Mark Henry Guest Blogs & HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAMNED Contest!

“Clever, fast-paced, and so delightfully trashy that it should have been printed on Hefty bags.”

Publishers Weekly

"...this series makes me laugh like no other."

Smexy Books

"Hysterical! The one-liners just keep multiplying, and the cast of characters get more unbelievable with every page. Mark Henry pens an epically riotous page-turner."

Fresh Fiction

Change of schedule!

• Wednesday I'll have my interview with Danielle Trussoni and contest for Angelogy.
• Tuesday, tomorrow, I'm being featured at Doug Knipe's SciFi Guy. We'll be scrapping verbally, him all, "Canada rocks!" and me all, "Take off, you hoser!" You know, the high-toned intellectual stuff.
  
• I'm gone at the end of the week to the Tucson Festival of Books, but on next Tuesday, March 16, I'll have an interview with Raven Hart and a contest for her Savannah Vampire books.

Today I'm very lucky to have Mark Henry, author of the Amanda Feral zombie books, guest blogging here today and having a contest for a signed copy of his first book in the series, Happy Hour of the Damned. (Yes, his publishers stole the title idea from me.)

Welcome, Mark!

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When Marta asked if I'd like to guest blog here at Vampire Wire, I jumped at the chance, not because I write about vampires primarily but because Marta has put up with me agreeing to do crap and then forgetting for the last couple of years. Hell, even this time, I'm coming in a week late with this entry. I owe her a free testicle punch (I understand that's her idea of retribution—keep it to yourself though, it's a little eccentric).

Then, came the question, what to blog about? I debated on doing a vlog, because I'm completely lazy and hate editing myself, but then if you've seen any of my blog tour exploits your all too aware of how far my laziness can go. So. I decided to write about vampires.

I'm known for writing zombies, primarily (Amanda Feral in Battle of the Network Zombies—on shelves now, or at least one shelf, that I know of), so you might think it's a stretch, but each of the books have also featured a vampire character that I'm really proud of. Gil is Amanda Feral's long-suffering, lovelorn, date rape-prone, gay vamp buddy (and if anyone can remember his last name, you get 10 points, 'cause for the life of me I'm blanking on it).

If you know anything about the series, you know that I have a tendency toward the scatological and my vampires are no exception. There's a lot of blood both being sucked and expectorated into clouds of red mist. Also, if you're not sure about how a vampire can achieve…how shall we say…arousal, without an adequate blood flow, I got ya covered.

My fascination with vampires began with Anne Rice and Interview with the Vampire, and yes, I read it when it first came out. I was a toddler. But it wasn't until the movie The Hunger that I was really invested. When I saw that Tony Scott had dropped the fangs and went with little knives, I was like, holy crap! Vampires can be anything.

So I'm kind of playing an homage to that idea (and the 80s film The Warriors) in my current work-in-progress. Vampires with switchblades? Yes please. And frankly, just to appease Marta, also piano wire. See what I did there? Piano Wire? Vampire Wire? Forget it.

Anyways, what are your favorite aspects of vampires? I have mine, clearly and more, but I'll keep those to myself, or for the after hours blog, Marta promised there'd be a secret x-rated blogging area here at Vampire Wire and I've yet to find it. Thanks a lot.

And now…

A contest. I'll give a signed copy of Happy Hour of the Damned to one lucky commenter. So get to chattin' folks!

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Er, thanks, Mark, I think.

Visit Mark's website.
Read a chapter of Road Trip of the Living Dead.

For the contest: leave a comment here about anything. I don't care. Brain-eating weevils, the awful bridesmaid dress you still have in your closet, a funny mole on your back that you think is getting bigger, whatever. The contest ends Monday night, March 15, and a winner will be drawn at random.


GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

In honor of my guest blogger, here's a video tribute to "The Hunger" set to David Bowie's "Sound and Vision." It makes me want to wear giant shoulderpads and smoke Gauloise.



Here's a new "Interview with the Vampire" video set to Muse's "Starlight." I'm very conflicted about posting a video with a song by Stephanie Meyer's favorite band. If she likes it, you know it doesn't rock, cannot rock, and never will rock.



To continue the Bowie theme, here's an awesome "Moonlight" video set to one of my fave songs, the theme to "Cat People." Wonderful video by QuiteOrdinary.