New and Active Member Chat

[J.]

So, out of the girls here, how many of you write zombie stories as well as read them?

[Tammy K.]

J. wrote: "So, out of the girls here, how many of you write zombie stories as well as read them?"

I am just a reader.

[Susan]

Just a reader

[J.]

Awesome! Exclusive readers! 'cause no one is just a reader. Readers are the most important part of a book!!!!!

Nice to meet you guys. Really grateful David sent me your way!

[Melissa]

Hi! I'm Melissa and I'm from Wisconsin. I'm new to this group and to this site. I haven't read anything in a long time and I used to read CONSTANTLY. I thought that I would need some motivation to get back into reading and this site seemed like the place.

I am a huge fan of zombie movies and it's mine and my sisters' hobby to find all different kinds of zombie movies from the classics to the b-flick, c-flick, and utterly terrible. So I figured I would do the same with books. It's the reason I joined this group.


So, that's a little about me. So far I've seen a lot of awesome threads on this group and hope I can participate a lot more in the future. :)

[Tammy K.]

Hi and welcome to each and every one of you.

I am pleased to see just how jumped up to say hello.
While David has met his quota, Please do not let that stop you from posting.

Our group desperately needs more active members.
Its been about a month since the new moderators stepped up to help bring some shape to our groups. They are doing an awesome job, Thanks Jim and Elizabeth :D

I hope to see each of you through the threads. I've read most of the recently active threads. (There are a lot of dead threads that I haven't gotten too).

Once again David, my hat goes off to you. You caught me by surprise.
Respectfully,
Tammy K.

[L]

Hi all my first zombie book road to Carnage is set to debut in a few weeks it is going into beta right now. Hi John Lalo sent me the link for here.

[Rich]

Hi David...Rich Baker here. I'm writing Zed's World at Zedprep.com - 11 episodes and counting - and I'm pretty active on facebook and twitter but I confess I don't make time for Goodreads like I should. I will schedule time to make this more of a priority!

[David P]

Rich wrote: "Hi David...Rich Baker here. I'm writing Zed's World at Zedprep.com - 11 episodes and counting - and I'm pretty active on facebook and twitter but I confess I don't make time for Goodreads like I sh..."

Glad I could motivate you! This is a cool group. Dive in.

[David P]

Tammy K. wrote: "Whooooooa...Duuuuuuuuude.
I am impressed.
Ok. a deal, is a deal. You won yourself a buddy read.
I will start up a buddy read for your book. Let me go look to see the dates that the book of the mont..."

Thanks Tammy! And talk about timing... Today happens to be the expiration date of coupon code "ZE75J" for a FREE eBook (mobi, epub, PDF, etc.) copy of Voyage of the Dead at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view... (I think that means it is still valid today... LOL).

For those who prefer to buy a copy, Voyage of the Dead is now available in paperback, Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Sony, Kobo, and a few black market torrent and foreign pirate sites that I am not too happy with! ;)

I was already sending people here for the Free Kindle Zombie Book thread, but thanks for giving me a reason to pull out the stops and BEG people to drop in and say hi!

I hope this helps raise the dead and reanimate the group.
DPF

[David P]

Pleasure wrote: "I never noticed how many ladies like reading zombie genre."

Neither did I, Pleasure. At least not when I was writing my first book. I wrote Voyage as the type of story that I would want to live through in the event of Z-Day. For some reason I thought it would be read by adolescent teens and young men (probably because that is what my inner-self thinks of itself). Boy was I wrong!

Once the reviews started rolling in I realized that my "audience" included grandmothers too! And some of them were pissed. Too much testosterone! A male zombie lover's wet dream. Let the women off the boat to fight zombies too! The lead character is too arrogant! Those were just a few of the critical comments coming from women who, for the most part, liked the book! LOL

I quickly realized that this was constructive criticism. So the next two books in the series incorporated some stronger female characters and strengthened some of the women from the first book. Keep that in mind if choose to venture aboard the Voyage of the Dead. ;)

One of the reasons I like Goodreads is the interaction and feedback that I get from readers. I think authors who ignore reader reactions are missing out on a great source of inspiration.

