10 Questions with Mark Tufo

1. How much of you are in the character of Mike Talbot in your Zombie Fallout series?

I surprisingly, or maybe not, get asked this question fairly frequently. Mike came into existence some thirty years ago when I started the first Indian Hill book. Back then he was loosely based on me. You write what you know, or so I’ve been told. Although thankfully I’ve yet to meet a zombie. Back to Mike, so yes we are both Marines, we’re both sarcastic, we umm both have germ-a-phobe tendencies but that’s about it. Unlike Mike I actually know when to shut the hell up and unfortunately I don’t have a BT in my life. We should maybe move on to the next question so I don’t have to do any more self-analyzing.


2. Who is your favorite writer?

This is an extremely difficult question, I’ve read so many authors and loved so many books. At the time of the reading that particular writer was my favorite, so to just snag one and say it’s my favorite is brutal. There are some that stick out because they gave me the love for a particular genre, like John Christopher and Isaac Asimov for sci-fi, J.R.R. Tolkien for fantasy, Stephen King and Dean Koontz for horror, Jodi Piccoult for romance (okay I’m kidding on that one) but you know what if I actually read one of her books I’d probably love it. These few authors I’ve named can’t even begin to scratch the surface. I’ve been brought on so many wonderful and terrible journeys with so many of them that to pick one just doesn’t seem right.

3. If the human race were to face an actual apocalypse, what do you think would be the cause of it?

We all want zombies, at least I think that and if it were to be zombies I can assure you I want the super slow dumb ones. None of them *uckers that run fast. What do I think will be the cause of the actual apocalypse? I think it will be something more mundane, most likely it will revolve around food and not being able to get any. We (myself included) are so dependent on getting our food from outside sources that if the distribution chain were to be disrupted we’d be on the verge of anarchy in a matter of days.

4. What current writing projects are you working on?

I actually am writing one super secret project I cannot disclose, I know, I know so now you’re like ‘Why did you say anything then? Ass.’  Wow I was about to tell you the 2nd thing I was writing but that’s also a surprise sp I have to hold up on that as well. Well holy shit. I guess I can tell you what to expect in the upcoming year. I plan on writing the next two (and final) installments for the Dystance series and I hope to write the final A Shrouded World book with John O’Brien plus the aforementioned secret stuff.

5. What do you attribute your rabid following for your Zombie Fallout series?

Well I’d love to say it’s because I am a master at my craft, a damn literary genius! A wordsmith wonder! But that’s not it, I still feel wicked funny when people ask me what I do and I tell them I’m an author. I don’t feel like one, hell I don’t even own a sweater with leather elbows. What I do well is tell a story, I feel much better calling myself a story teller. I think Zombie Fallout resonates with so many folks because the characters are relatable. For the most part they are your average Joe and Jane, they live, they laugh, they love, they give each other shit and in every case they are flawed, imperfect beings who are making the best out of an imperfect situation.

6. What made you start writing?

I’ve always had an affinity for writing. I’ve just enjoyed doing it. Stress relief was actually the incentive to write the first Zombie Fallout though. I’d been laid off and I needed a way to burn off the anxiety I was feeling. It was cathartic, to be able to spill all of the angst off onto those pages. So I guess it’s a relatively unusual way to get that particular ball rolling. At no time when I was penning that first one did I think it was going to become my career.

7. How did your experiences in the military affect your zombie fiction writing?

Just being in the military exposes you to a whole different myriad of people, places and experiences all of which in some shape, way or form changes the way I view the world. But that could be said about anything. I worked at a car rental place for a few years, the post office, I was in construction. I take elements from all of my life experiences and place parts of them in my books. I mean I can’t say when I was paving roads I got to fire an MK-19 ( a fully automatic grenade launcher) there’s nothing that can replace that particularly fun scenario! So as far as weapons I’ve probably shot more than most folks, does not by any stretch of the imagination make me an expert just gives me more to draw from.

8. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?

Apparently killing animals is a HUGE no-no! Off-limits? Umm in roundabout ways I’ve touched on just about everything at one point or another. I really dislike overt violence on women and children especially of a sexual nature and I do my utmost to stay away from those things which I find most distasteful. There’s already enough crap in the real world, I feel that my job is to pull the reader into another world, not remind them of the one they’re trying to leave.

9. What is your best quality as a writer?

Best quality as a writer? See I repeated this question because I’m stalling. I guess I’d have to say the development of my characters, that they seem like real people, you know, warts and all.

10. If Hollywood was making a film adaptation of Zombie Fallout, and the director asked you to cast the role of Mike Talbot, who would you choose?

Colin Ferguson, hands down. To me he’d be the perfect fit and he could stop doing those stupid Maytag commercials.

Hey Carl, thank you for allowing me some space on your blog! Much appreciated man!