Zombie Guide Magazine

1. Why did you set up zombie-guide?

I started ZGM for several reasons. The first being my frustration with building websites for other people. I always had to build what they wanted and I wanted a website of my own, that I could make into whatever I want it to be.

My other reasons were to use my army background in a useful way, so I wouldn’t forget the training and experience. So when I started watching The Walking Dead, it came to me. I could make a website about zombies! It could have everything, from survival, to weapons, to my ideas about zombies.

So it started out as a Wiki page and I set out to make it a knowledge base about zombies. When the first book reviews came in it slowly turned into a magazine. We evolved from that and instead of a “guide”, we became a magazine.

We haven’t gotten where we want to be yet. But I have gotten beyond the point I initially imagined the site to ever be. Our goal is to keep getting more fans, attend events and eventually become a team of full time writers.

2. What is your favorite article from the website and why?

My favorite article is from Ian, about destroying the brain stem. It has everything a good article needs. He really did the math and research on it and it came out great. What bothers me about this, is that a lot of people don’t care about all the work that goes into an article like that. It gets almost no attention… But set-up a giveaway for a sticker and everybody gets excited!

3. What is your zombie apocalypse plan? Do you think it’s possible you will ever need it?

I believe in the kind of infected seen in 28 days later. A ravenous disease that turns people into rabies like flesh eaters with no conscience or remorse. Like explained in Zombieland.
My plan for this is simple. Get to an unpopulated area ASAP. Living in The Netherlands, 6 meters below sea level, this will suck.. So my best chances are to lock myself, with supplies, in one of the many windmills here until the everything calms down. After that look for rescue helicopters, or improvise from there on.. These btw are the modern windmills. They have enough space to live in and if you bring soil up there, you could have a garden in the staircase. And catch water on the roof, since it rains here all the time..

4. What would be your weapon of choice?

Well I could start summing up awesome guns here, but they’re all illegal here. So my best bet would be a proper crossbow, a hunting knife and battle-axe. Probably a Cold steel one. But my best weapon would be smart thinking and staying under the radar.

5. How long do you think you’d survive in the zombie apocalypse?

It depends on where I am, what kind of zombies there are and if I’m a little lucky. If they’re the zombies like in Zombieland, I think I should be fine. In that case I think humanity will be thinned out, but we’d make it through. Just hide until the infected run out of food…
In case of a The Walking Dead scenario, I’d die. There would be so many infectious diseases popping up with all the corpses everywhere, plus the whole word coming to a standstill, it would be impossible to stay in good health. You’d die as soon as you get I’ll and have no medical treatment.

Interview with J.Rudolph

1. Tell me about yourself and your work.

Hi, I’m Julie, the author of The Reanimates Series, which is about a nurse named Cali who had a normal life in Southern California until the zombie apocalypse happened. It follows her fight to survive from the day the zombies hit her area and her fight to keep her friends and family alive.

“Hi, I’m Julie, the author of The Reanimates Series, which is about a nurse named Cali who had a normal life in Southern California until the zombie apocalypse happened. It follows her fight to survive from the day the zombies hit her area and her fight to keep her friends and family alive.”

2. What was the inspiration behind your books?

“The inspiration behind The Reanimates was in reading all the zombie books that featured either mostly men and their guns or people that had some sort of inside information or immunity to the virus. I wondered what normal people would do to survive the zombies, and by extension how a woman would be able to be an integral part to survival in a group setting.”

3. Are any of the characters based on yourself or anyone you know?

“Part of the series is based on things I relate to. Like Cali, I’m a nurse, a mom, and a wife. I live in an apartment complex as well, although it is much larger than the story. The characters are based around the conversations I’ve had with my husband while we were waiting in line at the bank or grocery stores. The neighbors in the story are part of my imagining what the people in my complex could be like if we all had to work together, although I don’t actually know them.”

4. How long do you think you’d survive the zombie apocalypse?

“The only way I can imagine surviving the zombie apocalypse is in prevention from them getting too close. I’m not particularly athletic. I broke my lower back stopping a patient from falling, so running isn’t really something I can do well. Fortunately I have a lot of good plans.”

5. What would be your weapon of choice?

“If I could only have one weapon I think a crossbow would be my first choice. You can reuse the ammo and you can make more bolts out of several things like tent poles or those round wooden rods.”

“My website is http://www.jrudolph.com There are links to each of the books there, available on Kindle or paperback.

