An Interview with NICK LAKE

Vampires are all the rage in YA and genre fiction, but not many of the series has jumped out at me as particularly original. Then along came Nick Lake’s Blood Ninja series, which mixes vampires, feudal Japan and ninjas into an action-packed and entertaining melange. This week, therefore, and following in the wake of a guest post on Influences & Inspirations, Nick agreed to answer a few questions about writing, his series, juggling his writing with work as an editor, and also possible personal teleportation.

Influences & Inspirations: NICK LAKE

Nick Lake is the author of Blood Ninja and Lord Oda’s Revenge, two novels set in 16th Century featuring vampire ninjas. I recently reviewed Blood Ninja on the site, and thought Nick’s influences and inspirations would be particularly interesting.

Luckily, he was able to write a piece, which I can share with you all here.

[Nick has also agreed to an interview, so check back next week for more.]

“Blood Ninja”, by Nick Lake (Corvus)

Feudal Japan. Ninjas. Vampires. Cool.

Japan, 1565. Taro has been brought up as a fisherman’s son. He will become a ninja, a silent assassin trained in the arts of death.

He will face samurai, warriors as sharply honed as the blade at their side. He will battle warlords for the title of Shogun.

But he will live in darkness, for no Blood Ninja can face the light of day.

Blood Ninja is an original take on the vampire mythology, in a setting that is all-too overlooked in Western fiction, and with a pretty awesome premise. The novel is not perfect, but the strength of the premise and the different setting make is an intriguing and entertaining read, and a great vampire novel for younger readers.