Introducing … Mike Spradlin!

I read widely and voraciously, though I have to admit I don’t always read in the Urban Fantasy genre. Part of that is because I don’t want to be unduly influenced by what other writers are doing, and part of it is … well, much of the offerings in the past couple of years have been more of the same. I’m jonesing for something new.

I also love mash-ups and some good, old-fashioned worldbuilding. Take me away when I’m reading. Let me travel not only to some place I’ve never been, but some place I’ve never even dreamed existed. That’s why I was chuffed to see this:

BLOOD RIDERS. Are you kidding me? The Wild West + Vamps?

Yes and please and gimme more, more, more. I actually tried to do my own version of the Wild West in the Zodiac series via Midheaven — the saloon, the saloon girls, the (soul) poker, Mackie the piano player (named after Mack the Knife; that’s your Zodiac trivia for the day). Anyway, I digress. I love Westerns (“I’m your huckleberry” — anyone, Bueller, anyone?) and I love fantasy, and I thought I can’t be alone in this. So I thought I’d share BLOOD RIDERS with all of you. Allow me to introduce Mike Spradlin, the author of BLOOD RIDERS.

Give Us Your ‘Elevator Pitch’ For BLOOD RIDERS.

 

Ok but first a couple of questions. How big is the building housing the elevator? Do I get to choose how many floors? I’m totally calling the Sears Tower!

Blood Riders is set in the 1880’s American West. Former Calvary Captain Jonas Hollister is rotting away in Leavenworth prison. His crime? Claiming his platoon was destroyed by a group of blood drinking demons. On a hot summer day, four years, later, famed detective Allan Pinkerton arrives with an offer. These demons are real and they are hunting and killing again. If Hollister is willing to hunt them down and kill them he will be pardoned, his name and rank restored.

Knowing what he is facing, Hollister joins forces with a fellow prisoner named Chee, Chee’s enormous dog, a mysterious woman with a hidden agenda and Monkey Pete the engineer of Pinkerton’s tricked out train. Following a trail that leads from the plains of Kansas to the high Rockies, Hollister tracks these creatures until…well you have to read it to find out what happens.

 

What Did You Draw Upon For Inspiration In Creating The Story?

 

I’ve always loved horror, fantasy, urban fantasy, prairie fantasy (I totally made that up), westerns, steampunk, science fiction, James Bond films, Star Trek and Winnie-the-Pooh. Blood Riders contains elements from all of those sources.

But seriously, the real idea came to me a couple of years ago from an article I read about human evolution. Which started me thinking about the evolution of monsters. If human beings evolved from Neanderthal to Cro-Magnon to Homo Sapiens what about monsters? Assume for a moment that monsters exist. Is the modern version of the vampire we accept that began with Bram Stoker’s Dracula something that has always been? Or did vampires evolve over time as well? Or werewolves? Did they adapt and change based on their environment. And I decided that if they did, then they’ve been around for a while and different from what we normally think of when we envision them. Then I thought it might be neat to set them against human beings in a less technological world. I picked my favorite era, the post Civil War American West, and plopped down some big ass vampire-zombie type things trying to wipe out mankind and a small but spunky band of misfits attempting to stop them. It was pretty simple really, mixing all these things together, kind of like baking cookies. And it always has to be a small but spunky band of misfits.

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Okay, so that should be enough to whet your appetite. I have more with Mike tomorrow, but for now he has generously offered to give away 5 Amazon Kindle e-books to my readers. To win an kindle download of BLOOD RIDERS, all you have to do is comment on today’s post – or tomorrow’s – and let us know what your favorite genre mash-up has been thus far. Or you can also let us know what you’d like to see that hasn’t been done yet. What’s your dream mashup? What would you love to read?

I will personally send all winners their downloads of BLOOD RIDERS on September 25th, the day of release. Good luck and happy reading!