W is for World War (X, Y and) Z
Truth is, I’ve grown a bit tired of the A to Z of Breathers, which I started back on March 3 when the novel was released. Six months later, I think I’ve exhausted most of my insight about Breathers and probably been repetitive and redundant along the way. Plus I’ve run out of fresh ideas for the last four installments. See? I’m repeating myself already just in this blog.But I couldn’t think of anything that worked for X or Y. (Z would obviously be for Zombies, which I think I’ve talked about more than once.) And W is for World War Z is really a bit of a stretch. Except I figured it was relevant since Breathers was tied to it, or at least to Max Brooks, on the back cover copy of the novel.
So consider this the last installment dealing with the What, Where, Who, When, and Why of Breathers.
On the back cover of Breathers, the copy reads:
For fans of Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide and zombie aficionados everywhere…
Truth is, while I bought a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide in 2004 and read through parts of it and enjoyed the dry and amusing take on zombie preparedness offered up by Max Brooks, I never really looked at it as anything similar to Breathers. I was more of the opinion that fans of Chuck Palahniuk and Christopher Moore would enjoy my novel, which has been confirmed by a number of readers who asked me if I’d ever read either Palahniuk or Moore. So that makes me happy, since I consider both of them talented novelists and influential in my own writing.
However, since The Zombie Survival Guide was a widely read humorous zombie novel, my publisher thought it would make sense to tie the two together and reach out to those fans. Several readers commented that the comparisons between the two novels weren’t really relevant, while one reader went so far as to complain about the comparison and bash me for not measuring up to Brooks’ caliber of writing in World War Z. Which is kind of bizarre because nowhere on the cover copy does it mention World War Z. Whatever.
Is there a point to this? I’m not really sure. It’s late, I have an early morning call with my editor to discuss her thoughts on my next book, and I want some Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream but my freezer only has frozen edamame and Morningstar sausage links. So naturally, I’m distracted.
But I think where I was going with this was that I didnt’ read World War Z until after I’d finished Breathers and had a publishing contract because I didn’t want to be influenced by any zombie fiction. And while I enjoyed WWZ and found it a compelling and fascinating read, again, there’s not really any point of comparison between my writing and that of Max Brooks. Though I think you can be a fan of both of us and still respect yourself in the morning.
Onward…
