David Moody's Blog, page 82

Autumn: Disintegration

Therapy time again… I’m writing these posts just to get them out of my system as I prepare to draw a line under the AUTUMN series. Today I’m looking at book four, DISINTEGRATION. I’ll have a couple of posts about short stories next week, then a piece about AFTERMATH to coincide with the UK release of the final book later this month. To learn more about the series, visit www.lastoftheliving.net.

When I finished writing AUTUMN: PURIFICATION, I thought that was it for the series. Then I realised I still had more to say and wrote THE HUMAN CONDITION (more about that book and AUTUMN: ECHOES next week). Once again, I thought I was through with zombies. But as I finished writing HATER back in early 2006, I changed my mind again and found a reason to return to AUTUMN.

The books were taking a critical hammering. They still do, to be fair, although these days people seem to be a little more accepting of zombie stories devoid of the usual flesh-eating clichés. For every positive comment I received, I seemed to get many more decrying the lack of blood, guts, guns and action in the novels. That frustrated me beyond belief. It would have been one thing criticising me if I’d done blood, guts, guns and action badly, but to have a pop because those things weren’t there seemed a little below the belt. I’m not one to respond confrontationally to a bad review (because we all know where that can lead) but I did need a way to work through my frustrations. AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION was it. I decided to see what would happen if I dumped a group of stereotypical zombie survivors into AUTUMN. I wanted to know how they’d cope.

But there had to be more to the new book than that. It had to be more than just following a group of folks battering their way through the living dead, because that would have made it just another bland, run of the mill zombie tale and I wanted to do something different. It occurred to me it would be infinitely more interesting to pit survivor against survivor: to imagine what might happen when those who’d managed to stay alive by fighting and killing were forced to try and survive alongside those who’d taken a more cautious approach. The potential for conflict was huge. You could argue they’d all chosen the right way because they were all still alive, but who would back down first? With all their lives on the line, would anyone accede?

I started a new job in August 2006. On the morning commute, driving along the motorway away from the centre of town, I passed by some very different looking buildings which sparked my interest. First was a series of particularly ugly blocks of flats: huge, three-winged monstrosities which dominated their surroundings and yet which managed also to look completely out of place against a backdrop of fields and rolling hills, as if the rest of the world was fighting to eject them. Further along the road was a large hotel which seemed more isolated than it actually was, but which looked like the ideal place in which to hole-up and sit out the zombie apocalypse. By the way, this year I moved house and I now live much nearer to both locations. Here’s a photograph of the flats in question, taken a couple of weeks back whilst walking the dog (who I’ll talk more about in a minute).

The pieces of the story seemed to just fall into place. Surrounded by new work colleagues in a new environment, inspiration for many of the characters came quickly (though I’m not going to say who inspired me or how!). I had an outline, some great scenes in mind, I’d made an announcement about the new book, and then… well then the real world got in the way. I was working full time whilst keeping Infected Books running in the evenings. Then life became beautifully chaotic when I sold the film rights to both AUTUMN and HATER in quick succession. In the midst of all of this, my father-in-law became seriously ill and we were visiting regularly – 400 mile round trips pretty much every weekend until he passed away. It was an incredibly strange time: euphoric highs and devastating lows with barely a pause for breath inbetween. And when people started getting shirty because I was late delivering DISINTEGRATION, I thought fuck ‘em.

It wasn’t until early 2008 when, thanks to Thomas Dunne Books acquiring rights to the HATER novels, I was finally able to quit work again and devote some time to writing. My first project was DISINTEGRATION, and the book was finished within a few months. And just as I was about to release it, Thomas Dunne in the US and Gollancz in the UK bought the rights to the AUTUMN series and publication was pulled. As you probably already know if you’re reading this, DISINTEGRATION didn’t see the light of day until November 2011.

