Guest Post: Joseph A Coley #WinterofZombie
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What HASN’T been done?
Zombie fiction is diverse. Now, that being said, most Z-poc follows a fairly predictable pattern. Guy goes to work, school, cross country trip, etc. and ends up being away from home when the shit hits the fan. Guy goes through hell trying to get home and ends up making it/not making it only after finding himself and what he is all about on a treacherous, life-altering journey.
Sound familiar?
Now, that isn’t a bad thing. Every Z-poc story has something that makes it stand out from the rest. My series – Six Feet From Hell – is different because it follows a group of EMTs as they make said journey. DJ Molles’ The Remaining series is one man representing a military and a government that he may not agree with while trying to save innocent lives. John O’Brien takes on the Night Runners in A New World. Shawn Chesser’s Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse starts with his characters on complete opposite ends of the country, and getting there is half the fun. Then there is Rick Grimes battling the undead from Georgia to Washington D.C. in the critically-acclaimed comic and TV show The Walking Dead. There are limitless ways to get from Point A to Point B and keep the reader interested. Most authors do this quite well, but it begs the question nowadays…
What HASN’T been done?
Good question! Does it really matter? Yes, it does. Although the fountain of zombie goodness seems to be neverending, eventually ideas will start crowding with others and people will start asking if there are any original ideas left. Just like Brian Keene’s The Risinginvented zombie fiction, there is yet to be something that has reinvented it. IPs like The Walking Dead, Z-Nation, World War Z and others have put zombies in the mainstream, but again, people will start to get tired of it and they will want something shiny and new.
I’m all for someone taking the zombie genre and turning it on its head, and I may not be the person to do it (I’m a traditional Z-guy – slow and plodding) but someone out there is going to rework the zombie apocalypse into something spectacular and I personally cannot wait for it to happen. If you have an off-the-wall, crazy-assed zombie idea and you’re waiting to unleash it upon the masses, then I just have one question…
What are you waiting for?
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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!
