Film, television and Broadway star Adrienne Barbeau appeared recently at the Holmdel, New Jersey Barnes & Noble store to talk about and sign her new St. Martin’s Press novel "Vampyres of Hollywood."   Written with award-winning Young Adult author Michael Scott, "Vampyres" is an amusing treatment of the "vampire tale" blended with humor from the Hollywood scene. 

Author delights in answering fans' questions

A crowd of about 200 filled the local book store's café and surrounding areas.  Many attendees were fans of the star’s from venues other than her literary pursuits (such as her prior work, a Los Angeles Times best-selling memoir entitled "There Are Worse Things I Could Do"), including film appearances (The Fog, Creepshow, Swamp Thing, and Escape From New York) and her Tony nominated role of Rizzo in “Grease” and her personally most-enjoyed role as Ruthie in HBO’s “Carnivale.” 

Barbeau looked lithe and beautiful in a pale gray empire waist floral shift and sexy lemon slides. This local crowd had many queries about her stint on the 1970’s television show Maude.  It seems, however fond of acting she may be, Barbeau has taken to fiction writing with aplomb.   Her eyes glowed as she described her love for what she calls her ‘new career,” writing. 

Author reads from her work

“I can do it (write) and not be dependent upon anyone else for my creativity,” she volunteered.  “I don’t have to wait for a director to make an offer, and I don’t have to wait for a producer to raise the money.  It’s really fantastic- and I can do it anywhere”- which she does, according to husband, actor/playwright, Billy Van Zandt, who was there with their children, twins Walker Steven and William Dalton Van Zandt.  (Barbeau, remarkably, gave birth to the boys, reportedly, in 1997, at the age of 51.  This, no doubt, explains her joke about claiming to be a vampire, herself!)

 “She’ll take her work out in the car when we’re on trips,” Van Zandt told me.  “She’ll take it wherever we go.”  I asked him if he felt she was ignoring him for the sake of her craft.  “No,” he told me, laughing knowingly, “because I’m usually writing, too, in the next room.” 

Author's children, Walker and William and other family members look on as she autographs books

Barbeau likes to write at a computer in her home office.  “We have a (local home) that is sort of in the middle of the woods,” she told the crowd, “and that’s fantastic to sit there and look out at the greenery and be able to write.  I work around our children’s schedules.  If my husband isn’t taking the children to school, I take them and then come back and just sit down and go straight (writing) as long as I can,” she said.  She’s certainly willing to go the extra mile for her work, too.  “I found myself writing in a beauty salon,” she admitted, “when I was up against a deadline.”

Working with Michael Scott was a slightly different process.  “We’d sit in the same room together and work out the outline- talk it out,” Barbeau said.  “We came up with the story and, of course, settled on the story, in part, because this is what I know- Hollywood and all that, scream queens.  And, Michael, who has much more history in writing novels, wrote the bare bones of the first draft of each chapter and sent it to me and said, ‘It’s yours, take it, change it, do whatever you want…”  Barbeau would work off this sort of chapter “skeleton,” adding her own touch.  “At this point,” she said, “I can’t tell what was his and what was mine, but the storyline (in Vampyres), the structure of it, pretty much all came from Michael.”

Vampyres is the tale of a serial killer who targets the Hollywood A-list.  There are three deaths of major stars:  an action hero, an Oscar winner, and an ingénue.  Each of the deaths is stunning, including one victim’s head being found in the refrigerator.  Main character, Oysanna Moore, the head of a film studio, shares narration of the story, and each of the victims is connected to her in some way.  Moore is a 500-year-old vampire.  In fact, in this story, most of tinsel town’s famous actors are vampires.  It falls to handsome Beverly Hills police detective Peter King to stop the “Cinema Slayer.”  King and Moore team up for this task, and with their combined talents and good looks, they form a memorable team.  Alternate chapters from each of their points of view move the story along as well as build tension. 

Events area at Holmdel, New Jersey Barnes & Noble store

Publishers Weekly describes Barbeau and Scott’s work as giving a “novel twist to one of the hoariest clichés of vampire lore in a compulsively readable dark fantasy… PW also reports:  “Briskly paced and full of fang-in-cheek humor, this novel is one of the more entertaining recent works of supernatural noir.”  Not too shabby!  Barbeau is delighted and busy at work on the sequel, which she is penning on her own, due out next March.

“I’m actually writing the second work by myself,” she said.  “Michael had a Young Adult bestseller last year (“The Alchemyst”) and he has gone on to do the series he’s writing for Random House.  So, I’m half-way through Vampyres of Hollywood 2- 'VH2' I think we’re going to call it,” she joked.

Barbeau has just finished a film, which is slated for release at the end of the year.  “It’s with Alfred Woodard, Seymour Casell, and Lamar Burton, who also directed it.  It’s pretty visual.”  That film is scheduled for auction. 

"Vampyres of Hollywood" is already slated to go to the screen.  Mark Burnett (Survivor) is producing the film version for New Line Pictures.

Barbeau will be appearing soon at Comic-Con in San Diego July 2008.

Vampyres of Hollywood
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Pub. Date: July 2008
• ISBN-13: 9780312367220
• Sales Rank: 31,067
• 336pp

Text and pictures copyright 2008 M. D. Caprario

Thank you to Cheryl Questore, Community Relations Mgr, B&N, Holmdel, New Jersey

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