Interview with Marta Acosta

Marta Acosta is the author of a fabulous and funny vampire series that began with Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. She is also a frequent contributor of humor, gardening and design columns to The San Francisco Chronicle and The Contra Costa Newspapers.

Hi Marta, tell us about your latest book.

Hi, Vicky. Thanks so much for having me here! As you know, I visit Vampire Genre all the time to read your reviews and get links for my Vampire Wire blog.

I just handed in the manuscript for the third in my series, The Bride of Casa Dracula. That won’t be out until next year, so suffice it to say that my heroine, Milagro, finds herself in danger at the same time that her crazy friends hijack her wedding plans. Once again, Milagro makes regrettable wardrobe decisions, mouths off to the wrong people, flirts with fabulous men, and proves her courage.

What was your inspiration for Milagro de Los Santos? Is there any of you in her?

Milagro possesses the qualities I’ve always liked in my favorite fictional characters. She’s funny, brave, smart, and very good natured. She’s also a little clueless and makes mistakes, as we all do. That trait that bothers some readers, but to me, it’s essential to the comedy and her growth as a young woman.

Milagro and I share our ethnicity and creative writing education, but Milagro is much more of an optimist and far braver than I am. I think her sense of being on the outside looking in is something that she has in common with lots of people, including me. She learns that the vampires, who in some way are very establishment, share the feeling of being “other” in society. We’re both quirky.

Can you share any of your future plans for Milagro and Oswald?

The Bride of Casa Dracula kinda gives that away! But, of course, things don’t go as planned. Milagro’s wondering just how much to compromise on wedding plans without compromising herself. The vampires’ mysterious Council still resents her existence, and Milagro begins to wonder how far they’d go to get rid of her.

What is it that draws you to vampires and other paranormal folklore?

Paranormal stories give the writer an opportunity to say, “What if…” I’ve always liked stories that give you chills and laughs. It’s that delicious little frisson of tension and then humor to release the tension. I also like the challenge of throwing a reasonable character in a completely unreasonable situation and saying, okay, if you’re so smart, how are you going to deal with brain-eating zombies? You can’t go to the police and file a report on a werewolf attack; you’ve got to use your own ingenuity and cajones to address the situation.

Who is your favorite author right now?

I don’t have a favorite living author. Jane Austen is my “comfort food” of writers, the one I keep going back to on cold winter nights.

What is currently in your “to be read” pile?

Some of the books on my TBR pile, in no particular order, are:

Charlaine Harris’s Lily Bard series

The Monk Downstairs by Tim Farrington

Temptation Calls by Caridad Piñeiro

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

The Passion by Donna Boyd

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Rises The Night: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Colleen Gleason

The Rossetti Letter by Christi Phillips

Do you think vampire fiction is a trend or something that will always be published?

Vampires will always fascinate readers and writers, because they’re so wonderfully creepy. They provide fascinating psychosexual symbolism of parasitic and symbiotic relationships, life and death.

The market is flooded with a lot of vampire dreck, though, and I think that is hastening the end of the craze. I hope that this trend has opened the door much wider for other paranormal fiction, as well as sci-fi, fantasy, and cross-genre fiction.

Where can our readers find you online?

They can go to my website, www.martaacosta.com, or visit my blogs. I’ve got my author’s blog, as well as Vampire Wire, a daily blog about paranormal fiction, movies, and television.

I’m also on Myspace. I’m trying to figure out Facebook, but it’s all getting to be too much. I’m always happy to hear from readers and people can write to me at marta@martaacosta.com.

Thank so much Marta, it was great talking to you!

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