Today, we're spotlighting a book and we also had an interview with the author. She entertained us with thoughts on the horror genre industry and some of her answers were a bit... ahem... surprising.
Title: Bad Blood
Author: Nicky Peacock
Publisher: Noble Romance
Publishing, LLC -- Noble Young Adult, LLC
Genre: Young Adult,
Horror, Paranormal.
Theme & Special Content: Zombies, Vampires,
Violence, England, post-apocalyptic
Release Date: May 2013
ISBN#: 9781605923482
Length of book: 170 pages – print 119 pages - eBook
Heat rating: n/a
1. Us: Since the
vampire classic Dracula, how do you think it has evolved into the vampire
fiction we've had lately?
Nicky: I think vampires have really
lost their scare factor. They’re more romantic leads than monsters now. When
you look at the old legends of vampires, these beings were really frightening –
I remember watching the movie of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot’ when I was a kid
and wearing a cross for five years after! Now, people specifically go online
seeking out vampire interaction – if vampires are really real, they’ve done a
great job in making us humans sympathetic to them now... don’t you think?
2. Us: Which do
you think would be more successful in the horror genre: zombies or vampires?
Nicky: In horror,
I’d say zombies, decaying hands down. With the movie version of ‘World War Z’
coming out later this year and HBO’s ‘The Walking Dead’ getting some of its
best rating ever, I think that zombies are eclipsing vampires. Now, when it
comes to paranormal romance, I think vampires will always win this battle –
they’re sexy; and ‘Warm Bodies’ aside you don’t get many zombie love interests.
3. Us: Who or what
inspires you to write horror?
Nicky: I think
that the responsibility for my horror addiction rests squarely with my family.
My parents were very liberal and let me and my older brother watch horror
movies and read horror novels from a very early age. We have a family legend
ghost story too, that they use to tell us. The paranormal has always fascinated
me and as a writer, there are so many possibilities with the horror genre –
there are really no limits.
4. Us: How have you
been influenced by vampires and zombies?
Nicky: There have
been some amazing vampire characters through the years – I loved Anne Rice’s
‘Interview with a Vampire’ and I remember reading the book for the first time
when I was at college. Zombies are probably the only thing I’m kind of scared
of myself. You only have to Google ‘Zombie ants’ to see that we are just one
mad scientist away from a zombie uprising – let’s just hope that, if the undead
crap hits the fan, there are some ‘Bad
Blood’ style vampires around to save us!
5. Us: If you were
caught in a zombie apocalypse, what would you do to survive?
Nicky: I’m kind of
lazy! So probably not as much as you’d think! It’s kind of a running joke with
my family and friends, but I actually do have a Plan Z for if zombies invade
Britain. All my loved ones know where to meet, what to pick up on the way and
I’ve chosen a local building that has really high walls and lots of food (It’s
a garden centre – not sure you call them this in the US though)
6. Us:What made
you decide to write horror instead of other genres such as contemporary?
Nicky: I’ve tried
to write other genres in the past, but I just get bored with them and if the
writer is getting bored, then the reader wouldn’t be far behind! I find horror
excites me to write and hopefully that comes through to the reader too. Bad Blood is action packed because I
hate those types of horrors that take half the book before you see something
even remotely exciting happen. I wanted my characters to lurch from one problem
to another to keep it as real as I could in an unreal environment.
7. Us:What do you
think makes the horror genre successful, especially in the YA industry?
Nicky: Everybody
loves a good scare! It’s why we ride roller-coasters. When it comes to YA, I
think it gives teens a taste of the adult world – although I don’t hold back in
Bad Blood – it’s as violent and gory
as it would have been if it were aimed at the adult market. As an author I
don’t believe in censoring that side for YA – if there is a supernatural edge
then it makes it unreal anyway, so takes the edge off the violence.
8. Us: Is it
important to have some romance in the book when it's horror?
Nicky: I believe
so. There has to more to a horror than blood and guts, something for the reader
to cheer for. The romance in Bad Blood
is quite complicated, as the main character, Britannia has been in love with a
man for centuries who, in her head, she’s created this whole day-dream like
life with. Day dreams are dangerous when it comes to love – dream men have no
faults. And she is in for a very tough lesson when a man turns up she believes
is his reincarnation.
9 Us: Do you
think horror should be publicised more?
Nicky: With the
amount of movies and books in the genre, I think it’s doing better than ever.
If, 20 years ago, you told someone that you like horror they’d think you were a
bit weird and perhaps even worry about you! Now it’s almost a natural genre to
love, and there are sooooo many subgenres that are really coming into their
own, such as: Steampunk, Dark Fantasy and paranormal romance.
1 Us: If you had
a chance to be a vampire or zombie character in a book, who would it be and
why?
Nicky: As I write
first person from Britannia’s point of view, it would have to be her. As her
creator and voice I’m so close to her already. I’d love to be a vampire,
although I’d need to read all the small print before totally committing!
