tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83280464897233481702024-03-05T03:58:26.237-08:00The Undead MedicJoseph A. Coley's HomepageJoseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-29576442237423822632019-06-22T19:20:00.001-07:002019-06-22T19:22:27.052-07:00GET YOURS!<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Six weeks in the top 100 War fiction, still in the top 3,000 overall on Amazon, currently at #35 in War Fiction. Grab a copy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RD3C25N" target="_blank">HERE</a></span></b></span><br />
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-78747586011686315342019-06-19T14:31:00.000-07:002019-06-19T14:31:10.752-07:00I'm back...Since I haven't posted in a long while, I figured I'd fire up the 'ol blog again and keep up to date, show some exclusive stuff, and give away some freebies. For a long time, my writing suffered. It suffered because of what was going on in my life, and a good part of the struggles I went through came shining through in my writing since then. I won't go into detail, but if you read any of my new stuff, you'll see bits and pieces of it here and there. I went through a life-altering experience and I am ten times the better person for it. I am diving head first into long-shelved projects and starting one big new series.<br />
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It's been a long time and I do have that new series to promote. The idea for the Silent Nation books came to me in February of 2018 and I cobbled together ideas until I had the first book ready to go. As with every story, I wanted it to be as accurate as possible, and a good read as well. I think I have succeeded with the first book, Divided. While it hasn't garnered the glowing reviews I'd hoped, it has sold well and I fully intend to keep it going with the second book, tentatively titled Union. Since this is the first post in a few years, I'll give you a sneak peek at the first chapter. Mind you, this is unedited and first-draft quality, but it gives a good peek at the continuation of the Silent Nation series.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">CHAPTER
1<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">MONDAY,
FEBRUARY 2 – 6:31 P.M.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben sat against the Mustang and closed his eyes.
Maybe if he just shut his eyes, he could forget all the horrible things that
were little more than an arm’s reach from him. He could ignore the five dead
bodies lying around him, each one from their own individual gunshot wounds. The
iron-like smell of blood was unmistakable, reminding him that not only was
Vincent and three of his associates dead, so was his mother JoAnn. After losing
his brother yesterday, his mother and stepfather today, along with over a half-dozen
good people, he was already sick of death. There was no dignity in death, no
matter the cause. An EMS call he’d had about a month ago that had proven that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The call was early in the morning, just after four
o’clock in the wee hours of the day. Ben and his partner had been dispatched to
a single-vehicle accident on the four-lane highway outside of town. Normally, a
single car accident wasn’t a big deal at that time of day. Plenty of people nod
off or get drowsy and hit all kinds of things; deer and road signs mostly.
After arriving on scene, the car had moderate damage and was about fifteen feet
off the road in a ditch. While it wasn’t completely inaccessible, it had taken
a moment to get down in the ditch to the lone patient in the car. In that car
was a twenty-seven-year-old female, dead. Judging by the impact on a tree about
fifteen feet above the car, the car had left the roadway and hit the tree,
falling straight down into place underneath of it. The impact had killed the driver,
a slightly overweight but attractive brunette nurse from a local nursing home.
After the fire department arrived on scene, Ben, his partner, and three
firefighters got down in the ditch and attempted to remove the body from the
car. In the process of trying to get the – literal – dead weight out of the
car, the woman’s top had accidentally been pulled off, exposing her breasts.
The fire department had quickly thrown a blanket down to help cover the body,
but the damage had been done. Passers by hadn’t seen it, but the responding
units had. It was an unfortunate turn of events, but it hadn’t been the first
time, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time that it happened. Bodies in
all sorts of inexplicable positions and situations made death a very embarrassing
part of life; luckily, the person it affected wouldn’t have seen it or cared.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">JoAnn was covered by a small blanket. Her body was
the only one Ben or Jake cared to make decent. To hell with Vincent and whoever
was unfortunate enough to be with him. The two women Ben had shot coming out of
the house were inconsequential. Something told Ben he needed to dispatch the
problem before they could become an issue, so he did with extreme prejudice.
Jake hadn’t said anything when he had, as a matter of fact, Jake hadn’t said anything
for the last twenty minutes. Ben heard his cousin get to his feet; Jake had
been seated on the other side of the car, on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“I’m sorry, Ben, but we have to get out of here. If
we don’t find a car soon, we’re gonna freeze to death. And I didn’t come all
this way just to die now, and I’m sure you didn’t either,” Jake said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben didn’t respond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake stormed around the car and kicked his cousin’s
foot as he sat next to the passenger’s side front tire. Ben looked up, and then
back down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“What’s the point, Jake? Every time I’ve tried to do
something the last two days it blew up in my face. Fuck it. I’m just gonna sit
here and wait for something to happen. Maybe if I try less, I’ll fuck up less,”
Ben said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake knelt down. “Look, we gotta get out of here. We
got nothing left in Ohio, but you have everything left in Virginia. So, get
your ASS OFF THE GROUND!” Jake yelled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben looked up. “To what point? We don’t even have a
ride out of here, Jake! So, shut the hell up! It’s not like we can…” Ben said,
trailing off and looking away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Stop being a dick for five seconds, Ben! I can take
an ass chewing just as much as the next person but…” Jake started. He noticed
Ben wasn’t listening and his cousin was desperately looking around, like he’d
lost something. “What the hell are you doing now?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Jake. The car. Where is the vehicle that Vincent
used to get to the rest area? He’s got to have a working car around here
somewhere. My guess is that there’s an old pickup truck around here somewhere.
Come on! That’s our ride out of here!” Ben said, temporarily imbued with some
energy and a sense of urgency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Dude, you seriously need to see a doctor about
that…” Jake said, trailing off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben stopped. “About what?” He said indignantly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“One minute you’re dejected and really letting this
shit get to you, the next you’re jumping up and down like your head’s on fire
and your ass is catching. All those years on an ambulance have really messed
you up. Do you even realize that?” Jake said, walking towards the barn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben saw red. Jake had a point, though. Even if Ben
couldn’t see it, his cousin still was hitting the nail on the head. He got to
his feet and couldn’t figure out what to do next. His lungs ached, his heart
was pounding, and he was mad at the world, but even if he wanted to, he
couldn’t do anything about it yet. He just stood there, glued in place by some
unknown force of his own making. His brain turned against him, misconstruing
everything he was thinking. He knew they needed to search the area for the
missing vehicle, but at the same time, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t move,
couldn’t speak, and just stood there like a statue. It didn’t take long for
Jake to notice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Ben? You all right?” Jake said, glancing over his
shoulder. As he saw that Ben wasn’t moving and wasn’t responding, he started to
walk over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Jake…” Ben said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Ben? Seriously. Are you all right?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben dropped to his knees, his legs giving out on
him. He was too weak to stand, the world was closing in around him, and he
couldn’t understand why. As he tried to take a deep breath, it became apparent
why he was having such a hard time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">He’d been shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In the adrenaline rush of the events after watching
his mother JoAnn shot, he’d either closed out the feeling, or honestly just
didn’t feel it. As Jake sprinted over, he watched his cousin double over,
panting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Dude! What the fuck?” Jake yelled. He got down on
his knees and attempted to help Ben. The fading light of the day had now almost
completely disappeared. It was dark, and Jake couldn’t see how pale Ben was
becoming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake grabbed him up, pulling him under the armpits.
“Come on, cuz. Let’s get you inside there and see what we can do. There’s no
sense in freezing our ass off out here when Vincent’s house is perfectly fine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben staggered to his feet, the world still on
pinpoints and sounds coming from in a barrel. As much as he tried, he couldn’t
get his feet to work properly. His brain was directing his body to perform the
actions, but his body was stubbornly refusing to work correctly. He shuffled
his feet along as best he could, leaning on Jake as much as he could to stay
upright. Absently, he thought about what a pain in the ass it was going to be
if Jake had to drag him inside the farmhouse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Come on, buddy. We ain’t going anywhere tonight. Let’s
get inside and get warm,” Jake said, dragging Ben along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Aside from the two bodies on the porch, there wasn’t
anyone in or around the house. After getting Ben inside, Jake sat him down on a
dusty couch just to the left of the front door. He didn’t like the idea of
leaving him alone for more than a few minutes, but he absolutely had to clear
the house first. After a quick sweep and an assumption that if there was anyone
there that he would have heard them by now, he trotted downstairs to the couch.
Jake shut the front door, hoping that Vincent and Bernard didn’t have any
family left that might come looking for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake sat his rifle down beside the couch. “Dude, we
gotta get that vest off you and see if you’re hit.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben sucked in a deep breath and tried to talk
finally. “Yeah, I am. My chest is killing me. I think I took a round to the
vest.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake scrambled and started pulling Velcro, undoing clasps,
and removing parts. After he was satisfied that he could get the bulletproof
vest off, he pulled it over Ben’s head. As soon as he did, Ben took another
deep breath, this one filling his lungs and sending a sharp pain throughout his
chest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Holy shit! Goddamnit, that hurts!” Ben exclaimed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake sat the vest down. “You all right now?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben took a couple deep breaths. “Shit. I hope so.
Check the vest and see if there’s a round stuck in it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake took off the flashlight he had on the front of
his rifle and scanned the vest. Sure enough, there was a large chunk of lead
embedded just to the right of center. Jake took his knife and pried the round
loose. It was what was left of a twelve-gauge frangible slug. The round should
have knocked Ben square on his ass, but he’d barely noticed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Jesus, Ben. That should have ended you. How in the
hell did you not feel that?” Jake asked, turning the round over in his hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben gasped a few more times, trying to take a deeper
breath as he did. “I took two 7.62 rounds to the chest once in Afghanistan.
Slowed me down and it was with better armor, but I still managed to do my job.
The adrenaline gets going and you don’t feel anything. It just makes you numb,
literally. After the rush wears off, then you start feeling it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Dude, it’s been a good ten minutes since then. You
are one lucky sonofabitch, you know that?” Jake said, handing Ben the spent lead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben grabbed the lead slug from Jake. He was right.
Judging by the size of the round, it should have put him down, or at least made
more of an impression than it had. The IIIA soft plates in the vest combined
with the thick Cordura nylon had saved his life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben sat up, feeling the intense pain in his chest.
More soreness on the way. As if walking sixteen miles the day before wasn’t bad
enough, now he had to deal with the aftereffects of being shot. He swung his
legs over the edge of the couch and leaned over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“I’m sorry, Jake. I’m not trying to sabotage us, I
swear. Truth is, I’ve been dealing with bipolar depression for a long time, and
I haven’t done anything about it,” Ben said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“You gotta take that medication they give you,
buddy. You’re not going to be any good if you don’t,” Jake said. “Trust me, the
way Mom was, she was intolerable without the meds.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben chuckled. “I’m not on any medication, Jake.
Never have been. I don’t reckon I ever will be now. I had panic attacks years
ago, and I never took meds then, either. I don’t really believe in them. I hate
altering my state of mind for the sake of feeling a little better.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake shook his head in the darkness. “Between two
deployments and twenty-plus years in EMS…Jesus. You’re in for a violent case of
PTSD if you haven’t already. That shit is gonna hit you hard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“I know. I’ve had instructors tell me that over the
years. Every time I go to a new class and make some off-color comment or make a
joke about something that probably shouldn’t be joked about, I get this look of
disdain from them. It’s like they’ve pegged me for that PTSD conversation as
soon as I say something.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“You’ve seen your brother killed, your mother and
stepfather killed, and lost several other people under your care in the last
twenty-four hours. Something tells me that bullet to the chest might have been
a blessing in disguise. Maybe that bullet can show you how to get your head on
straight and you can realize that you’re damn lucky to be alive,” Jake said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben nodded. “Fair enough. I think we need to find a
way to get warm in here and get some rest. First thing tomorrow morning, we’re
gonna get the hell out of Ohio and get back to Virginia. No one else is going
to suffer. I’m going home, Jake.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“As far as we know, the only ones that are suffering
are us, buddy. We can mitigate that as best we can, but in the morning,” Jake
replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Jesus Christ on a mountain bike, this sucks. I’m
too damn old for this, Jake. Sixteen miles of walking, crappy weather, not to
mention the fact that I’m about forty pounds overweight and five minutes from a
mental breakdown at any given time. Fucking-A, dude,” Ben said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake shook his head as he sat down. “Is that why you
cuss so much?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben laid his head back and smiled. “Being around
infantrymen kind of makes you into a parrot that repeats what you hear.