[Christy]

Is it too late to comment? I'm mostly a lurker on here!

[David P]

Chat away, Christy! The quota was met, but that was just the teaser to lure in fresh meat and flush out the lurkers. LOL.

[L]

I definatly like reading, watching, and writing zombie stuff. BTW loved your book David

[Williambebb]

I'll ramble a bit and say howdy. If for no other reason than procrastination regarding a novel I'm almost done with writing. My name is Bill.
(Crowd all joins to say, "Hi Bill." It seems to terrify the reclusive wordsmith and yet somehow he managed to continue)
So far I've managed to savagely beat and abuse keyboards until six works of fine literature have been cobbled together. Four of them have dealt primarily with the undead and the myriad of problems they tend to pose for the living.

Here's my unsolicited view on writing any kind of story. The author may have a good idea what he/she wants to write about, perhaps even a plan regarding how to do it and what will happen. BUT, at least for myself, it's much like putting together a mammoth 100,000 piece jigsaw puzzle with no picture of what it's supposed to look like when completed. I sort of like not knowing what the picture (or story) is supposed to look like because it allows freedom to explore things and ideas that weren't in the picture at all. (Especially since there actually is no picture) So what, if it ends up 'looking' a bit like abstract art?

What matters to me more than what reviewers write about a story of mine, is what do I think about it.
I think that's the key to writing anything, above everything else, enjoy it or don't do it. If someone waved a gigantic wad of cash at me and asked me to write a novel about Swedish butter churns and their contribution to world culture I might try and do it. But I'm certain I would not enjoy the experience and subsequently the novel would be a hideous thing to try and read. (As some reviewers have described my real novels)
It comes down to liking what you create. I don't care about Swedish butter churns in the slightest, thus even if I did manage to write a story about them I kind of doubt I'd like it. Even if I included a nymphomaniac milk maid with a heart of gold.

Well, I wasted a good five or ten minutes procrastinating. Now I must go continue wrapping up my latest masterpiece.
-Bill

[Tammy K.]

Hi Bill,
Thank you for sharing. :-)
Is it just me who feels a need to recite the serenity prayer? Oops wrong group, my bad.
Welcome to the group if you're new and welcome back if you've just been lurking around.

[David P]

Williambebb wrote: "I'll ramble a bit and say howdy. If for no other reason than procrastination regarding a novel I'm almost done with writing. My name is Bill.
(Crowd all joins to say, "Hi Bill." It seems to terrify..."

Some similar thoughts here, Bill. My outlines are usually in my mind and subject to change when my characters, or external influences, dictate it. I like to be surprised by things in my books and hope that the reader gets the same kick out of it. If I don't like what I write, I won't share it. Luckily for me, I usually like what I write. Of course I am not the right person to judge my own books. The readers are. The following quotes have been my guiding lights:

“I have never tried, in even one single little instance, to help cultivate the cultivated classes. I was not equipped for it either by native gifts or training. And I never had any ambition in that direction, but always hunted for bigger game--the masses." - Mark Twain, a Biography

“Modern [writers] talk against business, poor things, but all of us write for money. Beginners are subjected to trial by market.” ― Robert Frost

[David P]

L wrote: "I definatly like reading, watching, and writing zombie stuff. BTW loved your book David"

Thank you! Love U2 (the band of course) ;)

[Netanella]

Probably most of us started this strange addiction to all things zombie with good ol' zombie flicks.

I'm really excited about all the new activity and the group reads happening this month!

[David P]

Netanella wrote: "Probably most of us started this strange addiction to all things zombie with good ol' zombie flicks. I'm really excited about all the new activity and the group reads happening this month!"

