I am so excited about taking part in this tour. 6 great zombie authors who have kindly answered my zombie related questions. Check out the fun and comment with email to enter to win a copy of one of their books. Click the covers to be taken to the amazon page.
Summer of Zombie
Interview with Six Authors
Gathering six authors in the same room, four from various points of the United States and two from overseas, is not easy. It takes a massive amount of alcohol.
The six members of the Summer of Zombie blog tour – Dave Jeffery, John O’Brien, Todd Brown, Mark Tufo, Armand Rosamilia and Ian Woodhead – answered a few questions while enjoying the company and the drinks.
Zombie apocalypse breaks out tomorrow. What are your chances of survival?
Dave Jeffery: To be honest, pretty poor. Why? Not very well prepared. No bunker, no weapons cache, no food stockpile. If I saw a zombie I would squeal like a girl and hope I tasted bad enough to avoid been eaten.
John O’Brien: I would think they are pretty good. I live out in the country with very few neighbors. There is plenty of game around and the Puget Sound is right down the road for great fishing. I also have a well system with a generator and manual pump. The only thing I would have to journey into populated areas would be for additional ammo. There is a small town nearby for that but I’d wait until the initial outbreak was over. I have plenty for now. Plus, I have a couple of bows and enough arrows for quiet hunting. I also know a little about survival so that helps.
Mark Tufo: Better than average! I live out in the sticks so my chances of being overrun are slim. I have enough arms and rounds to fend off a third world country. My downfall is going to be my food stores which means I will have to go on scavenging raids, that means more interaction with the living and the walking dead neither will be a pleasant encounter when the end comes. Yes I have WAY too much time on my hands.
Armand Rosamilia: Virtually nonexistent. I’m too lazy to get off the couch, and who wants to live in a world where there’s no Red Sox baseball, no bags of M&M’s and no coffee easily available? No thanks. Kill me first.
Preferred weapon you’d like to have on you for zombie slaying?
Todd Brown: Spiked bat, standard aluminum bat, and an Ontario Knife Company 8335 SP8 Spec Plus Machete. Guns run out of bullets and make noise. Sure, have something handy, but NOT as a primary weapon.
Armand Rosamilia: First, other people that are slower than me so I can push them in front and they can get eaten and I can escape. Second… a gun makes too much noise, a machete or sword and my arm would be tired… a flamethrower would be messy, and anything that blows up like grenades… no idea how to shoot an arrow or bolt properly… I guess slow people would be my weapon.
Ian Woodhead: I was thinking about this earlier. Now, the key word here is ‘preferred’ I’d prefer a shotgun with an unlimited supply of shells. However, considering that I live in England and our gun laws are pretty strict, I’d just have to make do with a plank of wood with a few nails hammered into the end.
Dave Jeffery: My main preference would be a tank. Failing that I’d settle for an F-16.
Is there anyone you would not trip up should it come down to saving your life or theirs?
Mark Tufo: I would fall on my sword for any one in my family, although as in any large family there are some individuals where I would hope the sword was blunt or maybe it fell to the side before I could impale myself on, or maybe just receive a flesh wound. But yeah I’d take one for the home team.
Ian Woodhead: Er sorry, but my life is more important than yours. Surry about that, dude, but you’re going to have to watch for my feet.
Todd Brown: I could lie and say “no” but my wife knows me better than that and wouldn’t let me. The truth is, if you have to give yourself up to save somebody else at this point, they won’t last long after you save them anyways. The best you can offer is a promise to not let them end up as zombie chow. Be prepared to put a round in their head if they fall. That may not be a very popular answer…but it’s honest. Yes, the “Shane’s” in the world do exist, and not all of us have a thing for our supposed best friend’s wife, but we are prepared to survive in the ZA world…despite the drastic measures that it may require.
John O’Brien: My kids! Or any family member for that matter.
What is your favorite zombie book?
Armand Rosamilia: The Rising by Brian Keene started it all for me. Before that book I was a big fan of zombie movies but didn’t think it would work in literature, or whatever it is we are doing. That book changed my thinking because it was a bit different and it was a well-written story that had me going back to the store and buying everything I could from Keene and other zombie authors.
John O’Brien: There are so many I enjoy but I will include two here: The Morningstar Strain series by Z.A. Recht and The Zombie Fallout series by Mark Tufo.
Dave Jeffery: The Unwashed Dead by Ian Woodhead. Great social commentary and wicked, bloody fun to read.
Todd Brown: That is a tough one. I would have to say Monster Island by David Wellington. It is the first zombie novel I read that stood out from the crowd BEFORE the whole zombie thing had its huge resurgence in popularity. You may not love the rest of the series, but that first book is gold.
Ian Woodhead: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.
Mark Tufo: Well I’d love to sit here and type the title of my zombie book (Zombie Fallout – see how I snuck that in there?) but I really have to give it up for Max Brooks and World War Z who may have just brought the whole zombie phenomenon back to the fore.
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All six of us – Todd Brown, Mark Tufo, Ian Woodhead, Armand Rosamilia, John O’Brien and Dave Jeffery – hope you’ll keep following us on the Summer of Zombie blog tour, and comment as we go along.
And… one lucky commenter for each blog will receive a Free eBook or Print book from one of the authors! Simply leave a comment with your e-mail address and we’ll pick a random winner each day! Simple as that!
