A Vampire Novel with Actual Bite!
As the modern world establishes itself and pushes the supernatural into the shadows, the supernatural fights back.
The Darkening Dream is a chilling new dark fantasy novel by Andy Gavin, creator of
Crash Bandicoot and
Jak & Daxter. The book has received rave reviews and is on sale for only 99 cents on Amazon Kindle from June 25th-29th! Download your copy here.
In addition, Andy is doing a big giveaway, including a $100 gift certificate to Amazon, signed copies of his books, video games, posters, and more!
The Darkening Dream Rafflecopter Giveaway
Tweet, like, follow, share, blog and grab a copy of his book to enter.
Long-time readers of dark historical fantasy (Tim Powers, Guy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Kurtz) will appreciate the weaving together of mythology, occult, and religion, while younger readers and fans of HBO dramas (
True Blood, Carnivà le) or urban fantasy (Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher) will be drawn to the twisted imagination, graphic action, and romantic tension.
About The Darkening Dream
Even as the modern world pushes the supernatural aside in favor of science and steel, the old ways remain. God, demon, monster, and sorcerer alike plot to regain what was theirs.
1913, Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Engelmann’s life is full of friends, books, and avoiding the pressure to choose a husband, until an ominous vision and the haunting call of an otherworldly trumpet shake her. When she stumbles across a gruesome corpse, she fears that her vision was more of a premonition. And when she sees the murdered boy moving through the crowd at an amusement park, Sarah is thrust into a dark battle she does not understand.
With the help of Alex, an attractive Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to the factory mills of Salem, on a midnight boat ride to spy on an eerie coastal lair, and back, unexpectedly, to their own homes. What can Alex’s elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah’s own rabbi father tell them? And what do Sarah’s continuing visions reveal?
No less than Gabriel’s Trumpet, the tool that will announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces that have banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling cast is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be her very soul.
The Reviews Are In
"A vampire novel with actual bite." ~
The Kirkus Reviews
"A gorgeously creepy, strangely humorous, and sincerely terrifying tale." ~
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Mr. Gavin has brought something refreshingly new to a genre now suffused with poorly-concealed bodice-rippers which have more in common with Fabio than Bram Stoker: depth. His big baddies are scary, not romantic interests, and the added religious lore is complex and engaging. Don't expect another Twilight -- the story can get downright creepy, so be prepared for a return to the old horror sensibilities of supernatural fiction." ~
Amazon Review
"With Mr. Gavin's video-game pedigree, I was expecting something aimed squarely at the 18-25 year old fanboy contingent; what I got in The Darkening Dream was something wholly unexpected: A period novel with a female protagonist, a crash-course on Judaism in the colonial years, and multi-layered series of plot arcs featuring a crazy cast of natural and supernatural characters populating turn of the century America." ~
Amazon Review
"…A perfect blend of mystery, magic and myth. A grown-up Grimm's fairy tale... emphasis on grim." ~
Amazon Review
About the Author
Andy Gavin is an unstoppable storyteller who studied for his Ph.D. at M.I.T. and founded video game developer Naughty Dog, Inc. at the age of fifteen, serving as co-president for two decades. There he created, produced, and directed over a dozen video games, including the award winning and best selling Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter franchises, selling over 40 million units worldwide. He sleeps little, reads novels and histories, watches media obsessively, travels, and of course, writes. Find out more
here.
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR
Q. Tell us something
about yourself.
I’m a lifelong creator and explorer of worlds. As far back
as first grade I remember spending most of the school day in one day dream or
another. I had a huge notebook stuffed with drawings, story bits, and concepts
for an elaborate Sci-Fi/Fantasy world I cobbled together from bits of Star Wars, Narnia, and BattlestarGalactica.
By fourth or fifth grade not only was I loosing myself in every fantasy or
Sci-Fi novel I could, but I was building Dungeons & Dragons castles and
caverns on paper. Then from 1980 on the computer.
Over the following decades I wrote dozens of stories and
created and published over a dozen video games all set in alternative
universes. And as an avid reader (over 10,000 novels and who knows how many
non-fiction volumes) it was no surprise that I eventually decided to write some
books of my own.
