Backstory: Ed Gorman on "Cast in Dark Waters"

When I was writing my review of Ed Gorman and Tom Piccirilli's Cast in Dark Waters, I emailed Ed and asked about the story behind the book: where the idea came from, and how the collaboration came about. Being a very generous guy and a heck of a writer, Ed gave me a response that was too damn good to keep in my inbox. So, with his permission, I'm reprinting his email.

"Though I grew up reading Robert Louis Stevenson and numerous lesser writers who told tales of the piratical seas, I never developed any special interest in writing about pirates until I read a long article that told me two things I hadn't known--that some pirate groups hired out as mercenaries, stalking horses for major European countries, and that a few groups of pirates established havens for themselves that had hospitals, churches and elected councils. I'm not sure when I developed the idea of pirates fighting vampires but I wrote a story of several thousand words and then asked Tom Piccirilli if he'd like to take over. Tom not only expanded it but brought his own particular style and touch to what we both knew was a wild pulp tale. Tom really brought it alive and I'm in his debt for doing that. He didn't however like the vampire idea so he made the menace something else.

Concurrent with all this I was talking with my then movie agent about a pirate proposal. She was of the belief that the Renny Harlin pirate movie would be a big hit and Hollywood, Pavlov style, would be salivating for more. Well, Renny Harlan's movie tanked and according to my agent nobody wanted to even hear about a pirate movie. As for pirates and vampires, I was ahead of the curve. There are now two bestselling YA series featuring vampires and pirates. If my lawyer wasn't in prison I'd look into a lawsuit."

Thanks, Ed, for letting me post this.