Halloween Interview/Contest with Susan Hanniford Crowley by Stacy Hoff

 

Happy Halloween, everyone. Today’s blog post is a two parter, with a CONTEST!!!!  Yes, you’ve read this right!  Because for this special Halloween edition, I’m here to knock ‘em dead!

Part I is about my creepy Halloween visit to a graveyard. Part II is my interview with paranormal writer Susan Hanniford Crowley, followed by an excerpt of her latest book, THE VAMPIRE KING OF NEW YORK.

And for the Contest: Susan Hanniford Crowley is giving away one ebook copy of VAMPIRE KING OF NEW YORK in the winner’s choice of format-Kindle, Nook, or Kobo. The deadline for this contest is Nov. 2 at noon Eastern Time. Contest void where prohibited by law. Good luck everyone!

PART I – My Creepy Halloween

To really enjoy today—Halloween-—I went out of my way to have a creepy lunch hour. I hiked over to a historic cemetery near where I work. There, I took a walk among the tombstones. The old, fragile slate slabs had dates older than I would have guessed, some dating back to the 1700’s. Some had carvings of odd-looking angels. Some had poems about to how the person died. (Plenty weird, if you ask me.) Other headstones were too small to list names or dates, and simply read what mattered most to their loved ones, “mother” or “father.”

Being alive in this silent, ghostly place made me feel out of place. Yet it took me a while to turn tail and leave. The cemetery’s quiet surroundings gave a sense of peace and serenity I hadn’t expected. And the desire to strongly hug my family and friends when I got back. Our time in life is short, so I’m letting the people I love know now that I care about them.

Ironic that going to a place where people are dead made me appreciate my life, for all the wonders life has to give, even more.

Happy Halloween, everyone. If you have the time in between trick-or-treaters, let me know how you’re celebrating.

PART II – My Interview with Susan Hanniford Crowley

1) What intrigues you about the paranormal world?

I have always been intrigued by anything that goes bump in the night. I like the variety in the paranormal world, the mythology, the case studies, the difference and similarities between cultures. After studying the paranormal for over 30 years, I am most amused by the portrayal in movies and fiction. Our culture in particular tends to make make scary things glamorous. Using vampires as an example, you can see the change between an ugly feared creature that was more animal than human to Hollywood portrayal of Dracula in a tux such as Bela Lugosi to a suave, handsome Dracula who is a great dancer in the movie “Love at First Bite” such as George Hamilton.

2) Why write about vampires in specific?

While my vampire characters usually have staring roles, I don’t write only about vampires. New York City which is the setting for both my series, Vampires in Manhattan and Arnhem Knights of New York. In my books, the couple star. One is usually a vampire while the other is another kind of supernatural which includes humans with gifts. The exception to this is the first book in the Vampires in Manhattan series titled WHEN LOVE SURVIVES. That book had a heroine who was half leprechaun and half elf and didn’t know it until that day. The hero is a shapeshifter, and shapeshifters are able to recognize their lifemates at first sight. The book focuses on the couple meeting each other, but other supernaturals in New York play important roles. David Hilliard who is the hero in the second book THE STORMY LOVE LIFE OF LAURA CORDELAIS is a vampire. In the first book, he is a secondary character who helps the couple. They help him too out of a situation. Though my vampires do not burst into flames in the sun and can walk around for a limited amount of time, expending huge amounts of energy digging on September 11th would make them more vulnerable. Gregor who is the shifter comes up with a humorous idea on how to save this friend. What I really write about is the diverse communities and how they interact.

I also really have fun with the vampires.

3) What do you like best about Halloween?

I love costume parties and inventive cooking. My oldest daughter really excels in cooking wonderful things for Halloween.

4) Do you have plans to write any more paranormal books?

I am in process of writing Book 2 in the Arnhem Knights of New York series. My vampire heroine is torn between a human and a vampire. I don’t want to give too much away. People have been waiting for me to write a love story for Noblesse, King Max’s daughter. It’s going to be a really powerful book. I also have a very different paranormal book in process not having anything to do with vampires, and another paranormal book that is YA. Everything is in process. I’m in a writing year.

5) What’s the general story line for Vampire King of New York?

