Sean Kerr is the very talented author of the, Dead Camp
series. He stopped by to talk about his books, and his love for B&W B
movies.
First
off, tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a 46 year old gay man, living in Cardiff, Wales,
with my husband of 28 years, Derek. I have a small Interior Design business
with my amazing business Partner, Jayne, and we have been going for eleven and
a half years. I have very little time off, and little time to myself lol, so
that make it tough for writing, but writing is my first love so I use up every
spare moment that I can. I am proud to be an author for Extasy books, a wonderful
publishing house who are a joy to work with. I love writing, reading, my PS4 of
which I'm an addict. I’m a mad Doctor Who fan and I love all the old black and
white B movies. I'm also a huge film buff, and my favorite film of all time is
Alien.
A
PS4 addict. What's your favorite game?
Mass effect 1, 2 and 3 on my PS3, and the Watcher 3 on
my PS4. I am desperately waiting for Mass Effect 4 which is coming out early
next year. So excited lol. There will be no writing done when that comes out I
can tell you!
What's
your favorite old B&W B movie?
I have to give two here, because really they belong
together. Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein. I absolutely love those
films, and I think that James Whale was a genius!! The monster is so beautiful,
and Boris Karloff plays him with such dignity and pathos, and it is a
performance that I don't think has ever been beaten in that roll.
Great
choices. They don't make movies like that anymore.
Hell no, more is the pity. I have to say though that I
am a big fan of Victor Frankenstein that has just come out on Blu Ray, and I
thought it was a stunning film.
How
did you get into writing? What made you wake up and say, "I'm going to
write a book."
When I was 8, my aunt bought me a very old copy of Bram
Stoker's Dracula at a car boot sale. I read that book so many times over that
school holiday, and it really set my imagination alight. I started writing
stories then, and have done so all my life. But life got in the way, and I
found myself in a position where I had to work at a very early age in order to
eat and live. It was only when I settled down with my husband 28 years ago that
I started to write again, but not seriously, more to keep my mind active. But a
few years ago, I had this idea while watching a war film, and I found myself
wondering what would happen if Vampires were involved. My love of the original
Dracula made me want to write my own version of the myth, so Dead Camp was
born. I worked for two years writing those first two books, and I loved every
moment of it, including the vast amount of research needed. It took me to
another state of mind, in that suddenly, more than anything, I really needed to
write, I really needed to tell the story and I really wanted to be published. I
wrote to over 200 agents, all of whom said no. I was about to give up, and I
thought I would approach a couple of publishing houses direct. I wrote to 6,
and within three weeks had three offers of contract. Now, my every spare moment
is writing, and I love it, every single bit of it. I never thought anyone would
read my work, and I never thought I would be published, so this has been an
absolute dream come true, and it has only been six months since Dead Camp 1
came out, and already I have made some amazing friends and readers, and it is
building all the time. If I could give up my full time job and write every day
I would, in a heartbeat, and who knows, maybe one day I will be able to.
Tell
us about the Dead Camp series.
This is my take on the Vampire myth. I was very conscious
that there are a lot of vampire books out there, but I wanted to put my spin on
the genre, give it a home steeped in history. I wanted to explain why there are
different types of vampire, good looking, ugly, those who can walk in daylight,
those who can’t, why they exist in the first place and the history surrounding
them. I'm also a bit of a conspiracy freak and I am fascinated by Religion, and
Hitler with his fascination of the supernatural. So I was watching this war
film, and the idea germinated. I started to research various aspects of
religion and Hitler, and I found out all these amazing things which just
happened to fit in very neatly with the mythology I was trying to build. So
Dead Camp is about an ancient Vampire who has no memory of ever being human,
and it follows his journey as he finds out the terrible truth about who he was,
and how he came to be. He is forced to get involved in World War two, and it is
then that he has to face his past. The arc of the five books is really about
forgiveness, and tolerance for that which is different, something that echoes
my own life and experiences. The books take place in World War 2, the
crucifixion, Victorian London, and they will end with the downfall of Hitler.
They are a complex series of interconnecting stories, each relevant to the
other to tell one enormous. And I have loved every single moment of writing
them!
Sounds
very interesting. The next book in the series is coming out soon?
It is yes, book 3. It is currently with my publisher in
edits, and the cover is being designed. This was the hardest one to write so
far, because the subject matter is very contentious lol. I know this one is
going to raise many an eyebrow. This book is where the answers start to come
thick and fast, and they are shocking. I nearly shied away from it, I nearly
changed the core idea in this book because I was nervous of it, but as I was
writing, it just felt right, and I went for it big time. I am fascinated by
religion, even though I am not religious myself. So this book was a tough
write, but I am particularly proud of it, especially the last chapter which
absolutely broke my heart to write. But this one is going to be an exciting
one, and I can’t wait to see the reaction to it, and all the 'Oh My God'
moments.
To
you, what are the upsides and downsides of being a writer?
The best part of this process, apart from the wonderful
reactions to the books, is the people I have met as a result. I can’t begin to
tell you of the wonderful friends I have made as a result of this. I had no
idea of the audience for this kind of book, I wrote it thinking I was writing
for gay men, but oh no, the vast majority of readers are women, wonderful women
of all ages, and I am so very proud to be a part of that audience. I have found
people to be incredibly kind, and generous, and so very supportive. That has
been an absolute joy for me. The down side? It’s tough coming home shattered
from work every night and then turning on the computer to work. I find that I’m
writing until late in the night, and then I can’t sleep because my mind is on
the go all the time. One of the hardest thing to come to terms with is my own
paranoia about the books themselves, how are they selling, are people liking
them, are they reviewing them. I have had to learn to put that aside, and just
get on with it, but I can’t help looking on Amazon US and UK to see if new
reviews have gone up, and to I drive myself insane with it. I have to
learn not to worry about that side so much, and to get on with the job of
telling stories, but, you know what it’s like, we just can't help worrying
about it lol.