I'll never forget opening night of the original Dawn of the Dead at the local drive-in! Went back the next night and the next weekend too... Lost count of the times I've seen it. Certainly the most influential zombie movie for me.

[Netanella]

My best times were spent hunting down and watching really bad, low-budget zombie movies with my good friend, the Erminator. Everyone else thought we were crazy, but we knew better!

[David P]

I wish there was a "LIKE" button here! I would have used it 50 times in the last 24 hours. Sorry I don't have time to respond to every post. My "fans" would prefer I get back to writing my next book. ;)

[Williambebb]

My top three zombie film picks and why:
The original Romero Night of the Living Dead was, is, always will be my favorite. With a low budget and a cast of unknown actors he ushered in the first 'true' zombie film. I also has one of my favorite lines from any movie ever made; "They're coming to get you, Barbara."

My next favorite was 1978's Dawn of the Dead, also by George Romero. I saw the remake back around 2002 and while it was very good and the producers made an excellent choice of using Johnny Cash's When the man comes around, in many ways that are hard to explain I just thought the original was much better.

The third will probably have some people roll their eyes in disgust, but Return of the Living Dead by Dan O'Bannom is quite simply a great film. The brain eating would probably be my biggest gripe, other than the undead being capable of speaking. I watched this film close to a dozen times in the theater and still occasionally take a gander at it. Some people don't appreciate the humor aspect but it worked well, at least for me. Too serious a film involving the undead tends to make me bored. Whereas some comedic undead films make me nauseated. Shaun of the Dead did a very good job by including humor. But Zombieland sort of went way overboard with it. A dash of humor here and there appeals to me but too much of it just doesn't appeal to me.

A few days ago I finally watched Warm Bodies and for what it was, it wasn't as bad as I feared. The zombie romantic comedy worked very good for its intended audience. But ... It won't be on my top five or maybe even ten undead films.
-Bill

[Randy]

Williambebb wrote: "The third will probably have some people roll their eyes in disgust, but Return of the Living Dead by Dan O'Bannom is quite simply a great film."

One of my favorites as well. It had such biting (if you'll pardon the pun) wit and sarcasm. I love the line, "You mean the movie LIED!?". Plus Tar Man? And I had a crush on Ms. Quigley at the time. :)

But I prefer the remake of Dawn of the Dead over the original, even though they have quite different aspects. What I find interesting is that most people think Romero's zombies are "brain dead", but in every movie they do show signs of intelligence and/or memory of their past life.

One of the things I hated about the remake was the line, "I don't want to die here.". My retort would have been, "You'd rather die out in the parking lot?" There were a lot of stupid mistakes made by the characters in the latter half the film.

[Randy]

David wrote: "I wish there was a "LIKE" button here!

I'd upvote that if I could! :)

[David P]

Where did everyone go? LOL.
We've got a lot of content to comment on.
A lot of authors to grill.
A lot of readers to entice.
A lot of books to discuss.
Any takers?

[Elizabeth, Zombies! Mod]

Mmmmm. Fresh meat. This is exciting.

[Laughingwolf]

add some levity: enjoy 'fido' ;)

[Laughingwolf]

[comment of mine came out in triplicate!]

[David P]

Laughingwolf wrote: "[comment of mine came out in triplicate!]"

Sounds like a litter of wolves.

[Ian]

Williambebb wrote: " in many ways that are hard to explain I just thought the original was much better."

To me, the remake lacked the huge social-satire aspect of the original. They were in a mall because that's where the first movie took place, not to say anything about consumerism and American society. Not that I didn't love the 2002 version, but I also prefer the original.

[Tammy K.]

Laughingwolf wrote: "[comment of mine came out in triplicate!]"

Every night right around midnight (Pacific time zone) goodreads website has a mini-freak out session. It refuses to post comments, or double post them, or gives you the over capacity message page. I believe that those are caused when the site does it's daily server dump and resets itself.
When you're online around that time, your going to get your posts screwed up.
That's just the way to goodreads site rolls.