I love likes on my Facebook page, and the link there is http://www.facebook.com/JRudolphAuthor “

Get your own interview at http://thelockdown.co.uk/blog

All You Have Ever Wanted To Know About Ian McClellan

“I’m tired and cold. It was a hellish 37 degrees here in Port Charlotte, Florida when I left for work this morning and only got up to 66. I grew up in Ireland and NY, but I’ve been down here for 13 years and I’ve gotten used to being warm in that time. When I’m not writing books about zombies or articles for Zombie Guide Magazine I’m stuck in the real world driving a delivery truck. It’s season here now, and I’m working 60-plus hours a week. That’s okay, though, because I come home everyday to three smiling faces and wagging tails and all is well.”

1. What was the inspiration behind your novel?

My first novel, Zombie/Apocalypse 2012: A Political Horror Story, was actually supposed to be a short story with a long name. I used to have a little faith in the government and the media, but I’ve become more and more cynical about the whole process in recent years. One day I was watching some congressmen debate whether or not we’d be able to help some people whose town had been destroyed by a tornado. They wanted to know what we would be cutting to pay for the recovery effort. I was appalled. I got to wondering how they would handle the dead coming back to life in droves and sat down to write how I thought that scenario would play out. Needless to say, it was pretty negative and snarky. There was this other aspect of the story, though, that wanted to come out. Before I knew it, I was writing a book.

2. Did you plan out the story or let it develop as you wrote?

I had planned out very little, but I wasn’t expecting it to be more than 5,000 words or so. Most of it just came to me as I was writing. I did have the end planned out. I’ve gotten a lot of flack about that ending. It’s abrupt and harsh and some people loved it, but a few of them have really hated it. One reviewer on Amazon even said I “went too far, way too far.” I thought that was epic. My only two star review and it’s my favorite.

My second book, which I’m shopping around for a publisher now, started out as just a title. I was reading this article on one of those crazy conspiracy websites about the moon landing being faked and a news story came on TV about Sally Ride passing away. Then, something about zombies popped up in my Facebook news feed. The title just appeared in my head at that moment. One Small Step: How the U.S. Faked the Moon Landing to Avert the Zombie Apocalypse. I’ve since shortened that to One Undead Step. I didn’t have a character or a plot. I didn’t know how we were going to get from point A to Point B. I just started writing, and I think it turned out pretty well.

3. Which zombie book would you recommend to others and why?

Man, there are a ton. If you’re a zombie book reader and I really had to narrow it down to one I’d say Jordan’s Brains: A Zombie Evolution by the brilliant author J. Cornell Michel. It really is the most unique zombie book I’ve read in a lot of ways. There are a lot of zombie novels out there that have their own flair, but that one is truly different.

4. How long do you think you’d survive the zombie apocalypse?

Despite my heavy smoking being in direct conflict with rule #1 of Zombieland, I think I’ll do alright. I live in Florida. There are a lot of really old people here. You know what they say about not having to swim faster than the sharks. Also, I have some guns and I’m a decent shot.

5. If there was going to be a film based on your survival within the zombie apocalypse, who would you like to play you?

Good Lord, that’s a tough one. Maybe Ricky Gervais. He’s quite a bit older than me, but that would be a decent fit. Not terribly attractive, snarky, good delivery. I wonder if he could do my accent, which is kind of weird from all the big moves I made when I was younger.

Find out more about Ian and his books at https://www.facebook.com/politicalhorrorstory

Dana Wright has always had a fascination with things that go bump in the night. She is often found playing at local bookstores, trying not to maim herself with crochet hooks or knitting needles, watching monster movies with her husband and furry kids or blogging about books. More commonly, she is chained to her computers, writing like a woman possessed. She is currently working on several children’s books, young adult fiction, horror short stories and is trying her hand at poetry. She is a contributing author to Siren’s Call E-zine in their “Women In Horror” issue in February 2013 and “Revenge” in October 2013, a contributing author to Potatoes! (upcoming), Fossil Lake Anthology, a top secret anthology project from Horrified Press due out in 2014, Wonderstruck, Shifters: A Charity Anthology, Holiday Horrors and the Roms, Bombs and Zoms Anthology from Evil Girlfriend Media.

