by Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn: Thanks for having me over. Introduce yourself to our zombie reading audience.

Angela B Chrysler: Angela B Chrysler

Jay: Um, are you wearing a wedding dress?

Chrysler: Yes. Why?

Jay: Do you wear that all the … um, tell us the title of your featured zombie book.

Chrysler: Zombies From Space … And Vampires.

Jay: I love the title almost as much as I loved the story when I came begging you to be on the tour. Tell people all the awesome awesomeness found in this book in a few sentences, if you can.

Chrysler: When an alien race of zombies called Weeches invade earth and start eating humans, Arai Danes finds herself involved with a vampire slaying pirate crew known as The Slush Brain who have risen up against the vampire/zombie threat to fight for the survival of humanity.

Jay: My mind is blown all over again. Tell us about Arai Danes.

Chrysler: Aria Danes is a 19-year-old who hasn’t yet decided which path she is going to take. I instantly saw Aria as being 19 and uncertain which of her many futures she had laid out for her. When the zombies arrive, she doesn’t just lose her security, her father, and her safety. She loses every one of her possible futures. That is a huge loss that I can relate to and wanted to bring this out in Aria. So many young adults arrive at this point and they limit their potential because they are uneducated on how many different choices they have. I wanted to explore what it would be like for a 19-year-old to be thinking about careers, college, and life, then suddenly have to don the ol’ bazooka and fight for the right to survive instead. It’s going to take a toll on her. I’m eager to see how this grows.

Jay: I don’t even know how to ask this in a way that can be answered in one day, but what do you think makes this story so different from other works in the genre?

Chrysler: My zombies are not zombies. They are aliens. There is no virus or experimental anything gone wrong… There is no outbreak. They are perfectly normal, healthy Weeches from the planet… oh, I haven’t gotten that far yet. I think this gives me a lot of room to work because I can throw in something and readers can shrug it off, “Of course. They’re alien.” Suddenly so much about the Weeches make sense. Their slow sluggish walk? Well that’s the change in gravitational pull. They eat humans? Well, yes. They’re carnivorous aliens, not cannibals. Once I removed the cannibal concept from the story, it became a completely new approach, which was, for me, very refreshing. And because they’re aliens, I now have a “how does the population grow?” so I don’t have to worry about the “science” behind the human to zombie conversion.

Jay: Thanks for sharing this with our audience of readers. I know they’ll love Zombies From Space … And Vampires as much as I have.

Chrysler: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Jay: *turns to go* One more thing. Has anyone tried to send a blanket here recently?

Chrysler: A blanket? No. Why?

Jay: No reason. *leaves quickly*

Chrysler: *shrugs. Flips through channels. Pauses on Catfish …*

Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn has a Masters Degree in Education that goes mostly unused since he quit teaching to write about zombies. Jay writes horror because he tends to find the light by facing down the darkness. His is doing well following a life saving kidney transplant. Jay is the author of Maidens of Zombie Kingdom a young adult fantasy trilogy, Lake Scatter Wood Tales adventure books for elementary and middle school readers, Vampire Christ a trilogy of political and religious satire, and The Dead Song Legend. He cowrote The Enemy Held Near, Yard Full of Bones, and The Hidden Truth with Armand Rosamilia. You can also find Jay's work in Best Horror of the Year volume 5. He is a staff writer with Dark Moon Digest, LitReactor, and the Still Water Bay series with Crystal Lake Publishing.

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