Q & A with Nathan Squiers

Q1) TELL US ABOUT YOUR BOOK:

Crimson Shadow: Noir is the story of a deeply depressed and tormented young man who discovers a series of shocking truths regarding both his lineage and the reality behind his traumatic past. He then uses the strengths and abilities gained from the former to seek and exact revenge on the latter; gaining new insight (and a will to live) throughout the process.
 
Q2) WHAT MAKES YOUR VAMPIRES UNIQUE?

 I’d say what’s most unique about the vampires in the Crimson Shadow books is the variety and “believability” behind them. I always liked the “this could be in the here-and-now” sort of stories when it came to the supernatural and paranormal; the idea that, though full of fantasy and otherworldly intrigue, you could genuinely plug yourself into the possibility of these things happening right outside the periphery of your reality. My wife and I researched a great deal of mythology and lore regarding all manner of creatures, and then began “adapting” the legends to fit in a world of biology and physics. I even went so far as to interview my dentist just to get the fangs right for the blood-drinking vampires (yes, we have other kinds, too).
 
Q3) IF YOU COULD HAVE A VAMPIRE ABILITY WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

 I guess the speed and strength would be cool. I think we all have those moments when we wish we could just—POOF!—be somewhere and then gone in a flash, and I think everyone’s had a moment of feeling limited in some way or another. I’m sure it’d be damning for me to say that I’d love to flash a set of fangs at some people, really put the fear in them… but I’m sure we’ve all felt that way at some time or another, too.
 
Q4) IS YOUR BOOK STANDALONE OR PART OF A SERIES?

Crimson Shadow: Noir is part of a series, but it’s also part of a universe that my wife, Megan J. Parker, and I co-developed: the Crimson Shadow series & Death Metal (by me) and the Scarlet Night trilogy by Megan. We co-developed the mythology, and so we share it as the setting for our series—everything eventually connecting and climaxing in the last book of the Crimson Shadow series.
 
Q5) WHAT IS NEXT FOR YOU?

​ I’ve got a few side projects I’m working on at the moment, including a paranormal horror/mystery that I’m co-writing with another author from Upstate New York. I’ve also got a few sequels in the works—one for my Death Metal novel and another for a high-fantasy YA novel I co-wrote with my wife—as well as a rather sizable project that I’m not quite at liberty to discuss just yet (*wink-wink*).