It’s a book I’m really proud of. Running parallel with PURIFICATION, it extended the series logically and set up AUTUMN: AFTERMATH. It gave me a chance to write about a wider range of people than ever in a variety of locations from full-on urban decay to Survivors-like post-apocalyptic countryside opulence (of a sort). The bloodiest and most violent of the books, I hope it succeeded in showing why I reckon it won’t necessarily be the strongest or the fittest who survive the zombie apocalypse, it’ll probably be the people who think.

And finally, about that dog. I’ve written here before about my youngest daughter, and how she struggled with a condition called Selective Mutism. There’s a post about it here. One of the ways we tried to help her was to get a dog. SM is an anxiety problem which renders sufferers unable to speak, and the logic was that being out in public with a dog would give our little girl a ‘shield’ so she could deal more confidently with people she didn’t know. I won’t go into the ins and outs right now. Long story short, it worked, and now we can’t shut Zoe up! But I didn’t want a dog. When I left work and started writing full-time, I inherited the damn thing and feeding, walking and cleaning up after her became my responsibility. And looking back now, I can see my frustrations coming through in DISINTEGRATION.

            Harte looked around anxiously. He could hear something. It was a clack-clack-clacking sound, coming towards them along a corridor on their right. It didn’t sound human, but it was moving much too quickly to be one of the dead. He instinctively looked around for a weapon, but immediately relaxed when the source of the sound appeared: a scruffy black-and-white dog with short, wiry fur wearing a tatty red collar poked its head through the doorway and ran out, its claws tapping against the terracotta floor tiles as it moved. It stopped and cocked its head to one side, then looked back over its shoulder at the sound of more footsteps, heavier this time, and much slower.

A tall, stocky red-faced man who was hopelessly out of breath entered the room and grabbed hold of the dog’s collar. ‘Wow!’ he said, looking with disbelief at the size of the crowd gathered in reception.

            ‘This is Howard Reece,’ Martin said, and Howard grinned.

            ‘Good to see you all,’ he wheezed, relaxing and letting go of the dog.

It bounded over to Lorna and began to sniff at her dirty, bloodstained trousers and boots. She leant down and stroked its head. ‘What a beautiful dog,’ she said, ruffling its short fur. ‘What’s its name?’

            ‘I just call her Dog,’ Howard replied.

            ‘Original,’ Jas said sarcastically.

            ‘She doesn’t care,’ Howard said with a wry smile. ‘She  just attached herself to me when all this started, and now I can’t get rid of her.’

For the record, we’ve still got her. And as I type this, she’s doing all she can to stop me working. Bloody animal!

Autumn: Disintegration is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Halloween in Cheltenham – event cancelled

Well I was just in the middle of writing a post to remind you about the Halloween event in Cheltenham tomorrow, and word comes through that it’s been cancelled. Bugger. Apologies to those of you who were coming along. Huge apologies also for the short notice. I’ll post again tomorrow morning if we manage to secure an alternative venue.

In more positive news, don’t forget I’ll be at Horror in the East in Lowestoft this Saturday, alongside a host of other authors including Adam Baker, Joseph D’Lacey, Iain McKinnon, Adam Millard, Sean T Page and Conrad Williams.

And on Friday 9th November, Wayne Simmons and I will be in Maidstone, Kent. We’ll be signing at Waterstones, Fremlin from 3:30pm until 5:30pm, then appearing at Writing Allowed at the Hazlitt Arts Centre. Click here for more information.

Halloween in Cheltenham – event cancelled is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Chapter 28 of TRUST…

…is now online at www.trustdavidmoody.com.

Chapter 28 of TRUST… is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Waiting to be kicked down the stairs

Early TRUST reviewer Chris Bowsman said of the book “The payoff is immense, and once it gets going it’s like dozens of pages of falling down the stairs. Very highly recommended.” We’ve now reached the top of the staircase. From now until the end of the year/world, TRUST will be an intense read. Chapter 27 is available now, and if you haven’t been following the story from the beginning, read it all at www.trustdavidmoody.com.

