Summer of Zombies!

What's a zombie fan to do in the down time between Walking Dead seasons? Summer of Zombies tour!  It's that time of year again when the zombies come out to play. I mean zombie authors, of course. I've got a guest blog today from zombie author, Kirk Allmond. So sit back, relax, and get your zombie (author) on.

The Trouble With Writing Yourself.

Kirk Allmond

 

When I first started writing, someone said “Write what you know.”  So when I started What Zombies Fear, I took that advice very literally.  I wrote myself.  I maintain the world’s largest zombie preparedness website (ZombiePreparedness.org).  I’m a prepper.  I have a bug out bag, and a zombie apocalypse plan.  I drive a 4wd truck even though I live in the city, the whole nine yards.

My first name starts with V (Kirk is my middle name).  So I chose the name Victor for my main character.  My plan is to leave my home-town of York, PA and head to my family home in Virginia.  So when my fictional zombie apocalypse hit, Victor loaded his son Max (My son’s name is Jack) and his wife Candi (Jack’s mother’s name is Sandi) into his silver Toyota 4Runner, just like mine.  They headed south down a road I know like the back of my hand, because I drive that road at least every six weeks to go visit my mother.

Along the way, Victor’s wife Candi dies. (And I got a divorce).  He meets two Australian friends John and Leo (My two friends John and Leo help me out at The Zombie Preparedness Initiative, and were my beta-readers.)

At some point, Victor gets to his mother’s house.  If you’ve read the book, you’ll recognize the house immediately if you go to my mother’s Bed and Breakfast website, www.meander.net.

I finished the first book, and looking back through it, I realized the problem with writing one’s self as a hero, especially when one is as egotistical as I am. (Okay, fine.  I didn’t realize it, my lovely co-author Laura Bretz pointed it out.)

I never added any foibles to Victor.  He was perfect.  He always made the right decisions, everything always worked out for him.  He didn’t have to grow, change, or become “better.”  He was (Just like me) the perfect hero.  I literally had to go back through it while editing and add in some bad decisions.  Luckily for all of us, Laura is happy to point out my own foibles, and then transfer them to Victor.

That was also about the time that we started writing the second book in the series, and that’s when things started to go wrong for Victor.  Through books 2, 3, and 4, things gradually get worse, and although there are some successes, Victor continues to come apart under the stress.  He makes mistakes.  He drops the ball.  He mistreats his friends, all in the name of making the world safe for his son.  It wasn’t until the middle of the 5^th book that I realized that Victor was no longer anything like me.  Or the man I hope I would be if I was in his situation.  I knew I was going to wrap the series after the 6^th book, and so began Victor’s journey towards salvation.

The entire series of books is about a man who loses himself in a quest, loses sight of the things that are really important, because he loves his son so much he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep him safe.  I’m not sure if I would follow the same path as Victor, but I can tell you one thing.  Everything Victor has done and will do, I would do to keep my own son happy. 

I hope that you’ll give it a read.  What Zombies Fear isn’t your typical zombie story; it’s much more about the man and his son than the zombies.  And the zombies aren’t your typical zombies.  Sure, there are the rotting shamblers we all know and love.  But some of them are clever.  And some of them are fast.  And they all want to eat you.

About Kirk Allmond:

Kirk Allmond's first book, "What Zombies Fear: A Father's Quest" won no awards, but his mother thinks it’s pretty awesome and he's very confident you will too.

The 6th and final book in the bestselling What Zombies Fear series "The Incarnation" will be published late summer 2013.

Books in the What Zombies Fear Series:
1. A Father's Quest
2. The Maxists
3. The Gathering
4. Fracture
5. Declaration of War
6. The Incarnation

The Farmer's Daughter is a short story set during the time period "skipped" over in book 5. These will eventually be an entire series of short stories called "Victor Tookes Adventures."

In addition, Kirk Allmond and Laura Bretz also write a monthly serial called Will of the Dead.

 

Kirk enjoys writing zombie novels and also administers a zombie preparedness website, www.zombiepreparedness.org. The sites goal is to teach any who'll listen how to survive the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/whatzombiesfear.

Kirk has been featured on major market radio programs as an expert in zombie survival. He has spoken at numerous conventions and consulted on two zombie themed motion pictures.

The in Michigan born writer holds firmly to the southern roots of his family. He grew up in Chicago IL, and Roswell, GA. Kirk has an amazing little boy named Jack who was born in 2007.

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Join Kirk Allmond and Eight other Zombie authors during the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2013, going on all of June. Visit the Facebook event page for more information, too!

https://www.facebook.com/events/389530304488870/