zombies

All posts tagged zombies

Lockdown: A Zombie Anthology

Posted by dougdandridge on March 21, 2017
Posted in: Kindle, Plotting, self publishing, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

 

 

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You might be surprised to know that I did a zombie story that just came out in an anthology.  All of the other authors were predominantly horror writers.  I wrote one vampire novel years ago (The Hunger).  In fact, I prefer vampires, then liches for my undead needs.  But I mentioned to one of the people involved, Greg Ferrell, who lives in Tallahassee, that I would be interested in writing a zombie story.  As said, all of the other authors are well known in the field, including some best sellers.  But I have sales numbers in my genre, and that will get you a lot of invites.  So there I was.  And as some very successful people have told me in the past, don’t turn down an invitation if you are able to do what they want.  It always helps to get exposure.  And thanks to authors Mike Evans, Kindra Sowder, Claire C. Riley, Katie Cord, James Dean, William Allen, Kya Aliana and of course, Greg P. Ferrel.

Lockdown is set in a state of the art building that has been locked down at the beginning of a zombie outbreak.  We could choose any kind of business we wanted.  The only restrictions:  no firearms; and the world must have never before experienced a zombie outbreak.  I was given the eighth floor, I believe, and I chose a medical supply company run by an ex-doctor and a woman who had been a combat medic in Iraq.  That gave me a lot of possibilities for the characters to come up with zombie killing weapons when the floor started flooding with undead.

The release was just over a week ago, and it shot up to number one in new release horror, jumping ahead of some superstars in the field.  They had a big online party.  I really didn’t participate in that, since I’m not really one of the in crowd in this genre.  Surprisingly, I found some people on there who were fans of my space opera.  One mentioned that he wondered if I was that Doug Dandridge, the writer of his favorite science fiction series.  I’ll just say one thing about that.  As far as I know, there are three Doug Dandridge’s in the United States, and I think I am the only author.  I lucked out on the name, one that doesn’t have to compete with a bunch of people with the same nom de guerre.  Good luck if you’re John Smith.

I gained some new Facebook followers from that promotion, many of them fellow authors.  It’s always good to connect with these people.  You never know when an opportunity might arise to work on something, or to promote each other.  Lockdown was a fun project, and I would be open to writing more horror in the future, though science fiction and high fantasy will always be my true loves.  Lockdown is available on Amazon.

Zombies: Gotta Love Them while gagging on their stench.

Posted by dougdandridge on November 23, 2012
Posted in: eBooks, Fantasy, History, Kindle, Movies, Past, Plotting, science Fiction, self publishing, Sword and Sorcery, Tropes, Undead, Vampires, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Zombies seem to be the big thing in Hollywood right now. Even bigger than the much more powerful undead vampires, and so much more popular than mummies that it isn’t even funny. Mostly portrayed as shuffling hordes in various stages of rot, they overwhelm by weight of numbers. Most can be taken out by a head shot that destroys the brain, though in the Return of the Living Dead series even this will not stop them. Zombies used to be portrayed as the result of some supernatural power, raised from the dead by a priest or witch doctor and set on their enemies. Now they are mostly portrayed as the result of a virus or some scientific experiment gone bad. I will get into the fallacies of this chain of reasoning in a moment, and tell why I prefer the supernatural explanation.
I personally divide zombies into two categories: the Walking Zombie and the Running Zombie. Walking zombies are more akin to the traditional zombie we all know and love. They walked slowly, or if physically messed up, shuffle or even crawl about. They are easy to avoid as long as you don’t let yourself be bottled up in an area that is difficult to escape. As easy as this sounds, the movie heroes always seem to let this happen. Walking zombies can be easily avoided by walking away from them. Remember the lessons you learned in childhood around the swimming pool. Walk, don’t run, or you might fall down. And if you fall down the walking zombie that was two hundred yards behind you will suddenly tower over you, like they teleported. If you stay out in the open and walk you probably don’t have too much trouble staying away from these disgusting creatures. The only real problem is you have to sleep sometime, while the undead don’t have to. Running zombies, like those in 28 Days Later, are a different proposition entirely. As the name implies, they run, sometimes better and faster than they could while alive. Unless you are also a good runner then trying to get away is not an option. And running also carried with it the risk of falling, and the running zombie teleporting to your location before you can stumble back to your feet. No, the only option with the running zombie is to fortify in some strong position or to fight them. Unfortunately zombies seem to find their way into the strongest of places, somewhat like rats, so eventually they will get in, and you will have to fight them. Good luck.
So, supernatural or scientific explanations? I prefer the supernatural myself, just as for vampires. It is a better explanation as far as I’m concerned, an animating power not of this world that can make dead people, even in skeletal state, move and kill. Of course as it’s supernatural then there is no real need to feed on the living, unless the animating force is just assholish, which it probably is since its making dead people rise. The virus explanation just doesn’t seem to ring true. First off, how can a virus make rotting muscles and joints work, much less work well. The body is deteriorating, and that includes the nervous system. There should be no signals being sent from a rotting brain to rotting muscles through a rotting nervous system. Second is how they are powered. Yeah, I know, they eat people. But they are dead, and that means no metabolism. Their stomachs don’t digest food into sugars, sugars are not used to generate ATP, and there is no breaking of ATP to power muscles. They’re like a dead car that has no motive power. That’s why to me the supernatural approach is the better. They’re still creatures of the imagination, but in a more sensible manner. I use zombies in some of my fantasy novels, which of course always involves some kind of supernatural animating power. I will not use them in science fiction, as there is no scientific or physical explanation for them. I still enjoy watching the old movies and new shows like the Walking Dead, because I can suspend disbelief and enjoy the action. Can’t do that while writing, so I don’t even try.

