We gave you the heads up about the upcoming Zombie Survival Crew Anthology here and now we’re ready to announce dates and all the rest of the fun stuff. Last year we were proud to put out the first Zombie Survival Crew Anthology: Undead Is Not An Option (and if you haven’t read it you should… it’s awesome), and we know we have a talented crew and are asking them to share those talents with us again.
In addition to the submissions or short stories, articles, poetry, artwork, and all the rest of it, we are having a Contest to name this year’s anthology. Just send an email to command { at ] zombiesurvivalcrew (dot } com before February 20th with the word TITLE in the subject line. If we select your title, you will be credited with the title in the anthology.
Now on to the details for the rest of the anthology submissions. The contest is three-fold.
A writing contest for short stories, poetry, and articles to include in our second Zombie Survival Crew Anthology.
An artwork contest (high quality black & white only) for inclusion in the anthology
A cover design contest to design the hottest cover for the Anthology.
All submissions must have ZSC Anthology Contest in the subject line in addition to the submission type indicator as outlined below.
All written submissions must be between greater than 1,000 words, but no greater than 10,000 words of original material written by you (word requirements not applicable to poetry submissions).
All written article/short story submissions must be in word doc or RTF standard submission format.
Poetry must be in word doc or RTF format, but formatted as it should be displayed as a final product and must contain the word Poetry in the subject line. [Note: If you submitted a poem as part of our recent zombie poetry contest, your entry is automatically entered into the running for the anthology and you do not need to resubmit the same piece.]
Non-fiction articles about survival, weaponry, escape route planning, etc. should state Article in the subject line.
Short Stories should state Fiction in the subject line.
All written submissions must include a pitch statement (cover letter/summary) of up to 300 words and a brief author bio.
Artwork submissions must be an original work of art created by you and must be high quality black & white – no color artwork will be considered.
Black and white artwork submissions should state Art in the subject line.
Cover design submissions must be an original work of art created by you in full CMYK color.
Cover design submissions should state Cover in the subject line.
All entries will be reviewed by the brigade commanders and first round acceptance determinations will be made and communicated in our Members only area by 3/20/12. All entries which have made it into the second round will have the opportunity to make revisions based on feedback from the judges for resubmission. The revisions and resubmission for the second round must be completed within two weeks. The final determinations for inclusion in the anthology will be conducted at that time.
The prize is inclusion in the anthology and we request both first print and first e-rights for the work to be exclusive for a period of 90 days, but non-exclusive thereafter. The work will remain in print and ebook format for as long as the anthology is being made available to the public, but after 90 days, the work may be in print in other publications or displayed online or in ebook form.
There is no cash prize for this contest and all proceeds for the anthology’s sale will go to the Zombie Survival Crew.
Since you must be a member to participate in the contest, please ensure you have registered on this site as all entries will be validated against Zombie Survival Crew membership.
So start polishing those stories, break out the pencils and brushes, and get those creative juices flowing. — I can’t wait to see what you come up with this year. Last year the entries left our commander-in-chief sleepless from the spine-chilling tales submitted. Let’s see if we can do it again!!
Adrian Ring is our intrepid hero here, having just barely survived a world consuming apocalypse of the undead. Adrian’s Diary chronicles his battles with the zombie hordes and his ongoing struggle with survival. Read and understand exactly how he has lived up to this point, avoiding starvation, zombies, injuries, sickness, as well as sharing in his humor and his horror. Adrian’s Undead Diary is an online chronicle and features stories that intersect with the happenings in the journal as well.
Please note because the characters are dealing with a zombie outbreak, this excerpt has some strong language.
It’s pretty fucking cold out tonight. The big ass plastic thermometer on the tree outside says its 35F out tonight. I’m glad I figured out where the emergency generator is here, otherwise I would be freezing my balls off now. Despite the fact that this place was kind of a bitch to clear out, I’m glad I did it. It’s got everything I need to survive for a long time.
I don’t even really know where to start. It’s a Tuesday today. At least I know what day it is. Someone in the main office building was wise enough to buy their calendar early this year so it’ll be easy for me to keep track of the days until the end of next year. After that I guess I’ll have to use some of the graph paper and make my own calendar. That’s being pretty optimistic though. The way the last few months have been I’ll be goddamn lucky to make Christmas, let alone next Christmas.
