Sue Dent

Author NEVER CEESE & FOREVER RICHARD


Meet Sue Dent at Vampire Fest 2010 in New Orleans.  Why Do W0men Write Bloody Good Vampire Fiction?  Sat 10/30 3pm Shadow Box Theatre   Tickets


From very early on in her life, Mississippi author Sue Dent has been consumed with a need to be creative in any way she could and started out as an artist. “I think for a creative person that this is what it’s all about. Not just experiencing the world but sharing how you experience it with others,” she said via an email interview. Half way through junior college, she changed her major from Fine Arts to a business degree and needed to find a new way to let her creativity flow. Writing was the next logical step for her, “but just for me and one other friend,” she said. “I had to fine tune my new creative outlet before I’d ever feel brave enough to share it with others.”


A few years on, Dent decided to pursue a writer’s dream of being a published author with a traditional publishing contract, but felt the sting of the impersonal nature of Big Publishing when their reaction to her first novel, 2006‘s Never Ceese, being short-listed for a Bram Stoker Award was to say “let us know when you win.” It’s a great honour to be nominated for such a prestigious award, especially for a debut novel, and it’s since gone on to be nominated for a Pluto Award alongside its sequel, 2009’s Forever Richard, which has garnered critical attention of its own with a place on the “long list” of nominees for a British Fantasy Award.


Dent herself has moved out of traditional publishing into the world of the small press. She republished Never Ceese herself after a bad experience with a bookseller. In 2007, she met Nicholas Grabowsky, the owner and founder of Black Bed Sheet Books, with whom she eventually struck a deal to release a special edition of Never Ceese and her third novel, a non-vampire / werewolf tale titled Electric Angel, around Christmas of 2010. Once Electric Angel hits the shelves, Dent plans on moving forward on the third book in the Thirsting for Blood trilogy, Cyn No More.  Black Bed Sheet Books will also be releasing a new edition of Forever Richard in the future.


While most vampire novels and movies focus on the sexual allegory of the fanged denizens of the dark, Dent’s work takes a look at the most famous, and yet most under-explored, aspect of the centuries-old mythos: religion. The story of the vampire and werewolf who seek to end their respective curses through their faith in God struck a chord with readers who formerly stuck to novels that were specifically written for Christian audiences and have been touting her work as Christian fiction, though it’s a label the author isn’t entirely comfortable with. “Though I love all my readers and fans I really wish these readers would stop labeling my work as such. I don’t support any industry that excludes books and authors based on denomination. It’s a downright shame! They won’t even carry my books in their stores because none of my publishers belong to their exclusive organizations.”


“...I write for the general market. That pretty much means everybody,” she said. “My story doesn’t really have a Christian aspect. It simply has several characters whose faith is important to who they are.”


For more information about the special edition of Never Ceese and the upcoming Electric Angel, please go to www.downwarden.com/blackbedsheet the Black Bed Sheet Books website .


For more information about the author or how to get a copy of Never Ceese and Forever Richard now, please visit http://suedent.blogspot.com”.


The author is on the panel “Why Do Women Write Bloody Good Vampire Fiction?” which will be held at the Shadowbox Theatre, 2400 St. Claude Avenue in the Marigny District of New Orleans on October 30, 2010, at 3 pm.






 

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