David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! discussion
Author Q&A
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Jonathan Maberry (Author of the Benny Imura series) Q&A Event--June 22-25th
*GASP* KAREN!!! Fangirl with me please! :D
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And everyone, ask Jonathan about all the movies that are coming out for all of his books!! OMG!!!
I am sooooo excited for this! I'll have to read Flesh and Bone and Fire and Ash soon! :)
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I have the Benny Imura series on my tbr. Hope to read it this summer. Looking forward to this Q and A!
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David wrote: "YES!!! So stoked for this Q&A. Benny Imura is one of my fave series, and probably my fave zombie series :)"Yes yes yes!!!!!
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Its my fave zombie series too :)
Drats. And here's I pushed Lunar Chronicles ahead of Benny. Not that I regret it, great stuff. But if I would've known about this I would've rearranged my reads.
I'm so excited. I'm still on the first book but I love it and def will b finishing it soon now that we r back from Vaca!!!
Tommy wrote: "Drats. And here's I pushed Lunar Chronicles ahead of Benny. Not that I regret it, great stuff. But if I would've known about this I would've rearranged my reads."I loooovvveee the Lunar Chronicles too :-)
Alison wrote: "I'm so excited. I'm still on the first book but I love it and def will b finishing it soon now that we r back from Vaca!!!"Yay! I hope your loving it :-)
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LOL Its a very last minute scheduled Q&A Tommy!
Jenny wrote: "Tommy wrote: "Drats. And here's I pushed Lunar Chronicles ahead of Benny. Not that I regret it, great stuff. But if I would've known about this I would've rearranged my reads."LOL Its a very last..."
Oh, I figured as much. My drats was just a general drats, not a drats aimed at the group, the mods or author haha :)
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LOL I..."
No worries, I figured too :)
I might be able to at least start the series by the time this gets going. I'm excited to ask how it was working with Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance for the cover photo shoot.I jest. That cover does look like him though haha. Fun fact: That's what first caught my eye and made me look at the cover because I'm a fan of their music.
So kudos to the cover design folks haha.
When about is it okay to start asking by the way? I'd guess like a week before, but I hate assuming haha.I want to participate in this one since it's really hard to sell me on reading a zombie book, yet here I am interested in a whole series.
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message 20:
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David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)
(last edited Jun 07, 2015 01:07PM)
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Thanks so much for coming to our group, Jonathan, and for writing such awesome books! My question is:
Your books feel so real they can be a little scary sometimes. Do your books ever give YOU nightmares?
I love zombies in film-form, but am very, very picky about reading a zombie story. For the picky folks like me, how would you sway someone who is on the fence about reading your series?*Note: I'm not on the fence, I'm gonna read it, but just curious what the author would say sets it apart from the others :)
Slow, shambling zombies vs. fast, rage zombies: Which do you prefer and/or find scarier? I have my own opinion and will share if you want. :)
I'm looking forward to the Q&A. Should be a lot of fun!
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Hey Jonathan!!!! I totally freaked when u started following me in Twitter!!! U r awesome!!!! Can't wait till Monday!!
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Hi Jonathan! *waves* I am so excited for this q&a. I'm also hoping Tommy's question starts a huge debate between slow zombies and fast zombies! :D
Wahooo! It's going to be great! Can't wait :)
Thanks for visiting our group, Jonathan! I loved Patient Zero and Rot & Ruin - and I'm looking forward to continuing both series.
What is your favorite zombie, or horror, movie or tv show?
I'm currently sitting on my balcony working on KILL SWITCH, the 8th Joe Ledger novel. Due in two weeks and scheduled for release April 2016.
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I need to read the rest of the Joe Ledger series! With Kill Switch, I have 6 more to read! Yeah!!!
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Is anything in the works for a Joe Ledger movie? He's seriously my book "husband"! (The older Joe Ledger from the Benny Imura series.)
I'm trying to refrain from asking ALL the questions. :)
@Karen Ahhhh, he's perfect! (Well, maybe a hair cut) but he has that sweet, Tom face! :D
Karen wrote: "I just saw a picture of the actor cast to play Tom Imura on your twitter feed! https://twitter.com/Kobenson/status/6... Gaahhhhh!!*grabby hands* Any other casting news for Rot & Rui..."Joe Ledger is headed to TV. The producers of THE EQUALIZER optioned EXTINCTION MACHINE, the 5th Ledger novel. Right now it's 51% likely to be a TV show; 49% likely they'll change their minds and make a movie.
Holy crow!! Either way!!
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Note to self:
needs to be moved up on my TBR list!! That's AMAZING news, Jonathan!!
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AWESOME!! I'll be watching EITHER WAY. Congrats!!
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Sounds awesome! Karen raves about Joe Ledger, I really need to get on with reading these!
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Which character in the Benny Imura series do you identify most closely with?