I decided to start writing this mainly to keep track of my daily activities and to have a way to purge my nugget. Frankly I talk to myself way too goddamn much to be mentally healthy and I was always told that writing a journal helped. Sooo… let’s call this my journal. Thank God for spell check. I also realize that now is not the best time to be writing. I’m using up some of my gasoline to run the generator, which is basically a waste, and honestly having any lights on at night draws them in. Moths to a flame as the old saying goes. But I can’t sleep and I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time now. Having the electricity back has set a fire under my ass to do this.
My name is Adrian Ring. I lived what I would now call as only a moderately successful life. I was happy, but I had pretty low standards. I had a girlfriend, I had a small condo downtown, I still have my cat (score!), and I have thus far avoided being eaten by the undead. Surprise! There’s the twist in the story. I fucking love horror movies. Like seriously. I watched well over a thousand of them and always used to plot and plan should zombies ever rise from the dead and take over the world. Irony in all that is that when the shit hit the fan it happened so fast that any kind of plan would’ve been almost impossible to execute.
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To read more, and find out what happens to Adrian and his cat, check out Undead Is Not An Option.
It seems like such a short time ago that we were talking about the first Zombie Survival Crew Anthology: Undead Is Not An Option (and if you haven’t read it you should… it’s awesome), but it has been a year since we put out the call to our talented crew, asking them to share those talents with us. So, we thought we’d do it again… and another contest is coming up. What is the contest? It is three-fold.
A writing contest for short stories, poetry, and articles to include in our second Zombie Survival Crew Anthology.
An artwork contest (high quality black & white only) for inclusion in the anthology
A cover design contest to design the hottest cover for the Anthology.
All entries will be reviewed by the brigade commanders and first round acceptance determinations will be made and communicated in our Members only area. All entries which have made it into the second round will have the opportunity to make revisions based on feedback from the judges for resubmission. The final determinations for inclusion in the anthology will be conducted at that time.
The prize is inclusion in the anthology and we request both first print and first e-rights for the work to be exclusive for a period of 90 days, but non-exclusive thereafter. The work will remain in print and ebook format for as long as the anthology is being made available to the public, but after 90 days, the work may be in print in other publications or displayed online or in ebook form.
There is no cash prize for this contest and all proceeds for the anthology’s sale will go to the Zombie Survival Crew.
Since you must be a member to participate in the contest, please ensure you have registered on this site as all entries will be validated against Zombie Survival Crew membership.
So keep a close watch on this site as we will release the final details and dates on how YOU can contribute. In the meantime, start dreaming up stories, break out the pencils and brushes, and get those creative juices flowing. — I can’t wait to see what you come up with this year. Last year the entries left our commander-in-chief sleepless from the spine-chilling tales submitted. Let’s see if we can do it again!!
We’ve been lost in a fog of The Walking Dead withdrawal since the mid-season break began in November. With weeks still ahead of us until episodes resume on AMC February 12th, hope seemed impossible. That was until we received a coded message offering support during these tough times.
Last October, Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansigna released the novel, The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. And now we’ve been given a chance to share a clip of the audiobook, read by Fred Berman.
“Following in the footsteps of the New York Times bestselling graphic novels and the record-breaking new television show, this debut novel in a trilogy of original Walking Dead books chronicles the back story of the comic book series greatest villain, The Governor.
In The Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor. The despot who runs the walled-off town of Woodbury, he has his own sick sense of justice: whether it’s forcing prisoners to battle zombies in an arena for the townspeople’s amusement, or chopping off the appendages of those who cross him. The Governor was voted “Villain of the Year” by Wizard Magazine the year he debuted, and his story arc was the most controversial arc in the history of The Walking Dead comic book series. Now, for the first time, fans of The Walking Dead will discover how The Governor became the man he is, and what drove him to such extremes.”
Hopefully this clip will tide us all over until the mid-season premiere. Enjoy!
