tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293853192024-03-05T18:57:20.992-07:00David Dunwoody's ZombiesDave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-29920156878007995302023-08-15T04:49:00.000-06:002023-08-15T04:49:16.012-06:00Michael "Dr. Pus" West: 1957-2023<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0EZAowRTF9mMs6LvfsHQJuIXa-v34m4SnuZfZDlqh22OrQCDJmp5OcVav9GqbXujYP6Qx_7QmM39NBAoq-1HlCLj6AaB9IuQnxMqCMJONSWIhruIkchDgv6RPo20SRndtI1LQxGHnyzf-p26R054heKYOU5AXgMTVn4Dhqs1doRctymRwJAXbg/s363/Thumbnail_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="363" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0EZAowRTF9mMs6LvfsHQJuIXa-v34m4SnuZfZDlqh22OrQCDJmp5OcVav9GqbXujYP6Qx_7QmM39NBAoq-1HlCLj6AaB9IuQnxMqCMJONSWIhruIkchDgv6RPo20SRndtI1LQxGHnyzf-p26R054heKYOU5AXgMTVn4Dhqs1doRctymRwJAXbg/s320/Thumbnail_1.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dr. Michael West was better known to most round these parts as
Dr. Pus, host of the Library of the Living Dead podcast and founder of Library
of the Living Dead Press. Names aside, if you knew Doc, you had a friend for
life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For years, through his show and company, Doc promoted and then
published authors from across the spectrum. He especially liked supporting new artists.
Beyond all that he was just a nice guy, often crackling with creativity and an
enthusiasm for welcoming everyone into his tent. “You’re welcome here” was as
ubiquitous a slogan as “Zombies can’t read—hopefully you can.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The community that grew around the podcast coalesced into a
tight-knit family of writers, artists, zombie fans and people who like to read.
The Library really was about encouraging reading as much as it was about
encouraging zombies. And it was a very pro-zombie program. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Doc was a wonderful friend. Having just heard the news of
his passing, I’m still sorting through a deluge of memories. God, there are a
lot of photos out there too. I’m sure you’ll see some as we remember him. To
his loved ones, my heart goes out to you. Thank you so much for being you and
for sharing Mike with us. Nothing can repay that. (For their privacy I’m not
linking any obituary here.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Doc was a wonderful person. Wonderful to a fault, if that's
even a thing. He loved and gave so much. Even if he wasn’t feeling 100%, he’d fight
to give that much and more to someone who needed it. So many people will
remember his spirit for a long long time.</span></p>
Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-67239838837427732112021-06-09T14:58:00.002-06:002021-06-09T14:58:14.727-06:00PUNKS!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nryqUruIpwM/YMEoV72B7BI/AAAAAAAACYQ/9nuutWAA5wsUebwDdRXOK4lQNmkSCfo0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/Punk%2BV2-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="670" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nryqUruIpwM/YMEoV72B7BI/AAAAAAAACYQ/9nuutWAA5wsUebwDdRXOK4lQNmkSCfo0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Punk%2BV2-3.png" /></a></div> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">They're here, bundled into one super-sized, super-cheap edition--<a href="https://www.amazon.com/PUNK-Volumes-2-David-Dunwoody-ebook/dp/B096FVLV2H/" target="_blank">PUNK Volumes 2 & 3</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">This will likely be the last post on this blog. With the relaunch of <a href="http://daviddunwoody.com">daviddunwoody.com</a>, I'm going to be featuring new content over there, as well as on the<a href="https://www.facebook.com/empireseries" target="_blank"> Facebook page</a> (my other FB pages are similarly going inactive).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog will remain here as an archive, although some posts will eventually be copied over to DD.com. This site began in 2006 as the home of my first novel, <i>Empire,</i> in a free-to-read serial form. In the 15 years since, I've had the opportunity to connect with so many great people, and to share with you the strange fruits of my imagination. The connections forged here have helped keep me alive--make me <i>feel </i>alive. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's to a lot more living.</span><br /></p>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-61573108011102945192021-03-06T09:33:00.003-07:002021-03-06T09:43:18.457-07:00Free this weekend: PUNK<p> Need a palate cleanser after a week full of BULLSHIT? Get <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Punk-Three-Tales-David-Dunwoody-ebook/dp/B00VGJA784/" target="_blank"><b>PUNK </b></a>free on Kindle now through Sunday! Three tales of the strange and terrifying to distract you from our strange and terrifying reality. <br /><br />Get it now because this time, when the Dunwoody Vault closes, I'm covering it in molten rock and sinking it into the 10th level of HELL! That's right, 10--the secret BONUS LEVEL coded by Naughty Dog where all your missing socks are! Don't throw away your <i>last chance</i> at something resembling happiness!</p><p>This giveaway comes in advance of the release of the super-sized PUNK Vol. 2&3 bundle. Keep your eyes peeled! Actually, don't do that<br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAK47M6B_M0/YEOud-7LMWI/AAAAAAAACWc/qmDga7ErVKk-V-4YNn8RS8eRl3jRpf7uACLcBGAsYHQ/s500/tw.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="500" height="204" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAK47M6B_M0/YEOud-7LMWI/AAAAAAAACWc/qmDga7ErVKk-V-4YNn8RS8eRl3jRpf7uACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h204/tw.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-157946351228649332019-10-02T18:37:00.002-06:002019-10-02T18:37:40.777-06:00New EyesBadass adaptation by Michelle Suhar of my short story "New Eyes" from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Entities-David-Dunwoody-ebook/dp/B00AGAWA20/" target="_blank"><i>Dark Entities</i></a>.<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J-tjN_pJsmU/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J-tjN_pJsmU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Blooper reel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkOUllDAtTY" target="_blank">here</a>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-12430777004343555682018-12-21T11:18:00.000-07:002018-12-21T11:20:48.024-07:00Free reading for the holidays!Happy Holidays - apocalyptic dark fantasy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/3-Egos-David-Dunwoody-ebook/dp/B010J0VSTW" target="_blank"><b>THE 3 EGOS</b></a> is free on Kindle now through Christmas Day! Don't count on there being another Christmas. Snag it while you can! <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nGg56RL328Q/XB0uR2gmbTI/AAAAAAAACIM/Q_Flmtlo2FgaSm2AFdlhv2j-SCMQFzf9QCLcBGAs/s1600/sale.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="500" height="228" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nGg56RL328Q/XB0uR2gmbTI/AAAAAAAACIM/Q_Flmtlo2FgaSm2AFdlhv2j-SCMQFzf9QCLcBGAs/s400/sale.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-40811705024177807922018-12-10T03:34:00.003-07:002018-12-10T03:34:47.326-07:00STRANGE DEAD Series Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-85027153141982028992018-10-31T09:28:00.004-06:002018-10-31T09:29:42.470-06:00#NanoInterview: T. Fox Dunham<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Q5LEs_N2kI0ASuMQ97pVqpJsAwjzlxph4jYdjxz6pSn1c-SIfX0JGro3mGoeKT8af8odszpzvM-elRAvulvQNvpX9ykDatA8JmF_1bxehu2NU8TEIecKNm-_Qcufg1BlVeEJ/s1600/nano.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Q5LEs_N2kI0ASuMQ97pVqpJsAwjzlxph4jYdjxz6pSn1c-SIfX0JGro3mGoeKT8af8odszpzvM-elRAvulvQNvpX9ykDatA8JmF_1bxehu2NU8TEIecKNm-_Qcufg1BlVeEJ/s1600/nano.png" /></a></div>
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DD: Thanks for plugging in, <a href="http://tfoxdunham.com/" target="_blank">Fox</a>! Tell us about your most recent projects.<br />
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TFD: October has me on the move every hour of the day, and I’m always struggling to promote horror and just enjoy it. My show, What Are You Afraid Of? Horror & Paranormal Show has just reached episode 100. +100 hours of interviews, paranormal investigators, horror authors, horror fiction, ghost stories, banter, music and sketches. You can imagine this is a busy time for us, so we provide extra content and more shows right through Halloween. You can find the shows at www.whatareyouafraidofpodcast.com. <br />
So right now it’s mostly promotion, social media. I organized and hosted a horror reading at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, one of America’s oldest haunted sites, my Ravenloft D&D sessions, and I’m busy working on a crime short story for a high profile project. I also did an article on writing the modern ghost story based on the work I’ve done interviewing both paranormal authors and studying ghostlore over the last three years.<br />
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DD: Your novel <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mercy-T-Fox-Dunham-ebook/dp/B01CAXDQ46/" target="_blank">MERCY</a> was an incredibly emotional and visceral tale. What's the backstory?<br />
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TFD: I thank you for writing a blurb for the back.<br />
I wrote Mercy as a catharsis for the suffering I have endured. And here goes the story again. At 18, I was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma, two types actually growing in the same malignancies: large cell (non-hodgkins) and hodgkins disease. I’m the 10th documented person in the world to have this rare cancer, and no one had survived before. My doctors told me that the treatment would be intense and would probably kill me, and even if I survived, I would be crippled for the rest of my life. They offered me a choice. I wanted to see if Doctor Who ever came back, so I gave it a go. I had three intense bouts of chemotherapy and daily radiation for six months at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, going down every day to be burned on my head, neck and chest. I dropped down to 90 pounds. I nearly didn’t survive, in fact, I died right before Samhain while in hospital. Once I got through it, I began to improve, getting out on Halloween. As you can imagine, Samhain is a special time for me.<br />
