New York City, 1962. Midwest farm girl and local beauty queen Meg Harrison, a vampire raised by her mother to resist the temptation of human blood, arrives in the Big Apple to fulfill her dream of becoming an actress while working as a Bunny at Manhattan's hip, new Playboy Club. Meg, who wants to prove herself as an actress without using her special vampire gifts, auditions for a new Gothic soap opera, Dark Passages – winning the role of 'Margie', a small-town waitress. Meg and the rest of the Dark Passages cast and production staff are caught unprepared when the show becomes a pop culture phenomenon, thanks to the addition of handsome Brit Ian Fletcher as a reluctant vampire... The book is due out in paperback in August and can be pre-ordered at a discount price from Amazon by clicking here. The Dark Shadows News Page caught up with Kathryn to chat about her new project:
For Dark Shadows fans, the premise of Dark Passages will sound familiar. What inspired you to turn your experiences on the show into fiction?
I've written Dark Passages with a very affectionate nod to both the New York Playboy Club, where I worked as a Bunny, and Dark Shadows, where I had the great good fortune to create the roles of Josette DuPres and Maggie Evans; I've written non-fiction books about both those youthful experiences. Now I'm satisfying my itch to write about that time, that world from a perspective of 'what if?'
But presumably it's not just an exercise in nostalgia? You're playing with the idea that the cast might have had supernatural abilities of their own...
Fans know what really happened back then when a small company of actors created the world of Dark Shadows, so they'll be in on all the inside references... and I think they'll get a kick out of discovering in Dark Passages that the gal that played the governess was a real vampire!
It's an exciting time for Dark Shadows, with Tim Burton's new movie about to begin filming. We hear you've had a chance to read the screenplay...
I'm thrilled with every element of the new Dark Shadows movie, and that includes the marvelous script, exciting casting, and the team of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton! I was so pleased that Johnny Depp gave such a generous, lovely shout-out to Jonathan Frid, acknowledging his terrific creation, Barnabas Collins.
3 comments:
This sounds wonderful! Really looking forward to reading the lovely KLS's book.
I read an advanaced galley of this novel and it's sensational! Set in the 1960s on a soap opera called "Dark Passages," a pretty young actress (and part-time Playboy bunny) tries to keep her secret--that she's a real vampire. This wonderful roman a clef gives you a great insider's view of the making of a daily soap opera and offers plenty of juicey backstage gossip as well as a thriller plotline that grabs you from the first chapter and pulls you toward it's exciting finish. DARK PASSAGES is a very self-assured first novel and should be a delight to DARK SHADOWS fans!
I got a chance to meet KLS at a couple of the DS festivals and she was so gracious--even remembering me from the year prior. I can't wait to read her new novel. It sounds intriguing and like she had a lot of fun reliving the old DS days as she was writing it! Best of luck and congrats to KLS.
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