Winnipeg Free Press recently chatted with author Michael Rowe about his latest book “Enter, Night.” A vampire novel that is completely different from Twilight and any other vampire novel. Here’s an excerpt from his interview:
Enter, Night represents something new for Rowe, who has also published three books of non-fiction and edited two anthologies of queer horror fiction (yes, there really is such a genre, and it was basically pioneered by Rowe).
“My work up till now, with a few exceptions, including a handful of short stories and a novella, has all been essays and journalism,” says Rowe. “In many ways, although Enter, Night is tangentially about vampires, it’s about a lot of the things I usually write about — for instance families, bullying, the corrosive effect of power on vulnerable people, and how human beings treat each other, especially in the face of a crisis.”
“When I decided to write this novel, I’d anticipated a light supernatural romp, but in many ways it’s the deepest, darkest, and most soul-scouring story I’ve ever written.”
That darkness is probably what prompted Rowe’s publisher, respected horror press ChiZine, to dub Enter, Night “the anti-Twilight.”
“In many ways, I guess, Enter, Night is a very retro vampire novel,” says Rowe. “The devastation that vampirism wreaks on the population it infects is significant in the book. In many ways, it mirrors the devastation that other parasitic elements in the story also wreak — anti-Indian prejudice, homophobia, tyrannical families, and carnivorous small towns.
“And underlying it, of course, is the fact that the vampire himself is a resurrected Catholic priest who came to Canada in the 17th century to colonize the Indians. The concept of colonialism is surely the ultimate vampirism — feeding off an indigenous population, consuming them, and making them like you.”
Read more of the article here
