S.G. Browne

Rhiannon Frater is the author of the As the World Dies Zombie Trilogy, The Tale of the Vampire Bride, and Pretty When She Dies: A Vampire Novel, which has been optioned for film rights by Tripod Entertainment.

As The World Dies:The First Days, the first in her zombie trilogy and her first zombie novel, won the 2008 Dead Letter Award for Best Novel.

I met Rhiannon last September in South Pittsburgh at the Horror Realm Convention, where I had the pleasure of listening to her do a reading. She was kind enough to share her thoughts on some zombie and writing related questions.

Tell us about your first zombie experience. How did you lose your undead virginity?
I saw Night of the Living Dead as a child and it scared me to death. Vampires remained the main boogeymen of my nightmares for a long time, but then I saw Day of the Dead and that pretty much sealed the deal. Zombies haunt my nightmares! That is why I write about them. To wrangle them under control. Which isn’t easy!

What’s your favorite zombie film?
Night of the Living Dead remains my favorite. There is just something about the black and white imagery that terrifies me. The original Dawn of the Dead is also a favorite. Of the recent films, REC and Shaun of the Dead are at the top of the list.

Other than a reliable weapon, what one item would be on your Must Have List for the zombie apocalypse?
A big huge truck with a deer guard and gun rack. And there are a ton of those around here. I do live in Texas.

If you could have a pet zombie, what would you name it and who would you feed it?
I would name it Harvey and make it wear bunny ears. I would feed it boy bands and annoying celebrities who are famous for being a celebrity.

What’s the first thing you remember reading that inspired you to want to become a writer?
From the moment I started talking, I was telling stories. I was inspired to write the first time I understood the concept of a book. I was annoyed with having to wait to go into school to learn to read and write. I wanted to get going! So it wasn’t any particular book, just the fact books exist.

Who’s your favorite author?
Neil Gaimen. He is just a master at using words to paint vivid landscapes and characters that pull me into the canvass. But I’m discovering really great authors all the time like some guy named S. G. Browne that I met at Horror Realm in Pittsburgh.

What’s your favorite word?
Fuck. It’s just way too much fun to say.

What’s your favorite non-zombie film?
Pan’s Labyrinth is a masterpiece and it inspires me every time I watch it. It is so perfect in its storytelling.

If you weren’t writing about zombies, what would you write about?
I also write about vampires (non-sparkly, of course), witches, werewolves, dhamphirs, fallen angels…basically, whatever inspires me.

If you had a theme song that played when you walked into a room, what would it be?
“Transylvanian Concubine” by Rasputina sounds good.

Shameless self-promotion bonus question: What’s coming up next?
Presently, my literary agent is pitching As The World Dies:The First Days to the big NYC publishers and it seems to be going very well. What happens with that will have a big impact on what comes next for me. I will be writing Living Dead Boy for the Library of the Living Dead Press very soon for a spring release, but other than that, I’m not really sure.

Isn’t life fun?

If you’d like to keep up with Rhiannon’s writing, you can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, her As the World Dies Fan Page, or on her blog, Zombies, Vampires, and Texans! Oh my!

Eric S Brown has been called “the king of zombies” by Dread Central and he was featured in the book Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (by Jonathan Maberry) as an expert on the genre.

World War of the Dead, his first solo zombie novel, came out in 2009 while The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies, a zombie mash-up of the H.G. Wells classic, finished as #8 in the Preditors & Editors readers’ poll for the Best Horror Novel of 2009.

His short fiction has been published hundreds of times, in places such as Dead Worlds 5, Dead History, The Zombist, and Gentlemen of Horror, among others.

When he’s not writing about the living dead, Eric also writes an ongoing column on the world of comic books for Abandoned Towers magazine.

Tell us about your first zombie experience. How did you lose your undead virginity?
My family had just gotten a VCR. Yes, I am that old. I saw Night of the Living Dead on a discount rack of VHS stuff and snagged it because I thought it looked cool. After watching it, I had nightmares for two weeks and fell in love. I raced out and rented a copy of Dawn of the Dead. From that moment on, I was a zombie junkie for life.

What’s your favorite zombie film?
Both Dawn of the Dead films. Though completely different, I love them both. The first is the perfect thinking person’s Z film and the remake is a masterpiece of zombie action.

