The House of Night vampire series takes another bite into teen readers with "Hunted," the new book by mother-daughter writing duo, P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.
Some mothers and daughters bond over shopping or sports. Author P.C. Cast and her daughter Kristin cemented their relationship over vampire finishing school.
The co-authors of the successful "House of Night" book series, the writing duo from Oklahoma have bitten in to Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" audience in a big way since they launched their bestselling vampire novels in 2007.
Set in an alternate universe of Tulsa, Oklahoma where humans and vampires coexist, the series begins when 16-year-old Zoey Redbird is "marked" by a vampire tracker. The gifted vampire fledgling enters the House of Night school and begins to undergo the biological change into a creature of the night.
"The whole biology of changing into something more than we are - something truly powerful - really appealed to both of us," P.C. Cast told CTV.ca Thursday morning, after an appearance on Canada AM.
Their new book, "Hunted," keeps the vampire shenanigans coming as Zoey tries to make sense of a gorgeous mystery man who enters this school for blood suckers and holds a strange, unbreakable power over it and her mentor Neferet.
"If you told me five years ago we'd be have a bestselling book series on our hands I would have said no way," says P.C., an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance writer.
Not so for daughter Kristin, a communications major at the University of Tulsa.
"When my mom asked me to help write 'Marked,' our first book, I knew we'd be famous," says Kristin, a communications major at the University of Tulsa.
With more than three million copies of their books in print, a well-publicized film option, an updated interactive website and a daily-growing fan base, the Cast duo is poised to make a nice haul in Hollywood, much like Meyer.
Best known for her "Goddess Summoning" and "Partholon" book series, P.C. says, "My agent had this idea about a vampire finishing school. But she wanted me to write it."
After finishing a few chapters, P.C. enlisted her daughter's help to pepper the dialogue up with the right teen vernacular.
"Writing together was a long distance thing at first," says Kristin. "Mom sent me her manuscript then I'd go at it with my notes. It took a while to get into the groove but once we did we found this way of saying real things about life as it is for teens today."
"This is not idealized romantic fiction. It's got all the downs that most kids go through in today's world. But I think that's why it has hit such a big chord with our readers," says P.C.
More over, for all the comparison to Meyer's "Twilight," which has sold over 42 million copies worldwide, the Casts say the idea of true girl power gives their books a unique spin."
"Unlike 'Twilight,' which takes a patriarchal look at vampires, we've made our world matriarchal," says P.C. "The real strength throughout the entire series lies with the women. That's the message we wanted to get out to our readers. You've got the power to do anything."
