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E. M. Sorensen Cuts His Fangs
On a New Vampire Tale
By Sylvia Delgado
In the realm of literature, where youth often dominates the spotlight, E. M. Sorensen stands out as a remarkable exception.
At the age of 75, when many contemplate retirement, Sorensen embarked on his writing journey, penning his first book and igniting a prolific career that shows no signs of slowing down.
The author of acclaimed works such as "A Child is Found," "The Unusual Life of Paulie Zahn," and "The Purloined Pint," Sorensen has carved a unique niche for himself in the crowded world of fiction.
What sets Sorensen apart is not just his late-blooming career, but his audacious choice of subject matter: vampires. In an era where vampire fiction has become ubiquitous, with countless authors chasing the success of franchises like Vampire Academy, True Blood, and Twilight, Sorensen dares to be different.
He acknowledges the saturation of the genre, where hundreds of writers churn out variations on familiar themes, adhering to established vampire lore regarding physical attributes, dietary habits, and methods of destruction.
However, Sorensen's approach is unique. His vampire mythology turns convention on its head, offering readers a completely new construct that defies traditional vampire tropes.
In doing so, he breathes fresh life into a genre many thought exhausted, proving that even in the most well-trodden literary territories, there's always room for innovation.
We caught up with the author to find out about him and his writing.
Tell us a bit about your background and career.
Many and varied professions starting with my time in the US Army in the Operations and Intelligence section, Steel Salesman, Race car preparation, Porsche Mechanic, Auto Sales, Real Estate Sales, Firearms collector and gunsmith, Private Investigator and now an author.
When did you start your career as a writer?
While I was doing most of my investigative work on-line, I realized that I was disenchanted with the majority of the novels I was purchasing. I would get past 40 to 50 pages and I would stop.
The writing just wasn’t very interesting. Over flowery. Great Titles but no meat to the actual story. I was also tired of the cookie cutter Vampire personas. So I wrote. It took two years to finish the first story. I never told anyone that I had written a book.
A year later I told my wife that I had written a novel. She read it and loved the entire story and it is NOT EVEN her genre. Two more novels and years have since passed and at one point I was able to get a real publisher to take a chance on a total unknown.
Tell us about your new book, Paulie Zahn
Paulie Zahn graduated high school on her 18th birthday and enlisted in the US Army. After three tours at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, she terminates her enlistment and takes a job at Boeing's Air Museum in Seattle.
One evening after work, she stops at a local bar to grab a meal and a beer. As she was leaving, she is accosted by a very vicious being that is in fact a Vampire associated with a Rogue group that goes beyond their need for human blood.
She wouldn't have survived the attack if it weren't for two unusual people that came upon her during that attack. Those two persons were themselves Vampires but of a nuevo group that no longer gets blood directly from a human. They not only saved her life, but they brought her into a world she never knew existed.
But her peril wasn't over. She became perused by other members of the Rogue group. Her acceptance into this new and gentler cadre of Vampires changes everything for her. The bad rogue group wants to gather her in, and this is her story of surprise, danger and total amazement.
She had never been a physical sloth but now she is achieving levels she never believed possible. These give her the confidence to pursue this bad element of society without reserve.
How would you describe your writing?
I'm only one of the infinite number of monkeys with a keyboard. It is virtually impossible to develop a new style, yet I have drawn on hundreds of other writers to form my own independent approach.
I want to make my characters fresh, realistic, and many of them sarcastic to a fault. I will use words that I create that drives my editor bonkers as I don't adhere to any accepted writing standards.
Most important is my re-creation of the Vampire model. Beings that have no parallel in any other story that are about or contain Vampires.
What got you interested in writing about the supernatural and vampires?
The general plot of my stories isn’t much different than any Spy or Murder Mystery novel. It's the players that make the difference. My approach to the persona of my Vampires brings a new standard that is so greatly different from anything previously described, used or identified as a Vampire.
SPECIFICALLY: My “creatures” are not the walking dead. They have a beating heart, need to have three squares a day of the same food any person would eat, breath regularly, do not turn to dust when killed, and will not burst into flames in sunlight. Though I make my Vampires attractive, there are also ugly ones. Just haven't incorporated any of those in my stories.
They do recover from scratches and abrasions faster than a normal human but not at the magical instant repair one sees in the movies or on TV. A cut that required stitches will be healed in 7 to 10 days instead of 2 to 3 weeks. Broken bones will knot together in 4 weeks instead of 8 to 10 weeks. They are immune to most of the ailments that affect humans.
They DO get horrible hangovers from overindulging. They DO NOT need more than 8 ounces of human blood to exist. There is a short paper I have written that explains this and is downloadable from my website https://esandco.com.
How would you describe you writing process?
Just start writing. I was sitting in front of my computer one day, opened a blank page and started writing a story. Not planned, no draft of a plot line or list of characters.
I have developed some “tricks” that help keep me on track. Scribbled notes on a napkin. A drawing or picture that triggers a special thought. Probably my one singular aide that I have developed is a wooden rack that holds tongue depressors upright in slots. I glue on colored pieces of knitting wool and write names on each stick. When a particular character is currently in the scene the corresponding depressor will be in the front row.
What advice do you have for others who are looking to write a book?
You are sitting in front of your computer surfing the internet. Take a moment and open a blank page. Let your mind drift and think up a fantasy such as Walter Mitty would do. Don't worry if you think the thoughts are bizarre, just type them out.
Most great novels started out as a vision of a situation. Nothing you could see yourself in. It may start out with just a paragraph or two or several pages. DON'T DELETE IT. Save it to a new file folder. Go grocery shopping. Sleep on it. Then, open up your scribblings. I bet you had been thinking and now you have a few more lines to add.
DO NOT worry about a formal education in the art of writing. You do not want to be shackled by some English professors’ ideas that writing is a rigid process.
The greatest block to my avoidance of writing is my very poor spelling and sentence structure. Nouns, adjectives, first person, third person...I have no understanding of any of that. I just know that I can speak regular understandable sentences so that is what I write.
This is what an editor gets paid the big bucks for. The most simplistic thought may seem out of character but write it down anyway.
What authors have inspired you along the way?
Asimov, Clark, L.L.Baum, Borroughs, Adams, Nye, Rowling, Tolkien, John Cleese, Rice and so many more.
If people could take away one single message from your works, what would you want that to be?
A formal education in writing or English literature could be the biggest deterrent to becoming a writer. I barely know the difference between a noun and a verb. It never limited my urge to write and continue writing.
You have several dozen pages of several chapters written and the first thing you SHOULD NOT DO is have a friend read them. Don't let anyone read them until you have finished the story. Unless this is your second or third novel.
What are you working on now and what can we expect from you next?
My fourth novel will take place in Switzerland and have several of the characters from my previous works. Primarily, Brianna who is the star of my third novel.
Once I started writing the third novel, I drew on my many experiences in San Diego as a court appointed special advocate for children that were languishing in the Foster System. That experience opened my eyes to the dark side of social workers.
As Brie travels to School in Switzerland you are now transported to inside her mind and experience her growth as a very young adult. She is again challenged both physically and mentally as she fights to establish herself as a major player in the politics of being a Vampire.
Where can people find out more about you and your work?
My books are available in all the major bookstores in the US, Canada, Ireland, England, and Europe. You can go to my publisher's site, Olympia Publishers, for a list of stores and sites.
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