Robert Kent is the fiendish fella behind the zombie novel All Together Now. Taking a break from gnawing away at his writing, he let us dig around his cranium...
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?
Robert: I love the wording of this question:) I've been a zombie fan
as far back as I can remember, but the first time I remember taking zombies
seriously was when I read Stephen King's short story "Home Delivery"
at age 13. That story blew my mind then and it still does. It has all the
markings of literature and all the fun of zombies. That story taught me that
zombies could not only be serious, but a writer could work within that genre to
tell a compelling tale revealing a universal truth as surely as if he were
writing any other genre.
Honestly, I don't think being an indie today is that
different than being an author with a mainstream publisher. An acquaintance of
mine is promoting his book published by one of the big five publishers (only a
matter of time before it’s the big four and so on) and his marketing budget is essentially
the same as mine: whatever money and time we can throw at it while working our
day jobs. Except he doesn't control the price or availability of his book and I
do. I think readers are less likely to take a chance on a new author at $9.95
than at $2.99 (both Kindle prices).
Ang: If you had to dumb down the plot of your book so a zombie
could understand, how would you explain it?
Robert: It's the zombie apocalypse set in a small Indiana town. My protagonist, 15-year-old
Ricky Genero, has reason to believe there's a cure for the zombie virus being
manufactured at the local soda plant. When his 6-year-old brother Chuck is
bitten, Ricky risks everything to get him to the cure. Along the way there's
some romance, plenty of zombie attacks, and crazy religious folks more terrifying
than the shambling corpses.
All Together Now is grim, extremely violent, and offensive.
I like that in a zombie story.
Ang: Describe the lucky survivors who engage with the festering
horde of the dead.
Robert: Ricky Genero is an everyman. He's an average teenager who's
dealing with his parent's messy divorce and the difficulty of high school life
when the zombies attack. He's also good with a baseball bat, which comes in
handy.
His stepsister, Michelle Kirkman, is a spoiled rich girl
whose mother has recently died from cancer, giving her an inner strength Ricky
lacks. She's also 15 and a bit of a badass. She doesn't believe a cure exists,
but she wants to get back to her father, who owns the soda plant.
Levi Davis is 17 and I can never decide whether he or Michelle
is my favorite character. Levi's parents are extremely religious and
restrictive and Levi's got a big chip on his shoulder.
Chuck Genero is 6 and a real sweetheart. Unfortunately, he
spends most of the novel as a snarling zombie being lead around at the end of a
catchpole.
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)?
Robert: It was most important to me that my characters be realistic
and relatable. Michelle's got a bit of Rambo in her, but I wanted to take
zombies seriously and that starts with character.
If the zombie apocalypse breaks out tomorrow, most of us
aren't suddenly going to become crack shots or fearless warriors. That's all
good and well for video games, but in books I think you can have extraordinary
characters in ordinary situations, or ordinary characters in extraordinary
situations, but it's difficult to pull off extraordinary characters in extraordinary
situations in a way that's consistently interesting and suspenseful. The zombie
apocalypse is an extraordinary situation, so I did my best to create characters
I feel could be living next door when it hits the fan.
Ang: Does your book begin just as the zombies start building
their paradise or have zombies already gotten things rocking and rotting?
Robert: Both:) All Together Now is told as a series of journal
entries written by Ricky, allowing me to play with time and structure. When the
story begins, the zombie outbreak has already occurred and Chuck has already
been zombified. I hate stories that make me wait for the zombies, which is what
I paid to see, so All Together Now opens with some intense zombie action. But
because Ricky is telling the story in his present reality of running for his
life, he can flashback and fill in the essential details of the start of the
outbreak.
Ang: Zombies are people too. They come in all shapes, sizes,
speeds, and smarts. What types of the walking dead inhabit your novel (or series)?
Robert: All Together Now is at its heart a tale of a fear of
conformity, so it was very important to me that my zombies all be the same. In
Ricky's universe, there is only one zombie with many faces, though Ricky
encounters adult zombies, child zombies, and my personal favorite, baby
zombies. As I write this, I'm within two weeks of becoming a first time father,
and nothing is more terrifying to me than an infant corpse crawling up my leg
(writing a book is cheaper than hiring a psychologist).
I love fast zombies, but the zombies in All Together Now are
slow, rotting, and stupid. Their only thought is killing the living. Otherwise,
they're completely vacant--though I love Hugh Howey's take on the internal
struggle of walking corpses in I, Zombie.
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?
Robert: All Together Now is planned as a standalone tale, though all
my stories have sequels I just never get around to writing. I didn't hold
anything back. I put everything I have to say about zombies in this book and
for now, the well is dry.
My next book will actually be a children's tale coming out
sometime next year--more on that one soon. I run the blog Middle Grade Ninja and most of my
writing is targeted at a younger audience.
But underneath my nice guy routine, something dark and
antisocial festers until I can't suppress it any longer. When it grabs hold and
overtakes me, I have to write something as bleak and nasty as All Together Now,
which features a slaughter at a daycare center. I have no doubt my dark side
will surface again after enough time has passed, and when that happens, all
bets are off.
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.
Robert: Definitely hacking. I can think of nothing more satisfying
than the thwack of a machete in a walking corpse.
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.
Robert: Not to tread on the next question, but at the moment, my
favorite zombie is Sophia from season two of The Walking Dead. I don't think
I've ever been more moved or devastated than when she came shuffling out of
Hershel's barn.
A close runner-up is the underwater zombie in the 1979
classic Zombi. He fought a freaking shark! You gotta love a zombie with heart.
I rooted for him to eat the human because he just wanted it more:)
Ang: Who is your favorite character from The Walking Dead (comics
or TV show)?
Robert: It's no secret that I'm a mega fan of The Walking Dead. My
main character's name is Ricky and he's traveling with a girl whose last name
is Kirkman:) I love the comics slightly more than the TV show, but they're both
the best there is (so is the video game).
It's hard to pick a favorite character among so many greats,
but Michonne is the best. Mrs. Kent and I allow for fantasy loves. She lusts
for the president in Scandal and I'd brave the zombie apocalypse for a date
with Michonne:)
Ang: Finally, how prepared are you for the zombie apocalypse that
we all know is just around the corner?
Robert: Not at all. In the event of a zombie apocalypse, I think the
folks who die first are the lucky ones. If I see zombies breaking out, I'll be
happy with the life I've lived and accept its end. I'd hole up in a library to
reread my favorite books until someone chomps my brain.
Chow down on your copy of All Together Now at Amazon.
Author Bio
Robert Kent is the author of the young adult novel All
Together Now: A Zombie Story. He runs the popular blog for writers, MIDDLE GRADE NINJA, and lives with
his family in Indianapolis,
Indiana, where he's hard at work
on his next book.