Unfortunately, those parrots use ‘fuck’ like a noun, a verb, and an adjective.
Every third word or so is ‘fuck’ or some derivative of it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Grandma wouldn’t want you cussing like a sailor.
Besides, that’s my job,” Jake said jokingly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“That’d be the only thing you Navy fuckers can lay
claim to,” Ben said, laughing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jake had laid down himself on a couch not far from
Ben. “Language!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ben closed his eyes and got comfortable on the
couch, oblivious to the conversation Jake was trying to have with him. After
berating his choice in language, Jake was trying to explain that the house was
heated by a large cast-iron stove and that stove had a large wood box beside it
filled with good, dry wood. It was the first thing they’d had go right all day.
Ben didn’t hear any of that; he was warm and fast asleep in less than a minute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-75022275857667526782016-01-29T10:41:00.003-08:002016-01-29T10:41:53.049-08:00Refuge From The Dead - Lockdown -- New cover art and new lower priceRefuge From The Dead - Lockdown has some new cover art and has been lowered to 99 cents! Grab a copy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V27P2A" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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<br />Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-68781149369005519342015-12-31T12:35:00.000-08:002015-12-31T12:35:44.965-08:00Six Feet From Hell: Endgame teaser<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 200%;">CHAPTER 1<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">April 18, 2022 – 1400 Hours – Near Bluefield,
Virginia</span></i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“<i>Rocky top…you’ll always be…home sweet home
to me</i>…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“<i>Rocky Top</i> is Tennessee, Curtis. I
thought you ‘Bama boys knew the difference between West Virginia and Tennessee?”
Keith grumbled as he trudged along behind Curtis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Just
taking a look at our beautiful surroundings, buddy. I thought you Kentucky boys
were more polite than that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Fucker…”
Keith growled under his breath. He may have been from Kentucky and spent the
last six months living in an abandoned UPS building, but that didn’t mean he
was impolite. On the other hand, maybe it did, he wasn’t sure. All he did know
was that volunteering to go with Curtis seemed like a better idea when he was
back in town. Curtis had come to him a few days ago, asking if he would mind
assisting him with some of the communications work to be done. Keith had
quickly agreed to assist, and now wished he hadn’t. The ridgeline they were on
seemed to go on forever and they were still several miles away from their
intended destination. The lush, green scenery <i>was</i> beautiful when he got a chance to pause and admire it, but
Curtis wasn’t much for stopping.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
was beginning to wish that he had taken some of the other training made
available to him. There were several teams working on room clearing and medical
training, something that he had plenty of experience with. Keith had been a
police investigator in a former life, so the day-to-day tasks of learning how
to clear a building or bandage a wound were very familiar to him. It had never
dawned on him that volunteering to help with communications would be such a
taxing job. He and Curtis had climbed at a nearly twenty-five degree angle for
the better part of a day, and now were making their way along the ridge towards
their intended destination. For the last several hours, Keith had felt like a
pack mule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
light fog that had settled earlier in the morning had now gave way and was
completely gone. Even though they were going an additional thousand feet up,
the temperature had only dropped about five to ten degrees. For a spring day,
it was already beginning to get unsettlingly hot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
had consulted with Joe about trying to get one of the radio towers on the East
River Mountain repeater system to work. The SINCGARS radio would work with damn
near any tower, and Curtis was determined to get a signal out with it, one way
or another. It was a high-risk proposition, but if it paid off, they would be
able to get in touch with ZBRA headquarters, or at least another ZBRA unit. In
addition, it beat the alternative of getting more diesel and making the
two-hour drive to Blacksburg. Seeing as how Jamie and Cornbread had used quite
a bit of diesel to get to Hazard, Kentucky the week prior, they were left with
less than ten gallons, not enough to make it to Blacksburg. There was no
guarantee the Blacksburg unit would be there, either. Too much risk involved
and not enough supplies had forced the two men to come up with an alternate
plan. That plan involved getting hold of ZBRA units elsewhere and
reestablishing contact with their higher-ups. It wouldn’t be a guaranteed fix,
but they didn’t have much to run on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
knew that Joe wasn’t happy about Jamie and Cornbread’s trek into Kentucky, but
the dividends were already paying off for the displaced citizens. Keith,
although somewhat complacent, had been a police investigator before the end of
the world and was well-versed in the radio repeater systems they were now
after.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
hitched up the pack he carried. Along with several bottles of water and some
deer jerky – their limited food supply – he carried a deep-cell battery and
some distilled water. Praying the battery would work, it was more of a burden
than a help at the moment. Curtis carried a similarly heavy load – the SINCGARS
radio. With the battery, a stout antenna, and a little luck, they would get the
SINCGARS working and attempt to make contact with someone, anyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“How
much longer to this damn antenna, Curtis? This fucking battery is a pain in the
ass to carry,” Keith complained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
ignored his cohort’s bellyaching. He could see the antenna about a hundred
yards up the ridgeline, but didn’t want to give his newfound mule a reason to
rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Seriously,
Curtis. What gives? How much longer?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
stopped. He turned to his partner, mildly perturbed. “If you knew this was
going to be such a long hike, then why did you volunteer to go with me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Seemed
like a good idea at the time,” Keith laughed humorlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
got a good laugh and continued up the slope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“In
all seriousness, it’s because I miss being normal. I figure if I help do
something useful then maybe, just maybe, that will help get things back to
normal around here. I miss the old days. I miss having an iPod, I miss having
fun with my family that doesn’t involve running for my life. Hell, I even miss
rush-hour traffic.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “Look, things around here are about as
normal as it is going to get. We live in a walled-in town surrounded by the
undead. I think the ‘normal’ ship sailed a long time ago, brother.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Like
I have anything better to do right now. It beats fixing the wall or shoveling
up horseshit in the stables. I’d like to think that I would be of better use
than that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
repairs to the wall around Tazewell were going well, in spite of Keith’s lack
of enthusiasm for fixing. The truck-sized hole had already been taken care of,
replaced by a large moveable door. The door was considered the best idea for
patch-up due to the inability of the town to be accessed from the east side. The
town now possessed two main entry points; one at the west side near the jail,
and the newly constructed east gate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Hey,
brother, everyone’s got a job nowadays. Even if you <i>are </i>shoveling shit out of the stables, at least you are
contributing to our small community,” Curtis continued.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Speaking
of small community, I thought we were going to extend the wall out some more.
Give us a little more space,” Keith said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
motioned for his tired cohort to follow, and turned back toward his intended
direction of travel. “Shit, son. It took Larry and his people over two years to
get the wall where it is now, and even at that, we only have four square miles
or so.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
trudged forth, panting and sweating profusely. Curtis was no spring chicken,
but he was kicking his ass in the mountain climbing department. Keith was about
the same age as Curtis, but a sedentary existence combined with a poor diet had
doomed him nearly to muscle atrophy. Keith was a shade under six feet tall
capped with brown hair that was starting to show a bit of gray here and there.
He felt much older than his forty-six year old frame, but his strength was
quickly returning. He tried his best to keep up, but Curtis was a man on a
mission. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“What’s
your point, Curtis?” Keith asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“My
point is that change is likely to be pretty damn slow, brother. Moving the wall
could take weeks, even months.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“I
still think it would be in our best interest to move the damn thing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
chuckled and spread his arms out, motioning to the forest around him. “Do you
know how many square miles are in this great country of ours?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Um…no,”
Keith managed out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Three-point-seven
million square miles.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
shook his head. “How do you know so much useless shit like that?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“I
used to spend quite a bit of time behind a desk. I did a lot of searching on
Wikipedia.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
scoffed and shook his head again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Now,
since it took Larry and his people two years to do four square miles, how long
will it take to do the whole country?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
hung his head. He knew that he’d been had. “A fucking long-ass time.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“A
fucking long-ass time, correct,” Curtis repeated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">After
a few more minutes of loathing, Keith eyed the tower. The derelict radio
antenna sat atop a ridgeline that had evidently been a well-used area. A
half-dozen metal structures stood atop the mountain. Cell phone towers, radio
antennae, and a small maintenance shack were all within a hundred yards of one
another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Here
we go. Let’s hope this wasn’t a total crapshoot. You ready to drop that pack,
Keith?” Curtis asked, removing his own bag.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Damn
straight I am. I say we start with the maintenance shack. Might find something
of use in there,” Keith said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">As
if to punctuate his comment, an unintelligible sound emanated from the radio
shack. Curtis slowed for a moment, and then drew his well-used Ka-Bar from the
sheath on his vest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
stopped. “Shouldn’t we be using sidearms for this, Curtis?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“You
want to run all the way back to the horses? It’s a hell of a jog from here, all
downhill at a pace that would probably end with one of us breaking our neck. We
keep quiet as long as humanly possible to avoid any uninvited assholes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
waved off Curtis’ advice. “All right, all right,” he replied. Keith drew a
timeworn WWI trench knife from a sheath on his hip. The old knife had seen
better days, but a better zombie-killing weapon did not exist. The handle of
the knife was essentially a set of brass knuckles. The bottom of the knife had
a pointed tip, known as a “skull crusher.” The blade of the knife was roughly six
inches long, completing the tool. It was a mean-looking piece of work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
dropped the pack. The immediate relief of losing the extra fifteen or so pounds
was evident on his face. He slumped his shoulders and let out a deep sigh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“God
I thought I would never get rid of that damn thing,” Keith quipped. He tugged
at his shirt, the copious amount of sweat sticking to the gray material.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
shook his head at Keith and eased toward the door. Nails scraping against the
inside of the door gave away the position of the unfortunate soul trapped
inside. A strangled, throaty growl came from the shed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
eased closer to the shed. The flimsy aluminum door – which was no more than a
large section of aluminum siding – bowed and flexed with the meager shoving of
the zombie trapped inside. The door was secured by a rusted hasp and small
lock. Keith reached the door and nodded to Curtis. Curtis returned the gesture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
bashed the lock once, smacking it hard with the brass knuckles of his trench
knife. An instant later, the lock was no more, as was the hasp. A decade of
rust had not been kind to the mechanism, and it fell away. The resulting
cacophony of noise gave newfound life – so to speak – to the undead intruder
inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
radio shack zombie lunged forward, bursting the door open. The zombie came out
of the doorway and spilled onto the ground. The unfortunate soul looked as if
he had been tasked with working for the local power company, dressed in a
disgusting pair of khakis and a shirt that – in its prime – had been red.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Fucker!
Dammit, I hate it when they do that!” Keith blurted out, startled for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
casually stepped on the power company zombie’s back, pinning him down. He knelt
down and ended the creature’s existence with a swift stab to the back of the
skull with 1095 Cro-van steel. Curtis wiped the business end of the knife on
the power company zombie’s khaki pants before putting it away in its sheath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Nasty
bastards. I’m with you on the whole ‘getting back to normal’ thing, Keith. This
shit used to be a challenge. Feels more like a job now.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
forced open the flimsy door. “Yeah, well it is the shittiest job I believe I’ve
ever had, and I worked for some uppity assholes before I became a cop.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Like
what?” Curtis asked pushing the zombie aside with his foot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“In
college I worked landscaping for some rich fuckers in New York. Builds
character, but I had to listen to more than my fair share of well-to-do
assholes complain about how their hedges weren’t exactly the same height. I
paid my way through college with a shitload of blood and sweat.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Fair
enough.” Curtis removed the SINCGARS from his own pack and carried it into the
radio shack. “Time to see if all this work has paid off. Let’s get this thing
hooked up and…” Curtis trailed off, noting that Keith was no longer in his
presence. He looked left and right swiftly, finally spotting his partner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
had wandered away from the door and to a spot on the other side of the ridge.
Since they were at one of the highest points in the area, a little recon was in
order. Keith stood at the top of the ridge and peered through a set of
binoculars. The magnification wasn’t the greatest on the old set, but he saw
something that warranted another look. He pulled the binoculars away from his
eyes and waved Curtis over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“Curtis,
you better take a look at this,” Keith said, his voice on the edge of cracking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Curtis
sat the SINCGARS down and joined Keith on the side of the hill. “What’s up,
brother?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Keith
silently handed him the binoculars, never taking his eyes off what lay in front
of him. Curtis frowned at him and pulled the binoculars to his own eyes. After
a few seconds of scanning, he saw what had given Keith so much worry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-indent: .3in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
main four-lane road stretched out a mile or so beneath them, travelling east/west.
