Nancy Gideon is famous for her popular and hard to find vampire series.  The first of these books was written several years ago but this year she has blazed back into the paranormal genre with the release of Midnight Enchantment and Midnight Gamble...with more vampire offerings to follow.

It is a pleasure for me to invite her here to answer a few questions about her work and those vampire novels.

LB    First of all could you please tell us a little about yourself, your hobbies and life etc, as an introduction to the visitors to the Magical Romance Website?

NG    I sold my first book back in 1985 with the intention of retiring from the '9-to-5' grind of insurance sales and claims to begin a writing career and a family.  43 books later and with two teenage boys who require constant chauffeuring and a stand-in referee, I've got my wish.  Wedged in-between my hectic at-home work schedule, I'm helping my husband restore a '38
Plymouth coupe, take care of an ever-growing menagerie of dog, cat, fish and frogs that was just increased by a new turtle, battle weeds in my Southwestern Michigan flower garden, and sneak away from the keyboard for my secret vices of afternoon videos and hot tubbing. I'm also active in my area writers group as newsletter editor for the Mid-Michigan chapter of
Romance Writers of America just so I can say I'm using my college degree in journalism <g>.
 

LB    You write books under several different names.  Could you please tell us a little about each of these different voices?

NG    I'm a Gemini.  I get restless unless I'm juggling lots of balls in the air.  Working in different genres:  historical, contemporary, paranormal and now, horror and screenplays, lets me stretch my creative wings and keeps me from getting burned out with one thing.  In each area, I can adopt a different 'voice' and use different skills -- I love the research and texture of my action-oriented Dana Ransom and Rosalyn West historicals and apply liberal doses of suspense when writing contemporaries under my own name.  In paranormals I get to delve into moody atmosphere and with horror, there are no holds barred--imagination rules.  I can get a lot more work out there and feed my split personality at the same time <g>
 

LB    What made you decide to write romances about vampires when they are characters more likely to be found in horror novels?

NG    Vampires are traditionally the sexiest heroes -- (think Frank Langella's Dracula) -- the ultimate bad boys. Every woman wants to redeem them and surrender to them at the same time.  While Anne Rice's night stalkers are strictly horror fare who shun mankind, I like to weave in poignant threads of longing for love and struggling against the loss of humanity.  It's
great fun challenging belief and impossibility by making it real to the reader. Plus, I've always been a Dark Shadows and the Kindred buff.
 

LB    After the release of the first three Midnight books you spent several years away from the vampires before returning with the long awaited Mightnight Enchantment.  What made you put aside the vampire novels and what prompted your return?

NG    The long wait wasn't my idea.  Though the first three books were huge fan and bookseller favorites, the publisher wasn't sure how to market them and they quickly disappeared in the glut of paranormals in the mid-90s.  No one wanted to read about vampires I was told even as my mailbox over flowed with requests for more.  Finally, with the creation of new small press publisher, ImaJinn Books, who saw the hunger for all things New Age (fantasy, time travel, paranormal, etc), I found my way back to the shelves and into the reader's hands.  My Midnight series has always been my pet project.  I love these books and was thrilled to have their revival so well received -- a Romantic Times Top Pick, a Booksellers Best contest finalist, and two Amazon.com Horror bestsellers!  Someone must have wanted to read about my dark heroes!
 

LB    Midnight Gamble has just recently hit the shelves.  For those of us who have not read it yet can you please tell us a little about the book?

NG    Midnight Gamble was great fun to write.  I set it in an unusual time period -- the 1920s which fit beautifully with its decadent night life and free living style.  My heroine is a vampire half breed who can walk in daylight and whose job it is to track down rogue vampires to bring them before her father's preternatural court where they'll be judged for crimes against humanity.  It's a duty she excels in until she's ordered to bring in the exotic and mysterious hero with whom she's fallen in love.  "Fantastic setting!  Magnificent imagery!  Transcends the genre with action, adventure, mystery, horror AND romance is the style of Dean Koontz" was
what reviews at Midnight Scribe had to say and Romantic Times gave it  4 1/2 Star / Top Romance Pick status.
 

LB    The next book in the Midnight series, Midnight Redeemer, is due out in October.  Can you tell us a little about what to expect in the next book of the series and what other works do you have in the pipeline at the moment?