Other than a reliable weapon, what one item would be on your Must Have List for the zombie apocalypse?
That is a tough one. How about a solar powered laptop with the complete DC and Marvel libraries of everything the two companies have ever published on it? That would help keep me sane and give me something to do when not running for my life.

If you could have a pet zombie, what would you name it and who would you feed it?
Howard, after my beloved cat that passed away a few years back. As to who I would feed it, just annoying people in general. That way I can pick as I go.

What’s the first thing you remember reading that inspired you to want to become a writer?
The Green Lantern comic series from DC. We had career day at school and I went as a GL but they told me I couldn’t be an interstellar cop with a power ring so I looked back down at my shirt and said, “Okay, I’ll be a writer then.” Seriously, I cut my teeth on comics. Series like Green Lantern and the Fantastic Four taught me SF and series like The Legion of Superheroes taught me character development and plot structure. I wanted to create worlds and characters like DC was doing.

Who’s your favorite author?
Of all time? Only one? That’s insane mate. I love David Drake for his action and military SF. I love Lovecraft because he was so ahead of his time and a lot like me on the social level. I really enjoy Dan Simmons’ work and F. Paul Wilson’s. The Keep is one of the greatest books ever. How about a favorite book instead? My favorite, most read book of my life is the first Book of the Dead anthology (this is of course excluding comics).

What’s your favorite word?
Legion.

What’s your favorite non-zombie film?
Ghostbusters! There’s NO question there. It’s the greatest SF/comedy ever made. I couldn’t begin to tell you how times I have watched it. It has some of the best lines ever like, “Back off man, I’m a scientist!” and “Remember that time you tried to drill a hole in your head?” I spent my whole fifth grade year of school decked out in Ghostbusters clothing and today at 35, I can almost quote the entire movie, line for line, from beginning to end.

If you weren’t writing about zombies, what would you write about?
This year, I’ll be trying my hand at two of my other loves: Bigfoot and Superheroes. Bigfoot has terrified me since I was a young child in rural North Carolina. Coscom Entertainment will be releasing my book, Bigfoot War, very shortly, which is my answer to all those annoying Bigfoot movies that only have one monster. Bigfoot War has a whole freaking tribe of ticked off Sasquatchs taking on a southern town and is very true to the Eric S Brown style of gut spilling action that readers saw in Season of Rot.

Also this year, Altered Dimensions Press and The Library of Science Fiction Press will be releasing superhero books from me featuring my own original character, Agent Robert Death. Death is a really screwed up guy with as many issues as he has powers. He leads a rotating team (due to the high mortality rate) of super-powered operatives against both science based and supernatural forces that threaten our plane of existence. Writing superheroes was a scary thing for me because I have been in love with that genre since I was four years old and with comics being such a HUGE part of my life, I had a lot to live up to in my mind. Hopefully, I pulled it off and The Human Experiment and Anti-Heroes (co-written by David Dunwoody) will rock pretty hardcore this coming fall.

If you had a theme song that played when you walked into a room, what would it be?
“The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash or the theme from Greatest American Hero. I can be the most depressing person in the room without trying but I also tend to shock fans with how “geeky” I am in person.

Shameless self-promotion bonus question: What’s coming up next?
Bigfoot War is coming very soon from Coscom Entertainment. It’s my own personal most looked forward to book of the year from me. I also have the superhero books I mentioned above coming later this year and a new collection called Tandems of Terror (with John Grover) that’s being released. However, I would like to say if you haven’t read World War of the Dead or The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies yet, you should really check those out.

If you’re interested in following Eric’s writing endeavors, you can find him on his Facebook profile page.

Michael Boatman is the author of The Revenant Road, a dark horror comedy about a best-selling mystery writer who begrudgingly enters into the family monster-killing business and has to stop a supernatural killing spree while fighting off a hangover and trying to live up to his dead father’s reputation. Think Men in Black meets Shaun of the Dead.

I met Michael in San Diego, when we shared an author reading and signing at Mysterious Galaxy Books. A gifted actor as well as a talented writer, Michael has co-starred on Spin City and Arli$$ and is currently co-starring in the Lifetime television series SHERRI.

