As an enterprising ’hard studying’ medical student at the University of Amsterdam, I necessarily felt the need for a refreshing pilsner a couple of times a week. I discovered, in a side street of the Leidseplein, the most wonderful bar, called ’Eijlders’. There I met many mystical and mysterious people from the Dutch Antilles who, over drinks, regaled me with stories of voodoo and vampires. This was the basis for upcoming paranormal novel ’The Robot and the Vampire ’.