Interview with Norm Applegate, Author of Blood Bar

Norman Applegate is an author and consultant, with a growing body of work to his credit. Born in Glasgow Scotland, growing up in Toronto Canada and now residing in Sarasota Florida with his wife Cheryl, Norm Applegate works and travels for an international consulting company, then occasionally scares the “heck” out of his family with his thoughts and writings.

Norm’s writing began while traveling through New Zealand and Australia as a Hypno-therapist with colorful letters to his family of his tales as a hypnotist and the unexplained.

His early years in Toronto were filled with aspirations of the late 60’s Yorkville hippie music scene, and as a drummer in numerous bands led to a short lived career playing the bars and clubs in the Toronto area. The band Photograph, signed to a recording studio, made some noise on the coast to coast CBC radio show, the Entertainers, and after the legal issues strangled them into submission, they went their separate ways. The life of drugs, sex and rock and roll were over, sad but true.

After a few years of travel, he had the bug, and entered the world of management consulting to become a road warrior, and is now a 2 million miler with Delta. Away from home and with the desire to write a novel it began. His first book, Into the Basement, is a raw, dark thriller.

His second novel of the Kim Bennett series, Into the Spell, explores a copy cat Son of Sam killer and hypnosis...sometimes evil is all in your head!

Early 2008, Norm introduced a short story called Jumpers, in the horror anthology From the Shadows. He has developed the screenplay for his novel Into the Basement, with Nicholas Grabowsky and director J. L. Botelho of Triad Pictures, and in 2009 published his third novel in the Kim Bennett series, Blood Bar. As Kim Bennett would say, “Don’t be stupid, vampires aren’t real.”

Welcome to The Writer's Life, Norm. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?

Norm: Kind of answered above...

Can you please tell us about your book and why you wrote it?

Norm: Blood Bar, is a vampire story, here’s the synopsis:
Vampires don’t exist...yet, on the brownstone back alley side streets of New York, a vampire dies. Desperate, his lover turns to Kim Bennett, author Norm Applegate’s quintessential heroine whose passion for S&M led to celebrity status as a hell-and-back murder mystery sleuth who’s been there, done that, and then some. This time, Kim finds herself caught between a secret vampire society’s attempts to locate The Black Testament (a sacred document written by Jack the Ripper), the modern-day vampire hunters bent on their destruction, and a white knuckled journey of self-discovery that catapults her into the bowels of hell and the arms of the ultimate vampire.......courtesy of The Haven, New York’s ultimate Blood Bar.

Blood Bar is my third in the Kim Bennett series and has evolved to the place where we find Kim in the vampire world. The introduction of vampires began in my second novel Into the Spell, I liked the direction, found it fun to write and went with it.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced writing it?

Norm: I wanted a vampire novel, that I could align with historical information such as the Brooklyn Bridge, and Jack the Ripper, and weave this information into an adventure story. Which meant, getting very familiar with google. The information that’s out there about Jack the Ripper, the murders, and the actual police reports was perfect. One report states, at the murder scenes there was no blood. Isn’t that perfect for suggesting the victims blood was taken by a vampire. So my challenge was to support a fictional story chock full of what can best be described as the truth.

Do you have a press kit and what do you include in it? Does this press kit appear online and, if so, can you provide a link to where we can see it?

Norm: No press kit.

Have you either spoken to groups of people about your book or appeared on radio or TV? What are your upcoming plans for doing so?

Norm: I had a great time a few weeks on the blog talk radio show Francy and Friends, co hosted with Chef Matty from Hell’s Kitchen and film director J.L. Botelho. Funny thing about the show, you tend to talk about everything but the book, it’s an absolute riot, had a great time. Matty is now a friend, he has purchased my novels, and I’ll be going on the show again a couple of weeks.

Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind sharing who he/is is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even feel it’s necessary to have one?

Norm: No I don’t have an agent, however I think it’s the next level for me and to get to a main street publisher it’s probably required. So to your readers, I’m looking...

Did you, your agent or publisher prepare a media blitz before the book came out and would you like to tell us about it?

Norm: We have blasted the synopsis on Myspace, Facebook, Goodreads, The Authors Society, and pile of other web sites, it has stirred some good responses.

Do you plan subsequent books?

Norm: Yeah I’m writing a sequel to Blood Bar, haven’t named it yet. Takes place in Paris, vampires doing what they do best, and Kim Bennett keeping up the good fight. Some of the characters from Blood Bar will grace us with an appearance. I wonder if other writers feel this. I wrote a vampire hunter into Blood Bar named Cheyenne, indian, big guy, liked him a lot, but I killed him off? Kind of wish I hadn’t done that. Maybe I’ll bring him back in ghost story.

Thank you for your interview, Norm. Would you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone can buy your book?

My web site is www.normanapplegate.com here is lots of stuff to check out and a huge list of horror links. As for my books, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and my publisher Black Bed Sheet Books, www.downwarden.com/blackbedsheet.htm. I’m all over the place, myspace, Facebook, Goodreads, just send me an email.

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