Tell us about your first zombie experience. How did you lose your undead virginity?
The first time I ever really became aware of zombies was during an episode of The Night Stalker, way back in the ‘70’s. Darren McGavin’s character, Kolchak discovers that someone has resurrected a dead gangster and sent him around to kill off a bunch of other gangsters by breaking their backs. This zombie was a more traditional voodoo-based zombie: a dead man sent by a sorcerer to exact horrifying revenge on the sorcerer’s enemies. The climax takes place in an old auto graveyard. To stop the zombie, Kolchak has to find it while it lies dormant inside one of the abandoned wrecks. He has to exorcise the zombie by filling its mouth with salt and sewing its lips shut. I guarantee you, the moment when the zombie opens its eyes is one of the scariest, and funniest moments in television horror history.

What’s your favorite zombie film?
Night of the Living Dead is still the greatest zombie film, and one of the greatest horror films of all time. It never ceases to terrify me and I’ve watched it every year since I was in high school.

It’s the zombie apocalypse. Do you use a gun, a machete, or a Louisville slugger?
I’m gonna go for the Louisville. It’s more reliable than a gun and I could use the workout.

If you were a zombie, who would you eat first?
George W. Bush. A close second would be Maxim model/actress Sophia Vergara, but for completely different reasons.

What’s the first thing you ever had published?
My first published short story was called “The Drop.” It’s a story about a mentally retarded but unusually well endowed man named Cyrell Biggs. Cyrell plots to murder his abusive cousin/boss at the behest of the woman they both love. That story contains rude alligators, a homicidal black mermaid, Southern family dysfunction and a beatdown by crowbar. (I’m still proud of it.) It was published in Horror Garage magazine.

Who’s your favorite author?
I have so many favorites, but two guys tie for my number one spot: Stephen King and David J. Schow.

What’s your favorite book?
The Road. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I didn’t expect it to. It sets the bar for post-Apocalyptic survival stories and is simply the most horrifying, heartbreaking novel I’ve ever read.

Name your favorite guilty pleasure.
Doritos. I can eat an entire duffel-bag of Doritos. Afterward I can sit there in my car, listening to my arteries clogging and still think, “Damn…that was good.”

Other than your favorite author/book, name something that inspires your writing.
Anger. I’m from the Midwest: Therefore I am deeply repressed. I’m the married father of four children: Therefore I spend a lot of time being wrong. Therefore I do my best writing when I’m pissed. I’ve written two and a half novels, dozens of short stories, six screenplays and a million un-mailed death threats. People see me on television and form one sort of opinion about me. Then they read my stories or follow me on Twitter or Facebook and they all write the same thing… “But you seem so nice.”

If you had a theme song that played when you walked into a room, what would it be?
“The Six Million Dollar Man.”

Shameless self-promotion bonus question: What’s coming up next?
I’m working on a novel about God, which is tough for an atheist. I’m also writing a short story about wizards in a post- apocalyptic Chicago.

Michael Boatman is the author of The Revenant Road and the short story collection, God Laughs When You Die: Mean Little Stories From the Wrong Side of the Tracks.

If you’d like to keep up with Micheal’s writing and acting endeavors, you can follow him at Twitter.com/MichaelPBoatman.

Carrie Ryan is the author of the young adult novels, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves set in a world several generations after the zombie apocalypse. A recovering litigator, Carrie’s a full time writer living in Charlotte, NC.

Even as a young adult, I didn’t tend to read any YA novels. I don’t even know if Young Adult novels existed when I was part of the demographic. But having read a number of them this year, most of them admittedly either about zombies or vampires, I have to say I found Carrie’s debut effort a transcendent read.

Tell us about your first zombie experience. How did you lose your undead virginity?
I’d sworn off all scary movies ever since I was five years old and my babysitter talked me into watching Poltergeist by telling me how much I was like the little girl in the movie (same name, same blond hair, same closet full of stuffed animals). Of course, my parents came home and I never saw the ending and spent the next month unable to sleep with the lights off. Naturally, I wasn’t a fan of scary movies from that point on.

And yet, somehow during my second year of law school my fiancé talked me into going to the opening night of the Dawn of the Dead remake (I can only assume his argument went something along the lines of “It’s Durham NC, what else is there to do?”). I was terrified during the movie and yet so totally pumped up afterward. I couldn’t stop imagining what I’d do if the zombie apocalypse hit.