Ghouls, the misunderstood undead

Posted by dougdandridge on November 1, 2012
Posted in: Barbarians, Comics, Dragons, eBooks, Fantasy, History, Kindle, Magic, Marvel, Movies, Plotting, Proofreading, self publishing, Shape Shifting, Superheroes, Sword and Sorcery, Tropes, Undead, Vampires, Websites, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

While vampires are the rock stars of the undead world, and zombies the everyman turned monster, and even mummies get some respect, ghouls seem to be the red headed stepchild of the monster world. A check of the movie databases reveal hundreds of movies about vampires made worldwide, zombies as the newest craze with scores of recent movies, and even mummies with movies in the double digits. I think there was one old black and white feature titled The Ghoul, and little else. It is the same in literature, with vampires commanding overwhelming attention and ghouls little if any mention. Robert E Howard seemed to like the idea of ghouls, featuring ghoul like creatures in several Conan stories, and Carter and De Camp placed them in at least one of the novels they wrote about the big Cimmerian. The ghouls in Howard were said to be stronger than human, with hair like wire, but they crunched satisfactorily when hit with a broadsword. There were also ghouls used in several of the old Gold Box D&D games, especially in sections that required the player to examine graveyards or deserted areas of town. Not all ghouls were stronger than human. Some were described as being weak creatures who overwhelmed their prey by force of numbers, sort of like zombies. Or, if the prey were dead bodies, there was no overwhelming necessary.
I guess one of the reasons for the dearth of ghouls in literature and film is the low threat level of the creatures. In most cases they can be avoided by not going into graveyards, especially at night, something most sensible people have no trouble doing. Or stay out of the haunted pass or woods that everyone in the area warns about. Vampires frequent clubs and dancing establishments, at least according to the movies, and zombies can come right into your yard and living room. No self respecting ghoul is going to be found in your yard unless you are throwing the mother-in-law’s body in the dumpster. Also, while vampires and zombies feed on the living, and mummies just kill the living out of sheer cursedness or out of revenge, ghouls are mostly carrion eaters. I mean they won’t pass up a meal if it happens to go walking by, but they prefer their meat tenderized through the process of decay. Hey, I guess whatever floats your boat.
I personally would like to see more of the ghoul. Not in my back yard, of course, but in the literature and movies of our time. It would be something different than the same old blood sucker or brain eater, even fresher than the much more sparsely done bandage wrapped priest or prince. Surely someone could come up with a good storyline that would fit with modern times. Maybe ghouls haunting the subways of New York or London, or people disappearing while walking by the graveyard of small town USA (you know, because there aren’t enough bodies being buried there). But I’m sure there’s an area waiting to be tapped by a person with the right imagination. So maybe another form of undead can join the ranks of the celebrated vampires and zombies.

