There are probably some people who wonder why I decided the world needed another
vampire novel, let alone one about a bloodsucker who works for the president.
But to me, changing the War on Terror to the War on Horror didn't
seem like that much of a leap.
My vampire Nathaniel Cade even has his birth in U.S. history. I got the idea
when reading a weird factoid about a sailor pardoned by President Andrew Johnson
after being accused of killing two men and drinking their blood. I wondered:
What would a man sitting in the Oval Office do with a vampire?
Then it hit me. That was the wrong question. The right question is: What
wouldn't the president do with a vampire?
Since 9/11, it seems that the United States has struggled with one nightmare
after another. There's a feeling that the ground isn't stable under our feet;
that it might crumble at any moment and the graves will open and all kinds of
nasty, hungry things will spring out.
You can see how we're handling it in our hunger for stories of zombies and
vampires and conspiracies. John Connolly's Charlie
Parker is a detective constantly fighting ghosts and demons, both symbolic and
literal. Jonathan
Maberry pits soldiers against what can only be called mad science; F. Paul Wilson's Repairman
Jack is a street-level fixer forced to confront undying evil. Meanwhile, Justin Cronin and Max Brooks have imagined
worlds that show us what happens when humanity loses to horror.
This is where Nathaniel Cade comes in. He's our front line and last resort in
this war. He makes sure the nightmares never infect the brightly lit world of
the American dream. He's able to fight terror with terror.
There are two sayings that constantly go through my head when I'm writing Cade.
The first is the old aphorism from Nietzsche: "Whoever fights monsters must take
care not to become a monster himself." The second I read in SHIBUMI, one
of my favorite books of all time: "Who does the harsh things? He who can."
Cade has already lost his humanity. He's never going to get it back. So he knows
the cost if he fails; he knows how easy it would be to slip into the future as
it exists in THE
PASSAGE. But he's able to go into the shadows and survive precisely because
he isn't human. The shadows are where he belongs now.
To paraphrase Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cade might be a monster, but he's our
monster. And in a world filled with terror and darkness, it's somehow comforting
to think that we've got something with teeth on our side.
Christopher
Farnsworth is a former journalist and screenwriter. He lives in Los Angeles
with his wife and daughter. You can find out more at www.christopherfarnsworth.com and www.presidentsvampire.com.
7 comments posted.
What an interesting concept!! It's something we can add to the stealth bomber. I'm not being cheeky by that remark, and am looking forward to reading the book!! I had no idea about the passage of History you mentioned, so you got my interest from the get-go. This type of reading will be much better than reading the typical romance story any day. Congratulations on your new book. It should do well to a vast audience.
(Peggy Roberson 11:40am May 7, 2011)
This isn't a genre I'm usually drawn to but with this kind of fan love, I'll have to check it out. I shudder to think what our world would be like if the Vampires were part of the battle.
(Maria Munoz 4:51pm May 7, 2011)
I'm just watching "10 Ways to Kill...bin Laden" on CBC News' The Passionate Eye. It's very enlightening, showing how efforts to get bin Laden go back to the late 1990s. Who knows how much good a(n indestructible?) Vampire might do.
I love those aphorisms as well, because they are oh so true.
Right now they're trying to use the biggest non-nuclear bomb, Blue A2(?) at Tora Bora.
(Sigrun Schulz 10:26pm May 7, 2011)
I have been intrigued by Blood Oath for awhile but have never found the time to sit down and read it. I am planning on picking up a copy before I leave for vacation. It will be a perfect airplane read!
(Jaime Zalinski 11:45am May 9, 2011)
Blood Oath hooked me on the series. But The President's Vampire sealed the deal that I will own every one of them as soon as they come out. Once I started each of them, the hubby was on his own until it was finished. I couldn't put either of them down. Nathaniel Cade is such a great hero. Thank you for the great reads. I can't wait for the next one!
(Angela Bartlett 2:44pm May 9, 2011)
I'm fascinated with the field of vampires and other creatures of the frightening dark. It takes a creative mind to lay down the setting for this mischief to take place.
(Alyson Widen 3:00pm May 9, 2011)