Elijah David

I'm excited to welcome back Mirriam Neal for another interview, this time to discuss her new novel, Dark is the Night . (In case you missed my review of Dark is the Night , you can find it here .) ED: Last time we talked about a book of yours, we spent some time discussing your redemption of certain mythical characters. With Dark is the Night , you're not so much redeeming these characters as taking a different tack on them. Which aspects of vampire (and werewolf) lore were you most excited to explore? What drew you to these creatures and this genre? MN: Honestly, as much as I enjoy the physicality of creatures like vampire and werewolves, it’s their psychology that fascinates me the most. You have people who (mostly) used to be human, and can remember it all, and still look human to most people—but have been altered into predators in ways most people can’t see. It goes beyond having fangs or howling at the moon, and getting to explore those dynamics is like Christma...

Three years ago, I had the pleasure of helping introduce Mirriam Neal's second published novel, Paper Crowns , to the world (see here for my interview with Miss Neal about redeeming myths and here for my review of Paper Crowns ). Today, I'm heralding her third. Like many in Miss Neal's social circles, I have heard a lot about Dark is the Night  and its cast of grumpy, broken people over the years. So when she announced a few months ago that it would be published this year, I was more than happy. I was ecstatic to finally get my hands on this book. Short enough to read in a weekend, Dark is the Night  isn't short on one-liners, explorations of faith, and characters battling demons both internal and external. Now let's dive into it, shall we? South Carolina gave the term 'God-forsaken' an entirely new meaning. If that isn't an opening line to grab you, I don't know what is. From the opening howls of predatory werewolves to the growing bloodl...