I really enjoyed the Rot & Ruin series,so when the Graphic novels came out I had them added to my pull box at the comic book store.It has been awhile since the last one came out,can you tell me when the next issue will be released?
Harlee wrote: "*GASP* KAREN!!! Fangirl with me please! :D"Glad I could be here!
Jenny wrote: "Where did you come up with the idea of the Zombie Trading Cards? Those were seriously one of my fave things in the books!"Jenny wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "I'm currently sitting on my balcony working on KILL SWITCH, the 8th Joe Ledger novel. Due in two weeks and scheduled for release April 2016."
Sounds awesome! Karen raves about Joe..."
I used to collect trading cards as a kid back in the 1960s. The day the new cards arrived at the corner store was huge, and my buddies and I would try to beat everyone else there to get the first packs. We were convinced the best and rarest cards would be in the freshest batch.
When I created ROT & RUIN, I figured kids would be kids, and they'd want to have heroes and villains to talk about. Zombie Cards would be popular, and so I tapped my artist friend, Rob Sacchetto (a real world zombie portrait artist) to let me write him into the book as the guy who paints those cards. And Simon & Schuster then hired him to do five cards for the endpapers of each novel. The comics company, IDW, had him do more Zombie Cards as variant covers for the Rot & Ruin miniseries.
Karen wrote: "I really enjoyed the Rot & Ruin series,so when the Graphic novels came out I had them added to my pull box at the comic book store.It has been awhile since the last one came out,can you tell me whe..."The Rot & Ruin: Warrior Smart series was intended as a 5-issue miniseries. We never made planned to go beyond those five. That said, if I can find a hole in my writing schedule I may do another limited series.
QUESTION: From David: Your books feel so real they can be a little scary sometimes. Do your books ever give YOU nightmares? ANSWER: Only one of my books ever gave me nightmares: DEAD OF NIGHT. There is a subplot in it involving the consciousness of each zombie victim lingering inside the living dead. The person can feel, hear, smell, touch and taste everything the zombie does, but he has no control over those actions. He’s forced to be a passenger and witness as the zombie attacks, kills and devours people. That scared the heck out of me.
QUESTION: From Tommy--I love zombies in film-form, but am very, very picky about reading a zombie story. For the picky folks like me, how would you sway someone who is on the fence about reading your series?ANSWER: The best zombie stories aren’t about zombies. They are about people. The zombie crisis allows us to examine people in crisis, to peel back the layers of our ‘civilized’ personae and see who we really are. In each of my novels I approach zombies from a different perspective and with a different underlying metaphor. In PATIENT ZERO, the zombies represent the dangers of biological warfare and pandemics. In DEAD OF NIGHT/FALL OF NIGHT I explore the zombie apocalypse from the actual first attack, and I give the hard science of how a plague of that sort could happen and spread. In ROT & RUIN, I explore the lives of teenagers who grew up after the zombie apocalypse, and how living through the end of the world gave all the adults some degree of PTSD.
QUESTION: From Tommy--Slow, shambling zombies vs. fast, rage zombies: Which do you prefer and/or find scarier? I have my own opinion and will share if you want. :) ANSWER: I prefer slow zombies in fiction because they allow for the slow burn of suspense. Fast zombies are scarier in films because they change the game from horrific encounter to a scramble for immediate survival. The living infected (28 Days Later, The Crazies) are great because they are closer to a model of an actual global disease outbreak and the ensuing panic. The only kind of zombies that bore me are those of the demonic kind. That pushes none of my buttons.
QUESTION: From Lauren--What is your favorite zombie, or horror, movie or tv show? ANSWER: Favorite zombie movie: The unrated directors cut of Zack Snyder’s remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD. The original DAWN is my second favorite, and tied for third place are SHAUN OF THE DEAD and RESIDENT EVIL.
Favorite TV series is THE WALKING DEAD, though my favorite TV miniseries was DEAD SET, a BBC production.
QUESTION: From Karen--I just saw a picture of the actor cast to play Tom Imura on your twitter feed! https://twitter.com/Kobenson/status/6... Gaahhhhh!!*grabby hands* Any other casting news for Rot & Ruin? What can you tell us about the production?We’re very early in the production. We have our lead actor for Tom, and we have two producers, Heath Cullens (JUSTIFIED, WILFRED) and Paul Grellong (REVOLUTION, SCORPION). They’re working on the script right now.
QUESTION: From Sherrie--Which character in the Benny Imura series do you identify most closely with? ANSWER: Benny’s experiences and attitudes are based on my our journey. When I was a kid I was raised in a terrible environment. My neighborhood was low-income, violent, crime-ridden, and deeply racist. My father was a chapter leader for the KKK. My only influences were about hatred for non-whites. That changed when I began reading comics and saw black super heroes like Black Panther fighting alongside the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. I began asking questions of teachers, librarians, etc. and got a different set of answers than I was getting at home. My world grew larger and more diverse and much more interesting, and I chose to step into that world and leave that smaller, uglier world behind.
