Hearts and Darkness

About the Book

I'm not sure how many variations on this theme there have been, but I respectfully submit this as my own. Part of the problem in both film and written word is that you see a lot of movies and read as many books and you subconsciously borrow elements of them to use in your story. So I chose to take a road less traveled, perhaps, in the endless retelling of a vampire horror story. What if these beings had finally conquered the last barrier to existing like the rest of us? As in the time of day being irrelevant, a vampire can live and breathe and, ultimately, kill during the time 'The View' is on as effectively as it can do so on the Tonight Show. Further, why not plop this beast into a place that I believe is as close to heaven on earth as it can get: Calgary, Canada. Why Calgary? I've been there three times, and I utterly love the town. The first time you go to the Calgary Tower or the Olympic Park ski-jump and see the view from those two places, where on a clear day you can see both sets of Rockies, it's as if God went the extra mile to make it a place where people gravitate toward, instead of away from, like where I reside. Alan Delany is a man which had its genesis from watching 'China Beach'. I had such a crush on Dana Delany, and what better way to tip my hat to her for the main character to bear her name. He seems secure; he's a cop who walks the straight and narrow, he's a good, decent person who is dedicated to his work. On the surface, he has no issues or wants - save for one. He has never had the privilege to fall in love. To actually be with a woman on a date. It eats at him almost every day. Delany doesn't know why; maybe the same God that made Calgary so appealing made him distinctly less than that. He's gone his entire adult life without a confidante, and with the madness that he is cast into upon his arrival, the specter of life's ultimate curve ball for which there is no escape soon enters his mind. Delany now has to fight two demons; the vampire who is terrorizing the city, and an enemy even darker than that. The realization that he could die without knowing what love can bring. It's here, where things are at their darkest, that a code six at a restaurant stirs feelings inside him that he thought would never reawaken; the promise of one of life's great rewards – a relationship with someone that he likes – and who likes him in return. This story is how it plays out, and how the choices he makes will affect him, his partner, Wayne Clarke, and ultimately, everyone around him. The phrase 'be careful what you wish for' is never more apropos than in this story. I hope you enjoy how it turns out.

About the Author

Paul Hanlin Jr. is a freelance writer who became an author with the publication of 2004's Woman of My Dreams, his debut novel. Before then, he worked for CBS Sportsline and the Charlotte Observer’s Nando.net as a speedskating columnist in the late 1990's. He most recently was an Olympic and soccer writer for E-Sports Media Group. He was (and is) born-and-raised in Philadelphia.