Carrie Clevenger's Traitors

To some of you, the vampire Xan Marcelles is no stranger. If you're really savvy, you'll remember him from the verrrry early days when his creator, Carrie Clevenger, wrangled him as a blog serial. Then I sank my editorial fangs and claws into her, and we whipped the lad into shape and brought you Crooked Fang.

Somewhere between all that, Carrie and I still collaborated. The first time as a freebie download off Smashwords called Just My Blood Type. But then we figured we had so much fun together, we brought out Blood and Fire, which feature her Xan teamed up with my Ash of Inkarna fame. Fireworks ensued. I wouldn't go so far as to call what happened a bromance, but it was more fun than a barrel full of monkeys on amphetamines.

Well, Carrie's had a whole lot happening in her life but she's got her pack of zombie cheerleaders who were begging for her to bring out more of Xan's story, and she's finally obliged by releasing Traitors which pretty much picks up where Crooked Fang left off.

To give you a brief summary: 
Vampire Xan Marcelles and his band, Crooked Fang, have been sitting idle for almost two months when Xan's given a job offer he can't refuse. Only it is not a music gig -- it's a multiple hit in a Texas town called Bartlett. Given no details except six names and a location, Xan hits the road. He's always worked alone at this sort of job, but now there's no way but to have Nin riding shotgun. Can Xan take out his marks and keep Nin out of trouble or have the years out of circulation blunted his edge?

Okay, so that's it in a nutshell. I managed to duct tape Carrie to her seat today for a brief Q&A... So thank you, Carrie.

How has Xan developed as a character since you started the journey with him in Crooked Fang?

Xan started out as a rather naive creature, with simple needs that were easily being met. Now that his old life as a vampire continues to pick at him, he's finding that this comfort he had is almost an illusion. What would his boss, Charlie, say to him if he should find out that Xan is a vampire?

Xan has grown wiser to the wiles of the women. Sort of. Okay, I hope he does. But women tend to be his weakness.

Xan seems to be cast from the template of the reluctant hero. Why is this, in your mind?

I never expected Xan to take up the mantle of reluctant hero. I just wrote his story and after he goes through the first mystery in Crooked Fang as a response to an old girlfriend's murder, his propensity to protect and assist shined through the smoke and black leather. His words remain fairly much the same. Asshole. Slacker.

The reader can clearly see he's not much of anything he says and seems to not recognize what he really is at times.

Xan doesn't get along with vampires in general. How is it that he and Nin work well together (or not)?

Xan doesn't *trust* vampires in general after his experiences with his kind from before he returned to live in Pale Rider among the humans. With Nin, his unfulfilled need to fit in with someone, anyone, is partially given a small showing. He finds something with her, albeit brief, that he wasn't aware of looking for in the first place.

Xan bitches about being selected by people to help, but he seems to not give much resistance. He finds out in Traitors some of the reasons why.

* * * *

So that's it from the mistress's mouth. Now, go add Traitors on your Goodreads TBR pile, or even better, feed your Kindle. Then make this editor extremely happy by leaving your review once you've had a chance to get better acquainted with Xan.

Monster Fang Month

Because I'm so ridiculously proud of Crooked Fang, the novel by Carrie Clevenger for whom I played editor, I'm also happy to give a splash on my blog today to share the fact that she's running a special for the month of October. It's available in print and electronic formats.

If you have no idea who or what Crooked Fang is, it's a story featuring a vampire--one Xan Marcelles--and he's a total breath of fresh air in the genre.

But instead of me doing all the talking, I'm going to pull some quotes from happy readers off Goodreads.

"Xan is a completely lovable character, even when he's doing his best to screw things up. A breath of fresh air in a sea of stagnant vampire books! This book is not to be missed." ~ Synde

"Oh yay, another vampire, I hear you cry. Stop right there. Forget for a moment that Twilight ever existed, and give Crooked Fang a go. Why? Because sometimes you can almost forget that CF's hero, Xan Marcelles, is even a vampire. I prefer to think of him as a grumpy, whisky-drinking, chain-smoking bassist who's going to live for a really, really long time." ~ Icy Sedwick

"He’s a gritty, heady mix of biker/ musician hottie next door and badass vampire trying very hard to just stay off everyone’s radar. There will be no ruffled poet shirts here. Expect lots of whiskey and cigarettes, Harleys and muscle cars, and references to rock music that will span most of the history of rock. He’s also got a low tolerance threshold for bullshit, but that doesn’t stop him from ending up in it." ~ Suz

"There were a few scenes in Crooked Fang that absolutely set me back on my heels, scenes of such crystalline, short-leashed violence, such visceral power, that I felt my blood pressure rising and my breath catch in my throat. That doesn’t happen often with me and, when it does, I can’t help but shake my head in jealous admiration and say, 'damn, that’s some good writing.'" ~ Cathy Olliffe Webster

Well, what are you waiting for? This is, in my books, one of the best vampire stories to hit the shelves this year, and I'm the darndest luckiest editor to have seen this story and snatched it up. I don't think you're going to get this one as cheaply as it is right now. Ever again.

