My name is Brian Patrick McKinley and my first novel is called Ancient Blood: A Novel of the Hegemony. 

 

I've wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember. I was that kid who wrote up little stories to show his parents and grandparents. School newspapers? Joined up with them at every school I attended, desperate to see my stories in print. I was also an avid amateur actor, though, and the twin passions of storytelling and performing have played a big role in my life and the stories I write today. At times, I went back and forth between wanting to be a novelist or a movie star, but eventually I came to the realization that I was a better wordsmith than thespian. My desire to perform has never abandoned me, however, and part of what I think makes my stories good is my attention to the characters. I write about characters who get involved in events as opposed to plot scenarios that happen to feature characters. To me, it's an important distinction. I write about characters that I would love to portray, rich characters with strong inner lives and goals.

 

I moved to the Chicagoland area from New Jersey in 2003 expressly to help my writing. I moved into an apartment in Palatine with a friend who was also a writer. I got a job as a third-shift security guard and used the many empty hours the job provided to write Ancient Blood. I had written a few screenplays and short stories previously and even tried another novel first, but this was the first time that I had ever managed to start a novel length project and finish it. It took about a year to write and then several more months to edit to really get it to where I wanted it. So, once that was done and it was as perfect as I could make it, I compiled lists of agents and sent out queries.

 

Cue the crickets.

 

I got a few responses, of course, but most seemed to think that the vampire genre was played out or something about my premise didn't grab them. The few who requested a look often liked it, they just didn't love it enough to champion. So it sat around while I worked on other projects, moving from Palatine to West Dundee and then from West Dundee to Elgin and occasionally sending out a new batch of query letters for my sad little first child, but always with the same end result. However, as the familiar story goes, I never gave up and, after losing my job and being forced to return home to New Jersey, I wound up finding a publisher by accident on Facebook.

 

Stranger than fiction, right?

 

I’d have to say that my favorite part of writing is feeling my creative juices flowing when I’m really “in the zone.” It’s a high. I feel like I’m bursting with ideas and the words are flowing quickly and they’re the right words, it’s such a tremendous rush! Unfortunately, like any drug, it seems like you have to work harder and harder to get those periods and the rest of the time is like trudging through deep snow trying to get somewhere. I don’t think of myself as an advocate writer, but looking at my various stories, I can see some patterns. I think I definitely want people to take a closer and more critical look at the institutions that govern and control us, both overtly and secretly. I would also like to see the “beta male” get a bit more consideration and respect. Women spend so much time drooling over the fantasy of the “alpha male” when in regular life most alpha-types you meet are the same assholes that make women go on about how all men are pigs! There’s a big subtext in Ancient Blood about the triumph of the beta male and how Avery’s sensitivity and willingness to be emotionally open are not the weaknesses that everyone assumes.