FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — David Salkin is a busy man. He serves on the Township Committee, runs a jewelry business and he has just published his fourth novel— his first in the horror genre.

His previous books were in the military espionage, action adventure and crime thriller genres.

Salkin’s latest novel, “Forever Hunger,” is also an e-book and is available at Amazon.com: Forever Hunger eBook: David Salkin Kindle Store.

“This is my fourth published novel, but my first foray into the horror genre. It actually wasn’t too big a leap from writing a crime thriller to writing a vampire story. Let’s face it, a serial killer who eats his victims is going to attract the police,” Salkin teased.

“It’s a horror story. It’s a vampire romance. It’s a crime thriller. It’s an urban fantasy. It’s all of those things at once … which means publishers get nervous, wondering what they should call it. I call it an urban fantasy, crime thriller, horror, vampire romance. That should just about cover it,” he said.

Salkin, a native of Freehold Township, majored in English literature and communications at Rutgers University. He said the first book he wrote, “Hard Carbon,” has not yet been published.

“It was based on real science in the diamond industry, which I found so fascinating that it led to an idea for a story I just had to write,” he said.

His first published book by Berkley Books in 2007 was “Crescent Fire.” That novel has just been released as an audio book. “Necessary Extremes” was also published in 2007. He self-published “The MOP” in 2009.

When asked why he decided to write something that is such a departure from his other novels, Salkin said, “Writers are told to write in one genre by their publishers, to build an audience. Commercially, it makes sense. … With that said, Michael Crichton was one of my favorite authors of all time, and every story was a different genre, a different style, a different voice, and they were all fantastic. Being locked into one genre is a result of being successful to the point that your sequel is in demand by a huge audience. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been my problem yet,” he said.

Salkin said he writes about what interests him.

“I wrote a vampire story, quite honestly, because they are commercially popular and I wanted a book contract. But as I thought about a story, what I came up with was just plain old fun to write. This one has maybe been the most fun so far, because there are zero rules when writing fantasy/horror.

“I wanted a vampire story that was different and I think I’ve succeeded. In most vampire series, the good guys believe in vampires, they are even vampire hunters. But I wanted a contemporary-styled story. The New York Police Department and the FBI track a serial killer … they do not believe in vampires, but the DNA evidence just doesn’t make sense until they open their mind to the unthinkable.

“I liked the science end of concocting this story, as well as developing cop characters who were cool, likeable, funny, and real who are chasing a horrific creature with his unique personality,” Salkin said. “I can already see it as a movie in my head.”

He said he loves writing because it gives him total freedom of expression and creativity.

“I can kill anyone I want. I can be hilarious. I can be evil, but most of all, I like to be entertaining. I want to write stories people can’t put down. That’s a thriller,” he explains.