Zombified Interview with H.E. Goodhue

H.E. Goodhue is the fearsome fella behind the Zombie Youth series. The first book Playground Politics haunted many dreams. His newest Borrowed Time continues the terror. Let's crack him open and learn more about his inner workings...

Ang: When were you first bitten by the zombie affliction? Can you take us back to how the infection began? What’s the most difficult part about sharing this ghoulish love as an indie?

H.E.: Horror stories were something that I somewhat brought upon myself as a child. When I was seven or eight years old I used to have recurrent nightmares. These dreams covered everything from train rides to Hell to flesh eating cats. Every night the previous night’s dream would pick up where it left off. Eventually, my parents rightfully worried about having an insomniac six year old on their hands, suggested that I start writing the dreams down. This lead to them stopping, but also fostered a love of all things horror and writing.

Around this time I also discovered horror and sci-fi movies. I can remember watching The Gate and Troll, both of which robbed me of more than a few nights of sleep. I have to admit that I still won’t watch Troll.

A love of cheesy monster movies eventually spilled over into video games. I had always had an interest in zombies, but the first Resident Evil game threw it into overdrive.

The most difficult part of being an indie author is breaking through to new readers and getting attention for your work. I never want to inundate people on Facebook or Twitter with repetitive pleas of ‘read my books’. On the other hand I want to get my books out to as many readers as possible. It’s a very fine line to walk.

Ang: If you had to dumb down the plot of your  series so a zombie could understand, how would you explain it?

H.E.: Probably the best way I could explain the overarching plot of the Zombie Youth series is this:

Adults = zombies…kids are in charge…chaos ensues.

Ang: Describe the lucky survivors who engage with the festering horde of the dead.

H.E.: The first book in Zombie Youth series centers on a group of students who are trapped within the Montville Regional School Complex in the first hours of the outbreak. The adults they trusted to protect them become infected and turn on the students. A small group of unlikely cohorts band together to fortify the school and battle the undead.

I wanted the main characters of Zombie Youth to be regular kids, not highly skilled soldiers or sociopaths – granted one or two of those might show up, but I really wanted to explore the idea of how regular people might deal with the zombie apocalypse, specifically children. I have always found it odd that zombie stories are largely devoid of children. They seem to magically disappear once the dead rise or perhaps are assumed to be the first eaten, but I felt that children would do better than adults. That’s where Zombie Youth picks up.

Ang: What was the most important aspect when writing your non-zombie characters? Realism (losers, assholes, and cowards) or fantasy (Rambo or the guy/gal who has a Rambo hiding inside them)?

H.E.: I’ll admit that I enjoy all sorts of tropes when reading a zombie story. Sometimes it’s a fun escape to read about a completely over the top character, but at the end of the day a good zombie story is really more about the people and their humanity or lack there of.

I wanted my characters to be real people. They’re scared and some have had issues long before the dead rose. At the same time they have moments of heroics. The dichotomous relationship that exists within the human mind has always fascinated me. No one is completely a hero or totally a coward; the potential for both exists in all of us. The characters in Zombie Youth are no different and have to grapple with these conflicting drives.

But in the end what matters most is solid writing. Readers need to find something to connect with, even if the character is a total psychopath.

Ang: Does your series begin just as the zombies start building their paradise or have zombies already gotten things rocking and rotting?

H.E.: The first book in the Zombie Youth series, Playground Politics, begins a few hours before the zombies show up, but gets to rotted bits pretty quickly. The subsequent books center on how the survivors deal with trying to rebuild a life while also knowing that each day that passes is one closer to when they too may become infected. Survival becomes a bit of catch-22 in the Zombie Youth series.

Ang: Zombies are people too. They come in all shapes, sizes, speeds, and smarts. What types of the walking dead inhabit your series?

H.E.: There are your usual shambling hordes, but I wanted to include some new monsters to keep the reader’s attention. I threw in a few skinless/eyeless nightmares and something I love called an Ogre. There’s also what’s been called “The Zombie Rat King” (thanks Dave at Bricks of the Dead) which is basically a tangled mess of dried intestines and zombies. In the second and third installments some new monsters find their way onto the pages as well. Being that I went the viral route for my outbreak I felt that it would mutate and my zombies should as well. The mutated monsters definitely add a new dimension to what the survivors are dealing with.

Ang: Will your infection spread to more books and series? How many blood and guts offerings do you predict in your future? How soon can our zombie and human readers expect to see your next festering contribution?

H.E.: So far I have released two installments in the Zombie Youth series through Severed Press. The first is titled Playground Politics and the second is Borrowed Time. I am currently working on the third book in the series and hope to have it out soon, but I also want to make sure that I give my readers a complete story.

