Hello fans of Days with the Undead! Due to an unforeseen injury, I will only be posting those features that have been scheduled as of now. I will be back soon though to regularly scheduled programming!
Month: February 2014
How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse: New Weapon!
I first saw this weapon a number of years ago and I have to say, it made just as much sense back then that it does now!
Stylish and functional!
Random Monday Mini: Bacteria
And today’s random word is…
Bacteria
The perfect killer. Small, invasive, self-replicating; it needs you, it loves you…
***
“Mommy, I don’t feel very well…” Angie whined as she rubbed a grubby hand across her nose.
Laurie placed the back of her hand on the little girl’s forehead, judging the severity of her illness by temperature. “Is it your tummy honey?”
“No Mommy.”
“What hurts sweetie?” Laurie looked at the pallid complexion of her daughter, beginning to worry at seeing the dark-rimmed eyes and runny nose.
“I just don’t feel we—” Angie barely got the words out before going limp in her mother’s lap.
Laurie shook her daughter, gently at first growing more concerned at her inability to rouse her. Placing her fingers on her neck, she felt for a pulse, growing alarmed at how cool her daughter now felt. “Angie? Angie! ANGIE!!”
Panicked, she laid her daughter on the couch as she grabbed for the phone. Dialing 9-1-1 quickly, she cradled the phone in the crook of her shoulder as she waited for the line to connect. Still she searched for a pulse…
“Police, Fire or Ambulance?”
“Ambulance!”
Laurie waited a few more seconds as the general dispatcher connected her to the correct department, growing agitated at the delay. She stroked her daughter’s face with one hand as she pushed deeper into her daughter’s neck with the other. Why couldn’t she find a pulse?
“Ambulance. What’s your emergency?”
“It’s my daughter. She just fainted and I’m having trouble finding her pulse, can you send an ambulance please?!?”
“Is your daughter breathing?”
“No!”
“Do you know CPR?”
“No!! Oh my God, she’s going to die isn’t she??”
“Ma’am, calm down and do as I say. Can you put the phone on speaker and put it down beside your daughter?”
“Yes, hang on a second…” Noise can be heard in the background of the call as Laurie fumbles with the phone. She comes back a moment later sounding a little farther away. “Okay what do I do?”
“I need to take your finger and scoop out anything that may be in her mouth first.”
“Okay, gimme a second.” More noise can be heard in the background, then a piercing scream echoes over the line.
“Fucking hell! She bit my finger!”
“Ma’am?”
“Angie! Oh thank God you’re awake! I was so worried!”
“Ma’am?”
“Let me get a towel for my finger.” Laurie’s voice seems farther away as she addressed the phone again, “Operator if you’re still there can send help for me? It seems my daughter’s bite reflex was a little stronger than I expected.”
“Your daughter bit you? Is she conscious now?”
“Yes, she seems to be alert, though she’s still very pale and seems confused. Sweetie, stay on the couch I’ll be right back.”
All Rights Reserved © 2014 Julianne Snow
5 Questions with Mike Kloran
Today I have the wonderful opportunity to interview author Mike Kloran. Let’s take a few moments and get to know him…
My name is Mike Kloran and I’m an Educational Designer and teacher living in Japan. Most of my design work focusses on cute flashcards and worksheets for teaching English and helping people master languages. It’s a lot of work but also a lot of fun. Doing that sort of work is really satisfying but it’s important to have a little variety in my work and stay playful.
In this case I decided to take my love of zombies and turn it into this fun little comic and now this blog. Making the comic is a real experiment for me. I’ve made comics before and certainly drawn lots of zombies, but I wanted the look and feel of the comic to be a bit of a break from the other things I’ve made.
It’s also giving me a chance to play around with and learn Photoshop a bit. I’m not really a Photoshop fan and generally work in traditional media. So if you think my Photoshop skills are crap, you’re probably right, but lighten up. It’s a learning experience after all.
