Reawakening follows a newly turned vampire thrust into the dangerous world of an underground spy agency, where he must navigate deadly missions, unravel hidden secrets, and confront his enigmatic maker. What inspired you to reimagine your original vampire saga?

Bluntly, the decision to reboot the idea was due to my growth as a writer. I started “Bloodbound” as a series of smaller novellas back as I was just starting my career as a journalist in local television, fresh out of college. In those days, my impetus was to create an LGBTQ-centric vampire story, something I found was sorely lacking in a “Twilight” era. Even HBO’s True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris’ brilliant novels, while queer-representative, was almost wholly focused on the straight relationships. And just like my early days writing articles for the local news, my skill set as a storyteller was lacking back then. While I felt my idea was solid, I found myself tapped out after only three volumes and put the idea to rest.

Pulling out the old books a few summers ago, I winced. My main characters, while very much in a ‘meet cute’ situation (a term I didn’t know until recently), came off rushed even taking that into account – the things they said didn’t have much substance, the scenes felt rushed. I felt I had not told the story I wanted to tell correctly, and I gave myself the chance to correct it.

Hunter’s transformation is deeply emotional. What was the most challenging part of writing his reaction to becoming a vampire?

As a person, I tend to think in terms of movie and television tropes and quotes. In “ER,” the line that gets reused the most by elder doctors mentoring the new is “You set the tone.” Hunter’s reaction to learning he has been made a vampire, at least on the surface, serves to give the reader a hint into his thought processes, how he might react to any shocking development, with a degree of analysis. This is why this scene is at the front of the book, set a few months before the journey truly begins. I had to set the tone to what is essentially the core of Hunter’s being – the ability to cope and his analytical and empathetic nature with others.

The Order adds a fascinating espionage element to the story. What influences shaped the creation of this secretive organization?

The creation of The Order as a workplace setting, an element which was present in both the original Bloodbound series and the rebooted concept, was a deliberate attempt to break the trope of vampires always being evil. We as humans are doing quite well at being evil toward one another as it is – we don’t necessarily need an entire race of supernatural beings who are just predispositioned to be bad!

While discarding that trope, I have somewhat continued with another – the need for vampires to remain a secret in our society. While Order staff members accept vampires and work freely with each other, vampires are still not “out” in the everyday world. The Order is a fantastic way for vampires to have a night job and remain hidden as need be. Why wouldn’t a secret network of vigilantes and spies want vampires on their squad? Another quote for you: “Can you keep a secret? / Yes. / So can I.” (Clue, 1985)

Kai is a complex and compelling character. Did you always envision him this way, or did his personality shift during the writing process?

Firstly, thank you so much for that compliment! Kai has indeed been the rock in my story, with a century-plus of history to explore, which we touch on in Book 2 (“West of Nowhere”) and taking a deeper dive with my fourth entry in the series, “Extreme Temperatures,” which releases March 11. Book 4 actually splits into two parallel stories regarding mental health, trauma, loss, and the desire for redemption – both Hunter’s and Kai’s.

Kai’s arc takes place in the first few decades after Kai (who back then went by the name Caeden) was initially made a vampire.

Without the proper tutelage by his maker, Kai risks “going rogue,” or becoming an irretrievably wild killing machine. He teeters on the brink of doing so, and causes a lot of havoc for which he feels he must atone. It’s through this that he makes first contact with an elder founder of The Order and begins his first case.

I feel that in my first try with Bloodbound, Kai didn’t come off as well-rounded or complex. I dare say he may even have been a bit pious, and having his backstory just suddenly be the focus of an entire novel could have been jarring for the reader. One of the things I insisted I check off my list of items to redo was to make Kai more of an open book, and to weave in bits of his history more deliberately until we got to this new point in the story.

I hope I’ve done the same with all the characters in Bloodbound – I feel more connected with each of them than I remember being when I was hammering out the originals. 

Author Links: GoodReads | BlueSky | Website