NG    Midnight Redeemer returns fan favorite, Louis Redman in his eternal quest for a cure for his vampiric curse.  This book is a little bit different because it takes place in present day -- but what scarier threat can be found than science in the hands of the government?  My gutsy heroine is a researcher who stumbles upon Louis's unusual blood chemistry and discovers
not only his secret but the path to immortality--if she can escape the supernatural serial killer who is stalking her along the dark Seattle coast long enough to save him.  By the time I'd finished the book, the secondary character Frank Cobb, a true-blue government man was begging for a book of his own.  I've since signed with ImaJinn for three more titles, of which at least two will be continuations of my Midnight series.
 

LB    You have recently completed the novelization of the new film IN THE WOODS.  How do you find that this type of writing differs from writing novels from scratch?

NG    In doing novelizations, you're building upon someone else's idea and plot, fleshing out the characterizations and setting to make the work multi-dimensional.  As a movie-aholic, this was a real thrill for me.  Fortunately, my style blended very nicely with screenwriter/director Lynn Drzick's and he even incorporated some of my scenes and dialogue into the movie which is now available through most video markets.  Plus, my sons were very excited about Mom writing something other than 'love stories.'  Horror is very macho in their circle of friends.
 

LB    You have also had two original horror screenplays optioned by Katharsys Pictures film studio.  Can you tell us anything about these screenplays and what stage work on these is at?

NG    Writing screenplays is the ultimate.  My writing style has always been very visually oriented so it wasn't difficult to pull out that aspect from the deeper narrative elements of a novel. Lynn (Katharsys's founder and producer) had a roughly developed idea for a small budget film as follow up to IN THE WOODS and also a hint of what he wanted to turn into a big budget thriller.  He turned them over to me and I got to plunge right into the action.  BIGFOOT is scheduled to begin filming in the fall--it's an action/chase monster movie with great characters. SPRINGHILL JACK is my baby -- a wonderfully suspenseful horror thriller that's guaranteed to keep movie-goers on the edge of their seats.  To fill in between the two films, I'm just beginning a Civil War set horror/time travel script that has great psychological overtones. I can't wait to get into it.
 

LB    Of the different types of writing you do, novels, novelization of a film, screenplays etc, which do you enjoy the most and which do you find the most challenging?

NG    Each project, whether it be novel or script, brings with it its own gremlins of real life intruding upon writing time.  The challenge is in making each work unique and satisfying to the reader/viewer.  Working in various genre areas relieves a lot of that pressure because I can go at each project with renewed excitement and enthusiasm.   What I find the most difficult is having to do more than one of the same type of projects after the other  i.e. several contemporaries or paranormals in a row.  I'm always afraid that repetition will breed contempt <g>
 

LB    What do you like to read, if and when, you find the time away from what sounds like a very busy schedule?

NG     I LOVE to read and being a writer makes it hard to find the time to indulge that beloved pasttime.  When I can chisel out a few uninterrupted hours, I enjoy Dean Koontz, Tony Hillerman, Tami Hoag, Nora Roberts, Mercedes Lackey and friend/contemporary author, Jennifer Greene.  I grew up reading men's adventure fiction by Alister McLean and Lawrence Sanders so those were influences on my writing style.
 

LB    Finally, do you have a message for all your readers out there?

NG    My readers's faith was literally what sustained me during the struggles to bring my vampire series 'back to life.'  I'd get discouraged then there would be these wonderful letters or e-mails from fans to recharge my batteries.  Most readers think they're intruding upon an author's time by writing them without realizing what a valuable and necessary service they're doing.  Without that positive feedback, some days it would be impossible to return to the keyboard.  I love to hear from my readers.

Write me at: PO Box 896, Portage, MI 49081 or dana@net-link.net.  Success is knowing that what you've done has reached out to another's heart and imagination.
 

Well I have not got around to reading all of the Midnight series yet but they are creeping ever higher to the top of my tbr pile.  I am looking forward to reading them more than ever now.  I thank you for taking the time out to answer these questions and look forward to reading more of Midnight series in the future.

Links to  Online Stores

Books by Nancy Gideon: Midnight Kiss, Midnight Temptation, Midnight Surrender, Midnight Enchantment, Midnight Gamble ... and many more under various names.

Visit Nancy Gideon's Website.