Welcome Mike, tell us about your zombies? If the dead were to rise, do you think you’d stand a chance against them?
My vision of zombies is one of ravenous hunger. They will eat anything, cats, dogs, rats, plants, bugs, food, and people and possibly each other. They are like a plague. Indiscriminate and unyielding. They simply move and eat. Freshly turned zombies are about as strong as the people they were in life and older ones start to break down. When I think about them in a realistic sense they terrify me. We like to think we could reason with an attacker and make them see that we aren’t so bad or they don’t want to kill us. But these things could never possibly be reasoned with. They would never be dissuaded or tempted or biased.
The trick is that my own vision of what they’re like is way too brutal for children’s literature. So when writing for kids, I make the zombies more of a bugaboo or a boogieman. It’s not that the zombie is actually in the room. It’s that the kids think the zombie is around the corner or hiding under the bed or outside in the bushes. Then their own reaction to their perception of the monster plays out sort of comedically. And since I write for kids, I think we end up with a bit of a surprise happy ending.
That’s an interesting dichotomy. What was your first experience with zombie media? Was that experience was drew into writing the genre?
I was terrified as a kid by a TV ad for the Return of the Living Dead. I remember it very vividly giving me nightmares. The one thing I always remembered was Tarman in the basement looking up the stairs saying “More brains!” It was that shambling, wet horror that stalked my nightmares for years.
It wasn’t until high school that I finally saw the movie and was thrilled with it. That always sort of stuck in the back of my mind and I’ve always had a love of horror comedies like Evil Dead and Dead Alive. That definitely had a big effect on my desire to actually tell zombie stories.
Pop Quiz: The item to your left is your only weapon during the Zombie Apocalypse. What is it and what do you think are your chances at survival?
My iPhone 5 with its solar charger. I’ve got it loaded up with survival books and other little tidbits on how to get by. I’d like to think that an AK-47 or a bat with a nail in it would get me through. But those things run out on you. One of the real threats in that situation would be trying to find drinkable water or food or keeping warm if it’s winter. You can have a great crossbow and loads of guns but if you can’t keep warm or get water you’ll be dead in a few days. What really gets people through is their brains.
List your five favourite pieces of Zombie media.
There’s SO much zombie media out there now it’s amazing. Fortunately it’s pretty easy to spot the good stuff. As far as movies, Evil Dead 2 is the king. Or rather, Bruce Campbell is the king (and hail to the king baby.) I could never get tired of that movie. It’s not strictly a zombie movie per se but it’s kind of perfect.
The original Biohazard (Resident Evil) game is one of my favorites. That’s partly because of the awesome experience I had playing it for the first time. It’s a bit of a relic compared to games today but at the time it was a real masterpiece and had a huge impact on the industry.
I think Frank Frazetta did some amazing black and white drawings of zombies over the years that still hold my attention. There’s so much wonderful volume and detail in his line drawings I could just look at them forever.
I’m a big fan of the zombie runs that seem to be getting so popular all over America. I love the whole obstacle course race idea anyway, like Tough Mudder. Add some zombies in there chasing people and holy hell! That looks fun!
If I had to pick one other thing I guess it would probably be the makeup effects on the Walking Dead. I think they’re the main reason I’m still watching the show.
Awesome choices! Now we all know that we sometimes have bad luck. Keeping that in mind, what song do you think would get stuck in your head, playing over and over again on an incessant loop?
The only thing worse than the undead walking the earth, that Spice Girls Song where they go, Tell me watch want whatcha really really want I wanna I wanna I wanna. Kill me now.
Thank you Mike for taking the time to answer my questions. If you’d like to connect with Mike, you can find him on a few different sites: www.kloran.com, www.myenglishimages.com and http://survivingthedead.wordpress.com
Now let’s take a look at Giler and Saru’s Zombies…
This kids’ book is the story of Giler and Saru, a cat and monkey team and their unlikely run-in with some zombies.
