RRR Welcomes Kristin Battestella and Fate and Fangs!

Today we have paranormal romance/horror/thriller author Kristin Battestella with us, talking about her short story series, Fate and Fangs. 

Welcome to Ravencraft’s Romance Realm, Kristin. Please tell us a little about yourself and how you became a writer. Did you always want to be an author?

Hello to the Realm!  I’ve been writing in what one would say professionally- as in getting paid- for about 10 years, most of that non fiction at local NJ newspapers and magazines.  On the fiction end, my first ebook was published in 2005.  I’ve been writing stories for years, forever it seems!  My mom saved some of the really bad stuff I typed up as a kid and thought was *so* great. Oiy!  I think I decided I wanted to be a writer when I saw an episode of Empty Nest or The Golden Girls where one of the gals decides to write a book.  It all seemed so fun and easy and grand.  I would play as a kid and make up all kinds of stories, and then I kept forgetting all the good stuff so I started to write it all down.  I think I’ve always had an author in me, the question is growing to an age or a level where you have the skill, work ethic, and experience to match all that childlike zest. 

Fate and Fangs: Tales from the Vampire Family is the name of your book series. In your own words, what is the series about?

The series is a sequel of sorts to my 2008 novel The Vampire Family, now in paperback with Eternal Press.  Some of the stories are ‘makings of’ and first person introductory examinations of several of the vampires in the novel; others tell of tragic turning points and vampires gone wrong.  Each of the 7 books takes place in a different time and place- either before, during, or after the events in The Vampire Family.  The primary novel focused more on the coven wars and battle heavy of the Welshire clan versus the Lilithan vampires.  FATE and FANGS, however, allows us time to get down and dirty with lovelorn Ann, conflicted Elizabeth, nasty Victoria, and the mysterious Mestiphles.  It’s personal, intimate, dangerous.  Love, Punishment, Struggle, Debauchery, Lust, Humanity, and Resurrection are introduced and hosted by the Welshires’ Occult expert, Professor James.  But of course, he isn’t exactly an unbiased source, either. 

As a vampire fan, I’m very intrigued by this series. Not many authors go into the history of vampires. Can you tell us how the idea for this series came to you and what your purpose is for writing it?

I cleaned up the earlier tales in the universe and lengthened the stories properly and sought publication for FATE and FANGS because I wanted this collection to be in between The Vampire Family and the currently in progress next and getting huge full length sequel, tentatively titled Requiem for the Vampire Family.  I wanted this moment to get inside these characters and hear their torment. I initially began writing what became The Vampire Family in high school as I had finished reading Anne Rice and couldn’t find anything else vampiric I liked.  I read up on a lot of vampire non fiction because it interested me. I was tired of seeing the same old so I decided to create my own vampires from near and far and past and present with spices of historical and global vampire mythos.  I made them family members before they were vampires because the double dynamic was very intriguing to me.  Family is already so out of whack, so what happens when you have to live forever with a family you hate?  Not just being an angsty teen or having to return to your parents after an adult failure, but 1,000 years of never being able to leave the evil family business.  For the Welshires, they are the history they cannot escape. That’s just so messed up its juicy!

Book 1 is titled “Love: Ann and the Viking”. Tell us what the first book is about. Where can our readers buy it?

Love focuses on Ann, obviously, Elizabeth’s sister and family patriarch Antonio’s mistress.  Again I love the sisterly dynamic between these ladies, each thinks the other has Antonio’s favor but neither can escape his shadow or really, his vampire abuses.  When Ann does strike out on her own here, Eric- real stretch in that he’s the Viking!- shows her the glories that lay beyond her dark gifts.  But of course, she’s over 100 and he’s an aging warrior nearing the end of his seafaring heights.   Love and vampirism clearly conflict- or do they? Ann and the Viking is on sale now with Muse It Up Publishing.  They’ve been awesome in putting the bells and whistles on the series.  Book 3 Struggle: Elizabeth in America mirrors Ann’s adventure with Elizabeth striking out on her own and seeking answers in Colonial America.  She however, does not find love, but rather a Kiowa warrior named Rain and a very bloody hot house experience!

Book 2 in the Fate and Fangs series is titled “Punishment: Lilith’s Trials”. Tell us a little about this book and where can our readers buy it?

