Aoife asked Rhiannon Frater:

Why did you decide to have most of your strongest characters in As the World Dies female? (Thank you for that btw!)

Rhiannon Frater When I wrote ATWD in 2005, the genre was permeated with the lone stoic male hero. Women were sidelined to romantic interest, zombie bait, or dead lover. I wanted to read about women in the zombocalypse.

I didn't consciously set out to do anything radical, but the response revealed that I had. The majority of readers really loved that the two leads were female. Some of the naysayers were very adamantly opposed to women being portrayed as competent human beings. I did have a few people admit that they kept waiting for the male lead to show up to take care of them.

My goal was to write realistic characters. I treat the cast the same. Both male and female characters have their strengths and flaws. All of them make good and bad decisions.

In the end, the majority of my leads are women because I'm a woman. It's much easier for me to connect with a female protagonist on a deeper level.

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