Interview with With Jeremy Kline (Me!)

FIVE MINUTES WITH
Author Jeremy Kline
By Justin Paprocki
jpaprocki@islandpacket.com

Vampires get too much attention these days. Bluffton writer Jeremy Kline thinks it’s time for a shapeshifter to take center stage.

“Lazarus Cane” is Kline’s first novel, published by California-based Damnation Books. It follows a shapeshifter who, in a Dexter-like role reversal, protects the Lowcountry from serial killers.

Kline discusses why there’s more to the fantasy/horror realm than just “Twilight”-esque vampires.

Question. How did this novel come about?
Answer. I always wanted to write a novel and I realized I wasn’t getting any younger. I didn’t tell anyone I was writing it. I wrote it on my lunch break at work. I didn’t show it to my wife until it was done a year later.

Q. Where did the idea come from?
A. It’s a contemporary dark fantasy. All these vampire novels are popular these days. Sometimes the other creatures of the night get the short end of the stick.

I had first heard of shapeshifters in books. But I wanted it to be a bit more real. I asked myself, “What would I do if I were a shapeshifter?” I finally got the idea of how I could lure in serial killers and people like that and figure out who they are. Scott Cane (the main character) has been in my head for a while.

Q. Do you have plans for the next book?
A. The second book is done. It’s part of a series. I’m working on a third. I’m also working on an off-genre book. I’m a stepfather. I’ve always wanted to write something that brings a little drama to the life of a stepfather.

Q. Have you always been a fan of fantasy books?
A. I read a lot of fantasy. I’ve read some of the vampire books, too

Q. “Twilight”?
A. Yep, (laughs). I kind of went out and saw the movies, too. I’ve read the “Dexter” series (the inspiration for the Showtime series about a serial killer who stalks serial killers). I like a lot of crime shows and things like that.

Q. Are you going to move into vampire books? Sounds like there’s a lot of money in that.
A. The characters I use are more reality than fantasy. I wanted to bring a more realistic bent to it.

Q. Your novel takes place in Beaufort?
A. One of my main inspirations is this area. I set the book in Beaufort because it’s just so eerily creepy. I thought it’d make a great setting.

Paprocki, Justin. “Five Minutes with author Jeremy Kline” The Island Packet (Hilton Head Island) 23 December 2011, Morning Edition, C:1