I wrote Mercy to help me deal with the violation and pain of invasive medical treatment. They butchered me, burned me, sucked marrow out of my hips, fluid from my spine, placed me naked on freezing steel tables covered in lead, forced wax blocks into my mouth, drew countless vials of blood from shriveled veins, swelled my throat, hurt my memory, my ability to concentrate, speak, damaged my spine, my legs and left me in constant pain. I don’t remember what it feels like to be normal, and I’ve been living a half-life every since. It destroyed my teeth and jaw, and now, when I’m not dealing with the other malignancies that pop up because of the radiation, I am fighting to repair my jaw before sepsis kills me or infection damages my heart. I am traumatized. I suffer PTSD from the experience, and Mercy turns that trauma into a metaphor for that trauma. I don’t remember doctors in white coats trying to heal me. I remember demons lost to a dark God trying to suck out my vitality and eat it. The process of treatment de-conditioned me, prepared me in some way to face the beating heart. It prepared me the way we prepare meat to be roasted. All the time, I was preparing to die, hanging in a fog, and the past haunted me. I didn’t die quickly. Layer by layer, I melted, burned away by the great white gamma face, evaporating until only my raw primal lifeforce remained. The world looks quite different to me, and I’ve never lost that vision, never quite returned to human state. <br />
My protagonist, Willie Saint, is going through the same process. He’s dying and is brought to Mercy Hospital—a decayed place, left to rot in a distant field, far away from civilization. The doctors feed on him, and he begins a journey, haunted by the people in his past, the lost loves. Eventually, he uncovers the secrets to the hospital, discovering an inner world. Old gods manifest in fungus, growing from the heart below the hospital, and he must resolve his life before finding peace in death. <br />
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DD: What does your writing space look like?<br />
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TFD: My writing space is in me. I’m in a lot of pain and suffer neurological dysfunction from the aforementioned radiation and chemotherapy. And I’m living with my in-laws while my wife finishes grad school through UNC (2 months to go) so my office travels with me. I have a nice laptop, a bookbag, portable mouse, headphones, a pillow for my back and Malcolm the plush fox (often X2 Malcolm, the stunt double or as my wife calls him, the false Malcolm as the original has gotten threadbare. So really, it’s me, my bed or a comfortable chair when I am strong enough to spend the day out of the house. That’s my favorite though: a comfortable chair, the smell of books everywhere, a venti latte with half-and-half, vanilla syrup and extra shot of espresso. I put the headphones in, start Napster and I’m working on the project of the day. It is meager, but I love being among the world when I write. It takes me out of myself. <br />
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DD: It being Halloween, let me ask: have you ever had a paranormal experience?<br />
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TFD: I think everyone has, if they choose to recognize them. Most just brush it off or ignore it. When I was young, a man’s yelling woke me from a deep sleep. I was terrified to move then finally ran for the other side of the house. While staying in an old hotel in Dublin, Ireland on my honeymoon with Allison, in the night, I heard footsteps coming down the hall then into our room. Something pushed my side of the bed down, but there was nothing there. My wife, being her usual unflappable self, asked it to let us get some sleep since we were jetlagged. I also nearly boarded the Philadelphia Ghost Bus of Despair while walking around Philadelphia after the first of several oral surgeries I’ve had done to correct some nasty post-radiation damage. The bus stops on occasion to pick up the lost and rides around for years in a fog. You can find references to all these supernatural smatterings at <a href="http://www.whatareyouafraidofpodcast.com/">www.whatareyouafraidofpodcast.com</a>.<br />
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DD: On the zombie front, is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in the genre?<br />
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TFD: I would like to see more zombie anthologies again. They’ve ‘died’ out. I had so much fun writing for them, and I miss it. I am watching a volley of new zombie movies lobbed at Amazon Prime. I’d like to see zombies retake their mantle of political satire, as mediums of expression for our social ills. George Romero always wrote with a theme in mind, and our best horror always shared a viewpoint about our humanity. Zombies exposed darkness in the living, showing us at our basest natures and how foolish, petty, gluttonous and mindless we can be. <br />
“Zombies of Mass Destruction” is one of the newer zombie movies that actually continues this tradition. We interviewed the director and co-writer, Kevin Hamedani. As an American of Persian heritage, Kevin’s world changed as a teen after 9-11 and the Iraq War. Exposed to this subtle racism in America, he channeled his disenfranchisement into a script, selecting zombies as the best antagonists. In the movie, zombies are the opposition, but the real issue is the prejudice of the small town that suffers the outbreak. One Iranian girl and a homosexual couple must endure the insane persecution of some of the townspeople who choose the night of the zombie apocalypse to hunt down those who are different and blame them for the attack on their security. Kevin himself plays the iconic terrorist who unleashed the virus. We interviewed Kevin on episode 100: Zombies Strike Back at www.whatareyouafraidofpodcast.com<br />
I thank you for the interview, David. You can find Mercy online at Amazon:<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mercy-T-Fox-Dunham-ebook/dp/B01CAXDQ46/">https://www.amazon.com/Mercy-T-Fox-Dunham-ebook/dp/B01CAXDQ46/</a>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-66172363149983385712018-10-22T03:02:00.000-06:002018-10-22T03:02:04.319-06:00EMPIRE: STRANGE AEONS - What Might Have Been<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-42629898764772227272018-06-22T11:18:00.001-06:002018-06-22T11:18:10.757-06:00#NanoInterview: Thom Erb returns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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DD: Thanks for plugging back in, Thom! Tell us about your latest release, THE LAST IN LINE.<br /><br />TE: Howdy! Thank you! It's great to be back. <br />The Last in Line is a book, ten years in the making. (Writing-wise) Thirty-years, Ideas and inspiration wise. You can think of it as Stranger Things meets Night of the Living Dead, meets Dungeons & Dragons, all set to a kick-ass 80's music soundtrack. <br />As with most of my zombie stories, it has far more to do with the living, breathing folks, than the moaning undead. It's 1985 and a group of terrorists have detonated a series of deadly dirty bombs all across the world, spreading a virus that kills nearly instantly, then causes the dead to rise and feed on the living. <br />These aren't your grandfather's zoms, no way in hell. Well, Hell, is actually quite accurate. These undead have red glowing eyes and cry black tears as they mournfully devour their loved ones. <br />A dark, shadow cult has risen to exact their revenge and one a group of blood-sworn guardians, calling themselves the Keeper's of the Eternal Flame can prevent the cultists from opening a hell-gate that would set their vile master free on this plane. <br />Among all of that is our group of unwitting, and wanting heroes. Warren, a chubby, comic-nerd just wants to graduate and draw for marvel and his yellow lab, Maico. Dex, Arnie, Jack, high school friends. A tough, inner-city girl. Throw in a gruff wheel-chair-bound Vietnam vet turned rock DJ and a strange, diminutive British guy spouting off about ancient prophecies, demons and casting spells. <br />It has all the elements of an 80's horror-flick, if it were directed by hybrid of directors, Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino. It's really a love letter to my childhood and teenage years. I had a great time writing this book and book two, Heaven & Hell is nearly finished, as well as the outline for book three, To Hell with the Devil. It certainly gets wild as the story rolls on. I do hope the folks check it out. <br /><br />DD: What does your writing space look like?<br /><br />TE: I have the third bay of our garage converted into a studio for all of my creative shenanigans. Inside, I have my drums, a PA system (which I use to crank my writing soundtracks, see the question below.) A drawing table (with a Wacom tablet) and art easel for my visual pursuits. And even an area for my friends and I to play Dungeons & Dragons. <br />My actual writing space if a large corner desk with two monitors, printer and wireless gear for all my creative fun. I have tons of zombie toys, Funko-Pop Stranger Things figures and Buddha statues and incense burners and candles to keep me inspired, along with some printed out quotes from my writing heroes/mentors to keep me focused. (Maberry, King, Keene, Lansdale, more.) I even have some Dallas Cowboy paraphernalia just in hopes to raise some positive mojo. (it never helps.)<br />On the walls I have posters of some of my book covers for when I am feeling like I completely suck and having a hard time keeping my big bum in chair. <br />I try to surround myself with things that put me in a “happy place”. A spot where I don't worry about the bills, yard work, politics, how bad my Cowboys are losing. You know... the real world crap. <br />I truly believe, every person needs their own “space”. Especially creative souls. It took me twenty years or so to finally get mine, but lord, almighty does it kick moby butt. <br /><br />DD:. Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what's the music of THE LAST IN LINE?<br /><br />TE: Oh, hell yes. Music is the very-life-blood of my existence. I was a musician before I was a full-time writer and it was inevitable for the music to find its way into that aspect of my creativity. <br />Every book, or short story, for that matter has a soundtrack. The Last in Line was no different. It was all 1980's hard rock and heavy metal. (with a little pop stuff thrown in for fairness to my childhood.) Mostly, DIO, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Scorpions, WASP, Stryper, Whitesnake, Metallica, King Diamond, Queensryche, AC/DC, KIX, Accept, Krokus, Black 'N Blue, Rainbow, Dokken, Van Halen, Y&T, Triumph, RUSH, Foreigner, and so many more. <br />Well, truth be told, there were some 80's tunes of a lesser “heavy” vibe. Such as Men Without Hats, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Genesis, Culture Club, Bruce Springsteen, Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Tubes, The Hooters, and so much more lame 80's tunes. (I kid. I dug those songs too. Don't hunt me down and take away my devil horns.)<br /><br />DD: You did the cover for this novel yourself. What's your process from conception to completion?