Chuck Hogan has his work cut out for him

Not everyone who showed up at a recent casting call for "The Town” was looking for a role in the Ben Affleck film. In fact, one tall fellow lurking outside the auditions in Charlestown was just there to gawk. Chuck Hogan, author of “Prince of Thieves,” the book on which movie is based, said he couldn't resist. “Of course I went down there. I was curious,” Hogan told us the other day. While he isn't involved in making “The Town,” he is excited that homeboy Ben is directing and starring alongside with Rebecca Hall. (Hogan said his wife likes to play casting director while he writes and mentioned Affleck long before the actor signed on to make the movie.) It’s probably for the best that he isn’t working on the movie because he's busy doing publicity for his new book, “The Strain,” the first in a series of vampire tales co-authored with "Pan’s Labyrinth" director Guillermo del Toro. “The Strain” is about grotesque vampires who sleep in the dirt. It’s the opposite of “Twilight,” but Hogan isn't opposed to the sexy-teenager version of the vampire myth. “My wife loves it. She’d never let me bad mouth it,” he said. Because del Toro will be spending much of next year in New Zealand making “The Hobbit,” Hogan said the pair will have to in Middle Earth. Hogan reads from “The Strain” at the Brookline Booksmith tonight at 7 p.m.