In Conversation with a Vampire, Xan Marcelles. #guest

Xan Marcelles and I've had many long conversations. We're lucky enough tonight that we've hatched up one to share specially with you peeps. Today is the official day we celebrate the release of Crooked Fang, which is available in print and electronic format.

ND: So, dude, your story's been out for a bit now and I hear you're a hit with the ladies. What have some of them said about you?

XM: They seem to have a thing for bass players for some reason. And I dunno, like they think that I'm hot? I'm just a dude with fangs so [shrug]. I mean it's flattering and everything, but I don't see what the big deal is. I just like talking to everybody.

In Crooked Fang, I'm not as popular as you might think. I get assaulted in different ways, not all bad but still. Hah. Keeps things interesting.

ND: Haha, a dude with fangs. Let's put you on the spot then. How do you reckon you measure up compared to other popular vamps? If you were to be in the same room as say, Lestat, Edward and the Count himself. What would you have to say to these dudes?

XM: Count Dracula would probably scare the shit out of me. Considering he's like a million years old, really creepy looking and has a castle. But he's got a ton of weaknesses to balance the odds. The whole sun-thing, has to carry around dirt from his homeland, sleep in a coffin, dead to the world when he sleeps...yeah. I don't think I would say much to him at all besides this:

X: "How's it going?"
[Dracula hiss]
X: "Well alright then..."

Lestat I have a lot of respect for, I gotta say. Except he's French and kind of...French and probably talks with a snippy French accent. Not that I got a thing against the French. I'm sure he'd be all arrogant with me, or maybe not. Maybe we can jam and he could shriek some vox and make Serv (my singer) look like a kitten in the vox department. Lestat is undeniably cool, but if I had to guess who'd I'd get along with better? Louis. But. BUT. If I was put in a situation with Lestat I think it'd go like this:

X: "How's it going?"
L: [sneer]
X: "I heard you like to sing and tried to expose the entire vampire race. Plus, damn. Akasha. What a rush huh?"
[Lestat punches me in the gut or bites me or something]
X: "It sucks you can't get laid to relieve those frustrations, man."

I get murdered on the spot. The end of Xan.

Edward Cullen. Do I really have to answer this one? I think I'd just sit there and hum the tune of "One of These is Not Like the Others"...

No, really. Considering he's like fatally deformed and useless as a vampire. And thanks to him, I get to hear the sparkly vampire jokes. Maybe I'd punch him in the teeth. Maybe.

ND: Haha, oh shit I think I can almost smell a fanfiction mash-up at this point, that's if Rice would allow her fans to play nicely with her vampires. So, speaking of fanfiction, how would you feel about that? Especially if folks were to take it to the Fifty Shades degree?

XM: Fanfiction will happen whether you like it or not. It's the slash that I'm kind of like O_O; at. Or any variation thereof, you know? Like Blood and Fire. Ash and I...just eww. Seriously. I can't even.

I like females. I'm sorry. I apologize to the whole world for being straight as a board in advance. If fanfiction comes along, it'll be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Because I think while it encourages people to be creative, it can border on plagiarism and that's not only uncool, it's illegal.

ND: Slash. Ugh. [scrubs eyeballs] So, if there were to be a merry mash-up (sans the slash), which characters would you be flattered to share space with?

XM: Damn. You really have me at a disadvantage because I don't know much about other characters in my genre. Give me a break, I'm fictional, right?

Ok. I have one. Shane McAllister in Jeri Smith-Ready's WVMP series. A musician, a quiet dude and a vampire. Well wait, we'd probably bore the readers by being stoic and musiciany. Although his maker Regina? I'd hit that. Goth chicks are hot.

Killer story with Shane and Regina right here.

Plus, c'mon. They love music. They DJ at a radio station. My kind of crowd.

ND: Getting back to the novel, Crooked Fang, did you expect to have your living past so tied up with the undead present? We're dealing with a lot of time disjunction, you holding onto your "for now", while the rest of the world moves along. How do you cope?

