Children of Vampires - Book Tour and Giveaway

​Hide and seek is not played alone.

Children of Vampires:
Little Reason
by Darren DiGiovanni
Genre: Paranormal Horror

​Vampires,
Creatures both of night and nightmares, stories told and held apart from reality.

In the minds of man and woman, they carry terrors not to be shared or listed. A sleeping horror no longer slumbers. In the darker corners of less known woods, a house is now visited. A guest, unwanted nor welcomed has comes for more than blood. Eyes will see but only the heart of Simone, a broken child, will pay the price for the sinister games asked. Hide and seek is not played alone.


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 Meet Darren DiGiovanni. He's a dedicated husband, father, artist, and traveler. Prepare to be captivated by his soulful tales, painted with shades of darkness and wonder. Each tale mirrors life's chapters, transformed into haunting landscapes where characters brimming with genuine feelings reside.

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Can you tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I am an artist in every way I know of the term for it. Even as I drew everything around me as a child, teen and into my young adulthood everything has a story behind it. Even when the story is vague it had emotions that connected it to something real to me. I am often reminded of my youngest efforts. Drawing even in my first years of elementary school was a driven need. First grade I would draw snakes, snakes and more snakes, weeks of differing sizes, colors, and dimensions. Then out of the blue one day, I stopped. From then on, I would only draw colored circles of all sizes and quantities. When asked by teachers and even my mother, the little creator that I was, answered 'It was the home, for all the families of snakes I’d made over the previous weeks.'

 What is something unique or quirky things about you?
I must fold all my shirts just so. I wear ankle short black socks with my shoes and if they are faded at all, I need to find a matching dimmed pair. Music is a must. I only write with my playlist blaring in my headset. All the world needs to be drowned out to see the image of the realm I am writing about. The list of quirky items is an ongoing list. A collection I might never reach the end of if I were to dwell on it. Said and done, it is who I am.

Tell us something really interesting about you.
I am an artist. I am a painter. I am a sculptor of stone and wood. I paint with acrylic and love wildlife and abstract. My carvings are eclectic. I have a series of stone doorways and a few other forms I’ve worked on over the past few years. An interesting thing when it comes to my sculpting, there will be a book cover for an upcoming series, and it will have one of those carvings. A split stone key that takes part in the story around it.

What are some of your pet peeves?
Closed minded people are not at the top of my favorites. I am a quiet person by nature. When people make assumptions about me with no reasons or facts, I am hurt. My shyness does not mean I don’t have an opinion of my own.

Where did you grow up?
As a son of a Navel parent, I lived in multiple cities, all of them along the east coast of the US. Connecticut and South Carolina being some of the most informative to my imagination and writing. All my youth lived in military housing of one shape or another. A world not unlike some small towns, they were all populated by people from all over the USA. I made friends of all denominations, colors, and ethnicity. A microcosm of friends, but the downside of each of these worlds was to never be in the same home for any level of school. Moving as a military family do from time to time, I ended up in different states. Always the new kid in a different school had to be thought of as an ongoing adventure. Some good some bad, it was my normal. A normality that feeds some of my writing and views of the world. This life was me, for as much as I could know it, and grown now I still feel the need to move.

What are you passionate about these days?
I am writing the third instalment of Children of Vampires. The second book, though completed and waiting on me, it is in need of rewrites to amplify the changing story. What I am Passionate about is somewhat an understatement, as every thought that wakes me at night, is the ending to Children of Vampires. Whether an ending for my loved character or simply the story it is all passion.

What do you do to unwind and relax?
The need to relax is a confused one in my definition. I am a swimmer. I escape by going to the Y and swimming for every second of nothingness. A quiet place under the water I simply push my muscles to their ends and then repeat. Though it doesn't sound like unwinding the solitude is a gift and peaceful.

How do you find time to write?
I have time to write only dew to a misfortunate fall. An accident of fate and providence, though I suffer from seizures now, the written word is my escape. A furry of thought and the fingers of a mad man I have written multiple books yet to be readied for print.

