Character Interview and Giveaway: The Cowboy and the Vampire: Tucker

The Cowboy and the Vampire
Clark Hayes and Kathleen McFall
408 pages, Paperback
October 8, 2010, MIDNIGHT INK 

Reporter Lizzie Vaughan doesn’t realize it, but she has 2,000 years of royal Vampiric blood coursing through her veins. Neither she nor Tucker, her cowboy lover, has any idea that Julius, the leader of the undead, has a diabolical plan to reign over darkness for all eternity—with Lizzie at his side.
 
Lizzie battles for her life—and her soul—as she and Tucker find themselves caught up in a vampire war, pursued by hordes of Julius’ maniacal, bloodthirsty followers.

Character Interview

Today we welcome Tucker from The Cowboy and the Vampire. Tucker is a rancher from LonePine, Wyoming. A Virgo and long-time bachelor, he’s the rugged outdoorsy type and is currently in a relationship with Elizabeth “Lizzie” Vaughn, a reluctant Vampire and former journalist from New York.

Hi Tucker. What’s it like being a cowboy?

I like it well enough. Not sure I really know anything else so I may not have much of a frame of reference. It’s not for everyone I suppose and there sure ain’t no money in it. But the view is something else. I live way out on the ass-end of nowhere. There’s nothing but sagebrush as far as the eye can see. Least until you bump against the mountains. I like the peace and quiet, the clean air and doing my own thing. I’ve been to New York once and it was pretty hectic and confusing. Of course, evil Vampires was trying to kill me.
It used to be a mite lonesome here in LonePine and I guess you could say almost boring. But Rex and I, that’s my dog, got along all right. Course that all changed forever when Lizzie showed up.

Lizzie is your new girlfriend and she’s undead. What’s it like being in love with a Vampire?

Probably not much different than being in love with a regular person, only with more blood and death and whatnot. There’s a lot of give and take, a lot of learning to think about someone other than yourself — and I’d been on my own for a long time so there was a definite period of adjustment. Like the fact she dies stone cold dead every night. That’s a little creepy at first. Actually, I’m still kind of getting used to that. Plus I kind of like the sunrise and that got all blown to shit. I’m too tired to get up early any more, especially because she’s more, uhm, passionate than living folks. Her death is gonna be the death of me.

And then of course there’s the whole blood thing. She needs fresh blood to survive. She can’t even step out in the yard no more without my cattle high tailing it for the far end of the pasture and shaking in nervous fear. 

How’d you first meet?

Like most folks, it was at a bar. Here in LonePine. She was trying to get me to sit with her for an interview, which I declined. She was human then and neither of us knew about all that other stuff, but I could tell right off she was trouble. Beautiful trouble. Come to find out she’s stubborn too, like mad dog with a soup bone stubborn. The next thing I know she showed up at this jackpot roping event looking all big city glamorous with her fancy camera and it caused my horse Snort, who’s usually pretty level headed, to go all goofy. I ended up dumped on my ass with a busted nose. She brought a six pack to the trailer that night to make up for it and turns out we had a lot more in common than I thought.

Love is a peculiar thing though. We might not have lasted this long if not for the fact we were sorely tested. I’ve heard say that what don’t kill you makes you stronger and since Lizzie got killed, or unkilled, turned, whatever, I reckon our relationship couldn’t be no stronger. Turns out she’s kind of like the queen of the Vampires and all these evil sons of bitches was intent on getting their claws into her. Things got a little complicated. But we’re working through it. 

Were you scared fighting Vampires?

No, not really … actually, truth be told, yes. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. There’s nothing wrong with fear. It’s nature’s way of keeping people alive. If we wasn’t scared of things we ought to be scared of, we wouldn’t know to go out of our way to avoid them. The first time I went up against them I was scared half out of my wits. It didn’t help that one of them punched a hole damn near through me and let the night air into my internal organs. The thing is, I was never so scared that it kept me from doing what needed to be done. It helps when you have something worth fighting for. Like Lizzie. I’d do anything for Lizzie.

Fighting Vampires ain’t easy though. They’re tougher’n boot leather and damn near impossible to keep dead. But if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish almost anything. Especially if you’ve got a big-assed gun, like my Casull .454, and a road flare or two. They go up like a bundle of twigs but it makes the whole place smell like an ashtray. In a crematorium. 

Do you ever peek under the covers in daylight?


Don’t be a pervert. Of course not. All right, fine, yes. But only once … or maybe twice. But have you seen her? She’s damn fine looking. Way out my league. And smart as hell too. Not sure what she sees in me other than my rugged good looks, folksy charm and keen sense of humor. God knows it ain’t my money. 

How’s Rex?


He’s fine. A little moody. Off his feed. The whole Vampire thing throws him for a loop. He’s pretty sweet on Lizzie because she spoils him. But he hates Elita. That whole bit about trying to eat him really soured Rex on her. He has a long memory and I know this because he still begrudges me that time I took him for a teeth cleaning almost six years gone by now. He’s a pretty reliable Vampire alarm though. They must smell different. They set him off barking and growling from a half mile off and that’s upwind.

Do your friends know you’re dating a Vampire?

I really only have one friend and Lenny knows all about Lizzie. He also knows she’s one of the good ones. Lenny is an odd bird, even by LonePine standards. He’s a survivalist and pretty good at cobbling weapons together. Used to work for the government or something. He helped me come up with some pretty slick Vampire-dispatching weapons. Like a fitting wooden stakes down into 12 gauge shotguns shells.

And then Dad, of course, is pretty fond of Lizzie. More so than his own son, it seems on occasion.

What’s the future look like for you two lovebirds?

I count my lucky stars every night that Lizzie is in my life. And living in Wyoming, you can see a lot of lucky stars. She makes me better than I thought I could be. I think things are really going to mellow out and we can have kind of a normal life together. Leastwise as normal as it can be with the whole coffin in the bedroom, windows blacked out situation. It’s gonna be fine if we can just get them other Vampires to leave us alone. But they seem pretty reasonable so I bet things settle down.

Will Tucker and Lizzie be able to live the quiet life in LonePine, Wyoming? Can a cowboy and a Vampire find happiness in each other’s arms? Will the evil Vampires bent on world domination really leave them alone? Will Rex ever get that extra kibble he so richly deserves?

You’ll have to check out The Cowboy and the Vampire to find out. And do it soon. The sequel, Blood and Whiskey will be out in early 2012.









Giveaway:

Giveaways include 1 signed first edition of the original publication from 1999 and 5 signed copies of the current paperback edition open to US Shipping.

Winners will be chosen from all of those who enter via the form, leave comments at each tour stop for bonus entries.

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