'Dark Shadows' Star Pens Her Own Vampire Tale

Kathryn Leigh Scott, star of the 1960s cult classic TV soap opera Dark Shadows, has written her own vampire story set in New York City during the 1960s.

A publication party to celebrate the release of Dark Passages was held Sunday at Diesel, a Bookstore in Brentwood Country Mart.

Like Scott, the main character in her book, Meg Harrison, moves to New York to fulfill her dream of becoming an actress. She gets a job working as a Playboy Bunny, then joins the cast of a hit soap opera.

But that’s where the similarities end, because Harrison is a vampire.

“I’ve written several nonfiction books about Dark Shadows, but by writing Dark Passages I’m sort of satisfying my itch to write about that time and that place and incorporate elements of fantasy, horror and romance into my own story about a vampire,” Scott said.

The novel is set during the turbulence of the early 1960s and is bookended by the Cuban Missile Crisis at the beginning and the assassination of President Kennedy at the end.

In the story, Harrison arrives in New York determined not to use her vampiric gifts to advance her acting career. She joins the cast of the cult hit Dark Passages only to face her nemesis, a beautiful 300-year-old witch bent on destroying her.

“I took my cue from [actor] Jonathan Frid, who created his own very special iconic vampire, Barnabas Collins, and I created my own world of vampires,” Scott said.

Katrina Leffler of Century City was at Diesel for the party because she had read the book and loved it. She said she couldn’t believe how realistic the characters were.

“I finished the book and I just wanted to know who all the characters were, because it felt like they were real,” Leffler said. “I knew that some of the story is based on actual events, except that Kathryn is not a vampire—at least I don’t think she is!”

Dark Passages is not just for horror fans and would appeal to people who like love stories or soap operas, Leffler said.

“I am not a horror fan at all and I loved it. It’s just really fun,” she said.

Scott recently traveled to London to play a cameo in the movie version of Dark Shadows being directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfieffer and Helena Bonham Carter.

“I find that Dark Shadows is still very much a part of my life,” Scott said.

Dark Passages is available at Diesel and other bookstores for $14.95.