I have planned for there to be at least three books in the Zombie Youth series, but have begun thinking about possible offshoots. I’m not really sure where it will end, but there will be a sense of closure with the third. That being said, a lot of material still exists in the Zombie Youth universe, so I could definitely see myself returning to it.

Ang: What is your favorite way to kill a zombie? Shoot ‘em, hack ‘em, poke ‘em, burn ‘em, or something even more fiendish? ***Zombie readers please turn away to avoid having your putrefied feelings eviscerated.

H.E.: Good question. I don’t really have a favorite method, though I do keep my machete sharp. I like the zombie kills to be situational and based off of what the survivor has at hand. One character in Zombie Youth, Ronnie, embodies this idea and I really enjoyed working out his ideas and story. Beyond that, I also really enjoyed writing the parts where two dogs, Gozer and Zule, have a crack at the undead. Other than kids I think dogs probably stand the best chance in a zombie apocalypse.

Ang: Do you have a favorite cinematic zombie? Example: My co-blogger Zombie Earl is quite fond of Zombie Roger from the original Dawn of the Dead.

H.E.: I love the zombie from the cover of Fulci’s Zombi 2. He’s grinning as maggots spill out of his empty eye socket – it’s awesome! Dr. Tongue from Day of the Dead is great too. I like my zombies with a little wear and tear…or in this case without a lower jaw.

Ang: Who is your favorite character from The Walking Dead (comics or TV show)?

H.E.: That’s a tough one. In the comics I found Andrea’s character to be engaging and believable, but man oh man did they crap that up in the show. I think Laurie Holden did a great job playing Andrea, but I really just didn’t like the character at all. Maybe that was the point, but it would have been great to see her as strong as she was in the comics. I also like Glenn’s character, both in the comics and on the show. He’s constantly struggling to figure out who he really is and what role he is going to play, which is something I think many of us would face.

Ang: Finally, how prepared are you for the zombie apocalypse that we all know is just around the corner?

H.E.: I’d say better than some, but honestly nowhere near what I would really need to survive. My grandfather is a retired game warden in Maine and has imparted a good deal of knowledge about the woods, survival and firearms. While we were wandering around the woods I’m not sure he was thinking about zombies, but I was.

H.E. Goodhue Bio Info
H.E. Goodhue is an author and educator. Zombie Youth: Playground Politics is Goodhue's first published novel. It is the first installment in a new series from Severed Press that has been called "unrelenting", "thrilling and exciting" by both fellow authors and literary critics. Since its release in April 2012, Zombie Youth has posted sales throughout the US, Europe and Australia. The second novel in the Zombie Youth series, Borrowed Time, has recently been released. H.E. Goodhue currently resides in New Jersey with his wife, daughter and two hardheaded pit bulls.

Devour H.E.'s books at Amazon.

Hunt down H.E. at Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Severed Press, and his blog.

Zombified Interview with S. Johnathan Davis

S. Johnathan Davis is the gruesome guy behind 900 Miles: A Zombie Novel. The terrifying tale was published in January '13 to melodic moans. Let's hack into S's head and see what makes him tick...

Ang: When were you first bitten by the zombie affliction? Can you take us back to how the infection began? What’s the most difficult part about sharing this ghoulish love as an indie?

S: Thinking back to childhood (younger than I should have been), I remember staying up late with my brother one night after my parents went to bed, and catching Return of the Living Dead on HBO. It was funny and scary...and I fell in love with the genre that night. Since then, I've seen and read hundreds of zombie stories. Some awesome....some...not so awesome, but each time I catch a new one I'm brought back to that silly 80's movie that helped jump start my love for the dead.

The most difficult part of being an indie author is coming up with a unique story. With such an interest in main stream media these days (can anybody say Walking Dead or World War Z), it's hard to find an original plot that doesn't feel like it's a re-tread of those greats. As a story teller, I'm constantly double checking to make sure that I'm not inadvertently writing something that someone is going to say was already done somewhere else.

Ang: If you had to dumb down the plot of your book so a zombie could understand, how would you explain it?

S: Man must travel 900 miles to get to his wife during a zombie outbreak. Lots of bad things happen. Some of them include gladiator style arena fighting...

Ang: Describe the lucky survivors who engage with the festering horde of the dead.

S: The story is told from the perspective of John, a traditional business who's thrust into this new world of the dead. He isn't some military nut job who's prepared for the undead, he isn't an ex-navy seal. In fact, he really doesn't know what the hell he's doing. The only thing he does know is that he has to get to his wife, and nothing will stop him. He does team up with the security guard from his office building, and ex-army guy named Kyle. Kyle is the bad-ass of the story, but neither of them are prepared for the end of the world. Just two guys trying to survive....one dead Z at a time.

