About L.A. Banks
L.A. Banks, is the recipient of the 2008 Essence Storyteller of the
Year award has written over 30 novels and contributed to 10
novellas, thus far, in multiple genres under various pseudonyms.
She mysteriously shape-shifts between the genres of romance,
women's fiction, crime/suspense thrillers, and of course,
paranormal lore. A graduate of The University of Pennsylvania
Wharton undergraduate program with a Master's in Fine Arts
from Temple University, one never knows how or when this
enigma will appear… her forms are many, her secrets of crossing
genres vast, and she does this with her teenaged daughter and
her black Lab from some remote, undisclosed lair in Philadelphia.
Visit her website at www.vampire-huntress.com.
L.A. Banks, is the recipient of the 2008 Essence Storyteller of the
Year award has written over 30 novels and contributed to 10
novellas, thus far, in multiple genres under various pseudonyms.
She mysteriously shape-shifts between the genres of romance,
women's fiction, crime/suspense thrillers, and of course,
paranormal lore. A graduate of The University of Pennsylvania
Wharton undergraduate program with a Master's in Fine Arts
from Temple University, one never knows how or when this
enigma will appear… her forms are many, her secrets of crossing
genres vast, and she does this with her teenaged daughter and
her black Lab from some remote, undisclosed lair in Philadelphia.
Visit her website at www.vampire-huntress.com.
Post Meeting Write-up
L.A. Banks blogged about us on her website. Check out what she
had to say about us:
http://leslieesdailebanks.com/blog/sfsnnj/158/.
A large crowd gathered Saturday, 3/14/09, for this month's
Face the Fiction featuring national bestseller L.A. Banks.
Those that attended were rewarded with an excellent
presentation and a fantastic time! Ms. Banks must have also
had a good time because she's already told us she would come
back any time - she may be sorry she said that - lol.
Ms. Banks opened her presentation by telling the group about
how she got her start and explained why her first book in the
Vampire Huntress series ended the way it did (Todd was most
relieved). We found it was a 10 year journey to finally get to
write the vampire books she originally wanted to write. Before
that Leslie wrote romance and suspense. When the time
became right for a vampire series, she was ready to go and the
series took off beyond her and her editors dreams! In fact, Leslie
informed the audience that a manga prequel is in the works, a
series of graphics, a YA series (much toned down) and
downloadables. When she mentioned a YA series and
suggested it would be toned down a lot, Thom thought it
would be a great idea to not! He told Ms. Banks that controversy
would sell the books like hot cakes.
Ms. Banks talked about how she does the research for her
various characters/demons and the like. She described her
research as an eclectic mix. She watches much TV and
incorporates aspects of what she views from the news/science
channels/movies. She uses religious text and always makes sure
to be accurate. In addition, she uses lore, myth, history and
current events. During her description of research, we discovered
that Leslie is a big fan of the TV show Future Weapons - she
loves it! She often references the show for weapons used in her
stories. Ms. Banks also told us she uses a lot of nature/animal
programs to write her vampire series. She described how one
inspirational moment struck her: she was watching a nature
program about lions. She noticed that the male lion sat around
doing nothing while the females went out for dinner. She was
describing the female lions trying to take down a bison and
getting the stuffing knocked out of them. She is acting out the
whole scenario (it was hilarious), she's dragging her foot like an
injured lioness telling us that they finally drag this big old beast
back and the male, who did nothing, jumps in for firsts dibs. At
that moment, she knew this was the perfect way to have the
vampire hierarchy arranged. She added that in classic vampire
stories there's always the "Hugh Hefner vampire and his stable of
sex kitten vampirettes."
Up next was an explanation of her various pseudonyms. Leslie
shared with us that she writes under so many different names
because the fans of each of the genres she writes under want
that specific genre and if they pick up a book with her name
expecting vampires and got straight up romance, they'd be
disappointed. It's all about the marketing.
My personal favorite was finding out that Leslie is a fan of the
cheesy horror movie! Yes, vindication! She admitted to loving
those cheesy SciFi Channel (oops, 'scyfy') movies on Saturdays!
Ha ha - you may no longer mock me and my fetish. Even
funnier was that she describes herself as the 'worlds biggest punk'
- she's afraid of everything. She made me look positively brave ;)
We even shared a fear of clowns, not dried leaves, but clowns for
sure.
It was Ms. Banks love of horror that made it easy to put into
reality the worlds she created and the levels and inner workings
of these worlds. One inspiration for her various
levels/bureaucracy in her stories was Dante's Inferno. Very cool.
Ms. Banks talked about how she often employs metaphors in
her fiction to comment on societal issues that she would not
otherwise be able to comment on - gangs, politics, etc. all get
worked out in her writing. She told us this was cheap therapy.
We found out that Leslie Banks went to Junior High School
with SFSNNJ member, past guest and upcoming guest as part of
our awesome zombie encounter, Jonathan Maberry! Small
world. It pays to be nice to people - you never know. Karma
baby!
Leslie opened up for questions because she could tell many
were eager to pounce. Mike P, Thom, Todd, Adrian, Deena, BJ,
Remi, Chris, Bill and several others immediately started a bidding
war for questions. Kathleen, Liz B and I sat quietly and waited.
Jo was busy getting video clips, I took photos. Amir was smart
and learned from past meetings to have his purchases made
before Todd runs block to the table, which he did as soon as
Leslie finished and began signing. I think Paul and Kate were
knocked out of their seats as Todd ran up at sonic speed. Aurelia
quietly walked up and pointed out to Todd that she had knitting
needles - he stepped to the side - lol. After that, the line waited
until Aurelia was done - Gene didn't want to tangle with the
knitting needles and suggested we do the same.
