I get that personal feel of a city it’s so much easier to write about it. However, my upcoming novel is a contemporary horror techno-thriller about a plot within the intelligence community to use zombie-like creatures against our nation’s enemies, so I’ll be calling on my expertise quite a bit for this one. Of course, the CIA operative will be the hero.
3. What current writing projects are you working on?
I’ve just finished the second book in a young adult post-apocalypse series titled Hell Gate. It deals with a failed scientific experiment that creates five interdimensional portals between Earth and Hell that release hordes of demons against mankind. In the series, the hero leads a team of adventurers around the world to close the gates. I’m having a lot of fun with these books because I get to make up all types of demons for my characters to battle. I’m about to begin writing a horror techno-thriller that I hope to have available for submission by the end of the year. I’m also working on a historical series titled OSS: Office of Supernatural Services that deals with Allied intelligence officers batting Nazi occultism during World War II. Since I’m a history major by training and a huge World War II buff, this series is more like a labor of love.
4. What is it like being married to a fellow author?
It’s wonderful. My wife writes about vampires as well, although hers are more civilized and try to live peacefully among humans where mine are purely bad ass and see mankind as a blood buffet. As such, we’re each other’s greatest critics. I’ve told her that if our marriage can survive a beta read, it can survive anything. I think our writing is much better because of it. It means a lot to me that I’m able to share my passion for writing with the love of my life.
5. Is there an overall theme to your writing?
The central theme in most of my novels and short stories is the dark side of humanity. The vampires and zombies are what make the story exciting. The true danger to the characters comes from other humans, whether it’s Joel Preston manipulating the vampire outbreak for political gain (Vampyrnomicon and Dominion) or the rape gangs and opportunists in the post-apocalyptic Rotter World saga. Even the masters in my vampire series were humans who were turned because they gave in to the dark side of their nature.
6. What has led to your affinity for rabbits?
Rabbits were the first pets I ever owned, and that wasn’t until I was almost forty. I was allergic to cats and dogs as a kid, and by the time I grew out of that I was in the Agency and traveling too much. My wife at that time did not want a cat or dog, but never said anything about rabbits, so I brought one home from the fair. Over the next twelve years I wound up sharing my home with seven of them. When I was looking to give Drake a rabbit as a pet to show his emotional side and to highlight his affinity for those that are preyed upon, the logical choice was a rabbit. Van Helsing is based on one of my rabbits, Cocoa, who had the sweetest disposition of the bunch.
7. What made you start writing?
I’ve always loved writing. When I was a kid I’d jot down short stories in notebooks or make magazines out of folded pieces of construction paper. One of my favorite classes in high school was Creative Writing where I quickly earned a reputation as the kid who killed off everyone in his stories. What led me to write horror for a living was the movie Van Helsing. My friend asked what I thought of the movie, and I said I really enjoyed it, but I could write a more realistic plot than that. She responded, “Then why don’t you?” The rest is history.
8. When you originally wrote The Vampire Hunters did you plan on it being a trilogy and do you prefer writing series or stand-alone novels?
The Vampire Hunters was originally intended as a single book. However, the more I delved into the backstories of my masters and the entire vampire mythos, the more I realized that I couldn’t do justice to the story in one book.
9. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
No subject is off limits as long as it enhances the plot and doesn’t glorify the subject. Over the years I’ve written about torture porn, cannibalism, consensual tentacle sex, gang rape, and pedophilia. The first three were short stories for themed anthologies, so I allowed myself to be exceedingly graphic and had a lot of fun with them. However, with the latter two topics I was more reserved. One of my main characters in my zombie novel Rotter Nation is kidnapped by a biker gang and repeatedly assaulted. I concentrated on the emotional and psychological effects these attacks have on the victims and how it impacts their ability to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. In Vampyrnomicon, the second book in my vampire trilogy, I introduce Melinda, a thirteen-year-old vampire who had been turned by her molester and who, as a vampire, preys on children and pedophiles. The concept behind Melinda’s character is to show how violence begets violence and to provide a rationale for Melinda’s depravity (she is the most evil vampire within the clan). In both instances, I always cut the scene before the action becomes graphic.
The closest I’ve ever come to writing about a subject that is off limits involves a series I’m plotting set in World War II that describes the underground war between Allied intelligence and Nazi occultism. Several scenes in that series will deal with the concentration camps and mobile killing squads in east Europe, and I have to be careful to write these in such a way that they accurately portray the evil undertaken by the Nazis while not trivializing or exploiting the Holocaust.
10. If Hollywood was making a film adaptation of The Vampire Hunters, and the director asked you to cast the roles of Allison Monroe and Drake Matthews, who would you choose?
Nathan Fillion would make the perfect Drake Matthews. He has that same dry wit and restrained bravado that Drake possesses. While there are a lot of women who could do justice to the role of Alison, my first choice would be Joanne Kelly. Joanne’s portrayal of Myka Bering in Warehouse 13 as the smart, tough, and sensitive partner is the closest I’ve seen an actress come to Alison Monroe. Nathan and Joanne would make a great team.
The biggest influence has been Graham Masterton. I loved horror and Science Fiction as a kid, but back then I only read the classics like Poe, Stoker, Wells, and Verne. All that changed when I was twelve. My mother bought me Masterton’s The Manitou as a Christmas gift. That book was the goriest, bloodiest, most horrifying book I had read at the time – and I loved every page of it. I stayed up until sunrise finishing the book it was so good. Masterton was the writer who got me hooked on modern horror, which led me to becoming a writer.