Ang: What was the most important aspect when writing your non-zombie characters? Realism (losers, assholes, and cowards) or fantasy (Rambo or the guy/gal who has a Rambo hiding inside them)?

S: I was all about trying to make it as real as possible (in a totally unreal world). My characters are all flawed. They are not ready for this outbreak, but they use what they have available to them (including simple tools like a hammer and a metal pole) to try to survive. What I kept asking myself was "How would I react in a zombie outbreak? What would happen to me?"

Ang: Does your book begin just as the zombies start building their paradise or have zombies already gotten things rocking and rotting?

S: Zombie uprising from the start. That's always the best part of a zombie story, and I wanted to tell my version of it.

Ang: Zombies are people too. They come in all shapes, sizes, speeds, and smarts. What types of the walking dead inhabit your novel?

S: The Zombies are fast at first. Rigamortis hasn't had time to settle in. However, in this world the older they get, the slower they get. This actually plays into an interesting plot point later in the story (which I won't ruin with a spoiler here). I grew up as a "slow" zombie purist, but movies like 28 Days Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead really opened my eyes to the terror that one can create from the "fast" zombie. In my book, I wanted both.

Ang: Will your infection spread to more books and series? How many blood and guts offerings do you predict in your future? How soon can our zombie and human readers expect to see your next festering contribution?

S: I've actually signed with Severed Press, the publisher who put 900 Miles into market, for a sequel. The good news is that I've got a solid start on the sequel. At the moment, we're shooting for release late this year/early next. I'll see how the sequel does in the market and decide if I keep going from there. However, ultimately, I want to tell a great story. If I don't have one, I won't force it.

For those who enjoy collecting books, a small press publisher called Kings Way Press, is actually in the process of creating a collectable limited edition trade hardcover version of 900 Miles. The books have leather covers and all new art....so I'm pretty stoked about this release coming out later this year as well.

Ang: What is your favorite way to kill a zombie? Shoot ‘em, hack ‘em, poke ‘em, burn ‘em, or something even more fiendish? ***Zombie readers please turn away to avoid having your putrefied feelings eviscerated.

S: A good ol' head bash does the trick for me. However, I like to see what I can do with them before they become worm food. Example, I just finished writing up a scene in the sequel where a zombie gets a hole blown in its stomach and keeps reaching into the hole to pull out recently eaten flesh only to eat it again. The grosser the better from my POV!

Ang: Do you have a favorite cinematic zombie? Example: My co-blogger Zombie Earl is quite fond of Zombie Roger from the original Dawn of the Dead.

S: I've gotta say that I'm a big fan of Tar Man in Return of the Living Dead. I've actually seen the actor who played him, and the guy can still do that crazy lumbering and awkward walk!

Ang: Who is your favorite character from The Walking Dead (comics or TV show)?

S: I've always been a fan of Glenn. Poor guy is just trying to find some love in the world of the undead. He's normal, no special skills, but he manages to make it a long way!

Ang: Finally, how prepared are you for the zombie apocalypse that we all know is just around the corner?

S: I'm totally screwed. Gotta run....I should start prepping.

 

Chow down on 900 Miles at Amazon.

 

Chase after S at Twitter, Goodreads, and his website.

Zombified Interview with Cedric Nye

Cedric Nye is the bloody badass behind the Jango series. With two gruesome offerings already haunting nightmares, he's taken time out of training for the battle against the dead to let us dig around in his brain...

 

Ang: When were you first bitten by the zombie affliction? Can you take us back to how the infection began? What’s the most difficult part about sharing this ghoulish love as an indie?

 

Cedric: When I was a four years old, my parents got a divorce. My father beat me like a drum, and my mother spent some time as a sort of prostitute. I found Zombies when I was stuck watching television at her “friend’s” house one time. I was four, and the movie was “Night of the Living Dead.”

 

I kind of realized then that Zombies were all around me. Not the brain-munching groaners from beyond the grave, but the human Zombies. They take and take, and they can never fill that emptiness inside. Their hunger can never be satiated. They feed on their fellow humans by stealing, abusing, and worse.

 

Zombies became a symbol of man’s darkness, man’s evil, and the Abyss that all humanity constantly walks beside.

 

What is difficult about sharing Zombies? Ha! People don’t want to see the darkness as it truly is. We want our fear to live far away, and only visit when we are ready for it. People fear the truth because it shows us the dark possibilities that reside in us all. It is all connected, abuse, the evil humans perpetrate, the mindless consumption…

 

Ang: If you had to dumb down the plot of your series so a zombie could understand, how would you explain it?

