Brookwater's Curse

In case you're just tuning in, allow me to catch you up:

Brookwater's Curse is the story of Christian Brookwater, an African-American who was a slave from the time he was born in the 1830s until he becomes a vampire in the 1860s. His mentor is Antonio Caramano, an Italian-born vampire, who works for the Britain-based vampire government as a killer of werewolves and other deranged creatures. Christian wants to join the hunt, but Caramano wants Christian to stay a 'civilian vampire' and educate himself. But when Christian starts getting himself in trouble in the states, Caramano is forced to send Christian to train under a vampire samurai lord, Tanata Ebichara.

Christian comes back from Lord Tanata's Island trained and ready to hunt. But he ends up facing disciplinary action brought on by the vampire hierarchy once he starts using his powers to help the black and Hispanic humans he's supposed to be ignoring.

All of this drama brings us to the year 2001. While attempting to save a child from a from a Senegalese werewolf prince, Christian uncovers a terrible truth. Caramano and Lord Tanata have become enemies. Christian is forced to betray one of them in order to prevent a war between the vampires and a group of telepathic shape-shifters called the rachasa.

Why write this book?

Well, the short version is that I always wanted to do a remake of the horror/blaxploitation classic Blacula. Having neither the money or the connections to make something like that happen, I simply went another route.

But other events in my life have spawned the desire to tell a story like this. I'll take the next few blips of Internet space to tell one of them:

When I was in the fifth grade, I read Stephen King's classic horror novel, The Shining. I loved it, not just because it was a great story, but because in the end, a black man, a complex character with telepathic powers, manages to save a woman and child from being murdered by the woman's demonically possessed husband. Weeks later, I hear the movie is coming out and Scatman Crothers, a staple in the blaxploitation days, is playing the part or my revered Mr. Dick Halloran.

Incredible! Amazing! I've got to see this movie!

Of course, I went to the movie, (actually, I begged my mother to take me since I didn't look old enough to sneak into R-rated movies yet), and my young ass was bitch-slapped by reality. Not only do Shelly Duval and the brat manage to somehow save themselves, poor Scatman takes an ax in the chest, courtesy of Ol' Jackie Boy. And if you think I was upset, imagine my mother's reaction. She and my Aunt Patsy gave me the blues for weeks behind my little movie choice.

On that day, my little kid's mind picked up on something. It's not that black folks couldn't be the hero in a movie, it was that they weren't always allowed to be. Needless to say, that stuck with me.

So I grew up watching movies where the black characters die first, are never fully developed and spend most of there screen time as comic relief. Naturally, with the emergence of Morgan, Denzel, Halle and Jamie and directors like Spike and Antoine, things have changed. But things have not changed enough for me to table my own desire to tell a tale about a black hero, without the restraints of narrow-minded nay-sayers. So consider this my attempt to entertain the masses, the right way.

Contrary to what my friends may be thinking, my writing this book has nothing to do with some dissatisfaction with the Blade trilogy. As a comic book reader, I felt the series was handled a hell of a lot better than the way Joel Schummacher handled his two Batman movies. I enjoyed the Blade series, even though I feel that we spend almost six hours getting to know a character without really getting to know him.

Will there be sequels to Brookwater's Curse Volume I?

You bet your sweet ass there will be sequels. IN FACT, BROOKWATER'S CURSE VOLUME II IS AVAILABLE NOW! Please visit the Merchandise page to order your copy!