Describe yourself in 5 words or less.
Loving, Frantic, Hopeful and Logical. These four I like the way they feel when I allow them to wonder in my thoughts.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I still don’t. A love of the reaches of fantasy writing and the fear you can reach in horror, I consider myself only as storyteller. A spectator of my own imagination, I write to be free and grow with each story and adventure. The ideas sometimes, I feel to be a voyeur to the worlds I make up. Reading as fast as my fingers write, I want to know the ending as if it had never been known to me. Even with planning and detailed effort to follow my own story line, I love twists and turns of improvisation to bring the story to a lively completion.

Do you have a favorite movie?
A favorite movie, no. There are many that I have seen over and again. I like different movies for their genre and others for what they might make me feel. Fiddler on the roof, Groundhog Day, most vampire movies and multiple zombie and sci-fi films. The list could never be nailed down to one specific one.

What made you write about horror?
Horror is a vast tapestry that not only makes you look away in fright, but it also makes you look back to know some of your limits. The feeling you get through fear and panic is a clarifying one I think helps people deal with there on horrors of life. I didn’t start with horror when I was younger, it was fantasy adventure that interested me. After several paths of writing, this one book and story gave me a ride of discovery. One I hadn't expected to love so much. Its influence allowed me to write at least three different horror books.

Do you watch a lot of the same genre that you write about?
I don’t watch a ton of horror movies but there are always the guilty ones I will not miss. A good jump scare is always needed, and the sensations it calls up makes you want the rush of fear even more.

Do I get stuck a lot writing and how do I get out of a dry spell?
I’m sure I am no different than most other people telling their own tales. I have times where a certain part of the story evades me for the best outcome. A piece of the story that needs just the right phrasing. I have moments of lacking clarity from time to time, but my solution is almost always 'Just write'. Even if you erase the entire effort afterwards, at least it is an avenue tested. I find it always works out in the push.

What is the first story you ever wrote about and how old were you?
My first clear memory of a story I wrote and knew every part till the ending was about 5th grade. A story not unlike the vampire movie out in theaters. However, my version differed as a kid and was reminiscent of the original Dracula book. A patchwork of messages and notes from the ship’s crew and captain’s logs the story lived in shared description of the passing days events. It was a chronicled story of events in missing people and tantalizing clues of death and murder. All of it centered on an unnatural guest aboard a sailing ship. All of this as it travels from Europe to the newly discovered America.

What inspired me to write this book?
To be honest the seeds to this story was always one I had played around with. A dark note of humanity and childish loss was my hook and I never let loose till the words came together over many rewrites. I wanted to feel the horror of other things, scary and macabre and as I wrote the story, I felt as if I had lived it. I worked with things I knew, stories familiar, and personal pains to find each chapter in this hateful horror. Creepy ideas that as a child I even knew to fear were worked into many of the dark corners of this piece of terror.

What can we expect from you in the future?
If you haven't read any of the other notes, Book two of this series is written and ready for the edits. The unfortunate effect and result of dyslexia and ADHD is mixed with an unhealthy touch of a seizure disorder. This slower release of subsequent chapters is necessitated by the need to be readable. Luckly, I have a great editor, found over in Browen Books. So book two is tentatively completed and I work as we speak on the conclusion of the series in book three.

Do you have side stories about the characters?
There are no side stories planned as of today. However, this being said, I’ve always played with the idea of a deeper walk-back to how things came to be in this story.

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Children of Vampires?
Simone, an only child is the central character to this story. Other characters may be pivotal in the twists and fast pace, but they have secrets to hide. All of them formed and conspiring, this horror unfolds on each of them as the characters evolve.

Where did you come up with the names in the story?
The main character’s name was always a favorite of mine. Nina Simone, a soulful and talented vocalist. She hated the label of a jazz singer. A woman of greater poetic words but rejected the title because she thought it reflection of her race and not at all informative to the level of her style and training. I wanted a name I had history with, this inspiring name helped me form a picture, a beginning. Albeit a framework to mold the name, it was the start of her character and the rest inspired itself.