Punishment: Lilith’s Trials is due out in September from Muse.  Lilith is the enemy of the Welshire coven, an ancient, selfish, and evil beauty.  Unfortunately, the ambiguous and possibly demonic Mestiphles plays both sides between The Vampire Family and the Lilithan.  Here in Book 2, he is torturing Lilith for her indiscretions during the original novel- all in sadistic and sociopathic detail in a letter to his then  favorite, Antonio.  Mestiphles comes from a mysterious place called The Void where all is black and time and space aren’t exactly defined, and Punishment is an abstract examination of torment, redemption, and delight in pain.  Really, should we expect anything else but for vampires to delight in pain? Kinky! 

Tell us about Professor A. James. Who is this character and what is his role, how is he tied into all of these vampire stories that come out in Fate and Fangs.

FATE and FANGS is entirely a work of fiction, though there is a hint of in universe tongue and cheek tone in the Professor’s forward, his interjections into the narratives, and his peculiar appendix detailing the characters.  A lot of the research I did comes out through him, the Welshires’ using roses or examinations on the Lilith’s powers with crows for example.  Professor James is a wise human who should know better than believe in vampires, but he gives the reader an avatar character of an outside looking in.  He wouldn’t seem to be a major player, except by time you get to the end of FATE and FANGS, he has stopped studying earlier Welshire documents and is completely involved in the storyline- perhaps too involved.  He even puts an entry of himself in the appendix!  In the next potential book after the FATE and FANGS series, Requiem, he writes books on the family, has plastic surgery, and is dating one of the hot vampires! 

What is your writing process like? Do you plot and outline or are you a pantser?

I don’t outline like the fancy ways we used to learn in school, but I do keep a vague map of plot points, critical things that need to happen.  I sort of storyboard, plaster index cards of plots and characters up so I can rearrange, add, and see all. However, I think most writers will say there is an element of unknown or whimsy in the process.  If you end up on a whim with a character, then yeah, fly away with it until it’s done.  I like to hand write my draft.  Just get it all out on paper.  Those tangents and embellishments can come or go later in the typing, expansion, and revision- lots of it!  I often leave something sitting for a while before returning to it for another read through.  I don’t like to get stale in one universe; I like to see something fresh.  That’s why it seems like it has taken forever to write all this Vampire Family cannon.  These characters have been with me a long time.  I like to let things stew in my head before it comes to the page.  I like to know the players and the world and how it is supposed to be if I were making it up as I went along.  Then they do it for me!

Can you tell us a little about what is in store for the future? Fate and Fangs has a total of seven books, what are they called and when can we expect to see them out?

Requiem for the Vampire Family, the full length sequel to follow the 7 novellas of FATE and FANGS may get split into two.  I hate creating titles, but I think that final book would be The Vampire Family Forever.  That would make 10 books, a good canon I think.  My non fiction works keeps me busy, mostly online and print articles, essays, reviews, and film criticisms that I’ve always got going, but I’ve got tons of shorter stories that I always say are forthcoming.  Of course, they inevitably end up pushed aside, returned to, and tweaked again.  I once read older interviews I did in which I quoted such stories like The Haberdasher and The Centaurions.  I’d love to return to all the trunk work, but it’s always forward with something new.  I’ve also edited with fellow Eternal Press author Leigh Wood, another New Jersey writer like me!  Her Horns of Myleness unicorn erotica medieval fantasy is magical enough to convert a good girl like me into liking unicorn erotica medieval fantasy!  The FATE and FANGS books are titled after the core theme and examinations therein: LOVE, PUNISHMENT, STRUGGLE, DEBAUCHERY, LUST, HUMANITY, RESURRECTION.  Something for everyone!  The series is projected as one book a month from Muse through 2012.  That’s enough for awhile!

Where can our readers find you (website, blog, facebook, etc)?

Authors are readers, too remember!  I love hearing from folks anywhere and everywhere, website, blogger, livejournal, even myspace but not Twitter. I just don’t get that!  Our complete calendar is still on my Yahoo Group, and the latest events and appearances are always posted on Facebook.

http://vampfam.blogspot.com

http://jsnouff.com/kristin
http://kristin724.livejournal.com/
http://www.facebook.com/kristin.battestella
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Vampire-Family/157922293588
http://myspace.com/kristinbattestella

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kristinbattestella/

And the huge Love: Ann and the Viking Buy Link!
https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=183&category_id=98&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Thank you so much, Kristin. Please come back with more of Fate and Fangs or any book you wish to share with us.

Awesome, thank you, anytime!

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Interview by Danielle Ravencraft
author of erotic romance
www.RavencraftRomance.com
13 days until the release of A Trace of Love

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