Mod Mobilian interviewed local authoress Jeannie Holmes on her new book Blood Law being released by Dell this Tuesday July 6.
MM: Jeannie, what is your background?
JH: I’m a native of southwestern Mississippi but now live in Mobile with my husband and our four neurotic cats and a shaggy arthritic dog. After working in the medical field for several years, I returned to college to finish my BA degree in English. I graduated from the University of South Alabama in 2006, and then enrolled in the MA creative writing program and received my MA degree in 2008.
MM: What was the inspiration for Blood Law?
Blood Law is the culmination of a life-long interest in vampires and law enforcement. Some of the elements of the crimes that are central to the plot are inspired by a real-life murder mystery that occurred in a neighboring county from the one where I grew up. As far as I know that case is still unsolved and the female victim is still unidentified after nearly twenty years.
MM: What do you see doing next?
JH: I recently finished the second book in the Alexandra Sabian series and am working on an urban fantasy trilogy set in Denver, Colorado. I’m also hitting the road to promote Blood Law. I have appearances scheduled in Minnesota, New York, Houston, Orlando, and locally. The local events are open to the public. On July 13, from noon to 2:00 pm, I’ll be signing copies at Bienville Books in downtown Mobile and will be at the Barnes & Noble in the Eastern Shore Centre in Spanish Fort on July 24, from 2:00-4:00 pm. I’ll also be signing at Page & Palette in Fairhope on August 14, from 2:00-4:00 pm.
MM: Thank you Ms Holmes. Order or read an excerpt here.
Blood Law Promo Trailer:
Also see her feature at A Good Blog Is Hard To Find:
When Jennie first approached me about blogging my debut novel, Blood Law, on a Southern writers’ blog, I thought, “I can do this. I’m from Mississippi, and I live in Alabama. The book is set in Mississippi. No problem.” That’s what I continued to think until my brain decided to take an unannounced mid-week vacation last week. So when Jennie reminded me that I still needed to turn in a blog, I admitted I’d drawn a blank. She was nice enough to offer a topical setting question: Why are so many vampire books set in the South? Ah! Now we’re getting somewhere.
The short answer to this question is “I don’t know.” Honestly, I don’t know why or how vampires came to populate the South, but I believe it started with Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. If you’ve ever walked the streets of New Orleans’s French Quarter, with its narrow alleys and brick-paved streets, it’s easy to image Louis and Lestat hunting the residents after the sun goes down. Conversely, if you’ve ever spent time in one of the many small towns that dot the rural landscape of Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama, it’s equally easy to imagine the likes of Bill Compton or Eric Northman taking an interest in a local telepathic barmaid, such as Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse.
However, this doesn’t answer the question of why so many vampire books are set in the South. Well, I can’t speak for other authors, but I know why my debut novel, Blood Law, is set in small-town Mississippi. It boils down to writing what you know, and I know small-town Mississippi life and have been intrigued by vampires since my dad first allowed me to watch Bela Lugosi as Dracula when I was six. (My mother wasn’t very happy with him for about a week or so afterwards because she was the one who had to deal with my nightmares.) I’ve also had a life-long admiration for law enforcement so I combined all of these into a book and the result is vampire cops tracking a killer through the streets of a small Mississippi town. Ta da!
My personal reasons aside, what is it about the South that makes it fertile ground for vampires? I think it’s because the past is still very much a part of the present here. As my grandmother would say, “Even the ghosts have long memories,” meaning there are reminders of the past all around us. Whether it’s the antebellum mansions of Natchez, the Spanish moss-laden oaks of Mobile, or the wrought-iron balconies of New Orleans’s French Quarter, history is alive in the South. Vampires, especially the modern anti-hero variety, are walking remnants of that past and to place them in an ultra-modern setting seems almost a disservice. They are creatures of other places and other times, and as my Los Angeles-raised husband will tell anyone, “The South is a world unto itself where time slows to a crawl…at least until the mosquitoes start biting and then it’s every man for himself.”