What did you enjoy about writing this book?
The unpredictable connection was something else in this story. Writing each chapter, I felt pain and even tears to someone so pushed and knocked down. I cheer and break as the terror continued, and even my hands trembled continuing to the next words and sentences. I lived in each hit, felt each fearful moment like I was in her shoes. I enjoyed the journey of the evil that looked like man.

Who designed your book cover?
This is a good and happy coincidence. I finished the first run of Children of Vampires some year back. Around Halloween a family member shared with me some photos of their children. Costume on and standing in the light she stood a mirror of the character I was writing about. Asked and given, the photo was edited by me and there after the cover for Children of Vampires was born. Under editing and effects, the cover is actually a real photo. Around its edges, the night and gloom took hold, and the rest is now in print.

If you had it all to do again would you change anything about your last story?
Change, no I would have it the same if not longer. There was more to the story, yet under the constraints of pages and the need to maintain flow, the story unfolds wondrously.

Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?
A few things were learned. The addition of a more defined voice helped to cement the story line much better. The picture formed in the head of the reader needed better clarity, if not more direction. Clues needed to heighten the drama were also improved over a last rewrite.

If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?
If it had been made years ago, then I could see a younger Mckenna Grace in Simone's place. However, as it could be made in some future, I don’t have a mind for the role and who might fit in it then.

Anything you would like to tell your readers?
I wrote the book feeling as if I stood in the pages, the recipient of each chapter. I felt when things fell apart. I let pain and fear hold my hand and wrote, as if I were the child standing there.

How did you come up with the name of this book?
Oddly enough the original name was not Children of Vampires. Nevertheless, looking back now it fits in ways not to be understood by the unengaged. It is not to be understood till later and just why the name is so relevant. Clarity can and will only be made when the truth comes out to the reader. Good luck in deciphering this one, so ask after the truth is revealed.

What is your favorite part of this book and why?
I have a soft place for the emotions you can create by merely allowing yourself to empathize. Here in this work of horror there are many places where I forgot it to be fiction and felt the pain as it was written. The dark places you are dropped into, feeling the weight and that emotion that wasn’t there before is my favorite part. It doesn’t need to feel good to be your favorite passage, simply having something drawn out of you that was not there a second ago is the chased experience.

Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
There are no physical figures that I drew inspiration from, nor did I look to see parallels. Each character was made to fit some emotion that needed to be present, some portion of humanity needing to be let free and live in the pages of this story.

Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story?
One character in particular had an effect on me. It was the hateful demeaner that needed to be held apart. Its horror was a force that seemed bigger than the keyboard could keep up with. After many nights fighting the changes, a plus was made of it and the results spoke for themselves.

Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.
A must read is to say your likes and dislikes are the same as mine. I want emotions to be 'hate it' and 'loved it'. I struggled in the mix of creating this story and the readers need to move in the pages as if they have a stake in what comes next. Each chapter is a fall and each choice made in the storyline brings the fear to live inside. Seeing villains, you think you know, and the monsters that live wild, are not always the same for every eye that’s seen them. Hate it, like it, simply let it move as you would a song that can’t be gotten rid of.

Have you written any other books that are not published?
I have many other stories to publish and expand on. A series called ‘Surresa V’ has two books already with a continued line of two more books already burning a hole in my head. All of it soon to be edited, rewritten and release dates to be shared. Behind this, another horror story, not yet named, but finished in the pages and slated for editing. Further out I have my oldest and most beloved epic in fantasy, The Dark Tiempo. After that I have others written but still to be revisited and edited. Unwritten I have a multitude of stories yet to grace page and paper. Most of them are about horror, love, adventure and the struggles of humanity. I cannot wait to share the entire collection over the coming months and years. All of them awaiting a fan base I hope will embrace my way of storytelling. All of them I would love to pour into the internet of books, yet each in need of more love before setting them free.

Do you plan to continue this story?
Yes. At the very least books 2 and 3 are in the pipeline.

