My newest zombie story is out!

The UNDEAD UNCENSORED anthology is out! I'm so excited about my story, "Save-Us", and can't wait to share it with zombie fans everywhere.

 

Here's the blurb:

 

Julie thinks she’s in for a fun day at Save-Us Warehouse, grabbing food samples and watching product demos while her parents pick up industrial-sized boxes of laundry detergent and pretzels. But when the horde ruins their shopping experience, she and her mom must dodge fleeing people, reanimated workers, and pallets of household goods to find her dad and escape. Cornered by zombies, they join forces with Luke, an ex-soldier and unlikely friend when Julie needs one the most.

Although she has supplies stockpiled for the apocalypse, Julie’s college courses didn’t prepare her for combat with the undead. Luckily, warehouse stores have plenty of handy killing devices. The name of the store may be Save-Us, but Julie’s going to have to save herself to make it out of Zombie 101 alive.

 

 

Here's a sneak peek from the story:

 

I’d always imagined zombies as male, but they apparently didn’t discriminate on gender… or age. An entire zombie family—toddler in tow—slid across the concrete floor, twisted mannequins with severed limbs. The lady giving out yogurt didn’t stand a chance. Zombie mom dove for her neck. Fresh blood blanketed the sea of white samples.

 

If you'd like to get a copy, you can order it from the following sites:

 

Amazon

Zombie Survival Crew: Undead Uncensored

Zombie Survival Crew Store

Zombie Survival Crew: Undead Uncensored

 

Thanks for all your support! If you grab a copy, let me know!

UNDEAD UNCENSORED!

I was very excited last year to have a story featured in the first anthology for the Zombie Survival Crew (ZSC), Undead is Not an Option.  You can purchase it in paperback here or as an e-book here. You can also purchase the paperback on Amazon here. So when the editors asked if I'd submit a story for a new anthology, I jumped at the chance. And starting on December 1, you'll be able to check it out! I will post more info about my contribution to this book of zombie fun at a later date. For now, you can read the briefing below sent out by the ZSC Commander-in-Chief or check out the ZSC website for more info!



From the mobile unit of ZSC Commander-in-Chief Juliette Terzieff:
 

After months of anticipation the day has finally come when we can release the cover art for Undead Uncensored, the second Zombie Survival Crew anthology. This year’s anthology is a vibrant collection of short fiction, poetry and non-fiction pieces designed to help you get your zombie freak on and prepare for what we might all face if the zombipocalypse hits!

Undead Uncensored features the work of yours truly alongside other ZSC Commanders actor Michael Rooker, award winning author LK Gardner-Griffie, and authors Jinxie G, R.C. Murphy and Amy Sundberg. ZSC crew members including Wendy Sparrow, Jessica Capelle, Robin Sellman, Amber Revelt, Stephanie Allen, Christopher De Voss and many others contributed their artistic endeavors to this creeptastic collection!!

Undead Uncensored is already available for pre-order here and orders will begin shipping on December 1, 2012.

Now without further ado… (yes, you can stop holding your breath now)

The cover for Undead Uncensored

 

 

Memes, Zombies, and Adverbs... Oh My!

Happy Monday (on the West Coast at least).  I tend to keep blogging early Tuesday morning instead of Monday.  Maybe I should change my blogging day to Tuesday! :-)

A new meme has been going around on the Internet this week called Lucky Sevens.  I wanted to play along, really I did, but I just couldn't follow the rules.  It requires you to go to page 7 or 77, start with line 7, and post the next 7 sentences or paragraphs.  Sounds like a blast, but here's my problem: I can't post anything I'm working on.  Really.  Here's why:

1) My #norobotschallenge YA manuscript, MW: Both page 7 and 77 are pivotal parts of the book for the main character.  Within those sentences/paragraphs are things integral to the plot.  Really don't want to post stuff like that.  Plus, I'm about to query, and I don't want an agent to stumble across it before he/she receives my query.

2) My partial roughdraft, MG manuscript, TI: Both pages 7 and 77 are bare bones with compressed time scenes that need to be fleshed out and have notes woven throughout.  The sentences aren't even complete since I've been jotting notes all over them.  Not really good for playing along.

3) My zombie short story for the Zombie Survival Crew's upcoming anthology: Not going there without permission!

So, since I can't do the Lucky Sevens meme, I thought I'd do something related that's also fun.  I ran across a snippet from my first zombie short story.  I posted it on my Facebook page when I was working on the roughdraft. It's from August 31, 2009. After I wrote it, I couldn't find a home for it until I heard about the first Zombie Survival Crew anthology contest.

"Erik cold? Jaimy warm up.” She pulled my face down to kiss me. After

a long kiss, she paused and pulled back. She opened her mouth

unnaturally wide and worked a loose tooth out of her decaying gums. It

popped out like she was 8. She giggled and made a comment about the

Tooth Fairy. That’s the thing with dating a zombie; you have to watch

out for errant body parts.

Now compare it to the final version, published in May 2011 in the anthology UNDEAD IS NOT AN OPTION:

“Erik cold? Jaimy warm up.”

Her hands hold my face in a vise-like grip as she pulls me toward her

deformed lips. Zombies are surprisingly strong for dead people. After a

long, drool-soaked kiss, she pushes me back and feels around in her

mouth. She opens it unnaturally wide as she yanks a loose tooth out of

her decaying gums, and a smell similar to rancid meat fills my nose for

just a second. As the acid rises in my throat, she giggles and mumbles

something about the Tooth Fairy. It doesn’t take me long to compose

myself since I’m used to it by now. Dating a zombie, you learn quickly

that you have to watch out for errant body parts.

What is with all those adverbs?! Yikes! LOL It's interesting to see how the structure remained the same, and even a lot of the language, but I think I upped the "ick" factor. :-)

 Not only is this cartoon awesome, it's by the fabulous Debbie aka Inky Girl. You should check out her site. Like now.  She rocks.

It's amazing to look back at my writing from when I first started seriously working on it (late 2008) and compare it to now.  I've learned and grown so much, but I continue to learn every day.  Craft improves the more you work at it, but there's always room for improvement.  I'll be continuing to hone my craft and learn as much as possible while I'm still breathing.

This time, the adverbs are going down.