Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2014

You click here and this will take you right to the SUMMER OF ZOMBIE 2014 BLOG TOUR LINKS so that you won’t miss a single segment.

*******************

Oh shoot. I hate it when I forget things, but I lost my memory sometime ago and haven’t found it yet. I had faithfully promised to post this blog this morning and here it is dinner time and I am still farting around.

Never trust a man with a beard.

Now instead let me turn this blog over to the lovely Shana Festa – the author of TIME OF DEATH as well as this guest-blog entry.

And, if you click on this picture it will take you directly to the official Facebook homepage of the TIME OF DEATH virtual release party!

**********************

Zombies: A Lifetime of Torture

My father used to torture me with horror movies. Every night he would find the scariest movie available and turn it on. Being the eighties, we only had the main television, so unless I wanted to go to bed after dinner, my only other option was to watch with him. Nightmare on Elm Street, American Werewolf in London, Child’s Play and Night of the Living Dead, were staples in our household.
He would up the ante by doing things like sneaking outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night to scratch at the window and howl. Or, his favorite, ask me to get things from his truck and turn off the exterior lights when I got ten feet from the front door and yell, “Watch out for Freddy & Jason!” and then he’d close the front door. I could hear him laughing from behind the door, but I’d be too concerned about the imaginary monsters sneaking up on me! Love you, dad…you big jerk!

My love for the zombie spawned from necessity. I always felt drawn to scary movies, clearly a glutton for punishment. I had seen all the “of the Dead’s” to date, my favorite being the original Dawn of the Dead (1977) and I was a huge fan of the Resident Evil (2002) movie. Sure it got my heart racing and I could only watch it through a small gap in my fingers, but I discovered I could watch scary stuff during daylight hours and not be as terrified. Nighttime was an entirely different story.

When the new Dawn of the Dead (2004) came out, I made a critical mistake…the sun had gone down during the movie.

For three months I tortured my husband with my irrational fears. I made him barricade the bedroom door with furniture every night and slept with the lights on. It got so bad that I couldn’t even close my eyes in the shower without seeing that little girl (the first zombie appearing in the remake), and I couldn’t go outside alone in the dark. One night we were sitting on the back lanai, it was basically a screened in rectangle big enough to fit a table and grill. I heard a noise in the courtyard and had…well, we’ll just call it…a moment. I hopped the table faster than humanly possible and leapt over hubs shoulder, running straight into the closed sliding glass door and bouncing off. Then I locked him outside and left him for dead. Not my finest moment, I’ll agree. But at least it’s been the source of years of humor at Chez Festa.

Three months later, I decided to take matters into my own hands and watched the movie until it no longer scared me. Mind you, I still only watched in the daytime. From that, my addiction to the genre was born. Books, Movies, TV Shows, Videogames. You name it, I found it. 300 zombie books later, not much scares me. I’m slicker now, though. Instead of covering my eyes with my fingers during The Walking Dead, I hold dog, Daphne, in front of my face and peek between her ears.

So, a lot of people ask me what zombies symbolize for me. I’m no deep thinker when it comes to my zombies. You won’t find any hidden cultural references that compare the zombie to the fall of our modern day society, or any crapola like that. It’s simple…pure carnage. I love a monster with the insatiable urge to destroy, feed, and infect. There’s no rhyme or reason and trying to predict a pattern with zombies is virtually impossible.

Bring on the blood, guts, and slaughter. I dare you to try and scare me…and if you do, just know that it’s been proven: when running from a zombie, I will be faster, regardless of my lack of cardio, and I can be ruthless.

Links:

Shana’s Website
Shana’s Blog
Shana’s Twitter
The Bookie Monster Facebook

Author/Book Facebook

Shana’s Google+

Shana’s Pinterest
Shana’s Goodreads

* * * * *

The stench of rotting flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2014, with 33 of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of June.

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!

Don’t forget to Tweet this out and add the hashtag #SummerZombie

And – if you click on this picture it will take you directly to the Amazon listing for TIME OF DEATH – and it looks like a truly kickass book!

********************************

And, one last time – my most sincerest apologies to Shana and Armand for being so freaking late.

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon