Drew D'Amato:Bloodlines:02 (36 page)

AFTERWORLDS

F
irst off, I would like to make it clear that I am not religious.  I don’t even consider myself Catholic, though I was born one.  If anything I would say I am Agnostic.  The Catholic overtones in this novel were not written with the intent to be religiously preachy.  It was not used in anyway to insult a religion or declare one religion superior to the other.  The myth of vampires is tied to Christianity—holy water and crucifixes hurt them—and Vlad Tepes III fought as a Catholic against Muslims like his brother.  That is why Christianity is used so heavily in this work.  The Catholic references were simply used to validate the backstory of the history of vampires.  I loathe when in vampire stories, vampirism is explained as some blood mutation, or created by some pagan gods that comes from nothing more than the writer’s imagination. 

This book was written by a vampire fan for vampire fans.  (Not to promote the next cover of Tiger Beat, or to cash in on the recent vampire fad.)  It was copywritten in 2001, with the intent to stay as true to the traditional vampire mythos as possible.  I was not trying to rewrite the rules of being a vampire, but to explain them.  A lot of the historical references in this story are based on historical facts.  Feel free to research any of them yourself.  For those of you who noticed the obvious similarities in the Jasmine-Vlad storyline, it was intended to be a salute to the original Dracula.  Imitation is the best form of flattery.

             
This story has changed a lot since it’s genesis in 1999, while wasted in college watching Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  With my mind filled with a lot of questionable chemicals, I asked the question, “What if Vlad was alive today, and what if he was good?”  From there I researched the life of Vlad Tepes III and his actual life wrote the backstory itself.  I had his mortal enemy—Radu—and a connection to where this vampiric power came from—The Order of the Dragon.

             
The book was not originally intended to have so many historical references.  In fact it was not even supposed to be a book, but a movie with a shitload of action.  The sword fight in the skyscraper for the ending had been around since almost its inception.  However, Vlad would be a human and he would get to be with his love afterward.  Through maturing as a writer I felt that was just not the right ending. 

Also since I got the idea until it was published, I went from an undergrad with no idea what my major would be, to acquiring a master’s in history.  The research was intense, but I was dealing with a character that had been alive for almost 600 years.  I thought writing that he just
hid in the shadows
would be a cop out.  I was actually more inspired by the “Highlander” movies than anything else in how to write these characters.  How they changed aliases throughout the years, and played roles in important events in history.  I also had to tie them to events in history that did regard vampires—like the vampire scare in Europe and explain why Bram Stoker would choose to model his novel after Vlad.   

             
The final product before you is a book about the history of the legend of vampires and Vlad Tepes III, with a lot of kick ass action scenes.  I hope you enjoyed it Faithful Supporter.  I know I did, and I think there is still more of the story left to be told.

D. D.

Mar 2001-Dec 2011

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