From their vantage point, they could see almost all the way to Bluefield,
nearly five miles away. It was the same road that Joe and the rest of the team
had taken a week or so ago in the mission to the East River tunnel. The road
had been sparsely populated with undead, except for one notable exception – the
tunnel itself. The East River tunnel had been packed with thousands of zombies
a little over a week ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Curtis lowered the
binoculars. “Let’s get the radio up and running. We need to get on the horn
with Joe and the rest of the boys. We’ve got a big fucking problem.”</span>Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-53296842564253621752015-12-02T21:21:00.000-08:002015-12-02T21:21:39.070-08:00A look aheadSince 2015 is slowly dwindling away (already!) I thought that I would go ahead and give everyone a look at what 2016 has to offer. 2015 saw the start of 2 new series' with The Travelers Saga and Refuge From The Dead. The Travelers Saga was my first foray into Sci-Fi and is a novelization of a short story that I did a couple years ago titled <i>The End of days...Again</i>. Refuge From The Dead is a zompoc series that Six Feet From Hell fans will LOVE. Speaking of Six Feet From Hell, the final entry into the series will be out in 2016, as well as sequels to others. I promise it will be a helluva year!<br />
<br />
Planned releases for 2016<br />
<br />
Refuge From The Dead - Fortress<br />
Refuge From The Dead - #3<br />
Lost Within - The Travelers Saga #2<br />
Dead Legends #2 (Follow up to R.I.P. Van Winkle)<br />
Six Feet From Hell: EndgameJoseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-26390695011176163862015-11-22T11:30:00.001-08:002015-11-22T11:30:06.762-08:00Refuge From The Dead - Lockdown available now!Refuge From The Dead - Lockdown is available now on Kindle! $2.99 to buy or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited! Grab a copy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V27P2A" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCrjbocVDz2dYpJGZ_-a7VopeTEZcFRg9UFL1MrCuMPZDWDqei8vFC7OdEplY0JlxU43-eqzGfmTeOv3w50TVK-lYE64F2P8aAW28Phmv7IlrGqA55hf7oS70XyYQhjDNn_3i9A_1Oco/s1600/RFTD_Lockdown_finalcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCrjbocVDz2dYpJGZ_-a7VopeTEZcFRg9UFL1MrCuMPZDWDqei8vFC7OdEplY0JlxU43-eqzGfmTeOv3w50TVK-lYE64F2P8aAW28Phmv7IlrGqA55hf7oS70XyYQhjDNn_3i9A_1Oco/s320/RFTD_Lockdown_finalcover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-22742605010006974532015-11-12T17:47:00.003-08:002015-11-12T17:47:51.329-08:00Guest Post - Greg P. Ferrell #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Greg P. Ferrell #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/bookcoverimage.jpeg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="BookCoverImage" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-295" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/bookcoverimage.jpeg?w=201&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="201" /></a></div>
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In honor of being a part of this year’s Winter of Zombie blog tour, here is a set of short stories written exclusively for the visitors to the tour. These were started back during the Summer of Zombie tour. They’re from the perspective of one Tony the Zombie and his personal gripes against us humans. Typed out by Greg P. Ferrell because really, have you ever seen a zombie use a keyboard? It’s not pretty.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A day in my dead life!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chapter 5</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By: Tony the zombie</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Translated by: Greg P. Ferrell</strong></div>
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Tony the zombie here, and I want to have an honest open dialogue with you about our feelings. I’ve been talking with some of my fellow undead, and we all have a similar gripe, name calling. Seriously people, this has got to stop. We are zombies and that is what we want to be called. The names you scream out are kinda hurtful and we would like it to stop. What names am I talking about? As much as I hate to say them out loud, I will do it this one time for your learning benefit.</div>
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First off Undead American, just another example of political correctness gone wrong, we are a global people not just in one region. Slab, zed, infected, turned, walker, lame brain, meat sack, maggot face, stinkers, rot heads, decayed, dead heads(that one I think is trademarked anyway), lurkers, creepers, jerks, geeks, roamers or any of the other creative things you people come up with. Please stop it. Even though our way of life or death, however you look at it, might make you think otherwise I’m here to tell you we do have feelings.</div>
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Sure I know you look out at us living free with no jobs or responsibilities and you’re jealous of it. You feel you have to say some of those things to make yourself feel superior to us. Well I have a solution for you. Step outside and put down your loud bang sticks and let us bring you into our ranks. Membership drives are constantly going on and we only have to take one bite and you will be one of us lucky ones. Once we are all one people again we can move past all the name-calling and hurtful things we do to one another.</div>
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So in closing remember, we were once people too but we got better. We want nothing more than to bring you into our way of life and become one again. Now I won’t promise that all of you will be accepted and we might completely eat a few of you in the process, but thats just the chance you will have to take. It’s worth it though if you make it through the hazing and become a full fledged member of our awesome new race of gut eaters, I mean zombies. Damn it! Now you have me doing it.</div>
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Now I have to go apologize to a pair of maggot bags that walked by when I said that out loud. See you next time. Oh well, for now this is Tony the Zombie signing off.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-60228639140753117562015-11-12T15:24:00.000-08:002015-11-12T15:24:05.264-08:00Guest Post - Duncan P. Bradshaw #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Duncan P. Bradshaw #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Top Five Zombie Films</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As of now at least anyway.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Duncan P. Bradshaw</strong></div>
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My current, ‘to watch’ zombie film pile is in danger of collapsing and taking out a decent portion of the street I live in. Both Dead Snow’s are in there, the Living Dead At Manchester Morgue and Dead Rising: Watchtower are also part of the fabric of the tower. But they, and their patiently waiting brethren would have to go some ways to beat my current top five. Without further ado, and in reverse order, to maintain an air of suspense, they are:</div>
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5 – Zombie Diaries</div>
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This is in the found footage and anthology camps, and one of two UK films in the list. I loved the way it was shot, and how some of the stories grew and morphed into something sinister. The low budget, for once, actually makes this a better film than it has any right to be. Yes, the dialogue is a bit crappy, but the performances are believable, and it ticks all the right boxes. Shambling zombies – yes, messed up psycho’s – hell yes! The sequel is utterly forgettable, but this is a must see.</div>
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4 – Wyrmwood</div>
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The cover boldly proclaims that it’s ‘Mad Max meets Dawn of the Dead.’ Pffft, yeah right I thought. Around two minutes in, I was hooked. The camera shots and humour reminded me of Bad Taste, the gore is fantastic, and you have a batshit paramilitary angle going on with a bonafide crazy scientist. Throw in body armour, shotguns, zombies which are used as petrol, and you have a genuinely interesting and unique zombie film. The end tails off a bit, but everything that comes before makes up for it.</div>
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3 – Shaun of the Dead</div>
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There is an episode in the TV series, Spaced, where Tim is on the come down after a hectic night, and events merge with his playthrough of Resident Evil 2. Simon Pegg obviously wanted to expand on this and helped create this legendary film. Wonderfully referred to as a rom-zom-com, it is as gory as it is funny. The dawning realisation on the two hapless heroes that the world has gone to pot is brilliant. Snappy dialogue and a very British apocalypse. Anyone curious as to how the zombie uprising would go down in the UK, need only watch the film. Tea, biscuits and the pub. In that order.</div>
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2 – The Battery</div>
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Where a lot of zombie films rely on gun-toting square jawed good guys, or busty maidens, The Battery strips it all back to what it actually comes down to. Survival. It’s a film of two halves, the first builds up the story, with the two main leads and their uneasy relationship. You can tell that of all the people they wished to be spending the end days with, neither of them are it. Just when you wonder what is going to happen, they get trapped. The next part is truly harrowing. It epitomises exactly what zombies are about. They will not stop. Ever. Until you have somehow legged it, or they are chewing on your entrails. Forget the guns and explosions, you<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">have</em> to see this film.</div>
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1 – Dawn of the Dead</div>
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I’ll relay a typical conversation I have with people, when they find out I write zombie books.</div>
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THEM: Wow, that’s pretty cool. Hey, I watched Dawn of the Dead the other day, that was sweet, what did you think of it?</div>
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ME: Really? That’s so cool! It’s like my favourite zombie film EVER, what’s your favouri….wait a moment. Which one?</div>
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THEM: Huh? What do you mean which one? The one with the zombies in it, duuuhhh, thought you liked zombie films?</div>
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ME: *vein bulging in forehead, fists clenching*</div>
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THEM: They’re in a shopping mall, I really thought you would know it, it’s a pretty famous one apparently.</div>
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ME: Simple question, did they walk or run?</div>
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THEM: Well run, why would they walk? It reminds me of my other favourite zombie film.</div>
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ME: Which is? *picks up shovel and bag of lime*</div>
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THEM: 28 Days Later, those zombies were excellent!</div>
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ME: 28 Days Later is NOT A FUCKING ZOMBIE FILM. Though it is mighty fine, now if you’ll excuse me.</div>
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I am of course talking about the 1978 original. This is what got me hooked on the undead. I was eight years old, and the attack on the tenement building has taken a turn for the worse, when one of them starts EATING his missus. Wow. I didn’t know what they were, but I knew that I loved them. Sure, it looks dated now, but I don’t care. It’s got gore, it’s got survivors, morals, crazy raiders and one stupid idiot who wants to get his blood pressure tested in the midst of a horde.</div>
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If I could only show one film to someone to demonstrate why I love zombies, and why I write books on the undead, it is Dawn of the Dead. It’s claustrophobic, heartbreaking, but most of all, it was the bedrock for an entire genre. Yes, Night of the Living Dead started it, but Dawn picked up the flag from its dead hands and waved it proudly.</div>
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A few other films which are just outside the top five, but still highly recommended: Colin, Zombieland (believe me, I <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">wanted</em> to put this in the top five, but just couldn’t), Zombie Flesh Eaters, Juan of the Dead and Return of the Living Dead.</div>
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Duncan, his wife Debbie and their two cats, Rafa and Pepe, live in the county of Wiltshire in the south-west of England. They idle away the long winter evenings by making miniature wicker men, in which they incarcerate voodoo dolls of their relatives and burn them on the hearth. When not engaged in scaled down pagan rituals, Duncan also writes about the undead and other strange, fantastical tales that are beamed into his head from the mothership.</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/imag0688_1.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="IMAG0688_1" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1094" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/imag0688_1.jpg?w=220&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="220" /></a></div>
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Hit him up on Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/duncanpbradshaw" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.facebook.com/duncanpbradshaw</a></div>
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Or his website right here <a href="http://duncanpbradshaw.co.uk/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://duncanpbradshaw.co.uk/</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-1832770115101193962015-11-12T14:07:00.002-08:002015-11-12T14:07:27.778-08:00Guest Post - Courtney Rene #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Courtney Rene #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/12/guest-post-courtney-rene-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="3:55 pm">NOVEMBER 12, 2015</a><span class="byline" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> BY <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/author/armandrosamilia/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Armand Rosamilia">ARMAND ROSAMILIA</a></span></span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zombies Everywhere</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Courtney Rene</strong></div>
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Growing up in the 80’s the only good zombie flicks where the Night of the Living Dead movies. Then, trying to find a good book with zombies at that time was almost impossible. You had some good horror stories, but nothing really that stood out as zombie. Now, thirty some odd years later, you look around and it’s a sea of books and television shows and movies. I absolutely love it!</div>
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Yes, part of it is the gross gore, but actually for me the main draw is the survival issue. Take the Walking Dead series. There are always parts within each episode that is zombie lead. The killing and biting and dying keeps the show exciting. However, the actual story is about how the people are surviving within all the chaos. How they continue on and lead as normal a life as they possible can manage. They are surviving for themselves and for their children and their family and friends. Some do it better alone, while others need and crave the family environment. Some become the leaders and others the followers, but again, they are alive. Maybe not so much thriving, but they are getting there.</div>
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I am a character person. I want to know who each character is. Why they are the way they are. What caused them to be the way they appear and do what they do? I want to fall in love with them or hate them with a real and tangible passion. I believe that is what makes the current zombie shows so wonderfully good. We get to know the people, the good, the bad, and the unbelievable about them. We ache when they ache and we get mad when they get mad. The writing of the shows I have to say is fantastic. Without the character involvement, it would just be about zombie munching, blood dripping chaos. That type of production wouldn’t last. A show or two and we would all lose interest.</div>
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That is how I came to write my short story: A Day in the New World. I wondered how one woman, without family or friends would survive out in the wild of what was left of civilization. Would she cower before the dead? Would she fight back to survive?</div>
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I grew up camping, and canoeing, and learning to shoot firearms and bows. I learned how to fish and trap. I like to think that I would survive and be just fine on my own. I know I can take care of myself without any real problems. I would know how to keep myself safe. I would rely on no one. I would keep alone and probably not join in with any other groups. Trust would be very hard in that world. I know I could make it though. I’m not sure that type of life would be worth it though. Surviving, but alone. Humans after all are pack animals. We don’t do well mentally by ourselves. We thrive in family groups.</div>
