David Moody's Blog, page 97

Scream Magazine Issue 7

Issue 7 of SCREAM Magazine is now available (did you see their great quote gracing the UK cover of THEM OR US, by the way?). As usual, there's lots of great stuff inside, including interviews with Robert Englund, Rutger Hauer and Simon Oakes – CEO of Hammer Films.

Visit the website to order a copy (click here) or, if you're in the UK, you can now pick up SCREAM from your nearest branch of FORBIDDEN PLANET.

Scream Magazine Issue 7 is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Grimm Up North 3

I'm really pleased to announce that I'll be at this year's GRIMM UP NORTH horror festival in Manchester. I'll be there on Sunday 9th October. More details about what I'll be doing will follow shortly.

Taking place at the city's AMC cinemas complex in Deansgate, the third Grimmfest looks like being another cracking event. There are some great films showing, including Lucky McKee's THE WOMAN, the Ford brothers' THE DEAD, and THE WICKER TREE, Robin Hardy's long-awaited sequel to THE WICKER MAN. Can't wait.

By the way, I've got a few more events coming up shortly, so I've added an 'upcoming appearances' widget to the sidebar of this site. Keep an eye on it. There's some good stuff coming…

Grimm Up North 3 is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Autumn: Disintegration – long delays and parallel sequels

I've just emailed the final corrections to my publishers, so that means AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION is at last finally ready for publication.

It's been a long haul. The book was originally announced in early 2006, and I intended to write it as soon as I'd finished the project I was working on at the time (that was HATER, by the way). A combination of work (I was working full time and trying to run Infected Books – a full-time job in itself back then), family issues, and various other distractions (such as the AUTUMN movie entering production, Guillermo del Toro becoming associated with the movie adaptation of HATER, and Thomas Dunne Books acquiring worldwide rights to the HATER series) prevented me from actually finishing the book until June 2008. I was poised, ready to release DISINTEGRATION through Infected Books, when I found myself in London meeting the team from Gollancz who'd just obtained the UK rights to HATER. They asked what else I was working on, and I duly handed them copies of the AUTUMN books (which I just happened to have with me!). They asked me not to do anything with DISINTEGRATION just yet, and who was I to argue? Within two months, the AUTUMN books had also been bought by Thomas Dunne.

Traditional publishing is usually much, much slower than self- or independent- publishing (I used to have books on sale within weeks of having finished writing them – now it's years…). Even with the accelerated release schedule the AUTUMN books have enjoyed both in the UK and US, it's taken another three and a half years to finally get close to the release of DISINTEGRATION.

I'm sorry for the delay. Thanks for sticking with me!

Last week I gave you a little background information about the book and hinted at the plot. This week I wanted to explain a little more about how DISINTEGRATION fits in with the rest of the AUTUMN series.

Those of you who've now read the first three books – AUTUMN, THE CITY and PURIFICATION – will know that they form a self-contained trilogy, and while I was writing them (between 2001 and 2004 originally) that was always the plan. But as I mentioned in my previous post, a couple of things happened which changed my mind and it quickly became clear that there were still many more stories to be told in the Autumn 'universe'.

I've already told you about my inspiration for writing DISINTEGRATION. Although it was originally  going to be a completely standalone novel, when I came to write the book I realised I wanted it to form a part of the overall story arc. I decided to make it a 'parallel sequel' and set the book during the same time-frame as PURIFICATION. As you'll see when you read the book, although none of the characters from the two books meet, there's a definite cross-over. In fact, the actions of the characters from PURIFICATION directly influences the decisions made by the cast of DISINTEGRATION. Does that make sense? It will, trust me.

So how does AUTUMN: AFTERMATH (due out in 2012) fit in? I don't want to say too much about the final AUTUMN book just yet, but I don't mind telling you this: it's a direct sequel to both PURIFICATION and DISINTEGRATION, and it also involves a character which long-time readers may remember from THE HUMAN CONDITION (and his story will appear on www.lastoftheliving.net early next year).

There will be a proliferation of AUTUMN and HATER posts here before the end of the year, and I'll try and alternate. Next time I post about DISINTEGRATION, I'll introduce you to the cover star of the US edition: The Swimmer.