XM: Definitely not. A man thinks that he can just up and leave everything behind--not true at all. It will bite you in the ass if loose ends aren't tied. And it hurts like hell. Seeing people get old, especially like when I haven't been around to have it happen gradually...man, it's a shock. It separates me more and more from who I used to be. I mean the first who. Not the second. I'm on my third who now.

I think a lot. A damn lot. And the more I think, the worse I feel, so it's an endless circle of thinking and maybe drinking because drinking helps numb the mind to the point of dumb. Not like it's gonna hurt me anyway. I throw myself into my band, or stupid me, I try and help somebody else out. That rarely works out well but I can't just stand by and let people in front of me be in pain.

It sucks being stuck in a place where I'm standing still, yet time goes on. And the thought of losing the rest of what I know makes me sick.

You want to know how I deal? One night at a time.

ND: So, where do you see yourself headed out to in say ten or twenty years? Where is your "for now" then? Hard questions, I know, but you're a lot deeper than your facade.

XM: New place. New identity. One night here whenever, I'll decide it's time, pack my shit and leave Pale Rider. Sooner rather than later if questions start popping up. Or, the alternative is to tell them all. Would they accept me? Could I stay anonymous as the bass player in this or that band?

Maybe twenty years ago I could've. These days, people have real nice cameras in their phones. The internet is nosy. People are suspicious and way more open-minded, which is a double-standard. And then there's the others like me. If I divulged and stayed put, eventually they would come for me and drag me off anyways. That's just how shit is. It's how it's always been and always will be. Even I have to submit just a hair to the big dogs. And there are very big and very old dogs.

So, my twenty years from now? I'll be someplace else and anybody I knew before will probably either be dead or no longer know where I am. I'll end up someplace in Mexico, or Russia, or any other location. But not here. Not in Colorado.

ND: Why have vampires remained so secretive? Why don't you guys take over the world? Do you really have something to fear from the humans?

XM: Hmm. How to answer that without giving too much away...

In my world, a vampire has to be a certain age, which varies with type, to make a new one worth a shit. Else you end up with...you know what I'm talking about. So, there really aren't too many of us, except for the Nesferata which seem to be spawning like termites. But even then, not nearly enough to take over the world, like you're saying. Making enough hellspawn to do something that crazy would dilute the strength in vamps so much across the board we wouldn't be able to fend off an old lady armed with a handbag. And most vamps aren't the type to need to be out there. We take our drinks in private to avoid consequence because that draws attention and even people can't kill people without penalty.

There's the weakness to sun. Fire, etc. It benefits my kind to just stay in the shadows or operate from places so high nobody questions a damn thing. At least that's what I know, been told, or can say freely.

ND: And now, to ease up on all the hardcore shit. So, your writer tells me there's wiggle room for another story. If and when that happens, what do you think your fans can expect? What would you like to do now that you've had a couple of misadventures?

XM: Well no. The rabbit hole just goes deeper. In Crooked Fang, all you saw was me and my immediate issues with maybe a little glimpse into the supernatural world, or whatever the hell people call it now. Paranormal? Way to make me feel better about myself. Anyways.

The second book I still have to deal with problems from the first. I can't just ignore some problems and hope they go away. Without giving spoilers from either book, I'll just probably get in even more trouble and be forced to look at my vampire self again. Maybe show more from those missing years when I was living the vampire lifestyle. I'm sure it'll be gouged out of me someway or another. Readers wanna know, and what readers want, readers get. Within reason, you know?

ND: So, any parting shots for your readers?

XM: Besides a huge, humble show of gratitude and appreciation? That they even bother to look at my site or read my book?

Well there's that, and there's me seeing a lot of lonely people in pain and I just wanna say to them, they aren't alone. Everybody is somebody; fat, skinny, young, old--it don't matter. For the people that were there in the beginning and still there now, shit...wow. You know. There's no words to express how good that makes me feel.

For the new ones coming along, hey, nice to meet you. Come talk at me on Twitter @crookedfang. Tell me what you think. Let's talk music or whatever. Listen to me bitch about Auto-Tune. Come see my website at www.crookedfang.com. Lots of fun ways to dig into what Crooked Fang is, who I am, etc. Blogs, merch, books, other shit.

I love you all. Keep it real.

Lates.

~Xan

Restless Music--Riding with Crooked Fang

It’s all Peter Steele’s fault, really. When the bassist and frontman of Type O Negative passed away in 2010, his death rekindled my interest in music and I embarked on a journey of rediscovery. Music. Particularly the music I listened to when I was in my late teens and early twenties.

