by Sarah Suleski
July 17, 2008

Web Fiction Guide’s Editor, Sarah Suleski, recently conducted a groundbreaking dual interview with Drew Daniels, author of Winter’s Mercenary, as well as the story’s main character, James Damian.  What follows is nothing short of breathtaking, spectacular, and life altering.

AN INTERVIEW WITH DREW DANIELS

Sarah: How long have you been writing (not just on the web)?

Drew: Lets see . . . I started writing on my Mom’s old Brother Wordprocessor.  I suppose I was about 9 or so?

Sarah: Still have any of your old stories?

Drew: Sadly, no, all of my stories got too close to a magnet or were stored away on a computer that was later sold.

Sarah: What kinds of stories did you write?

Drew: Mostly Sci-Fi . . . I also wrote a few “Alternate History Routes” filling in gaps in history in subjects where no one knows what really happened.

Sarah: So, Winter’s Mercenary.  Tell us a bit about your web serial.

Drew: Well, it has actually two birthplaces.  The first was a d20 Modern Campaign that I ran in which James Damian was the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy).

The success of that with my players actually made me want to write out a little more about him.  A few years ago, I started the first few pages of WM for NaNoWriMo.  I never finished it but one day I was going through my old stuff and found it . . . and decided to pick it up again.

Sarah: Nice.  That’s one of my favorite things about Winter’s Mercenary—that James is in a position to be the bad guy, yet he’s your “hero.”

So, how did you decide on this form of publishing?

Drew: Well I wanted to get some input on it.  The few friends I’d shown it to thought it was awesome and since I’m a whore for getting praise, I decided to put it in the public eye as much as I could.  In all honesty though, were it not for stories like ToMU or Alisiyad, I never would have known web-novels existed.  I saw the success that you two had and immediately said.  “I Want THAT.”

Sarah: What are some of your goals as a writer?

Drew: The primary goal is to make people laugh, the secondary goal is to actually finish something, with a tertiary goal of making a little money on the side.

So far I’ve only gotten a few giggles.  But it’s a start.

Sarah: What are some things you’ve learned since you first started publishing a web serial?

Drew: I’ve learned that I really suck at keeping a set schedule and that I don’t have as much free time as I previously thought I did.  I’ve learned to take criticism a lot better too, though truth be told most “critics” on the internet aren’t as blunt as some of my friends.  Which makes it easier for me to adapt the story and make it better.

A majority of the friends that read it played in the afforementioned campaign.  One of the reasons that the targets are referred to as “Heroes”.

Sarah: Ah.  Have you shared it with people outside that circle?  Like family, or friends who aren’t involved in d20?

Drew: I’ve shared it with my parents.  My mom hasn’t gotten around to it.  And my dad couldn’t get past page 2.  He’s a crime drama guy.  My wife is also a reader, though she hasn’t said much about it.

Sarah: What kinds of plans do you have for the story?  Will it be a self contained novel, or do you have any ideas for a series, or spin offs?

Drew: Some of my players are thinking about writing up their backgrounds (and in one case an epilogue) which I said I’d host.  I plan to maybe turn this into multiple books and get it published.  I’m not sure exactly WHAT I’m going to do.  But James is here to stay.

Unless I accidentally kill him of course.

Sarah: How does one kill a vampire in Winter’s Mercenary land?

Or should I let James answer that?

Drew: James would prolly tell you that hes not going to tell you . . . thats just like asking someone to behead— oops . . . 

But seriously, beheading works for all vampires as does straight silver to the heart.  Here’s the kicker though, not all vampires are immune to the sun.

Sarah: Duly noted.

So Angel, was she a character from the game, or a creation for the story?

Drew: She was a character from the game . . . she was my control, and the little black box that she was using was my way for making the players actually adhere to the story and listen to what I had to say.  I even had her as a vampire in the game too . . . not that any of them knew that.

Sarah: Did this game have an outcome that’ll play into the story?  Or are you freestyling it from here on out?

Drew: As of right now the story is going to follow deep into the campaign.  However, the campaign ended with the Rapture and fast forwarded to 14 years later . . . so around that time I’ll diverge.  And though this follows from the campaign . . . I’m still freestyling it anyway as it’s from a perspective that I hadn’t thought of until I started writing.

Sarah: The Rapture?  As in . . . THE Rapture?

Drew: Yeah, I had just bought the d20 Apocolypse and wanted to test drive it out.  So the Rapture happened, and then the gates of heaven and hell opened on earth and the armies of both began using the planet as a battlefield.  The gates closed soon after, stranding all the minions of heaven and hell on earth with humans being reduced to little more than scavengers.

Oh . . . and I wanted to see a Cherub with an AK-47.

Sarah: Wow.  Sounds like Winter’s Mercenary is in for some pretty dramatic stuff.  How long of a story do you think it will turn out to be?

Drew: I have no idea.  I have an outline of the things i want to happen but i write a majority of the story on the fly so I really could end up killing James by writing him into a corner.  Thus ending the story.