Dana also reviews music for New Age Music Reviews, Progressive Rock Talk.com and Write a Music Review.com specializing in New Age and alternative music. She has been a contributing writer to Muzikreviews.com, Eternal Haunted Summer, Nightmare Illustrated, Massacre Magazine, Pagan Living Magazine, The Were Traveler October 2013 edition: The Little Magazine of Magnificent Monsters, the December 2013 issue The Day the Zombies Ruled the Earth.

Follow Dana’s reviews:
Twitter: @dana19018

https://www.facebook.com/danawrightauthor

http://www.writeamusicreview.com/

http://www.progrockmusictalk.com/

http://newagemusicreviews.wordpress.com/

http://danawrightwordscribe.wordpress.com/

http://about.me/dana.wright.wordscribe

http://zombiegirlshambling.blogspot.com/

http://danasyabookpile.blogspot.com/

http://onthebroomstick.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dana.wright.14

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Dana-Wright/e/B00DMDOHKQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_2

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dana-wright/31/750/a5a

The Virus

My own project ‘The Virus’ is a free story posted on my website, alongside a variety of media. To check it out please go to http://thelockdown.co.uk/the-virus

“

February 1st – Dylan

7.32am.

I blink, are my eyes deceiving me? Is this some kind of dream…nightmare?!

What the actual  hell?! I never wake up at 7.32.

I always, always without fail, open my eyes at 7.29am. I don’t even have an alarm, it just…happens. I wake at 7.29 and get out of bed at 7.30. Every. Single. Day. 

Except today.

Why? What is different about today? The panic starts as a tight knot in my stomach, slowly expanding until my whole body is consumed in terror. I am literally shaking. I am trying to figure out where exactly I went wrong, and what impact it will have on today.

You might think this is an adverse reaction to waking up a few minutes late, but for me every single second of every single day is planned out. It has to be. My routine goes exactly the same every day. I wont bore you with all the exact details (you know, 7.44am drink coffee, 7.58am brush teeth…), then you will really start to think I’m crazy! But if anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong, bad things happen.

Wow, I sound insane, even to myself.

My mum always said I was an odd little boy, always organising everything obsessively, from toys to games and everything had to be ‘in it’s place’. For that reason, I never had many friends. You can imagine that, can’t you? People don’t like to be controlled and I can’t bear to just ‘go with the flow’, be ‘whimsical’. In fact, the thought of letting things just ‘run their course’ fills me with an unnatural, sweaty, paralysing fear.

Yes, before you ask, I have been through numerous therapy sessions and seen many, many doctors. They all jump to the same conclusion, I have OCD. I go along with it in the hospital, desperate to get away from these people in this weird place, back to my routine. I take the medication with a smile on my face, promising to work on my Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. But it’s more than that, I know it is. Bad things really do happen if I don’t stick to my routine, and not just to me!

I started to take things a bit more seriously, when I reached the age of 8. Before then, I just liked to be in control and organised. Then I noticed, if I didn’t do things at the same time every day, in the same way, everything would fall apart. I would start to feel uneasy, panicky, the whole day would be ruined.

Mum finally cracked and got me looked at when I was 11. The doctor convinced me everything was in my head, that I just needed to change my thought patterns and it would all be ok. I took his advice to heart, sure that if I tried my best, I could start being ‘normal’, like all the other kids in my class. They didn’t seemed to be plagued with any of the issues I had, I longed to be carefree and fun like them.

The next morning, I woke up at 7.29am, but instead of getting out of bed, I squeezed my eyes shut, willing them to go back to sleep, that all would be fine. My breaths got shallow and ragged, my heart pounding so hard I was certain it was going to burst out of my chest, my legs twitching, itching to get up. I resisted, determined to win. I lay there for the longest 2 minutes of my life. I opened one eye, fearful of what would greet me, but everything appeared normal. 

Calming down, I went downstairs, proud of my huge achievement. I expected praise from my mother, but it turns out she hadn’t noticed the time difference to my normal arrival at breakfast. I guess 2 minutes is not a long time for other people. The day continued as normal, I started to relax, really relax. I was over the moon with myself, and happy that I could finally be like everyone else.

Until I got home that evening. I walked in to my mother crying, a grim atmosphere encased the room. My stomach fell to the floor, I had no idea what was wrong, but I knew it was my fault. I cursed myself for not trusting my instincts, for forcing myself to listen to someone who knew absolutely nothing about me, about my curse. As I wrapped my arms around my mother, I discovered the truth. My father had been killed in a car accident, hit by a drunk truck driver.