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However…if you add in my family and my children, it would be very hard, if not impossible to keep us all alive. I would be afraid all the time. Every waking moment and most likely even in my sleep I would be afraid of what could or would or may happen. I would work to keep them safe most likely to my own peril. I would be forced to have to rely more on others to hold up their end of things or simply keep up. There would be more food to find and more shelter to create to house and feed the bigger numbers. Noise would be an issue, wherein as a single person on my own, it wouldn’t. The group aspect would be comforting as we would be together, but in the end I believe it would be a detriment as well. Worrying about others while trying to stay alive causes mistakes to be made and emotions to get in the way.</div>
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Then you come to the boy girl issue. If the world falls, how many people become animalist and base with it? How many people that were good and honest and safe would become mean, abusive, and controlling if the world fell apart? How many teen girls and women would be abused and raped and made slaves? People don’t like to think about that, and yet it plays out even in this day in other countries. So it’s not that it isn’t possible. Add in fear and you have a very dangerous concoction for some people.</div>
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I’m not saying it is only men. No. I know for a fact that if the zombie apocalypse happened right this moment, the life my children were leading would be over. You would see jailer and control freak mom take over. They would have no freedom in my bid to keep them safe. They would be virtually Velcroed to my side. What kind of life is that? I don’t know. Is it even a real life? No freedom to learn and grow and be a kid? Not really, but they would be alive and safe. Are the consequences too much though? I don’t know, maybe. Would it change my mind? Nope.</div>
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There is a lot to think about, but that’s part of the fun of being a writer. I can sit and think about all this crap and know it doesn’t matter right this second. It’s all fiction and ideas and most likely wont happen. Never say never, after all, right? I do like seeing all the new ideas out today. There are books galore to enjoy now, where there never was in the past. It seems to have sparked its own genre, which I find absolutely fantastic. New authors are popping up like daisies to write their own stories. You can now find zombie love stories, zombie space sagas, time travel, and yes, the time true horror. Anything you want, I’m sure you can find it today in the zombie world.</div>
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Enjoy it while it lasts. I know that I will.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-43660800645809324192015-11-12T11:51:00.002-08:002015-11-12T11:51:54.330-08:00Guest Post - Rebecca Besser #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Rebecca Besser #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/12/guest-post-rebecca-besser-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="1:55 pm">NOVEMBER 12, 2015</a><span class="byline" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> BY <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/author/armandrosamilia/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Armand Rosamilia">ARMAND ROSAMILIA</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/12/guest-post-rebecca-besser-winterofzombie/#comments" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 20px; border: 0px; color: #b94f25; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2</a></div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/rebecca-besser-author-pic.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Rebecca Besser Author Pic" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-155" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/rebecca-besser-author-pic.jpg?w=203&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="203" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shut the Damn Door</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Rebecca Besser</strong></div>
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Recently, while watching <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fear the Walking Dead</em>, I found myself completely annoyed with the stupidity of humanity. In situations where people don’t know what’s going on or what to do, they tend to make the stupidest of decisions. Like leaving the damn doors open behind themselves when they leave the house and, by doing so, allow a zombie to get into their house.</div>
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I was literally screaming at the TV, calling the people idiots for not shutting the door to their house when they left.</div>
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My husband said, “You would do the same thing.”</div>
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I responded with, “No, I wouldn’t.”</div>
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Why wouldn’t I? Because I’m not stupid enough to leave everything open to someone or something that might harm me or my family. Hell, I’m allergic to cats so I shut the door every time I step outside so that one doesn’t sneak in while I’m not looking. I even shut the door so as not to allow bugs in because mosquitoes love me! I sure as hell wouldn’t leave the door to my house open if I thought anything even remotely close to zombies were running around outside. In that case, I wouldn’t leave the house unarmed. And I’d damn well shut the damn door.</div>
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Smart people don’t leave their secure, safe place open to just anyone or anything. That’s how people get hurt and die.</div>
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Yes, I’m aware people would be in denial, just like the characters of the show I just mentioned. But, they stared the dangers in the face (at least a couple of them did) prior to the incident. They made the mistake of not telling the third person in their party (who hadn’t witnessed what was going on) blind to the entire situation, hence the door being left open by that person. Hence the risk to all their lives.</div>
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Luckily they all managed to survive, even though that third person I mentioned finally came face to face with the danger no one would tell her about at the risk of her life. She managed to escape…barely.</div>
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You’re probably wondering why the writers would make their characters so naïve. Frankly, it’s because writers want a reaction from you. Example: Me screaming at the TV. They want you to feel something for the characters or about the characters. That’s how they get readership/watchers. Writers want the characters to be relatable in some way.</div>
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Even if you’re not stupid enough to leave the door to your house open during the Z-poc, I’m sure you know someone who is dumb enough to do so. Human beings will always be in denial of the biggest threats that face them. Those that survive in the hard times will be the people who are strong, decisive, and cautious (or the people who are protected by such a person). All the others will find their demise one way or another.</div>
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So, shut the damn door and survive. Protect yourself and your own. Be a strong survivor whatever the danger that’s staring you in the face.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-18227100106608909732015-11-12T07:01:00.001-08:002015-11-12T07:01:26.519-08:00Guest Post - Mikhail Lerma #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Mikhail Lerma #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/12/guest-post-mikhail-lerma-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="9:55 am">NOVEMBER 12, 2015</a><span class="byline" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> BY <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/author/armandrosamilia/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Armand Rosamilia">ARMAND ROSAMILIA</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/mikhaillerma.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="MikhailLerma" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-818" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/mikhaillerma.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="225" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Comparing Zombies to Other Monsters</strong></div>
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A man hurriedly exits a door and slams it behind him. He then throws his body against it to hold it closed. Breathing heavily he surveyed the moonlit rooftop for an escape. His search, however, was interrupted by the sudden assault on the metal door behind him. Hungry growls called to him from the other side. What was he going to do? The key to surviving the undead is knowing what kind of undead is being dealt with. There are two major types of undead and knowing the difference could mean life or death. The two types are vampires and zombies. While both prey on the living for food and lack a pulse their differences are very real!</div>
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Zombies are typically slow shambling creatures often times in various stages of decomposition. With yellowing skin and blackened teeth gnashing at their victims. While vampires could be considered attractive, charming even. Their pale complexions match the full moon’s glow. Vampires are primarily creatures of the night. That’s when they leave their lairs, a crypt or graveyard to feed. Zombies, however, are active at all hours, making them a constant threat.</div>
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Now that feeding times have been established lets discuss the menu. For vampires it’s blood. They are often portrayed as using their fangs to bite humans on the neck. From there they drain their meal dry, whereas zombies aren’t picky about what they eat just as long as it’s flesh. They grab their victims with rotted hands and sink their teeth into any exposed meat.</div>
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Defense is the next step. Zombies can be slow, making evasion seem easy, but their relentless nature makes them dangerous. In a one on one encounter defeating these creatures can be easy. Destroy the brain and the ghoul dies. By severing the brain’s connection it renders the body inert. Vampires have a laundry list of weaknesses. First and foremost is sunlight. The rays the sun emits are the bane of their existence. Other weaknesses include allergies to garlic and holy water. It was also said that they couldn’t cross running water. An important thing to know is that a stake to the heart can make short work of these beings.</div>
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Armed with this knowledge if one were presented with an undead threat, they could both distinguish which kind and successfully defend themselves. Whether it’s holding up until dawn or going on the offensive with a crowbar, one could easily survive. This being said, only two potential threats are mentioned. What other creatures of the night could be lurking about? Werewolves? Banshees? Succubae? Dealing with them is an entirely different fight.</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/z-plan-series-promo.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Z Plan Series promo" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-819" height="224" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/z-plan-series-promo.jpg?w=300&h=224" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="300" /></a></div>
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Mikhail Lerma was raised in the rural town of Holdrege Nebraska. His strong interest in horror and science fiction began at a young age, starting with late night zombie movies and Star Trek. He finished his high school years by joining the army when he was only 17. He is a 10 year U.S. Army veteran. While deployed to Iraq in 2007 he spent missions in a turret as gunner, and began writing in his free time. Storytelling has become a passion of his, and he looks forward to writing more science fiction in the future. He currently lives in Iowa with his wife and three daughters. Balancing his roles between husband, father, writer, and full time steel mill worker.</div>
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Website: <a href="http://www.mikhaillerma.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.mikhaillerma.com</a></div>
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Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MikhailLermaAuthor" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.facebook.com/MikhailLermaAuthor</a></div>
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Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/ZPlanBook" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://twitter.com/ZPlanBook</a></div>
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Amazon Author Page: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00919M4MI" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00919M4MI</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.615em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-6327430928872315002015-11-11T14:29:00.001-08:002015-11-11T14:29:49.927-08:00Guest Post - Samie Sands #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/11/guest-post-samie-sands-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-size: 24px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Guest Post: Samie Sands #WinterofZombie</a></h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/11/guest-post-samie-sands-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="3:55 pm">NOVEMBER 11, 2015</a></div>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/11/guest-post-samie-sands-winterofzombie/#respond" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 20px; border: 0px; color: #b94f25; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="no-reply" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden;"></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/forgotten-samie-sands-cover.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Forgotten Samie Sands Cover" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-978" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/forgotten-samie-sands-cover.jpg?w=545" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><u>The AM13 Series</u></strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><u>By Samie Sands</u></strong></div>
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The idea for the AM13 series came out of one of those typical ‘<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">how long do you think you’d last in a zombie apocalypse?</em>’ conversations.</div>
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The answer for me, I’m ashamed to say, isn’t very long!</div>
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I just don’t think that I have the knowledge and skills needed to get by in such a harsh climate. I’m not the sort of person who knows how to start a fire with sticks and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to bash in a zombie’s head – especially when they’re newly infected and not very weak!</div>
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That’s where the idea for <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lockdown</em> was born. Most of the zombie novels I have read centre around someone with a military background or nursing knowledge. Or if not that, they find some kick ass inner strength and the apocalypse is actually the making of them. When I created Leah (the main character), I was thinking along the lines of ‘<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">what about everyone else?</em>’ I wanted the plot to focus on someone who isn’t the typical protagonist, someone who isn’t strong, smart and a survivalist.</div>
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That isn’t to say she’s based on me – just that the idea came from that conversation J</div>
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In fact, this is how I’ve described Leah in her character bio:</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Leah isn’t the typical heroine that you find in zombie apocalyptic novels. She’s not got any of the survivalist skills needed in this horror-filled situation; she isn’t strong, level-headed or able…she certainly isn’t someone you’d want on your team!</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In fact, Leah is flawed, frustrating, she’s actually a bit of an airhead. She’s 23-years-old but is very young in her mind – indecisive, desperately insecure and afraid of real life (and that’s before the arrival of any zombies). She’s always been a ‘follower’ in her life, and continues to be so throughout the plot. Leah stays true to her – albeit imperfect – self.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She is what makes Lockdown a unique read. Following her journey into the unknown isn’t full of action and smart decisions. Is Leah a protagonist that you’ll route for? There is only one way to find out!”</em></div>
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So that should give you a little idea of what sort of person <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lockdown</em> is dealing with!</div>
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After I completed writing <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lockdown</em>, I went on to write the sequel <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Forgotten</em>. This book introduces 3 new characters and the style of the writing is different from the first book. The plot flicks between the main characters points-of-view (a feature that some readers have loved, and others haven’t been so keen on). Again, I wanted to try something a bit different with this book. I wanted to experiment a little with my writing style.</div>