You all did not make it easy on us, jeeze! After a lot of reading, a lot of praising the talent within our crew, and a ton of debating… we finally managed to agree on the winners. Congratulations to the winners and a huge thank you to everyone who entered. Below are the winning poems for you to enjoy.
Third place winner: Deepdarkred
Staring
by Deepdarkred
I sit and stare, surrounded by nothing but filthy air…
There goes the planet, Janet,
But I no longer care.
I wonder somewhere in the back of my mind
If there is something I could find,
To bring back who I used to be,
But there’s nothing there, nothing left of plain old me.
I see the living, pointing guns, screaming and slinging
They still think they can beat this,
Illusion and dreaming.
This cacophony of sound, choreography of misery
All spinning around the origin of our creation’s mystery.
We’re not God’s wrath, or Hell’s mistake,
We are not victims of drug intake.
This is it. Our evolution,
Strange enough, it’s also
A bit of a final solution,
A response to our own filth and pollution,
When they get hit, when they get bit…
They will all know what I meant by it.
And then like me they’ll spin in place
With more than a creepy smile upon their half devoured face.
Four high-school friends have educated themselves on zombie lore by playing a RPG game they’ve invented. They never dreamed they’d have to put their skills developed in the game to use, but an outbreak of the zombie virus forces their hand. While the town runs amok, they decide to meet in one of their game’s locations and make a final stand. The creator of the rule book, Jimmy, goes to retrieve it, Danny is sent to buy weapons, items a teenager could legally buy, while the ringleader, Joey, and Travis, whose father has fallen victim, stay behind to plan their defense and eventual escape.
Crunch Time brings you into the world of RPG and twitter, something near and dear to the Zombie Survival Crew’s heart, and takes you through the chilling choices which have to be made during a zombie attack.
Please note because the characters are dealing with a zombie outbreak, this excerpt has some strong language.
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Crunch Time by Maria Kelly
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Joey Costello wiped the dust from the cheddar puffs onto his jeans and leaned forward to stare at the brightly lit computer monitor. It was his older brother David’s hand-me-down computer: the one that looked like some fucked-up futuristic space-lamp.
He waited for his tweeps to respond. He watched as line upon line in the stream scrolled past, none of them from his crew.
“C’mon, dudes, damn!” he yelled, banging his fist down on the desk.
He cursed again as a whole load of tweets went sailing by, and he had to scroll down to make sure he didn’t miss one from his friends.
“Oh, man, we SO need our own hashtag.” He made a mental note to spring this bit of brilliant wisdom on his tweeps when they got on line. Where the hell where they, anyway?
He was half-way through the tweets when the auto-refresh kicked in and zoomed a hundred more tweets past his eyes.
“Aw, goddammit!” He swore again, but not too loudly. His mom had begun tolerating him dropping the ‘F-bomb’ but she’d tear his ass up if she heard him using that word. Not that his mother was particularly religious, but Aunt Lois was, and Aunt Lois was always over at their place these days since Uncle Reggie passed.
Finally, his trembling finger stilled on the scroll button as he read the message:
2ndTimeDead: RT @ZombieHuntR666 holla back mah boyz when u online.|| I’m on, Z.
“Yes!” Joey whispered as he typed and waited for his message to appear onscreen:
ZombieHuntR666: @2ndTimeDead it is as we feared, brotha!!!
He waited for 2ndTimeDead’s reply:
2ndTimeDead: @ZombieHuntR666 I know that’s right, bro! Saw 2 on way home from Crosswalk. Scared the fuck outta me. What do we do?
ZombieHuntR666: @2ndTimeDead don’t fuckin panic. that’s the most important thing. don’t fuckin panic. u been readin these other tweets?
2ndTimeDead: @ZombieHuntR666 4realz! Both #zombieapocalypsenow and #realzombiegeddon are TT’ing! WTF? They’re all over the world! WTF? #whatthefuck
ZombieHuntR666: @2ndTimeDead i said don’t panic dude. oh shit! SHIT! brb…
2ndTimeDead: @ZombieHuntR666 Joey i’m fuckin comin over there in about 3 minutes if you don’t tweet me the fuck back!!!!
