Autumn Montague: Lessons in Desire

As you can see from the photos I’ve posted here, and on my Facebook page if you’ve popped in over there, I find the landscape of Japan quite awe-inspiring. So what, exactly, caused me to write such a dark, disturbing tale as Salva Me? I mean, vampires? In Japan? Regency vampires? Come on, right?

Well, aside from my fascination with all things Japanese, I grew up loving horror stories too. I mean, as a kid I’d watched Gegege no Kitaro, absorbing Japanese mythology by proxy, clueless about what was going on. Then, we moved to the states and I grew older, and discovered American horror. You know, those late Saturday night midnight chillers? I used to babysit a lot, and those late night horrors filled my time and spurred my imagination. When I discovered Jane Austen, I thought my scary story days were over.

And then I discovered yaoi manga. Jackpot! Gay romance in all its forms, from historic Japan to fantasy worlds to Regency and Victorian eras, and vampires, yokai, oni, ghosts, and gods of all sorts. I was hooked. If you read my interview with Emily Carrington, you’ll know I have an alter ego who writes straight historical romance. When Emily joked with me about joining the dark side, I said “yeah, maybe I should write a gay, regency, vampire romance. And throw in something Japanese for a twist.”

And so it started. Why vampires? Well, they’ve fascinated me for a long, long time. But I didn’t want to follow everyone else. I wanted to do something different. So I asked the first question – do they have to be dead?

That’s for part 2. See you then!

Autumn