Surrender

 

 

“If you surrender and go with her, you have surrendered to enchantment, as if in a voluptuous dream.”

 

Way back in the 1970s, this was the Boston Globe’s opinion of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. I would dearly love to have it apply to my writing, so I’ve kept it in my heart for all these years and aspired to be worthy of it.

 

I was heavily influenced by Anne Rice in the 1980s, then George R.R. Martin, and now, Rob Thurman. Three vastly different authors with three vastly different styles, each of which has left an impression that may or may not be reflected in my own writing. In striving to emulate each of them, I have also discovered and developed my singular style, for which I am eternally grateful to them as teachers, and as storytellers.

 

I write about people. Families, lovers, friends, enemies, passersby and casual acquaintances, they are all connected through their human experience. If you surrender and come with me, you will fall in love. Your heart will soar and your heart will break. You will know joy. You will know pain. You will laugh. You will cry. You will be hunted. You will be the hunter. You will cradle a child to your breast. You will mourn that child. You will know fear and you will know relief. You will see and hear and feel the characters’ experience to the nth degree – but you will also find that nothing has changed when it’s over. You will be safe and sound in your comfy chair ... and if I’ve done my job well, you will remember.

 

But first, you must surrender.