Hey, everyone! Today I’d like to welcome back friend and fellow author C. S. Boyack. Craig is no stranger to this site and it’s always a pleasure to host him. He’s had a busy writing year and has a brand new release. The Ballad of Mrs. Malony is the latest book in The Hat series.
Having read and enjoyed the first two books, I look forward to diving into this one. And with vampires in the story, it’s perfect October read. And now here is Craig to tell you more about it.
Thanks for having me back so soon, Joan. My promotion schedule has been kind of crazy this year. This time I have something aimed toward the Halloween season. It’s called The Ballad of Mrs. Molony, and it’s a bit of dark humor, wrapped inside a paranormal adventure.
Lizzie and the hat are back, and this time they’re on the trail of a pair of brutal vampires. This leads me to my topic today, vampire culture. I know it sounds weird, but inside a fictitious work, things have to make sense.
I expect this series to run for a good while and I needed to make some big decisions about the adversaries and allies they run across. I came up with two loose frameworks. One is a kind of underground society and the witches that show up fit this mold. Others are more like predatory animals and that’s where I placed my vampires. This isn’t to say that some of them won’t gather and do something one day, but at this stage think predatory animals. Silent night-stalkers.
In book one “The Hat” we learned they live among the street people. Nobody pays them any attention and they mingle with the herd they feed from. In the wild, animals will specialize from time to time. We see this with killer whales, lions, and more. No reason vampires couldn’t do the same thing.
This brings me to a specific sub-culture of America. The country music and rodeo culture. This group is prone to large gatherings, plenty of alcohol, and the events happen at night. Sounds like a perfect hunting ground for a predator. Thus, we have a couple of undead former rodeo cowboys who stalk the fringes of this culture.
Somewhere along the line, it occurred to me that vampires were people before they ever became blood-sucking monsters, so there would be a lot of variation. Some were monsters before they ever became vampires. This makes for the better villains.
I wanted to expand on this idea, so I added one more vampire to the mix. I haven’t talked about her yet, and she doesn’t even have a name. She’s a fun-loving party girl who likes the idea of not having a shelf life. She feeds when she has to but doesn’t kill her victims. (So she says, anyway.) She also stalks the events but avoids rodeos because the other vampires are dangerous and deadly.
Most people won’t notice, but adding the party girl did a few things for me. It helped me expand the idea of vampires with only a couple of scenes. We’ve seen street people, we’ve seen her hunting ground, and we know the dangerous ones are out there, too. It also added a special flare to have a vampire who’s afraid of the ones Lizzie and the hat are after in this story. It ramps up the tension just a bit.
I’m pretty happy with how the vampiric world comes across in this book. It also gives me options for the future if I ever want to revisit vampires. Maybe the next ones stalk the NHRA circuit and feed upon racing queens or something. Plenty of parties at those events.
Which brings me to the next fun little twist in this series. Lizzie and the hat have a cover band called Lizzie and the Pythons. They tend to play a mixture of rock and blues. To get closer to their targets, they’re going to have to add a bit of country music to their playlist. Seems like there’s always a dance at these rodeo events and what better way to stalk the vampires they’re watching for? The band is a neat trick because it gives Lizzie and the hat a way to be out at night when the monsters roam. I also like the way they wind up doing the same thing the monsters are doing. Hunting their prey at the party.
Well, this is meant to be a blog post and not a synopsis. Joan and I are partners over at Story Empire and I thought a few of the tricks might be suitable for this post. Thanks again for having me over Joan.
Blurb: Lizzie and the hat are back, and this time they’re chasing vampires across a subculture of America. A pair of rodeo cowboys are holding a woman captive to use like a milk cow since they joined the undead.
The person who put them onto the trail is also a vampire, but he has to be the worst vampire in history. Is he really that pitiful, or is he setting a trap for our heroes? Does the woman even exists? Can Lizzie and the hat find her before she also takes up bloodsucking?
Follow Lizzie and the hat as they use their cover band to stalk vamps across the country music scene.
Purchase your copy here: The Ballad of Mrs. Molony
Other stories in the series are:
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46 Responses
Congrats on your new release, Craig. I look forward to reading it.
Thanks for stopping by, Denise.
Thank you. Hope you enjoy it.
You’re right about what the female vampire brings to the story. That was a nice touch. Best wishes with the release, Craig.
Thanks, Joan.
Thanks, Staci. She kind of expanded that world, and stitched it together at the same time.
The best editions do.
That was a different twist. Thanks for visiting, Staci.
Thanks for hosting me, Joan. I hope some of your fans will take a chance on it.
Reblogged this on Entertaining Stories and commented:
The Mrs. Molony blog tour stops at Joan Hall’s place today. The topic is vampire culture and a trick I used to build that world. Stop over and say hi. Joan has an interesting blog and some good books, too. Surf around while you’re there and check things out.
Thanks for hosting Craig today, Joan. Congratulations, Craig on the launch.
Thanks for stopping over, John.
😊
Thank you, John.
Congratulations Craig.. looking forward to reading in the near future.. will share the news in the next couple of weeks in an update..thanks Joan for hosting..
Thank you. Means a lot to me.
Pleasure Craig…xx
Thanks for stopping by, Sally!
Congratulations, Craig! Thank you, Joan, for showcasing Craig and Mrs. Molony. 😉
Thanks for stopping over.
Thanks for visiting, Gwen!
I enjoyed the addition of the female vamp in Mrs. Molony, especially her interactions with Lizzie. This was a great post with a cool look at your vampire culture.
I hope you get lots of readers gobbling up the latest Lizzie and the Hat adventure. It’s such an ideal fit for October reading!
Thank you, Mae. She was just a supporting character, a random occurrence, really. She managed to help me nail down some of the world and I appreciate her for that.
The female vampire was an interesting concept. Thanks for visiting, Mae.
Every post just makes me more and more eager to read this one, Craig. This one, especially! Thanks, Joan, for having Craig here today! Super post, you two. Sharing! 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it. Hope you enjoy the story, too.
Sounds awesome! Can’t wait to read it!
Thanks, Sue.
Thanks for stopping by, Sue.
Another great post for Mrs. Molony! It is my pick for a Halloween read! Thank you for hosting, Joan!
Oooh! I hope you and Lizzie have a great Halloween evening.
Good idea for Halloween! Thanks for visiting, Jan.
This post was really interesting, Craig. Thanks for hosting him again, Joan! I always think of vampires as people who might or might not like the idea of being turned. Just as in life, some are “good” and some awful once they’re undead. I usually read and write about them as a culture, and found your idea of them as predatory animals intriguing. It works really well. I like the party girl idea, too. One of my favorite posts of yours.
Thank you. They would bring the baggage of humanity into their new reality, but they still have to hunt and eat. I tried to balance that out.
My favorite vampire was Barnabus Collins from the old Dark Shadow series. I always thought he was a good vampire. 🙂
I liked him, too.
My sister had a thing about him, too. For some reason, my favorite vampire movie is Lost Boys. It’s just stuck with me.
Sounds like another fun adventure, Craig. Congrats. And thanks for hosting our prolific friend, Joan. 🙂
Thank you.
Thanks for stopping by, Diana.
A female vamp, too – it just keeps getting better!
I hope everyone has fun with it. I know I did.
Don’t read about too many of those!
This is one I’m so looking forward to!! I still wonder though, when Craig’s going to take a break 😳
He’s a busy writer, that’s for sure.
I consider myself on break since June. It’s all been promo since. I’m looking forward to drafting new material.
You’re a slave driver!