I have a guest post today from author Glenn Bullion on why he thinks zombies are so fascinating to readers right now. Glenn lives in Maryland with his wonderful wife and four cats. He loves gaming, computer technology, movies, and of course, reading and writing. He loves science fiction and especially horror and the paranormal. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies, anything supernatural, all beautiful subjects.
He's been writing since he was twelve years old. There’s just something about creating a story that he likes. He always tries come up with something that hasn’t been done, or is unique in some way. It could be someone with demonic powers, or something much more simple, such as a person that zombies ignore. It’s fun to create a character, give him or her a personality and background, and watch them evolve through a story.
He has tried other subjects, but always drifts back to horror and paranormal. There’s a reason why we keep going back to horror movies and books, why they’ve made fifty Friday the 13th movies. People like to be scared, but more than that, he thinks paranormal and horror stir the imagination like nothing else. We’re all just a little nervous to open that closet door at midnight, or look under the bed.
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What is it about zombies that fascinates us so much as an audience? It seems the zombie is more popular than ever. The stories of the dead rising from the grave definitely got a kick start when George Romero put together Night of the Living Dead. But now we’ve got zombie-comedies, zombie-romances, a zombie television show. The zombie tale has had some twists and turns in its formula along the way (running zombies, anyone?), and there are a lot of people out there wanting to put their own twist on the shambling hordes, myself included. I wrote Dead Living, a story of what life would be like two decades after the zombies take over.
I’ve written about vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, ghosts, and of course, zombies. I couldn’t wait to tear into Dead Living, and I know I watched Land of the Dead countless times to get in the right mood for it. There’s something about zombies I think capture the imagination a little more than say a vampire or werewolf. It could be simply that those guys have had their day in the sun, but there are some differences with a zombie. Of course there’s the supernatural part of it. Dead people can’t get back up and walk. But the idea almost seems possible. A creature that doesn’t age and burns in the sun. A human that can take the shape of a wolf. Utterly impossible. But taking a corpse, making it move? Maybe with the help of a government-type virus? It’s definitely enough to whet the imagination.
Unlike vampires and werewolves, they don’t have super strength, can’t turn into a bat or wolf. Their strength comes in numbers, and I think that adds to the horror of a zombie apocalypse. Stake one or two vampires, and the threat is over. The threat is never over with a zombie. Even a vampire gets full. A zombie will never stop until the victim is dead.
Even people who don’t typically enjoy zombie stories will happily discuss the “what if?” What would you do if the zombies came? Where would you go? How would you prepare? It’s fun to simply entertain the idea, come up with different scenarios.
Dead Living gave me the opportunity to really let loose with my imagination. I didn’t have to create a story that was confined in the rules of modern society. In a zombie apocalypse, a lot of rules get thrown out the window. Everything changes. Some people would band together, others would tear each other apart. If unchecked, society would collapse. The entire world would never be the same, and it was fun to try to imagine that, put it into words. Imagine a still, quiet world, struggling to survive day to day, scavenging for food and supplies, and then looking over the hill to see two hundred slow moving corpses coming your way. What would you do?
I’m going to have to get started on a sequel soon.
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What is it about zombies that fascinates us so much as an audience? It seems the zombie is more popular than ever. The stories of the dead rising from the grave definitely got a kick start when George Romero put together Night of the Living Dead. But now we’ve got zombie-comedies, zombie-romances, a zombie television show. The zombie tale has had some twists and turns in its formula along the way (running zombies, anyone?), and there are a lot of people out there wanting to put their own twist on the shambling hordes, myself included. I wrote Dead Living, a story of what life would be like two decades after the zombies take over.
I’ve written about vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, ghosts, and of course, zombies. I couldn’t wait to tear into Dead Living, and I know I watched Land of the Dead countless times to get in the right mood for it. There’s something about zombies I think capture the imagination a little more than say a vampire or werewolf. It could be simply that those guys have had their day in the sun, but there are some differences with a zombie. Of course there’s the supernatural part of it. Dead people can’t get back up and walk. But the idea almost seems possible. A creature that doesn’t age and burns in the sun. A human that can take the shape of a wolf. Utterly impossible. But taking a corpse, making it move? Maybe with the help of a government-type virus? It’s definitely enough to whet the imagination.
Unlike vampires and werewolves, they don’t have super strength, can’t turn into a bat or wolf. Their strength comes in numbers, and I think that adds to the horror of a zombie apocalypse. Stake one or two vampires, and the threat is over. The threat is never over with a zombie. Even a vampire gets full. A zombie will never stop until the victim is dead.
Even people who don’t typically enjoy zombie stories will happily discuss the “what if?” What would you do if the zombies came? Where would you go? How would you prepare? It’s fun to simply entertain the idea, come up with different scenarios.
Dead Living gave me the opportunity to really let loose with my imagination. I didn’t have to create a story that was confined in the rules of modern society. In a zombie apocalypse, a lot of rules get thrown out the window. Everything changes. Some people would band together, others would tear each other apart. If unchecked, society would collapse. The entire world would never be the same, and it was fun to try to imagine that, put it into words. Imagine a still, quiet world, struggling to survive day to day, scavenging for food and supplies, and then looking over the hill to see two hundred slow moving corpses coming your way. What would you do?
I’m going to have to get started on a sequel soon.
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Blurb from the author ~
It didn’t take long for the world to die. And it didn’t take long, either, for the dead to rise.
Born on the day everything ended, a world filled with the walking dead is the only one that Aaron knows. Kept in seclusion, his family teaches him the basics. How to read and write. How to survive.
Then Aaron makes a shocking discovery. The undead, who desire nothing but flesh, ignore him. It’s as if he’s invisible to them.
The survivors of the old suburb of Lexington call a high school their home. They live day to day, without any of the luxuries mankind used to enjoy. Samantha is a product of the new world. Alone, cold, looking out only for herself. She and the other residents of Lexington feel their hope dwindling. They need change. They need someone who can face the corpses. They need someone who can live in a city of the dead.
They need Aaron.
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Seeing how characters adapt and survive is what I love the most about zombie books. I'm a zombie fan and I'm always thinking about how I would do if/when they came. Eeek! I'd be the first to go haha. Dang I'd probably start the whole apocalypse. Oops!
ReplyDeleteI would definitely die off in the first wave. :D
DeleteBraaaiiiiiiinnnnns! <3 Zombies.
ReplyDelete