Autumn: Disintegration – long delays and parallel sequels is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Them or Us – UK cover art

The final cover art for the UK edition of THEM OR US (out November 17) has just appeared on the Orion Books / Gollancz website, so I thought I'd display it here too!

Them or Us – UK cover art is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Recommended reading – The Panama Laugh

It's been a while since I recommended any books (hell, it's been a while since I've been able to read any!) so here's an interesting one for you…

Over the summer I blurbed Thomas Roche's THE PANAMA LAUGH. It's safe to say I hadn't read anything like Roche's book before. It defies categorisation, so it's probably best to leave it to the author to describe. He calls it a "a gonzo pulp action zombie thriller", and here's the synopsis:

Ex-mercenary, pirate, and gun-runner Dante Bogart knows he's screwed the pooch after he hands one of his shady employers a biological weapon that made the dead rise from their graves, laugh like hyenas, and feast upon the living. Dante tried to blow the whistle via a tell-all video that went viral – but that was before the black ops boys deep-sixed him at a secret interrogation site on the Panama-Colombia border. When Dante wakes up in the jungle with the five intervening years missing from his memory, he knows he's got to do something about the laughing sickness that has caused a world-wide slaughter. The resulting journey leads him across the nightmare that was the Panama Canal, around Cape Horn in a hijacked nuclear warship, to San Francisco's mission district, where a crew of survivalist hackers have holed up in the pseudo-Moorish-castle turned porn-studio known as The Armory. This mixed band of anti-social rejects has taken Dante's whistle blowing video as an underground gospel, leading the fight against the laughing corpses and the corporate stooges who've tried to profit from the slaughter. Can Dante find redemption and save civilization?

Fast-paced, smart and never predictable, The Panama Laugh is well worth checking out. And perhaps even more intriguing is the great 'semi-hoaxed group storytelling campaign' which Roche and his publishers, Night Shade Books, have just announced:

"Night Shade Books and Thomas Roche are launching a social media disinformation campaign under the title "The Dante Bogart Project," in the hopes of creating a large mythology of shared, semi-hoaxed group storytelling.

"The author's intent is not to convince anyone that zombies are real, but to satirize the ways in which the democratic nature of the web (and particularly of social media) can make it disturbingly vulnerable both to corporate and governmental "spin" and to the promulgation of fringe beliefs that may be utterly at odds with the facts. The real story, however outrageous, may get lost in the white noise."

Awesome.

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

SFX Zombie Special (and who the hell is Muriel?)

I've been waiting to talk about this for ages, and as it's now been announced on the SFX website, I guess I finally can!

On 26th September SFX release their latest special issue – ZOMBIES: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE. Now any self-respecting zombie fan should immediately click here to order a copy, but if you like my writing (and as you're on my website, I'm hoping you do), there's another good reason to pick it up. As well as a huge number of zombie-related features, articles, reviews, and interviews (with George Romero, Charlie Higson, Mira Grant and myself amongst others), the magazine also features MURIEL – a brand new piece of original zombie fiction I've written exclusively for SFX.

So there you go… 132 pages of zombie goodness, free 'zombie hazard' stickers, a huge double-sided poster, and a new David Moody short story. Sounds pretty good, I think!

 

SFX Zombie Special (and who the hell is Muriel?) is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Autumn: Disintegration

Incredibly I've already had ten books released in various countries this year but, to my mind, the two most important releases are still to come. In November THEM OR US will bring the HATER trilogy to its dramatic conclusion and then, a couple of weeks later (December in the UK), AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION will finally hit the shelves. As many of you will know, DISINTEGRATION has been a long time coming…

I'll be posting a lot about both of the new books in the coming weeks. Today, however, I want to focus on DISINTEGRATION and give you a little bit of background.

