Having come east to Arizona after being seduced by a vixen in California, this retired hood rat hunter was confronted with the supreme peace-of-writing mind, in a berth in the house of literary historian and publisher of the Cimmerian, Leo Grin. We were discussing genres. Leaning on his kitchen counter, the giant genius looked down at me and gave me a mission, to write a vampire novel that did not neglect God and that had a masculine edge.

Training with Banjo, later that day, i noticed the Superstition Mountains and asked him about it. "The Supers," he said, like they were an old friend, and took me closer, to a bar, to discuss abductions he knew about as well as weird events and things that had stalked him on night hikes in those storied crags. The novel Blood Hate was built that day, with the three of us as characters, the setting caught in photos taken by Banjo. Banjo took me on a hike the next day to map out the trail taken by the drunk vampire hunter based on the author...