A.P. Fuchs is the author of Blood of my World, a series about the strength of love, the hardships of life, and of course, vampires. I recently chatted with the man himself about his writing, his views on vampires and much more, check it out.
Can you tell us about the Blood of my World series? 
I have a weird background writing-wise, in that I started out in this business doing horror, then later got into superhero fiction (I write my own series called The Axiom-man Saga), then went back to horror specializing in the zombie genre (ie. My Undead World Trilogy, Zombie Fight Night, and more). At the same time, though, I wrote love stories under a pseudonym—Peter Fox—which, on the surface, is the polar opposite to horror. However, if anyone reading this has been in love—truly in love—then you also know that love and horror actually are two sides of the same coin. Our hope is that the good side is the one that remains face up, but, sadly, the ugly side shows its head too and, to me, there’s more horror in love lost than in a monster tale.
That said, Blood of my World is about two teenagers—sixteen years old—Zach and Rose, who fell in love in high school. Not puppy love. True love, the kind that changes you. Then Zach went missing for three long months, leaving Rose in pieces. During this time, Rose learns that she comes from a long line of vampire slayers and has to deal with not only losing Zach, but also, in a way, losing the woman she was turning into. But when her path crosses with Zach’s again, she discovers the reason for his absence: he had become a vampire. The question is, now that each have new loyalties in their lives, do they put love first or do they keep in the roles they now find themselves in?
This series, set against a paranormal backdrop, is really about love instead of romance—though there’s that in there, too—and tries to explore the impact love can have on a person. It’s also an action story, with plenty of vampire feedings, things that go bump in the night, blood, guts, and more.
How does Blood of my World differ from other novels about vampires?
Because the protagonists in this series are teens, there are no steamy passages, but because of the absence of sex—as is common in lots of paranormal romances—the love between two people takes the front seat and since these two don’t share physical intimacy, they learn more about the things that truly hold a relationship together—and the things that can drive it apart.
What is one thing you would like people to take away from their experience of reading the Blood of my World series?
To be honest, my hope is a few things: one, that they simply had a good time reading the story. Every author wants that. The second is if they saw themselves in Zach’s and Rose’s shoes in different ways, perhaps certain touching scenes bringing back memories for the reader, whether love lost or love gained. I also hope that, because most love stories are bittersweet, Zach’s and Rose’s story will linger with them for days after they finish the third novella.
Where did you get the idea for this series?
Like I said above, I write monster fiction. It’s something I do personally, and something my press, Coscom Entertainment specializes in.
I’ll admit to not being fully versed in the whole of paranormal romance literature, but from what I’ve read and gathered is that vampires have kind of lost their edge, especially in the wake of Twilight (sorry for stepping on anyone’s toes). I mean, when you really think about it, vampires are death machines. They’ll overpower and kill you without hesitation. They’re ugly both inside and out.
I wanted to see if a truly murderous, hideous creature of the night could actually find a place in a love relationship. It’s something I try and do with all my fiction, and that is root as much of the story as possible in the real world, most every story I do starting out with me asking, “If this happened in our world tomorrow, how would this all realistically pan out?”
Who’s your favorite fictitious vampire (other than your own)?
Dracula, in his various incarnations. Being the superhero geek that I am, I really loved how he was portrayed in the animated movie, Batman vs Dracula. Very much recommended if you haven’t seen it.
What is your favorite vampire book, movie and show?
The Blade movies are really cool, especially the second one when the vampires had mutated and created a new species of the undead.
Women seem to feel especially attracted to vampires, why do you think that is?
Ask a guy why a woman feels something and you’re basically setting him up for a slap to the face. (Hahaha.) But my thoughts on the subject are, it seems, that women have a certain ideal man in mind, but in real life this ideal man doesn’t typically exist. What I mean is, women like strong, confident men who’ll take care of them, offer security, be their rock—yet they also want the nice guy, the one with the tender heart, the selfless one. To get that combination in real life—I don’t know too many guys like that and, over the years, when a woman complains about their significant other, it’s either the guy’s too soft, or he’s too much of a jerk. Of course this is a topic on its own, but it seems to me the vampire romance genre gives women the man who’s strong and powerful, but at the same time is gentle enough in heart to fall for a human woman, sweep her off her feet, woo her, and all that good stuff.
Anyone going to throw tomatoes?
If you could ask an ancient vampire one question, what would it be?
Is the physical sacrifices you had to make, like being not able to survive in daylight, having to kill, etc. worth the power you had all these years?
Tell our readers why they should check out your book – in 3 words: (bwahaha) Because they’re good.
And finally, what other projects are you currently working on? Any goodies we should watch out for?
My next project is doing a revision of my 2004 B-horror novel, A Red Dark Night. I pulled it from print a couple years back because—though I really love the story—the writing needs some sprucing up. My plan is to clean it up, give it a new cover, and make it available in eBook and paperback again.
I encourage readers to check out what we offer at Coscom Entertainment. Monsters are what we do, and we do it well. Our books are available in a multitude of e-formats as well as in paperback at your favourite online retailer.
You can also find more on A. P. Fuchs here:
Blog
Twitter
Amazon
– Moonlight
5 comments