Exclusive Interview with Author Benjamin Jones

I recently chatted with Benjamin Jones, the author of the new series Humanity’s Ultimate Battle (H.U.B.), on Horror Fest, his vampire loves (and hates), his writing and much more. Check it out and let us know what you think in a comment below.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am 33 years old husband to one and father of two girls. I’m also an avid Red Sox and Celtics fan. Being a writer is something that I’ve always wanted to do and I feel that I have a lot to tell the world – I just have to get the people to listen. I’ve been seriously writing for about 15 years now.

Can you tell us about your book H.U.B.?
Humanity’s Ultimate Battle (H.U.B.) is an epic series set in a world where vampires have “come out” to humans and are attempting to live peacefully amongst them (some of them are, anyway). There’s a mutual distrust between the humans and vampires going on, which is to be expected, and, at the same time, a rogue group of vampires is attempting to draw both sides into war as they feel that vampires should be the top of the food chain.

How does H.U.B. differ from other novels about vampires?
How H.U.B. differs is that the world of vampires, and how they interact with humans, is more “real world” based. You get to see different sides to vampires and humans that you don’t get with other novels: you see the vampires that want to be peaceful and just live their lives; you see the politics of both humans and vampires; you see the humans that act just as monstrous as the vampires, etc… Taken from a real world aspect, you could look at the vampires in H.U.B. as illegal immigrants and you get to see how they live, how they’re treated, their fears, etc…

Where did you get the idea for H.U.B.?
The idea from H.U.B. started off as a joke really. One day at work I was eating lunch with a co-worker and his wife and the topic of a certain set of books/movies that involve glittery vampires came up and we were discussing all the things we disliked about it (how they were slated towards young girls with all the romance crap) and we started talking about how it would be if we were to write our own story about vampires and take it back to the classic days when vampires were to be feared, not loved. From that moment on the idea took off and has been rolling along ever since.

What got you interested in writing about vampires?
I’ve always been a sucker for horror movies/books as some of my earliest memories was my mother taking me to see Cujo and Evil Dead at a very young age which probably warped my mind a little bit. Vampires (and zombies to great degree) have always been a fascination of mine.

Ok, here’s a question I ask all folks I interview: I’ve noticed that most of the authors I follow on Twitter talk about the music they’re currently writing to. What kind of setting/atmosphere do you find most conducive to your writing?
Music is my second love and I do my best writing when listening. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t write without my iPod being on. I find that my best writing comes from listening to some hip hop music. My writing necessities are my iPod, a pen and some paper (and occasionally a drink of some sorts). LOL As long as I have some music nothing else really matters.

If vampires were discovered to exist today, do you think our society would accept them or try to destroy them?
Definitely destroy. As detailed in my series, I think there would be a small percentage of the population that would want to embrace them but the majority would be too afraid of them to do that.

Who’s your favorite fictitious vampire (other than your own)?
I would have to say Blade, though the third movie sucked ass!

What is your favorite vampire book/movie/show?
30 Days of Night as I felt it was more “realistic” to how I perceive vampires to be. The vampires in 30 Days of Night were bad ass and blood hungry and that’s a lethal combination.

Tell our readers why they should check out your book – in 3 words: (bwahaha)
It’s f**king awesome! LOL

And finally, what other projects are you currently working on? Any goodies we should watch out for?
I’m currently working on the second draft of H.U.B. Volume 3: The Tipping Point which I have slated for 9.10.11 release date. I’m also editing a romance novel entitled Head Above Water that will be out sometime this year as well. Also, I will be working on a collaboration project with fellow author Tiffanie Minnis (author of ~D.I.V.A.~ Domestically Involved in Violent Affairs) that I’m hoping will be ready by the 4th quarter of this year.

For fans in the area, I will have a booth at the Underground Horror Fest 2 in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 5th (the first of many festivals that I’m hoping to hit this year) so come out and show some support!

Find Ben here:
Official website
Twitter
Facebook

– Moonlight