In ROT & RUIN, Benny starts off as a kid filled with hated and limited by a worldview built largely on assumption and negative reinforcement from frightened people. The events in the story nudge him out of that worldview and over the course of the series he opens his eyes. Once opened, you can’t unsee the truth, and it comes down to a choice of believing the truth or living a lie. Benny moves forward into his larger world.
David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Orphan Army (other topics)Fire & Ash (other topics)
The Orphan Army (other topics)
Extinction Machine (other topics)
The Orphan Army (other topics)
More...
And if you haven't checked out his books yet, your mods really recommend them! The Benny Imura series is one of our favorites!
Please try to put your questions in bold so Jonathan and I can easily find them. Thank you!
Questions:
1. David--Your books feel so real they can be a little scary sometimes. Do your books ever give YOU nightmares?
2. Tommy--I love zombies in film-form, but am very, very picky about reading a zombie story. For the picky folks like me, how would you sway someone who is on the fence about reading your series?
3. Tommy--Slow, shambling zombies vs. fast, rage zombies: Which do you prefer and/or find scarier? I have my own opinion and will share if you want. :)
4. Lauren--What is your favorite zombie, or horror, movie or tv show?
5. Karen--I just saw a picture of the actor cast to play Tom Imura on your twitter feed! https://twitter.com/Kobenson/status/6... Gaahhhhh!!*grabby hands* Any other casting news for Rot & Ruin? What can you tell us about the production?
6. Karen--Is anything in the works for a Joe Ledger movie? He's seriously my book "husband"! (The older Joe Ledger from the Benny Imura series.)
7. Jenny--Where did you come up with the idea of the Zombie Trading Cards? Those were seriously one of my fave things in the books!
8. Sherrie--Which character in the Benny Imura series do you identify most closely with?
9. Karen--I really enjoyed the Rot & Ruin series,so when the Graphic novels came out I had them added to my pull box at the comic book store.It has been awhile since the last one came out,can you tell me when the next issue will be released?
10. Melissa--Sorry if someone already asked this, do you think you could eve get someone to actually make the cards to buy? And if they already have and I'm in outer space somewhere, where could you get them
11. Melissa--I love all of the characters, but Lilah is my favorite. Is there any particular reason you created this character other than being bad to the bone ?
12. Karen--What's your typical day, Jonathan? If you have such a thing?
13. Karen--At Phoenix ComiCon, you revealed a bit of news to me about a possible Fall of Night movie? Can you share with the members?
14. Karen--I'm a huge fan of Joe Ledger! Younger and older! Who do you see as Joe Ledger (if you could have anyone play him in the movie)? Older Joe from BENNY IMURA series?
15. Karen--Who are the people (or person) who have inspired you the most?
16. Jenny-- Did you get to bodyguard for anyone famous?
17. Jenny--Tell us a book (or two) that you think is amazing, a 5 star read, but deserves way more love than it gets.
18. David-- Were you a zombie-fanatic as a kid, too? Or did you get into zombies later in life?
19. Sherrie--If you were going on a trip and could only pack three items( not including food). What three items would you bring and why?
20. Jenny--If you got stuck in a day of your life, repeating it over and over again (like Groundhog's Day), which day would you pick?
21. Karen--Besides bodyguarding, what was your day job before your writing career took off? Or maybe there were no other day jobs. ;)
22. Karen--Any dogs or cats?
23. Karen--Favorite food?
24. Daniel--If you could pitch Rot and Ruin in 50 words, what would you say?
25. Daniel--What single thing are you most proud of about your series?
26. Alison--what was your inspiration for the rot and ruin series?
27. Alison--Did you always know it was going to be a series of books instead of a stand alone.
28. Alison--Why did you choose to write Young Adult?
29. Karen--Is The Nightsiders a trilogy or a dualogy! And why alien monsters?
30. Karen--I know you travel all the time to events all over the place. What's your upcoming schedule? But most important, are you going to be back in Arizona next year?
31. Arianna--Do you plot out your books ahead of time or make up the story as you go? What's your favorite part about writing?
32. Jenny--If you could sit down and chat with anyone (living or dead) who would you pick?
33. Gena--Have you ever written a plot that took a twist or turn that you totally did not expect?
34. Karen--Do you have a special favorite fan moment/s?
35. Karen--How much input did you get on the covers of the Rot & Ruin series? They're probably the creepiest covers I've ever seen!
36. Karen--So excited that you may be continuing the Rot & Ruin series!! What ideas are brewing? Are you continuing with Benny, Nix and the gang, or new characters?
37. Alison--What would your bounty hunter name be?
38. Jenny-- Do you ever get writer’s block, and if so, how do you deal with it?
39. Tommy--If you you became a zombie and could consciously pursue one celebrity to make your first meal, who would it be?