<br /><br />TE: Well, in truth, I did the initial sketch and layout of what I wanted for the cover, but I hired a tremendously talented horror artist, Jim Kavanuagh to actually illustrate the cover. It was his unique style and brilliant color choice that I thought captured the essence of an 80's movie poster/rock album cover. <br />We worked closely together and made changes and tweaks as Jim went along. <br />I'll speak to my aspect of the creation.<br />Since the story was an 80's retro tale, I wanted to go with an action movie poster vibe, mixed with the same excited, over-the-top elements from some of my favorite rock/metal album covers. Ya' know, all our heroes are surrounded by the bad guys/monsters and all hope seems lost. Yet there's an element of something amazing about to happen. It just seemed spot-on to me. <br />So, I did some sketches, send them off to Jim, with a few photo references and he send me back his ideas and we hashed it out from there. It came together rather quickly. <br />And before we knew it, we had us a kick ass, 80's cover. <br />As a side note, Jim also illustrated the back cover, but sadly, with all the text, blurbs and such, much of it is lost. I do plan on making the images available to my Citizens of the Erbal Nation group, so if anyone is interested in checking out those groovy pics, they can click here and join me. <br />You can also check out Jim's great artwork right here.<br /><br />DD: Can you tease what readers can expect as the Eternal Flame Trilogy continues to unfold?<br /><br />TE: I don't want to give too much away, but we find our reluctant heroes in a pretty dark place at the end of the LIL. But, the story takes a sharp turn and will be turned up a notch. Fraught with a whole new realm of dangers and bad guys. A new world(s) embedded with magic, hideous abyssal creatures with a mix of various mythologies, overwhelming love and gut-wrenching hate. Old characters will return. While a slew of new, fun personalities show up and take the story in a whole other direction. <br />By the end of book three, the stakes will have changed, risen and been violently burned to cinders. All of the tangled story/character lines will have been untied and the hectic gauntlet set forth in book one will end in an explosive and powerful crescendo. <br />All the over-the-top hyperbole aside, man, I've worked hard to make these books match my vivid dream I've had since 1986. I can only hope that the reader enjoys the roller-coaster ride and joins me for a few hours. <br />I do promise that it will be a thrill ride that I hope captures what it was like being a seventeen-year-old kid in 1985. That is, if it were in a zombie apocalypse, rife with demonic cults and drunken magic-user and dark assassins trying to kill you.<br />That's not too much to ask of their suspension of disbelief, is it?<br />Hey, the Erbman had to ask. <br />Come on and join the adventure. Let's do this!<br /><br />Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-14453747967101385222018-02-17T10:01:00.003-07:002018-02-17T10:01:37.127-07:00#NanoInterview: Shannon Giglio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DD: Thanks for plugging in, Shannon! You've written some wonderfully weird and original stuff including <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Short-Bus-Hero-Shannon-Giglio-ebook/dp/B06XBXPYT5" target="_blank"><i>Short Bus Hero</i></a>, which I loved. Tell us about your latest, Antichrist Supertaster. <br /><br />SG: Hi, Dave! Thanks for having me. Yeah, you loved Short Bus Hero? That’s awesome, thank you! That book was pretty weird, I guess. The best thing about it? A lot of my horror friends told me that it made them cry. It made me so happy to hear that. How do you follow that? Well, you take a really long break, during which you sign with a big agent and do some networking with Hollywood players, and after that, you write another weird book with a catchy title. Antichrist Supertaster is the story of a kid tasked with saving his brother from a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C. concentration camp and showing him that there’s still good left in the world. After a short stay with their cannibalistic grandmother in Manassas, the young travelers get picked up by a cult made up of anachronistic personalities who become convinced that the main character’s epilepsy is a clear sign that the teen is none other than the Antichrist. All hell breaks loose when one of the cult members figures out who the kids’ dad is, forcing our hero to make some tough choices. It’s kind of like The Road meets American Gods meets a They Might Be Giants song. There’s magic, despair, hope, poison candy, the resurrection and reconfiguration of the American dream, and an interpretation of the meaning of life. <br /><br />DD: What does your writing space look like? Are there any rituals or habits you have to indulge before you write? <br /><br />SG: My writing space…there are always a lot of coffee mugs, empty or mostly-empty soda cans, candy wrappers, and unopened mail hanging around. Sometimes, something in the clutter will give me an idea or help me solve a problem (usually not, but it’s happened). I don’t have any rituals or habits, but I do have this cheap Halloween costume hockey mask that I wear on my most productive days. It’s a little superstitious, I guess. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />DD: Do dreams ever influence your work? Do you keep track of dreams? <br /><br />SG: Either I am not lucky enough to dream or I just don’t remember any of my dreams. It’s probably the latter – I forget everything (how long did it take me to get back to you on these questions?). Since I’m dream-deficient, I have to rely on reality and conscious imagination. <br /><br />DD: Do you write to music? <br /><br />SG: Sometimes I have music on while I’m writing. It’s usually Death Cab for Cutie or Frightened Rabbit or some ‘80s band like The Smiths or The Cure. Lately, though, I’ve been pretty deeply depressed, and when I’m depressed, I don’t listen to music (not even depressing music)—everything seems too loud or distracting. I used to make playlists for writing, and I hope to go back to that practice someday, but, right now, I write in silence, or with cable news on in the background, or Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. I definitely write better with music. <br /><br />DD: On the zombie front, is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in the genre? <br /><br />SG: With The Walking Dead’s popularity and all the zombie books I read a few years ago, I’m kind of on a zombie hiatus. My main character in Antichrist Supertaster does bring a few beings back to life, with not-so-good results, so I’m not totally dissing zombie culture, but I’m not writing typical zombie stuff. My favorite zombie story is Scott Browne’s Breathers – it’s funny, but it’s sad, too. I’d say I like a little comedy and melancholy with my zombies, but it has to be done well. It’s a difficult thing to pull off because most of the comedy I’ve seen mixed into the horror genre just doesn’t work for me – it’s cheesy and cliché, and I don’t like that. If I had to read a zombie book, I guess I’d like to see more dry wit, and a newly minted zombie’s wonder at “WTF am I, what’s going on, I’m fucking starving—I eat what now? How in the hell am I going to get a brain?!” Maybe like an Interview With the Vampire or The Vampire Lestat, only with zombies. Maybe I’ll write that (there’s probably a book like that already out there that I don’t know about—I haven’t been keeping up with the zombies as much as I should).<br /><br /></span>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-39536255458342674252017-10-14T05:19:00.002-06:002017-10-14T05:19:08.576-06:00#NanoInterview: Ben Eads<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AdM6N2eaXOM/WeHyN82_5xI/AAAAAAAACEM/KopmUWARCA8K78EJiJReFJcE9pMziCsyACLcBGAs/s1600/nanoEADS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="570" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AdM6N2eaXOM/WeHyN82_5xI/AAAAAAAACEM/KopmUWARCA8K78EJiJReFJcE9pMziCsyACLcBGAs/s400/nanoEADS.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben is the editor of <i>Tales from the Lake Volume 4,</i> coming
October 27<sup>th</sup> from <a href="http://crystallakepub.com/" target="_blank">Crystal Lake Publishing. </a>The anthology includes my story "Snowmen."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DD: Thanks for plugging in, Ben! First, tell us about the
upcoming TALES FROM THE LAKE VOL. 4, a Crystal Lake Publishing anthology you
edited. What’s the history of this series, and where are you taking it with
this latest entry?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">BE: Thanks for having me! It’s my pleasure. Tales from the
Lake has always been a play on words—Crystal Lake/From the Lake. Since Volume:
1, we’ve published writers we’ve already worked with as well as others we would
like to work with in the in future. There was always a subtle theme of urban
myths and legends from Volume: 1 to Volume: 3. I wanted to do something
different with Volume: 4. I wanted to raise the bar quality-wise, as well as
take it in a new direction in terms of theme. And that theme is this: Unique,
emotional, and powerful stories that leave a lasting impact on the reader. I
want the readers to feel as if they’ve been to Hell and back when they’re done
reading. Some stories have a more literary slant, others have a more
fantastical slant. Some will bring tears to your eyes, others will crank your
imagination up. But all pluck at the reader’s heart strings. Once the blurbs
and feedback came in, I was over the moon! I’m very happy to say I accomplished
what I set out to do. The contributors made my job easy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DD: As the editor of a diverse horror anthology, how do you
decide on the story order?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">BE: The CEO and Founder of Crystal Lake Publishing Joe
Mynhardt and I worked on that. All of the stories are powerful and diverse, so
we didn’t have that problem. You could put them in any order, really, but we
chose the final order to reflect said diversity. There’s something in here for
everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DD: You’re also an author. Tell us about your most recent
projects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">BE: Thanks for asking! You can find my horror novella
Cracked Sky, which was published by the Bram Stoker Award winning press Omnium
Gatherum, on Amazon.com or their website: http://www.omniumgatherumbooks.com/
I’m very happy to say that book opened a lot of doors for me. I’ve had short
horror fiction published in Shroud Magazine, The Ashen Eye, Tales from the Lake
Volume: 2, and my short literary story Stardust appears in the anthology
Between the Lines, edited by Bram Stoker Award Winning editor Michael Knost,
and was published by Seventh Star Press. I’m finishing up my latest book, and
