Nancy A. Collins (born September 10, 1959) is an American

horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

writer best known for her series of

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

novels featuring her character Sonja Blue. Collins has also written for comic books, including the ''

Swamp Thing Swamp Thing is a superhero and antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing has had several different incarnations throughout his publication. The ch ...

'' (vol. 2) series, ''Jason vs. Leatherface'', ''Predator: Hell Come A' Walkin and her own one-shot issue '' Dhampire: Stillborn''. Collins was born in

McGehee McGehee is a city in Desha County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 4,219 at the 2010 census. History The history of the city of McGehee and the history of the railroad through McGehee are intricately interwoven. The history of ...

, Arkansas, United States. She lived in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana in the 1980s; after time in New York City and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia she moved about the South for several years, living in coastal North Carolina and Virginia, before settling in Macon, Georgia in 2019.

Writing

Collins has written numerous novels since 1989, most of which refer to and directly include races of creatures the author calls Pretenders, monsters from myth and legend passing as human to better hunt their prey. She is best known for Sonja Blue, a young woman with demonic powers who after being taught by an older male mentor, hunts and kills vampires. Her first appearance was in 1989. A. Asbjørn Jøn notes possible intertextual links between the Whistler character in the 1998 movie ''

Blade A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...

'' and a character named Whistler in the Sonja Blue novel, ''A Dozen Black Roses'' (1996), as they possess "striking similarities in role, dramatic focus, visual appearance, and sharing the name". Margaret L. Carter, in her article on 20th century vampire fiction, listed ''Sunglasses After Dark'' as one of the 13 most influential vampire novels published after 1970, particularly in the way Collins depicted vampires as parasitic beings with no identity of their own who 'borrow' the memories of their hosts.

Bibliography

Chapbooks

* ''The Tortuga Hill Gang's Last Ride: The True Story'' (1991) * ''Cold Turkey'' (1992) * ''Voodoo Chile'' (2002) * ''The Thing From Lover's Lane'' (2003)

Non-fiction

* ''The Big Book of Losers'' (1996) * ''Drawn Swords - "Foreword" (2017) * ''From Bayou To Abyss: Examining John Constantine, Hellblazer'' - "What Do You Do With An Undead Sailor?" (2020) * ''REH Changed My Life'' - "REH: Opener of the Way" (2021)

Comic books

* ''

'' (vol. 2) ( DC/

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

, 1991–1993) * '' Jason vs. Leatherface'' (

Topps Comics Topps Comics was a division of Topps Company, Inc. that published comic books from 1993 to 1998, beginning its existence during a short comics-industry boom that attracted many investors and new companies. It was based in New York City, at 254 3 ...

, 1995) * ''Sunglasses After Dark'' ( Verotik Publications, 1995–1997) * ''Machina Jones'' (

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

, 1995) * '' Dhampire: Stillborn'' (Vertigo, 1996; DC Comics, 1997) * '' Predator: Hell Come A' Walkin''' (

Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person, team or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, that is unlikely to succeed but has a fighting chance, unlike the underdog who is exp ...

, 1996) * ''

Vampirella Vampirella () is a vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of '' Creepy'' and ''E ...

'' (

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

, 2014–2016) * '' Sunglasses After Dark: Full Blooded Edition'' ( IDW, 2015) * '' Army of Darkness: Furious Road'' (

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded in 2004 by Nick Barrucci in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, known for publishing comic book adaptations of licensed feature film properties, such as ''Army of Darkness'', '' Terminator ...

, 2016) * '' Swamp Thing by Nancy A. Collins Omnibus'' (

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

DC Black Label DC Black Label (also referred to simply as Black Label) is an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics consisting of original miniseries and reprints of books previously published under other imprints. The imprint intends to present t ...

, 2020)

Awards

Other

She is the founder of the International Horror Guild.

References

External links

*
Collins' "True Blue - The Official Sonja Blue Blog"Myspace Golgotham

Nancy A. Collins on GoodReads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Nancy A. American horror novelists Erotic horror writers American comics writers American female comics writers 20th-century American novelists Writers from Arkansas Novelists from Louisiana Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) 1959 births Living people American erotica writers 21st-century American novelists American women short story writers People from McGehee, Arkansas American women horror writers American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American women erotica writers DC Comics people Marvel Comics writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers