David Moody's Blog, page 93

Recommended reading – Maberry's Dead of Night

Something else I'm planning to do with increased regularity throughout 2012 is recommend more books. I have a massive 'to read' pile which I'm steadily working my way through (actually, make that a 'to blurb' pile*), and I thought it would be good feature here some of the books I've recently blurbed and genuinely enjoyed. No reviews as such, just the publisher's blurb, my blurb and, occasionally, a few words from the author.

Okay, I'm several months late with this one, and most self-respecting zombie fans will already know about it or own it, but I'd like to recommend Jonathan Maberry's DEAD OF NIGHT.

"A prison doctor injects a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave.  But all drugs have unforeseen side-effects.  Before he could be buried, the killer wakes up.  Hungry.  Infected.  Contagious.  This is the way the world ends.  Not with a bang… but a bite."

Great stuff as usual from Maberry. This is a fast-paced, by the numbers zombie story, written with confidence and style by a man who knows a thing or two about the living dead. I have a fascination with what goes on inside a zombie's brain: do they remember anything? Are they trapped and helpless? Are they as evil as we frequently assume them to be, or are they victims too? One of the highlights of Dead of Night for me was the way Maberry handles this question, presenting a terrifying disconnection between the reanimated corpses and the conscience which once controlled them.

I said: "Dead of Night stands drooped head and lurching shoulders above most zombie novels. The nightmare increases exponentially – from minor outbreak to major crisis with unstoppable speed, building to a heart-stopping climax you won't be able to put down."

Highly recommended reading!

* On the subject of blurbs – I've committed to enough to last me about six months, and I'm steadily working my way through them. Please don't send any more my way, because there's just no way I'll be able to read them for the foreseeable future. Sorry to be a pain. Thanks for understanding!

 

Recommended reading – Maberry's Dead of Night is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Children of Men

It's been far too long since I recommended any films on this site. Here then is another classic up for consideration as part of my Post-Apocalyptic Movie Club. I'm going to try and post these with much more regularity throughout 2012.

The film I've chosen today is one of my all time favourite movies, and one of those rare instances when a film adaptation clearly surpasses the source material. I'm talking about CHILDREN OF MEN, directed in 2006 by Alfonso Cuaron, and starring Clive Owen, Michael Caine and Julianne Moore.

Where do you begin with a film like this? It's a matter of personal tastes of course but, for me, Children of Men is almost note perfect.

Back in 2009 when I was writing Dog Blood, I talked a lot with my editor about world building – creating a believable environment in which your characters can interact and your story can take place. There's a lot of clumsy science-fiction out there where the technology becomes the focus – the MacGuffin if you like – diverting the audience's attention from the plot. Landmark films such as Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and, of course, Blade Runner, presented alternate visions of the future where people simply go about their lives as we do, but using the tools and technology of the future. Deckard doesn't bat an eyelid when he gets into his flying car – he just gets into his car. In 2001, Dave and Frank casually check the news on their tablet computers (which just so happened to pre-date the iPad by 50 years or so). Do you see what I'm getting at? Although more than 40 and 30 years old respectively, both films still hold their own, not least because of the plausible landscapes in which they're set.

Children of Men takes place in a dystopian world which feels both incredibly real and uncomfortably close. It's based on a 1992 PD James novel, but other than keeping the basic premise it deviates considerably from the original text. (An interesting side-note: PD James has a home in Southwold and part of the novel takes place in the town. Southwold, of course, is also where Danny McCoyne makes his last stand in Them or Us, the final Hater book.)

It's 2027, and it's 18 years since the birth of the last baby. The human race has, for reasons unknown, become completely infertile. A former political activist (Theo, played by Owen) is recruited by his ex-wife (Julian – Julianne Moore) to help smuggle a female refugee out of the country to reach the Human Project, a ship-based sanctuary floating somewhere on the English Channel. And why is this particular refugee so important that people are willing to risk their lives for her? Because she's pregnant.

Children of Men makes for an incredible viewing experience. I began this post by talking about world building, and it's here that the film really comes into its own. I can't recall having ever seen a more gloriously visualised world. It's clear that society is crumbling, and the landscape seems to be decaying along with the aging population. There are some wonderful visual treats here, and the level of detail shown is remarkable. Check out the passing shots of the corpses of farm animals burning in the fields; the frothing sewage pumping out into streams unchecked; the dilapidated school buildings, unused for years… My personal favourite – and this perfectly illustrates the level of detail we're talking about here – the grubby London 2012 sweatshirt Theo wears in the final scenes in Bexhill. Bear in mind that this film was made in 2006…

But it's not just how the film looks that makes it special, it's also how it moves. There are some wonderful extended scenes which, to me, are just breath-taking in their execution. The editing, camerawork, special effects and direction combine to devastating effect on several occasions when scenes of apparent normality descend into chaos in what appear to be seamless, single takes. Theo's narrow escape from a terrorist bomb in the opening scenes is one such example, an attack on a moving car another. All of these pale into insignificance, however, alongside the climactic confrontation in Bexhill. There are spoilers ahead, but do check this out:

Extraordinary. As you've no doubt gathered, Children of Men comes highly recommended. I'll not spend an age going through the ins and outs of the story, or discussing the performances of the uniformly excellent cast, instead I'll just suggest that you get hold of this film and watch it. If you've already seen it, watch it again.

Next time at the Post-Apocalyptic Movie Club – a slice of obscure, made for TV, 1980's US Cold War drama.

Children of Men is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Ain't It Cool News liked the AUTUMN movie

It was really great to see the AUTUMN movie featured over at Ain't It Cool News recently.

"Rather than diving into flesh eating ghoul territory, Moody's AUTUMN takes a more patient and scientific approach. In many ways, this is a thinking man's zombie flick with some fun performances and decent effects… AUTUMN makes for a damn fine zombie experience… definitely worth seeking out for the geek in search of genuine scares and interesting takes on the sub-genre."

As luck would have it, those of you in the UK can catch the movie on TV again in the early hours of Friday morning. It's also available on DVD in various countries. Click here for more information.

Ain't It Cool News liked the AUTUMN movie is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

The Cost of Living – free flash fiction at www.thisishorror.co.uk

The title of this post says it all really. Here's a (very) short new year's treat for you.

The Cost of Living – a beautifully illustrated (by Daniele Serra) little slice of post-apocalyptic flash fiction, hosted by my good friends over at www.thisishorror.co.uk as part of their Flash Fear series.

Click here to read the story.

The Cost of Living – free flash fiction at www.thisishorror.co.uk is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Announcing ISOLATION

Hope you've had a great New Year!

I mentioned in a recent post that I'll be trying a few different things this year, but that doesn't mean I'll be completely turning my back on the post-apocalyptic tales of doom which have served me well so far! I wanted to start 2012 by formally announcing a project which I, along with several others, have already been working on for some time.

If you've been following me for a while, you'll probably have heard me describe myself as a frustrated film-maker. I've made no secret of the fact that film is something I've long wanted to get more involved with, and in 2012 that's going to happen.

ISOLATION is a film project I'm working on with Will Wright. Will and I met a couple of years back and, born of a mutual desire to make a certain type of zombie movie, we immediately started plotting. We now have a script, a strategy, and a number of industry professionals ready to help us turn our story (actually stories) into a unique movie.

I'm not going to tell you very much more just yet, other than the fact we'll be filming in and around Birmingham, UK, this summer. So why I am telling you this today instead of waiting until we've got something more tangible to show you? The answer's simple – we want you involved from the outset. We want you to help shape this project. Over the coming weeks and months we'll be revealing more and more about ISOLATION and asking for your feedback and ideas. If you're a designer, musician, make up artist, actor, stunt person, promotions expert etc. etc. then we want to hear from you. If you're a zombie fanatic who has very definite ideas on the kind of zombie movies you'd like to see, then we want to hear from you. If you just like the idea of playing dead on film, then we want to hear from you!

More to come very soon. In the meantime, follow ISOLATION on Twitter and Facebook, join the mailing list, and keep an eye on the website. Until then, here's DefDFires zombie-themed video for The Palace, directed by Will.

Announcing ISOLATION is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Autumn: Disintegration released in the UK today

I hope you're all enjoying the holidays. Here's my last post for 2011, and it's one that I've been looking forward to for a long time.

AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION is, at long, long last, released in the UK today. I've already talked a lot about the book and the reasons for its numerous delays (click here for a reminder), so today I just want to concentrate on the positive news that the book is finally out. For a reminder of the plot of the new novel and to understand how it fits in with the rest of the AUTUMN books, click here.

A limited number of signed copies of the UK hardcover edition are now available from Infected Books. Click here for more details.

Thanks again for all your support throughout 2011. I'll be back very early in 2012 with loads of good stuff. Until then, enjoy DISINTEGRATION and have a Happy New Year!

Autumn: Disintegration released in the UK today is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Happy Holidays (and Christmas Zombies!)

Hello! Long time no post! You might have noticed the lack of updates here over the last couple of weeks. After the madness of November (lots of book releases and events etc.), I ended up taking a very definite step back to survey the landscape. 2011 has been a phenomenal year and now, almost at the end of it, I find myself in a position I haven't been in for a while. All my contracted books have been delivered and I'm taking my time deciding what to do next. It's a good feeling – quite liberating, actually. The last five years (and in particular the last three) have been pretty full-on. It's been HATER and AUTUMN all the way, and I'm ready for a change of direction. I'll tell you more about my plans in early 2012.

But just looking back over 2011 for a moment, I'm amazed how many releases I managed to chalk up: In the US, AUTUMN: THE CITY, AUTUMN: PURIFICATION, AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION and THEM OR US were all released, along with the mass-market edition of DOG BLOOD. It was the same in the UK, along with a mass-market edition of AUTUMN as well. Elsewhere, SEPTIEMBRE ZOMBIE and CIUDAD ZOMBIE were released in Spain, and translations of HATER appeared in Romania, Japan and Italy. Oh, and there was THE MONSTER'S CORNER anthology, and my story for the recent SFX ZOMBIE SPECIAL. See what I mean? It's been a busy year! And that's before I start talking about the events and signings and interviews and meetings and website launches etc. etc. 2011 has been a blast, and thanks to everyone who has been a part of it.

This won't be my last post of the year, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Happy Christmas. Whatever you celebrate, wherever you are, have fun! I'll leave you with a festive treat. Remember back in October when Wayne Simmons, Jasper Bark and I ended up holed-up in Leicester, surrounded by zombies, discussing our love for the genre and our favoured survival techniques? Well here's the video evidence.

It's very tongue in cheek and everyone had a huge amount of fun on the day. Thanks to Vince, Adele, and all involved with Un:Bound Video Editions.

Happy Holidays (and Christmas Zombies!) is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Recommended reading – Outpost

I've got a few book recommendations to share with you over the coming weeks, and today it's the turn of Adam Baker's wonderful OUTPOST. A few months back I saw the cover popping up with increasingly regularity online and I was intrigued. Several people recommended the book to me and when I discovered that Adam himself was a member of Moody's Survivors, I immediately got hold of a copy. For anyone who hasn't yet read it, here's the blurb:

"They took the job to escape the world. They didn't expect the world to end.

Kasker Rampart: a derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean. A skeleton crew of fifteen fight boredom and despair as they wait for a relief ship to take them home.

But the world beyond their frozen wasteland has gone to hell. Cities lie ravaged by a global pandemic. One by one TV channels die, replaced by silent wavebands.

The Rampart crew are marooned. They must survive the long Arctic winter, then make their way home alone. They battle starvation and hypothermia, unaware that the deadly contagion that has devastated the world is heading their way…" 

OUTPOST is a great, fast read. Baker presents a truly nightmarish scenario (on many levels) which twists and turns like you wouldn't believe. Considering the isolation and inaccessibility of the refinery location, he manages to spin the tale off in several unexpected directions whilst still maintaining an air of claustrophobic hopelessness. I really enjoyed the book, and I contacted Adam to ask a few questions about the novel and his career in general.

In interviews I've often talked about my first viewing of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and the effect it had on me. Whilst reading OUTPOST, the polar desolation felt reminiscent of John Carpenter's THE THING, and it seems that that movie had a similar effect on Adam as NOTLD had on me: "My cousin rented it on VHS in the early eighties. We drew the curtains, planted ourselves in front of the TV and let it scare the life out of us. The atmosphere of that single viewing grew in my imagination. The cold. The isolation. The dread."