2ndTimeDead: @ZombieHuntR666 4realz mofo! I aint playin! Are you ok? Joey i swear to god you better not be playin!!!!!!!!!
ZombieHuntR666: @2ndTimeDead damn dude it was just my mom.
2ndTimeDead: @ZombieHuntR666 You scared the fuck outta me asshole!!! I thought one of them got you.
ZombieHuntR666: @2ndTimeDead LOL sorry dude 😛 dude, we need our own hashtag. going thru these tweets is bullshit.
2ndTimeDead: @ZombieHuntR666 Dude, how about #oakleafHSzombies?
Sometimes Danny surprised Joey with a flash of brilliance. Since the zombie virus outbreak in their town seemed to have started at their school, #oakleafHSzombies was the perfect hash.
ZombieHuntR666: @2ndTimeDead Danny Patton you’re a fuckin genius! that’s brilliant i swear to god.
At the thought of his school, Joey’s hands dropped off the keyboard. How many Oak Leaf High School students had already been turned?
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To read more, and find out what happens to Joey, Danny and the rest of their friends, check out Undead Is Not An Option.
With the holidays coming up, Undead Is Not An Option would make a nice gift for the zombie lover’s in your family.
What would you do if you were stuck in a tree house, with a complete stranger who is somewhat annoying but a bona fide optimist, a chest full of rocks, and a horde of zombies waiting below? Louie, the optimist, is certain the government is working on a cure for the zombies or a rescue plan, but Arnie keeps mulling over the question, what could be worse than zombies? The Changing by Jim Bronyaur answers the question, but leaves you with this one: will you draw blood gnawing on your knuckle by the time you reach the end?
Please note because the characters are dealing with a zombie outbreak, this excerpt has some strong language.
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The Changing by Jim Bronyaur
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After the rocks…
Without order, chaos would ensue. It was human nature, maybe instinct, maybe that extra little bit of work creation put into us, but give a man an inch and he’ll probably try to take more. Toss in the idea of the world ending and now you’ve got a whole new bag of shit to deal with.
Arnie noticed the beginning of the chaos after the second rock Louie threw at a zombie. Calm with the first throw, he pretended to be a baseball pitcher. Arnie didn’t like nor understand baseball but with the growing group of zombies below them, he’d take a long, hot day at a ballpark anytime.
Louie’s second throw was filled with rage. He barely took aim and cursed so much and so fast, the words mixed together. By the time he threw the rock, his body sweated and shook. The rock pegged a zombie in the shoulder and the thing fell over but climbed right back up.
“Three,” Arnie said. “Hey, we should consider the rules again. Is it just three? Or should you get three for knocking him over and then one for hitting them…” He tried to break the tension but Louie acted as if he lost his mind.
“Fuck the game,” Louie said. He picked up another rock. With his knuckles white from the grip on the rock, he pulled his arm back but only wept. As his head bobbed, Arnie watched as Louie’s body teetered on the edge.
Arnie knew that if the man kept it up they’d be out of rocks soon. And if he lost his mind, then maybe a push was in order. Sure, it was a sick thought to have—pushing an innocent, living man into a horde of zombies, but these weren’t normal times.
Trying to take the high road, Arnie wrapped his arms around Louie and pulled him back. The rock fell to the floor with a clunk.
“Louie, please. You’re losing it.”
Louie dropped to his ass and kept crying. Arnie always wondered what was worse than watching a woman cry when you had nothing to offer to make it stop. He found it, and it wasn’t the end of the world waiting outside, it was Louie babbling like a baby.
The crying lasted ten minutes or so until Louie sucked up all his snot and put out a shaky hand towards Arnie, offering a forgiveness handshake. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I haven’t had a smoke in a while. Withdrawal. And those things… I just think about all the people I know out there. Are they dead? Are they walking again, but as zombies?”
“You’re the one who told me we’d be saved soon. We had to just hang out here…”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I need a cigarette. And a shot of whiskey.”
“And a woman,” Arnie added with a smile.
“Amen to that. But enough talk about what we can’t have. You know what? I feel like something’s going to happen today. Something’s… changing.”