Q: It is often said
that if you can write a short story you can write anything. How true do you
think this is and what have you written that either proves or disproves this
POV?
I’m not a short story fan. I rarely read them and haven’t
written them since my college creative writing classes. I appreciate the
concept, and truth be told, it’s very challenging to structure an idea with a
beginning, middle, and end that fits into a few pages, but I like more meat on
the bones. I don’t order small sized beverages either, I’m more the big gulp
kind of guy.
Q: How to you
research for a book before you begin the writing process?
I write,
research, write, research and so on. I started the book and then found that I
needed to read dozens of books to fill in certain aspects of the story.
Q: What is the best
part of writing for you?
Bringing scenes that I have in my head to life is my
favorite part of writing. This can apply to first draft stuff or to substantial
revision once I've done the planning. With publishing, getting art back from my
artists is my favorite part. Nothing like seeing a new cover!
Q: Did you always
have in mind to be a writer or it just happened?
From at least high
school on I always intended to write a bunch of novels. Work just got in the
way.
And the thing about
making games is that you can no longer do it mostly by yourself. These days,
most games are big teams of over a hundred people, with budgets over 50 million
dollars. It’s no longer about your creative expression (most of the time), but
about getting it done well, on time, and on budget. And the roll of team lead
is largely about fire fighting and resource (achem… people) wrangling.
So, I really wanted
to focus directly on the creative aspects. Dozens of story ideas have been
bouncing around in my head for years, and I felt it was time to let a couple of
them out.
Q: Now since this
Q&A is based on your latest book THE DARKENING DREAM, so the questions will
be based on that book only. How would you describe THE DARKENING DREAM in a
sentence?
As the modern world establishes itself and pushes the
supernatural into the shadows, the supernatural fights back.
Q: Can you tell us a
little bit about your book?
An ominous
vision and the discovery of a gruesome corpse lead Sarah and her friends into a
terrifying encounter with a fledgling vampire in 1913 Salem, Massachusetts.
Eager to prove themselves, the young heroes set out to track the evil to its
source, never guessing that they will take on a conspiracy involving not only a
900-year vampire but also a demon-loving Puritan warlock, disgruntled Egyptian
gods, and an immortal sorcerer, all on a quest to recover the holy trumpet of
the Archangel Gabriel. Relying on the wisdom of a Greek vampire hunter, Sarah’s
rabbi father, and her own disturbing visions, Sarah must fight a millennia-old battle between
unspeakable forces, where the ultimate prize might be Sarah herself.
Q: How did the idea
of writing THE DARKENING DREAM sprang up in your mind?
It was a
combination of the visceral and the cerebral. The visceral part was this image
I had – and some might consider me disturbed – of a dead tree silhouetted
against an orange sky, a naked body bound to it, disembowelled, and bleeding
out. The sound of a colossal horn or gong blares. The blood glistens black in
the sunset light. Bats circle the sky and wolves bay in the distance.
But
sacrifice isn’t just about killing. It’s a contract. Someone is bargaining with
the gods.
And on the
cerebral side, I've always been a huge vampire fan and I've read and watched a
large percentage of the oeuvre. But also as a history buff I wanted to write a
supernatural story that was more grounded in real history and legend. I'm
always thinking, "that could have been so much better if they didn't make
up the historical backstory" so I started with the villains. What kind of
ancient evil creatures might still be around? What do they want? And what
legitimate human reason would they have to destroy the world (Buffy-style)? I
don't exactly answer the question in TDD, because the motives of 5,000 year old
baddies should be mysterious. But trust me, they have a plan, and the sheer
audacity of it will literally shake the foundations of the heavens.
Q: When you sit down
and write do you know how the story will end or do you just let the pen take
you? ie Do you develop character profiles and outlines for your novels before
writing them or do you let your idea's develop as you write?
I’m a
pantser who wants to be a plotter. I hate to outline, yet I must have a
scene or chapter fleshed out before I can write it. If I do, it pops out at
750-1000 words an hour. If not, it doesn’t come at all. But I can only really
outline a few chapters ahead.
I have a
detailed discussion of that here.