Sarah: I’ll probably drive to Oklahoma and beat you up if you do that.

Drew: I’d already be dead . . . My friends would kill me first.

Sarah: Dance on your grave, then.

Drew: Duly noted.

Sarah: So, that’s about it for the author portion.  Anything to add?

Drew: I’m a whore for praise so comments on the story are always welcome.

Sarah: Aye.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

Sarah: So, how did you get into the mercenary business?

James: I’ve sold my services for quite some time.  It started out simply enough.  Sam took me out on a few jobs of his and I realized that I loved it.  It reminds me of my Hunter days.

Sarah: Who is Sam?  How did you meet him?

James: Samuel Lasher.  I was assigned to take him down after Ashver got, well . . . eaten.  I wasn’t expecting him to come after me instead, when he turned me, I wanted to kill him even more than I had before.  So I plotted and plotted, trying to figure out how to take him down in a way that he wouldn’t be able to say “No,” and stop me dead in my tracks.

Eventually I started to like him, and we became brothers of sorts.

Sarah: Do you still consider yourself essentially the same person as before you were turned?

James: Yes and no . . . I am the same person in the way I do things, the way I act.  Its just now I do them for the highest bidder instead of God.  Well . . . that and I couldn’t throw a fireball till after I was turned..

Sarah: Ah yes.  I was going to ask about that.  I’ve noticed that in addition to your vampiric nature, you can also throw around a mean bit of magic.  Where did you learn this?

James: A guy I met about oh . . . 200 years ago?  He was a pretty accomplished caster, still is.  He’s a little nutty and he goes by the name of Mr. B.  The rumors that I’ve heard about him are insane though.  I heard that he has actually removed the divine spark from Demi-Gods.  When I heard that, I sought him out.  I wanted that kind of power.

But he was more like Three-eyed Tom.  All about the rituals.  I learned to channel the magic from him, and a few basic spells. but most of my loud and flashy stuff I taught myself.

Sarah: Who are the Demi-Gods?

James: Demi-Gods are people that have managed to harness power directly from God.  These people are on about the same playing field as Michael, not easily touched let alone manipulated by a mage.

Sarah: Hm.  Interesting.  Now, getting back to you—What do you think is the most common misconception about vampires?

James: That we’re all about sex, art and manipulation.  Drives me up the wall.  We’re not all like that. . . .  Some of us are just people with regular jobs that occasionally need to drink blood.

Not all of us hunt for food either.  I keep several bags of blood in my fridge so I don’t have to go out and kill people.

Sarah: Do you associate much with other vampires?  Is there a vampire community, or are you mostly loners?

James: There used to be a community.  But when some of us were able to start living lives in the daylight, the heirarchy they had in place went to shit.  Everyone thought everyone else was out to take their seat of power.  The last place that tried to keep things in tact was Chicago.  But I heard the leader got dethroned and everyone struck out on their own.

There are still some vampires who stick to small groups, but they’re usually young and only do that to deter Hunters.

Sarah: Are there a lot of Hunters these days?

James: More than ever.  Thats one of the reasons Mab hired me.  The people that she’s been sending me to kill are potential Generals and Knights to Summer.  If Summer gets enough of them. . . .  Well its lights out for the “Evil” species.

Sarah: Do you really believe in Good and Evil?  I mean, do you feel Evil?

James: I believe in Good and Evil actions.  But not everyone can be defined as Evil based solely on their race.  I do a lot of Evil actions so I associate myself as being Evil.  But am I Evil as a person?  Not really, I can be kind and good natured as anyone.  My job just makes being a “Good Guy” difficult.

So as far as the general populace is concerned.  I don’t feel Evil . . . But I know that I am more often than not.

Sarah: So you don’t mind that you do things you know to be “wrong”?

James: I lost my moral compass a long time ago.  But in my defense . . . I only do things that are “Wrong” if I’m getting paid to do it.

Sarah: What are your regrets?  Do you have any?

James: I regret killing my replacement.  I hadn’t realized how awesome it was to be able to carry a cross until that happened.

 . . . Yeah thats about it.

Sarah: If a human expressly wanted to be turned, would you oblige them?  Or would you try to talk them out of it?

James: It would depend on their reasoning.  I don’t usually turn people unless they may turn out to be useful to me.  Most cases I’d kick them to the curb.

Sarah: How many vampires have you sired?

James: Four.

Sarah: Care to tell me about them?

James: Well one of them I sired just to kill Sam.  But Sam managed to have him staked before he’d completely changed.

Two of them I sired at the same time.  I had just lost Sam and I wanted people to travel with.  They were supposed to come with me to Sacramento from Chicago, but the aforementioned falling hierarchy had them executed too.

Angel was my fourth.  And thus far my longest lived spawn.

Sarah: So what do you think about Angel?  In general?

James: She needs to control her temper.  I’m tired of getting hit with random household objects.  Though having her on the inside could be pretty cool.  All in all, I like her, and she’s fun to look at.