More to come on Monday. Also coming up next week, more from my AUTUMN retrospective ahead of the imminent release of AFTERMATH in the UK, and I’ll be out and about as the “Never Trust a Man With Hair” tour continues. It’s Cheltenham Waterstones on Wednesday with Wayne Simmons, Adam Nevill and Joseph D’Lacey, then Horror in the East next Saturday (which, as I hope you already know, features a host of authors and is completely FREE!).

And finally, for a chance of winning copies of the AUTUMN books, check out the giveaways accompanying my recent guest posts at www.crazy-bookworm.com and www.bookchickcity.com.

Waiting to be kicked down the stairs is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Recommended reading – PORTLANDTOWN

Another book I was asked to blurb was released recently, and I thought some of you might be interested in it. It’s fair to say, Rob DeBorde’s PORTLANDTOWN is a unique zombie novel. Here’s the back cover speil:

“Joseph Wylde isn’t afraid of the past, but he knows some truths are better left unspoken. When his father-in-law’s grave-digging awakens more than just ghosts, Joseph invites him into their home hoping that a booming metropolis and two curious grandtwins will be enough to keep the former marshal out of trouble. Unfortunately, the old man’s past soon follows, unleashing a terrible storm on a city already knee deep in floodwaters. As the dead mysteriously begin to rise, the Wyldes must find the truth before an unspeakable evil can spread across the West and beyond.”

And I couldn’t resist reproducing this fantastic artwork I spied over at Rob’s site.

I said the book is “a unique and fascinating horror novel. Cowboys, the supernatural, steampunk, and zombies . . . Portlandtown has enough to keep even the most demanding genre fan satisfied” and I stand by those comments. Enjoy!

Recommended reading – PORTLANDTOWN is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Fragility

Strange day today. It’s always a struggle to concentrate on work when the kids are on holiday from school as they are this week, but today’s been particularly difficult.

First things first, this week’s first TRUST update is now available to read at www.trustdavidmoody.com. Still waiting for a couple of giveaway winners to get back to me. Check your Facebook messages please, folks. Wow – it comes to something when you can’t give books away!

Back to today: If you’ve been following me for a while, chances are you’ll have read some of the interviews I’ve done over the years. I often get asked variations on the same questions, and they usually include one or more of the following:

Why do I write about the end of the world?
How do I come up with my ideas?
When do I write?
What do I do in my spare time?

Obviously I try not to give the same answers all the time, but one of the reasons I usually give for my fascination with the post-apocalyptic is that, in my opinion, we’re constantly treading a fine line between normality and everything going to absolute hell. Earthquakes are perfect examples of this. One minute, everything is normal; the next, without any warning, everything’s literally falling apart. Your entire world can change beyond all recognition in an instant. Our unwillingness to accept or dwell upon the fragility of our own lives is understandable but it’s there and I don’t think it should be ignored.

The answer to the other questions I just mentioned frequently include references to running. Anyone who knows me will know that I run regularly. I’ll tell people it’s because it’s the only time I don’t get interrupted or distracted, and that I come up with some of my best ideas and plot twists while I’m pounding the pavements, but the real reason I run is because I love it. It’s good for the mind and the body, and it helps keep me focused.

One of the reasons I’ve struggled to maintain that focus today is because I was running yesterday morning. I ran the Birmingham Half-marathon – a race I love and one of many I take part in every year. Yesterday’s race was absolutely brilliant. 18,000 entrants running through my home town on a beautiful Autumn morning. And it was one of those days when it all came together too. I’ve been off my usual pace this year for one reason or another, but I’d finally managed to get my training routine back in order in the last few weeks, and I felt really good all the way around the 13.1 mile course. I finished with a personal best for the event and my third fastest half-marathon time ever. Result.

And then later, whilst at my parents for Sunday dinner, relaxing, surrounded by my family, we heard that a runner had died. A local man, Kevin Paterson, collapsed after completing the event and, despite the best efforts of everyone involved, he tragically passed away.