Q: What is your
guiltiest pleasure that few know about?
Spicettes, the funny flavored gumdrops. And Skittles. I love
Skittles.
Q: In your opinion,
what are the best and worst aspects of writing for a living?
The best part is as Stephen King once said, writing is a magic in of itself, being a form of
telepathy. You attempt to paint the story as you see it into the reader’s
brain.
The worst is the waiting. You wait on story editors, on
agents, on editors, on proofreaders, on artists, on reviewers… on everyone J And the worst bit
about that is that the waits are often infinite.
Q: How similar to its
principle protagonist and the main cast are you?
I have certain qualities in common with Sarah, Alex, Joseph,
and perhaps even Constantine. Virtually none with al Nasir and Parris. At least
I hope not.
Now some simple questions and more fun^^
-Your favourite books and author?
I can’t pick just one. A
Game of Thrones, Hyperion, Carrion Comfort, Dune, TheAnubis Gates, A Fire Upon the Deep, Consider Phlebas, The City and the Stars, Time
Enough for Love, Great Sky River,
Wizard and Glass, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Wyvern, Assassin’s Apprentice, A
Horse and His Boy, The Silmarillion,
and many more.
-Your favourite band/singer?
Pink Floyd.
-Twitter or Facebook?
Both. A lot of both.
-Favourite place in the world?
Italy. I’ve spent perhaps 8-9 cumulative months there.
-Last movie you watched at the cinemas?
-The last book you’ve read?
-Have you ever googled yourself?
Certainly. I used to lose out to a heavy metal guitarist
with the same name. Now, because of
my
popular website, I win by a large margin.
-If you wouldn’t be a writer, what you would be?
Besides being a video game creator and computer programmer,
I’m a certified Sommelier. Haha.
-And last one....print or ebooks?
Both. But I usually read on my iPad.
Q: The cover of THE
DARKENING DREAM is really awesome. Did you have any inputs in it?
The cover photo-illustration is by award winning fantasy
artist Cliff Nielsen. In deciding what to do about the cover I combed through
the more recent books in my 10,000 novel collection and put aside ones with
covers I liked. Going through those I found like eight (including the new
edition of Narnia!) with covers by Cliff. But it was really the Map of Time
cover that totally sold me. I had to have him do mine. So I called.
I produced the cover. Cliff did all the hard work.
Q: If it ever gets
turned into a movie then who would you like to see on the cast?
I don’t actually spend much time thinking about that as I
see them as their own people. But… The girl we cast for the cover nails Sarah’s
look. A young Rachel Wiess would’ve been perfect. Failing the time warp,
perhaps Nina Dobrev, but she’s too tall and by the time it got made too old.
Constantine: Christopher Lee for sure, but we can only hope he’ll still be
around J.
And while we’re going for dream cast, I think George Clooney could actually
carry al-Nasir. He has the intensity and Nasir sees himself as charming. Steve
Buscemi might make a great Parris. Paul Giamatti as Joseph. Chloe Grace Moretz
as Emily. And last, but not least, perhaps Anton Yelchin as Alex.
Q: What next after
this?
I have a second
finished novel (it’s been through four major drafts and a full line edit). It’s
called
Untimedand is a YA time travel novelthat
chronicles the crazy adventures of a boy no one remembers, who falls
through a hole in time and finds himself lost in the past. It’s very different
with an extremely immediate first person present voice (in this book the only
thing anyone can hold on to is the present). It rocks. Seriously rocks.
Right now (as of
mid June) it’s out on submission to New York and London publisher’s via my
agent, Eddie Schneider of JABberwocky. I’m very interested to see what
the publishers have to say about it and if they can make an offer that is
overall more compelling than publishing it myself.
Q: What advice would
you like to give budding authors or those who want to start writing?
Read, read, write, write, edit, edit, edit. And hire good
professional help too. Friends and family can give you a sense of how the book
reads, but they can't usually tell you how to fix anything serious. I've read a
lot of half-decent Indie books on my Kindle that are at their core good, but
just need some serious tightening and polish. Hell, I've read plenty of big-six
bestsellers you can say this about.
