The Book Nympho: What Inspires Alison Beightol to Write?

Often times people ask me in interviews or just in casual conversation if any books inspired me to become a writer. If I’m talking to someone, I usually blank out at first because I debate on whether or not to say it was a really important work of literature, like The Great Gatsby or Wuthering Heights. Or do I tell the truth and say it was a couple of genre fiction gems that rocked my world and made me sit down at the typewriter (yes, typewriter. I’m that old) and hammer out my first attempt at a novel. Usually, I just smile and say that all books inspired me to write but in reality, it was a few novels that compelled me to write. I read them each at different points in my life and somehow, they all impacted me enough that now I’m an author.

The first book was The Time of the Hunter’s Moon by Victoria Holt. Oh boy, I was addicted to her books but something about this story did it for me. It was the perfect Bronte-esque type story that I would come to love later in my life. It was my introduction to the strong female and the dark, and misunderstood hero characters. Holt was brilliant at telling these stories and I so wanted to be able to create characters and story lines like hers.

The next book was Whittney, My Love by Judith Mc Naught. Mc Naught wrote the best regency romances! I read the book in like 2 days. I still have my copy although it is missing pages, has been soaked accidentally when it fell in the tub and the spine is now cracking. That book with its main characters, again a strong female and a dark and this time a bit of a cad, misunderstood hero, spoke to me. I read and reread it over and over because I hoped I could somehow absorb some of the author’s skill in how she made these fascinating people come to life for me!

Finally, the last book that inspired me to become a writer was The Kommandant’s Mistress by Sherri Szeman. Although now it is listed as by Anastasia Szeman. The author recently told me that the publisher made her shorten her name because it wouldn’t fit on the cover. Anyway, this book to this day still speaks to me. Ms. Szeman sucked me in to the two completely fictional peoples and made me permanently care about them. I had never read a book like that. Two characters, a strong woman and a dark (very), misunderstood male and their dynamics. The story is told from both their points of view, leading you to different conclusions about their ultimate end. How could I not want to have the same power as an author?!

So for me, the books that inspired me to write were ones that had strong females and troubled and sometimes dangerous men. The different styles of those books clearly became part of my creative mind because my novel has several independent, strong women and a powerful alpha male who deep down wants to be loved. Those three books added a new dimension to me not only as a writer but I think even as a person. I love when books do that!

Blood Betrayal: Book 1 of the Primigenio Tales

by Alison Beightol

Published December 2012 by Cambridge Press US

Being the world’s oldest vampire was easy for Eamon Rutherford before he decided to take a companion. Now he finds that the avalanche of problems complicating his life stems from women… his women.

In the past, women were a beautiful meal and a one-night stand for vampire Eamon Rutherford but now he wants a companion. His less than perfect choice is temperamental ballerina Lauryl Mellis. When she escapes from him in London, Eamon discovers that to find a new love he must first love someone other than himself but even if he can do that it might be short lived if Lauryl has her way.

Alison Beightol works as a registered nurse but also studied history and theatre at the University of Florida. For as long as she can remember, she has had an affinity for vampire stories, romance, and gothic tales that keep her up at night. Blood Betrayal: Book One of the Primigenio Tales is her first novel. Alison lives in a haunted house in rural north Florida where she is putting the final touches on book two of the Primigenio Tales: Blood of New Beginnings.

Find Alison on Facebook and at her Website.