that will be published by Crystal Lake Publishing in, 2019. I’ve just started
another one that will hopefully be published before, 2019. Ha! </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">DD: Do dreams influence your writing at all? Do you keep
track of dreams?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">BE: I think I’m the only horror writer/author that doesn’t
remember their dreams. I feel left out. Ha! It’s like I’m a radio station; I
don’t know where these concepts come from. They’re like movie trailers in my
head. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DD: Are you a zombie fan and, if so, what do you think the
genre needs more (or less) of?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">BE: If the plot/premise and voice is unique and powerful,
yes! I fell back in love with horror that has zombies in it by reading your
Empire series of novels. They were game-changers. So, much love and respect to
you for doing that! Same goes for Jonathan Maberry’s work. What does it need
more of? Uniqueness. Evolve the sub-genre. Do something no one else has done
yet. What would I like to see less of in that sub-genre? “Hey! Zombies are
attacking us!” I’d rather have a root canal without Novocain than read those
stories. I sincerely mean that. Trends come and go. But if it’s unique, then it
will stand the test of time and out-live the trend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-38370704233947839202017-10-13T06:44:00.002-06:002017-10-13T06:44:35.699-06:00FREE on Kindle this weekend: THE 3 EGOS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="520" height="396" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E7FbF7FQCGo/WeC0vhXhLUI/AAAAAAAACDw/3uC42CRhhM8ZW-oTkQlNu-allIqBvaUcACLcBGAs/s400/F13.png" width="400" /></div>
<br />
<br />
Starting now and running through this Friday the 13th weekend, apocalyptic dark fantasy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/3-Egos-David-Dunwoody-ebook/dp/B010J0VSTW/" target="_blank"><i><b>THE 3 EGOS</b></i></a> is free for Kindle! Give 'er a look - you'll never see the end of the universe the same way again.<br />
<br />
<br />Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-42526621040815294282017-08-01T08:20:00.000-06:002017-08-01T08:20:04.578-06:00George A. Romero: 1940-2017<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_3">
I
haven't been able to spend much time online lately, just checking in
here & there, and have only this week learned of GAR's passing.
George Romero gave us a modern monster archetype that stands tall
alongside age-old classics like the vampire and werewolf. His walking
dead and the world they rule speak that deeply to us on any number of
themes. His ghoul will perhaps be the last member added to the all-time
horror pantheon, and its creator is equally deserving of our veneration.<br />
<br />
<br />
We'll always stay scared. Thanks George.<br />
<br />
</div>
Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-28148203916965100522017-06-03T09:56:00.002-06:002017-06-03T09:56:30.113-06:00#NanoInterview: Gregory Hall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sludrhqaaNc/WTLb7rCCNAI/AAAAAAAACCo/Om7O6jziRmwGCXOQ41sq9jZkmXppvphsQCLcB/s1600/nanoGLH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="570" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sludrhqaaNc/WTLb7rCCNAI/AAAAAAAACCo/Om7O6jziRmwGCXOQ41sq9jZkmXppvphsQCLcB/s400/nanoGLH.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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DD: Thanks for plugging in, Greg! You're known for writing both comedy and horror. What have you been working on recently?<br /><br />GH: I love plugging in. I always make a room smell better. Today’s scent is ‘Mountain Drizzle’.<br /><br />As far as what’s been keeping me busy lately, oh boy howdy, quite a bit. My personal policy is to not talk about projects in detail until they’re launched (because over a few decades I’ve learned plans sometimes change) but I will say the new novel is almost done. It’s a musical, which is really hard to do in book form. I’m eager about a nationwide gig dealing with my comedy past that looks like it might happen this summer. We’re just negotiating on whether I have to wear pants or not. And I’m working on the DEVIL MONKEY script. But I’m always working on the DEVIL MONKEY script. Because I can’t let it go. It’s so beautiful. <br /><br />DD: Tell us your thoughts on humor's place in horror.<br /><br />GH: I definitely believe the two go hand in hand. A burst of laughter isn’t too different from a scream. All my favorite movies and writers combine both. It doesn’t have to be campy humor, although that’s fun. It can be clever dialogue between characters. I know writers who go out of their way to remove humor from a horror story, but I think it’s lying to your audience. People are naturally funny. Life is funny. Take humor away and it’s not a realistic character or story.<br /><br />DD: We collaborated on an audio serial, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_UbLhBr9tMDmyHJLKLggm1UjSRLP2gF5" target="_blank">DRACULA'S WINKEE</a>, which you adapted from your story of the same name. What's the history behind it all?<br /><br />GH: It’s all cold, shriveled winkees and carnivorous vulvasaurs, baby! That damn project has been alive almost as long as Drac! It started as a serial on an old horror website I ran back in the day. Then it turned into a bunch of short stories and a TV series (one of those plans that changed) and wound up as the audio serial. It’s one of the most giddy, stupid things I’ve ever written and it just keeps growing. I’ve been asked to write it as a book for years now but haven’t gotten around to it. To be honest, all the success is due to the amazing talent I had play Dracula—some Ryan Gosling twin named The Dunwoody.<br /><br />DD: Do dreams ever influence your work?<br /><br />GH: Oh yeah. I dream something weird and I try to grab it as soon as I wake up. Might only be a visual or piece of dialogue, but definitely. Actually, I do this half-awake deal when I’m stuck writing a story. I’ll concentrate on the road block and run it over and over when I fall asleep. Doesn’t always work but sometimes when I start waking up, the story will unfold for me while I’m still in a fog. I also mix a lot of Ovaltine and Zima so that might be the key.<br /><br />DD: On the zombie front - is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in the genre?<br /><br />GH: That’s tough. Every other horror movie or TV show is zombies. I think you either have to go one of two ways. Be Joe McKinney and write so damn fantastic that a ‘regular’ zombie storyline is riveting. If Joe wrote a grocery list, I’d buy it. Or you can do what you did, Dave, with EMPIRE. Dig to find any new idea left and go for it. Your novel is still one of my favorites, not just as far as zombies but in horror overall. Genius twists and so original in an otherwise tired genre. Would be nice if we saw more zombies on trampolines.<br /><br />Thanks for inviting me to your nunu-hiney interview thingy, man. Let’s do more together soon! Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-64665576960169518582017-05-25T17:09:00.001-06:002017-05-25T17:11:05.516-06:00#NanoInterview: Dr. Pus, "Library of the Living Dead"After a long hiatus, the beloved <a href="http://lotld.podomatic.com/" target="_blank">Library of the Living Dead</a> podcast has returned!<br />
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DD: Thanks for plugging in, Doc! What can listeners expect from the newly-reanimated Library of the Living Dead podcast?<br />
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DP: Thank you Dave, it's my pleasure. One of the major changes with the Library of the Living Dead Podcast is that it will be "All Zombie, All the Time". No more Horror, no more Sci-Fi ....... only Zombie. We also plan to add a zombie game review each episode. Those will be done by Zombie Farmer. Brad Zipprich will have a multi-episode story too. Eric Lowther will also have his hands (and most excellent voice) in the Podcast. Other than that it will be like the old podcast with all of the regular stuff like the Manic Minute, Zombie Songs, Letters from the Dead, long and short stories and hopefully a zombie book we can present in chapters.<br />
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DD: What's your studio setup like? How much time goes into producing a single episode?<br />
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DP: I built my studio years ago when I was in a heavy metal band called Renfield. It's sound deadened and sound proof. Makes my wife very happy when I'm recording.<br />
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The podcast takes about one week to produce. Some times longer when I go crazy on the "full production" stuff.<br />
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DD: Do you have any other media projects in the works?<br />
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DP: Right now Eric Lowther is working on the sequel to his most excellent book "Area 187: Almost Hell". I will then get back into publishing. Slowly though. I'm not going to let the publishing side take complete control of my life like I did seven years ago. There will also be a third volume of "Zombology" in the future. I love those books.<br />
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DD: Describe your long-time love for the zombie. How did it all begin?<br />
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DP: My long time love for Zombies started like so many other older people. It was a little black and white movie called "Night of the Living Dead". I watched it first in 1969 on Channel 11's "Chiller Theater" with its host, the most excellent Chilly Billy Cardille. I was hooked from the cemetery scene. Mind you I was only in the sixth grade and it scared the hell out of me. I didn't sleep at all that night. The next day I taped cardboard over my bedroom windows to keep the zombies in my neighborhood out. Took a good whippin' for that one. At least I didn't nail up boards.<br />
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DD: What would you like to see more (or less) of in the zombie genre?<br />
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DP: I'm soooooo into zombies that I want to see anything and everything in the zombie genre. Fast, slow, groanin', moanin' rotting zombies. Ii live for it Dave. I really do. I'll watch or read anything that has to do with any kind of zombie. I'm just a huge fan of the undead.<br />