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Just to give you an idea of the varying personalities included in <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Forgotten</em>, here are the character bios:</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Ethan (Leah’s cousin) is an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) sufferer whose condition has affected his life dramatically. His fear or germs, disease and illness have caused him to become isolated, afraid, ‘different’. There is no chance someone this frightened can survive the zombies…is there?</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alyssa is an overly confident teenage girl who has spent her life daydreaming about the zombie apocalypse finally arriving – and now that it has, she knows with an absolute certainty that she will survive. She’s read all the books, watched all the films, done all the research. She’s strong, tough…a badass! Any group would be lucky to fight alongside her.</em></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And finally, there is Dr. Jones, the scientist who can’t understand why he alone seems to have been selected to attempt to cure the virus…surely there are survivors that are much more experienced than him in virology? And what will happen to him if he fails? Is the fate of the human race really resting on his shoulders alone?”</em></div>
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Readers have described these characters as <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘frustratingly real’</em> too, which is a part of what I wanted to go for in my books. No one is perfect, and I wanted to reflect that. Now I’m in the process of finishing up the third and final book in the series, and this one will end the series in an explosive manner!</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/samie-sands-author-pic.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Samie Sands Author Pic" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-979" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/samie-sands-author-pic.jpg?w=545" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Author Bio: </strong>Samie Sands is a 29 year old freelance graphic designer who has recently decided to follow her lifelong dream and use her creativity in a new way by writing. Lockdown is her debut novel, published by Triplicity Publishing, with Forgotten following soon after. She has also had a number of short stories included in successful anthologies.</div>
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She has a degree in Media Studies and PR and has already had articles published in a number of e-zines, including one of the most popular pieces at Zombie Guide Magazine. She lives in a small seaside town in the UK, but loves to travel to gain inspiration from new places and different cultures. To follow Samie’s work, please check out her website<a href="http://samiesands.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://samiesands.com</a>.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Other Links: </strong><a href="http://thelockdown.co.uk/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://thelockdown.co.uk</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/SamieSandsLockdown" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.facebook.com/SamieSandsLockdown</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.twitter.com/SamieSands" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.twitter.com/SamieSands</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-82247491912476710422015-11-11T14:18:00.004-08:002015-11-11T14:18:56.042-08:00Refuge From The Dead - Lockdown ON SALE NOW!<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">REFUGE FROM THE DEAD - LOCKDOWN ON SALE NOW! <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V27P2A" target="_blank">CLICK HERE!</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V27P2A" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscqFgzYtB6t_ghHBAtII45Q4gRUoicVgXiCRxXrPoT32_J7vmfTk4AveFLvE9ww71gGTUo65aeuqvps9wMhec08prSw6FGfhhDRP0qRXhPXgANlBjeBKTi9p9TWBb1zpSPFboJakW8Ws/s320/Lockdown_draft2_2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Michael Caine is a loving husband, proud father, and former combat medic. He is also trying to restart his life. While the beginning of the end may have started six weeks ago, he wouldn't have noticed. Busy chasing the American dream, he was bettering himself at the Department of Corrections academy in Richmond, Virginia. Stuck in southwest Virginia, an area that thrives on the dying coal industry, he took the next most stable job - working in a prison. Among the killers, rapists, and gangbangers he earned his pay. It wasn't the best job in the world, but it paid the bills. Michael </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Until the dead began to rise and the world went to hell almost overnight. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">As the undead hasten the end of the world, he must decide whether to bring his family to the safety of maximum-security Black Mountain State Prison, among those same murderers and rapists, or help remove the inmates from the prison and risk them running amok in a lawless world. In their final transmission from Richmond, an order is handed down from the Governor of Virginia, a decision that - if carried out - makes them no better than the men they guard. While the undead begin to take over his corner of Virginia, he must help bring his family together, whatever the cost. He must keep them alive and safe - or die trying.</span>Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-58876612358166797442015-11-11T11:02:00.002-08:002015-11-11T11:02:21.050-08:00Guest Post - JL Koszarek #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: JL Koszarek #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/dtc-final-cover.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="DTC final cover" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-938" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/dtc-final-cover.jpg?w=200&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="200" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Literary Zombies</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By J.L. Koszarek</strong></div>
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Not having a Bram Stoker or Mary Shelley, or even an Anne Rice for leverage, writing about zombies is a unique and liberating challenge. While there are many films about zombies beginning nearly 100 years ago with <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The White Zombie</em> starring Bela Lugosi, there is no literary genesis for zombies, no poems, no short stories, no tragic love stories or sonnets. Zombies have been left for literary dead.</div>
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Dracula and Frankenstein, and even Vampire Lestat were not soulless. They felt emotion, pined for those in the living world, even Dr. Frankenstein’s monster was painfully self-aware if not through the doctor’s suffering. They knew they were monsters undeserving of love. Each of them terrible victims of the tragedy of self-loathing, a rich inner conflict deserving of dramatic literary and metaphoric fame. Tragic. Romantic. Memorable.</div>
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While resurrection stories appear throughout history from the epic tale of Gilgamesh and others in Greek mythology to even Biblical mythology with the story of Lazarus, zombies don’t appear in classic western literature. Writing about them within the constructs of the 18<span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.769em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> and 19<span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.769em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> centuries was probably nearly impossible. The literary challenges were insurmountable because to write about the zombie, given the times, would be a fruitless attempt to tell a story about the resurrection of the truly soulless. Our soul, or as I prefer, consciousness is the center of everything dramatic, everything within us that drives our emotions, decisions, behaviors, all elements required for an interesting literary plot. The 19<span style="border: 0px; bottom: 1ex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.769em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> century author was not aware of the concept of a zombie and even if she were, she would lack consideration for something the world assumed had no soul. Even the story of Lazarus is sketchy regarding his soul. Once Jesus calls him forth from the tomb, he remains nameless and eventually fades from recognition.</div>
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Zombies were not conceptualized as “walking dead” by the Haitians because the people who became zombies never died. They were wretched victims of a vengeful diabolist who rendered them powerless through his knowledge of chemistry. Even in death, the poor victim was unable to find freedom from the slavery of the day. In the 1930’s Zora Neale Hurst wrote about the Haitian zombie rituals, which exemplified the human struggle for liberation (Haitians viewed death as the ultimate liberation from the harsh realities of life) versus dark magic centering on power over others. Herein we see for the first time that zombies never died, but rather they were living, breathing human beings captured by voodoo priests and enslaved as an act of revenge.</div>
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The voodoo priest made a powerful poison powder from a litany of burned and dried organic ingredients including but not limited to human remains, lizards, spiders, worms, and frogs, but every variation of the powder included puffer fish, a known neurotoxin. The clever priest, knowing his chemistry would dispense just the right amount of his <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">coup padre </em>to render the victim comatose, a state in which the victim’s heart beat and respiration would be undetectable given the technology of the day. In truth, he would be very much alive, and sometimes even conscious, but unable to physically or verbally protest his funeral rites and burial after which the priest would exhume him from the grave, give him more hallucinogenic chemicals, beat him, enslave him, and declare that he has risen from the dead as a soulless creature. The Zombification Ritual, such an agonizing plot for revenge not only on the victim, but his entire family.</div>
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Herein, I believe the challenges for today’s zombie literati aren’t so overwhelming. Writing about a nonconscious being is akin to writing about a rock, except a rock isn’t animated like a zombie! Zombies open the door for hundreds of questions. How can this be? Why is it here? Where did it come from? What is it doing and why? Is it aware? Does it remember? Is it cognizant of its surroundings? Now, we’re getting somewhere.</div>
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The leverage today’s writer of the zombie genre has is unprecedented. There is no historical standard to which authors must aspire, zombie varietals are ripe for their own imagination. This is liberating, but with serious caveats. Popular culture is much more demanding than history. Much in the way of anxiety creeps into my heart when I imagine my readers disliking my zombies. With Thad David’s valuable input, he and I have embraced the neozombie virulent variety. It metamorphoses in seconds, it’s fast, violent, and seemingly lacking consciousness. It does not so much consume its victim, but rather spreads its virus. For this writer, this type of behavior indicates some kind of consciousness or collective awareness, a not so far cry from the original zombies of Haitian lore, except for the catatonic slave scenario.</div>
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Instead of metaphysical black magic and voodoo, today’s zombies have fallen victim to a mysterious virus with as yet unknown origins that deems them mindless, driven only by the primal nature that a virus has to replicate itself. So, even the zombie has a will to survive. It evolves in a dynamic world filled with adversity and yet, as in Haitian lore, the zombie is the still the loser in the ever ending struggle for power, the ultimate victim of a hostile natural world, which brings us to what zombies have come to symbolize. Do they remain the ultimate symbol of revenge, the powerlessness of the human condition? I think so, but this begs the question, then within whom or what does the vengeful heart reside? There are no voodoo priests, no more colonial planter class slavers or European colonists from which the poor person of color struggles to be freed.</div>
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What do we wish to be freed from? What condition renders us powerless? Who are the powerful and why? What about our conscious lives? What does freedom mean? Is there even such a thing? If so, how do we achieve it? Can it be experienced in the framework of our minds? What does it mean to die? What does it mean to love? These are the fertile challenges for today’s zombie literati.</div>
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The world is our oyster.</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jl-koszarek.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="JL Koszarek" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-939" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/jl-koszarek.jpg?w=209&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="209" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-8653438452243891382015-11-11T09:05:00.000-08:002015-11-11T09:05:02.538-08:00Guest Post - Jay Wilburn #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Jay Wilburn #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/dead-song-book-2-front-cover.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Dead Song Book 2 front cover" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-931" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/dead-song-book-2-front-cover.jpg?w=200&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="200" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Winter of Zombie 2015</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Familiar Characters – Same, But Different</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by Jay Wilburn</strong></div>
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I worry a little bit about creating my characters. It stresses me a little less in a short story. I can let them explode out on the page and usually build the dimensions I need in a short space. In longer works, I stress a little more. I typically end up with a bigger cast. I want them all to want something. Even if some of them are working toward similar goals, I want them to be different and speak differently – act differently. I want them to be realistic, but sometimes what makes characters real is difficult to sell on the page.</div>
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I wrote a post on social media earlier about my struggle to write realistic, flawed characters. Flawed characters are interesting characters. This is because all people are broken in small and big ways to varying degrees. We recognize this on some under layer of our minds where we occasionally find the capacity for empathy. This is why well written flaws make the best, most interesting characters in writing.</div>
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There are two important flaws that all people have, but we hate in others on such a deep level that they are difficult to write well because people want to hate them and reject them in characters on the page too. All people are hypocrites, but we despise the revelation of hypocrisy in those around us. None of us live up to our own ideals. All of us have beliefs that we aspire to and fall very short of. We hide this in ourselves and that is the formula for hypocrisy that we all carry in our emotional chemistry.</div>
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The other universal flaw is even more difficult for me to write well. We all seek to point out the good to be found within us while at the same time tuning our senses and minds to identify the bad in others and the world around us. Sometimes we do it to try to improve our own good through a grading curve, sometimes we do it because we think we can battle that bad and win, and sometimes we don’t even realize we are doing it. A realistic character would possess both these flaws, but it is a real work of art to write a judgmental hypocrite that people will like.</div>
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A friend of mine brought up the point of depression being a factor that negates people finding the good in themselves. I would argue that while we still all probably hate things about ourselves, we’ll still gloss those things over in a moment of expressing our relative virtues or in comparing ourselves to greater evils in the world. I explained it in that discussion like this. Depression isn’t experienced the same by all people. Lots of people, depressed or otherwise, can still hate themselves and hate things about themselves and their lives. At the same time, they’ll still have the “us and them” categories. A depressed Democrat will still see their beliefs as good and Republican beliefs as evil or vice versa –same thing with religious and non religious.</div>
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Feeling bad about one’s self does not exempt someone from this inward versus outward tendency. On the page in particular, self hatred is probably best portrayed as a great disappointment the character feels for not having achieved what he or she feels is deserved from individual destiny. The manifestation of that then is seeking to right that perceived wrong through playing out those two universal flaws mentioned above.</div>
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If done well, these characters would appear wildly unique on the page, but in reality they would be intimately familiar because they would be exactly like all of us. Maybe this is a bit much to try to achieve in a zombie story, but I don’t think so. The humans really should have a few more dimensions than the zombies do, I think. The unique aspect would be in selling these characters with the flaws that we are not willing to see within ourselves. If I figure out how to do this, I’ll be sure to let you know.</div>
