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Know a Nominee, Part Sixteen: James Doan & Barbara Brodman

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Welcome to the latest installment of “Know a Nominee,” the interview series that gives you exclusive glimpses inside the minds of this year’s Bram Stoker Award nominees. Today’s featured interviewee is James Doan, who’s nominated, along with his co-editor, Barbara Brodman, in the category of Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction for ‘Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic’ (Fairleigh Dickinson).

 

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DM: Can you please describe the genesis for the idea that eventually became the work for which you’ve been nominated? In the case of a work wherein you’ve written multiple stories (like a collection) please choose your favorite part and discuss.

JD: My colleague Barbara Brodman and I began working on a project dealing with the relation between Don Juan and the literary, 19th-century romantic vampire in 2006. This eventually developed into a conference paper delivered at the Am. Culture/Pop. Culture Association Meeting in S.F., and finally into a book proposal.
We attended the Vampire: Myths of the Past and Future conference at the Univ. of London in 2011, put out a call for papers and were overwhelmed by the response we received. This turned into two books (The Universal Vampire and Images of the Modern Vampire), with a total of 32 essays and original works.

 

DM: What was the most challenging part of bringing your idea to fruition? The most rewarding aspect of the process?

JD: Choosing which of the over 60 submissions to include. Many of the others were excellent but we didn’t feel fit into the overall themes or sections of the books.
The most rewarding aspect was bringing all the varying views on the vampire together.

 

DM: What do you think good horror/dark fiction should achieve? How do you feel the work for which you’ve been nominated work fits into that ideal?

JD: It should be intellectually and emotionally stimulating. Even non-fiction writing, which sheds light on horror fiction, should stimulate the mind and the senses. Barbara and I think our work in these two volumes accomplishes this goal.

 

DM: I’m curious about your writing and/or editing process. Is there a certain setting or set of circumstances that help to move things along? Where do you often find yourself getting stuck, and why?

JD: We are both very detail-oriented. Fortunately, we are also complementary in our editing styles, so while she is attuned to structural issues, I am more conscious of specific stylistic points. We’re both rather fanatic about good grammar. Sometimes essays are so badly constructed that we end up rewriting them.

 

DM: As you probably know, many of our readers are writers themselves. What is the most valuable piece of advice you can share with someone who may be struggling to make their way in this life?

JD: Be persistent. If you know you have a good project, keep working at it. Publishers are very interested in these themes and topics and looking to publish any that are good.

 

DM: What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Bram Stoker Awards/WHC (if you are attending)? If not attending, what do you think is the significance of recognitions like the Bram Stoker Awards?
JD: Authors, readers and publishers take note of awards like these. This may well determine whether a reader chooses a certain work to read.

 

 

ABOUT JAMES DOAN

James Doan received an M.A. in Folklore and Mythology from U.C.L.A., an M.A. in Celtic Languages and Literatures as well as a Ph.D. in Folklore and Celtic Studies from Harvard. Since 1988, he has been a professor of humanities at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where he teaches courses in literature, the arts, folklore and mythology. He does research on the legend of King Arthur; late Renaissance English drama; Irish literature; and the vampire in myth, legend and film. His interest in figures like King Arthur and the vampire stems from his love of the ways myth and history come together to create powerful stories which continue to influence us centuries after they were first recorded.

His publications include Women and Goddesses in Early Celtic History, Myth and Legend, numerous studies of Welsh and Irish literature, and two recent collections of essays, The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend and Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic (Fairleigh Dickinson U.P., 2013) which he co-edited with his colleague in the Humanities Division at NSU, Barbara Brodman. Included in the latter volume is his first full-length play, The Irish Dracula: A Melodrama in Five Acts, which was produced in March 2014 by the Irish Theatre of Florida at the Arts Studio, 1201 N. Federal Hwy., Delray Beach, FL.

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ABOUT BARBARA BRODMAN

Dr. Barbara Brodman is Professor of Latin American & Caribbean/International Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She holds graduate degrees in Hispanic languages and literature, Latin American Studies, and International Business and has published a variety of scholarly works that deal with global cultures and affairs.

She is founder and President of the Global Awareness Institute, an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the world’s rainforests through sustainable development, and for many years she sat on the board of the Inter-American Center for Human Rights and served a variety of humanitarian organizations as a trained international election observer and human rights observer.

In her present endeavors as co-editor, with Dr. James Doan, of a series of books on the Universal Vampire and as co-coordinator with Dr. Doan of the 2014 International Conference on Ireland and the Supernatural in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Brodman pursues the theme of the Other as an image of social change and social protest, focusing on the vampire legend and other legends of the supernatural.

Brodman also writes travel adventure books. Her 1997 journey through South America, retracing Che Guevara’s 1952 motorcycle journey, was widely covered by the media, while thousands followed her adventures online or read her book about the adventure. At present, she is preparing to set out on a trip “Around the World in 70 days… at 70.” She hopes that many people will follow her trip blog (rtwin70days.com) and read the book about her journey.

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