Guest Post – Like Zombies with Your Romance?

by Cari Silverwood

I have zombies in my latest release, steampunk erotic, Lust Plague. Why write zombies into a romance?

Is it so I can have them do kissy kissy and similar naughty things? Eww. No! It has been pointed out to me – and quite sensible this objection is – that zombies have rotten bits and pieces, and the odds of something falling off during coitus or whatever is gi-freaking-normous.

Is it because they add a certain 'je ne sais quoi?' As in an, 'I don't know?' For sure, just as sure as I'm going to google that French saying back there for the right spelling before I post this. Zombies aren't what most would call pretty, but being able to write in the scary details of a zombie who's chewed off his own lips gives me a writerly conniption that borders on being an orgasm. I love me some gory descriptions.

What else? Why zombies? Umm, I think because I liked letting Sten and Kaysana pop some of them clean in the center of the forehead in a great action movie way, without having to worry too much about angst-ridden sadness going round and round in my people's heads afterwards. How often do you need an 'OMG I just killed a poor zombie' before it gets old.

Gun barrel pointing the way, she turned, scanning the flat roof. Four dead male zombies sprawled near the wrecked gyrocopter. At one corner, a five-yard-high metal-braced tower had a weather cock spinning atop. Storage bins, not much else. Where was Emily?

"Go slow, Sten. Some might be only half-downed." She hefted the revolver, ready to pop one into anything that moved, that shouldn't.

"Sure." Heel, toe, heel, toe, he worked his way past the four zombie corpses. None stirred. "Brains are gone. They're good and expired."

 

I mean, get over it already. It was dead anyway. You just made it deader, or something. Sure I had them be a teensy bit sad at the former human in the zombie, then I let them both kill some more. Seriously though, if you put death in a romance it is difficult to get the two lead characters thinking about hanky panky. I hedged my bets even more with the lust plague of course.

A few hundred yards of walking and they emerged from under the tree line into the night sky. Only stars above. No burning airships despite the faint smell of smoke. He felt relief. So many odd things had happened.

"Don't suppose you want to give me a weapon, Sten?"

"Nope."

"We'll be meeting zombies. I promise not to shoot you."

"I'll consider it." She expected a weapon? Heaven and hell. He wasn't that nuts. Maybe when indignation wasn't coming off her in waves every time she looked at him.

She snorted, turned away. "Fool. Come on. Looks like a farmhouse up there." She pointed. Up a slope, through a field of some tall crop, the silhouette of a building showed at the peak. Light flickered across the crop, washing the field in yellow and orange as if it were some strange golden sea.

"I'll watch your tail. Just keep wriggling it like that."

"I've been known to gouge out the eyes of men who ogle."

He grinned, then followed her into the crop. The stalks rustled and scraped against them as they pushed through. Squeaks and chitters from foot level told of some small nocturnal critters. Kaysana didn't balk. Tough woman. After all that had happened, here she was taking point, armed only with her gorgeous body.

He sighed. So many curves, so many angry words. He'd fix that somehow. Once he decided on something, it happened.

Yes, they did get naughty despite the world going down the drain, but I made sure it was fun!

My light-hearted take on this may make you think Lust Plague is a comedy. It's not, it's very erotic in a BDSM-ish way, as well as romantic, angsty, and stomp-alicious in action, though Sten does have his moments with his dry humor. I loved my Sten. His laidback way of looking at life kicked things up a notch here and there as well as annoying the hell out of Kaysana.

If you get around to reading Lust Plague I hope you find as much joy in watching the two of them save the world while falling in love as I did in writing them do it. Happy reading!

 

So, zombies and romance? Horror and romance? What do you think? Can it work?

Filed under: romance