Guest Post: Rob E Boley #WinterofZombie
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Catching Up with Megan Hart:
An Author Who Apparently Can’t Run Very Fast but Writes an Amazing Zombie Epic
By Rob E. Boley
In an ever-rising ocean of zombie fiction, The Resurrected by Megan Hart stands out like a much-needed lighthouse beacon. Hart puts her own unique spin on the zombie genre, prefacing her zombie outbreak with tornadoes and freakish storms. These disasters herald purple and blue flowers that turn everyday folk into thrashing madmen and staggering ghouls. While Hart’s writing has many strengths, including some refreshingly real dialogue, she really shines with her sensory description. Whether the scene is gruesome, sexy, or shockingly both, she will put you in that moment with her skillful description.
What inspired you to write The Resurrected? Tell me a bit about the book’s origins.
I love zombies! Several years ago, I had this idea about a woman who, for one reason or another, was separated from her family at the time of a huge cataclysm — and how she would do anything to get back to her kids. Walk across the country, if she had to. The story started growing from there. Although I actually wrote part five of The Resurrected before I’d written anything else, because a friend of mine and I had gone out dancing one night and it was seriously like watching the zombie apocalypse happen. Only with bachelorette parties.
There’s no shortage of zombie fiction on the market. I can think of many things, but what—in your opinion—makes your collected serial stand out from the rest?
There’s a bit of a SF aspect to it, with the flowers/spores — rather than a virus, you’re actually infected with something more parasitic. Also, there is the element of consciousness that remains even after you’re resurrected.
Any favorite zombie books or movies that have influenced you?
Oh, all of them! Ha. The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (two non-zombie stories) — Night of the Living dead, of course. Really any zombie fiction that I’ve enjoyed managed to influence me even if it was by thinking, “ok, I won’t do it that way.”
Any significance to the blue and purple color of the flowers?
I often have blue and purple hair.
So, let’s say the fit hits the shan and you find yourself in a zombie apocalypse. What’s your game plan? How does Megan Hart survive?
Oh, man, I don’t. I can’t run fast enough. So I’m pretty much dead right away. HOWEVER. If I did survive, it would be by scavenging and hiding out and being proactive in that sort of thing. I still think I’d eat dirt right away though.
The zombie sex scene. Wow. Just . . . wow. That was expertly written—an exquisite blend of the erotic and grotesque. How did that scene come to be?
Thank you! I’ve been writing erotic material forever, so when it came time to write that scene, I knew I wanted it to be beautiful and also gross, because…well, they’re dead and falling apart. On the other hand, the best sex always includes “the little death,” right? Love hurts. The characters in that scene had found each other in a bizarre way, the world was ending, yet at the heart of us all as humans is this base and primal need to get it on. It’s one of my favorite scenes.
You’ve populated The Resurrected with a solid cast of very real characters. With which of them do you most identify?
Oh…Abbie and Kathleen. Abbie for the love of her children that pushed her to do whatever she had to in order to protect them, and Kathleen because once upon a time I was in Ocean City, Maryland, wondering what on earth would happen if the crowd in front of me turned vicious. (I don’t think I’d last even as long as she did, though!)
Any plans to return to the continuity you created with The Resurrected?
I did write a companion story set in the same world, at the same time, which explores a bit more of what’s going on. It’s called Nothing Else Matters and it’s in the Hot and Haunted Anthology (http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Haunted-Megan-Hart-ebook/dp/B008XO8T8A/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8) — it’s erotic romance so full of sexy stuff, but I did revisit the world of The Resurrected. I’d thought about doing some more, too — a “what happens after” piece that would take place, of course, after, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. And there’s something about the end of the book that I found so completely satisfying that maybe there actually isn’t anything that happens after. Maybe that’s all there is.
You’re certainly not an author bound by any one shelf in the bookstore, with books ranging from historical to sci-fi to romance. Any other new genres that you haven’t yet explored but would like to in the future?
I have written in so many genres that I can’t think of one I haven’t tried that I would *like* to — I’ve never written a mystery but don’t think I’d be good at it.
What new projects—horror or otherwise—can readers look for from you in the months ahead?
My first full length horror novel, Little Secrets, will be out from Samhain Publishing in early 2016. It’s psychological horror.
Little Secrets
New beginnings. With a baby on the way and a new house, it seems Ginny Bohn and her husband Sean are on their way to a fresh start. But stretched financially by their new purchase and with undercurrents of past strain rearing up, strange occurrences seem determined to keep Ginny and Sean stuck in the past. Ginny begins to believe the house is possibly haunted…or that her husband is trying to gaslight her into thinking so. As Ginny researches the house’s former owner and the tragedy that happened there, it becomes clearer than ever that something is in the house with them. The question is, who, or what is it?
I have an erotic fiction release, Hold Me Close, out from Mira Books in December 2015, and it has some horrific elements in it.
Readers who like YA horror can check out my other two zombie books, Contaminated andMercy Mode, written under the pen name Em Garner. And I’m writing more horror and mainstream fiction and romance and young adult and…lots of things!
Lightning Round:
On the rocks or neat?
Rocks.
Facebook or Twitter?
Twitter.
Breakfast or dinner?
BREAKFAST ALL DAY.
Zombies or unicorns?
Oh man…I can’t choose!
Sketches or poems?
Poems, very bad poems.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee.
Zombies: shamblers or sprinters?
I’m a fan of the shambler, if only because that’s old school, but sprinters scare me more because I can’t run very fast!
About Megan:
Megan Hart writes books. Some of them use a lot of bad words, but most of the other words are okay.
She can’t live without music, the internet, or the ocean, though she and soda have achieved an amicable parting of ways. She can’t stand the feeling of corduroy or velvet, and modern art leaves her cold. She writes a little bit of everything from horror to romance. Find out more at http://www.meganhart.com, http://www.facebook.com/megan.hart andhttp://www.twitter.com/megan_hart.
About Rob:
Rob E. Boley grew up in Enon, Ohio, a little town with a big Indian mound. He later earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
He’s the author of The Scary Tales series of dark fantasy novels featuring mash-ups of classic fairy tale characters and horror monsters. His fiction has appeared in several markets, including A cappella Zoo, Pseudopod, Clackamas Literary Review, and Best New Werewolf Tales. His stories have won Best in Show in the Sinclair Community College Creative Writing Contest and the Dayton Daily News/Antioch Writers’ Workshop Short Story Contest.
He lives with his daughter in Dayton, where he works for his alma mater. Each morning and most nights, he enjoys making blank pages darker. You can get to know him better by visiting his website at www.robboley.com.
Website: http://www.robboley.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/robboley
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RobBoleyAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4097555.Rob_E_Boley
Twitter: http://twitter.com/robboley
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RobBoleyAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4097555.Rob_E_Boley
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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.
Stop by the event page on Facebook so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser…and pick up some great swag as well!
Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!
#WinterofZombie is the hashtag for Twitter, too!
