Fridays Frights: Summer of Zombie Blog Tour w/ Rebecca Besser

Zombie culture has taken the world by storm. We have everything from cell phone commercials to The Walking Dead (the main cultural phenomenon that has everyone at the edge of their seats asking for more – if they’re a fan, that is).

But, with this surge of interest in zombies comes a problem. What is it? Well, I’m going to tell you.

The problem is that the reader/watcher gets the same scenario over and over again in almost every zombie story.

The people in zombie stories seem to always be trying to fight the horde of the undead while they are scraping by day to day just to survive. The survival is what keeps people captivated (and the gore!). If you’re anything like me, you put yourself in the character’s shoes and see if you could do better. You’re in awe of some of the character’s survival knowledge, which actually comes from the author; these are the things that make each author and story just a little bit different. It’s all in the perspective.

The problem with the plot repetition though, as far as commonality, is that it’s easy to get bored with the same regurgitate plot over and over again. Especially when there’s no new survival info introduced. This gives zombie writers, like myself, a real challenge. Those of us who have been writing about zombies and want to hold our own in the genre need to think outside the normal zombie box, so to speak, and come up with something new to “Wow!” our audience. We need to give the readers new angles...new stories.

And that’s what I strive to do in my books.

In my book, Undead Drive-Thru (re-releasing from Nocturnal Press Publications in 2015), there is one zombie. Yes, you heard me, one zombie. The story is about a man who comes home to his wife as a zombie, and she loves him too much to kill him, or let anyone else kill him. What does she do? She keeps him like a pet until things get out of hand and others get involved.

 

Click on the cover to get your copy

The book is more about the story of a human heart dealing with the change of a loved one and the dangers that could bring, than the classic “survival” zombie tale. Another of my books, Cursed Bounty (a novella available for Kindle), is about one zombie as well... Or it is to start out. There are more by the end. But, in this case, I give you a voodoo zombie who is being used by a politician for personal gain, set in the Old Wild West.

So...if you’re interested in some zombie tales that are out of the box, you should check out my books.


Now, when it comes to short stories... I stay old school and go with the hordes of zombies and people trying to survive. There’s still fun to be had there, it’s just harder to be original. In my story, To Walk the Halls, in the Code Z anthology (available on Amazon), I take the hospital outbreak scenario on a whole new journey of horrific and wrong. It’s sure to...er...turn your stomach (pun from the story).

But, even if the stories are something from outside the zombie box, or old school survival, keep reading zombie fiction! Zombies are always fun, right?

© Rebecca Besser, 2014.

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The stench of rotting flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2014, with 33 of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of June. Stop by the event page on Facebook so you don't miss an interview, guest post or teaser... and pick up some great swag as well! Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!

#SummerZombie

https://www.facebook.com/events/286215754875261/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular&source=1

2014 Summer of Zombie Blog Tour: Stevie Kopas

Camaraderie of The Dead

with 

Stevie Kopas

Beneath the guts and gore of the horrifying and sometimes wildly hilarious zombie world lies a world of purpose and value.  It’s a world not only of blood and decay in horrid post-apocalyptic landscapes, but also of gathering around your cups of coffee on Monday morning and discussing Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead with your coworkers.  It’s jumping on Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc and screaming “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE THE GOVERNOR DID BLAH BLAH BLAH” and  joining in on conversations with hundreds of other like-minded people and socializing with people you might have otherwise not involved yourself with.

The zombie community is one that has grown in such a way that it infects the entire globe and reaches across all ethnic, gender, and sexual barriers.  Zombies create intelligent discussions and spark heated debates; they create a fantasy world in which lovers of the genre can live and play in, bringing people from all walks of life together based on one common interest and the end result is impressive and positive.  The end result is camaraderie, and we have the undead to thank for it.

The zombie writing community is a perfect example of the relationships built on a common love for the living dead.  Everyone is doing the same thing in their own perfect way and we all have the same goal:  to entertain others in the way we have been entertained time and time again by something we are all fascinated with.  Taking the leap into the great festering pit that is the zombie community is both exciting and scary because of course you’re going to have the elitists who think they created the genre themselves, but for the most part you’ll be welcomed with open (decaying) arms that nurture your creativity and help you grow not only as a person, but as an artist.  And that is the greatness behind the true camaraderie that exists amidst the lovers of the undead.

This type of relationship, whether personal or professional, occurs not only in the writing community, but on social media, in the workplace, at the bus stop, at the coffee shop.  Wherever you go, there’s a zombie.  They’re on television, in movies, in books, on car commercials.  The dead are taking over the world, slowly but surely, and people are making connections because of it.  The snobby girl with her nose always in a book whom you’ve never spoken to until the day she walked into Starbucks wearing her Return of The Living Dead t-shirt becomes your new best friend and the awkward new guy at work suddenly doesn’t feel so awkward because his coworkers love playing Dead Island on their Xbox just as much as he does; and now he has three new friends to play co-op campaign with.

When it comes to zombies, no one is alone.  Picture sitting around, browsing the internet and seeing an ad for a “Zombie 5K Marathon.”  You ask all your friends but none of them are runners and no one wants to participate.  What do you do?  You sign up anyway and meet 150 other people who are just as excited to meet you as they run for their lives to escape the undead in one hell of a race.  And now you can’t wait until next year when you all meet up to do it again.

Zombies bring people together and force us to interact with others and step out of our comfort zones.  Local “zombie walks” are popping up in cities around the globe.  People are dressing up and heading out for a night on the town with perfect strangers and having a blast.  “Cons” are no longer, and haven’t been for a while, for the comic book folks or the anime lovers.  Zombie and apocalypse conventions are more popular than ever, allowing fans to interact with not only one another, but the actors, actresses, authors and directors that they have come to adore within the genre.  Zombies bring satisfaction to humans on a level of epic proportions.

Whether we’re all agreeing on how much we hate Lori Grimes or arguing about which Dawn of The Dead movie was better, it’s still uniting us.  It’s keeping the zombie “alive”.  For those out there that say the zombie has had its day in the sun, take a look back on the history of zombies in pop culture over the last several decades and then come talk to me.  Take a look at the vast community before you and try to pry the zombie art and fiction from our cold, dead, zombie loving hands.

Zombies, however scary they might be in the ways that we create them, will always be the welcome infection we crave and the lovable creatures that force us to coalesce, creating the biggest horde on the planet.

You can become my internet zombie pal by following me on Twitter @ApacoTaco, liking the official Facebook page of my zombie survival series “The Breadwinner Trilogy” at www.facebook.com/thebreadwinnertrilogy or checking out my blog at www.someonereadthis.com, the official home of The Breadwinner.  Send me an email and we can chat all things dead at typeitordie@gmail.com.

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The stench of rotting flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2014, with 33 of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of June.

Stop by the event page on Facebook so you don't miss an interview, guest post or teaser… and pick up some great swag as well! Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them! #SummerZombie

https://www.facebook.com/events/286215754875261/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular&source=1