*Jay Wilburn checks his watch again as he sits on the side of the road in the shade of a collapsing billboard for Erectile Dysfunction drugs. Dust rises high from behind the hills in the distance. It could be wind. Might be zombies. Might be vehicles from any of a number of potentially hostile groups. …
Spotlight On Jessica Gomez
* Jessica Gomez turns over a blackened table in the midst of the burned and crumbling structure. Smoke rises from other burned buildings within the fallen fences. A few others take down the zombies still straggling into the area attracted by the fires. Nothing is left under the table except for ash. Gomez leaves it …
The Argument for Short Fiction
by Jay Wilburn Smart money is supposed to be on novels. Smarter money is supposed to be on a series. The smartest money is probably on not writing at all and especially not writing about zombies. We don’t all get accused of being smart every day though. I think there are great things to be …
Spotlight On Grivante
*Grivante takes of his pack and sets it down on the road behind him. He stands in the center of the street as his people move from building to building. Bodies are dragged out into the street. Wagons roll slowly along and the dispatched zombies are loaded on the growing piles in the back. Jay …
Spotlight On Ken Stark
*Ken Stark sweeps the binoculars along the break in the cinderblock wall. Jay Wilburn starts to speak, but Stark holds up a finger in both warning and threat. He ducks down and Wilburn does also. A group of men walk by. At first it is hard to tell whether they are alive or undead. Then, …
The Thin Margin Between Good and Bad Zombie Stories
by Jay Wilburn In the past I have been very forgiving of bad zombie movies. I watched a ton of them. I loved some of them. I saw it as the cost of finding the great movies out of the trash. Even now, I’ll still really like a marginal zombie movie. I have also found …
Spotlight On Lauren Wilson
*Several people gather around tables and counters enjoying the food. Zombies claw at the windows on the unfenced side of the house. Lauren Wilson steps to the side where Jay Wilburn stands* Lauren Wilson: We’ll need to make this quick. We have zombies to clear and dinner to prep. And The Walking Dead, my publisher, …
Spotlight On Jack Wallen
*Jack Wallen drops a few M&M’s on the dealer’s table. The man with the eye patch holds them in his hand for a moment to be sure they don’t melt. He then fills Wallen’s pack with purified water, bullets, rare vinyl albums, purple hair dye, a mug with baby carrots scanned onto it, and the …
Waiting on the Bump
by Jay Wilburn I am largely apolitical. I have opinions on politics, but not strong enough to put in the effort to argue over them. Almost dying made a lot of stuff way less important to me. It made it a lot harder for me to maintain a conflict. I just don’t have the energy …
Spotlight On Shawn Chesser
*Jay Wilburn walks up a deserted road. Houses lay collapsed on both sides and grasses encroach on the broken edges of the asphalt. Military vehicles pull out in front of and behind him. Men and women with weapons drawn aim down on Jay on all sides. Jay raises his hands.* Jay Wilburn: I’m here to …