Interview with author Lynda Hilburn

About the Author

I sometimes feel as if I’ve already lived several lifetimes in the years I’ve inhabited this body. I’ve been able to create outlets for all my varied interests and abilities. So far, I’ve been a rock-and-roll singer/musician, a typesetter/copy editor for various newspapers and magazines, a professional psychic/tarot reader, a licensed psychotherapist, a certified clinical hypnotherapist, a newspaper columnist, a university instructor, a workshop presenter and a fiction writer.

During many of those years, I was also a single mom.

After a childhood filled with invisible friends, sightings of dead relatives and a fascination with the occult, turning to the paranormal was a no-brainer.

Since switching from writing nonfiction to fiction in 2004, I’ve had a wonderful time creating stories about my favorite paranormal characters. I’ve been a rabid fan of all things paranormal – especially vampires – since I first got my hands on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. To me, there’s just something fascinating about those extraordinary nightwalkers.

My son and I live in Boulder, Colorado, in the beautiful foothills of the Rocky Mountains. (Affectionately known as “The Republic of Boulder.”)

The Vampire Shrink was my first completed full-length fiction manuscript. And, like all my stories, it crosses genres. It’s an urban fantasy romance w/mystery elements, sex, dark humor, and a contemporary vibe.

The Interview

What inspired you to write your first book?

I’ve been a vampire reader/fan since I discovered Bram Stoker’s Dracula when I was a kid. Around 2004, I began reading a new-to-me genre, paranormal romance, which featured vampires, in addition to other supernatural creatures. After devouring every book I could get my hands on, it occurred to me that it would be fun to try my hand at writing in the genre. I’d written non-fiction since I was a teenager, but the switch to fiction was the most fun I’d ever had (well, fun that didn’t involve chocolate, champagne or men). I couldn’t believe what a blast it was to make up stories about the enticing vampires I’d fantasized about for years. I discovered that writing non-fiction hadn’t prepared me to pen fiction, so a steep learning curve began. I wrote several short vampire stories first before being inspired by a client in a session (I’m a psychotherapist) to write the first drafts of what became THE VAMPIRE SHRINK. This young client talked to me about wanting to join a non-human group and, as I listened to her, the words began to remind me of some of the vampire books I’d recently read. I went home that night and began typing. My first novel, THE VAMPIRE SHRINK, was born.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I’d call my writing style psychologically-based and quirky. Giving myself permission to hold onto my style/voice was one of the biggest challenges I encountered when I began writing fiction. In fact, I stopped writing a few times, early on, after various well-meaning critique partners insisted I was “doing it wrong.” Actually, not knowing much about fiction meant I broke all “the rules,” and I’m glad I had time to do that, because if I’d tried to conform right away, I probably would have given up.

How did you come up with the title?

I thought THE VAMPIRE SHRINK was just a working title – something that just popped into my head to identify the manuscript. I fully expected my first publisher (a medium-size, independent house that published the first two books in my series back in 2007 and 2008 before we parted ways) to change the name. Nobody was more surprised than me that it stuck.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I don’t think there’s a particular message. Hopefully, lots of entertainment value, though!

How much of the book is realistic?

Everything about the book is realistic except for the vampires. The psychology is based on my own practice. The witches, psychics and ghosts are familiar to me from my strange background.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

THE VAMPIRE SHRINK is the story of a Denver psychologist who finds herself pulled into a vampire underworld. The main character is an idealized version of me: she’s prettier, younger, thinner and having LOTS more fun with various gorgeous men. I get to live through her, and explore what it would be like to have bloodsuckers as clients (and as lust objects).

What books have most influenced your life most?

Wow. Influenced my life? That’s big. I can say that I loved Bram Stoker’s book, and all of Anne Rice’s vampires and witches, along with many other paranormal books. But I don’t think they actually influenced my life. Hmm. Looking back, Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan books opened my mind, as did Ram Dass’ Be Here Now, as well as Tom Robbins’ strange novels and all the metaphysical and psychological books I inhaled while finding my life path. Books were my constant companions as far back as I can remember.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Maybe Tom Robbins, because his unique, metaphorical style most appealed to me.

What book are you reading now?

I’m reading my friend, Esri Allbritten’s new book, Chihuahua of the Baskervilles, and Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

I enjoyed the storytelling abilities of indie author Amanda Hocking and – although not a new author by any means, I recently discovered Robert Crais and his wonderful Elvis Cole books.

What are your current projects?

My Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist series has risen yet again! After being published by the medium-size, independent publisher, then having the e-versions be Kindle best-sellers on Amazon, now the first three books of the series have been purchased by Quercus Books (UK/Europe) and Sterling Publishing/Silver Oak (North America). The rewritten/expanded UK version of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK will be released September, 2011. The USA version is due to release in early 2012. It’s all very exciting.

Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

Many of my friends and critique partners supported me during the difficult times and helped me celebrate the good times. I’m very grateful to all of them.

Lynda Hilburn
website: http://www.lyndahilburnauthor.com
blog: http://paranormalityuniverse.blogspot.com
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lyndahilburn
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lyndahilburn

About The Vampire Shrink

blurbs:
UK blurb:
Kismet Knight is a young psychologist with a growing clinical practice, and she’s always looking for something to give her the edge in her chosen career. When her new client turns out to be a Goth teenager who desperately wants to become a vampire, Kismet is inspired to become the vampire shrink, offering her services to people who believe they are undead. Kismet herself, as a scientist, knows it’s hokum, but she’s looking at it in a purely psychoanalytic light, already imagining the papers she’s going to write on this strange subculture. That’s until she meets the leader of a vampire coven, a sexy, mysterious man who claims to be a powerful 800-year-old vampire, and she is pulled into a whirlwind of inexplicable events that start her questioning everything she once believed about the paranormal.

USA blurb:
Denver Psychologist Kismet Knight just wants a little excitement in her life. A little publishing fame and fortune. She doesn’t believe in the paranormal. Especially not comic book children of the night. But when a new client pulls Kismet into the vampire underworld, and introduces her to gorgeous Devereux — who claims to be an 800-year-old vampire — Kismet finds herself up to her neck in the undead. Not to mention all the other bizarre creatures crawling out of Denver’s supernatural Pandora’s Box. And if being attracted to a man who thinks he’s an ancient bloodsucker isn’t bad enough, someone — or something — is leaving a trail of blood-drained dead bodies. Enter handsome FBI profiler Alan Stevens, who warns her that vampires are very real and that one is a murderer. A murderer who is after her. In the midst of it all, Kismet realizes she has feelings for both the vampire and the profiler. But though she cares for each of the men, the reality that vampires exist is enough of a challenge . . . for now.