One of my favourite novels is Blood for Blood, the debut novel by Ben Wolf. I reviewed this in 2015. It deals with a very unique topic, "What if a vampire got saved?" Very speculative and controversial in Christian circles! So in 2015, I felt it was worth interviewing Ben to see what he had to say about this topic.
Today, I re-visit this interview with updates since the recent re-release and its re-vamping (Ben's original pun!). What a great new cover as well! It will also give a new generation of readers the background behind this compelling, edgy, speculative novel.
So sit back and read about Ben, the author (Part 1 of the interview), then about the revamp of Blood for Blood (Part two).
First up, what is this novel about? Read on:
Blood for Blood.
Is his soul lost forever?
Or can she show him the light?
Raven Worth hunts the living every night. Their blood is his sustenance, and his appetite is insatiable. He is cursed to live this way forever—immortal, yet never truly fulfilled.
But when Raven stumbles upon a traveling evangelist and his family at a big tent revival, he finds himself enraptured not only by their message of hope but also by Calandra, the evangelist’s beautiful daughter.
Betrothed to another man with her parents’ blessing, Calandra cannot deny her sudden attraction to Raven. Though she should fear Raven because of what he is, she finds herself hopelessly drawn to him more with each approaching sunset.
As Raven and Calandra grapple with their feelings and Raven’s newfound faith, an ongoing manhunt for a dangerous criminal sends shockwaves tearing through their lives. Soon they each face a series of heartbreaking choices that will determine their fates forever.
Can Raven break the chains of his dark past and be reborn in the light?
Will Calandra remain on the lifelong path her parents have laid out for her?
Or will the two of them join together at the dawn of a new day, eternally changed?
Blood for Blood is Ben Wolf’s award-winning debut novel, originally published in 2014 and now re-vamped. This blend of classic vampire lore, romance, action, and faith elements in the historical setting of 1885 creates a gripping story that will leave you breathless. Get it now.
Okay Ben, thanks for stopping by! How about we start with you telling us a little about yourself?
When not writing, I practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu, play video games, and enjoy playing board games with friends. I also cook a pretty mean cheesesteak.
What inspired you to become an author and has it always been a desire of yours to write?
I realized early on that I loved stories. Authors like Frank Peretti wrote wonderful, imaginative tales that swept me away, and one day I decided I was going to write a book at some point.
Since then, I’ve been writing goofy and action-packed stories. I finished my first novel in college. It’s terrible and will never see the light of day, but I learned from it and have gone on to publish several more books since then.
What tools have you found most successful in advertising/marketing yourself and your books?
I’m not great at marketing my books online. I’ll be the first to admit that. However, I’m really good at promoting and selling my books at live events.
I’ve come to the point now where I’m doing 30+ shows each year. It’s a lot of work schlepping those books to each show, but I have a lot of fun doing the shows themselves. I get to interact with readers in real-time, and they almost always become lifelong fans.
What has surprised you the most about becoming an author?
It’s a lot harder than I thought, and it has taken longer than I thought to get to the point where I’m earning enough income from writing for it to even be considered a part-time job.
Anyone can tell a story (and I really do believe that), and a lot of us can write those stories down and have them make sense, but writing them in a way that achieves that “easy” criteria and is entertaining for readers is another matter altogether.
It’s hard work to make everything work the way it should, and even then, I don’t think I can ever make a novel perfect. That doesn’t stop me from trying, though, and I’m getting better with each subsequent book.
How has writing and being an author impacted your relationship with Jesus Christ?
Writing has both brought me closer to and separated me from Christ. I’ve come closer in that when I’m writing a story like Blood for Blood because it forces me to recognize and grapple with deep spiritual questions, and so that challenges my faith.
On a practical level, I’m prone to being busy and staying busy 95% of my waking hours, so I struggle to make the necessary time to spend growing my relationship with Christ. It’s a double-edged sword, and I’m still trying to find a workable balance there.
Obviously becoming an author has been a huge accomplishment for you, but can you tell us what a major goal of yours is outside of the world of writing?
I have dozens of goals for my life, writing-related and otherwise. Outside of the world of writing, I’d love to travel abroad more. I visited Australia when I was a kid, and I’d really like to go back. I’d also like to visit Italy, England, and Japan in the near future, in no particular order. Aside from travel, I have my sights set on becoming a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu someday. It’s a discipline unlike many other martial arts in that it takes a long time to achieve that rank, and the work is consistent, difficult, and challenging the entire time.
So we know you like to write, but can you divulge to your fans out there what’s something that you like to do in your downtime when you're not writing?
I occasionally steal time to play video games, too. My recent go-to is Overwatch. I’m good at it, but not great, and that’s fine. I don’t have any aspirations to try to make a career of it.
Do you think there is anything significantly different about Christian fiction, as opposed to secular fiction?
Yes. But also, no. Great quality fiction that strikes a nerve will sell and find an audience no matter if it’s Christian fiction or secular. The Left Behind series is the preeminent example of that.
With that said, authors need to target their audiences more specifically. If you’re writing for a Christian audience, give them what they want and expect. If you’re writing for a secular audience, the rules are different, and you have to know them and adhere to them in order to find success there.