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Dead Song Legend Dodecology Book 1: January from Milwaukee to Muscle Shoals</div>
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Start the series here è <a href="http://amzn.to/1CvxbST" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://amzn.to/1CvxbST</a></div>
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Dead Song Legend Dodecology Book 2: February from Vicksburg to Cherokee</div>
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Continue the series here è <a href="http://jaywilburn.com/book-2/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://jaywilburn.com/book-2/</a></div>
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Check out the first soundtrack to the series, The Sound May Suffer: Music from the Dead Song here è <a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thesoundmaysuffer6" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thesoundmaysuffer6</a></div>
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or on Spotify. The hard CD is also available on Amazon.</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/me-11.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Author Jay Wilburn" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-782" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/me-11.jpg?w=545" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://jaywilburn.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://jaywilburn.com/</a></div>
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Jay Wilburn lives with his wife and two sons in Conway, South Carolina near the Atlantic coast of the southern United States. He has a Masters Degree in education and he taught public school for sixteen years before becoming a full time writer. He is the author of many short stories including work in <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Best Horror of the Year volume 5</em>, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zombies More Recent Dead</em>, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shadows Over Mainstreet</em>, and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Truth or Dare</em>. He is the author of the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dead Song Legend Dodecology</em> and the music of the five song soundtrack recorded as if by the characters within the world of the novel <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Sound May Suffer</em>. He also wrote the novels <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Loose Ends</em> and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time Eaters</em>. He is one of the four authors behind the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hellmouth </em>trilogy. Jay Wilburn is a regular columnist with Dark Moon Digest. Follow his many dark thoughts on Twitter, Instagram, and Periscope as @AmongTheZombies, his Facebook author page, and at<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">JayWilburn.com</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-83551126772945108772015-11-11T08:41:00.002-08:002015-11-11T08:41:33.033-08:00Guest Post - Scott M. Baker #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Scott M. Baker #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/11/guest-post-scott-m-baker-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="9:55 am">NOVEMBER 11, 2015</a><span class="byline" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> BY <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/author/armandrosamilia/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Armand Rosamilia">ARMAND ROSAMILIA</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/a-photo-of-me-at-wewelsburg.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="a photo of me at Wewelsburg" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-843" height="254" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/a-photo-of-me-at-wewelsburg.jpg?w=300&h=254" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Is the zombie craze about to come to an end? </strong></div>
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It’s a legitimate question. The genre has been spreading like a zombie outbreak ever since Brian Keene released <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Rising</em> back in 2003 and breathed new life into a dead market, culminating in <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Walking Dead.</em> With the development of their hit series, AMC has succeeded in doing what no other television show, movie, or novel had accomplished before—making zombies mainstream. The series is one of the most watched programs on television, and the convention circuit and merchandising for <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Walking Dead</em> is an industry onto itself. Yet it’s the very popularity of a genre that often leads to its decline because success breeds imitation. While imitation is often the sincerest form of flattery, it’s also the best way to make a quick buck, which has led to a seemingly endless influx of zombie novels, movies, TV, shows, and video games.</div>
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Fans have been treated to some truly outstanding books (<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Patient Zero</em> and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">World War Z</em>), films (<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Horde</em>, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zombieland</em>, and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Dead</em>), and video games (<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Resident Evil, Dead Island</em>, and <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Left 4 Dead</em>). Unfortunately, we have also seen zombies placed in every scenario imaginable, facing off against strippers, cheerleaders, ninjas, cockneys, and even Abraham Lincoln. Enough zombie romances and comedies have entered the market to spawn the creation of their own subgenres, zomroms and zomcoms. The living dead have even made their way into TV commercials. Traditionally, once a horror icon becomes the subject of farce, its demise is inevitable. (A good case in point is Universal Studio’s cache of monsters from the 1930s and 1940s, all of whom lumbered through countless resurrections until permanently put to death by Abbott and Costello).</div>
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So does this overabundance of zombies in our culture mean the craze has burnt itself out and is about to subside?</div>
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Far from it. Zombies are different because they fill a niche no other monster is capable of.</div>
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Vampires, werewolves, and other ghoulish creatures and creepy crawlies will always thrill us. Vampires appeal to that dark erotic nature of our personalities that we keep bridled, while werewolves remind us of how violent and uncontrollable our subconscious truly is. The other monsters are adult manifestations of those things in the closet that scared us as kids. They are fantasy, and we don’t care. We sit in a darkened movie theater, or become engrossed in the pages of a novel until the late hours of the night, and relish what horrors await. We know that as long as the characters can survive to the end, then they will continue to live normal lives.<br />Zombies strike a chord with us because they tap into our deepest emotional and psychological fears.</div>
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First, there is an undertone of realism to the zombie genre that is terrifying. Despite exaggerated reports of Ebola victims rising from the dead or the ingestion of bath salts turning drug addicts into flesh-eating ghouls, no one honestly expects a zombie apocalypse. What is frightening about the scenario, however, is that it represents a total collapse of society as we know it and the breakdown of everything we hold dear. We didn’t create our own Hell by messing around with a Ouija board or a black and gold puzzle box. Factors beyond our control initiated the outbreak, and now we are forced to defend ourselves and our families as the living dead hunt us down in our own neighborhoods.</div>
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This scenario has been brought home to us repeatedly over the past decade by around-the-clock news, which has piped microcosms of the apocalypse into our homes. We sat glued to our television sets while watching the flood waters of Katrina inundate New Orleans and tsunamis devastate the coast of Japan. It took days, and in some cases weeks, before local and federal governments could enter the devastated areas and reestablish control. In the case of New Orleans, the devastation was accompanied by the collapse of the social order. Looters took advantage of the chaos. People had to fend for themselves in order to survive, sometimes against the local authorities. Our hearts went out to the victims of these natural disasters while a part of us breathed a sigh of relief that there but for the Grace of God goes us. The fear that zombies generate is that, if an outbreak ever did occur, we would suddenly become those nameless victims and would be forced to confront bitter realities about how we would react in such a situation.<br />Second, as strange as it sounds, a zombie apocalypse provides a grim hope for the future in the form of a “reset” button. All the seemingly insurmountable troubles we face disappear, and the playing field is leveled overnight. We’re no longer a part of the 1% or the 99%, a liberal or a conservative, a payer of taxes or a recipient of a government subsidy, a member of the elitist upper class or the struggling working class. All of our debts, our past mistakes, and our concerns would be wiped out overnight. Our possessions and social status would become irrelevant. All that would matter would be our strengths and abilities, and the direction in which our moral compass points.</div>
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One of my favorite zombie movies is Zack Snyder’s 2004 reimaging of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dawn of the Dead</em>because of its portrayal of how ordinary people would react during a total collapse of the social order. Would we become Anna or Michael, who try to maintain their humanity even after losing everything dear to them? Would we become Kenneth, who opts to look out only for himself? Would we become CJ, the mall security guard who turns away the survivors because “no one here is infected and I intend to keep it that way?” Or would we be Tucker or Frank, the nameless faces that blend into the background and merely go on existing, only to become the red shirts of the survivors? Confronting how we would behave in such a situation can be scarier than dealing with the zombies.<br />The struggle between surviving and maintaining some semblance of humanity is what the genre is all about (combined, of course, with some intense gut-munching, head shooting action and buckets of blood and gore.) We will be entertained by an occasional zomcom, or a zombie falling in love with a teenage girl or being a boy’s loyal pet. We might even have to endure zombies that glitter in the sunlight. However, as long as fans are terrified by the end of the world, then zombies will always provide them with a frightening and exciting why to exploit that angst.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-30773011410353988772015-11-10T18:44:00.001-08:002015-11-10T18:44:10.672-08:00Guest Post - Greg P Ferrell #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Greg P Ferrell #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/10/guest-post-greg-p-ferrell-winterofzombie-2/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="7:55 pm">NOVEMBER 10, 2015</a><span class="byline" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> BY <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/author/armandrosamilia/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Armand Rosamilia">ARMAND ROSAMILIA</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/10/guest-post-greg-p-ferrell-winterofzombie-2/#comments" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 20px; border: 0px; color: #b94f25; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1</a></div>
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In honor of being a part of this year’s Winter of Zombie blog tour, here is a set of short stories written exclusively for the visitors to the tour. These were started back during the Summer of Zombie tour. They’re from the perspective of one, Tony the Zombie, and his personal gripes against us humans. Typed out by Greg P. Ferrell because really, have you ever seen a zombie use a keyboard? It’s not pretty.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A day in my dead life!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chapter 4</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By: Tony the zombie</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Translated by: Greg P. Ferrell</strong></div>
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Well this seems to be more relevant than I thought it would be after my last post. So let’s talk about traps.</div>
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I have just recently crawled out of a large hole in the ground that was lightly covered with sticks and leaves. I also have two large pointy sticks stuck in my legs and they are really hindering my normally graceful lumbering stride. Really people, do you have to keep setting up so many of these traps everywhere? I’m not just talking about the large holes even though they are some of the more annoying of the traps. Just the other day I was meandering about with a few of my fellow undead, I was asking them something really important and when I didn’t get an answer back, I turned to find that I had been talking to myself for quite sometime since they had fallen into one of those big holes a ways back. I had to look like the biggest idiot just lumbering along talking to myself.</div>
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But there are other traps that you like to set up that are really annoying too. Those spring loaded ones that come swinging from out of nowhere with a sharp blade or ax attached to them are not cool at all. I watched the kind hearted man that brought me into this existence catch one of those in the head, and he went down faster than a zombie on top of a slow fat kid. Then there are the fire traps that really, pardon the pun, burn my ass up. Come on, fire doesn’t kill us, it just makes us well done. Plus I know the smell has got to bother you because it really disgusts us. I smell one of my brothers on fire, and I will immediately turn and go the other way.</div>
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Those are just the common ones but I’m really talking about any traps you use. You spend all that time making a trap, and you get maybe one or two of us when you could’ve spent that time doing something useful like eating something and fattening yourself up a little. Regardless of your thoughts on them, just stop doing it. They slow us down but never stop us. So that’s my thoughts on that for today. Now please excuse me while I go look inside this large hole on the ground and see what it is. Till next time remember Zombies are not your enemy, we’re… oh wait yeah we are.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.615em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-47354588159201611972015-11-10T15:48:00.002-08:002015-11-10T15:48:47.537-08:00Guest Post - Russell R James #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Russell R James #WinterofZombie</h1>
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The Staying Power of the Undead</h2>
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You can’t keep a good zombie down. At least not without a bullet to the head, and certainly not since 1968. Why does this fictional terror maintain its hold on our psyche across generations? Because zombies are relentless? Remorseless? Repellent? Nope.</div>
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Because they were once us. Sure, aliens and demons are scary. I’m not in a hurry to meet any of those. But there’s a separation between them and humanity, a line they cannot cross that places a subconscious, psychological distance between us and them. Zombies, however, were once human, and in the same horrific way that a serial killer was once a cute little Cub Scout next door. There’s a relatable reference point to see just how awful this creature has become.</div>
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But that brings on the ultimate zombie-inspired spine-tingle. You could become a zombie. The terror that physically hunts you while you are awake continues to psychologically, subconsciously hunt you as you sleep. Turning zombie separates us from our humanity, the only thing that places us above the beasts. The infection melds the horror of a diagnosis of ALS with the curse of having it never be fatal. Imagine an eternity spent existing as an undead monster, with no escape except through your execution by some other terrified human being, who you’d just as soon kill before he did you the favor. There’s no silver lining to this black cloud.</div>
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It is the sum of many fears we all harbor: aging, Alzheimer’s, cancer, the list goes on. All these afflictions eventually turn us into someone we never were before, and someone we definitely don’t want to be. And as with all of them, there is no return, no cure. How better to try and subjugate that fear than by dealing with it fictionally before we have to deal with it factually.</div>