One Halloween night while reading spooky stories, Giler and Saru hear a strange noise. Saru is sure it must be zombies, but Giler’s never even heard of them before. He quickly gets a crash course in what zombies are and how to be prepared in case they attack.
Best read in a funny voice this e-book is filled with loads of gross, stinky monsters and two good friends willing to do anything to make it to the dawn.
You can download Giler and Saru’s Zombies on iTunes.
Spotlight Saturday: I Want One…
Tell me you don’t!
Zombie Film Fridays: Day of the Dead (1985)
If you’re just tuning into Days with the Undead, you’ll soon learn that I am an avid fan of George Romero. And this little gem is no exception. Sure it may seem a little rough around the edges, but it was made in the 80’s 😉 I love it, and I’m sure you will too! So the next time you want to watch a Zombie movie, why don’t you give Day of the Dead a try? Just make sure it’s the one made in 1985 because there are a few titles that are similar. Oh, and I guarantee you’ll just love Bub!!
Zombies rule the world, except for a small group of scientists and military personnel who reside in an underground bunker in Florida. The scientists are using the undead in gruesome experiments; much to the chagrin of the military. Finally the military finds that their men have been used in the scientists’ experiments, and banish the scientists to the caves that house the Living Dead. Unfortunately, the zombies from above ground have made their way into the bunker.
My Rating: A-
Interesting Facts: All the extras who portrayed zombies in the climax received for their services: a cap that said “I Played A Zombie In ‘Day of the Dead'”, a copy of the newspaper from the beginning of the film (the one that says THE DEAD WALK!), and one dollar; the book Dr. Logan gives to Bub is Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (George A. Romero and King have been friends for many years:; first attempts to shoot the scene where Sarah performs surgery on Miguel’s arm failed when it simply bounced off the rubber, so Tom Savini remade it in wax and it worked perfectly; and During a holiday break in filming, makeup artist Greg Nicotero used the realistic and gruesome model of his own head (as seen in a laboratory scene in the film) to play a practical joke on his mother.
And now it’s time for the trailer!
How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse: New Skill!
Many of you out there know I am a Walking Dead fan. I enjoy watching the show and from time to time, I sit on my couch and scream at the television. Everything is so easy and logical from where I sit, but I’m not sure that I’d be so level-headed if put into the situations the survivors experience.
That being said, someone please tell me why there wasn’t a rendezvous point of some kind discussed?? When the prison was overtaken, everyone scattered. I get that it may have been from necessity, but surely there must have been some forethought?
We all knew the fence wasn’t going to hold up, especially not with the increasing pressure from the growing hordes. So the threat of needing to leave the prison had to have crossed someone’s mind at some point. And why would it happen in an organized manner?
So this is my advice to you – if you find yourself in any situation where you may be separated from your group: even in the world we live in today not just during the Zombie Apocalypse, take a moment to arrange a central rendezvous point to meet at should you all get separated.
It’s really not a bad idea. And should there be something particularly terrible going on, have a secondary rendezvous point. It only makes sense.
Besides, you’ll likely have a better shot of reuniting with your group and it may help to alleviate any unneeded panic in searching…
Random Monday Mini: Regret
Today’s random word is…
REGRET
She held the vial in her hands carefully, gazing upon it with love. Her finest achievement to date and the surge of pride she felt flushed her face.
This would be her legacy, a lasting contribution to the industry of medicine. Her long days and even longer nights would finally be worth it.
There was only one thing she would regret; not being able to scream her breakthrough to all those who doubted her expertise. Oh, she’d scream, but it would be for a different reason…
As patient zero, she’d scream right before she bit down on your flesh.