It’s sobering, isn’t it?

I’ve spent a lot of today wondering if that could have been me? Kevin was 36, I’m 42 next month. We both trained well for the run by all accounts. I’m sure we both set off yesterday morning with the intention of running a good race and enjoying ourselves. Yet I’m here today along with all the other competitors, and Kevin isn’t.

You can tie yourself up in knots thinking about this sort of thing, and today I have, hence the struggle to concentrate. It’s the second time I’ve run in a race where someone has died, and it’s shocking. But what do you do? Should I stop? I don’t know if I could. I think it’s good to be aware of your own fragility, but you just have to accept it and not become a slave to it, I guess.

I’m coming to the end of writing a new novel – 17 DAYS – the lead character of which is living his life against a ticking clock, so perhaps I’ve just been thinking about death a little too much recently. Whatever the reason, walking that thin line between normality and chaos feels a little more precarious than usual today.

Apologies for the rambling, non-book-related post. Just wanted to get that off my chest. Back to zombies, aliens and all the usual stuff tomorrow.

My sincere, heartfelt sympathies go out to Kevin’s family and friends.

Fragility is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Chapter 25 of TRUST and a giveaway update

Chapter 25 of TRUST is now available to read at www.trustdavidmoody.com. If you haven’t started reading the book yet, now’s the time to get into it. There’s a lot to cram in between now and the end of the world, sorry, year.

If you have read TRUST, then why not enjoy this great, spoiler-filled review of the novel from the excellent UK genre site, Geek Syndicate. “Forget the idea that this is an anti-science fiction novel. It has aliens in it and it’s a treatise on how the ordinary person copes when the world which they are familiar with changes beyond all recognition. In my mind, that makes it very simply, a very good science fiction novel.” Thanks to Ian J Simpson for the great write-up. The critical reaction to this book has genuinely blown me away.

And finally for this week, an update on the TRUST giveaway. The winners of the limited edition hardbacks and paperbacks have been chosen, I’m just waiting for the final couple to get back to me before I announce their names. If I haven’t heard from them by this time next week, I’ll pick replacements. So if you’re reading this, potential winners – get in touch!

Have a good weekend!

Chapter 25 of TRUST and a giveaway update is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

UK Festival of Zombie Culture

Really pleased to announce that I’ll be at Terror4Fun’s UK Festival of Zombie Culture at Phoenix Square, Leicester, on 17th November. It promises to be a brilliant event, with six zombie movies being screened (including the newly restored version of Zombie Flesh Eaters, and Before Dawn), several accompanied by Q&A sessions with the directors. There will also be a number of authors in attendance including myself, Wayne Simmons, Sean T Page, Adam Millard and the brilliant Charlie Higson. Can’t wait!

Before then, of course, I have a couple of other events. Wayne, Adam Nevil, Joseph D’Lacey and I will be celebrating Halloween at Waterstones Cheltenham. Unfortunately Adam Baker is no longer able to appear.

But Adam will be joining us in Lowestoft in November for Horror in the East – a brand new and completely free event. Click on the poster below or visit www.horrorintheeast.com for more information.

UK Festival of Zombie Culture is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

TRUST giveaway – closes midnight tonight (UK time)

You have until midnight tonight to enter the TRUST giveaway – click here for full details. And if you’ve already entered, why not enter again?

To get you in the mood, chapter 24 of the novel is now online at www.trustdavidmoody.com.

TRUST giveaway – closes midnight tonight (UK time) is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Your second helping of paranoia for the week – chapter 23 of TRUST

Things are starting to get really weird in Thatcham in today’s new chapter – read it now at www.trustdavidmoody.com.

And it’s almost your last chance to win a limited edition hardcover of the book – the TRUST giveaway ends this coming Monday. Click here to remind yourself of the details and to grab a few more entries before the competition closes.

Illustration by Craig Paton (www.craigpaton.com).

Your second helping of paranoia for the week – chapter 23 of TRUST is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books