I never really wanted to write a vampire book and I’m not a fan of Twilight (I read the first book and thought it was okay, but didn’t love it.)  Urban fantasy really isn’t my cup of tea either.  But my writers’ group used to meet in Borders and they would seat us right between two massive shelves of vampire books.  We would always joke with each other that we should all be writing one.  I always commented that my vampires wouldn’t be lovers.  They would be the bad guys.  I did finally relent and have a slightly good vampire, but she wasn’t really that good.

I started writing Blood Trade and got to the third chapter, when it took a really dark turn.  I was describing not the Vegas that I knew, but one that was in rapid decay as the forces of darkness took over.  I liked it.  So I went back and rewrote the first two chapters and the whole book got much darker.

I had originally planned my heroine Xochitl to be a goth girl, but as with the rest of the story, her background and character got MUCH darker.  I have to say, I really like how the story came out, but it is DARK.  I actually have the first two chapters of a sequel already written, but who knows when I’ll get to it.  After all, I’ve had the first few chapters of the Amathar sequel done for years.  I will say this though, the sequel to Blood Trade (assuming I ever finish it)  will be even darker than the first one.