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[Mutant]

I've got a question: How did you authors come up with a twist on the zombie genre? What went through your head, in other words.

Well, it might sound corny, but when I was a kid, my brother and I would make haunted houses in our basement for the neighbor kids to tour. We did this quite often (year 'round) and I remember really having to brainstorm for new ideas to make each 'tour' different from the last (at one point we went so far as to build a 4-foot-long wooden bridge with a chain railing over a 'lake' of garbage bags, which one of us would lie in). When I started writing, I kind of treated my stories the same way, thinking of them as a tour the reader is taking, and trying to come up with the best new surprise around each corner.
For the zombie genre, I used a variation of the Navajo skinwalker legend from my horror novel, Skinwalker (and, yes, I know there's yet another movie coming out with that title... grumble, grumble...). If anyone wants a peek at my version, check out newhorrorfiction.com for a preview chapter!

[Joel A. Sutherland]

I have have been lucky enough to be able to read it, so I could draw one of the scenes, and it was a fun read.

Thank you kindly, Bret! 

Sooo.....how long have you been rearanging the characters in your name? 

I have a lot of free time on my hands. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway... Okay, I'm a geek. 

[Mutant]

Got a question for any of the UNDEAD series contributors, artists, or editors?  Post it in this thread.

I guess this question would first go to Jacob, then to the other contributors of Undead 2: I've seen a few titles here in the forum, but I was wondering if it would be cool to have the writers post a small blurb about their story? Nothing too telling. A teaser trailer, if you will. Someting to wet our appatites till the main course!

[Permuted Press]

I was wondering if it would be cool to have the writers post a small blurb about their story? Nothing too telling. A teaser trailer, if you will. Someting to wet our appatites till the main course!

Sure, post away.

Jacob

[Mutant]

Here's a brief synopsis of my story, The Finger:

When the headless corpse shows up at the morgue, Jim Cooley sees the opportunity he’s been waiting for. Using the dead man’s severed finger, Jimmy plans to scam a fortune out of a popular local restaurant. But when his scheme fails and the corpse goes missing, he’ll have to deal with the police, a madman, and the owner of The Finger.

There it is. Now let's see some others! Hults curious... want read more samples...

[Bret Jordan]

Here's a brief synopsis of my story, The Finger:

When the headless corpse shows up at the morgue, Jim Cooley sees the opportunity he’s been waiting for. Using the dead man’s severed finger, Jimmy plans to scam a fortune out of a popular local restaurant. But when his scheme fails and the corpse goes missing, he’ll have to deal with the police, a madman, and the owner of The Finger.

There it is. Now let's see some others! Hults curious... want read more samples...

You have certainly caught my interest.

[Joel A. Sutherland]

Yeah, definitely an interesting premise. I like how in all that you didn't even mention zombies or the apocalypse, only hinting at the owner of The Finger...

Looking forward to reading it!

[Mutant]

Thanks Bret and Joel! I could say the same thing about both of you. I checked out your web sites and there's some killer stuff there. Very nice detailing, Bret, especially on your fantasy works. I've done some pencils for a few small-small-small-time comic books, but nothing that ever took off. Most of my work is of characters I created back in my gaming days (Heroes Unlimited, Rifts, D&D). One of these days I swear I'm going to scan the lot of 'em and display some on my web site, but I'll procrastinate about that later And, Joel, I checked out Man & Wolf; great atmosphere in that story, and nice transition between 1st and 3rd person. Any chance you can give us a teaser for "Something Fishy This Way Comes?"
Thanks again, guys!

[Bret Jordan]

Thanks Bret and Joel! I could say the same thing about both of you. I checked out your web sites and there's some killer stuff there. Very nice detailing, Bret, especially on your fantasy works. I've done some pencils for a few small-small-small-time comic books, but nothing that ever took off. Most of my work is of characters I created back in my gaming days (Heroes Unlimited, Rifts, D&D). One of these days I swear I'm going to scan the lot of 'em and display some on my web site, but I'll procrastinate about that later And, Joel, I checked out Man & Wolf; great atmosphere in that story, and nice transition between 1st and 3rd person. Any chance you can give us a teaser for "Something Fishy This Way Comes?"
Thanks again, guys!

Thanks I'm glad you liked it!

Yea Joel, you should give a teaser out for Something Fishy this way Comes - After all, he gave you The Finger!

I am sorry, I just couldn't help myself. 

[zombiestorywriter]

In my story "Adam Repentant," Father Gregory Alexander battles Adam, the first man God created, and his army of Undead.

[Mutant]

In my story "Adam Repentant," Father Gregory Alexander battles Adam, the first man God created, and his army of Undead.[/quote

Wow! Sounds epic!

[Joel A. Sutherland]

Joel, I checked out Man & Wolf; great atmosphere in that story, and nice transition between 1st and 3rd person.

Thanks for the compliment! I was pretty happy with the way that story turned out. 

Any chance you can give us a teaser for "Something Fishy This Way Comes?"

It's a little hard to clasify or summarise because I'm not really sure what genre it belongs to (it's a little bit of everything). Here's my best shot at a blurb:

Clayton is a simple-minded teenager with simple-minded pleasures. A high school drop out in the making, an outsider. A wayward soul whose only concerns in life are which brand of lighter fluid works best to burn G.I. Joes, whether or not he should taste test his father's Viagra, and how to get away with sneaking peeks at Jessica Peterson's big ones.

And he's about to become humanity's last hope at surviving the zombie apocalypse.

He's about to become a freaking undead-killing-machine.

As Clayton would say, "Whatever."


So there ya go. And yes, I know that Stephen King's protagonist in Cell was named Clay, but I had written this just before his book came out, and I hadn't read it until recently, long after it was accepted for The Undead 2. Oh well, it still works. I can't wait for the book to come out so I can get some feedback on the story! 

[Mutant]

 Here's my best shot at a blurb:

Clayton is a simple-minded teenager with simple-minded pleasures. A high school drop out in the making, an outsider. A wayward soul whose only concerns in life are which brand of lighter fluid works best to burn G.I. Joes, whether or not he should taste test his father's Viagra, and how to get away with sneaking peeks at Jessica Peterson's big ones.

And he's about to become humanity's last hope at surviving the zombie apocalypse.

He's about to become a freaking undead-killing-machine.

As Clayton would say, "Whatever."


Hey, Joel. Sorry it took me so damn long to reply to your post, but I've been scrambling to finish another short story for an antho that closes submissions Saturday. Excellent character! Six sentences and I'm already with him. You nailed it with 'whatever'!

[Joel A. Sutherland]

Hey, Joel. Sorry it took me so damn long to reply to your post, but I've been scrambling to finish another short story for an antho that closes submissions Saturday. Excellent character! Six sentences and I'm already with him. You nailed it with 'whatever'!

Thanks! Good luck with the story due on Saturday.

[Mutant]

Good luck with the story due on Saturday.

Thanks, Joel. I finished it just in time, although I pushed it a little over the word limit . Oh, and remember when I said I needed to get around to posting some artwork? Well, I managed to update my web site, and I added a few zombie sculptures I made out of Sculpey clay (that stuff you just bake in a conventional oven). They're not pro-material, but they turned out pretty good. Here's the link if you wanna check'em out!
http://newhorrorfiction.com/index_files/Page311.htm