Guest Author Interview: Jason Henderson

Please welcome today's guest author Jason Henderson!  Jason is the author of Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising (Summer 2010) from HarperTeen, which has been named by the Texas Library Association to the 2011 Lone Star Reading List, a list of the top 20 books published in the previous year for young readers. His next book, Alex Van Helsing: Voice of the Undead comes out in Summer 2011. An active writer of comics and games, his most recent comic series is Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow. His most recent game screenplay was for Activision's Singularity.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Jason:  I'm pretty sure this will be most author's answer, but very early. I remember starting to write short stories that were based on movies I'd seen-- like I wrote a story that was a sequel to War of the Gargantua, a Japanese movie about two giant, furry monsters. The first story I submitted was to Twilight Zone Magazine in about 1982 when I was 10, and it was about a robot who had been responsible for the sinking of the Titanic. If I recall correctly, it wasn't for them. :) I didn't publish any fiction until I was getting out of college.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Jason:  I've *always* been writing paranormal. (That's not completely true now; I did write a romantic comedy screenplay about an all-night movie theater, but that's the only thing I've written that didn't have some aspect of the paranormal in it.)
It's just how I tick-- I love magic and curses and suggestions of a world beyond ours. And I was very into comics and vampire stories and anything that was essentially "our world plus." When you get down to it, Marvel Comics is just a giant paranormal world. So some stories I do are rockem-sockem adventure and some are less frenetic, but it's almost always with a fantastic edge.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Jason:   At this point in my life, if I could have any supernatural talent, I would be able to take people's pain away. That's really all I'd want. To take away physical pain and emotional hurt.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Jason:  ALEX VAN HELSING: VAMPIRE RISING is the first in a series from HarperTeen about a teenager who learns that he can sense vampires and is recruited into a giant organization of vampire-hunters, the Polidorium. It's very heavy on action and close calls. This is very much James Bond with vampires. I just love writing them, especially because the world is one I created, where hundreds of years of vampire literature are all true. Book 1 came out this Summer and will come out in Paperback on the same day that Book 2, VOICE OF THE UNDEAD comes out in hardcover. If you have a young person in your life who wants more adventure with a paranormal twist, this is it for you.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Jason:  I have *no* idea. I leave that to the casting people. Honestly, it matters more what the readers want as far as that goes. That's true of movies in general-- if people are clamoring for it then it might happen. I'm just the writer!

I do know you'd want a killer director, someone who could really do action and tension, and a screenwriter who got why the books are interesting-- the mystery and adventures as this young man discovers a hidden world.

Vampire Rising (Alex Van Helsing, book 1) by Jason Henderson.

The Van Helsing name reborn.  Fourteen-year-old Alex has no idea that he's descended from the world's most famous vampire hunter, but that changes fast when he arrives at Glenarvon Academy and confronts two vampires in his first three days. Turns out Glenarvon isn't the only school near Lake Geneva. Hidden deep underground lies an ancient university for vampires called the Scholomance. And the deadly vampire clan lord known as Icemaker? You might say he's a visiting professor.  When two of Alex's friends are kidnapped by Icemaker, it's up to Alex to infiltrate the Scholomance and get them back—alive. Assisted by the Polidorium, a top-secret vampire-hunting organization with buried ties to the Van Helsings, Alex dodges zombies, bullets, and lots—and lots—of fangs on his way to thwarting Icemaker's plans and fulfilling his family destiny.


Thank you Jason for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Jason Henderson and his books, please visit his website.