Woodbridge Lion is Local Author

Written by Emily Busse, CAPM Executive Program Support Information Technology Services Office Department of Homeland Security 7th & D Street 5640-09 (O) 202-447-5647

ITSO Employee Spotlight Employee Profile at a Glance Name: Hope Burke Division: Enterprise Services Division (ESD) Title: Executive Assistant

Hope Laraine Burke aka Hope Cunningham, Hope Jensen, Hope Willett and Hope Boggs. These aren’t aliases, code names or call signs; they are the pen names the ITSO ESD team member and Woodbridge Lion used as a published author. ITSO Insider recently sat down with Hope to discuss the interests and experiences that inspired her to write the book “Blood Times 2 (BX2).” While you won’t read about covert operatives or espionage, you will find something just as good – Voodoo and vampires.

Given the recent popularity of vampirism in books, television, and film, it might be tempting to assume “Blood Times 2 (BX2)” was inspired by pop-culture and the entertainment industry. Not so – Hope isn’t a fan of HBO’s “True Blood”, nor does she follow the “Twilight” series. “I came to be interested in vampires on my own” Hope explains. “Blood Times 2 (BX2)” was “created from fusing the supernatural world, with the world that I know”, Hope says of the tale. The book chronicles the modern-day adventures of adult twin sisters, separated at birth and reunited in Virginia Beach on the eve of their 39th birthdays, just in time to die and become vampires. “I took little bits and pieces from what I have known to decide what [the vampires’] starting powers would be. As they progress in age, they progress in power.”

While Hope’s interest in vampires may have developed naturally, creating the characters in “Blood Times 2 (BX2)” involved consulting outside sources. Hope gives credit to Anne Rice, her favorite writer, and author of “Interview with a Vampire.” She also relied on books such as “Vampires for Dummies” to help her create realistic and accurate characters.

The vampires in “Blood Times 2 (BX2)” come with some special twists: their biological mother is a Wiccan priestess and their father was enslaved by a Voodoo mambo. Weaving these additional supernatural elements into the story required some special research. Fortunately, insight was available from a friend with first-hand experience, who as Hope explains “claims to be a Wiccan priestess…she actually marries people legally now using her Wiccan priestess power.” With no Voodoo mambos among her circle of friends (perhaps a good thing), Hope engaged in “a lot of education deep into Voodoo” to become acquainted with the topic and admits that her research “actually freaked a couple of people at work out.”

Speaking of work, the one thing that Hope thinks the folks at ITSO and in Woodbridge should know about her writing? “Don’t read the book unless you want to know how warped my mind is” Hope advises.

Consider yourself warned. __________________________________________________________________________

In her own words…. The most challenging part of writing: trying to keep my opinion to myself

On finding the time to write: my favorite thing to do is go to Panera Bread early in the morning, sit there, drink coffee, and write

The logic behind vampire-mania: people are obsessed with vampires because they do what we can’t do, or what we wouldn’t do, but dream about.

For more information, contact Lion Hope Boggs at 703-565-3495, my email is LionHopeBoggs@hotmail.com, or check out our website at http://valions.org/woodbridge.
Email me a copy of any article you see about Blood Times Two.  Good or bad, I'll post it here.