The Vampire Fighters: a book I never thought I’d write
11 June 2012
‘Sequels,’ I’d say with a condescending smile. ‘No, I don’t really write them. All my books are one-offs.’
And then I wrote ‘The Vampire Blog,’ a comedy-horror story about Marcus, a highly reluctant half-vampire. It won the Brilliant Book Award, became a best-seller in countries like Germany (who are not normally keen on spooky stories) and Korea, and was used by Leicester Libraries as the key title in a ‘reading for pleasure’ campaign.
I also received literally hundreds of emails and letters begging me to continue the story of Marcus – and Tallulah (a horror-story fanatic who must never discover Marcus’s true identity) I’d never written a story before which had inspired such a reaction. To my great surprise, I also wanted to carry on this story. So I wrote ‘The Vampire Hunters,’ which has proved even more popular than ‘The Vampire Blog.’
Now this week I’m launching the final book in the trilogy, ‘The Vampire Fighters.’ It is perhaps the most ambitious story I’ve ever written. I’ve become so immersed in what happens to Marcus and Tallulah that I’ve taken more risks and developed twists and turns which I really do believe will take you by surprise.
The Marcus at the end of ‘The Vampire Fighters’ is also a very different character to the figure we first meet in ‘The Vampire Blog.’ I needed the space of a trilogy to bring out the dimensions of his character.
So yes, the reluctant sequel writer has become a convert. And now I miss writing about Marcus and Tallulah. Of course three books really is it. The curtain has come down on them for good – I think!