What emotions did you wish to invoke in readers?
I know the invoked emotion it gave me was trepidation, anxiety, and fear of what was to poke its head out first. A want to put to the senses the need for survival. I wanted the end goal of each chapter to form the feelings of “NO! don’t do that.” The parsed lips of each reader to huff and not know which way the next turn was taking them and still to come back asking.

How long have you been writing?
I've been writing for my entire life. However the written stories started truly around sixteen. The years there about the creation of my favorite unfinished work.

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of the characters come to you as you write?
The birth of each character is sketched out some more than others. Each person starts in its evolution of a name, age, height, and other facts but while some characters change, others drop away. I start with the main cast and as needed add more if required and the story calls for it.

What kind of research do you do before writing a book?
The hardest part of research is the need for specific facts to fit the story line. Yes, in later books the need for greater research was mandatory. Today’s technology makes the collection of information less dire in the pre moments of the story line.

Do you see writing as a career?
Yes. One that I find every day to be an enjoyable struggle. This path I hope to parley into a career is hard, but the roots of a lifelong passion were written in me long ago. So, with a confident answer of yes, I look forward to sharing many more stories with a fan base welcoming of me.

What do you think of the current publishing market?
I understood little of the riptides of this industry and feel like today I know even a bit less. A self-promoter I am not. With that said, I have been informed it is the only true way a writer can build any grassroots-following to read their works. I look forward to the benefits of the struggle but hope to always have good people working to help me find my voice and make my dreams a reality.

Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
Music. I have the same playlist I have had for years and years. It has grown over the months and years, over 650 songs I shuffle through. I must drown the world outside with songs. A blend of old and new favorites it keeps the brain always moving and the keyboard flowing. I put my headphones on, not earbuds. I use an over the ears headset to cover me in music. The whys of the entire experience aren’t for me to pick at. It is simply the way I work the best and has always been a ritual to my storytelling.

Do you write one book at a time, or do you have several going at a time?
I work on one book at a time. I do have multiple books I work on but when it comes to writing I center my attention fully on a singular train of thought. If I had a better memory, which I don’t, I would love to be able to work on ten different books. The release dates would be a nightmare, but the effect would be astounding, I think. I feel like the few writers that work on two or more stories at a time, must be torn apart in their daily life. To be able to focus that much and that clearly on different fronts doesn’t seem genuine.

Pen or typewriter or computer?
I was a paper and pencil writer for the longest time. Today and for the last few years it has been computer and writing tablet for me. So much tech that helps you with spelling and grammar the end results speak for themself. I wish I could share the originals to any of my books and see the reaction of a fan. For most to have some understanding of the devotion I have to my stories would transform anyone’s view of me, I think. For any reader to comprehend the lengths I go to and how I envision the stories journey would please me. The one piece of technology that is a game changer for someone with as tentative a hold on grammar and spelling it is 'voice read back'. I hear my words spoken allowed and can fix immediately the effort I was looking for. A voice to tell me the words were in the wrong order, or simply the need for more clarification. I love the keyboard for sure.

What made you want to be an author, and do you feel it was the right decision?
I’ve talked about my troubles with dyslexia and ADHD, but it was never a decision that felt real. I was hidden in school, a person that never seemed able to put two words together in any legible manner. Yet through all the fog and confusion of adversarial voices, I still made-up stories. I never questioned if I would stop, or it was a decision to be changed. In those days I made up stories for me. As I’ve grown, I realize they are good. Whether they are great, it doesn’t matter, they are my creations and they are my art. You could never ask a painter was the finished piece the right decision, it either informs or it does not. It reaches the soul or turns the lip. In the eye of the beholder the reader has to answer that for themselves. My job now is to be truthful to myself and I love writing.

A Day in the life of the author.
Waking in the early morning I usually jot down any willing dreams or thoughts. Seizures are a consideration but other than those bad days I work on the next story a few hours here and there. The activity needed is usually satisfied with a swim and a soak before sitting again for an hour of writing,

Advice you would give to new authors.
Write, and never stop. Keep your ears open to any ideas, words, phrases that speak to you. Always write those ideas down in the same place to come back to. Take all advice as just that, an opinion from an outside person. It doesn’t mean their voice is valid but if it improves your writing, use it.