Lions and Tiger and Vampires, Oh My.

Posted by dougdandridge on September 25, 2012
Posted in: eBooks, Fantasy, History, Movies, Past, self publishing, Shape Shifting, Tropes, Undead, Vampires, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Vampires have always been a fascination of mine. Hell, I think they have been a fascination for almost anyone who reads or writes in the realm of the fantastic. Vampires are the ultimate undead (and I know some of you Mummy fans are going to disagree). They retain their human intelligence for the most part, combined with the animal cunning of a predator. They are strong and fast (how fast depends on the mythology of the literature they inhabit). In some works, like Bram Stoker’s, they are able to assume the forms of animals such as wolves, bats and rats, and can turn into mist and slide through the smallest of spaces. And in some works, again Stoker is the example, they can control weather. In the old vampire lore staking might kill them, but trying to stake them at night was an exercise in futility, as the stake would just go through their incorporeal form. In more modern works a stake will take them out no matter what. The vampires of old lore were really more powerful, in most cases, than those of modern works. They really couldn’t be harmed at night, just chased off by religious symbols. It was only during the day, when they were in their coffins, that they could be destroyed. And they tried very hard to make their resting places hidden from even the most determined of hunters. Of course not all Vampires were powerful. In some Eastern European regions they were seen as very weak, weaker than humans, and sort of like zombies with more intelligence. And like zombies they were more dangerous in packs.
In modern times many vampires are treated as almost normal humans with extraordinary powers. They dance, they drink, they go to clubs, and only drink blood when they need to. Some are even goods guys, the detective in Forever Knight comes to mind. I like these stories, but am more attracted to the vampires that are really evil.
My own Vampire novel, The Hunger, is being offered for promotion on KDP Select on October 5th through 9th. I wanted this novel to be different from the modern stories I see so much of, so I decided to go to the roots. Bram Stoker. Now Stoker did not originate the vampire, but he borrowed from the various legends to create the monster we are most familiar with. Vampires who are strong and fast, but not the blurs that some moderns are. Able to shape change, control the weather, not able to enter a dwelling without an invitation, having to be in their coffins by sunrise, but also able to move around during part of the day. And most of all evil. Not good guys, who lament their being vampires, though they may be tormented by nightmares (not really in Stoker, but from some other early vampire movies, i.e. Mark Of The Vampire). And spreading their disease with each kill, not having to do some organized ritual to turn a victim into monster. Anyone they kill rises in three days as a vampire unless something is done to prevent it.
Lucinda Taylor, the protagonist, is a vampire. But she regains her free will when her master is killed and goes after her own targets. She still has to kill to survive, but she makes sure her kills don’t rise again. Other vampires in the story do the same thing essentially. The old vampire tales always bothered me in that the vampire always made too many of his kind, and nothing spoils the party like too many guests. People catch on, and as I say in the story, nothing scares the vampires more than a city’s Baptist Ministers reinforced by the National Guard on their trail. Vampires against troops and religious figures during the day is a no win situation for the undead. But make no mistake. Lucinda is still evil, and does evil to evil in the name of vengeance. And the book is raw, with street language, drugs, gangs, and sexual situations. Vampires use sexual attraction to lure in victims after all. This is not a book for those who prefer gentle language and gentle people. But then again, the subject matter is not a gentle one, when we are talking natural killers, both human and inhuman. I hope that people will take a look at this book when it hits its free promotion. I think it is as well written as The Deep Dark Well, my scifi novel. And now an excerpt.