5 Questions with Phillip Tomasso
Today I am pleased to feature to an interview with Phillip Tomasso, author of Evacuation. Welcome Phillip, tell us a little bit about yourself…
I am the author of numerous novels, and over 100 published short stories and articles, but I’ll never forget selling my first short story in 1995. I was paid a penny a word. It was an 8,000 word western. However, it being a Canadian publication—and at the time, when the U.S. dollar was worth more—my check was for just under $40.00. It was a great starting point, and I have been selling regularly since then.
I am not a full-time writer. I work a full-time job as well. After 19 years at Kodak as an employment law paralegal, I’ve spent the last three and a half as a Fire / EMS Dispatcher for 9-1-1. I work the midnight shift. I have found these hours to be creatively murder-some.
I live in Rochester, NY with my 3 amazing kids. I prefer to spend all my time with them. Being divorced, it’s not always possible. We have a lap dog my daughter picked out and named Fettuccine (Fetta), a cat, Luca and an aquarium full of semi-aggressive fish, including a fresh water shark named Bruce. I play guitar, am a horrible singer, but you know what, that doesn’t stop me from bellowing while I strum.
Tell us about your zombies? If the dead were to rise, do you think you’d stand a chance against them?
My zombies are fast. And slow. Either way, they’re deadly. Everyone gets the Flu Shots come winter time. Imagine the batches of inoculations were infected prior to being shipped across the country? One might not get sick, but the side effects from the vaccination are worse. You become a zombie!
I like to think I’d survive. Similar to the character in my story, my main focus would not be so much about saving myself, as saving my kids. Without saying anything to alert NSA, I believe I would fair okay. Perhaps better than most. Hope we never have to find out.
What was your first experience with zombie media? Was that experience was drew into writing the genre?
George Romero’s The Night of the Living Dead. Saw it in the 80’s. When I heard it was in black and white, my interest teetered. Still gave it a shot. Easy to say from that day forward, I was hooked on anything and everything zombies!
Pop Quiz: The item to your left is your only weapon during the Zombie Apocalypse. What is it and what do you think are your chances at survival?
I have a brown Contigo spill 12 oz. cup. Has hot Apple Cider in it. Half full. I think if this were my one and only weapon, I might not live long enough to get thirsty.
Yeah, it doesn’t look good… List your three favourite pieces of Zombie media.
- My collection of Joe McKinney novels
- My Romero zombie DVDs: Night of the Living Dead, The Crazies, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead
- My machetes
We all know that we sometimes have bad luck. Keeping that in mind, what song do you think would get stuck in your head, playing over and over again on an incessant loop?
“Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da,” by the Beatles is the last song I’d want playing over and over in my head. Ever.
Thank you Phillip! If you’d like to connect with Phillip, you can find him on Twitter, Facebook and his website.
Now let’s take a look at Evacuation…
911 dispatcher, Chase McKinney, finds himself in the midst of an apocalypse. Contaminated vials of swine flu vaccination infected millions country-wide. Side effects turned those inoculated into zombies. Some fast. Some slow. Both deadly.
The military escorts Chase, his children and a small band of survivors to a re-opened internment camp. The purpose is to test non-infected humans with the hope of developing a cure for the diseased population.
What they find when they arrive at the camp is worse than their darkest fears…
Don’s forget to click on the cover to be taken to Amazon!
Spotlight Saturday: Eddie Rotten’s FrequenZ: Alpha
Eddie Rotten’s FrequenZ: Alpha by William Howser
They came from the sky…
Loud pulses of sound that changed the world in a fraction of a second. At first, no one, especially Eddie Rotten, knew what caused them, but everyone was there to witness the startling results.
As the birds fell from the skies and the dead rose, Eddie and his family fought for survival against the unknown forces that had shifted the equilibrium of society. Had the government developed a radical new method of population control? Why did the news outlets remain dark on the issue?
Conspiracy theories flourish as Eddie, along with his family and the newly formed Zombie Fight Clubs, fight to right the moral order and shed light on the most heinous cover-up in human history.
Decide for yourself what is real and what isn’t…
***
Clicking on the cover will take you to Amazon!
