In late 2004, I came across an article from Jerusalem about bulldozers accidentally breaking into old tombs. These tombs were eerie not only because they were in the Field of Blood, where Judas died after betraying Christ, but because of the surprising number of empty ossuaries.
Where had all the bones gone?
An idea was sparked. I imagined a group of evil undead rising up to confront a small group of righteous ones still wandering the earth. I would call it the Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy.
I traveled to Romania in 2005, to Israel in 2007, and collected reams of research. Thanks to a bold publisher and editor, the first in this epic tale, Field of Blood, was released in 2008. It was deeply researched, dark, and biblical. It explored the power in the Nazarene Blood like nothing I have ever read, hearkening back to The Screwtape Letters andThis Present Darkness, but with an ultramodern twist.
I was still working 30 hours a week at Kinko's, trying to write 30 hours a week on the side. Even with four previous books published, my career was far from established.
A vampire trilogy? Stuck in the Christian market? This was hardly a good career move.
I was about to get a call, though, which would change everything--more details in my next blog. In some odd way, a tale of the undead would be the very thing which revived my career.
I was also about to make my dumbest career move yet.
Eric Wilson
I actually met the archaeologist who mapped the tombs in the Field of Blood. When I told of my story idea, she said, "I hope your book is scary, because it is a very scary place."