“What the hell are you?” he screamed as the weapon clicked on the empty chamber. He reached frantically into his jacket, trying to fumble another magazine, then tried to ram it home. But as his hands shook the new magazine refused to go where the old one still resided.
Lucinda took off in a sprint toward the man, moving faster than humanly possible, faster than the swiftest sprinter. She lowered her shoulder and took Carlos in the ribs, feeling the bones crack as she lifted him into the air. The man struck his right shoulder and arm against the wall, grunting out his breath. Lucinda was past him and into the living room as he slid down the wall to the floor, the machine pistol falling from nerveless fingers as consciousness fled.
Lucinda pivoted on her right foot, turning toward the family room, as more bullets whizzed past her, the sound of cracking plaster and breaking porcelain sounding to her sensitive ears. One large man, with the mass of a football player, came straight at her from the glass doors, lowering his shoulders and reaching his arms out into a classic tackle. Lucinda leapt into the air and brushed the ceiling as she flew over his form, which was falling to the floor after not meeting the resistance it had been preparing itself for. The vampire did a turn in the air, as she thanked herself for the gymnastics lessons her mom had insisted that she take, and landed lightly on her feet.
She could sense that the door before her was locked, and she didn’t have the key. So going into a crouch and out again she sprung toward the double doors and crashed through the glass, leaving jagged hanging splinters behind her. Women screamed as she propelled her naked form across the flagstones. One man dropped his drink and made a grab for her, but a strong backhand lifted him from his feet and into the pool

The Zombie Apocalypse?

Posted by dougdandridge on August 29, 2012
Posted in: Comics, Dragons, eBooks, Fantasy, Magic, Movies, Plotting, science Fiction, self publishing, Tropes, Undead, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I was discussing with friends on Facebook about how Zombies are more fantasy and are never really science fiction. Not putting down all the zombie movies, comics and books. In fact I enjoy them myself. In fact, as stated on an article on Cracked.com, there are very few movies that can’t be improved with the inclusion of a zombie horde. But I am not really planning on getting ready for the zombie apocalypse myself, unless some angry God decides to animate dead rotting creatures with no metabolism to speak of. I have guns in my house, and a sword, and a big fricken kukri knife honed to a razor edge. And I expect that, God forbid, they are never used, but if they are they will be used on living creatures. I think the problem is that a lot of people actually believe that zombies can rise from the dead due to some virus or disease. They probably think the same thing about werewolves and vampires. I disagree. I majored in biology before switching to geology, and then back to biology education before graduating in psychology.. And I then went back to school to take anatomy and physiology course for pre-nursing. And in none of those biology based classes was it ever mentioned that dead rotting bodies can come back to life with nonfunctional nervous or muscular systems because they are infected with some virus. They can’t digest what they eat because the digestive system doesn’t work. Their muscles won’t work because they can’t create, store or use ATP, and they also have a bit of a problem with calcium transport. Same with the nervous system. Now again, I am willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the story, just as I am for giants and other too large creatures life flying dragons. But a good number of people in this country actually believe these supernatural creatures can be explained by scientific reasoning. Unfortunately that doesn’t work. I was talking to someone last week who was sure that rabies caused zombies. She said it stopped their hearts for two hours, and when they awoke they had an appetite for brains (a trope which came out of, well, I don’t know. Night of the Living Dead had them eat all of the human). I tried to explained that the brain would die, then went on to tell her that when everything rotted nothing would work. Her reply? Yeah, and then they rot and acted just like movie zombies. She didn’t hear a thing I said. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, seeing as to the state of science education in this country.
Now prior to modern times most zombie tales revolved around Voodoo, some kind of magic or possession in which the victim might be dead, or could be something else, or some spell place on the dead, which was similar to bringing skeletons to life. I liked this explanation much better. I also write fantasy, and use the undead liberally. Now I suspend my own disbelief when I write fantasy. I don’t really think some angry Elder God will be waiting for me outside my house when I go to my car. Nor do I think a horde of skeletons is going to come out of the ground. But if, and this is a really big but if, undead exist, it will be due to some supernatural explanation, and not some impossible biological process. (Hey, I love Dritzz Do’Urden also, but I will be shocked, probably to death, if I ever see a jet black elf wielding double magical sabers outside of my house). The scientific explanation doesn’t hold water. If someone puts out a really good movie or book about a shambling horde of rotting bodies eating brains, and explains it as a virus, I will suspend disbelief and enjoy the story in the spirit in which it was written. But I won’t tell people after seeing or reading the work that, oh, that’s how it happens.