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And thanks Dave for allowing me to answer your questions. They brought back a lot of fond memories for me.Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-17422235417146781332017-05-19T12:35:00.003-06:002017-05-19T12:35:59.763-06:00#NanoInterview: Craig DiLouie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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DD: Thanks for plugging in, Craig! First off, tell us about the upcoming novel ONE OF US.<br /><br />CD: Thanks for having me at your blog, David! ONE OF US is in final contract negotiations with Orbit, the fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group. We’re already deep into production. They’re a fantastic company to work with. The book will be published in hardcover and then trade paperback, starting likely next year. I couldn’t be more excited.<br /><br />ONE OF US is a novel about a disease that produces a generation of monsters that must find their place in society. As the plague generation grows up poor and oppressed at rundown orphanages in the rural South, its children begin to develop extraordinary abilities that allow them to rebel and claim their birthright. It delves into themes of prejudice, generational conflict, and what makes a monster a monster. Written in the Southern Gothic style, it features elements such as complex characters, rural decay, and the grotesque.<br /><br />DD: We're coming up on the release of the fourth entry in your popular <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crash-Dive-3-Book-Series/dp/B01M1OZ9LL/" target="_blank">CRASH DIVE</a> World War II series. Can you share the challenges and benefits of self-publishing the series?<br /><br />CD: CRASH DIVE might be described as Horatio Hornblower on submarines in the Pacific during WW2. Each episode covers a patrol in this young and courageous naval officer’s war. The stories are short, simple, technically accurate, pulpy and action-packed. I’ve read over a dozen books about WW2-era submarines and how they work along with firsthand accounts of war patrols. CRASH DIVE is based on all of it, providing a story that is gritty, realistic, authentic and violent, all centered around a hero who isn’t perfect but is a quick learner and tries his best. My goal is to put the reader aboard a submarine and have them feel exactly what it was like during the war. The series has sold extremely well, and I love writing it as much as its fans love reading it.<br /><br />The benefit of self-publishing is you completely control everything about your book’s production and pricing. The challenge is it’s really hard to get a standalone novel recognized. You can drop the price and pour money into its marketing, but the risk is much higher. That and here you are, having written 100,000 words, now selling it for $3. In my view, self-publishing is ideally suited to short books—around 40,000 to 45,000 words—produced quickly in a series. Pulpy stories centered around a likeable main character. That’s the CRASH DIVE series in a nutshell. I found my ideal self-pub eBook model in the past—the dime novels of the 1860s, which became the pulp magazines of the early 20th century. That model is working very well for me. I wouldn’t do self-publishing any other way at this point.<br /><br />DD: Do you listen to music as you write? If so, what was the "soundtrack" for ONE OF US?<br /><br />CD: My process is completely internal. I might catch a piece of music and listen to it when I’m writing, as it helps me daydream the novel and get in the mood. I need absolute quiet while I’m actually writing, though. I’d love to be that guy who listens to great music while writing, but I ain’t him.<br /><br />DD: Do dreams or nightmares ever influence your writing?<br /><br />CD: One night I had a strange dream about a town of trailers and shanties built in a circle around a single mansion, which became my short story, “The End of the Road.” Another dream fueled a pair of creatures in my zombie novel, THE KILLING FLOOR. Otherwise, I can’t think of any cases where dreaming influenced my writing. My most useful dreaming is daydreaming. When I’m deep into a book, I’m constantly daydreaming the book when I’m driving, in the shower, and so on. Sometimes, these daily mundane rituals become my most productive parts of the day.<br /><br />DD: On the zombie front, is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in the genre?<br /><br />CD: The zombie genre keeps mutating as authors innovate. I think this is a good idea with a very important caveat. First, I’m not a purist. Fast, slow, mutated, I don’t care what kind of zombies you have. However, once the rules for the zombies become established, they become progressively less exciting, and the author is forced to do one of two things. Either up the numbers of the horde or introduce a human element, such as a rival scavenger gang. If you look at THE WALKING DEAD as an example, the story never stayed focused on the zombies. In the first season, you had survivors against zombies, in the second, an internal power struggle, and in the third, the group against another group, and so on.<br /><br />When I wrote THE INFECTION and THE KILLING FLOOR, I wanted the monster element to remain the primary antagonist, so I introduced mutated creatures spawned by the same organism that produced the zombies. This ticked off some purists, but I was happy in that the creatures introduced an unpredictable, almost hopeless element to the story, which kept it scary. Another thing some authors ran with for a while was to make one or more zombies intelligent and tell the story from their point of view. In THE RETREAT, the series I’m doing with Stephen Knight and Joe McKinney, we made the infected homicidally insane but otherwise able to function, which kept them unpredictable.<br /><br />But none of these really matters compared to just telling a good story, which is my caveat. Zombies don’t tell the story for you. Your characters do. If the reader doesn’t care about your characters, they won’t care about your zombies. Authors should always focus on inviting us to care about their characters so we care what happens to them. They should tell a compelling story so that it reads like a story about people with zombies, not about zombies with people.<br /><br />The good news is that if you like zombies, there is an incredible array of choices for you right now. The genre is packed with authors, titles and series. You’re almost guaranteed to find something you love.Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-69746899765188964372017-05-04T23:09:00.004-06:002017-05-04T23:11:59.926-06:00#NanoInterview: Jake Bible<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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DD: Thanks for plugging in, Jake! First off, tell us about <a href="https://www.amazon.com/EverRealm-LitRPG-Novel-Level-Dead-ebook/dp/B06XXYM2RP/" target="_blank">EVERREALM</a> and what a LitRPG novel is.<br />
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JB: So, let's start with what LitRPG is. It's a fairly new genre which stands for "Literature Role Playing Game". Basically, the main character(s) end up inside a game for real. It can be a tabletop RPG or an online MMORPG or any game or virtual setting. Tron would be a very old example. Or Zathura. Ready Player One would be considered LitRPG. The novels contain some sort of game mechanics like character classes, leveling up, treasure finds, quest fulfillment, etc. It sounded like a cool thing to get into, so I gave it a try. EverRealm is the first book in my Level Dead series. It's the 23rd century and the zombie apocalypse has destroyed Earth. Some gamers and programmers have figured out how to fully transfer their minds/souls into what used to be the largest MMORPG (EverRealm) on the planet in order to escape the horrors of reality. But, those horrors taint the game world and now there are zombies in EverRealm! It was my way to combine fantasy, gaming, zombies, and plenty of snark. I had a blast writing it and look forward to writing the next in the series, which will be in a different game setting! Fun!<br />
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DD: Just out is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0716H4FZC/" target="_blank">MECH CORPS</a>. You seem to be the go-to guy for mech action. What's new in this book?<br />
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JB: My very first novel was Dead Mech, where I combined a far-future zombie apocalypse with the kickassness of giant battle mechs! Zombies, mechs, zombies in mechs! Last year I extended that mythos by writing a companion series set centuries later called Fighting Iron, my far-future mech western. I knew I wasn't done with mechs, so I decided to write a new series set centuries after Fighting Iron where the Earth's environment is trashed so much that humanity has to look to the stars for a new home. This bridges the world of Dead Mech and Fighting Iron with my space adventure universe I built in Salvage Merc One. I wanted to go old school military scifi with Mech Corps. Basically, a team of mechs that are the first strike option when humans find a viable planet for colonization, but it's occupied by a monstrous alien race that won't give up until they butcher every human being they come in contact with. It was awesome getting back into writing about a team of mech pilots and how they kick some butt. This time it's alien butt instead of zombie-mech butt!<br />
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DD: Do you listen to music as you write? If so, what were the "soundtracks" for these two books?<br />
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JB: I do listen to music when I write, but nothing with lyrics. Lyrics pull me out of the zone. I prefer movie and game soundtracks. EverRealm I wrote to fantasy movie and game soundtracks like Dragonslayer and World of Warcraft. I wrote Mech Corps to the Titanfall, Tron: Legacy, and Edge of Tomorrow soundtracks. I am currently writing my second Roak: Galactic Bounty Hunter novel to Edge of Tomorrow and some old Italian crime B-movie soundtracks. Roak is really a crime series set in space, so I wanted that gritty crime feel to the music. It works nicely. When I write post-apocalyptic stuff I go for Book of Eli, Last of Us, The Road, and I Am Legend. Those match the mood. Spotify is the best for finding all these soundtracks.<br />
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DD: Do dreams influence your writing? Do you keep track of dreams?<br />
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JB: Dreams don't really influence my writing. My dreams tend to be more "real life" centered, in a whacked-out dreamlike way. However, I do get a lot of my story inspiration and epiphanies right as I'm falling asleep. You know, when you're in that half-awake, half-asleep state? I have tons of Ah-Ha! moments then. I keep my iPhone handy and usually force myself to wake up enough to write the ideas down. I have learned to put in is much detail as possible into my notes right then. I've woken up in the morning and looked at the notes from the night before and all I could do was shrug because it would be three words that make zero sense.<br />
