Kevin Lee Swaim is one of our talented bonus book authors this month. We first heard of Kevin when we read one of his books and LOVED it, and we are excited to have his book on Book Cave.
Kevin writes vampire mysteries, but these aren't your typical sparkly vampires that women want to fall in love with. No way. You have to be careful around these vampires. You definitely don't want to turn your back on them for long—even the few "responsible ones" who are tasked with overseeing their own. These are wickedly awesome vampires, and Kevin's hero is a real guy we can all relate to.
If you like nonstop action and aren't afraid of a little violence, you have to try these novels! We hope you'll join us and discover more great authors like Kevin.
Books by Kevin Lee Swaim
Project StrikeForce—a riveting military series about a super soldier and the black ops team who protects America at any cost
Project StrikeForce (Book 1)
The Chimera Strain (Book 2)
Sam Harlan series—Harlan inherits the job of killing vampires, but with every death he risks losing a little more of himself
Come What May (Book 1)
Hard Times (Book 2)
Damned Cold (Book 3)
A Chat with Kevin Lee Swaim
Book Cave: To start us off, can you tell us something that you have NEVER done but you think most people have done?
Kevin: I’ve never visited downtown Chicago, I mean, come on, it’s only two hours away.
Book Cave: That is quite the claim to fame. Or, uh, non fame. You'll have to visit now just to prove that you can. So, when did you first know you were going to write?
Kevin: When I was a kid, I spent an enormous amount of time reading. After I would finish a book, I would imagine how the story would continue. Or, I’d imagine how the story could have been different. That’s when I knew I would be a storyteller.
Book Cave: And a good one. I bet you weren't much fun at taking to the movies. What does your family think about your writing?
Kevin: They’re quite “meh” about it.
Book Cave: Ouch! Well, you'll have to tell them we think your books are great. With that in mind, what was the most awesome reader review/email you’ve ever received?
Kevin: Someone got a copy of Hard Times in a giveaway. They didn’t know it was a vampire novel when they started reading. They don’t like vampire novels. But, after starting, they couldn’t stop and stayed up until 4 am to finish it.
Book Cave: I'm not surprised. Just so you know, I sort of felt the same way about your book, and I read the second one first. Okay, next question. If you were stranded on a tropical island, what four things would you bring?
Kevin: I’d only need one—a cornucopia machine.
Book Cave: Why a cornucopia machine?
Kevin: Heh. A cornucopia machine is otherwise known as a molecular assembler. I read a lot of science fiction, and liked the idea of a cornucopia machine described in Singularity Sky, by Charles Stross. With a cornucopia machine, as long as you had energy and raw matter, you could manufacture anything you want!
Book Cave: Hahaha, now I understand. Good idea. Moving on, how do you respond when you get a bad review or someone doesn’t like one of your books?
Kevin: I don’t take it personally.
Book Cave: What is the most amazing thing you ever did?
Kevin: It wasn’t writing related, but I once talked an IBM tech through replacing drives, rebuilding a SCSI array, and doing an ERD on a Windows server without being fully awake.
Book Cave: That is amazing. You know, 90% of people reading this don't know what those initials stand for, but I bet those technical talents are helpful with your writing and publishing. Is there any one person you credit with inspiring your writing?
Kevin: All the great authors I grew up with, but mostly David Foster Wallace. I had him for a year’s worth of creative writing classes, and he encouraged me to keep writing. He called everybody by their first name. Except me. He always called me Mr. Swaim.
Book Cave: We're glad you did keep writing. So what is the biggest writing mistake you ever made?
Kevin: Not pushing my wizard set in Chicago series in 1996. I mean, who would ever read about a wizard set in Chicago? Facepalm.
Book Cave: Wow, that's gotta hurt! But then you probably would have had to go to downtown Chicago and then you wouldn't have that claim to fame. And what are you writing now?
Kevin: I’m currently working on the third StrikeForce novel and taking notes for the fourth Sam Harlan novel.
Book Cave: I'll be interested to see both of those come out! If you had one piece of advice to give a stranger on the street, what would it be?
Kevin: Everything good takes hard work. There are no exceptions. Anybody else telling you different is doing you a great disservice.
Very good advice! Thank you so much for this chat.
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Loved this book! I joined on the front page, Tina. https://mybookcave.com/
How do I join? I must be totally blind.....
The front page (https://mybookcave.com) has a form front and center where you can enter your email and a "START READING" button for you to click.
Also, as you scrolled to the end of this article, there should have been a signup form popup at the bottom of the screen.
Great interview! I thought this book was awesome too. I couldn't put it down!