Interview with Author Kevin R. Given

Congratulations on the recent publication of your vampire trivia book,
Karl Vincent's Vampire Trivia Book which ties in with your
Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter series.

Q) There are currently two books available in your Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter series, as well as graphic novel versions of the stories. What came first, the stories or the visuals?

I actually wrote the screenplay for the movie first. I found artists Gil Murillo and Scott Story on Facebook and they started drawing the comic book based on my screen play. Then I studied with the "Long Ridge Writers Group" before I undertook the herculean task of turning it into a novel. I also want to mention that the script was found by Jeff Crisp who took it too Firestrike Productions here in Florida and the first Novel "Last Rites: The Return of Sebastian Vasilis" is in Pre-production right now and scheduled to film in January and I will be playing my own character of Karl Vincent! I am so excited about that development. I will be playing a character that I created just like Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) and Mickey Spillane (Mike Hammer in "The Girl Hunters") before me.

Q) Do you recommend reading the stories in one format first (novels before graphic novels or vice versa)?

The novel is completely different from the comics and graphic novel is completely different from the movie script. For instance in the comic book the scene where Stacy is attacked by the vampires is the first thing you see after the prolog, whereas in the novel and movies that scene comes later in the story, since the novel is told in First Person I couldn't have Karl relate the story until he himself heard it. I guess I'd suggest reading the graphic novel first.

Q) What inspired you to become a published author?

I've always had the desire to write. When I was a young boy in grade school I created a whole line-up of comic book characters. Each had their counterpart in existing comics at the time. For instance "The Crimson Crusher" was my universes answer to "The Hulk" and "Powerhouse" was my universes answer to "Superman" I had written several short stories without any real training but then I got serious and began studying. I moved to L.A. with the intention of selling scripts. The recession forced me to move and I wound up in Pennsylvania. A job opened up in Florida, where I had lived before and always wanted to live so I returned home and thanks to some good luck everything seemed to fall into place with the novels self-published and Firestrike productions showing interest in my scripts. I am currently working to adapt "Foul Blood" as a screenplay and hope that gets adapted for a pilot to a proposed TV series.

My influences in the literary universe include fellow Mainer Stephen King, Peter Straub, Dean Koontz and Clive Barker just to name a few. In the comic book medium I found inspiration from Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, and Len Wien to name a few.

Q) Has your career in radio influenced your writing?

Hmmm. I never thought about that. When I was 10 years old our school went on a field trip to the local radio station and ever since then I've wanted to be on the mic. I did my own volunteer show when I was 14 at the college radio station and that's about the time I started creating my comic book universe. One weekend on my radio show I did a heavy metal homage to the superheroes with songs like "God of Thunder" by Kiss for "Thor" and "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath for Tony Stark. I read excerpts from the comics that were out at that time and played the songs. So I guess my interests did bleed from one medium to another.

Q) What was the most surprising piece of vampire trivia you discovered while researching your latest book?

I was fascinated by the source for the stinger bites in "Blade 2" I found reading about that to be very interesting, but the most surprising thing to me was looking at the box office receipts. Most people consider Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" to be a flop, yet it made more money than the first "Blade" movie which is considered to be a success. I will say that I enjoyed Burton/Depp's interpretation of that series, but I do remember thinking while watching it that they probably made a mistake in doing it as a comedy. Most fans of the original gothic soap opera (Which I did grow up on) may have disliked seeing it done that way. If they had made it a more serious drama it may have made more money.

Q) What can you tell us about the future plans for your Karl Vincent series?

I purposely made Sebastian Vasilis, Karl's arch nemesis, a relative of Vlad Tepes so I could introduce Dracula into the series. I have the plot in my mind for "Dracula Rising" (working title) and there will be a big reveal in this novel about the relationship between Karl and Sebastian. Every good Protagonist/antagonist relationship has a good catch. For instance Batman/Joker stories are more interesting because both characters suffer from the same Psychosis. Professor X and Magneto are brothers Bruce Banner/The Hulk is dating the daughter of the man who's trying to destroy him (General Ross). and there will be a big reveal in the next "Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter" novel between Karl and Sebastian that will change Karl's life forever.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for The Vampire Library and good luck with your future work!

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to interview me. I love your website. Keep up the good work of keeping the world informed of the latest in vampire literature.

Works by Kevin R. Given:
Karl Vincent's Vampire Trivia Book
Karl Vincent: Vampire Hunter Series