Fear Factors

Today we have the privilege of a guest post by the lovely Jo Michaels. While on a covert mission for the Zombie Survival Crew in Nashville, I ran into Jo in the hallway of the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel and learned she was knowledgeable about zombies, so after checking to make sure we were not being spied upon by the UGA, we had a confidential chat on zombie behavior. I knew then she’d be a perfect person to share some of her knowledge with the Zombie Survival Crew faithful.

Fear Factors

What’s Really Going on in those Zombie Novels

by Jo Michaels, author of I, Zombie

Jo Michaels

Jo Michaels

So, I’m sure you’ve all picked up a zombie novel and turned to page one with your breath in your throat and your hands shaking as you contemplated what horrific situations you were about to be treated to, right?

Is it because you’re anticipating the sticky situations people will undoubtedly get themselves into and out of? Or, is it the mindless munching of brain matter by half rotted, animated corpses that gets your pulse racing?

Chances are, it’s a mixture of both. Zombie novels aren’t about the eating of flesh. While that’s a key component in the movement of the plot and something adding to the spine-tingling horror of it all, it’s not what’s lurking behind the scenes.

Deep within the pages of your everyday zombie novel there’s a central theme: survival of humanity and basic compassion. What you’re reading about is the battle—both with the creatures, who used to be thinking, feeling humans, and with the character’s own sense of what’s right and wrong while trying to survive. All around the character there are old friends, family members, and people those characters met along the way that now must be destroyed.

How do you pull the trigger when you’ve had a conversation with the person staring back at you with those milky zombie eyes? What if it’s your child?

Many times, authors of zombie novels go the extra mile to include how a parent tried to keep their feral child safe once it turned; because the parent(s) were unable to do the unthinkable. A neighbor might present a challenge (it depends if they were easy to work with over that property line dispute), but if they mean to harm or eat you, chances are you wouldn’t have much of a problem pulling the trigger, using a machete, or sticking them in the head with a pitchfork (hey, I lived on a farm; don’t judge me).

Survival of a zombie apocalypse is all about preparation for the masses. You’re stocked with weapons, food (like Twinkies), and those nifty little tablets to sterilize water. But are you mentally prepared to deal with the inner turmoil of being forced to kill someone you know and/or love if they turn into a moaning people eater? Is there any way to prepare for that?

I_Zombie_Cover_SFW_JoMichaelsA good zombie novel won’t just focus on the terror, flesh eating, or monsters. No, it’ll make you think about survival of your physical and mental self. If you had to slice up someone you knew, would your mind be okay?

I imagine you’re thinking: If it were in defense of my family or loved ones, I’d have no problem taking someone out that was threatening us; and I wouldn’t feel badly about it afterward. I agree. There’s the crux of the issue. Where is the line drawn? What happens when the person has just been bitten and still looks/acts/thinks like the uninfected? Is it still an easy decision?

These are all situations in the arsenal of the zombie novelist used to make you squirm in your seat and wonder what the character will do. Without the niggling doubt in the back of your mind, you probably wouldn’t enjoy the book. What will the character do if Bob is turned? And, you flip the page to find out.

Unlike vampire novels, werewolf novels, or other horrible creature novels, zombies bring an element that can’t be touched by anything else: humanity. We know there’s no cure for any of these other afflictions; but what if there is for the disease causing the zombies to re-animate? Doubt sometimes stays our hand.

So, the next time you lift a zombie novel and read the prose that was so carefully crafted to touch your human side, think about why you enjoy those tales so dang much. They delve very deeply into your belief system, try and connect with you on an emotional level, and show you what kind of struggles you may face during the bane of an apocalypse.

I took it one step further. My zombies are thinking, feeling humans—with a disease rotting away their motor functions, voices, and skin—that eat live animals. If you enjoy the human element of your zombie novels, and ever wondered what it might feel like to turn and be hunted, check out my novel: I, Zombie.

Thanks for the invitation to write something for your beautiful group, and I hope you all have a lovely (zombie free) day!

What’s your favorite thing about a zombie apocalypse novel?

Well, that’s all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

~ Jo Michaels

JoMichaelsThis is how I remember Jo best (pictured with Christina Mercer). She absolutely rocks the cowboy hat and has a smile that lights the entire place. Her contact information is at the bottom of this post, and I recommend you check out her work, and Tweet her or drop her a line on Facebook.