My fiancé fed my growing addiction with a steady diet of zombie movies and books — he even read The Zombie Survival Guide out loud to me (you can see why my first book is dedicated to him).

What’s your favorite zombie film?
That’s really an unfair question! I actually hated Night of the Living Dead when I first saw it because I was so frustrated the characters couldn’t get their stupid acts together. Then I found out that was the point of the film which I thought was brilliant. I also love Shawn of the Dead because it’s both so crazy hilarious and terribly sad and frightening — they were really able to tease out so many emotions with that film. And of course Dawn of the Dead because it started it all.

It’s the zombie apocalypse. Do you use a gun, a machete, or a Louisville slugger?
Machete. A gun’s only so good as the number of bullets you have and the slugger can (a) get slippery and (b) break.

If you were a zombie, who would you eat first?
The person standing closest to me. I’m lazy and I’m sure that quality will still remain after I’m dead.

What’s the first thing you ever had published?
Other than a few short stories in my college literary magazine, the first work I had published were two essays I wrote to get into law school. One of them was called “Torts vs. Tarts” and was all about how writing romance novels was going to help me be a better lawyer. Must have convinced the admissions office because I was accepted.

Who’s your favorite author?
I can’t play favorites! Right now I’m chewing through all of Jen Lancaster’s backlist because they crack me up.

What’s your favorite book?
I always feel weird saying this, especially since I write young adult books, but my favorite book is Nabokov’s Lolita. I just love the way he plays with language — all the tricks and wordplay and flat out gorgeous language. I also love the idea of taking a hideous subject and making the telling of it beautiful – it really messes with the question of how we define art.

Name your favorite guilty pleasure.
I never feel guilty for pleasure. I do like to sometimes sleep late on work days just because I can and I also love sitting in the shower and going through all the hot water while I drink a really cold beer.

Other than your favorite author/book, name something that inspires your writing.
I get inspired by such random things: music, taking a walk, listening to people talk. I feel like if you relax you’ll find inspiration all over the place.

If you had a theme song that played when you walked into a room, what would it be?
Ugh, I have one song stuck in my head which I just can’t put down. Hmmm… I know there’s a perfect song and I just can’t think of it right now. Looking at what’s most played in my iTunes, you’d think it would be “Praan” (which is the music to the Where The Hell is Matt video with him dancing all over the world). But usually my theme song would be something that would make you dance — “Hey Ya” would be a good one or Ben Folds Five’s “There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You.” And now you see just how indecisive I can be in my life!

Shameless self-promotion bonus question: What’s coming up next?
Next up is the paperback release of my debut, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, on February 8, 2010 and then The Dead-Tossed Waves, which is a companion to my debut, out March 9, 2010.

If you’d like to visit Carrie and learn more about her writing and her novels, you can find her at www.carrieryan.com. Or follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/carrieryan.

Mark Henry is the twisted author of Happy Hour of the Damned and Road Trip of the Living Dead, his Amanda Feral zombie comedy series that is equal parts snark, sex, and style. His heroine, Amanda, is a newly turned zombie navigating her way through Seattle’s undead club scene while jonesing for a vanilla breve latte and trying to keep her nails from breaking. Hey, it’s not easy being sleazy when your flesh is decomposing.

Although I haven’t had the chance to enjoy more than a few words with Mark, we have swapped meaningful glances on a couple of occasions. However, I have no doubts that most of the memorable comments from any conversation we might have would come from him.

Tell us about your first zombie experience. How did you lose your undead virginity?
Oddly enough, my own mother played a hand in my zombie deflowering. Let me take you back. It was 1978, and little I was an impressionable child—and by “impressionable” I mean “prematurely pervy”—on my birthday that year, my mother went down to our local lending library and checked out a God’s honest film projector and canisters of George Romero’s classic reinvention of the zombie mythos, Night of the Living Dead. She presented it like a gangsta on the wall of our 1960’s era rambler in full of view of a rather jittery gathering of pre-teens. I’m fairly certain young minds were traumatized that day, stunted even. But not mine, I…was in love.