We made our purchases, got our books signed, grabbed
autographed posters, some even got free swag (thank you
Leslie) and wrapped up with regret. Kate Landis had such a
good time that she congratulated us on yet another amazing
event. You are most welcome Kate. It's that kind of gratitude
that we do this for. Thanks also to Leslie for an awesome night!
We look forward to seeing Leslie again (Aurelia has already
invited Ms. Banks to join us for a future Suspense Central). Our
group then descended upon Stateline Diner, where we had to
broken up into several booths, to continue the evening.
L.A. Banks blogged about us on her website. Check out what she
had to say about us:
http://leslieesdailebanks.com/blog/sfsnnj/158/.
A large crowd gathered Saturday, 3/14/09, for this month's
Face the Fiction featuring national bestseller L.A. Banks.
Those that attended were rewarded with an excellent
presentation and a fantastic time! Ms. Banks must have also
had a good time because she's already told us she would come
back any time - she may be sorry she said that - lol.
Ms. Banks opened her presentation by telling the group about
how she got her start and explained why her first book in the
Vampire Huntress series ended the way it did (Todd was most
relieved). We found it was a 10 year journey to finally get to
write the vampire books she originally wanted to write. Before
that Leslie wrote romance and suspense. When the time
became right for a vampire series, she was ready to go and the
series took off beyond her and her editors dreams! In fact, Leslie
informed the audience that a manga prequel is in the works, a
series of graphics, a YA series (much toned down) and
downloadables. When she mentioned a YA series and
suggested it would be toned down a lot, Thom thought it
would be a great idea to not! He told Ms. Banks that controversy
would sell the books like hot cakes.
Ms. Banks talked about how she does the research for her
various characters/demons and the like. She described her
research as an eclectic mix. She watches much TV and
incorporates aspects of what she views from the news/science
channels/movies. She uses religious text and always makes sure
to be accurate. In addition, she uses lore, myth, history and
current events. During her description of research, we discovered
that Leslie is a big fan of the TV show Future Weapons - she
loves it! She often references the show for weapons used in her
stories. Ms. Banks also told us she uses a lot of nature/animal
programs to write her vampire series. She described how one
inspirational moment struck her: she was watching a nature
program about lions. She noticed that the male lion sat around
doing nothing while the females went out for dinner. She was
describing the female lions trying to take down a bison and
getting the stuffing knocked out of them. She is acting out the
whole scenario (it was hilarious), she's dragging her foot like an
injured lioness telling us that they finally drag this big old beast
back and the male, who did nothing, jumps in for firsts dibs. At
that moment, she knew this was the perfect way to have the
vampire hierarchy arranged. She added that in classic vampire
stories there's always the "Hugh Hefner vampire and his stable of
sex kitten vampirettes."
Up next was an explanation of her various pseudonyms. Leslie
shared with us that she writes under so many different names
because the fans of each of the genres she writes under want
that specific genre and if they pick up a book with her name
expecting vampires and got straight up romance, they'd be
disappointed. It's all about the marketing.
My personal favorite was finding out that Leslie is a fan of the
cheesy horror movie! Yes, vindication! She admitted to loving
those cheesy SciFi Channel (oops, 'scyfy') movies on Saturdays!
Ha ha - you may no longer mock me and my fetish. Even
funnier was that she describes herself as the 'worlds biggest punk'
- she's afraid of everything. She made me look positively brave ;)
We even shared a fear of clowns, not dried leaves, but clowns for
sure.
It was Ms. Banks love of horror that made it easy to put into
reality the worlds she created and the levels and inner workings
of these worlds. One inspiration for her various
levels/bureaucracy in her stories was Dante's Inferno. Very cool.
Ms. Banks talked about how she often employs metaphors in
her fiction to comment on societal issues that she would not
otherwise be able to comment on - gangs, politics, etc. all get
worked out in her writing. She told us this was cheap therapy.
We found out that Leslie Banks went to Junior High School
with SFSNNJ member, past guest and upcoming guest as part of
our awesome zombie encounter, Jonathan Maberry! Small
world. It pays to be nice to people - you never know. Karma
baby!
Leslie opened up for questions because she could tell many
were eager to pounce. Mike P, Thom, Todd, Adrian, Deena, BJ,
Remi, Chris, Bill and several others immediately started a bidding
war for questions. Kathleen, Liz B and I sat quietly and waited.
Jo was busy getting video clips, I took photos. Amir was smart
and learned from past meetings to have his purchases made
before Todd runs block to the table, which he did as soon as
Leslie finished and began signing. I think Paul and Kate were
knocked out of their seats as Todd ran up at sonic speed. Aurelia
quietly walked up and pointed out to Todd that she had knitting
needles - he stepped to the side - lol. After that, the line waited
until Aurelia was done - Gene didn't want to tangle with the
knitting needles and suggested we do the same.
We made our purchases, got our books signed, grabbed
autographed posters, some even got free swag (thank you
Leslie) and wrapped up with regret. Kate Landis had such a
good time that she congratulated us on yet another amazing
event. You are most welcome Kate. It's that kind of gratitude
that we do this for. Thanks also to Leslie for an awesome night!
We look forward to seeing Leslie again (Aurelia has already
invited Ms. Banks to join us for a future Suspense Central). Our
group then descended upon Stateline Diner, where we had to
broken up into several booths, to continue the evening.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |  |  |  |