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DD: Finally, on the zombie front, is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in the zombie genre?<br />
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JB: I'd really like something new in the zombie genre. Most of the novels and movies coming out are the same old story. It's why I wrote my first zombie novel with mechs in it and why I wrote my LitRPG series with the zombie aspect. These put the genre someplace new and different than just the dead coming to life and a group of survivors getting picked off one by one. I thought 28 Days Later did a great job of reinventing the genre when it came out. We need some new authors with fresh takes to get a hold of the genre and turn it on its head. I am not a zombie "purist". I don't care about fast, slow, virus, meteor, demon-possessed, or whatever kind of zombies they are. I just want something new with a good story, great writing, and characters I care about.Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-16200733548229876622017-02-06T07:48:00.003-07:002017-02-06T07:48:24.388-07:00#NanoInterview: Stephen A. North<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">DD: Thanks for plugging in, Steve! First, tell us about your <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Tide-Stephen-North-ebook/dp/B00CWSNO56/" target="_blank">DEAD TIDE</a> zombie series.<br /><br />SN: Dead Tide is an on-going, minute by minute story of a zombie apocalypse as experienced by diverse groups or individual survivors in the Tampa Bay area. There are multiple viewpoint characters and each chapter features a different person’s perspective. Unless a character dies the story works around to them again.<br /> <br />DD: What can fans expect in the fourth entry, DEAD TIDE RAGE?<br /><br />SN: A lot of closure. There is still a story to tell, but it moves into a different phase after RAGE.<br /><br />DD: Working on this series for as long as you have, what are the benefits and challenges you find as you return to the DEAD TIDE universe? <br /><br />SN: The DT world is one that the survivors are now familiar with and they have a clear idea of what they are striving for. The problem is the challenges aren’t growing any easier, and if anything, more difficult. Distrust, greed, fear---all the same dividing factors are still in place and the world is far less civilized than it was… <br /><br />DD: You also write sci-fi. Your most recent release in the genre is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drifter-Stephen-North/dp/1682611809/" target="_blank">THE DRIFTER</a>. Do I remember correctly that you read from an early version of this at our Horror Realm panel in 2009? What's it about? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />SN: I did read an excerpt from that book at Horror Realm. It became a novella. There was so much more to explore in that world that when the book was re-released by Permuted Press last year it had doubled in size. What it is about is a bleak future where unemployment on Earth is rampant, but offworld the demand for ‘the human commodity’ has skyrocketed. Our ability to exploit the universe (and ourselves) has also increased exponentially. In this grim future the government not only sanctions press gangs to recruit ‘interstellar’ colonists, but does so to anyone caught out after curfew that doesn’t possess proper i.d. and proof of employment. Criminals face the prospect of memory erasure and ego-shaping to make them more productive and compliant. The main character in The Drifter can’t even be sure his memories are real. <br /><br />DD: Is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in zombie lit?<br /><br />SN: The genre’s popularity still hasn’t waned in my opinion. I’d like to see more stories. The approaches taken by authors such as Dr. Kim Paffenroth, David Dunwoody, J.L. Bourne, Travis Adkins, Timothy Long, Eric S. Brown, Eric Shelman, DL Snell, Sheri Gambino, Suzanne Robb, Rhiannon Frater, WJ Lundy, Armand Rosamilia, Sue Edge, Bowie Ibarra, Scott Baker, Peter Clines, Zach Recht, Brian Keene, Jonathan Maberry, Patrick D’Orazio, Joe McKinney, Craig Saunders, Tony Faville, Brian Parker, Jamie Mason, Craig DiLouie, Charles Phipps, Shane Gregory and Rob Fox have been so varied and entertaining that I have to ask for more. <br />Would also like to see the return of Dr. Pus. </span></span>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-12307080478196555152016-12-28T04:45:00.003-07:002016-12-28T04:47:25.192-07:00#NanoInterview: Bill "Zombie Zak" Snider<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">DD:</span> Thanks for plugging in, ZZ! First off, tell us all about your program AFTER ROT.<br /><br />ZZ: Hey, there, “The”, aka David - thanks for having me! Well, the short version is: It is a live internet radio show broadcast in which I talk about zombies, comic books and whatever the hell else I feel like talking about. That could be horror related, or other genre related, or even just plain anything, like cookies - because cookies are an important part of any zombie’s dietary regime. You can find me jibber jabbering every Wednesday night at 9PM Eastern Standard Time, at <a href="http://www.tmvcafe.com/">www.tmvcafe.com</a>. Go to the section entitled, “Radio”.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">DD:</span> As a poet, you've written a lot about the subjects of death and undeath - sometimes tongue-in-cheek, others not. What fascinates you about the undead?<br /><br />ZZ: Well, mostly I’m interested in other people’s reactions to it. In the event of an outbreak, how do people handle themselves, both in the context of survival, and in the context of interpretation of reasons and meanings and all that metaphorical stuff. People are strange creatures that do strange things, both in groups and on their own. I am always fascinated by people’s choices, and the reasons that they achieve them. Death/un-death is merely another facet, another element to the exploratory meme that is Humanity’s insanity. It’s all, a mad, mad, mad world out there, and poetically, interpretation becomes both measured methodology and mounds of mayhem.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">DD:</span> Do dreams inspire you in your work?<br /><br />ZZ: Absolutely. Dreams are both the undermind working things out without the filters of the conscious mind, and the play time that infiltrates our consciousness when we are not paying attention. Anything that occurs in that space, is beauty and definitely not out of place.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">DD:</span> You seem to devour all things zombie. Can you recommend any cool/weird films, books or comics out lately?<br /><br />ZZ: Oh, but of course!<br />Movies: “Maggie” - it’s a tear jerker zombie movie! “Wyrmwood” - Australian zombie flick! “Scout’s Guide to the Apocalypse” - just, good clean fun!<br />Books: “The Strange Dead”, by The David Dunwoody; “Mists of the Dead”, by Travis Adkins<br />Comic Books: “Zombie Tramp”, “Deadworld”, “Afterlife with Archie”, “Call of Duty, Zombies”, “Jesus Hates Zombies”, “Rex, Zombie Killer”, “Shaolin Cowboy” and sooooo many more.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">DD:</span> Is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in zombiedom?<br /><br />ZZ: Less “blatant” commercialism in advertising; more innovative usage of zombie meme/messages in advertising. <br />Less “zombie everything” in movie/TV/media products; more interesting explorations of society and civilization in regards to what happens in the event of a zombie breakout. Unfortunately, this is becoming harder and harder to achieve with the plethora of material already out, it falls into the category of, “well, what else can we do with them?”<br /></span></span>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-24780103969024987422016-12-16T18:11:00.001-07:002016-12-16T18:11:29.342-07:00FREE this weekend - THE 3 EGOSHappy holidays! THE 3 EGOS is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/3-Egos-David-Dunwoody-ebook/dp/B010J0VSTW/" target="_blank">free on Kindle</a> this weekend. Snag a copy
and delve into intrigue, fantasy and terror.<br />
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Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-74302198136611626122016-11-29T09:34:00.002-07:002016-11-29T09:39:31.823-07:00#NanoInterview: Jonathan Moon<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hhjTgku3KsU/WD2uCvcdEOI/AAAAAAAAB-o/camB0ZoqWAYOjKHGqs7XFs-IeOhCLPeswCLcB/s1600/nanoMOON.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kasperskylab_antibanner="on" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hhjTgku3KsU/WD2uCvcdEOI/AAAAAAAAB-o/camB0ZoqWAYOjKHGqs7XFs-IeOhCLPeswCLcB/s400/nanoMOON.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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DD: Thanks for plugging in, Jon!
Earlier this year you released <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-God-Dreams-Nightmares-Family-ebook/dp/B01ENXYWU8/" target="_blank">Children of God: Poems, Dreams, and Nightmares from The Family of God Cult</a>, written with Craig DiLouie. Tell us about it.</div>
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JM: Craig and I have been friends
for a few years, and fans of each other’s writing as well. (Seriously check out
his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suffer the Children</i>- one of this
decade’s best horror novels.) A year ago Craig got a hold of me at Crypticon
Seattle and he laid out this incredible idea he had about telling a story
through poems. He explained to poetry therapy to, and how it has been used with
patients suffering from PTSD. His idea was to cover the rise and fall of a
Christian doomsday cult through a variety of poetry. Since I have an interest
in both cults and poetry he was kind enough to invite me to play along. </div>
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We each created a handful of diverse
characters, each with their own personality, history, and style. We created a
shared timeline, divided the story into sections, and had each character tell
their unique version of the story through poems. Through conversations we had
Craig and I decided we wanted something grounded, where the horror is emotional,
real, and possible. I honestly feel we pulled that off and created something
special for fans of dark fiction. I am very proud of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Children of God</i>, and honored to work with such a talented writer
and awesome person as Craig. </div>
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DD: You also penned a great
collection called Mr. Moon's Nightmares. So I have to ask: how much do dreams
inspire you, and do you track your dreams?</div>
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JM: Oh, shit, going old school!