This is true of every genre. They all have different rules and expectations that readers will expect. Learn them, and your chances of success in finding your audience will increase dramatically.
Your debut novel, Blood for Blood, is very edgy and speculative. That hasn’t changed in the re-released version. At the time you originally published it, this was a relatively new, evolving, not very well-accepted or understood Christian fiction genre (and one I love and read the most in). How did you come to write in this genre first and not in the safer, mainstream Christian fiction genres?
This hearkens back to my early influences in life, particularly Frank Peretti and later, Robert Liparulo. I’ve always loved and enjoyed speculative fiction in its many forms, so it made sense to create in that genre.
What’s more, the stories that have come to me have been primarily speculative in nature, or at the very least, edgy, like you said. I don’t often get ideas for romance novels or historical novels, but I think up speculative ideas all the time. And as far as them being edgy goes, for me, that’s a must, because it makes the story more interesting and, in some ways, more realistic.
Nowadays, though, I actually aim most of my fiction at the general market. My stuff is TOO out there and TOO edgy for most Christian readers and publishers. On top of that, I’ve seen a lot of Christian authors successfully publishing general market books and finding their audiences, so that inspired me to aim for a larger audience (compared to the market for Christian speculative fiction, which is tiny).
How did B4B come about?
I actually didn't come up with the concept for Blood for Blood. At a writers conference several years ago, my friend and fellow writer Matt Sheehy mentioned how hilarious it would be if a vampire got saved. Maybe a Christian vampire could help out with a tent revival, and maybe he'd have to use a hammer and big wooden stakes to secure the tent to the ground.
The juxtaposition of the vampire using tools traditionally used to kill his kind to secure a tent to advance the Kingdom of God struck me, and the entire plot for my novel (well, almost all of it) blossomed in my head. I asked Matt for permission to write the book, and he gladly granted it.
What kind of reaction were you hoping to receive from readers of B4B?
I had hoped for readers to do two things: 1. love it and 2. buy lots of copies. Fortunately, the readers have loved it. Now I’m just waiting for the hundreds of thousands of book sales to follow.
The first run of the book garnered lots of positive reviews, and I even won the OCW Cascade Award for the book in 2015. At the time, that was validation that I ought to keep writing. Now my validation comes from hearing from readers who have loved my books.
I noticed that Luco, the pastor, is Italian. That stood out for me and I wondered where that came from? Not that it makes any difference to the story, but for some reason, it stood out to me. I also then realized if he is Italian, why you did not portray him as Catholic (seeing Catholicism is the main denomination in Italy and of those who migrate to other countries). To take this further, do you think B4B would have been just as successful if you had portrayed him as a Catholic priest and had the Biblical response from the Catholic perspective?
Vampire stories typically involve some sort of Catholic influence because both vampirism and Catholicism are rife with symbolism. I chose not to make Luco and his family Catholic for several reasons: 1. the vampirism/Catholicism mashup has been done several times. 2. Catholics aren’t known for their tent revivals, and that was a central plot point for the book and for the vampire’s development, so I wanted to keep that in the story.
There are mentions throughout the book as to why Luco and his family wouldn’t be Catholic in the story despite that being incredibly unlikely given his Italian heritage, but I never outrightly explain why, either. Some things in fiction are better left unexplained.
As to B4B’s success, if I’d made them Catholic, I think it could have been successful, but it has been done and overdone before as I said. I’m not from a Catholic background, so I chose instead to use my evangelical background to inform their characters instead, and I think it worked out well.
Why did you set this novel in the 1800s? Was it to add to the mystique of the whole idea of vampires?
I set the novel in the late 1800s primarily because I had just finished writing a historical western novel set in 1850, so I knew the time period, the terrain, and the type of people of that era pretty well.
The other contributing factor was that other more recent vampire stories have taken place in modern times, and I wanted to present B4B differently. I think the added mystique of the vampires was a benefit of the time period choice for sure.
I am not sure if vampires exist or if this is just part of centuries-old mythology. From researching vampire lore for B4B, has your research convinced you of their existence or made you consider that they could exist? The Bible seems to be rather silent on their existence.
In all of my research, I didn’t see any evidence that suggested that actual bloodsucking undead vampires existed. There are some interesting coincidences, yes, but I believe they (vampires) reside squarely in the realm of fiction along with zombies, werewolves, and anything else that counts as undead.
I don’t believe they exist, but I do believe in supernatural forces both good and evil. I also have a degree in pastoral studies, and I’m pretty familiar with the Bible, but like you, I haven’t found any indication that vampires exist in real life.
After reading B4B, it seems to me that Luco’s and Garrett’s attitudes toward the question of whether a vampire can be saved most likely would reflect what most Christians would feel. Some would believe like Luco that God can and does restore a human's soul and make them a new creation while others like Garrett believe they are unredeemable and cursed for eternity as a vampire/demon. From your point of view, do you think that this is a valid assessment?
