Local horror author makes timely debut.
By Josh Popichak; Editor

"I'm just thrilled," he said during a recent interview at Braveheart Highland Pub in Hellertown, shortly before traveling to Clinton, N.J., for a reading and book signing at The Clinton Bookshop.

Requiem, Deibert explained, was written as a kind of response to the more traditional vampire tales which one might find in bookstores.

"I always liked vampires...(but) I was not happy with the way vampires are destroyed," he said.

Advertisement Traditionalists, he went on to say, demand that a vampire be killed with a wooden stake through the heart.

In Deibert's novel, the methods for execution include beheading, drowning and fire.

"Anne Rice and all of the others...they might not be happy with me, but sometimes you've got to change things," he said.

Requiem is the second novel which Deibert, a letter carrier, has written.

His first book, 95 Bravo, he began in 1974, and later sold to an Australian e-book publisher for publication online.

A military romance novel, 95 Bravo is now being shopped around to print publishers, Deibert explained.

Requiem, written decades later, and after a long hiatus from writing, was finished in 2003.

"It was probably in 2005 I guess that I seriously started looking for a print publisher," he went on to say.

This proved to be a time-consuming process.

The novel was rejected by numerous publishing houses, but Deibert was able to edit it, in part, because "some of the publishers pointed out the faults," he explained.

Ultimately, Requiem was purchased by Mundania Press, a small publisher known for its horror genre books.

And Deibert's novel fits squarely into the horror genre.

The central character in the book is Lani Jorgensen, a vampire whose exploits throughout the centuries are described in Requiem.

Lani's story begins in 1840, when she is 21.

Various adventures (and love affairs) lead the sexy Lani throughout the United States during ensuing chapters.

As Deibert explained, parts of the story take place in New York; Myrtle Beach; Williamsburg, Virginia; and "right here in the Lehigh Valley."

"There's a little bit of everything in it," Deibert said. "I think I probably put in a lot of my fantasies (and) frustrations…(and) places that I enjoy."

Although less autobiographical than his first work, Deibert said that there is something of himself in the characters he has created in Requiem.

Interestingly, both 95 Bravo and Requiem prominently feature strong female actors.

With regard to Requiem, which features a female protagonist, Deibert said, "I just thought (the book) would be stronger" with Lani in the lead. "I think a female can seduce better than a male can."

One of his favorite authors, the legendary Stephen King, would possibly agree with that point.

Other favorite authors of Deibert's include W.E.B. Griffin, a writer of detective stories and military fiction, and Alafair Burke, the author of Dead Connection.

"Whatever is fiction, you still have to make it believable," Deibert commented.

He said that he hopes to engage the reading public at more scheduled readings and book signing events in the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere, while continuing to work on a sequel for Requiem, which is presently about 25 percent finished.

Deibert said that, in addition to the sequel, he has about "a half dozen other projects underway."

Copies of Requiem for a Vampire can be purchased directly via Deibert's Web site, www.larrydeibert.com.

Currently, copies are also available at Canterbury Tales, a bookshop at Peddler's Village, in Lahaska.

Deibert said that he hopes to make the book available to horror fans at other local bookstores in the near future.

Any copies purchased from his Web site can be personally signed, he added.

Josh Popichak is the Editor of The Saucon News. He can be reached at jpopichak@lehigh-valleynewsgroup.com.