In Summer 2005 I released THE HUMAN CONDITION (the book which is gradually being expanded and made available on www.lastoftheliving.net). I genuinely thought I was done with the AUTUMN series at that point, but new scenarios kept on being presented to me. As you know, the AUTUMN books aren't popular with all zombie fans – there are a large number of people who don't want to know about the survivors and their problems because all they're interested in is reading about as many zombies as possible getting dispatched in as many gruesome ways as the author can imagine. And that made me think: what if those same people found themselves stuck in the AUTUMN version of the zombie apocalypse? How would they survive, and would they have more or less success than the survivors from the earlier books? That question is the crux of DISINTEGRATION, and here's an extended version of the blurb:

Forty days have passed since the world died. Billions of corpses walk the Earth. Everything is disintegrating…

Survivors are few and far between in this deadly environment, and those who are still alive are forced to deal with a nightmare situation: the scale of the devastation is unprecedented.

The shadowy landscape is swarming with the dead, their decaying bodies deteriorating day by day. Limited by their appalling physical condition, the only emotions they are able to display are anger, rage and hate and yet, remarkably, they are becoming more controlled. They are becoming self-aware, and they will defend themselves at all costs.

A group of eleven men and woman have managed to survive against the odds, protected by the geography of the land and sheltering in a derelict block of flats. They have been surrounded for weeks, but they have always been in control. On an almost daily basis, they attack the dead with brutal ferocity, tearing through them with utter contempt. Until now. For the bodies are advancing. The situation is changing.

Somewhere nearby, out of sight and out of earshot, is another group that has adopted a completely different survival strategy. Where the others have used brutality and strength, these people have demonstrated subtlety, planning, and tactics.

  A series of horrific events force the two groups together. Backed into a corner and surrounded by hundreds of thousands of corpses, they all know that their final battle with the dead is about to begin. Do they attack first, or is it time to take a different approach? The decision splits the group, and with the life of every last person at stake, no one is prepared to back down.

Time is running out. With tension rising and fear reaching unbearable levels it's no longer clear whether the biggest threat comes from outside the walls of the shelter or from within.

Next time – I'll tell you how this book fits in with the rest of the AUTUMN series and I'll explain why it's taken so bloody long to be published!

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

Zombies wanted – Leicester (UK) 8th October

On Saturday 8th October there will be a zombie apocalypse in Leicester. Yes, this is the same Leicester which hit the headlines earlier this year when it became clear the local council had no provisions for dealing with the aftermath of the dead rising. Some people, eh?

Okay, it's not going to be a real zombie apocalypse (more's the pity), it's an event being arranged by Un:Bound. They're staging (and filming) a zombie attack on the Phoenix arts centre which will involve several zombie authors (myself, Wayne Simmons and Jasper Bark) discussing how to survive the undead scourge. There will also be signings, interviews etc. etc. Vast crowds of the living dead will be required!

Un:Bound are looking for volunteer zombies. Anyone interested should be at the Phoenix for midday (and if you can do your own zombie make-up, so much the better). Also, if any of you are zombie make-up experts who would be willing to help on the day, please click here and drop me a line.

Zombies wanted – Leicester (UK) 8th October is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Underground

As promised, a new short story – UNDERGROUND – is now available to read over at www.lastoftheliving.net. A word of warning though… don't read it unless you've read AUTUMN: PURIFICATION first, because the story takes place in the aftermath of PURIFICATION's opening scenes. I wouldn't want to spoil anything for you!

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

Missing in Action

As some of you will know, I had a few major deadlines to hit by the end of August, and they conspired to keep me away from this site. Apologies for the temporary lack of updates.

I'm back now, and I've got a lot of good stuff to tell you about over the coming days. Later this week I'll be adding new stories to www.lastoftheliving.net including UNDERGROUND – a glimpse into what happened in the military bunker after the catastrophic battle at the beginning of PURIFICATION.

I'll also be adding a few posts about AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION: introducing the new characters, giving you an outline of the plot and how it ties in with the other novels in the series, and explaining why it's taken so long (almost five years!) to get to publication.

It's going to be a busy year with several more releases planned including THEM OR US and DISINTEGRATION, I have plenty more to share – news of some great events and appearances being planned for the end of this year, competitions, some top secret projects, and loads more besides. To whet your appetite for something happening later this month, check out page 7 of the September edition of The Zombie Times (and if you don't already receive The Zombie Times, visit this link to rectify that immediately!).

Missing in Action is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series