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We are about a decade into America’s latest danse macabre with the zombie phenomenon. Is it about to burn out? After almost fifty years going strong, I’d say no.</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/img_2371.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="IMG_2371" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-827" height="225" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/img_2371.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.615em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.615em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-3194462692665764032015-11-10T14:14:00.001-08:002015-11-10T14:14:58.214-08:00Guest Post - Ted Nulty #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Ted Nulty #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/10/guest-post-ted-nulty-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="3:55 pm">NOVEMBER 10, 2015</a><span class="byline" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> BY <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/author/armandrosamilia/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Armand Rosamilia">ARMAND ROSAMILIA</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/10/guest-post-ted-nulty-winterofzombie/#respond" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 20px; border: 0px; color: #b94f25; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="no-reply" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden;"></span></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zombie Tour</strong></div>
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Zombies, I’ve loved them since I saw ‘Night of the Living dead’. The overwhelming sense of dread at facing a swarm of the living dead is a rush. But they really became cool when they got fast, Dawn of the dead, 28 days later fast. Now single zombies were a threat where before it took a whole town to be scary.</div>
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I wrote ‘Gone Feral’ as a homage to all the zombie writers before me, but I wanted it to be real, I wanted it to make sense where sometimes some of the other tales left a little too much gap in the realm of plausibility. Watching CNN in a bar one night with some Marines, we saw a naked man going cannibal on another man on a freeway overpass in Florida. The story about bath salts was my inspiration for the series. You see every single aspect of the chemical poisoning of the population was ‘Gamed out’ at the Marine Corps EOC (Emergency Operations Center) at Camp Pendleton. I learned how many airplanes it would take to disperse a water soluble drug to 60% of the population. Throw in a little artistic license, and I was ready to go.</div>
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I did want to stay as close to the zombie “rules” as I could. So I made the chemical transferable through a bite. I also made the affected, immune to pain and hard to kill. Add in some rage and you are looking at as close to a zombie as I can realistically get.</div>
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The positive response from readers was quite a shock, and I immediately began work on book II at the behest of my small but growing fan base. I wrote ‘Barry’s Walk’ in response to that feedback and it turned out to be wildly popular with folks. Barry was a minor character in the first book that people said they wanted to know more about. I wrote it as a stand-alone novel and therefore had to include some of the story from the first book for continuities sake. I burned that sucker out in 30 days and had a blast doing it. I left a little cliff hanger there at the end just because I had another novel in mind. But I had another flight of fancy first and decided to scratch that itch.</div>
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‘The Other Side of Me’ is my homage to Jekyll and Hyde. I wanted to write about a really good person who through no fault of his own becomes a very evil monster, then I want that tortured character to face the challenge of reconciling his acts with the knowledge that it wasn’t his fault. Kind of a PTSD on steroids type of thing. Again the plot twist bug bit me, and I had to throw a few curve balls in there. The story is set in the ‘Gone Feral’ universe, and the drugs the terrorists use are the vehicle used to catapult this whole new cast of characters through a wild journey.</div>
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Did I mention I’m a Marine? Well I am, and we like challenges. So not only did I make my zombies hard to kill, and fast. I made sure that all mammals were affected by the drug, making Cats, Rats, Dogs, and Pigs (Especially pigs) susceptible to the effects of the toxin. This made the world exponentially more difficult to survive in. It also gave me more ways to herd, corral, push, or otherwise guide my characters into more trouble.</div>
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I can’t get through a day without some form of humor, so I have taken the task very seriously to introduce some form of off color shenanigans into my books. It’s what us Jarheads do to cope with stress, and I know it would happen in the real world. I have to confess that the kid humor is always taken from my devil spawn children. You’ll have to take it with a grain of salt (pun intended).</div>
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So thank you for joining us here on the Winter of Zombie Tour. I am humbled to be included with this very talented group of authors. I hope you enjoy our work, we enjoyed writing it for you.</div>
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Ted Nulty</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/author-pic1.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Author pic" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1139" height="225" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/author-pic1.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-86236320849268554462015-11-10T09:23:00.001-08:002015-11-10T09:23:45.033-08:00Guest Post - Rhonda Hopkins #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Guest Post: Rhonda Hopkins #WinterofZombie</h1>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/survival-rhonda-hopkins.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Survival - Rhonda Hopkins" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-928" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/survival-rhonda-hopkins.jpg?w=200&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="200" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SURVIVAL: SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE WE MAY NEED WHEN THE ZOMBIE SHTF</strong></div>
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So I’ve been thinking. Yeah, I know. That can lead to dangerous situations. (Or funny, considering what a klutz I can be.) But hopefully not this time. This time, I’m actually trying to think of things I might need to know to keep me out of trouble in the event of an apocalypse. I know those zombies are just around the corner! And writing about the zombie apocalypse, I need to know at least these basics (or know where to get the info). I’m always coming up with something that I need to know when writing. Thank goodness for the internet and experts that are willing to offer up their knowledge.</div>
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Anyway, there are some skills that would definitely be valuable after TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World As We Know It). Now I know I can’t learn all of this. At least not quickly. But maybe having one or two skills to barter when cash is worth less than a pile of manure (after all, you can you manure for fertilizing) might be essential to survival.</div>
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So what kinds of things will we need? Here are a few of the things I think will be important skills and knowledge (things I’ve had to research while writing the<a href="http://rhondahopkins.com/my-books/survival-series/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SURVIVAL series</a> or have on my list to research for my next book) in no particular order:</div>
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Farming — growing crops/gardening and raising livestock</div>
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Butchering (I hope someone else knows how to do this because it’s not on my want-to-know-skills list. But you do what you got to do, right?)</div>
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Hunting/Fishing/Trapping</div>
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Knitting/Crocheting</div>
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Curing/Tanning Animal Skins</div>
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How to Store and Preserve Foods – canning, drying, curing, pickling, etc.</div>
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Sewing</div>
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Making Soaps/Candles/Cleaning Supplies</div>
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Carpentry</div>
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Plumbing</div>
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Mechanical Knowledge</div>
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Knowledge of Solar Power</div>
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How to Operate a Ham Radio</div>
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Knowledge of Weapons – how to use, clean, and maintain</div>
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First Aid</div>
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Self-Defense</div>
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Now I know I’m not likely to learn how to set up a building to function on solar power, but there are a few things I can do, and most of you can do, to be more self-sufficient in a world turned upside down. For instance, we can all learn about self-defense, take a first aid class, learn to prepare and store food without a refrigerator or other appliances.</div>
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We can learn about a weapon or two. I already know how to handle my Glock, so adding one or two other weapons to that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve fired other handguns when target shooting with friends. And I’m pretty good with a bow and arrow. I’d love to learn to use a crossbow effectively.</div>
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I’ve also gathered quite a collection of eBooks on canning and food prep as well as candle and soap making. So, I need to start putting those to use. And my aunt’s been trying to get me to let her teach me to crochet. I think it might be time. Hey! Those crochet hooks and knitting needles can become weapons if needed!</div>
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By the way – did you know you can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge1O9rH__5Y" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">make a candle out of a stick of butter</a> in an emergency? While this might not help during an apocalypse, it might help if the electricity goes off and you don’t have any candles in the house.</div>
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Even if you never need any of these for a zombie apocalypse, just think how handy these survival skills could be in your everyday life. At least you’ll be a well-rounded person with a lot of different expertise for others to admire. So take a few classes, watch a few videos, read some books, and practice.</div>
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So that’s it. What did I miss? Let me know in the comments what skills or knowledge you think will be important after a zombie apocalypse.</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/rhonda-hopkins.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Rhonda Hopkins" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-927" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/rhonda-hopkins.jpg?w=545" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" /></a></div>
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Award-winning author, <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rhonda Hopkins</strong>, has learned firsthand that truth is stranger than fiction. Her two decades of experience as an investigator provide her characters with a depth and realism that gives truth a run for its money. Having come in contact with the best and the worst that society has to offer, Rhonda’s imagination is filled with story ideas. Rhonda writes horror, suspense, paranormal, and YA urban fantasy. She is the author of the <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">zombie apocalypse series, </strong><a href="http://rhondahopkins.com/my-books/survival-series/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SURVIVAL</strong></a>, and the award-winning paranormal novella, <a href="http://rhondahopkins.com/my-books/the-consuming/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE CONSUMING</a>. She also has a non-fiction book, <a href="http://rhondahopkins.com/my-books/navigating-family-court/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">NAVIGATING FAMILY COURT: IN THE BEST INTEREST OF YOUR CHILD</a>, to assist those going through custody litigation.</div>
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You can connect with Rhonda at:</div>
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Website: <a href="http://rhondahopkins.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://rhondahopkins.com</a></div>
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Facebook: <a href="http://facebook.com/RhondaHopkins.Author" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://facebook.com/RhondaHopkins.Author</a></div>
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Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/Rhonda_Hopkins" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://twitter.com/Rhonda_Hopkins</a></div>
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Goodreads: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/rhondahopkins" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.goodreads.com/rhondahopkins</a></div>
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Google+: <a href="https://www.google.com/+RhondaHopkins" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.google.com/+RhondaHopkins</a></div>
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Pinterest: <a href="http://pinterest.com/rhondarhopkins" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://pinterest.com/rhondarhopkins</a></div>
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Find more from Rhonda at Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rhonda-Hopkins/e/B009KWDCCW" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.amazon.com/Rhonda-Hopkins/e/B009KWDCCW</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-85615738925450881602015-11-10T08:19:00.001-08:002015-11-10T08:19:12.685-08:00Guest Post - Jack Wallen #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/10/guest-post-jack-wallen-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-size: 24px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Guest Post: Jack Wallen #WinterofZombie</a></h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/10/guest-post-jack-wallen-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="9:55 am">NOVEMBER 10, 2015</a></div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/jack_hands.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="jack_hands" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-140" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/jack_hands.jpg?w=199&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="199" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Winter of Zombie 2015</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Suspension of disbelief</strong></div>
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One of the issues we horror writers often deal with is the readers willingness to suspend disbelief. What exactly is this magical turn of phrase? It was coined in 1817 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge who suggested if a writer could infuse a “human interest and a <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">semblance </em>of truth” into a fictional (and fantastical) tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the believability of the circumstances in the story.</div>
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This is something every reader of zombie horror fully understands. The problem, however, lies in just how much the reader is willing to suspend. Consider this:</div>
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You’re reading a novel about the apocalypse, one where humans have died and come back to life as brain/flesh eating machines of love and grace (or hate and indecency, depending on your bent). That is the big suspension. Why? As of this moment, the human creature, once dead, stays dead. There is no coming back from the big nap. You’ve willingly ignored that one essential component of the human condition, because without doing so would drive you mad otherwise – you’d spend every page, paragraph, sentence, and word cursing the writer for penning such improbable fiction.</div>
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Once we get beyond the big bad of suspensions, things start to get a bit dicey. How? Because as we climb down the ladder of intellect, rung by rung, we start dealing with topics that are much more “binary” than the idea of human re-animation. Add to that, we run across topics that certain cross sections understand quite well.</div>
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Take, for instance, the topic of weapons. There are some readers out there who know very little about guns. So when a writer says “Weapon X does Y”, that reader just buys into it. Other readers aren’t so ready to toss this aside. Weapon aficionados probably know that Weapon X doesn’t actually do Y, it does Z. So those readers are apt to toss up their arms and shout “I quit!”</div>
