I should warn you, if you haven’t read the series yet – or are on Book 1 or Book 2 – spoilers ahead.  They are not major spoilers, maybe, I don’t think. If you, like me, prefer to know as little as possible about the journey to come, turn back now. Otherwise, continue on for the story of “V to Z.”

Before Caged, Book 1 of the V to Z Trilogy, was even a rough outline, I had an idea. The idea came to me while I was discussing comic books with a friend and I mentioned “30 Days of Night.” To me, it was astounding that no one had yet thought of the idea that vampires would like to live in a place where the sun don’t shine. In other words, I thought the concept was inspiring. AND, I subsequently thought, “I need an idea like that. Something so obvious but that no one has done before. Something like, I don’t know, a war between vampires and zombies.”

My friend and I both kind of laughed about that and then I was quiet and then I said, “What about a war between vampires and zombies?” And he said “sounds cool.” And that was that.

The next day, I started writing what I thought would be a book, not a trilogy. But once Cate and Daniel and Mason were born, I realized these three characters were not going to leave the building, at least, not in book 1.  And by the time I had finished the first book, I knew I had a trilogy on my hands, partly, because the story wasn’t done, and partly because we were nowhere near ready for a war.  Instead of a war saga, Book 1 turned out to be a genesis story.  The war to come won’t make it by Book 2 either. It takes a long time to lay the ground work for a war, even a fictional one.