[Laughingwolf]

...lol my next post thereafter was a double ;)

[Laughingwolf]

...this was another triple, it's 11:50 am, eastern

[Laughingwolf]

lol... thx david, pups like to be in packs ;)

[Laughingwolf]

above was another double...

[Barb]

Just wanted to post : I'm ALIVE!!! count me. Hello, Barb here. I'm new to all this :First and for most I just LOVED,LOVED,LOVED all the Voyage of the Dead books...read them on my Kindle.

[David P]

Barb wrote: "Just wanted to post : I'm ALIVE!!! count me. Hello, Barb here. I'm new to all this :First and for most I just LOVED,LOVED,LOVED all the Voyage of the Dead books...read them on my Kindle."

Welcome aboard, Barb, and thanks for the kind comment! Feel free to discuss all things zombie here.

[David P]

Well, Tammy (true to her word) has set up a Buddy Read for Voyage of the Dead that will start on August 16 at www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1434541-...

It will be a weekend read with about 90 pages "assigned" per day. It think that is fitting, because most of the people who really liked the book say they flew through it in a day or two. If it doesn't draw you in and make you burn the midnight oil, it is probably not right for you anyway. But I do hope you like it. So, if you choose to participate in the fulfillment of this challenge, Bon Voyage'!

PS: One of the "rules" is that I shut the F up and let you all tear it apart like raw meat on Z-Day.

PPS: Let's keep this thread going and talk about something completely different. Any feedback on the WWZ movie?

[J.]

I liked wwz. Tho it kinda reminded me of the difference between sookie stackhouse and true blood. Same character names, some same locations, same major issue, but everything else is different. They def made the movie its own.

[Neil]

I didn't like it so much so I fell asleep half way through

[Shawn]

I went in to the theater expecting to see a Z movie and nothing more. I knew my favorite survivor accounts from the book probably wouldn't be represented, so I kept my expectations very low. Alas, I was surprised with a fast paced, albeit a little choppy, globe hopping Z killing fest. Just one fellas humble opinion.

Shawn

[Netanella]

A sad commentary, but if you keep your expectations low, you tend not to be disappointed.

I just watched Steve Niles' Remains on Netflix this afternoon. With my lowered expectations after reading a few reviews, I emerged pleasantly surprised for a decent zombie flick. My only quirk was that a few of the zombies were growling at each other like dogs warning off a competitor from their meal. Never could figure that one out.

[David P]

Neil wrote: "I didn't like it so much so I fell asleep half way through"

Someone send Neil a Starbucks gift card! :)

[Tammy K.]

You know this is a bit off topic but I was just thinking how cool it would be for our group to have our very own Goodreads Librarian (Netanella) who could like go in and adjust books that need tweeking (Netanella).
Like let us say that our current book of the month Jordan's brain needed its kindle edition updated, and a photo added.... then our groups very own goodreads librarian (Netanella) could fix it right off.
If only we had our very own goodreads librarian (Netanella).
Huh?

[David P]

Where is that LIKE button?

[Tammy K.]

David wrote: "Where is that LIKE button?"

David, the way that you started this thread, and keep the chat going by commenting back and feeding the next topic is very cool.
It is open and friendly dialog that sparks a lively chat.
Kudo's to you for the time and effort that you are putting in to help our group grow and stay healthy.

[David P]

Thanks Tammy. My pleasure. Don't think I am giving up if you don't hear from me for a few days. Off to Palm Springs tomorrow with my laptop and no wi-fi. Writers gotta write now and then! :)

[Tammy K.]

David wrote: "Thanks Tammy. My pleasure. Don't think I am giving up if you don't hear from me for a few days. Off to Palm Springs tomorrow with my laptop and no wi-fi. Writers gotta write now and then! :)"

Have fun :) We all need vacations and time away from the demands of our online life.

[David P]

LIKE