Although he says he's always wanted to be a writer, Adam's CV lists a number of unusual vocations including gravedigger, mortuary attendant, and cinema projectionist which, he says, "was a great gig because, once the films were running, I could sit in the projection box and write. Most of OUTPOST was written during late-night Saturday shows at Cheltenham Cineworld." As well as time to write, it seems the projectionist job also provided plenty of inspiration. I asked Adam what kind of research he did to make the refinery setting in the book so believable. He told me a lot of it came from working "in a dilapidated cinema. I became a connoisseur of industrial decay. Paint-caked water-pipes, rust-streaked ducting, dust-furred girders. Kasker Rampart, the oil refinery in OUTPOST, is a floating city constructed from these textures and memories."

OUTPOST is an excellent book which I thoroughly recommend. Adam's next novel, JUGGERNAUT – the prequel to OUTPOST – is out in February with the third book in the series due later next year.

Recommended reading – Outpost is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

The Autumn artists – David Naughton-Shires

Earlier this week I showed you the sights of post-apocalyptic Lowestoft thanks to the artwork of David Naughton-Shires. Many of you will know that David also provided a number of pieces of art for www.lastoftheliving.net. I thought it was about time I featured him here and talked a little more about his work.

When the call for Autumn artwork first went out in Summer 2010, David was one of the first to respond. Within days he'd sent me illustrations for Brigid Culthorpe and Jacob Flynn, and even more art soon followed: Karen Chase, Jim Harper and my personal favourite, Office Politics (see below). David's distinctive style is quite unlike the approaches taken by the other contributors to the site, and I think the mix of approaches works well.

But as well as being a keen artist and designer (he's particularly proud of the Department of Military Sciences logos he recently created for Jonathan Maberry's Joe Ledger books), David's also the co-owner of KnightWatch Press, an up-and-coming publishing house responsible for such cracking titles as Rhonnny Reapers Roadkill Café and Soul Survivors. I asked him a few questions about KnightWatch, and about his influences and techniques.

Whilst David's happy to make the most of technology (extolling the virtues of his iPad because – quote – it makes him feel like Captain Kirk), when writing or drawing, he goes back to basics first "My favourite medium to work in is actually white copy paper with a blue biro, I find I do all my planning in this form but never are these mini masterpieces seen – they are for my eyes only.  But I like to do my final pieces on Bristol card with black ink."

His love of the traditional comes from memories of watching his granddad – a sign writer – at work, back when sign-writing was (in his words) a true art form and there wasn't a computer in sight. "One of my earliest memories was watching him stood on top of a tall wooden ladder with a palette and brush painting the sign hung outside a pub. It was only a touch up job he was doing but when he had finished you couldn't tell where the old work finished and the new started. He was an artist in the truest form."

David's influences today are varied – from Hieronymus Bosch and William Blake, through to comic book artists Neil Adams, Jim Lee and Danny Kelly.

David formed KnightWatch Press because of his frustrations in dealing with some traditional publishers. Since the publication of Rhonny Reaper, the press has lined up plenty more projects including CODE Z: An Undead Hospital Anthology, and a huge number of novels, comics and anthologies (including more from the Survivors). And if that's not enough, David's also in the early planning stages of SurvivorCON – a post-apocalyptic convention to be held in Ireland next year (count me in!).

So many thanks to David for his Hater and Autumn-themed artwork which a lot of people – me especially – have appreciated. If you want to keep in touch with David or learn more about his work, you can follow him on Facebook or keep up to date with www.KnightWatchpress.info and www.theimagedesigns.com.

The Autumn artists – David Naughton-Shires is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Scream Magazine issue 8

Issue 8 of SCREAM is out now. As well as the usual stack of great features, reviews and interviews, it also features an in-depth interview with me which was carried out by Michael Wilson of the superb Read Horror website.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, SCREAM is a magazine for people who genuinely love horror, not just those who want to sell it. Click this link to pick up a copy, and try it for yourself if you haven't already.

Scream Magazine issue 8 is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series