by Jay Wilburn
As of the end of this tour, Armand Rosamilia participated in the zombie tours for over seven years as a host or a featured author. He began with the Summer of Zombie tours and the Winter of Zombie tours have been running almost as long. With the main storyline of Dying Days coming to a close with book 9, it is the end of another era. He has passed the torch on the tours and now fans follow him into other genres and other work while still loving what he did with Dying Days. As he did when he started the zombie tours, he continues to do all he can to help other authors along the way. We as readers, fans, authors, and participants in the zombie genre thank him for all he has done and continues to do.
Some years he had as many as 40 or more authors on. Even with regular repeats, we are still talking about hundreds of authors that have been on at least one of the summer or winter tours thanks to what he started in order to help authors and readers of the genre.
A lot of great authors and great work in the genre have been promoted through these tours and hopefully we’ll be able to keep up those traditions and high standards for many years to come. Maybe I’ll come to my senses and quit running these tours as well. We’ll see … That’s the thing about zombies and zombies stories: They just keep rising up and they keep on coming.
With such a long a varied list of past participants, we wanted to check back in with some of our alumni to see what they are doing now as 2018 is moving ever onward. They are still out there somewhere. Still writing. Writing what?! Some were busy with other projects, some were between releases, others were promoting books from other genre, and we missed them on the tour this year.
With that in mind, let’s take some time to check in on a few of our SOZ and WOZ alumni …
Rebecca Besser
Her Zpoc Exception Series is starting out a first person, character mini-series. She gives the reader an inside look at where each “exception” character was when the Zpoc hit, how they survived, and how they met up with the other exception characters. Exceptions: The people bitten by zombies that don’t turn into zombies. They get really sick for a few days, but remain human. The exceptions are charged/tasked/forced to be the guardians and rebuilders of society (through settlement) because they can go out among the zombies with lower risk than the everyday people. The fate of humanity rests on their shoulders. There are three ebooks currently available in the Zpoc Exception Series: Chad, Elaine, and Liam. Liam is the newest release and the current fan fav. Daisy will be book four, and will be available Winter 2018.
Rebecca Besser is the author of Nurse Blood. She is a member of the International Thriller Writers Organization. She has been published hundreds of times in magazines, ezines, anthologies, educational books, on blogs, and more in the areas of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for a variety of age groups and genres. Her nonfiction article on skydiving was picked up by McGraw-Hill for NY Assessments. One of her poems for children was chosen for an early reader book from Oxford University Press (India). Her short story, P.C., was included in Anything But Zombies! published by Atria Books (digital imprint of Simon & Schuster). Rebecca’s main focus has been on horror works for adults. She writes zombie works, suspenseful thrillers, and other dark fiction related to the horror genre/community. She has also edited multiple books in these genres.
Jack Wallen
You remember me, don’t you? I’ve written a few zombie-themed books over the years. I’ve also participated in the Summer of Zombie and Winter of Zombie tours since they began. So why am I not here in the big bad now?
Every so often I have to take a break from the undead. And that’s exactly what I did. In fact, I went in quite the opposite direction. No. Not romance … but close. Over the last year I scurried over to one of the finest small presses on the planet (that being Devil Dog Press) and wrote a paranormal romance series about a Reaper and his accidental true love (A Tale of Two Reapers, To Kill A Reaper, and For Whom the Reap Tolls). After that was over, I wrote another book staring the band Die So Fluid (Dead Twin Sister). Up next was the sequel to Suicide Station, Suicide Machine. That particular novel finally brought to light the metaverse I’ve been going on and on about for so long. That’s right, kids, I’m bringing all of my universes together under one ginormous circus tent. Won’t that be a hoot?
Finally, I wrote the political satire I’d been needing to get off my chest for so long. That book, POTUS, is the sequel to Punk Ass Punk and pits the singer of the band against a rather familiar incumbent president. Let me tell ya, that was a book I desperately needed to write. Cath-ar-sis!
But fear not: I am returning to the genre we all know and love. First up is the fourth entry in the Middletown Apocalypse series. All the authors that were in the 3rd book are back and this one promises to be just as kickass as the others. Once I get that done, I have an idea for a brand new zombie series that I’ll be writing.
Brent Abell
I took a zombie break. However, the break is almost over. Right now, in the zombie genre, I’m working on the forth entry for the Middletown series and I am getting ready to begin the end of the Southern Devils Trilogy. You can check the first two books out now…for a special summer price even (Book 1 and Book 2). This fall, I will also be preparing another chapter for my storyline in Armand Rosamilia’s Dying Days series (Check it out here!).
I’ve been busy since the zombie break started. A new book in the Frank Hill/White Creek series is chugging along. This series focuses on the more gothic horror of small town or rural America. White Creek is cursed by the sins of its past and only Sheriff Frank Hill can help keep the town from falling into literal Hell. There are two books out right now; The Calling and In Memoriam.
I completed my new book a few weeks ago and it’s in the editing phase now. The book kicks off a new series about Milo Anderson and his mis-adventures as an employee at Death Inc.. After dying, Milo finds being a reaper for Death Inc. isn’t as glamourous as he thought it would be. Once he botches his first solo reaping, his afterlife is turned inside out when he is sent to retrieve a soul placed in the wrong level in the Veil of Souls. It is something unlike anything else I’ve done and it was a blast to write. In fact, I got the cover in a few days ago and I’ll share it with you now.
Well, I have a lot of stuff to catch up on. I leave now and may your dreams be haunted and full of the undead.
Chuck Buda
I am currently finishing up Tourniquet, the final book in the Gushers Trilogy (August release).
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