Changing.
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To read more, and find out what is changing and whether Louie and Arnie survive, check out Undead Is Not An Option.
Need something spooky to get you in the mood for Halloween? The Zombie Survival Crew recommends, Undead Is Not An Option. It will give you chills and have you checking the locks and closets before going to bed.
The first entry in the anthology was a piece from one of our loyalists summarizing the situation in which we’d found ourselves, and helps us to understand how the Zombie Survival Crew came into being and some of the forces we are up against.
Classified Warning Order
by Kelene Toups
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CLASSIFIED MESSAGE
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TASK ORGANIZATION: Zombie Survival Crew (ZSC)
SITUATION: Several weeks ago, your organization was called upon to build a force and recruit for the imminent zombie apocalypse. Your orders are to serve as a front line force to protect the living, and annihilate the undead.
Enemy Forces
Recent reports indicate attacks and sightings in major cities in the United States and other countries around the globe. International recruiting has ensured our allies are well prepared for the attack. And these allies have pledged their full support to the ZSC. Intelligence obtained from our most recent reconnaissance mission suggests a large-scale attack is approaching. The Zombie Survival Crew is now, officially, on full alert. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
The enemy, easily identified by their pale grey skin, unhealed wounds, shuffling gait and colorless eyes, travels in packs and is extremely dangerous. Use maximum caution when approaching large numbers; strive to isolate the enemy or reduce to small groups for ease of dispatch. Our research subject has shown the enemy possesses an excellent sense of smell and hearing, poor vision, nonexistent thought process and an insatiable appetite for human flesh. These vital bits of intelligence will aid you in combat against the enemy; use these weaknesses to your full advantage to neutralize the strength of the enemy and diminish the chance of increase in numbers. The most effective means of destruction is to discontinue the neurotransmission process, accomplished by destruction of the brain. I.e. axe blow, bullet, pick axe, crossbow etc…
Recent intelligence reports indicate enemy forces are increasing faster than originally anticipated, with the potential to reach epidemic proportions. The lethal virus is introduced to the host from the saliva of an infected enemy by means of a bite during an attack.
A few months back your ZSC command sent out a call to all authors and artists requesting stories, art work, and articles The Yellow Brigade has answered the call. When Carol contacted me with her article, I knew right away with the topic of cadaver dogs that her article would be made of win.
Cadaver Dog Training on the Rise as Zombie Apocalypse Threatens
Guest Post by ZSC Member, Carol Ward – Yellow Brigade
We’ve all seen the heart wrenching photos and footage of rescue and recovery canines hard at work after a natural or a man made disaster. These incredibly disciplined and highly trained animals are the eyes and ears, the sight and scent, of the dedicated men and women who work with them. In time of need they are put to the test and are able to identify distant moans, very slight movements, and minute odors in the air. Rescue canines, like their bloodhound relatives, are bred for a very specific purpose – find life. Cadaver dogs, on the other hand, have a wonderful knack for sniffing out the walking dead.
These days we cannot be prepared enough in the event of a zombie apocalypse. We have our go bags by the door, we target shoot once a week, we even park furthest from the store front for the added exercise. Why do we feel the need to face this possible, nay, probable, disaster alone as a race of humans? Animals in general, and dogs specifically, are able to sense when something is not quite right with humans. Much like reacting to sudden shifts in air pressure when Mother Nature is planning her wrath, dogs are highly sensitive to erratic behavior and down right disgusting smells in humans.
Although some would attribute the increase in cadaver dog training as a direct result to the increase in natural disasters, others are not so sure. The expectant zombie apocalypse weighs heavy on the minds of many animal enthusiasts. Animal shelters are welcoming the influx of canine adoptions – mutts are known for their even temperament and ease of learning. There’s something to be said about Sean Patrick Flanery choosing a highly trained canine as his weapon of choice. This human for one thinks he’s using his brains – something we all hope he retains control of for a long, long time to come.
If you’re considering your options for companionship in the uncertain days ahead, look no further than your local animal shelter. I for one will welcome the mile head start I plan to reap from my own dogs – be we downwind or not.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Carol for her insightful article. *CROSSBOW SALUTE*
All submissions will be carefully reviewed and responded to, and revisions may be requested.
