Today, I’m welcoming Julianne Snow to my blog for a guest post on the
Author’s Perspective. She is the author of Days with the Undead. Please enjoy.
Days with the Undead: The Author’s Perspective
When I
first set out to craft an engaging story, my mind didn’t automatically jump to
the Zombie genre. At the moment, it’s a bandwagon full of offerings with fans
joining the ranks in exponential numbers. Zombies are popular at the moment;
there is no doubt about it. The difference with Days with the Undead is that in
the beginning I started out to write a story about survival. The perfect
backdrop for that story just happened to be a Zombie Apocalypse and I’m not
going to lie, the genre is one of my favourites.
In
order to catch the attention of potential readers, you have to have a story
that captures them from the very beginning. Most stories tend to start on the
first day; it’s almost an oxymoronical statement to suggest otherwise. With
Days with the Undead, I place you right into the action. There is no gentle
build to the crux of the story; instead you are thrown head first into the
flight of the main characters as they evade the Undead. There really isn’t even
an introduction to the cast of characters until a little later. The idea behind
that is to place you in the heat of the moment with the other survivors – kind
of like walking into the room just as the gunmen starts shooting but without
prior knowledge that a standoff was in progress. Catch my drift? You do get
introduced to the characters and discover what each of them bring to the
survival of the group. As they traverse the landscape, you are invited into the
mind of Julie, the main character. It’s her voice that you are reading and
while she appears to have her wits about her, there are times of pure
vulnerability.
“The sound of the first shot ricocheted off the
surrounding foliage in the relative silence of the early morning. Before my
eyes the pimpled face of what was once an adolescent boy exploded, shards of
bone along with infected brain tissue flying out like they were searching for
their next victim even in death. I quickly turned my face, hoping to shield it
from the spray of grey matter and connective tissues. Thank heavens I was just
out of splatter range as the Undead kept coming at us in what felt like
increasing numbers.”
How
does one keep a story of struggle fresh? Well, you add some Zombies and put
them into different situations with your cast of characters. In the middle of
the book, you learn more about what the world is being transformed into.
Nothing has been able to stop the spread of the Undead and as a result, the
tension of their flight is still readily felt. The cast of characters has
gotten smaller and their interactions and reactions with the world around them
are chilling and poignant. Julie wants people to fight; her words are a
constant reminder that fighting is important and that survival is a necessity.
As the story continues to unfold, the sense of desperation is mixed with hope;
if they can only find somewhere not affected everything will be okay.
“At what point to people actually pass from just being
stupidly informed to being actually stupid? I do understand the mob mentality.
It happens in all kinds of situations and I’ve seen it’s after-effects in my
morgue. But this was just insanity in its purest form.
They stood on the street corner with their signs and
page boards. Dressed in their Sunday best, some holding their bibles high as if
in protest. Their countenances almost defiant in their hatred of the Undead.
For a moment, you could almost laugh at the stupid singularity of their
message. They carried signs that were almost hilarious in their
injudiciousness.”
The ending of a
book is just as important as the other two parts. You don’t want readers to
feel cheated for having stuck with you to the end. In Days with the Undead,
there is a tension-filled build to the very last moment. Is there room for
more? Absolutely, but there is a point where one chapter of their flight is
resolved and the next one can begin. That’s what readers ultimately want; a
little bit of closure but the idea that the story could continue.
“How silly that sounds. If the living world is about
to draw its final breath, there will be no one left to read this. No one left
to transcribe our struggles into the history books. Every freedom that we have
ever fought for, forgotten. All of our wars now seem pointless. There was only
one war that we should have been preparing for; the one against the foe we
assumed would never arise. We were stupid, but one can only see that in
hindsight…
If I could go back to a time before VanReit was even
the name synonymous with walking undeath, I would have spent more time
preparing. I would have spent more time at the range, honing my marksmanship. I
would have read more about the things that would have been useful. But the time
to prepare has obviously passed us by and each of us trying to struggle through
this Undead world can only use the skills that God gave us. And hopefully pick
up some useful ones along the way; the type that will ultimately help you to
survive.”
Ultimately
Days with the Undead is about survival set against the backdrop of a Zombie
apocalypse, but there is so much more to the story. It’s about the breakdown of
society as it twists and turns through the landscape but also through the
narrative as well. At times, you’ll wonder how they manage to go on and in
others you’ll wonder how they managed to escape. As you read you will encounter
situations that could happen if the dead were to rise and walk the earth. Would
I like to you to read my book? Of course I would, but I would much rather find
out that you devoured it, leaving you with an insatiable hunger for more.
***
It
was watching George Romero's Night of the
Living Dead at the tender age of six that solidified Julianne’s respect of
the Undead. Since that day, she has prepared herself for the (inevitable)
Zombie Apocalypse. While classically trained in all of the ways to defend
herself, she took up writing in order to process the desire she now covets; to
bestow a second and final death upon the Undead. As the only girl growing up
in a family with four children in the Canadian countryside, Julianne needed
some form of escape. Her choice was the imaginations of others which only
fostered the vibrancy of her own.
Days with the Undead: Book
One is her first full-length
book, the basis of which can be found in her popular web serial of the same
name. You can find Julianne’s The Living
Dead of Penderghast Manor in the anthology Women of the Living Dead and stories in upcoming anthologies called
Childhood Nightmares: Under The Bed
and Twisted Realities: Of Myth and
Monstrosity from Sirens Call Publications.
=================================================
Press Release - Days with the
Undead: Book One by Julianne Snow
Days with the Undead: Book One
Synopsis:
It’s a journal of survival.
Five people set out to escape the Undead who
have risen too close to home. Join the emotional and physical struggle as they
began on the third day after the awakening of Brooks VanReit, as they are
recorded from the point of view of Julie, a former pathologist and part-time
survivalist.
Each entry is geared toward helping those who
want to help themselves and maybe give a few that don’t a swift kick in the
ass. Join our group of survivors on their journey through these Days with the
Undead.
Date Released - February 29th, 2012
ISBN: 1468007998
ISBN-13: 978-1468007992
Available in print and digital
formats.
Purchase Links - Print:
CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/3736479
Purchase Link - Digital:
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/137213
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007F14OTA
Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B007F14OTA
Amazon FR: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B007F14OTA
Amazon ES: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B007F14OTA
Amazon IT: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B007F14OTA
About the Author - Julianne Snow
It was while watching
Romero's Night of the Living Dead at the tender age of 6 that solidified
Julianne’s respect of the Undead. Since that day, she has been preparing
herself for the (inevitable) Zombie Apocalypse. While classically trained in
all of the ways to defend herself, she took up writing in order to process the
desire she now covets; to bestow a second and final death upon the Undead.
As the only girl growing up in a
family with four children in the Canadian countryside, Julianne needed some
form of escape. Her choice was the imaginations of others which only fostered
the vibrancy of her own. The horror and forensic/crime thriller genres top her
list of favourites, but she can never turn down a good science fiction, fantasy
or mystery read.
Julianne
appears in the anthology Women of the Living Dead with a story entitled The
Living Dead at Penderghast Manor. Look for her short stories in future
anthologies. Days with the Undead: Book One is her first full-length
book, the basis of which can be found in her popular web serial of the same
name.
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