About I, Zombie:

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

Trixie Collins is a normal teen making her way through high school. One night at a party, a boy comes on to her and won’t take no for an answer. As she jerks her arm away, his fingernails cut into her skin.

When she finds her dog’s mutilated body and realizes she’s to blame, she starts to think maybe the zombie apocalypse they’ve been screaming about on the news isn’t a hoax after all. Worse, she begins to think maybe she’s one of the infected.

Now it’s a fight for life as she joins together with her brethren to stop the humans intent on destroying them. Are zombies all bad, or is it just a huge misunderstanding?

Where to find Jo around the web

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon Author Page | INDIE Books Gone Wild


Bring in the . . . Incubus?

NeeNormally we’re all about the undead, but so many of our ZSC commanders have been busy working on awesome projects of their own, we just have to share. Today we’re proud to announce the release of Orange Brigade Commander R.C. Murphy’s novel, Enslaved.

There aren’t man-eating corpses in this book, but it isn’t fluffy like Commander RC’s zombie bunnies, either. Take a look:

The gods are flawed . . . and they make awful parents.

Deryck knows first-hand the cruelty of the gods. Three thousand years after his birth, he is still trapped, forced to service humans as an Incubus—unable to choose who he sleeps with, and living a life completely devoid of love. There is no out for him. No hope. Or so he thought.

Shayla McIntire spent five years getting her life back on track after the accident claiming her husband’s life. She is content to a nice, boring, subdued life free of the abuse she suffered before. Her friends are worried. They want her to find the man of her dreams and move on.

Little do they know, the Powers That Be have decided the man of Shayla’s dreams for her. There’s just one hitch, he’s enslaved to the gods and it will take power she doesn’t know she has to free him. Deryck isn’t the only one hoping Shayla will free him, though.

Click on the cover to grab your copy of Enslaved today!

Enslaved Final Cover

Click here for Amazon!
Other formats TBA


Dauntless by Shannon Mayer

Dauntless is the third book of Shannon Mayer‘s Nevermore trilogy, a Zombie-ish Apocalypse novella series.

In this final installment, be prepared for death to come knocking, as the apocalypse and monsters stretch the bonds of love and friendship, demanding a reckoning of those who are willing to do what they must to survive.

When “I Am Legend” meets “Resident Evil,” the Nevermores in this trilogy are similar to the “vampires” in I Am Legend with their feral pack mentality, and the cause of the change in humans is because of a supposed cure-all drug, similar to the toxin in Resident Evil. The Nevermores aren’t quite zombies, in that they aren’t dead, but they will eat anything and everything.

Minor spoilers:

Dauntless picks up after Bound, continuing Mara’s and Sebastian’s story of love and survival even when everything on the planet is stacked against you. It begins in the mad scientist’s compound, follows their escape, and Mara’s struggle to fight for Sebastian and their child, even when he doesn’t want to continue on. Did Donovan’s cure work? For a good amount of time, Sebastian is sick as hell and on the verge of death. Throughout the trilogy, Mara makes some pretty stupid decisions, which someone points out to her, and yet, she somehow manages to make it. How, we’ll never quite know.

Scout, Mara’s loyal Nevermore, returns to help and in the end, gives his life to save his alphas’ lives. He was a very likable character; one that was written well enough to be remembered for a long time.

The trilogy is essentially one book split into three. There is also a short story, first published in Forever Nocturne e-zine, that goes with the trilogy, centered on two other characters. The entire Nevermore trilogy is a quick and easy read, though it could have used a better copy edit. Some of the mistakes were a little distracting, but the average reader likely won’t notice most of them.

Dauntless was definitely the “love will conquer all” happy ending. I won’t, however, tell you where they’re heading or the surprise that waits.

Thank you, Ms. Mayer, for such an entertaining series. I look forward to your Celtic Legacy series next.

You can find Shannon Mayer on her website: http://shannonmayer.blogspot.com/

The entire Nevermore trilogy is available at the following links:

Sundered

Bound

Dauntless

Scattered – (Scattered first appeared in Forever Nocturne e-zine under the title No Way Safe)

This review originally posted on Jinxie G‘s book review site.