What happens when you take the vampire — old money, endless time, effortless power — and strip all of that away? Award-winning journalist and author Michael J. Seidlinger joins Big Blend Radio's “Toast to the Arts” Podcast to talk about his satirical horror novella Brokeula, the story of James Sugre: a vampire who's been broke for centuries and finally cracks, launching a not-entirely-legal multi-level marketing scheme that turns humans into vampires for a fee.

Watch the episode below or download/listen to the audio version on Podbean:

The idea started as a joke over breakfast with Michael's brother-in-law and nephew during one of their annual "nerd weekend" visits — a riff on vampire tropes that spiraled into a full novella about financial strain, greed, and what it means to be immortal and still broke. In this conversation, Michael and Lisa dig into the marketing schemes hiding inside AI hype, the psychology of MLMs, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, cryptocurrency and perceived value, and why horror is one of the sharpest tools going for social commentary.

James Sugre has never been this broke before in his centuries of living. Down and out, he's had a terrible string of luck investing in companies crippled by fraud and always late to the next crypto fad. He spends most of his time in his coffin, too broke to go out in public.

As the video game industry reaches record-breaking heights, Sugre tries his luck one more time with his own game studio. When he encounters a game developer and self-professed fan of vampire lore named Lauren, Sugre becomes hopeful that his luck might finally be on the up-and-up. But the market is rocky, and nothing is as stable as "un-death." Sugre learns the hard way that a dollar is worth more than a drop of blood. Trading immortality for cash, Sugre and Lauren create a not-entirely-legal business: turning humans into vampires, for a fee. The business expands, but Vampire Nation has to protect its own investments — and Sugre learns the hard truth of the system he can't escape.

Brokeula (CLASH Books, July 7, 2026) is out now in paperback.

Michael J. Seidlinger is the first-generation Filipino-American author of Anybody Home?, On Submission, The Body Harvest, and other books. He has written for Wired, Buzzfeed, Polygon, Publishers Weekly, and more. Learn more at michaeljseidlinger.com.

This is an exceptionally interesting novel — extremely different, and although it might not be the kind of book you would normally read, it's well worth checking out. It's a quick read that takes you down a pathway invoking otherworldly thoughts. Are there, or have there ever been, vampires? Are they walking among us? Would you know one if you met one?

Eastern European folk tales bring us historical figures of the 15th century, like the Wallachian prince Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Dracula), creating the popular stories in entertainment today. Wallachia is a historical region in southern Romania, situated between the Southern Carpathians and the Danube River.

My grandmother on my father's side came from Hungary, bringing with her tales like Dracula and superstitions like: "Never allow a cat to jump over you — it will bring bad luck. You can, however, pet them."

— Nancy J. Reid, Big Blend Radio