Guillermo del Toro loves vampires. That’s hardly a newsflash – this, after all, is the man who started his movie career in 1993 by reinventing the vampiric wheel with the starkly beautiful horror film, Cronos. Then came the flashy comic book thriller, Blade II, with its evolved vamps, the Reapers. And now, for his next trick, the Mexican filmmaker is moving onto the printed page.

Even though most filmmakers would be buckling under the strain of a schedule that sees him currently prepping The Hobbit movies, along with about 827 diferent projects, Del Toro has teamed up with acclaimed horror author, Chuck Hogan, to write The Strain, a trilogy of books about a vampire attack on the world that could see mankind wiped out within a couple of months.

The first book is due out on June 2nd, and Harper Collins has just released a brief video introduction from Del Toro, talking about his influences for the book, his fascination with vampires, and his desire to create a truly scary vampire novel. Click below to see that.

But FearZone has a Q&A with both Del Toro and Hogan, in which they talk more about the books, their working methods and inspirations. It’s fascinating stuff.

“The third novel is absolutely enormous both in its implications and its reach. It rephrases vampirism in a completely fresh way,” promises Del Toro, before revealing that The Strain won’t be coming to the big screen anytime soon.

“I believe it would be ideal to create a limited cable series out of it,” he says, “and not to extend it into a network run, where characters die only when the ratings do.”

For more from Del Toro and Hogan on how The Strain first got into their systems, click here.