And this is where I get to rattle off all of the small print stuff like: submitting your work to the Zombie Survival CrewTM provides tacit consent for the Zombie Survival CrewTM to publish and promote your work as a part of the Zombie Survival CrewTM site. No payment will be given to any person for their submission and no payment will be accepted by the Zombie Survival CrewTM to publish any individual’s work. The Zombie Survival CrewTM will not be held liable for any copyright infringements should the work submitted not be the express original work of the submitter, but the infringement will be born by the submitter. By submitting your work to the Zombie Survival CrewTM you agree that you are the owner of the copyright to the material. And if for any reason you have lied to us about the copyright ownership, the Zombie Survival CrewTM reserves the right to send a horde of zombies to your doorstep to give you your just desserts.
We thought it might be fun to post some excerpts from our very first anthology, Undead Is Not An Option. We had a lot of fun putting this together and want to share a teaser from time to time to whet your appetite. We are proud of the number of commanders who we were able to arm wrestle into willingly contributed to the cause. The foreword was co-written by our Fearless Leader and Red Brigade commander, Juliette Terzieff, and IronE Singleton, Green Brigade commander.
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Foreword by Juliette Terzieff and IronE Singleton
We are our own worst enemy. For no logical reason we—our collective human family—continue down a long and winding road toward annihilation. Better weapons. Less trust. More fear. Panic. Selfishness. Lack of preparation. Ignorance. All of these belong buried in a landfill, but sadly remain firmly secured in our collective arsenal.
And now as wars unfold in every corner of the world, each addition to the body count increases the fear, and advances notions of the end of the world. It convinces us—even if we are too afraid to admit it in public—that we will be the source of our ultimate earthly destruction.
The fear is hardly new. In fact, it has been taking solid form for decades. Creeping like a ghoul from the grave with every advance in defense technology, with every master of hate to climb the pulpit. And now the walking dead have exploded around us—eclipsing the resurgence of romantic monsters of the past couple decades. Lestat, Edward, and their vampire brethren prowl around the edges, but the shambling hordes control the streets. They are us, and we are them. We cannot escape the truths they reveal.
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In the aftermath of World War II and throughout the Cold War years, writers and filmmakers crafted some of the most disturbing post-apocalyptic scenarios ever put to paper or film. The social commentary stung, but rang true. Was there anything beyond the bounds of human cruelty? Given the evidence of places like Dachau and Hiroshima, really, what limits could possibly remain? Through art these visionaries asked people to see beyond the face-level horror to the real monsters in their stories.
Take British author John Wyndham’s book The Chrysalids (1955) set in an über-conservative post-nuclear society where any hint of physical or mental abnormality is considered blasphemy. Those unfortunate enough to display any genetic variance are forced to undergo sterilization, banishment or are killed outright. Family members turn each other in out of fear. Fathers battle sons. Mothers are forced to give up their children.
Out of the question? Hardly.
Or the stunning black-and-white Last Man on Earth (1964) based on Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend in which an increasingly disturbed Vincent Price battles loneliness and sorrow in a Quixotic quest to maintain sanity in a world overrun by vampiric former humans infected by a plague. Desperate to protect his humanity though there is apparently none left in the world. Searching for a reason, a cure, some way to regain a measure of his former life—with no real hope that any sort of happy ending can be possible. Just driven to keep going.
Again is this scenario so far-fetched? No. Not nearly far enough.
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To read more, including the compelling words of IronE Singleton, check out Undead Is Not An Option.
We gave you the heads up about the upcoming Zombie Survival Crew Anthology here and now we’re ready to announce dates and all the rest of the fun stuff. Last year we were proud to put out the first Zombie Survival Crew Anthology: Undead Is Not An Option (and if you haven’t read it you should… it’s awesome), and we know we have a talented crew and are asking them to share those talents with us again.
“Following in the footsteps of the New York Times bestselling graphic novels and the record-breaking new television show, this debut novel in a trilogy of original Walking Dead books chronicles the back story of the comic book series greatest villain, The Governor.
