1. Once Upon a Grave is set during the Depression era, was it a challenge to get the setting and atmosphere right for the story? Tell us a little about the experience.
For the most part it was not that hard at all for me to provide the setting for the area. There were a few specific things that I had to do a little research on and recall from memory. One of the things being the way the characters would talk-the words they would use and the manner in which they would string sentences together. It had to be "common" enough for the kind of people the vampires were trying to reflect that they were and I had to catch myself at times to be sure I was not using modern terms or phraseology. Another thing was how to sustain the freshness of the blood by a few days and then I remembered the "ice houses". They were shacks or areas of cellars where meat or other goods would be set atop heaps or many blocks of ice. Just to keep things chilled a while longer.
2. Tell us a little about the vampires in your book. What makes them monsters and what makes their story important?
There is no better judgement with the vampires. No better nature to appeal to. All is animal and primal, feeding on the very element that is most primal to us. That very thing touches something very old and uncharted in all of us. The deepest parts that know only hunger and hunt. Even the very way the vampires move is entirely unlike the way we as human beings move. In all these things there is a powerful outcry of danger that is wrapped in the curious temptation of power, shadow, and seduction.
Their story is important because they are monsters and monstrous. They are a return to why the night is something to be afraid but everything in you wants to go out into it anyway. Because curiosity and passion for the unknown rule over reason and one's own better judgement. There is no holding back either. Everything they do and are is raw and naked for all to taste, enjoy, or be afraid of.
3. Your writing rides the line between romance, horror and erotica. What led you to this blend and how do you make it work?
Ha ha ha ha. Now that would be telling which I am not ready to do with you. I will say, however, that the Gothic Romantic period in history and especially in literature is my absolute favorite and I truly love everything about it as I love living and being alive.
4. What’s the most important thing you want readers to take away from Once Upon a Grave?
A love for horror and vampires and to have a great time and be entertained. Also to be affected. Whether it is being moved or changed by having encountered me. That and the urge and craving to read more of me in the future. =)
5.How do vampires teach us about death and life?
Death is a transitional stage and that we can carry on beyond the finality of what we think death to be. That death will never tell us no. Life is to be savored, craved, and enjoyed with a juicy and messy passion and abandon.
6. Do you have any other works in progress? If so, tell us a little about them.
Yes I do. I am working on the next two books in the "Once Upon A Grave" trilogy as well as many anthology submissions. Also further submissions into the online horror magazine I write for, called "Purgatory Magazine" under Thomas Smith, who is fantastic. There is a submission I am going to be finishing up as well for a werewolf anthology.
Links:
JEA: http://www.jellingtonashton.com/william-bove.html
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/William-Bove/e/B00J1PCRRO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7432217.William_Bove
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Page-of-William-Bove/149223795196447
JEA: http://www.jellingtonashton.com/william-bove.html
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/William-Bove/e/B00J1PCRRO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7432217.William_Bove
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Page-of-William-Bove/149223795196447
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