June 25, 2009

Guest post by Norm Applegate - Author of Blood Bar

Read My Review

Blood Bar, is a vampire tale.

Vampires don’t exist...yet, on the brownstone back alley side streets of New York, a vampire dies. Desperate, his lover turns to Kim Bennett, author Norm Applegate’s quintessential heroine whose passion for S&M led to celebrity status as a hell-and-back murder mystery sleuth who’s been there, done that, and then some. This time, Kim finds herself caught between a secret vampire society’s attempts to locate The Black Testament (a sacred document written by Jack the Ripper), the modern-day vampire hunters bent on their destruction, and a white knuckled journey of self-discovery that catapults her into the bowels of hell and the arms of the ultimate vampire.......courtesy of The Haven, New York’s ultimate BLOOD BAR.

Blood Bar is Norm Applegate’s third book, and visit his website at www.normanapplegate.com it’s stuffed full of links to horror sites, authors, actors, and just good stuff.

Title: Blood Bar
Author: Norman Applegate
Paperback: 324 pages
Publisher: BLACK BED SHEETS BOOKS (January 31, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 098225301X
ISBN-13: 978-0982253014
Available: Amazon.com and on the Kindle

When and why did you begin writing?
Started writing in the 90’s while traveling to sharing my experiences with my wife. But began my first novel, Into the Basement in the mid 90’s. It took me a couple of years to get into the daily habit of writing, and reading everything I could about developing a story, it took a while to find the zone

Always wanted to write a book, didn’t know how, thought it was beyond my capabilities, but while working in New Zealand it began. One of my careers, hypnosis changed my life, and realizing nothing is impossible, began writing short notes, tales, and just life experiences to my wife back in the States.


How did you come up with the title?
Blood Bar, A Vampire Tale...what the hell is a blood bar? Sounds creepy, but intriguing. The premise for Blood Bar, was what would happen if you found out you were turning into a vampire. Where else to be initiated but a bar. So I built the plot around my murder mystery sleuth and heroine Kim Bennett, she’s in my first two novels, murder at a bar for vamps, gothic dressed men and woman, and your basic role playing vampires, however it’s fertile ground for picking up fresh meat...if you like that sort of thing. Are you going ask if blood bar exists, I can’t disclose that here for fear of being arrested...blushing sinfully.


What are your current projects?
Just finished re-editing Into the Basement, was never happy with what my previous publisher did to it. Next is the screenplay to Basement, written by Nicholas Grabowsky and myself, we have a producer/distributer interested, and the movie is cast with Courtney Gains, then my next novel in the Kim Bennett series that I’m tentatively calling Black Sun Rising, is another vampire tale.


Could you tell us a little about the whole experience of seeing one of your books turned into a movie and being able to write the screenplay for it.
It's exciting, however not as free and breezy as it looks. The process began when shock-umentary film director J.L. Botelho read my novel Into the Basement, contacted me, and we started the process of moving forward. First we needed a script, J.L. and I talked about the type of movie we wanted, and agreed a back to the seventies style horror movie suited us both. I reached out to international horror writer and friend Nicholas Grabowsky who wrote the novelization of Halloween IV, has an extensive following in the horror literature world, and had written a screenplay for Wes Craven, Scanners II. Together we took my draft, worked it for three months, argued, re-wrote and came away with a sizzling screenplay.

Next, find the cast, to play the heroine, Kim Bennett, we needed a smart, street tough, actress, who could be believable as a kidnapped victim, capable of enduring the torture and surviving the ordeal. We found a Lauren Bacall deep voiced blonde from Brooklyn that can act. Naama Kates, had just finished a French thriller with William Sadler (Shawshank Redemption), and our personalities matched, she was our girl.

We found an abundance of talent through Myspace, actors recommending their friends and co-workers, and once the word got out, talent agents were all over it. Looking back, casting went fast, Courtney Gains, DeeDee Bigelow, Jamie McCall, Nicola Fiore, Jesse Kozel, David Fine, Larry Laverty, Two Foot Fred, Megan Lynn, and Melanie Robel, were on board to round out the characters.

It was going too easy, a producer fell into our laps and we were going to make a movie. J.L. Botelho directed and released through his company, Triad Studios the trailer for "Basement." It was shown at the 2008 World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, myspace, U-Tube and just about everywhere available, the response was terrific. Then the wall hit, the producer had a different vision than J.L. and myself, which unfortunately led to a split. But through our Hollywood actors, another producer stepped up, we thought we were back on track, and again found ourselves in a disagreement. We were finding the Hollywood crowd not so easy to work with, a lot of talk, dreams, hype, but no results. A year and a half had passed since J.L. and I first began this journey, then unexpectedly a distributer/producer contacted us, we sent him the script, it went to a script reader who evaluated it, and with some new direction we are re-writing and developing a strategy for distribution to fund the project. We're beginning to understand why it takes years to make a movie, it's a tough business.

The plan moving forward, over the next twelve months work the script, find a recognizable actor who is bankable, sell the distribution rights based on that person, film the movie, tour the festival circuits, and see where it takes us. Since J.L. and I started, I have written and released Blood Bar, re-edited Basement, and about a third of the way into my next Kim Bennett vampire novel. I suspect it will be released before Basement is a movie.

You can go to www.intothebasementthemovie.com to read more about the cast, director J.L. Botelho, and see the trailer for Into the Basement...it’s wicked, prepare yourself, you don’t want little kids watching this, seriously don’t let your kids see this.


Blood Bar on Amazon.com

www.normanapplegate.com

11 comments :

mamakane said...

I was going to pass on this book based on the title not sounding like something I would want to read. But after reading your review and interview, I think I might give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure about this book. I think it is one of those that I would do better with on audio because I will finish an audio and easily loose interest in a book about a vampire. Thanks for sharing. vtabor @ FR

Anonymous said...

This sounds pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing.

JoanneR/Joanne FR

Darlene/Rosie99 said...

Loose interest in a Vampire book! Didn't know there was such a thing but then i LOVE my Paranormal!! This looks great and looks like I will have to look up the first few books!(GROAN) another series!LOl
Rosie

Anonymous said...

I have to admit, I've never read a book in this genre. But this one does sound intriguing and one I might like to get my toes wet with. Thanks for the opportunity to discover this book.

Beverly/silly59840 @ FR

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a unique book to read to grab my attention. Thank you for letting us know about the author and the book. :)

ConnieJ at FR

sherrielyn said...

sherrie/sherriej
This looks interesting, Just love this genre. I guess I will just have to "force" myself to "sigh" read yet another series

Kristipye (FR) said...

This sounds good====I love vampire books!

JustJanet@FR said...

I would love to read it...makes me thirsty just thinking about a Blood Bar...lol.

Unknown said...

Great review, I've looked at this book trying to decide. I think I'll look it up!!

Thanks for the great review and interview!

Dottie :)

annapi said...

Sounds interesting! Will have to look it up!

--annapi from FR