by Jay Wilburn
Thad David was in a ship off the coast of west Africa. They were providing security for other ships so they wouldn’t get hijacked. This was during a previous presidential election cycle and David was growing weary of the back and forth hatred he was seeing as he dealt with real dangers that plagued the world. He sat back at that point and wondered what would happen if everyone was able to divide into camps along these ideological lines to reshape society according to their own rules with no counter influences, checks, balances, or discussion. These disparate groups could simply run it and control the rule of law under their own rules and philosophies. This became the genesis for the Zombie Company Crusade video game which would then become the fiction series Thad David cowrote with JL Koszarek which begins with Divide Then Conquer.
JL Koszarek has known David since childhood and he is engaged to her daughter. He read Koszarek’s work and knew she was a wonderful writer. The beginning of this series was to be his first published book. After talking with her about the premise, they decided that they could do the story justice together. Though Koszarek gives David a lot of credit in regard to this series, he insists that she is the strong writer he needed to help pull this off. David says that aside from Mark Tufo and a few others, former marines are not commonly known for their fiction writing skills.
He always knew he wanted this series to be based around zombies. They are crucial to the condition of the world he needed in order to tell the story he needed to tell. He does have a love for political thrillers too and that style and pace shows through in Divide Then Conquer, I think.
Three books are planned in the series at this point and the writing team of David and Koszarek are committed to producing those in short order one after the other. Looking ahead, David says he could see six or seven books coming naturally from the course of the series. Both writers have decided that they are going to see where the story takes them. They intend to tell the story that needs to be told without pushing it and without cutting it off before the series is finished.
He has two other stories brewing in his mind. One appears to be a political thriller and the other will be centered around men serving overseas. It will draw on his personal experience and perspective as a Marine Recon Sniper. Instead of focusing on himself, the story will center around the men he served with and what he learned from them. He feels fortunate to have served and is proud to have an opportunity to tell the story of men he deeply respects.
I hope I have made the case for Thad David. Check out Divide Then Conquer to begin his series. Be on the lookout for more from that series and other stories he has to tell in the future.
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