After months of anticipation the day has finally come when we can release the cover art for Undead Uncensored, the second Zombie Survival Crew anthology. This year’s anthology is a vibrant collection of short fiction, poetry and non-fiction pieces designed to help you get your zombie freak on and prepare for what we might all face if the zombipocalypse hits!
Undead Uncensored features the work of yours truly alongside other ZSC Commanders actor Michael Rooker, award winning author LK Gardner-Griffie, and authors Jinxie G, R.C. Murphy and Amy Sundberg. ZSC crew members including Wendy Sparrow, Jessica Capelle, Robin Sellman, Amber Revelt, Stephanie Allen, Christopher De Voss and many others contributed their artistic endeavors to this creeptastic collection!!
Love Me Dead or Alive is the touching… nay… poignant story of Mindy who is attempting to come to grips with her own mortality as her undead boyfriend pressures her to join him so they can be together forever. Titus has more to fear than just his girlfriend’s ticking mortal clock, though; an old school buddy is trying to force Titus’s hand in doing a little doctoring the dead. It’s the age old story of boy loves girl… girl loves boy… boy is dead and wants girl to be also but she isn’t sure if she is ready for that commitment… with zombie monkeys.
Please note because the characters are dealing with a zombie outbreak, this excerpt may have some strong language.
The incessant dinging of the doorbell could either mean trouble or the neighbor kids. Titus opened the door just as Mindy dropped dead at his feet. Again. She needed to stop doing this. He snatched her up off the ground and carried her into his back room, laying her on the metal table. It looked like blood loss was the culprit this time. He lifted her shirt to see two stab wounds. Holy crap. She had to take more time off. Using the searing wand, he burnt the wounds closed while covering his nose. Burnt flesh smelled bad enough, but Mindy’s burnt flesh creeped him out like nothing else could. Finally, when he was certain she wasn’t just going to die all over again, he stabbed the hypodermic in her chest and flooded her heart with the solution before he hit her with the magnetic pulse. “C’mon, Mindy,” he whispered. He watched the monitors for her vital signs to spike. Crap. He hit her again with the magnetic pulse. The beat of her heart made him sigh. Her wounds started closing up as the enriched blood pumped through. Every time he did this he experienced a Dr. Frankenstein moment where he wanted to yell, “It’s alive,” but Mindy probably wouldn’t appreciate it… at all. Then again, he didn’t appreciate her dying on him. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled at him. “Hey, Beautiful.” Titus leaned over her and brushed some hair from her eyes. “You woke up just in time. I was starting to worry I was developing necrophilia. It turns out you look hotter alive than dead.” She laughed. “So, stop dying on me,” he said. She winced suddenly. “What? What’s wrong?” She really needed to stop the vigilante business. “My shoulder. I think that freak I took down knocked it out of its socket,” she said. His jaw tightened with disapproval as he leaned over and felt her shoulder. She just had to stop. If not for herself… for him…. “Don’t, Titus.” “Don’t what, Mindy? Don’t worry about you?” “It’s not that bad.” He shoved down and pulled on her arm. She screamed in pain and curled into a ball. Tucking his frame around hers, Titus rubbed the muscles on her back. She already showed signs of healing, but that hurt them both every time. “I’m fine.” “You’re not, Mindy. This is getting ridiculous. Do you know how hard it is seeing you dead? No, you don’t because I don’t keep dying on you.” “It doesn’t KEEP happening,” she said, sitting up. “Fifth time, babe. Fifth time,” he said, cleaning up the crash kit he kept near the door for just such occasions. “What if I can’t get to you within eight minutes? You know how complicated it is to restore brain cells in someone with oxygenated blood and a beating heart. They don’t always work right. You could end up as a real zombie.” He threw the syringe in the disposal, and it shattered which actually seemed to help his mood. “Not to mention I’ve never done this more than nine times on anything. Chester might have had nine lives in him, but who knows if you do. You’re a lot more complicated than a freaking cat, Mindy.” She wrapped her arms around him from behind. “Shh, Titus,” she said. Her skin felt warm, and he tried to pretend it wasn’t nice… that he didn’t like the heat radiating off her. He rubbed his hands across her arms. If her skin was cold, it wouldn’t matter; he’d still love her… with all his cold, silent heart.
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To read more and find out what happens to Mindy, Titus, and the zombie monkeys, check out Undead Is Not An Option.