Max Vander Meer, is a modern day Viking, CEO of VMeer Industries, and a Vampire. He makes a plea to the Goddess Freya to find the only woman who can heal his heart, the woman haunting his dreams. But, the Goddess strikes a bargain with him. To find this special woman, Max must return to the city he helped build–New York, which is threatened by an ancient terror. When he meets Evelyn, he is astounded. Could she be the one who inhabits his dreams? But Evelyn is haunted by loss and betrayal. How can Max win her love when she doesn’t trust him as a man, and she doesn’t want to be a vampire? If Max returns to Iceland without her, he will be encased in ice . . . forever!

Here’s an excerpt from the first meeting between Max and Evelyn:

“I’m having the Baked Alaska,” Max said. “Evelyn, you?”

“Oh, no. That’s a big dessert. I’ll have a dish of vanilla ice cream.”

The waiter smiled and was off again.

“I’m trying to lose weight,” Evelyn admitted.

“I don’t see why.” Max’s words were reassuring. When the waiter came with the desserts, she marveled at the difference between them. Max’s dish was almost overwhelmed by the meringue, sponge cake, and ice cream concoction.

“Would you like just a taste of my Baked Alaska?” Max asked Evelyn. It did look divine, and her dish of ice cream looked very small.

“Okay.”

He handed her a spoon. “Take what pleases you.”

Evelyn shook a little. Men didn’t usually say such things, and it thrilled her. She took a healthy blob and put it on top of her plain ice cream.

They looked at each other before digging in. Evelyn couldn’t remember when she last had this much fun. It wasn’t that Laura and David weren’t fun. They had taken her everywhere in the city, the museums, the plays, the art shows, and concerts. But no matter how kind they were to her, how entertaining, no matter how much her sister loved her, Evelyn still needed a life of her own, and there was something about Max that made her heart tremble.

Dinner breezed by. Talking with Max filled her with excitement. Where David and Laura were usually quiet about their experiences as vampires, Max was very forthcoming, not shirking from any of her questions.

“David says you live in New York part of the time and Iceland the other part. Why don’t   you just settle in one place?”

“I love them both, and I decided not to choose between them. New York is where my family of vampires resides.”

“Oh, you mean the Arnhem Society. So you’re an Arnhem Knight too.”

“Evelyn,” David interrupted, “Max is the first Arnhem Knight. He created the Arnhem Society in 1626.”

“That’s when it was New Amsterdam.” Evelyn tried not to let her mouth fall open. “You came here with the Dutch?”

“I helped negotiate with the Native Americans for Manhattan Island.”

She stared at him, then the thought crossed her mind and it was out of her mouth before she could stop it. “You didn’t mesmerize them, did you?”

“Not my finest hour.” He shook his head.

David interrupted. “Evelyn, Max helped carve this great city out of the wilderness. There isn’t a business in the city that wasn’t helped in some way by Max or VMeer Industries.”

Max shook his head in what she took to be modesty.

Evelyn chewed on her lower lip in thought. “Wow. It must have been something.”

Max smiled and nodded. “Yes. It was a brave new world then. Now you just have to be brave to be here.”

Susan can be found on: web: http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com Facebook: Susan Hanniford Crowley, Author  Twitter : SHCrowley  and here, on Nights of Passion blog.

Vampire King of New York is available at: Amazon Print and Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-King-Susan-Hanniford-Crowley-ebook/dp/B00D70NC6O  Barnes and Noble Print and Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/vampire-king-of-new-york-susan-hanniford-crowley/1116839039?ean=2940148617778  Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/vampire-king-of-new-york

Find Stacy on Social Media: www.facebook.com/authorStacyHoff Twitter: twitter.com/authorStacyHoff   Web: http://www.stacyhoff.com.  Stacy’s debut novel, Desire in the Everglades, is  available now. http://www.amazon.com/Desire-Everglades-Stacy-Hoff-ebook/dp/B00NFSMCYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410289138&sr=8-1&keywords=desire+in+the+everglades

Cemetery photos copyright 2014 Stacy Hoff. All rights reserved.

 

Filed under: A writer's life, Arnhem Knights of New York, paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, Stacy Hoff, vampire books, Vampire King of New York, Vampire King of New York In Print, Vampire Maximillion Vander Meer, vampires