 

Cedric: If I had to explain my series to a Zombie, I would simply kill the Zombie, and then leave a hand written note on its chest that would explain everything. My books are about darkness, and TRUTH. The kind of truth that makes hard men cry. Death, violence, sex, fire, these things are coincidental in my books, they are not the whole story. I shed light on all different kinds of abuse because people need to know that the Zombies have always been here. I also want people to know that they deserve better. Jango shows people that they do not have to eat shit, because other things are on the menu!

 

Ang: Describe the lucky survivors who engage with the festering horde of the dead.

 

Cedric: The lucky survivors end up having to fight against the predations of their still-human neighbors. Shit gets ugly because as long as one human wants power over another, the crap-hammer will always be waiting to drop. The Zombies are also on the move, and things just keep getting uglier.

 

Ang: What was the most important aspect when writing your non-zombie characters? Realism (losers, assholes, and cowards) or fantasy (Rambo or the guy/gal who has a Rambo hiding inside them)?

 

Cedric: TRUTH! I try to bring a hard realism to the books that I write. I imagine myself in the story, and I try to get out of the bad situations. I have always done that. I practice combat scenarios so that when I have to fight, I have a little preparation already. That helps me to build a better story for my fellow Zombie Enthusiasts.

 

Ang: Does your series begin just as the zombies start building their paradise or have zombies already gotten things rocking and rotting?

 

Cedric: Things had just gone wonky when Jango pokes his crazy head out of his hotel room and realizes that things have gone sideways, and Zombies are looking to get a Jango treat.

 

Ang: Zombies are people too. They come in all shapes, sizes, speeds, and smarts. What type of the walking dead inhabit your series?

 

Cedric: Fast Zombies who hunt in packs. They have rudimentary communication via horrible and soul-searing howls.

 

Ang: Will your infection spread to more books and series? How many blood and guts offerings do you predict in your future? How soon can our zombie and human readers expect to see your next festering contribution?

 

Cedric: Book 3 is in the works. Jango will die when he dies. His religion is revenge, and he worships at the altar of violence. The Apocalypse Road only ends at the graveyard.

 

Ang: What is your favorite way to kill a zombie? Shoot ‘em, hack ‘em, poke ‘em, burn ‘em, or something even more fiendish? ***Zombie readers please turn away to avoid having your putrefied feelings eviscerated.

 

Cedric: Jango isn’t a violence-snob. He uses whatever is handy to dispatch humans and Zombies alike. That being said; for small gaggles of goobers, Jango pops skulls with his Ironwood stick. He uses his own version of Bataireacht (Irish Stick Fighting). When there are large numbers of the wailing undead, Jango loves to use accelerants and fire!

 

Ang: Do you have a favorite cinematic zombie? Example: My co-blogger Zombie Earl is quite fond of Zombie Roger from the original Dawn of the Dead.

 

Cedric: I love all Zombies. They keep me honest with myself. I am partial to the faster Zombies because they pose more of a threat, which makes it more…..INTERESTING!

 

Ang: Who is your favorite character from The Walking Dead (comics or TV show)?

 

Cedric: Daryl Dixon because he is truth. No belly-aching, no extra lip-service. He is a do or die bad-ass.

 

Ang: Finally, how prepared are you for the zombie apocalypse that we all know is just around the corner?

 

Cedric: Hell, I developed a workout just to stay fighting fit and Apocalypse –hard! Post-Apocalyptic fitness BEFORE the Apocalypse gets here! I train hard. I burn the softness from my body and mind in the crucible of vicious exercise. Ready? I have been ready since I was four!

 

Chow down on Cedric's books at Amazon.

 

Chase after Cedric at Goodreads and YouTube.

Yummy Yummy! Grace Lost is on Sale!!!

Good news, dead and living readers! The first book in the Grace series by M. Lauryl Lewis is on sale for only .99!

Got a hankering for a little sexy spice with your tasty brains? Well, then shuffle over and dig into a copy of Grace Lost today. Be warned though. Once you get a taste, you won't be able to stop until you've devoured all three books in the series. Oh, it'll leave you hungering for more...

Summary
Twenty-year-old Zoe Kate is young and naïve, and quite frankly a loner. When her lifelong friend, Adam Boggs, comes home for the summer they find themselves thrust into the middle of a zombie plague. As they flee their hometown in hopes of finding safety, they come across two other survivors, Emilie and Gus. The group of four quickly form bonds and must make difficult choices at every turn in order to stay alive. They will witness unimaginable horrors and experience unthinkable losses as life and death mix together in ways that were never meant to be. Things aren't always as they seem when God's Grace has been lost to humanity.

Intended for mature audiences (language, graphic horror)

GRACE LOST is followed by TAINTED GRACE and DARK GRACE. Watch for FALLEN FROM GRACE (book four) - due out by early 2014, if not sooner!

Dig into all three Grace books at Amazon.

Chase M. Lauryl Lewis at her website, Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.