Plenty of people would recognize actor James Marsters for his role as Spike on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, but did you know he has also made a contribution to the publishing industry?
Marsters wrote a one-shot comic for Dark Horse Publications entitled Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike and Dru. Marsters also narrates Jim Butcher’s fantasy-mystery series, The Dresden Files. The series’ short-story anthology, Side Jobs, will be published on October 26th with a Marsters audiobook to follow in November.
At an open conversation at New York Comic Con, Marsters entertained questions of any nature from the audience. One fan asked Marsters how he plays female characters while working on the audiobooks. Marstars replied that he was inspired by Shakespeare.
The actor admired Shakespeare’s ability to write well-rounded characters of both genders, a rare trait for the cultural time period he lived in. Marsters concluded: “So, I just pitch my voice up high and act out what I’m feeling.”
When one fan asked of his opinion Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga and L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries, he gave a two-part answer about vampire trends. The diplomatic portion: “Every generation has its own interpretation of vampirism.” Then, the naked truth: “For me, if you’re going to be a vampire be a vampire. Go feed!”
Marsters went on to reveal that the best “fire in my belly” role to date was when he played Macbeth before a London audience in 2005. One fan complimented Marsters’ “nerdy” side (which he displayed throughout the night). He replied: “Thank you. The president of the United States is a nerd. Rachel Maddow is a nerd. I can be a nerd too.” He closed the event by singing a song he recently wrote while on the set of his latest movie project.
EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this post misspelled James Marsters’ name.