Killer without rhyme or reason...

At first, BLOOD SACRAMENT was completely different from the novel you've read, and not at all in a good way. I believed I had written the next blockbuster (but who doesn't?). It's hard to see the flaws in your own baby, but this story wasn't ready to be released to the world even though I tried to get it out through the traditional methods of agents and small press publishers. No one was interested in even looking at it. And even though that never changed, I'm glad now that few saw it back then. First problem: the killer. Originally he had been abused as an altar boy by a parish priest (yawn!), and that's how his mind got twisted. Through the Voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he was going to seek revenge by killing Catholic priests. Lots of them. Until he got caught, I suppose. But there was no rhyme or reason, and no way for the investigators to find a pattern to aid them in their pursuit. And the first title was, ridiculously enough, ALTAR BOY. How pathetic!

I can't believe that I couldn't see the problem. First the whole premise was derivative, and then there really could be no way, except through blind luck, that anyone could have caught him. It took a long time for me to see that flaw, and when I did, I fixed it...partially.

More about the killer's "evolution" to follow...