Describe your writing style.
If I had to describe my writing style, I would have said it is akin to watching a movie in your head. It works like a time capsule, isolated and waiting to be continued every time you leave the last chapter. Though further reduced, my style borders on both narrative and descriptive writing. All of it with linkages to something emotional, something mixing the journey with meaning.

What makes a good story?
The characters, the journey to some unknown place, feelings, and emotions all help to make great storytelling.

What is your writing process? For instance, do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?
An outline for me is as much of the story I can fumble down on paper. A list of the characters and some turning plot lines they help with continuity. I always have a goal for each chapter. Yet even with an outline, my stories are all larger than when first dreamt up. Many a time I’ve had to pull back from overindulging in the story for myself. I want to tell everything, to fill the pages with as much of my brain’s view but I know I can't. Outlines help when writing from the start. Like an arrow let loose from a bow the mark is never exactly where you meant it to land. Guided by the idea, the process is much more freeing for me. The outline is just the seed of the story but never mandating the ending and what needs to be told.

What is your writing Kryptonite?
If I am unable to write somewhere different it is hell for me. I move around a ton when writing. Much of the second book to Children of Vampires was written while visiting family upstate. The third book started aboard a ship headed for Florida. Sitting in the same spot is a wall to me, a link to procrastination that haunts me. I can stare at the spot and avoid it only for so long. Sitting there in hopes of getting past the feeling never works, it needs to be new.

Do you try to be original or to deliver to the reader what they want?
I am original to me. I don’t copy anything, what I know and write is as much who and what I am. All of it formed in a younger person and my journey to who I am now. If what I write were the things that readers wanted it is simply the connection shared by the ones needing to tell it.

If you could tell your younger writer self-anything, what would it be?
Don’t worry about the loud voices of people that cannot see your story. Write and don’t worry about the spelling or grammar, just fill the pages. Let yourself have permission to write. Put down on paper all the imagination you want crossing over the divide of time.

What is the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?
I try to write about the character in the story and not see the gender. If the person is female that is who was supposed to be in that part. If the character is male than the story was supposed to unfold that way. I am sometimes influenced by my past, but it has always been a very diverse community I’ve lived in. Although the teachers and adults’ voices that talked to me seemed equal, I now know better. Strong women and understanding man were both part of my life as well the ignorant and close-minded souls. The voices of both sexes are sometimes hard to separate, but emotions are the same the world over.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?
The time spent on a book reaches the gambit from an unfinished one to just over a month. More and more lately I have scheduled my writing to condense the time spent and focus on completing the books in a timely manner. This is all well and good, a book can sometime take on a life of its own. Rewrites are the next level of any of my books. I like to finish a book and then move on to new grounds. Only then do I return for the rewrite and editing. A palate cleanser if you will, then I feel refreshed of mind and return into that world hungry.

How do you know where to end a book?
Ending a book is hard. I don’t mean hard in the sense of what to do at the end but letting go of the story. For a lack of better description, these stories are our children or even singular creations. None of us want them to end. We fight those last pages as you might feel the sorrow of a passing relative. A story you poured your heart and time into, is and always will be connected to a part of your soul. The names of the characters evoke emotion when spoken by another. You want to know the life of a person you have created everything about continues to exist. This part is the hardest, letting go is and has its own benefits though foggy before they are made. You make the closures you need and sometimes the story finishes off the pages. Left to some ritual that only you know but it is a goodbye for the writer. A farewell and always a sad one for us as much as the reader.

How do you know when the last brushstroke is done in any story?
The last brushstroke is always there. You see it long before you hit that chapter. You may add a superfluous chapter in-between but that last stroke is always to soon and only a paragraph away. A sad and euphoric moment when the last word is typed but you just know it when the pen falls.

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