It only seemed natural to call that first story Midnight - so much imagery ended up woven all through the story because of that one simple word. My works reflect a love of literature and music flavored by the darkness and magic residing in the Appalachian foothills. They are people with hopes and dreams, desires, drives, and life-crises - some major, some minor, but all of which help push the characters into growth and understanding. (I learned somewhere around 2005 that the series had gained some strange infamy on college and university campuses as the 'Hillbilly Vampires'.) The characters in my stories are not your usual bloodthirsty Bram Stoker-type vampires. I started writing what would become the first in my Harlan Vampire Series in October 1996.

I lived four years in the black heart of Harlan County, a placed mired in coal, ash, and blood, a land of coal seams and rhythmic discord that breed amity and illusion, all of which birthed the Harlan Vampire stories. This landscape provides the backdrop for my writing and is often a character in its own right. Its mountains are scarred by mining, and its people are quite often insular and distrustful. The great beauty of Harlan County contrasts sharply with abject, inherent strife. My stories, at least what I've written since 1996, take place in my own paranormal version of the gothic hinterlands of Harlan County, located in southeastern Kentucky. My poetry, short stories, and other writing to date have appeared in the e-zines associated with the now-defunct 3Sides Literary Agency, the limited Stories from the Red Light District anthology, in various projects associated with Apex Publications, and in the Help anthology. I am an Appalachian Gothic fiction writer who grew up in the coal mining community of Woodbine in southeastern Kentucky. Professional independent writer and editor since 2000. Lived in Lexington 1999-current with life partner and calico cat. Attended Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

I was born in Corbin, Kentucky in February and graduated from Corbin High School in 1987. This user needs just one more userbox on her page!

Harlan County Horrors by Mari Adkins