Hahaha. Yeah, ole’ Mr. Moon’s Nightmares was my first collection of stories. It
was published by our old friend Doc Pus from his Library of Horror Press. It
has been out of print for a few years now, but I have been re-releasing stories
little by little through my Hoo-Doo County Horrors series. A few stories from
MMN even made it into Stories To Poke Your Eyes Out To, which I built in much
the same fashion (mixing traditional horror with surreal, flash/short/novella
length variations). </div>
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But, back to the real question here.
I have always had a hyper-active imagination, and I think that has attributed
to the vivid dreams I have always had. When I was younger I would have
reoccurring nightmares, and as I grew my dreams and nightmares took on a far
more surreal tilt. Hehehe, yup, my dreams and daydreams are like acid trips,
kids. Some stories come from dreams, though I have never written about the
reoccurring nightmare from my youth, but I would say even more come from
daydreams. I fade in and out of reality all day, some times when I snap back
with it I bring a story with me. Something to rattle around in my head until I
give it some kind of terrible life. </div>
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I never really track my dreams but I
try to remember them every day. Years ago, I had a roommate named Sharika. We
worked graveyards and woke up at the same time every day. As we would get ready
for our shift she would tell me all about her dreams. I loved those dream
stories, and not just because she was a hilarious woman, but because they were
so unpredictable and random. My dreams and nightmares have seldom seemed to be
composed of random elements, but rather everything weird or odd has a symbolic
feel. Damn, maybe my dreams influence my style as much as my stories. </div>
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DD: On the zombie front, you've
brought a unique spin to the genre with books like Hollow Mountain Dead. What
about the undead appeals to you?</div>
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JM: I dig zombies because they freak
me out. Can you imagine a dead person attacking you? No way to reason with a
dead person, even someone who loved you once. How long you could out run them,
begging and pleading for mercy- further wasting your breath? Dead lungs do not
need oxygen. That is what I dig, the rainbow of unrelenting horror the undead
can represent. From stories about family members dealing with each other to
entire metropolises collapsing the dead rising is fantastic story fodder for
gore and heartbreak junkies like myself. I prefer the micro, but even then
knowing it is a single event or location in a worldwide event always adds a
sense of dread to things. </div>
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I think the undead are such a great
way to represent so many aspects of our humanity, casting reflections through
shattered mirrors. I find them easy metaphors for social issues as well as
great excuses for writing graphic scenes with disembowelment and cannibalism,
all of which I also dig. I know pop culture has grabbed hold of zombies, and
unleashed a flood of zombie fiction upon the world, but they have always been a
favorite of horror fans like me because they are the oldest, most terrible
monsters of all…us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
DD: What does a horror writer do to
make Halloween stand out from every other day of the year?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
JM: Eat glazed donuts and chili. </div>
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(I wear masks all the time. I am
wearing one right now…so are you…)</div>
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DD: Is there anything you'd like to
see more (or less) of in zombiedom?</div>
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<br /></div>
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JM: I would say my one big gripe
about zombie fiction is it needs more zombies. More gore! More violence! More
horror! MORE ZOMBIES! </div>
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I feel like most stories focus far
too much on the living. And, man, the living are dramatic. So much talking,
pontificating, arguing, double-crossing, remembering, plotting, you get it. I
like zombie action, how people react when faced with dead humans attacking you,
and not how people act when zombies are eating everyone else. Perhaps this is a
certain level of cynicism on my behalf, I have no doubt sociopaths will excel
in apocalyptic realities and the world would be a fucked up place all around.
(Heh, we haven’t officially hit apocalypse yet and look how we’re doing.) Most
zombie stories which start months or years after the first zombie outbreak lose
my attention fast, because to me they feel like dramas with zombie scenery.
That’s the main reason Hollow Mountain Dead follows the zombie outbreak from
the source out.</div>
Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-57241079114452169602016-10-20T09:53:00.000-06:002016-10-20T09:53:02.633-06:00#NanoInterview: Rhiannon Frater<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ny7Ly6MLj5k/WAjoMpsJigI/AAAAAAAAB94/Ac0qpwy7_2gpubt296HXB4TLBi83ZBr7QCLcB/s1600/nanoRF.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kasperskylab_antibanner="on" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ny7Ly6MLj5k/WAjoMpsJigI/AAAAAAAAB94/Ac0qpwy7_2gpubt296HXB4TLBi83ZBr7QCLcB/s400/nanoRF.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DD: Thanks for plugging in, Rhiannon! First off, tell us
about the original THE LIVING DEAD BOY. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">RF: The original book was written long ago (2010) for my
nieces and nephews. At the time they were between the ages of 4 and 15. They’re
diehard zombie fans, and they were annoyed that there weren’t any zombie books
where kids their age were the heroes. I remember one of my nieces just bugging
me like crazy to write about kids fighting zombies. These kids are so zombie
crazy, that the littlest wept bitter tears when she wasn’t allowed to watch The
Walking Dead series premiere. She was four at the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One time, when my brother was visiting me with his family,
he pulled me aside to say that he was grateful that I had prepared his kids for
the zombie apocalypse. He knew that they would be able to handle themselves if
anything happened to him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“I will totally shoot you in the head if you turn zombie,
Dad,” my niece promised.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Yup,” her brother agreed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I thought that was pretty hilarious, but it also inspired
me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So the gears started spinning and I thought, “Well, how
would kids who are zombie fans handle the z-poc?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Out of that question Josh and his fellow Zombie Hunters (their
club) were born.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I guess you could say The Living Dead Boy is very much a
Goonies versus the zombies type of book. Though it is centered on kids, there
is a lot of death and mayhem. Since I wanted the youngest of zombie fans to
enjoy the book, I did dial back my descriptions of the gore. That hasn’t
deterred adult fans from loving it, too. In fact, I suspect adult zombie fans
just add in the gore with their imaginations.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DD: The sequel is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Texas-Living-Dead-Boy-ebook/dp/B01M0OY7Z8/" target="_blank">LOST IN TEXAS: THE LIVING DEAD BOY 2.</a>
Where do we pick up after the events of the original? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">RF: It picks up a few hours after the first book ends. I
considered a jump ahead in time, but that didn’t feel right. I, personally,
like zombie stories that take place the first days of the z-poc. Exploring how people
react in disasters is something I really enjoy. I used to work on federal
disaster relief grants. I spoke with city and county officials and with the
survivors. The disasters were everything from wildfires to hurricanes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So, we rejoin Josh and the surviving Zombie Hunters as
they’re traveling on an Austin Metro bus that is part of an evacuation convoy.
Most of the kids have lost all their family, and Josh is lucky enough to be
reunited with his dad, a former Marine. Josh’s big struggle at the beginning of
the book is trusting adults to keep everyone safe. He’s very well-educated on
zombie films and books so he’s just expecting the worst. Though he’s twelve,
he’s a very smart kid. And he’s right. Things go very wrong, and he once again
has to step up into a leadership role with his friends.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My beta readers, who are all adults, have loved the new
book. That’s a very rewarding feeling after not being in the world of Josh and
his friends for six years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DD: What's your process like? Do you have a writing schedule,
word goals and the like, or does it just come as it comes? Maybe a little of
both? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">RF: When I finally feel an idea is solid enough to write, I
do try to write every single day. It’s not always easy. I suffer from basal
joint arthritis thanks to writing by hand for many, many years. I wrecked my
thumb joints. So I sometimes struggle with pain. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One thing that is very true in my experience is that the
mere act of writing helps open up the story. It does feel a lot like watching a
movie in my head and transcribing what I write. And the more I write, the more
details I see.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’m slowly increasing my daily word count, testing how much
stress my joints can take, but I don’t hit same high word count I used to. That
stings a bit. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DD: Do dreams inspire your work? Do you keep track of
dreams? </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">RF: All my books are born in dreams. I dream very vividly.
My dreams are like mini-movies. Of course, not all dreams are worthy of a book,
but once and a while I’ll wake up and know that I just dreamed something with a
ton of potential. I use Workflowy to record the details of the dreams that feel
like the seed of a book. Sometimes those ideas take years to germinate, and
others are just ready to go immediately.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DD: Is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in
zombiedom?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">RF: Well, going back to my experience working on disaster
grants, I do wish we’d get away from the nihilistic viewpoint of everyone being
evil. I visited areas that looked positively post-apocalyptic and listened to
the survivor stories. Over and over again, I was told how complete strangers
rescued people that were trapped, and in the aftermath, shared what little food
and water they had. They also helped each other with shelter, and finding loved
ones (including pets). There’s always going to be some bad stories, but overall
it was very heart-warming to hear tales of great heroism and kindness in the
face of terrible disasters.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Humans aren’t perfect, but we do survive in communities.