That’s how I discovered A Pale Horse Named Death, and started interacting with folks on the band’s forum … and that’s also when I took note of a post by one of the other members who mentioned that she was serializing a vampire novel on her blog.

Curious, I clicked … and fell in love with Xan Marcelles. I knew the minute that I read those first few extracts that here was a well-formed, complicated character I was itching to see more of. When author Carrie Clevenger and I started chatting about our mutual love of music and writing, we just clicked.

Somewhere along the line I ended up getting her contracted to get the novel published, and we got the ball rolling with edits, and also an enjoyable writing partnership.

Now, taking a tale from a blog serial to a novel is not as easy as it sounds. A blog serial, by its nature, doesn’t always follow the kind of structure one would encounter in a novel. Episodes and seemingly isolated vignettes can prove tricky, and this is one of the problems we had to overcome – how to string it all together and build tension in the right parts.

Some scenes hit the cutting room floor while Carrie created quite a bit of new material. We also had to look at continuity, and how to blend the old with the new. Layering was important too, but in the end all the hard work was a tremendous amount of fun and possibly one of the most rewarding projects I’ve played editor for in my career so far.

The thrill of seeing the original form, a rather raw set of blog posts transmute into a physical book you can heft in your hand – priceless.

What I love about Carrie’s writing is that she’s a keen observer of the world and people around her, presenting tales often heavily themed with the shadow of mortality. For those who’ve yet to read her Friday Flash offerings, you’re missing out on her unique brand of often wry, sometimes poignant and often dark slices of life.

But back to Crooked Fang. This is not your average vampire novel. What makes Xan so engaging is his very humanity in the face of his undead existence. He’s the kind of character who just quietly wants to get on with his life, and readers will gain a glimpse into the heart of a complex person who’s been through a lot, has been transformed by his experiences, yet clings to the veneer of normality. As a reader, I felt real sadness at the knowledge that all Xan loves is temporary. Everything dies, and he will continue.

This is particularly illustrated in Xan’s relationship with his best friend from his living years, Scott. The human has a family, a successful business and is settled, and sure of himself. Xan, on the other hand, knows that all he holds is “for now”, yet he’ll hang around while he can. It’s tragic in a way, but it makes you love him all the more for his loyalty. He never forgets his true nature, even as much as he hides it, and there are a few times when there are hints at Xan’s more bloodthirsty side. Yet all his aspects are balanced. There’s no wangsting after a “one true love” though Xan’s quite honest about his intentions when he gets hot and bothered about the fairer sex. And his music. He loves his music.

That just made it for me. As much as Crooked Fang is a story of a vampire coming to terms with his past and present, and possibly an interminable future, this novel has its own soundtrack, and echoes the spirit of the restless music that thumped through the years when I didn’t know my own place in the world.

LINKAGE
www.crookedfang.com
Twitter @crookedfang
https://www.createspace.com/3930335
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crooked-Fang-1-Carrie-Clevenger/dp/0615668135/

But it’s my last one…

When Carrie and I wrote Blood and Fire (our Crooked Fang and Inkarna mash-up) we had originally intended to bring the title out on our own, as a treat to our readers before the release of the two solo novels featuring Carrie’s vampire, Xan Marcelles, and my Inkarna, Ashton Kennedy.

When the chance came to release via Dark Continents Publishing’s Tales of Darkness and Dismay collection, we grabbed it with both hands. By that time, however, we’d already commissioned cover art created by the very talented Daniël Hugo. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, he is known for his comic-book illustrations, and has worked on numerous projects, including a movie poster for the award-winning indie film, Regression by BlackMilk Productions.

We were (and still are) so over the moon with the final results that we had 10 full-colour, limited-edition prints made of the cover before we had the typography added by Dr-Benway (also a stunning artist, go check out his work). We got Daniël to sign and stamp these and, would you know, I have one left (without typography on it).

One, which I will give away to one lucky sod who mails me at nerinedorman (at) gmail (dot) come to tell me who the two characters are in the illustration. (Put “Xan and Ash pic” in the subject line.)

So, here’s your chance to own a piece of memorabilia that will look absolutely fabulous in a nice frame. Plus it’s signed and stamped. And it’s the last bleeding one. You know you want it. And I don’t mind mailing it to the Outer Reaches of Mongolia, either.

Then follow Carrie and me on Twitter @CarrieClevenger and @nerinedorman

If you want to score even more brownie points, go like Crooked Fang on Facebook and my author page too, while you’re at it.