To call Andy Gavin a “serial creator who doesn’t sleep much” is a bit of an understatement. He co-founded the video game development company Naughty Dog when he was just fifteen, and went on to oversee the creation of more than a dozen video games, including bestselling and award-winning titles like Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter, not to mention that he made some of them while studying for his PhD at MIT.

So when he turned his attention to writing fiction in 2008, his fans knew to expect an ambitious, breath-taking adventure.

And they weren’t disappointed. Andy released the dark fantasy The Darkening Dream during the holidays, with paperback and hardcover versions that should be on shelves by the end of January.

The prestigious Kirkus Reviews calls the debut “a vampire novel with actual bite… a mash-up of Greco-Roman mythology, Judeo-Christian imagery and the occult…. Gavin’s writing also hints at a wonderfully twisted sense of humor.” The story is set in 1913, when modern science and steel girders have left little room for the supernatural. But the old forces still gather. God, demon, and sorcerer alike converge on Salem, Massachusetts, and only a few brave teenagers stand in their way.

“I've always been a huge vampire fan,” says Andy. “But as a history buff I wanted to write a supernatural story that was more grounded in real history and legend. I started with the villains. What kind of ancient evil creatures might still be around? What might they want? I don't exactly answer the questions, because the motives of 5,000 year-old baddies should be mysterious. But trust me, they have a plan, and the sheer audacity of it will literally shake the foundations of the heavens.”

The Darkening Dream went through nine drafts over two years. The final manuscript is a trim 95,000 words compared to the 186,000 the story carried at its longest. Andy says “the endless re-reading and careful editing was a tad tedious (although I do a lot of it!). Sitting down to read the entire book again for the 50th time took some serious willpower.”

But “transforming scenes from my mind’s eye to paper is my favorite part of writing. Particularly any with al-Nasir in them (my 900 year-old vampire). He's just so deliciously evil.”

Andy enlisted the help of The Editorial Department early, and worked with four different editors as the novel evolved: Jen Howard, RJ Cavender, Shannon Roberts, and Renni Browne. RJ, who specializes in horror writing, calls The Darkening Dream “inventive, unexpected, and more than a little bit creepy.”

When faced with the long and ambiguous process of finding an agent, and then the typical wait of more than a year to release a novel, Andy joined the growing ranks of authors who publish independently. He commissioned an original cover design from an award-winning artist, submitted the manuscript to professional reviewers (like Kirkus), and developed a comprehensive marketing plan, including an online “Naughty Dark” contest, to fully integrate the community of readers and fans who have followed his journey through his blog. (You can read all of Andy’s articles about writing and publishing here.)

Fortunately for readers, Andy likes to stay busy. Even as he juggles the details of independent publishing, he also just finished the final round of edits for his next novel, a time-bending adventure called Untimed. Look for another Andy Gavin release later in 2012.

Find out more and follow Andy Gavin:

http://andy-gavin-author.com

http://www.facebook.com/andygavin

http://twitter.com/asgavin

http://goodreads.com/asgavin