Last
question, and an important one. Rank the Alien movies.
LMFAO!!!! Ok, so, here goes. Alien is number 1, the
best sci fi horror movie of all time. Aliens is number two, definitely the best
sci fi action movie of all time. Now, this might be a bit controversial, but I
really like Alien 3. I have two versions of the film, the theatrical cut, where
Ripley has the chest burster come out at the end, and I love that version. I
also have the director’s cut, which is a very different film. So alien 3 is my
third. Alien resurrection. Oh dear. They turn Ripley into a monster, and I'm
not that fond of it, or that pink monstrosity at the end that gets sucked out
into space. Dreadful film, and definitely deserves to be last for me. And don’t
even start me on Prometheus lol!
In
the words of Bill Paxton, "Game over, man."
Thank you Sean for taking time today.
LOL, and thank you so very much my friend for giving me
this opportunity, and for your amazing support and help to all authors. You are
a wonderful, talented man, it is my honor to be your friend.
Thank
you very much, Sean. You can find Sean's books and social media links below.
Social media links
An excerpt from, Dead Camp 3
Running, again. All
my life, running. Paderborn forest flashed by in a blur of verdant violence
that hurt my retinas it looked so lush, so majestic, all so fucking beautiful.
It made my skin crawl. Everything around me looked so bloody…green. That was Eli’s
thing, not mine. I preferred the immutable hardness of concrete, the undeniable
strength of steel, give me brick and marble as opposed to never-ending trees
and grey mountains, anytime.
While Eli cowered
from the world surrounded by the thick stone walls of Alte, I hide amidst the
pumping hearts of the living, yet we both remained fugitives against our own
history. The truth, that thing that I feared for so very long, finally there
for all to see, fucking us in the ass. History now hammered at our door, and
nothing could keep it at bay.
How much did my
blood reveal? How much of the truth did he drink? The look on his face as my
blood hit the back of his throat, it burned my flesh away to reveal the liar he
always suspected me to be. I saw it in his eyes, it blossomed there like a bad
joke, the dawning realization of all that I had kept from him, the sudden
knowledge that I made him.
Still, not all the
truth filled his mouth. That shit storm would come soon enough, more crap than
I could shake a stick at. Everything that happened in Judea, everything that
transpired in London, all of it, all of it there for him to see at last. A
stranger once told me that the truth would eventually bleed out, no matter how
far from Eli I ran, and there I stood, bleeding.
“Don’t let me go
back to Eli,” I asked of him.
“You love him that
much?”
“Yes.” I did love
him that much, enough to spend twenty-six years entombed in a block of ice.
It was my choice,
my decision. To remain free meant returning to Eli, for I could not resist his
pull any longer, and they would have
followed me, as they always followed
me, straight into the arms of my beloved Eli. I could not allow that to happen.
I had to protect Eli at all costs.
Centuries of love,
and still not enough time. A man must know his worth. A man must know his own
name. A man must learn the truth of his own heart. I remained but a teacher,
and Eli my pupil, and now I would have to set him free.
My God, had it come
to that? The end, finally here? The weight of history pounding at the door, I
could hear it, I could feel it tearing at my skin, trying to get in, telling me
that it was over, that Eli no longer needed me. Time. Fucking time. Endless
bloody time. Now, there was none. I was free, running through the forest
towards him, towards one of the most important figures that history had ever
known. So yes, the time had come, my freedom proved that, but it was the pain
in my heart that told me so.
I stopped, my world
spinning around me in a dizzying frenzy of utter panic. Bile filled my mouth.
The final end. History, about to convulse in agony, and we would be at the
centre of it.
They would be
coming for me. They would be coming for Eli. They would be coming for the
Spear.
I felt the cold
fingers of fear grip my chest and squeeze my heart with cruel intent. The pain,
so sharp, so terrifying, ripped through my body until I lay on my knees
gasping, trembling, blinded by agony and helpless. My hands dug into the
nearest tree, fingers digging into the bark, digging into the wood, until the
sap ran freely over my knuckles, the tree indelibly wounded, as I myself lay
ineradicably wounded. The thing, the splinter, moving inside me, burning its
way through me, seeking out my Vampire heart, ate away at my resolve, and
offered me visons of a past mortality.
Blood drawn to
blood. History drawn to history. Death drawn to death.
I heaved myself to
my feet, determined to move, determined to go on. There was still time, time
for me to tell my story, time for me to lay it bare before the one I loved.
Time for him to forgive me.
For so long I
denied Eli my blood, but in that one moment of pity, as he lay on that hill
above the ruins of the camp, tired, desperate, I allowed him to feed. My blood
is strong, the strongest of us all, and it filled his mind with so much
information, all of it so fleeting and momentary, a cacophony of images that
would burn anyone less than he. Thank fuck he did not have time to see it all,
not there, on that mountainside under the shadow of so much death, it would not
seem fitting somehow.
It would not befit
the man that he used to be.
I feared what it
would do to him, the knowledge of his own identity. If he had looked into my
blood long enough, he would have seen the burden of his own dark history
staring back at him, and I feared that it would destroy him now as surely as it
destroyed him then, all those years ago in a world that did not know any
better. It remained a burden that killed a part of me with every passing day. I
lost Eli on the day I turned him, and from the moment that he first looked upon
me with his Vampire eyes, I knew that he could never truly be mine. Another
owned his heart, and the truth of it tortured me for hundreds of years. Eli was
but on loan, until the day that another should claim him as their own.
That stranger in
Rome, he knew, he knew this day would come -- he knew everything, that funny
little man who became my friend.