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Another hot topic in the realm of apocalyptic fiction is that of power. When the virus takes hold, there are varying schools of thought on how long the power grid will hold up. Some countries would go down quite quickly, whereas others might hold fast for a longer period. Certain types of power generation will last longer than others. Hydro-electric power will last quite a bit longer than coal. Solar will last indefinitely, so long as there is a sun. Where the idea of electricity gets very tricky in the world of fiction is when you attempt to apply the laws (and loss) of power, you wind up losing out on a great number of constructs that are often necessary to move along a plot. One good example in my I Zombie series is that of<a href="http://www.zombieradio.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zombie Radio</a>. The DJ has managed, on a number of occasions, to save the day (or the sanity) of various and sundry groups. Without him not only would Bethany not be as capable, but the Zombie Radio series wouldn’t exist.</div>
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Another big suspension is that of biological engineering. I am not a bio-chemist (though I have played one on the stage), so the depth of my knowledge for creating cures for the Mengele virus (or any virus for that matter) is kiddy pool shallow. Thanks to the fact I didn’t get my Phd in bio-chem, readers have to be willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to matters of the molecule.</div>
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You see where this is going, right?</div>
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Post apocalyptic fiction is one of my favorite genres to write and read. Collected in the Winter of Zombie 2015 are some of the best writers in the genre – each of which delivers a particular spin on the story. Some of the writers rely heavily on military, some on militia. Some writers lean more on the global/social aspect of the apocalypse, while others depend upon the human story. Regardless of what each writer uses as their tools of the trade, there will be some suspension of disbelief necessary in order to get through the stories. That is part and parcel to the drama. We use our imaginations to get characters in and out of situations and drive the story (and series) arc forward. Sometimes, we have to bend the concepts of reality and physics to meet our needs. Hopefully you, the reader, are willing to bend as well.</div>
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I want to take a moment to thank each and every reader here; not only for your continued support, but for your willingness to suspend disbelief as you navigate the words of our post apocalyptic fiction. Without your wonderful and willing minds, none of us would be here right now.</div>
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Bend on ladies and gents, bend on.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Get more Jack</strong></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.monkeypantz.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.monkeypantz.net</a></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://facebook.com/author.jackwallen" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://facebook.com/author.jackwallen</a></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter: @jlwallen</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004MZWR3W" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004MZWR3W</a></li>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-72602807940934578522015-11-10T08:17:00.001-08:002015-11-10T08:17:24.125-08:00Guest Post - Shawn Chesser #WinterofZombie 2015<header class="entry-header" style="background-color: #292625; color: #b29d85; font-family: Ubuntu, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.995px; position: relative;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border: 0px; clear: both; color: #d7c2a8; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.4rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 50px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/09/guest-post-shawn-chesser-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-size: 24px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Guest Post: Shawn Chesser #WinterofZombie</a></h1>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/09/guest-post-shawn-chesser-winterofzombie/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #b94f25; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="7:55 pm">NOVEMBER 9, 2015</a></div>
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<a href="http://dyingdayszombie.com/2015/11/09/guest-post-shawn-chesser-winterofzombie/#comments" style="background: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-radius: 20px; border: 0px; color: #b94f25; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3</a></div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/img_4472.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Shawn Chesser" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-787" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/img_4472.jpg?w=248&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="248" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My Zombie Apocalypse Dream Team</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Shawn Chesser</strong></div>
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On my Facebook page the other day, I asked the question: What would <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">your</em> zombie apocalypse dream team look like? I put no restrictions on who they could pick for their team. A real person—living or dead, a comic book character, someone from the movies … it did not matter. I only wanted to know who their top ten would be, and why?</div>
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Some people picked relatives who had excelled on the field of battle and I think that’s beyond awesome! Way to honor them! Others stacked their team with superheroes. Most had a mix of team members as varied as the folks who read my ‘<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse’</em> series.</div>
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Therefore, without further adieu, here are my top ten picks.</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">After thinking about this for about half a millisecond, I picked my own protagonist Cade ‘Wyatt’ Grayson. He’s former Delta, patriotic, and loyal to a fault.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the second half of that same millisecond I chose Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the late great legendary sniper the enemy took to calling “The Devil of Ramadi” on account of the high body count he racked up on them. With a scoped long gun and an ample supply of ammunition, the Z bodies would pile up very quickly.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marcus Luttrell was a must-have shooter for my team. A Navy SEAL Corpsman, he was the lone survivor of his four-man recon team. Deep in enemy territory in Afghanistan and vastly outnumbered by Taliban fighters, the four warriors fought tooth-and-nail to the bottom of a valley where Luttrell was knocked out by a fall before being spirited away to a friendly Pashtun villager’s home. His medical knowledge and dogged determination to survive against all odds makes him the perfect zompoc teammate.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Michonne from AMC’s <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Walking Dead</em>. Her skill with the Katana is out of this world. Keeping as pets armless and jawless walkers whose stench masks her scent from other walkers earns her extra cunning points in my book.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I could not pass up Wolverine from Marvel’s ‘The X-Men’. His accelerated healing factor should cancel out the possibility of infection from a zombie bite. Adamantium bones and razor sharp claws will allow him to wade through even the largest undead herds with impunity. Is fielding a mutant an unfair advantage? Yep … but I need to hear him call just one Z “Bub.”</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I would never hear the end of it from my readers if I left out Alice from Resident Evil. She is a master of weapons who just so happens to have telekinetic powers. Five years of fighting zombies <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and</em> Umbrella Corp has conditioned her nicely for a full-blown zompoc.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Han Solo. He flies the Millennium Falcon like a demon. Presumably, those skills will translate to fixed and rotor wing aircraft. I just hope that he won’t lawn dart it into a golf course with everyone aboard.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Because I am a <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">huge</strong> Punisher fan, Frank Castle makes the cut. With his martial arts training and weapons knowledge, he would round out nicely a four man recon team consisting of Chris Kyle, Marcus Luttrell, and Cade Grayson.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Glenn from <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Walking Dead</em> would be a stellar addition. He is afraid of <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">nothing</strong>. During runs outside the wire—save for the Noah debacle—he has proven he can move amongst the Zs without detection almost at will. Moreover, he always does what is best for the group. If you still need convincing … two words: <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Well Walker</strong>. If you have to ask, you are not a true Walking Dead fan.</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As one could imagine, a full day of zombie slaying drums up quite an appetite. Therefore, I chose Chef Emeril Lagasse—<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bam!</em>—to whip up our post Z-ass-kicking meal.</li>
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These are my ten.</div>
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What does your dream team look like?</div>
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P.S. In my STZA universe, Omega does not affect Wolverine. My imagination = my rules.</div>
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<a href="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/frayed-cover-front.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="frayed cover front" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-798" height="300" src="https://dyingdayszombie.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/frayed-cover-front.jpg?w=198&h=300" style="background: rgb(18, 15, 16); border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.901961) 0px 0px 5px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="198" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Below are links to Shawn Chesser’s latest STZA release. </strong></div>
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<u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0131X21WM" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Frayed: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse at Amazon</a></u></div>
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<a href="https://itun.es/us/1smk9.l" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Frayed at iBooks</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/mobile/w/frayed-shawn-chesser/1122455527?ean=2940152070934" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Frayed at Barnes & Noble</a></div>
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<a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/frayed-surviving-the-zombie-apocalypse" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Frayed at Kobo</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Connect with Shawn Chesser</strong></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/shawn-chesser-author/317987804885854" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">FB Author Page</a></div>
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<a href="https://tinyurl.com/ksr93lg" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">FB Page</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/shawn-chesser/e/b005quz194" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Amazon Author Page</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.shawnchesser.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ShawnChesser.com</a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Connect with Shawn Chesser on Twitter</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">@sdchess</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">* * * * *</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The stench of frozen flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Winter of Zombie Blog Tour 2015, with 40+ of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of November.</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stop by the event page on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" style="border: 0px; color: #fcb03e; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!</strong></div>
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-3757149562349431182015-11-07T06:14:00.000-08:002015-11-07T06:17:09.811-08:00#WinterofZombie 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you haven't stopped by, check out the 2015 #WinterofZombie Blog Tour! Head on over to <a href="http://www.dyingdayszombie.com/">www.dyingdayszombie.com</a> and get in with the most excellent Armand Rosamillia as he takes on 48 of the best minds in the Z-poc business. There are guest posts, interviews, and giveaways all month long. Check out the action on Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/" target="_blank">HERE </a>and be sure to catch my Spotlight On interview later today! There will be a sneak peek at the long-awaited Six Feet From Hell: Endgame later this month!</div>
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In other news, Refuge From the Dead - Lockdown is nearly complete. Cover art by the talented Eloise Knapp at <a href="http://www.ekcoverdesign.com/">www.ekcoverdesign.com</a>! Look for it to be released towards the end of November/first of December. </div>
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Don't miss out! Be sure to click "FOLLOW" on my Amazon author page to stay up-to-date on new releases! Click <a href="http://amazon.com/author/josephcoley" target="_blank">HERE </a>to go to my page.<br />
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Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-29837871286853427252015-08-31T21:23:00.000-07:002015-08-31T21:23:05.010-07:00Lost Between and Writemares available now!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pqU_OKdmuCH3GWKiU2KD0V78ttpj82FWm7JA3Vqy9VPWNrnnUV1aRgSA7bi0XoJFIX57JbYfdvem38HIO5f7gVhAL7hyphenhyphen5BptUmDzJ-q71txOrGId-MzMCAZsdUVQQSB6J3tOKP3kZcQ/s1600/TS+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pqU_OKdmuCH3GWKiU2KD0V78ttpj82FWm7JA3Vqy9VPWNrnnUV1aRgSA7bi0XoJFIX57JbYfdvem38HIO5f7gVhAL7hyphenhyphen5BptUmDzJ-q71txOrGId-MzMCAZsdUVQQSB6J3tOKP3kZcQ/s320/TS+1.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
Two new releases are hitting today! First, grab <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014OCUPVS" target="_blank">Writemares - A short story collection </a></i>and if that doesn't cure the itch, then grab <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141GAPNU" target="_blank">Lost Between - The Travelers Saga #1! </a> </i>Both are only 99 cents. <i>Writemares </i>includes short stories from the 6FFH universe as well as previously unreleased and released material. There are 7 total stories in <i>Writemares, </i>including one short in the Travelers storyline.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEzBPyLYJTcRZUGqTi_a5xLXkAMWol6FE6pdhc0wRYeTUEm9FZ1s5kkaz8yb_Qba2gaDVAzeoqrMHJ2gXZgKiab6yRufnq6RBxnGa1Gp1nNO0H1_uiebzriJve2DNFRSZZwzqovA9fC0/s1600/wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEzBPyLYJTcRZUGqTi_a5xLXkAMWol6FE6pdhc0wRYeTUEm9FZ1s5kkaz8yb_Qba2gaDVAzeoqrMHJ2gXZgKiab6yRufnq6RBxnGa1Gp1nNO0H1_uiebzriJve2DNFRSZZwzqovA9fC0/s320/wm.jpg" width="211" /></a>Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8328046489723348170.post-44341888671191328162015-08-27T09:04:00.004-07:002015-08-27T09:04:50.650-07:002 New releases!Lost Between - The Travelers Saga #1 is available for pre-order, release date of September 1st! Pre-order <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141GAPNU" target="_blank">HERE </a>This is my first foray into sci-fi, as well as the beginning of a new series for me. ALSO, a short story collection titled "Writemares" will be made available soon as well. This is a collection of some 6FFH short stories as well as some previously released ones and a couple new ones.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXAMTKTl4TcVk5-b1sQpg7nSUy1BKJe-SfNeHOhbGqytMIiUn3xC6_wcRN0liV_MYS0Jctb26CHh042CoFG1NnWla9GWVf3g6b8VVnSNyrd3XgGYZuYyYBTRq9vHrZsRNeCJxDxnILoA/s1600/wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCXAMTKTl4TcVk5-b1sQpg7nSUy1BKJe-SfNeHOhbGqytMIiUn3xC6_wcRN0liV_MYS0Jctb26CHh042CoFG1NnWla9GWVf3g6b8VVnSNyrd3XgGYZuYyYBTRq9vHrZsRNeCJxDxnILoA/s200/wm.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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Here's a list of the stories:<br />
Father of Many (6FFH)<br />
That Others May Live (6FFH)<br />
Ground Zero (6FFH)<br />
Signal 13<br />
A Night on Holcomb Road<br />
Repetition<br />
The Way Things Are Here (Travelers Saga short story)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQjxMlh2zwZfgpfo-xHIUTzNLg5ZS7eAXLcXvzQaKZd-_eR5jRJUlRLlJmvNiC_p3qyZs5YZBh_yiJsBofR6COdYeyYrh7-bNXcg-Oer7_3rMRMJxwttcAo6v6QjtIySs3vPPBm7pF_E/s1600/TS+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQjxMlh2zwZfgpfo-xHIUTzNLg5ZS7eAXLcXvzQaKZd-_eR5jRJUlRLlJmvNiC_p3qyZs5YZBh_yiJsBofR6COdYeyYrh7-bNXcg-Oer7_3rMRMJxwttcAo6v6QjtIySs3vPPBm7pF_E/s200/TS+1.jpg" width="133" /></a>Pre-order <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141GAPNU" target="_blank">HERE</a>!<br />
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<br />Joseph Coleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13067751888600425600noreply@blogger.com0