2. What was it like working for the CIA and how has that influenced your writing?
Naturally I can’t go into details about what I did for the CIA. Suffice it to say, it was the best job I’ve ever had. The CIA is often portrayed as the bad guys in books and films. In reality, it’s a group of highly motivated and dedicated men and women devoted to ensuring our country’s security. I got to travel and see things that most people only fantasize about. How many people get to stand inside an underground bunker surrounded by thousands of decommissioned nuclear warheads? I did my job, maintained my integrity, and walked away feeling as though I had honorably served my country for over two decades.
The biggest influence the Agency had on my writing was the opportunity it gave me to travel around the world. Many of the locations I’ve been to, either on business trips or visiting friends stationed overseas for the government, have made their way into my novels. Once I get that personal feel of a city it’s so much easier to write about it. However, my upcoming novel is a contemporary horror techno-thriller about a plot within the intelligence community to use zombie-like creatures against our nation’s enemies, so I’ll be calling on my expertise quite a bit for this one. Of course, the CIA operative will be the hero.
3. What current writing projects are you working on?
I’ve just finished the second book in a young adult post-apocalypse series titled Hell Gate. It deals with a failed scientific experiment that creates five interdimensional portals between Earth and Hell that release hordes of demons against mankind. In the series, the hero leads a team of adventurers around the world to close the gates. I’m having a lot of fun with these books because I get to make up all types of demons for my characters to battle. I’m about to begin writing a horror techno-thriller that I hope to have available for submission by the end of the year. I’m also working on a historical series titled OSS: Office of Supernatural Services that deals with Allied intelligence officers batting Nazi occultism during World War II. Since I’m a history major by training and a huge World War II buff, this series is more like a labor of love.
4. What is it like being married to a fellow author?
It’s wonderful. My wife writes about vampires as well, although hers are more civilized and try to live peacefully among humans where mine are purely bad ass and see mankind as a blood buffet. As such, we’re each other’s greatest critics. I’ve told her that if our marriage can survive a beta read, it can survive anything. I think our writing is much better because of it. It means a lot to me that I’m able to share my passion for writing with the love of my life.
5. Is there an overall theme to your writing?
The central theme in most of my novels and short stories is the dark side of humanity. The vampires and zombies are what make the story exciting. The true danger to the characters comes from other humans, whether it’s Joel Preston manipulating the vampire outbreak for political gain (Vampyrnomicon and Dominion) or the rape gangs and opportunists in the post-apocalyptic Rotter World saga. Even the masters in my vampire series were humans who were turned because they gave in to the dark side of their nature.
6. What has led to your affinity for rabbits?
Rabbits were the first pets I ever owned, and that wasn’t until I was almost forty. I was allergic to cats and dogs as a kid, and by the time I grew out of that I was in the Agency and traveling too much. My wife at that time did not want a cat or dog, but never said anything about rabbits, so I brought one home from the fair. Over the next twelve years I wound up sharing my home with seven of them. When I was looking to give Drake a rabbit as a pet to show his emotional side and to highlight his affinity for those that are preyed upon, the logical choice was a rabbit. Van Helsing is based on one of my rabbits, Cocoa, who had the sweetest disposition of the bunch.
7. What made you start writing?
I’ve always loved writing. When I was a kid I’d jot down short stories in notebooks or make magazines out of folded pieces of construction paper. One of my favorite classes in high school was Creative Writing where I quickly earned a reputation as the kid who killed off everyone in his stories. What led me to write horror for a living was the movie Van Helsing. My friend asked what I thought of the movie, and I said I really enjoyed it, but I could write a more realistic plot than that. She responded, “Then why don’t you?” The rest is history.
8. When you originally wrote The Vampire Hunters did you plan on it being a trilogy and do you prefer writing series or stand-alone novels?
The Vampire Hunters was originally intended as a single book. However, the more I delved into the backstories of my masters and the entire vampire mythos, the more I realized that I couldn’t do justice to the story in one book.
9. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
No subject is off limits as long as it enhances the plot and doesn’t glorify the subject. Over the years I’ve written about torture porn, cannibalism, consensual tentacle sex, gang rape, and pedophilia. The first three were short stories for themed anthologies, so I allowed myself to be exceedingly graphic and had a lot of fun with them. However, with the latter two topics I was more reserved. One of my main characters in my zombie novel Rotter Nation is kidnapped by a biker gang and repeatedly assaulted. I concentrated on the emotional and psychological effects these attacks have on the victims and how it impacts their ability to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. In Vampyrnomicon, the second book in my vampire trilogy, I introduce Melinda, a thirteen-year-old vampire who had been turned by her molester and who, as a vampire, preys on children and pedophiles. The concept behind Melinda’s character is to show how violence begets violence and to provide a rationale for Melinda’s depravity (she is the most evil vampire within the clan). In both instances, I always cut the scene before the action becomes graphic.
The closest I’ve ever come to writing about a subject that is off limits involves a series I’m plotting set in World War II that describes the underground war between Allied intelligence and Nazi occultism. Several scenes in that series will deal with the concentration camps and mobile killing squads in east Europe, and I have to be careful to write these in such a way that they accurately portray the evil undertaken by the Nazis while not trivializing or exploiting the Holocaust.
10. If Hollywood was making a film adaptation of The Vampire Hunters, and the director asked you to cast the roles of Allison Monroe and Drake Matthews, who would you choose?
Nathan Fillion would make the perfect Drake Matthews. He has that same dry wit and restrained bravado that Drake possesses. While there are a lot of women who could do justice to the role of Alison, my first choice would be Joanne Kelly. Joanne’s portrayal of Myka Bering in Warehouse 13 as the smart, tough, and sensitive partner is the closest I’ve seen an actress come to Alison Monroe. Nathan and Joanne would make a great team.
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