Lacey author uses real local settings for her supernatural vampire story
How’s this for a story? Two vampire brothers, ages 10 and 14, live in an abandoned-looking house in Lacey, keeping indoors during the day and surviving on blood their foster mom, a nurse, brings home from the hospital where she works.
That’s the gist of the just-released “Don’t Want to Be Your Monster,” the critically acclaimed first novel by Deke Moulton of Lacey. Kirkus Reviews summed up the book, for readers ages 9-14, as “icky, impish and thematically rich.”
But Moulton has her own story.
She was an Army drill sergeant who moved to the area in December 2019 when she was assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“December was such a dreamy time to move to the Pacific Northwest,” she said. “I absolutely loved the drizzliness and the clouds.”
She loved it so much she decided to stay put when she retired from the military for medical reasons. And she set “Monsters” in Thurston County.
“I was so inspired by everything here — enthusiastic and inspired — that I just wrote nonstop,” she said. “I wrote the book in four months.”
The story unfolds in real, recognizable places — including Huntamer Park, the Port of Olympia and Ruddell Pioneer Cemetery — except for the invented Victorian house where brothers Adam and Victor live with their vampire foster family. The house, set down a gravel road in the woods and painted a dark green for camouflage, is the family’s hiding place from mortals, who might fear them and whom they definitely fear.
When the family isn’t doing jigsaw puzzles (at supernatural speed), the boys have plenty of time to sneak out and plenty of time to bicker in just the way mortal siblings do — except their subjects of disagreement include the ethics of drinking blood and whether mortals deserve vampire help.
“It’s funny,” she said. “My kids have the same age gap as the vampire brothers in my novel, so it was really easy to write about their arguments. A lot of the dialog is just pulled straight from listening to my kids.”
As a result of their adventures, Adam and Victor get drawn into a series of murders that police believe are part of an attempt to lure vampires, who, in the world of the book, are real but believed by most to be extinct.
“I never was a huge vampire person,” Moulton said. “I missed the whole ‘Twilight’ craze. … Because I wasn’t such a vampire fan, it allowed me to play with some of this lore without being so attached to it.”
But she — like Victor, 14 — loves the 1987 black comedy “The Lost Boys” and decided to flip the script on the idea of vampire hunters.
“I drew a lot of inspiration from the sibling dynamics in that movie and then thinking, ‘What would it be like if it was flipped the other way?’ ”
She’s already at work on novel no. 2, also for middle-grade readers. The topic: werewolves.
“Of course, when you write about vampires, what you write about next is werewolves,” she said, laughing.
Vampire tale set in South Sound
“Don’t Want To Be Your Monster,” about a pair of vampire brothers, is set in Olympia and Lacey, as the book’s opening paragraphs immediately establish:
I know my brother is evil, but that has nothing to do with him being a vampire.
“We’re sneaking out for this?” I ask as I peer down from the rooftop Victor has finally stopped on.
It’s not like I don’t know what my brother brought me to. Even though my eyes sting from the lights of downtown, nighttime Olympia, one sign draws my attention. Under neon letters spelling out “Capitol,” the theater marquee reads “The Lost Boys — Sat Jan 13 — 7pm.” Which is today. Right now. The question is why we’re here.
Victor lowers his hands. He’s done one of those ta-da gestures, like he’s brought me to something a lot more fun than an old theater. It’s the kind that plays movies that have been out for decades. Pretty much the most useless place to risk getting in trouble for sneaking out to, since we can easily see the movie from home.
Moulton’s reading list
Deke Moulton doesn’t just write spooky fantasy books for children 9-12; she reads them, too.
“Middle-grade books are fun and full of adventure, but they are also exceedingly hopeful,” Moulton said. “Right now, that’s what I find myself reaching for.”
Here are a few of her favorites:
“Grounded for All Eternity,” by Darcy Marks. “A group of kids literally from Hell accidentally release a spirit into the real world and follow it to Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween. The second book in the series just released, and it’s a perfect read for spooky season.”
“This Appearing House,” by Ally Malenenko. “When a house appears at the end of a street, Jax, a young cancer survivor, feels compelled to explore it, only to find that this is more than a haunted house. It was nominated for the inaugural Bram Stoker Award for middle-grade fiction.”
“Ravenfall,” by Kalyn Josephson. “Imagine an ‘Encanto’-style inn for creepy creatures, run by Annabella’s magical family. This also takes place on Halloween and was shortlisted for the Goodreads Readers’ Choice award for best middle grade fiction.”
