After a short hiatus, we’re back with Chewing Braaiiinns… Today I welcome RD Teun and I’ve asked him a few questions. RD is the author of the recent release Legacy of the Dead: Deliverance. Let’s take a quick moment for a few words on who RD is…

Author of some very dark stories while in search of the metaphor that eludes us all. Author of Legacy of the Dead and Suicide Solution. With more works to come.

Welcome RD, tell us: why Zombies? Is there anything specific that draws you to the genre?

I hate to disappoint folks, but it is not so much the zombie as a genre that drew me to write. I just felt that they are more a sympathetic creature and not so much a monster. They are a force of nature without a will of their own, they are essentially victims of a cruel and wicked destiny which is what intrigued me; also, they provided the perfect vehicle for my story. I did not write Legacy of the Dead purely because I love zombies (and I do). However, I am firm believer in that there is as much horror in humanity and the living as there is in the walking masses of the dead, which after this short series, you will be asking yourself – who are the true monsters? After the Legacy of the Dead series is complete, I will not be ever writing another zombie book. After that, I have my own monsters to create.

Tell us about your latest project; published or otherwise.

I will leave you with the book blurb that should whet your appetite…

A group of survivors on a roof seek salvation from the hungry mouths of the dead. Supplies running low and tempers running high, it is only a matter of time before the first domino falls and sets into motion an extraordinary series of events that lead to a fabled place called Deliverance. It promises redemption from crumbling world – but at what price is freedom? Is it really the palace of dreams that it claims to be? Or… is it a dark place from where nothing returns? Deliverance is the first in the Legacy of the Dead series that will change the rotted face of apocalyptic fiction as you know it… dare you take the first step onto the path of Deliverance?

Click on the cover to be whisked away to Amazon!

What makes your Zombies different, if anything?

Now, that is something that I cannot tell you. All I can say is that it is not so much what makes my zombies so different, but how they came to be that makes them so different. I explored everything, and I mean everything, that has been done before to bring them to what they have become and went in a different direction as far as I could. I wanted to change the parameters of what we have to come to expect or have seen so far. Now, you do not really see this in the first book, but it is with the second (and concluding book) in which we discover just how different they truly are. Just a quick side note – I had to do this (split it into two books) because of the sheer size of the tale, I always wanted to pen an epic tale. The second book will pick up directly from where the first finished (if it ever did, after all no tale truly ever has a beginning or an end, we just pick up the thread and see where it leads us).

What are your 5 favourite Zombie books that you didn’t write?

None. I have only really read one zombie book. I tend to read outside of the genre I write in or have written in.

None? Wow… Surely you’ve seen some Zombie films though right? What are your top 3 favourites?

Night of the Living Dead (the 90’s remake)

Braindead (directed by Peter Jackson)

There is yet to be a third, I still have so many I wish to watch and none yet really hit my list of top three’s. I am a hard person to impress, which may sound arrogant, but I just have high standards of what I expect as a moviegoer. 

Do you think the popularity of The Walking Dead and its appearance in mainstream media has helped to increase the popularity of the genre, or has there always been such an interest?

Could not really tell you. I don’t watch television. Here’s the thing, if I was pushed to an answer, the zombie (much like the vampire, etc…) have ebbs and flows of popularity within the mainstream (say, every ten or twenty years of real popularity). Yet, as with anything of this nature, there will always be a crowd who will always love it unconditionally and they (the true fans) keep the heart beating within the dead.

Pop Quiz: If the Zombie Apocalypse were to occur right now, 5 things found in the room you are currently sitting will be your weapons – what are they?

All I have is sticky tape and cuddly toys – (you can thank my missus for that one), I could tape the cuddly toys to cover as much of my body as I can, until I reach a better arsenal of weaponry. Also, I have a fold down table that is easy to carry in one hand, I could use that to keep the dead at bay – a bit like a lion tamer.  

I think you may be screwed RD… You’d better hope the ‘missus’ sees this interview and buys you something a little more lethal!

If you’d like to connect with RD, the best place to find him is on Facebook.