A Love Story You Can Sink Your Teeth Into

“The Vampire Memoirs”--”an intimate odyssey into the life and times of a 1,600-year-old vampire”--is co-authored by Mara McCuniff and Traci Briery.

Sounds reasonable enough--except that anyone who reads the paperback horror novel’s prologue will discover that Mara McCuniff is actually the main character: a woman born in a tiny British village in the 4th Century, becoming first a warrior, then a wife and mother. Having been transformed into a vampire at 31, she’s now a “creature of the night” living in present-day Los Angeles.

Briery is actually the real author of what she calls a “romantic vampire love story.”

“Because it’s supposed to be written like an autobiography,” she said, “I did it just to have fun with it: ‘Is this an autobiography or not?’ ”

“The Vampire Memoirs” (Zebra; $4.95) is the 23-year-old Newport Beach resident’s first novel.

Briery, who earned a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures and television at UCLA, began writing “The Vampire Memoirs” as a freshman in 1985. Writing between classes, she said, it took her about three years to complete the book.

Briery said she came up with the character of Mara first, noting that “Conan the Barbarian” was big at the time. “Working with the character I came up with the idea of what if she were in the 20th Century? I figured she had to be immortal to do that.”

And to be immortal she naturally had to become a vampire--a fate that occurs 10 chapters into the novel.

Briery sold “The Vampire Memoirs” to Zebra without the benefit of a literary agent, earning a modest $1,500 advance.

“I’ve heard that’s pretty standard,” she said. “Zebra is a small company,”

Although she’s looking for a job in film animation, she plans to continue writing books for a while. “This is a hobby that’s actually paid me something,” she said, adding that she finds writing books easier than screenplays, which are too “technical” for her taste.

She plans to find an agent, however, before she tries to sell her next book: a sequel to “The Vampire Memoirs.”

And for the sequel, she’s thinking of just having her name on the byline.

“I even have the character say, ‘This won’t be published under my real name,’ so I can just use mine,” she said.

“Writing for Love, Art and Money,” the second annual Writers’ Conference at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, will be held Saturday.

The conference fee, which includes a buffet lunch, is $79. For more information, call (714) 582-4646.

Featured speakers at the daylong conference are David Brin--whose novels “The Postman” and “Startide Rising” have each won Hugo and Nebula awards as outstanding works of science fiction--and James Frey, author of eight thriller and mystery novels. Brin will discuss “What All Writers Can Learn From Science Fiction”; Frey’s topic is “Literary Intimacy: How Writers Establish Effective Contact With Readers.”

Brin and Frey are among a dozen writers, editors and literary agents who will speak. They are:

* Diana Griego Erwin, an Orange County Register columnist who won a Pulitzer Prize as a reporter at the Denver Post. She’ll speak on “New Nonfiction: Fictional Techniques Tell the Story.”

* Karen Grove, children’s book editor at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., on “What Children’s Book Editors Need.”

* Adrienne Jones, author of young adult works, on “Writing for Young Adults.”

* Sherwood Kiraly, a Laguna Beach author (“California Rush”), on “Life After the First Novel.”

* Pat Kubis, novelist, writing instructor and author (“The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction, Nonfiction and Publishing”), on “Structuring Your Novel.”

* Linda Brown Michelson, founding editor of Crosscurrents, a literary journal, on “Magazines: The Fiction Writer’s Lifeblood.”

* Dan Poynter, author and publisher, on “When Self-Publishing Makes Sense.”

* Alice Shertle, picture book author, on “Writing the Picture and Young Reader Book.”

* Elizabeth VanSteenwyk, author of books for young people, on “Writing Books for the Upper Grades.”

* Sandra Watt, owner of Associates Literary and Talent Agency, on “When You’re Ready to Write for Money.”

Book Signings: William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (co-authors of “The Difference Engine”) will sign from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today at Book Carnival, 870 N. Tustin Ave., Orange. . . . Col. Clarence “Bud” Anderson (“To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace”), Ray Toliver (“Fighter General”) and Col. Jack Broughton (“Going Downtown”) will sign from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the King’s Crown Gallery, 13011 Newport Ave., Tustin. . . . Children’s book author and illustrator Eric Carle (“The Very Young Caterpillar”) will sign from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Children’s Book Cottage, 30100 Town Center Drive, Laguna Niguel. . . . Irvine psychologist Steven Hendlin (“The Discriminating Mind”) will sign from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Martha’s Bookstore, 308 Marine Ave., Balboa Island.

Critical Thinking: Writer Joseph N. Bell, who taught nonfiction writing at UC Irvine for many years and until recently wrote a column for the Orange County edition of the Los Angeles Times, will discuss “Critical Thinking in Orange County and the World” at 11:30 a.m. March 19 in the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave. Cost: $3.50. For reservations call (714) 842-4481.

Book Talk: The work of author John Updike will be discussed at the Let’s Talk Books meeting at 10 a.m. today at the Newport Center Library, 856 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 644-3191.

More Book Talk: The Arts: Anything About Music, Art or Literature will be discussed at the Let’s Talk Books meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Main Library, 101 N. Center St., Orange.

Women’s History: “Women’s Voices: A Celebration of Women’s History” is the topic of Steve Mellow’s Readers’ Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, 31495 El Camino Real. Orange County authors who will read are Emily Coleman (“Growing Old Gracefully”) and Doris Walker (“Landing in Castro’s Cuba”).