Following is a short interview with my guest today, G.D. Ogan… DD
Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself?
A: I’m a retired Air Force Major. I have a pair of graduate degrees unfortunately not in English or Literature. I’m also retired from a second “calling” as a psychologist with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice where I evaluated inmates for various treatment programs and in another area of work actually wrote treatment programs for overcoming addictions.
Q: Did you ever imagine yourself writing novels?
A: In my youth, I’d written articles on various long distance running events I participated in. Then, in the military, I did a great deal of technical writing and continued technical writing in my work for the Prison System in the State of Texas. I’d also written many articles and sent pictures about car shows I attended; however, if anyone had said I’d someday write adult paranormal-romance novels, I would have laughed at them. I, like most men, I believe, didn’t realize how encompassing the romance genre was, or how extremely interesting most of the books were! I think men misunderstand what “romance” means – they (and I include myself before I saw the light) believe it is a narrow tear jerker about “all that mushy stuff” women like…how wrong that is!
Q: You have already released two books: Immortal Relations and Immortal Relations, Love and War, and a third coming soon. Could you tell my readers what prompted you to write a series?
A: This is a little bit hard, but like they say, “The truth will make you free.” When I was little, my mother said some things that I didn’t understand, things like, “He is over there with that woman.” At one point she even asked me what I would think if she divorced my father. I think all little boys are defensive of their mothers, and I told her if he hurt her she should. As I grew I “forgot” all about that as they never divorced. Now that I look back on it, they probably stayed together “for the children” or in the case of our family “the child” since I had no siblings. Being young, I never thought it odd that they slept in separate rooms. I had retired from the Air Force and was working for the State of Texas about four and a half hours away from where they lived when I got the call that my father had died. Knowing my disabled mother needed care, I set in motion my retirement from my job in Huntsville, Texas and went to care for my mother who stated that she wished to remain in her home. I was the single care giver for her for her for the next five years. She had given me life and cared for me all those years, I felt honored that I could do something for her. After she passed away from Alzheimer’s I had the daunting task of going through all the many, many file cabinets my father had. These weren’t the small light weight cabinets found at discount stores; these were tall and deep, seven drawer, lockable, government style file cabinets stuffed to bursting with papers back as far as the 1930s.
When I finally got the last drawer cleaned out, I had over 50 of the largest heavy-duty trash bags overflowing. Looking into the bottom drawer I saw one small item. Yellow from age with coffee cup half and full moon stains an abandoned envelope was all that remained. Grabbing it, I felt that it had something inside it, something flat, small and lightweight. Had I just thrown it in the trash, I wonder if my life might have gone on without ever writing a novel, let alone a series. Being curious, I opened the envelope finding a very old photograph of my father as a younger man standing in front of a strange-looking building with a large clock face on the outside. I flipped the picture over and saw my father’s handwriting, “Prague Czechoslovakia.” Had I just glanced at it and threw it away… Oh well, I didn’t. Instead I looked closely and saw the feminine handwriting on the lower half of the photo which said, “I’ll always be waiting here.” Suddenly, what my mother had said all those many years before came rushing back and the photo proved that my late father had an affair while stationed in Czechoslovakia, or the Czech Republic as it is now known. This event is what started me writing the novels, and the photograph shown on page two of “Immortal Relations” is what spurred me to start the series. My character travels to where “his” father had worked and had the tryst and there he meets a captivating lady. It doesn’t take long before he realizes she isn’t “normal,” nor is love long in blooming between the two (and like they say, “love conquers all”). The story is full of action as the man trades in his human life for that of a guardian vampire.
Q: In what way is your vampire series different from other vampire stories?
A: These are not the “Bram Stoker” type of vampires, Rather than attacking humans they are dedicated to protecting the innocent from the out of control type of vampires, human criminals and self-serving politicians seeking only continuation and increases in power.
Q: That is a different concept. How do your vampires sustain their existence? Do they consume blood? If so, how to they get it?
A: The good vampires have corporations. One owns funeral homes. Under funerary law, the deceased’s blood is drained (not by anything horrific but by professional means). The blood is then mixed with a special anti-coagulant and quick frozen to be used by the good vampires. Read the rest of this entry »