That’s something writers often forget. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’d also like to get away from the evil military trope. I
know so many men and women who have served bravely and selflessly in the armed
forces that are just amazingly good people. I hate that they end up as villains
in a lot of zombie stories. The same with police officers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Again, there are always going to be a few bad ones in the
mix, but I’d like to see things a bit more realistically portrayed in zombie
fiction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Happily, since when I first started writing in the genre all
the way back in 2005, there are a lot more women writing about zombies, and
we’re getting a lot of very solid, positive portrayals of female characters.
That’s been very heartening.</span></span></div>
Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-57491150205552218762016-10-15T06:35:00.000-06:002016-10-15T06:35:01.393-06:00Pick a Card...<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The deck is stacked against our heroes...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Promotional images for Book I of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IMOXS68"><i><b>The Strange Dead</b></i></a> - imagined playing cards for a nonexistent RPG based in the world of the story.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-60174257124386894532016-10-06T19:33:00.002-06:002016-10-06T19:54:27.601-06:00#NanoInterview: Travis Adkins<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Travis Adkins is returning to zombie fiction with MISTS OF THE DEAD. I've had the pleasure of reading the to-be-published dark fantasy epic and had to have Travis in for a Nano Interview.<br /><br />DD: Thanks for plugging in, Travis! First off, tell us about your new project, Mists of the Dead.<br /><br />TA: Hi Dunwoody! Thank you so much for your interest!<br /><br />Mists of the Dead is my love letter to the zombie genre, Victorian poetry and prose, the fin de siècle, Ravenloft, and all my favorite things. The setting and theme allow me to pay tribute to the type of zombies rarely utilized in fiction.<br /><br />DD: Meanwhile, audio versions of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Dead-Travis-Adkins/dp/1522697438/" target="_blank"><i>Twilight of the Dead</i></a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1522697411/" target="_blank"><i>After Twilight: Walking with the Dead</i></a> came out this summer. Prior to that, it had been a while since we’d seen dead things from you!<br /><br />TA: Yeah. I disappeared. I got married, lived in Doha, Qatar for two years, and then returned to the Zombie Capital of the World, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I live now with my wife and four cats, just a stone’s throw from the Monroeville Mall. I couldn’t be happier!<br /><br />But I wasn’t just idle in my time off. I was reading and learning and experiencing new things. I’m an older, humbler, and (hopefully) slightly wiser Trav now. <br /><br />DD: What’s your writing process? Do you have a schedule, word count goals, etc., or does it just happen as it happens? Somewhere in between?<br /><br />TA: Full disclosure: I don’t consider myself a writer, but I do think I’m a doggedly creative person. It can come out in a lot of ways. Editing and designing books for others can satisfy the itch; so can a video game where I have total creative control of the main character. Sometimes, though, only writing down my ideas will do.<br /><br />As for my process, it’s intense, and probably not the healthiest way to write. (But it’s the only way I know how.) I take extensive notes over years. In fact, Mists of the Dead was fully written in notes before I sat down to write it. Other novels in this universe are mostly fully-formed, too. Then, when I’m ready, I wake up at 3:00 in the morning, sit at my desk in the dark with my laptop open, and start punching those keys. I’ll write until I need to stop to sleep.<br /><br />DD: Do dreams inspire you? Do you keep track of your dreams?<br /><br />TA: Hmm. Not really. My dreams are disappointing. The reason being, I think my brain has trained itself to be such a skeptic, that nothing too outlandish can ever happen. Say, for example, I had a dream that started out with me walking through a strange house, exploring, wind gusting through the open windows, dusk approaching, and obviously this is a setup for a haunted house, right? But because I now there’s no such thing as ghosts, instead there’s a little kid stealing pots and pans in the kitchen. And I’m like, “Hey stop that you little bastard,” and he’s smacking my hands with a frying pan.<br /><br />So, yeah, realism is the reason I couldn’t bring myself to continue the Twilight of the Dead narrative. The mythology of that world just wasn’t tenable. (I was barely twenty I think when I wrote it, and what the hell did I know about anything?) So, with Mists of the Dead, as funny as it sounds, I wanted to write a novel that could actually happen. This might not make sense, but to my nit-picky brain it does.<br /><br />DD: Is there anything you’d like to see more (or less) of in zombiedom?<br /><br />TA: I’ve been gone so long I don’t know if I have a right to criticize. On top of that, I don’t know what all’s out there, but I know there’s a lot! I’m trying to find my place in the community again, so it’s not about me being accepting, it’s about others being accepting of me. See there? Humble. <br /><br /><br /></span></span>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29385319.post-27974902208945007902016-09-30T15:55:00.002-06:002016-09-30T15:55:33.374-06:00#NanoInterview: Michelle Suhar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As described on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sbczombiewalk/" target="_blank">official Facebook page</a>, the SBC Zombie Walk is "a means to raise awareness of global hunger issues as well as collecting nonperishable goods for the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana in Shreveport." This year's event (Saturday, October see the FB page for location and times) will also feature the grand opening of the <a href="http://www.necromanor.com/" target="_blank">Necro Manor</a> haunted house.<br /><br />Zombie walk founder & friend Michelle Suhar plugs in for tonight's Nano Interview:<br /><br />DD: You began this event in 2008. What has the response and growth been since then?<br /><br />MS: It has been 8 years since the first walk, which was then the Shreveport Zombie Walk. The last official Shreveport Zombie Walk was held in 2012. Those five years saw nothing but growth and success. The number of attendees and the amount of food we raised for the local food bank just kept going up! After a 3 year hiatus, we are back this year and ready to shamble and groan for a 3 good causes: Food Bank of NWLA, LifeShare Blood Centers, and Renzi Education & Art Center. These are all local organizations that benefit, so we are directly helping the Shreveport-Bossier City community.<br /><br />DD: What other madness can attendees expect?<br /><br />MS: Not only are we having costume & tattoo contests, a kids area, numerous door prize drawing, live music, and food/merchandise vendors on hand, we are also having some special guests! Casey Orr AKA “Beefcake the Mighty” of the band GWAR is a featured guest, as well as artist Brian Steward of Fangoria Magazine. Local artist Nicole Woods of VooDeaux Tattoo is our featured local artist, and the Twin City Knockers Roller Derby team will be out to meet with fans and lend their support, as they have since 2011. Since we are working in conjunction with NecroManor – the BEST local haunted house around – we are helping to promote their grand opening, which will take place during the zombie walk event! Since the haunt is attached directly to the event center where the walk is being held, attendees can purchase tickets to be of the first people to experience the haunt this year, all while enjoying the zombie walk events.<br /><br />DD: Describe some of the coolest zombies you've seen shambling by.<br /><br />MS: There have been SO MANY amazing zombies at our walks over the years! I will never forget Little Orphan Annie Zombie and her poor little Sandy dog. That was an amazing piece of work – it looked like her spine was falling out of her back. Of course, one year a whole group showed up as the cast of The Walking Dead, and that just blew everyone away! Probably one of my favorites, however, was in 2011 when Zombie Gallagher made an appearance and smashed a pumpkin in the street!<br /><br />DD: You played Barbara in a stage performance of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Do you get into an undead character for the zombie walk?<br /><br />MS: I played Barbara on stage in 2009 & 2010 at the East Bank Theatre in Bossier City. That was my first time to ever be in a play. It was so much fun! As far as getting into undead character for the zombie walk…I always want to go all out and do a really cool zombie costume, but sometimes I stay so busy planning the walk event and I just throw something together last minute. Whatever I look like, whenever it’s time to zombie walk I get into brain-dead mode, drag my leg and moan for brainssssss!<br /><br />DD: Tell us about your work in the world of zombie fiction.<br /><br />MS: I have a few short stories published in the Zombology and Zombology 2 anthologies, as well as in Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology, which I co-edited with best-selling horror author Joe McKinney. I am proud to say that Dead Set won Bronze in Best Horror Category of the 2010 IPPY Awards. As for now, I am working on my Bachelor Degree in Psychology, so I write more school papers than anything! I still write for fun on my website DianePrince.com. I have so many horror story ideas in my head. I write down notes in my writer’s journal so that when the day comes that I can write for fun more often, I will already have several bits of inspiration to draw from.<br /><br />DD: Is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of in zombiedom?<br /><br />MS: The world of zombiedom is immense. I know so many people who like zombies now just because of The Walking Dead television series, and I think that is so great! I myself am an avid reader of the comics and watcher of the show! For those who really enjoy The Walking Dead – or a newbie to the zombie genre – I would suggest going back and watching all of the old, original zombie movies. Start with “I Walked with a Zombie,” and then watch Romero’s films in order. Papa George’s movies are social commentaries. A zombie apocalypse may seem corny - yes it will most likely never happen - but if you put that aside and really think about the underlying message, then you can fully appreciate the genius in Romero’s work. Then I would say watch Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland - 2 of the best zombie films ever made. In the world of zombiedom, we need more diversity of ideas and the best place to start is in books! People should definitely check out all of the wonderful zombie authors that helped open my eyes to the genre, like David Dunwoody himself and Kim Paffenroth, just to name a few. There are so many good books out there that are about nothing but zombies! As far of what zombiedom needs less of, I would simply advise that people NOT watch the World War Z film…just go read the book instead, it is WAY better!</span></span>Dave Dunwoodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17249049585590929478noreply@blogger.com0