The Best Vampire Fiction Releases of 2011: "...the ambitious, grand-scale, science fiction backdrop and labyrinthinely plotted storyline was impressive, to say the least."

--Paul Goat Allen, Explorations: The B&N SciFi and Fantasy Blog

Profession: Hematopathologist - a physician who specializes in utilizing biopsy material and laboratory data to diagnose diseases of blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes, such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Bio: I was born in Canada, and lived there for the first ten years of my life. We then moved to the United States, where I lived for almost thirty years before moving back to Canada to start a new job. I have lived in various locations in the States, including Florida, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Maryland, California, and Georgia. I moved around a lot, mostly as a consequence of my medical training. My high school friends once said of me, "Home is where the feet are."

How did I come to write a novel?

I planned out a detailed outline of a book I wanted to write since college, working out all the details for several years, but I never started. Back in the 1990's, when vampires were popular because of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I conceived this other storyline purely as an exercise, based on a simple question: What would happen if a vampire slayer were turned? From that simple conceit, I derived several corollaries: How would his/her team members react? How would his/her former profession affect how he/she adapted to being a vampire? What would he/she do to find a cure/redemption? I worked on it for years afterwards, creating a whole world around these questions. The science fiction elements were added later, just for fun. This vampire side story became one of my favorite ways to relax, coming up with new dialogue with music blasting in my headphones. But it was always in jest. My other novel was the serious effort, and this was just practice. That was all it was supposed to be. Practice. Then I decided to sit down and write my novel finally, but I wanted to start out with something easier first, to get back into the habit of writing. So, instead of writing my novel, I wrote down my practice story. And I kept writing. And writing. Now, here we all are.

Why this novel? Vampires are old hat now, aren't they?

Vampire stories have been around for a long time, and they will continue to be written as long as the archetype remains in the public consciousness, sparkly or not. Besides, vamps are cool, and I like them. So there.

Are you going to quit your day job?

Not likely. I have a mortgage to pay off. However, the fact is, writing has become my second profession, and I intend to keep writing, as long as inspiration allows.

What's the next book about?

Moonlight, book three, is now out, and continues the story beyond the end of Sunset predominantly through the eyes of Nick's brother Toby. Starlight, book four, should be out early next year.

Where can I find out more?

You can go to my website at http://www.pactarcanum.com, which also contains links to my Twitter account and Facebook Author page.