Here you can find some behind the scenes information about the book, it's characters, inspirations, and the people and places used in the book.

Dayton, OH. - Franks home town is also the home town of author C. N. Eagle. Many landmarks mentioned in the book are actual places in Dayton frequented by the author.

Frank Moore - The main character from the book. Frank is a combination of many fictional and non-fictional characters like John Wayne. Sounds crazy but I really tried to imbue Frank with the spirit of the Duke. I even included a couple of quotes from the movie "Big Jake". And in various parts I imagined Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, and even Billy Jack as I wrote.

Countess Elizabeth Bathory - The 16th Century Transylvanian mass murderer is all over the web. She plays a big part in the book. McFarlane Toys recently produced a figure honoring her as part of their "Femme Fatale" series, depicting her as a noblewoman relaxing in a bathtub full of blood.

William Smith - No, not the Fresh Prince. The legendary biker-actor, the heavy of countless action films, award-winning body builder and martial artist, and an Ivy-league master of several languages. How many other guys can say they took on both Yul Brynner and Clint Eastwood, plus played the father of Conan the Barbarian? He also got a nod in the story---and he was my inspiration for the axe-hurling Victor Carter.

Forrest J. Ackerman - The creator of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and inspiration to countless writers and filmmakers. He gets a special mention in the book. I grew up worshipping this guy. Other kids caught it from their moms for hiding Playboys under their beds---I got grief for reading FMF.

Last Chance - is the name of the bar owned by Frank and Lorie in Dayton, Ohio. The saloon and its location are real, based on a hangout located on Salem Avenue called Chances R. I used to do quite a bit of socializing there in my c-store management days. It was at that time owned by Bill, and the bar patrons Danny Cox meets during his visit were real guys, two of my drinking buddies. Last Chance will also be the title of what I hope will be a future novel, based here in Dayton, wherein Frank will face a plague of zombies unleashed by a drug designer!

John Bath - I was well into the writing of the novel and still thinking about the name and exact nature of my main villain. I had an idea of basing him on Dick Jones, the venal executive played by Ronny Cox in RoboCop. He would be a kind of sorcerer and what I really wanted was to give him an historical hook. One day I happened to be browsing a local chain bookstore and came upon "The Vampire Gallery: A Who's Who of the Undead" by J. Gordon Melton, a terrific and extensively-researched reference book (which gets a mention in my novel). In its pages I found an entry for Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Here was a woman into witchcraft, human sacrifice, blood drinking, vampirism, and lycanthropy---she was perfect! I think about two seconds after seeing her in print I dreamed up John Bath's name---short, simple, and no nonsense! But writing him was not easy. In the first draft I made him a sweet old man, nattily dressed, sappy around children, until he shows his true nature, still with Ronny Cox in the back of my mind. The second draft I gave him a violent and foul-mouthed temper. Still not quite right. The third draft I decided to not get into his head at all (that will be in the prequel I'd like to write)---keep him mysterious, and powerful, like Darth Vader. So I did not intro him as a character until halfway through the book and I displayed him in the strangest situation I could think of---in bed painting his chick's toenails. When awesome British actor Christopher Lee, well into his 80s, saw a resurgence of his career with the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings flicks, I resolved to imagine every word that came out of Bath's mouth as being spoken by Lee. I mean this guy has the Voice---each utterance by him is a declaration, an announcement, and that's what I tried to pass onto Bath. Also about that time I decided as an in-joke I would name background characters after actors in all those British horror films by Hammer Studios. I quickly abandoned that idea (although I still slipped in the names Lee and Cushing). So here's John Bath. I got to where I really liked him, and I love watching his moving and shaking. In a movie he would now be played by Chris Lee, Ian McKellan---or Ronny Cox!

Lorie - is named after the love of my life---smokin hot country singer Lorrie Morgan. One of the greatest voices in music! At a Foxwoods Casino show in Connecticut, she took me onstage with her. Crooned a love song ("I Just Might Be" from her Greater Need cd), kissed me on the cheek, knocked my socks off. I've been a smitten kitten ever since! I not only named her after Lorrie, I also tried to imagine her speaking those lines. That beautiful country twang described in the novel in not made up.