S.G. Browne

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the mall,
All the zombies were munching on some guy named Paul…

I’m writing the introduction to a holiday themed zombie anthology called The Undead That Saved Christmas. It’s a charity anthology to help the foster kids at the Hugs Foster Family Agency, serving foster children San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties in southern California.

All proceeds from the sale of the anthology will go to the agency to help them give their foster children gifts this holiday season.

If you’re interested in learning more about the anthology, submitting a story, purchasing a copy, or buying a 3″ x 5″ book cover sticker, just click on the title or cover image or click right HERE.

I’ll be having an interview coming up on a website called The Authors Speak, which has some great interviews with authors such as Mary Roach, Christopher Moore, and Douglas Clegg, among others.

In preparation for the interview, The Authors Speak is hosting a Zombie Haiku Contest, where you can win a signed copy of Breathers and some Zombies Are People Too swag.

For those who are unfamiliar with haiku, or what it has to do with Breathers, haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that consists of 17 syllables or, apparently, moras, which are units of sound that determine syllable weight. And I’m getting this off of Wikipedia, so don’t yell at me if I’m wrong. Yell at somebody else.

Why is this relevant to zombies? In Breathers, Andy writes haiku that are zombie related, such as this one:

shattered life dangles
a severed voice screams in grief
I’m rotting inside

He also wrote several other haiku that didn’t make it into the final version:

Pine-Sol bubble baths
mask the stench of rotting flesh
I smell like Christmas

Of course, your haiku doesn’t have to be about sentient zombies. It can be from the stereotypical viewpoint with zombies as relentless, flesh eating monsters:

eaten by zombies
last thought is wondering if
I taste like chicken

Or take another perspective. Have fun with it. Just follow the directions on the web site and good luck!

James Melzer is the author of The Zombie Chronicles trilogy that began as a free podcast series on his website back in 2008. Since then it has been bought by Permuted Press and picked up by Simon and Schuster, with the first book, Escape, coming to print nationwide in March, 2011. He’s the host of the interview podcast, UNLEASHED, a freelance writer for RealTVAddict.com, Manolith.com, and a lover of all things horror and cats.

Tell us about your first zombie experience. How did you lose your undead virginity?
The first exposure I had to zombies was through George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. I loved the film, still love it today and watch it at least once a month.

What’s your favorite zombie film?
While my first love was Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, I have to say that the sequel, Dawn of the Dead, is my all-time favorite zombie flick.

Other than a reliable weapon, what one item would be on your Must Have List for the zombie apocalypse?
Some form of deodorant spray. Zombies are attracted to the scent of humans. If I smell like AXE, maybe they won’t be as likely to come for me.

If you could have a pet zombie, what would you name it and who would you feed it?
Duncan, I like the name Duncan. I’m still trying to convince my wife to let me get one of those mini-great white sharks just so I can call him Duncan. So if I had a pet zombie (which my wife would NEVER allow in the house), I’d call him Duncan. I’d probably feed him all the people who said I could never be a writer. That would keep him busy for a while.

What’s the first thing you remember reading that inspired you to want to become a writer?
My very first influences were JAWS by Peter Benchley, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty and Swan Song by Robert McCammon. Those three books made me want to be a writer.

Who’s your favorite author?
Stephen King. Cliche, I know, but that’s all I got.

What’s your favorite word?
Fuck. It has so may uses.

What’s your favorite non-zombie film?
Braveheart.

If you weren’t writing about zombies, what would you write about?
Well since I don’t plan to write about zombies forever, I’m gonna say anything with a supernatural/thriller element to it. I love the genre and it’s something I’ll be doing for the rest of my life. Hopefully.

If you had a theme song that played when you walked into a room, what would it be?
Probably the Spongebob Squarepants theme.

Shameless self-promotion bonus question: What’s coming up next?
Right now I’m working on CTHULHU THIS! which is a mix of crime noir, EC comics and Lovecraft mythos. It’s a free web series that I’m doing over at www.jamesmelzer.net. I’m still currently working on the second novel in The Zombie Chronicles, called Invasion. After that I’ll be working my third full-length novel called Hull’s Landing. I’m also gearing up for the release of my first novel, The Zombie Chronicles: Escape, which is coming in March, 2011, from Simon and Schuster.

You can keep up with James and all of his zombie goodness by following him on Twitter or friending him on Facebook. Or visit him on the web where you can still listen to The Zombie Chronicles for free at www.jamesmelzer.net.

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.