I’m so glad you asked this question. Yes, I believe that Christians typically respond in one of the two ways you mentioned to people who aren’t Christians: either they accept them and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us, or they reject non-Christians on some level. This rejection can range anywhere from ignoring or distrusting non-Christians to outright telling them that they’re going to Hell and the like.
Jesus taught us to respond to and approach people with love, not with hate, disdain, or negativity. Luco does an excellent job of trying to show Christ’s love to Raven (the vampire) and to everyone around him.
Garrett takes a far different approach, but he has his own set of reasons for responding that way. These two characters take different stances and arrive at very different places regarding Raven’s salvation, but more importantly, they show us the two basic paths that we can take when interacting with anyone: love or negativity.
Choose the former, not the latter.
I was expecting a novel on this topic to have created some controversy, especially among Christians, but from what I have discovered so far, this is not the case. Were you expecting this? If so, did this make you question whether to continue or were you prepared for this?
Actually, yes. I secretly hoped the book would inspire some controversy and really make some people angry—angry enough to tell people how angry it made them. That said, I’m elated that the book has received such solid reviews, and it has really validated me in that I know I can and should keep doing this.
As I said, I had hoped for some controversy, but it hasn’t generated much. I think it just comes down to the belief that vampires don’t exist, so why should this be something we talk about? Had this book been about the transformation of a person of another religion, perhaps, or a type of person with a lifestyle radically different from that of a Christian, then yes, maybe that could have happened. I think people just understand that it’s fiction and thus there’s not much debate on it.
Your fans, I’m sure, want to know if there is more to come. Would you mind giving an exclusive glimpse of what is to come? Does this include any sequels to B4B? I can see how there could be 3 but will need to discuss that with you privately so as not to spoil the plot for those who have not read B4B.
I had once considered writing a sequel (and I intentionally left the door open for one), but I’m not likely to ever write a sequel to this book. It just isn’t going to hit a big-enough audience to justify the time and work. If I do write one, it won’t happen for quite some time.
My next project is a GameLit story (sort of like a video game in a book) in a post-apocalyptic setting. I’m aiming at a large and ravenous audience with the hope of creating something that will appeal to readers and get lots of sales. I’ll probably run a Kickstarter campaign later this year to draw attention to it and increase the likelihood that it’ll “get noticed.”
From what I have elucidated from authors, fight scenes can be one of the most difficult scenes to write and develop. You developed these very realistically. Did you have any difficulty achieving this? I must say that because you achieved this so well, it really did contribute to a wonderful ending to this novel.
Thanks so much, Peter. You should read some of the scenes in my other books!
Action runs in my blood. I’ve seen hundreds of action movies, studied a few different forms of fighting including sword fighting, stage combat techniques, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, and a bit of judo and wrestling, and I’ve done a little firearms training, too. I’ve done a lot of research through the years on how fights work.
(By the way, check out Carla Hoch’s book Fight Write: How to Write Believable Fight Scenes if you want to learn how to write better fight scenes.)
The trick (and the hard part) about writing a solid fight scene is threefold: 1. You have to know what you’re talking about on some level; 2. you have to write everything so that causes happen before effects (ex. a guy can’t fall down before he gets punched, etc.), and 3. you have to write it in such a way that it flows well. For me, it’s a challenge to blend these elements together, but it’s one I enjoy quite a bit.
What message do you want readers to obtain from reading B4B?
It really depends on the reader. If you’re a non-Christian reader, know that God loves you and has provided a way for you to live a better life now and have relief in knowing your eternity is sealed via your relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you’re already a Christian, it’s a reminder to all of us that we need to be careful how we treat people who are different from us because our actions, right or wrong, affect non-Christians’ perceptions of who Jesus is. So endeavor to treat everyone with love, be they vampire or not.
The final message is more selfish—if you enjoyed the book, hopefully, the message you get is that Ben Wolf is a good author, and you should check out more of his books. ;)
Did you need to conduct extensive research on vampire lore to create the type of vampires you have portrayed in B4B? I would not know where to start if I was doing this, what type of resources did you use?
Believe it or not, I used Wikipedia as a starting point. It used to have a reputation as a hack site where everyone could just update pages, but the vampire page seems cohesive and may have even been written by one person who really knew his/her stuff. It had a good flow to it and seemed encyclopedic in its approach, so it was very informative.
Beyond that, I consumed a lot of vampire media, ranging from Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Twilight. (Don’t judge—you have to know what people are getting wrong, too.) Couple that with the 20+ years I’ve had of watching/reading vampire media in multiple forms and I had a pretty good basis of knowledge to write this book.
For what it’s worth, I also played Dracula in my senior year of high school in the fall production of, you guessed it, Dracula.
In short, I’ve been a vampire fan for years, so I had lots of great resources to turn to.
Is there anything you’d like to say to your readers?
Stick with me. I intend to thrill you more and more with each successive book. And by all means, tell your friends. My stories will thrill them too.
Do you have any words that you’d like to leave us with?
Vampires or otherwise, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Where can readers find you?
Website: (sign up for my newsletter to get a free book) ~ Facebook ~ TikTok ~ Instagram ~ Amazon Author Page.
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