S.G. Browne

I know, I know. Halloween is barely a husk of a corpse yet and here we are, talking about Santa Claus and Christmas already. But at least we’ve got a zombie crossover theme to keep us honest. And what better way to celebrate the blending of Halloween and Christmas than with some free signed copies of I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus?

That’s right. I’ve got two copies of my new Christmas zombie novella and sequel to Breathers to give away—signed, sealed, delivered, and they’re yours. So what do you have to do to enter for your chance to win a copy? I’m glad you asked.

For those who are familiar with Andy Warner, the hero of Breathers, you’re aware that he was fond of penning an occasional haiku to deal with his less than glamorous existence. Well, in I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus, he’s at it again.

So following the 5-7-5 syllable format (I know, I know…in traditional Japanese haiku it’s not really syllables, but we’re not in Japan), write a haiku about zombies. Or about Santa Claus. Or about zombies and Santa Claus. Whatever strikes your fancy. Here’s an example of what Andy came up with:

pine-sol bubble baths
mask the stench of rotting flesh
i smell like christmas

But don’t feel a need to emulate Andy. It’s a broad canvas, so grab your palette of words and have at it. Once you’ve created your masterpiece, share your haiku in the comments below and voila! You’re entered. See, wasn’t that easy?

I’ll pick two winners from the entries. If you choose to include more than one haiku, that still counts as a single entry. Sorry, no stuffing the ballot box.

Contest is open wherever Santa visits good little boys and girls. In other words, everywhere. But the contest ends Thursday, November 15, at 11:59pm PST. So no dawdling.

Ready? Set? Haiku!

Well, August went by pretty fast. Time flies when you’re doing edits and copy edits and galley edits on your zombie novella that’s been pushed up to an October 30 release date, while in between you’re finishing up your next book that you promised to your agent the day after Labor Day.

Yes, for the past month I haven’t had the time to do any writing that doesn’t involve either I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus or Big Egos, thus the dearth of blog posts. Actually, I haven’t done much of anything else, as I’ve been bouncing back and forth from one project to the other—which isn’t always the easiest transition to make, especially when you’re switching from a sentient zombie who is dressed up like Santa Claus to a narrator who sometimes believes he’s Elvis Presley, James Bond, or Captain Kirk, among others.

In case you’re wondering what it’s like to work on two projects at the same time, both of them under deadline, the last month went something like this:

• Turn in first draft of I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus on August 1
• Spend three days reintegrating with human beings, who you haven’t seen for the past two weeks and most of the past two months
• Catch a cold and get so sick you can’t write for most of the next week
• Work on edits of your next novel, Big Egos, which you stopped editing at the end of May to start writing your zombie novella
• Receive first round of edits on zombie novella; stop working on Big Egos for 4-5 days
• Send in edited draft of zombie novella; start working on Big Egos again for the next week
• Receive copy edits for zombie novella; spend entire weekend reading your novella out loud—twice; make edits; send back to publisher
• Work on Big Egos for the next ten day, rearranging chapters, fixing plot holes, and tying things together
• Send Big Egos off to agent the Wednesday after Labor Day
• Receive 1st Galley Page edits for I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus; spend all day Thursday reading galley pages out loud and making final fixes
• Take a long bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday morning, eat some breakfast, watch a couple of episodes of Robot Chicken, and then write this blog post
• Go visit your mother

Now I get the weekend to relax, visit some friends and family, and then start working on Big Egos next week once I get edits back from my agent. Then it’s on to Super Duper. Or maybe another project I’ve been working on. Hmm…

And without further ado, the cover and copy reveal for I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus. Drum roll, please. Oh wait, you can already see it. So much for building up the suspense. Maybe I should have told you to close your eyes first.

No matter. So here you go. That’s the cover over there on your left and the copy hanging out down below the row of asterisks. Just in case you were confused. Which you’re not. I’ll get out of the way, now.

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How does the leader of a failed zombie civil rights movement from California rescue a group of his undead brethren and help a lonely Breather girl as he hides from a band of medical researchers while disguised as Santa Claus?

If you’ve never believed in Christmas miracles, then you probably wouldn’t understand.

Andy Warner has just escaped from a zombie research facility in Portland, Oregon, where he’s been subjected to experimental testing for the past year. With Christmas just days away, Andy figures that donning a jolly old St. Nick costume to throw off his would-be captors is just the ticket. But he never expects to encounter a sweet, lonesome nine-year-old girl who not only reminds Andy of the family he’s lost, but who thinks he’s the real Santa.

He also doesn’t count on being recognized as last year’s national quasi-celebrity by a clandestine group of decaying supporters who look to him for leadership. For the living and the undead, this unforgettable holiday tale will truly put on display just who is gnawing and who is nice….

Release date is November 13, 2012.

Available for pre-order at your local independent bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and wherever books are pre-ordered.

There’s a new zombie anthology in town, and I’ve got a short story appearing in it. Okay, it’s not in town yet. 21st Century Dead, edited by Christopher Golden, officially pubs on Tuesday, July 17. And my short story, “Reality Bites,” is the fourth entry in the collection, right after a story by Orson Scott Card.

Just to clarify, “Reality Bites” has nothing to do with Winona Ryder, Janeane Garafolo, Ethan Hawke, or Ben Stiller. Instead, it tells the story of a couple of Hollywood producers who are looking for the next big thing in zombie reality television.

As I mentioned, the anthology officially hits the shelves on July 17 and it just so happens that I’ll be in southern California doing a group signing on that day at Dark Delicacies in Burbank with Amber Benson, Cody Goodfellow, and John Skipp, who all have stories in the collection.

July 17 – Burbank, CA
7:00PM
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA

In addition, Amber, Cody, Skipp and I will be doing another group signing at Comic-Con the weekend before, along with Thomas E. Sniegoski and Daniel H. Wilson, on Saturday, July 14:

July 14 – San Diego, CA
3:00-4:00PM (Autograph Area, Table 09)
Comic-Con
San Diego Convention Center
111 W. Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA

I’ll also be doing a couple of other signings and appearing on a panel for Lucky Bastard during the Comic-Con weekend. If you’re attending, you can find my complete schedule of events HERE.

If not, then I hope to see you in Burbank on July 17.

For those of you who were wondering what happened to Andy after the end of Breathers, you’ll get your chance to find out in a Christmas-themed novella I’m working on that is scheduled for release this November. And while it is a sequel, my intention is to write it so that it can also stand on its own.

While I’m not going to give away any spoilers, I will say that for various reasons most of the secondary characters in the original won’t be making an appearance in the sequel. It’s possible that one or more of them could find their way into the narrative, but Andy is still the hero and this is a continuation of his story.

However, I always said that I wouldn’t write a sequel to Breathers unless I could come up with something that didn’t just regurgitate the same ideas and concepts I introduced in the original, so this one’s going to focus on some different aspects of Andy’s existence as a zombie. But I do plan to include some elements that fans of Breathers will hopefully recognize and enjoy.

The title is still being worked out, but as soon as I have a final decision, I’ll be sure to share it with you. What I can tell you is that the story takes place in Portland, OR and opens a week or so before Christmas, nearly a year after the end of Breathers, and starts out with the line:

“I wake up on the ground in darkness.”