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.
L.A. Banks -- March 14, 2009
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Saturday, March 14, 2009, 8p
Borders Books, Music & Cafe
Ramsey, NJ 07446
201.760.1967
Borders Books, Music & Cafe
Ramsey, NJ 07446
201.760.1967
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.
L.A. Banks talks to the SFSNNJ at Borders Books
L.A. Banks Explains How She Does Her Research
L.A. Banks Describes Her Writing Process to the SFSNNJ