What’s your favorite zombie film?
It really depends on the day, but today I’m feeling goofy, so I’ll go with Return of the Living Dead, that 80s classic of zombie comedy. And here’s why. One, Linnea Quigley dancing on graves topless with bleached out punker hair. Yes, please. Two, “Send more paramedics” is one of the funniest lines in the history of ever. Three, Braaaaiiinnnnnsssss! Before this ground breaker, zombies were content to just eat any old body part and be satisfied that there was no better flavor to be found in a squiggling panicked victim. Return gave them a flavor fave, and I’m all about the food obsessions, so thank you Dan O’Bannon. You’re okay in my book.

It’s the zombie apocalypse. Do you use a gun, a machete, or a Louisville slugger?
Gotta go with the machete. I’m a cook, so I’m most comfortable with a knife in my hand, if I can’t choose wiener, that is—of course, a penis is not a weapon, and if it’s being wielded as such ladies, please purchase a machete.

If you were a zombie, who would you eat first?
Because, above all else, I’m a loyal husband, I’d have to say…my wife! Plus, I can smell her spleen and I bet it’s as succulent as they come.

What’s the first thing you ever had published?
A short story called “An Acquired Taste.” It was actually the birth of Amanda and Wendy and not at all good. Not. At. All.

Who’s your favorite author?
That’s a tough one, because I love different authors for different reason. King, Barker, Rice. Hell, Sedaris and Burroughs are huge for me. I even love Alexander McCall Smith. I’m obsessed with some cozy mysteries. Now you have me all discombobulated. I guess I’ll go with Stephen King. He was my favorite as a kid and young adult and I still buy his stuff, though not this last one, Under the Dome. I didn’t buy that one. I got one of only 100 ARCs printed, bitches. Read it and weep!

What’s your favorite book?
Definitely The Stand by Stephen King. I’ve got a boner for apocalyptic epics that aren’t completely depressing **cough**The Road**cough**. Plus, I kind of have to say it because Randall Flagg is following me on Twitter. It’s safer that way. (If you want to follow me, I’m mark_henry, go to it!)

Name your favorite guilty pleasure.
God. I wish I felt guilt so this could be an easier question. I’ll tell you, I can’t resist the call of the Twitter. It’s so bad, I wouldn’t exactly call it a pleasure. Oh wait!!! I do have one. Gourmet Roach Coaches! There’s this one in Seattle that I’m obsessed with called Marination Mobile. It just won the Good Morning America best Food Truck in America and has the most awesome Hawaiian Spam sliders. Seriously, you’d sock your mom for these bad boys. Uhhhhhhh.

Other than your favorite author/book, name something that inspires your writing.
John Waters, the film director, is a huge influence. A bunch of my friends and I got into his early films in High School. Starting with the innocuous Polyester. I’m pretty sure that flick was my first exposure to 300 pound drag queens, but dammit, Divine was a lady and Waters crammed so much bizarre and irreverent imagery, characters and scenes into that one, I was hooked. Then of course we saw Pink Flamingos. What’s really funny is, I’ve been re-reading the third book in my series and was so proud that the dialogue read like a John Waters script. I almost wept.

If you had a theme song that played when you walked into a room, what would it be?
“Destroy Everything You Touch” by Ladytron. No question. If something can go wrong with me, it will. Every time. That’s no joke either. People in my life accuse me of being jinxed.

Shameless self-promotion bonus question: What’s coming up next?
What’s next, thankfully, is the mass-market paperback reissue of Happy Hour of the Damned (Jan. 26, 2010), the first book in my Amanda Feral zombie comedy series. A trade paperback does not fare well in the urban fantasy genre, where readers are used to testing new authors for no more than $7.99. Add into that the fact that the publishing industry took some pretty big hits in the past couple of years and what I’m left with is a series in jeopardy. So I started this little campaign to promote the re-release. Learn more about Save Amanda Feral at www.markhenry.us.

A month later, Battle of the Network Zombies (Feb. 24 2010), my third Amanda book hits store shelves. In this one, Amanda’s hit the skids both financially and with new(ish) boyfriend, Scott. You know what could turn her shit around? A guest judging gig on a super seedy reality competition show! But when the star, an oversexed wood nymph, turns up charbroiled, Amanda must pull a Miss Marples (minus the fugly sweaters) and solve the crime with a film crew in tow. It’s, at least, 50 percent dirtier than anything I’ve ever written and I’m in love with it, hope everyone else will be.

You can visit Mark and learn more about Amanda Feral at www.markhenry.us. Or follow his musings on Twitter at mark_henry.