Today we have Erin McCarthy sharing how she and Kathy Love came up with their new book The Fangover, which I just finished and loved.
The Hangover With Vampires
Everyone always asks where writers get their inspiration for their books. Sometimes I can honestly say I have no clue, and then other books, like The Fangover, I can tell you exactly where it came from (even if it’s convoluted.) Six years ago Kathy Love and I were wandering around on Bourbon Street in New Orleans listening to cover bands and we thought, wouldn’t it be ironic if the band members were actually vampires, playing “Don’t Stop Believing” for eternity? That’s a lot of Journey. Again, talk about a pun. We figured if you’re a vampire, what better way to hide than by being an eccentric musician? So we came up with our fictional vampire band, The Impalers, and we wrote a couple of stories where we worked it in. But it wasn’t until we were talking and we said to each other, “What about the Hangover with vampires? The Fangover,” that we really figured out where we wanted to go with our loosely, and possibly drunkenly, conceived original idea. A lot of bad ideas can happen on Bourbon Street. The kind where you say “OMG, you know what we should do?” and then the next day you’re being bailed out of jail. This was legit a good idea. Unlike when I dyed my hair the color of a copper penny.
While we didn’t want to follow the movie exactly, we did take the concept of the Hangover where they wake up with no memory of the night before. We have two love stories running through the book (2 romances for the price of 1!) and lots of absurdity. While some things we lifted straight from our own personal experiences (hangovers and vagrant dancers are REAL, I tell ya) we took some liberties with the rest, including some of the traditional beliefs about vampires. We’ll hope you’ll laugh your way through The Fangover and enjoy our vampires falling in love.
Have you ever had a Really Good Idea that wasn’t really one at all?
And most importantly, who is your favorite hair band?
We’ll choose a winner from the comments section to win a copy of The Fangover. Thanks for stopping by!
Erin
When rock-god vampire Johnny Malone commits suicide, the rest of The Impalers gather for an Irish wake and jam session to send their bandmate off in style. But alcohol-laced blood and grief make for one hell of a combination…
When her brother, Johnny, dies, Stella Malone’s grief lands her in the buff arms of The Impalers’ bass player. While her tryst with Wyatt had some serious bite, Stella isn’t looking for a relationship, especially after a tipsy argument leads to her getting stuck in bat form at the wake. The rest of the hungover Impalers are in no shape to help her, meaning that Stella’s one night stand is the only one who can help her figure out what really happened last night. Only Wyatt doesn’t have a clue what happened last night, either, nor does he know that Stella is the bat currently dive-bombing his head. But he does have her purse and that has to be a start, right? Or not. On the other hand, there is a priest passed out in the bathtub and an alcoholic parrot squawking about a chapel of love…
Which might explain the ring on Berto Cortez’s finger. How did a night of rock ’n’ roll debauchery result in him turning sexy washboard player Katie Lambert into a vampire and then marrying her? He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But he can’t quite remember, exactly. Which means these four friends turned amnesiac couples have only one choice: hit the famed Bourbon Street for some answers…
Of course I’ve thought some ideas were really good, and turned out to be a horrible HORRIBLE idea. The one I remember from when I was a kid had something to do with using a microwave. I wanted to make two characters dance, so you put them in the microwave, turn it on, and suddenly there’s fire. Shortly afterwards, I was banned from the microwave for awhile. Another one, because I have to laugh about it, is how I messed up the toaster. I enjoyed eating toasted ketchup sandwiches when I was little. I thought, to get rid of the middle guy, to put the ketchup on the bread and then put it in the toaster. Needless to say, it was another household device I wasn’t allowed to play with anymore
. As for hair bands? Bon Jovi!
Vampires are my favorite paranormal creatures. I really like how they are portrayed in The Fangover. It’s different and sounds fun. A rock-god? Wow!! I’m not sure what to expect but I do know it sounds entertaining.
LOL, Ashley! I once put a toy in the oven during hide-n-seek only my mom didn’t know it and turned on the oven… melted plastic all over did not make for a thrilled mother.
Na, we definitely wanted a fun take on vampires. Hope you enjoy it!
OMG…I am dating myself but DURAN DURAN and POISON….talk about hair bands.
OH…there was also TWISTED SISTER…*snort* and of course, we can’t forget BON JOVI in their early years…
sandy@thereadingcafe.com
Enjoyed the guest post and excerpt.
This seriously sounds like an awesome book. I loved the whole rocker themed vamp in Queen of the Damned
Hi All!
Oh man, I’m pretty much the queen of bad ideas. But there is one amazingly bad idea I know my mom will never forget. When I was about 5 years old, my friend and I decided we wanted to go skating, but it was summertime, so that wasn’t going to happen, But then we came up with the brilliant idea of pouring baby oil all over the hardwood of my parents’ bedroom floor. I can only imagine how many times my mom had to mop that room to get all the oil up! Needless to say, she was not pleased! But we did “skate” for quite a while before we were busted.
Let’s see, my favorite hair bands…well, going very old school, I always loved Aerosmith. And I’m talking since “Dream On” days. I LOVED Billy Squier. And Def Leppard.
Sounds great. Cant wait to check it out.
My favorite hair band would have to be Def Leppard!
My good idea turned bad would have to be when my twin sister and myself decided to make mud patties. In my small town of VA, the mud consisted of CLAY, which tends to stain. So, we made our mud patties and then decided to go one step further. We put our hands in the mud and went around the cement foundation of our house and pressed our clay infused hands all over it! NOT a good idea, I don’t know how long it took daddy to clean our precious hand prints off of that cement.