Happy Monday!!! We’re excited to present the Zombie Survival CrewTM anthology: Undead Is Not An Option!!! The anthology contributors are: IronE Singleton, Juliette Terzieff, Kelene Toups, Anthony Guajardo, Jim Bronyaur, RC Murphy, Maria Kelly, Sonya May, Chris Philbrook, Neil Brown, Jr., Austin Wulf, Tasmin Bowerman, Jessica Capelle, Natalie Cutrufello, Wendy Sparrow, Andrew Jack, Gary James, EC, and LK Gardner-Griffie. Enjoy!!!!!
This is a little something we cooked up today to enhance our site… we’re so happy with how it turned out, that we had to share. Now… where was I… Oh yes… the Zombie Survival CrewTM Anthology, Undead Is Not An Option. I need to finish telling everyone what you will find inside.
Love is in the air… Zombie-style and yes, Undead Is Not An Option has its share of love stories. Sadie is a normal girl living with her mother, well, as normal as a girl who collects zombies can be. She didn’t start out to collect zombies, it just sort of happened…. Zombie Girl by Tasmin Bowerman weaves a tender tale of a girl who doesn’t have the heart to turn the zombies away and the town-folk who don’t understand. Jessica Capelle gives us a different twist with her story, But I Do Love Your For Your Brain. Erik and Jaimy have a relationship that’s filled with love and commitment. There’s just one problem… she wants to eat him. Will Jaimy’s love save him or will she embrace her true nature and destroy him?
Wendy Sparrow follows with Love Me Dead Or Alive which is the touching… nay… poignant story of Mindy who is attempting to come to grips with her own mortality as her undead boyfriend pressures her to join him so they can be together forever. Titus has more to fear than just his girlfriend’s ticking mortal clock, though; an old school buddy is trying to force Titus’s hand in doing a little doctoring the dead. With Dead Man’s Shoes by Andrew Jack we take a turn into the macabre. Dead Man’s Shoes follows a young man named Carlo when he wakes on the autopsy slab at his local hospital to find that the world has ended and zombies have taken the place of almost every human on the planet….Almost.
Gary James pens a chilling tale with his Never Say Die. A gentleman’s club becomes a refuge for the well-to-do when the dead rise, through one member has a dark secret hanging over his head which threatens all who discover it. One by one the group’s number dwindles, until there is nothing left to do but the unthinkable. This alternate history zombie tale recounts the final days in the life of one of the survivors, as his time – and the 1930s – draws to a dark close. And the finale of the book is We Take Care Of Our Own by EC. We Take Care of Our Own is about a tight-knit family dealing with survival admidst the Zombie Apocalypse in a small Midwestern town and was inspired by the The Walking Dead. The treatment of both the graphic novel and the TV series inspired this tale because it’s brilliantly complex, poignant, and shockingly real. We Take Care Of Our Own examines the human reaction in the shadow of the Zombie Apocalypse.
And there you have it… a little snippet of the wonderful stories you will find between the covers of Undead Is Not An Option which is available for preorder at our special introductory price of $10 now on our Merchandise page
This past week was certainly… interesting. Some of my fellow Commanders decided it was necessary to duct tape me to a chair in command to keep me from publicly releasing the contents of the Zombie Survival Crew Anthology: Undead Is Not An Option.
I was more than a little peeved. I mean, come on, I managed to keep the exciting news private for months what made them think I couldn’t keep my yap shut for a few more days?
To make it worse, while I was busy gnawing through three layers of industrial strength duct tape so I could put out this little missive, Purple Brigade Commander LK went ahead and revealed the cover art!
Well now it’s finally my turn and I am honored to announce some of the talented contributors to Undead is Not an Option.
The following authors and artists have crafted some truly haunting material examining the many terrifying facets of a zombiepocalypse and what survival will ask of all of us:
Tasmin Bowerman, Jim Bronyaur, EC, Jessica Capelle, Natalie Cutrufello, Andrew Jack, Gary James, Maria Kelly, Samantha Lahue, Sonya May, RC Murphy, Chris Philbrook, Wendy Sparrow, Kelene Toups and Austin Wulf.
We are also absolutely thrilled to announce that cast members from AMC’s hit television show The Walking Dead have graciously agreed to increase Undead Is Not An Option’s creep factor with contributions of their own!! Huge thanks to IronE Singleton, Neil Brown Jr., Anthony Guajardo, and everyone else for their participation.
Make sure you leave space for Undead Is Not An Option in your go bags – because this is one guide you won’t want to be without!
