S.G. Browne

So when I get home today, I find a thick, padded envelope from my editor sitting on top of the mailboxes in my apartment building.  I know what’s in the envelope because my editor e-mailed me two days ago to tell me it was on the way.  But I don’t rip it open right there.  I have three bags of groceries from Trader Joe’s with me.

So I put the padded envelope in one of the grocery bags and head up the two flights to my apartment, open my front door, put the groceries on the kitchen counter, then remove the envelope and tear it open.  And into my hand falls the first honest-to-Jerry, final published version of my novel.

By the way, if you’re wondering about the “honest-to-Jerry” bit, you’ll have to wait for my next novel.

Having the ARC of BREATHERS in my hands was one thing, but having this, the final product, with dedication and acknowledgments and back cover copy with a blurb from Kirkus, is a completely different sense of accomplishment altogether.  Of course, there’s the little matter about the lack of an author photo and bio on the inside back cover, which is obviously a disappointment, but I figure it’s just a lesson to still enjoy the experience even if everything doesn’t quite turn out the way I expected.

What’s really fun is seeing the spine of BREATHERS sitting among some of my favorite authors and novels sitting on my bookshelf next to my desk:

                                                                                                                                       Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go bathe in a little self-indulgence.

To celebrate the upcoming publication of Breathers less than two months away, I’m throwing a contest on undeadanonymous.com in which I’ll be giving away a personally autographed Advanced Reader’s Copy of Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by yours truly as first prize.

In addition, I’m offering a mass market paperback of the winner’s choice for the first and second runners-up.  Kind of like Miss America, only without the flowers and the tiara.

To enter, all you have to do is promote the contest and Undead Anonymous and comment on Andy’s Diary with a link to the site or the blog or the group where you plugged Breathers and you’ll be entered to win.  Yeah, it’s that easy.

Winners will be selected by a random drawing of all entries.

The contest is open in all time zones and closes Sunday, January 18th at 11:59 PM, PST.

Good luck and thanks for the support!

Little did I know that when I wrote a dark comedy about a newly minted zombie dealing with life after undeath that I’d run across four other authors who were also penning zombie novels.  And that all five of our novels would be coming out in early 2009.  Can I have an uhhhhhhnnnn?

First up is You Are So Undead to Me (Razorbill) by Stacey Jay, a YA novel about a teenage zombie hunter and her fight to save her prom date from getting eaten.  Release date January 22, 2009.

Next up is Mark Henry’s Road Trip of the Living Dead (Kensington), which is the second in the Amanda Feral series about zombie, vampires, werewolves, and other cuddly, lovable creatures who haunt the Pacific Northwest.  Road Trip hits the road February 24, 2009.

Another YA title, Zombie Queen of Newbury High (Puffin) by Amanda Ashby, follows the exploits of Mia Everett who accidentally turns the entire senior class into brain-dead, flesh-munching zombies just in time for prom and finds herself up first up on the menu.  Due out March 5, 2009.

Then there is Carrie Ryan’s debut novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Delacorte), about a young girl living in a post-zombie-Apocalypse world who begins to discover the truth about the world in which she lives.  At your local bookstore March 10, 2009.

Finally, rounding out the quints of zombie prose, the thumb to join the other four, decaying fingers, is my own Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament (Broadway), a dark comedy about undeath through the eyes of an ordinary zombie.  It’s a classic story of suffering and redemption, like The Color Purple or the New Testament.  Only with cannibalism.  Breathers is scheduled to hit the shelves March 17, 2009.

2009 may be the Year of the Ox, but as far as I can tell, it looks like it’s shaping up to be the year of the Zombie.

People always ask me, “So what’s your book about?”

And I say, “It’s a dark, existential comedy.  A social satire.  About zombies.”

That’s usually when they just stare at me.  Or laugh.  Or say, “Really?”

These are people I meet at parties.  People I know from my job.  People who have known me for years.

“Really?”

Yes.  Really.  I’ve written a novel about zombies.  I know what happens to the human body when it decomposes.   I know that after three weeks, the internal organs turn to chicken soup.  I know what when maggots feast on the subcutaneous fat of a bloated corpse, it sounds like Rice Krispies.

These are the thoughts that go through my head when I’m making dinner.  Or when I’m baking home made treats for my co-workers.

So if you don’t like zombies, or if you’ve never given them much thought, I invite you to consider what it’s like to be one of the walking undead.  After all, eventually we’re all going to die.  But only a few of us will be unfortunate enough to have to deal with the emotional fallout of a rapidly digesting pancreas.