My whole world fell apart at that moment.

The number 29 came to haunt my whole life after that. Mum has never recovered, she is still a shell of her former self, unable to function like a normal person. And me? 10 years later, here I am, being tormented by the same thing. Waking up late. This is the first time I have done that since that fateful day. Don’t get me wrong, I have caused all sorts of other illnesses, accidents, problems…but nothing like the first one. They have all be the result of me forgetting to flick the light switch 29 times, or being unsure that I locked the front door right. I have never, ever allowed anything so tragic happen again.

This is bad. This is really, really bad.

I’m wringing my hands in terror. I don’t know what this means for me, my family, everyone I know….

What do I do first?! I can’t exactly try and rectify the problem, it’s far too late for that. In fact, it’s already 7.42am. Oh god, it’s all gone to hell now, what shall I do?! Should I ring my family? Run outside and warn everyone to be careful…

Then my eyes set on the television remote. I don’t know why, but for some reason I just know that it holds the key. It has the answer to what I have done. My stiff hand stretches to pick it up, before I even know what I’m doing. I stare at the black box in my hand, too frightened to press anything, knowing whatever I see will torture me, but also knowing that I have bought whatever it is on myself. I must have got careless somewhere, I’ve obviously let myself get too tired.

I deserve this punishment, I need to know who I have hurt this time, so with one last tremble, I hit the on button and the news flashes up before my eyes…”

For more,head to http://thelockdown.co.uk/the-virus

Q & A With Joanna Prototype

Joanna Prototype is a kick ass zombie writer who has written the amazing ‘A Bloody Road to Nowhere and Tales from the Apocalypse’.

“Well, I am really just a simple writer. I have been writing since I was a kid and started writing about zombies when I was a teenager. I still have some of my stories from back then I have been planning to rewrite and possibly publish. I like writing about the undead for pretty much every reason. I like the blood, I like the questions, I like the possibilities.

A Bloody Road to Nowhere is basically about surviving in the face of unimaginable monsters, both human and zombie. It’s a story about doing what you have to do to survive and the consequences that would come with that lifestyle. More specifically, the story is about Ury dealing with a truly insane life, making friends, and fighting monsters. Tales from the Apocalypse are short stories from different, random points in the zombie apocalypse. Just brief glimpses of the horrors happening in the rest of the world.

I am currently working on the next book in this series, A Bloody Road to Nowhere: Finding Home.”

1. What was the inspiration for your book?

The real inspiration for my book started with wanting to create a character that was believable to survive in a zombie apocalypse, but not because they were prepared for it. I wanted to create someone who just happened to have a life and skills that would give them a likely advantage. Once I had Ury, the story just unfolded around her.

2. Were any of the characters based on you?

I suppose Ury was based off myself. We definitely share a personality, but her life is nothing like mine. I made Ury much more interesting than myself!

3. Who would play Ury in the film?

Not just because I would love to see her do a Midwestern accent and curse that much, but because she would be good, Emma Watson.

4. What is your favourite zombie book and film?

My favorite zombie book will always have to be World War Z just because of the scale that Max Brooks managed to portray the ZA on. He made it so real.

My favorite movie is the Tom Savini remake of Night of the Living Dead. It is by far the most satisfying remake I have ever seen.

5. What is your zombie apocalypse plan?

My plan is just to get out of the city. Probably head toward Amish country. I feel like, if anyone is prepared for the zombie apocalypse, it’s the Amish. Let’s just hope they are welcoming!

Don’t forget to ‘Like’ Joanna on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/PrototypeJoanna

A Moment with LD Ricard

“I live in Florida with my other half. Kids grown and finally found the time to write and love it! My web site ishttp://queloquepasa.com/LDRicard. I am also on Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/397778

I have 4 short stories in the 4 Dark Light anthos with Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly publishing. My new novel Rowans End has been published by Barpublishing and has just been made available to buy!”

Rowans End: Laine and her daughter Lexy were used to constantly moving from place to place, but after eighteen years of a transient existence, the death of their husband and father sends them on path towards a dark destiny they could have never anticipated. With no other option except to move to his family farm in Vermont, both mother and daughter soon discover that the lies they were told for nearly two decades are quickly unraveling.
For not only were they misled about why they kept on the move, they were also not told who and what they really were and, even worse, the in-laws who should be providing them comfort seem intent upon controlling or destroying them.