by Brent Abell

Zombies are a part of pop culture for better or for worse. Most things within the horror genre run in cycles, but right now it seems like the zombie will keep shambling for years to come. What is it about them that we devour everything we can about them? Do we really want to be rotting bodies slowly, or swiftly, eating brains and stinking up the house? No, but we love them as a metaphor for society and how we live our lives.

It is still a great time to be working with zombies. The sparkling vampires may have dampened the love for the bloodsucking undead, but their brain-eating cousins are doing just fine. This is where I find myself in the genre… still chowing down on brains.

I’ve said before, I never set out to do the zombie thing for long. However, I find myself in love with writing the exploits of the undead and the people who fight against them every day to survive. Besides my Southern Devils zombie series; there is also my Phoenix Virus storyline running through the Middletown Apocalypse books and my new Dying Days: Death Sentence novel set in Armand Rosamilia’s world.

Zombies are a blessing. Through my work, I’ve met a great deal of awesome fans and kick-ass writers. Through the undead, I get to visit other places and experience the danger a plain life doesn’t afford. These experiences can then be shared with other people and we can travel through the zombie apocalypse as a group… a family.

I’ve considered putting down the blades or the guns. There are other things I want to write about, but I’ve come to the realization the other ideas have to share time with the zombies. The ghosts and demons must play nice with the undead in my head.

The zombie apocalypse is spreading. The Southern Devil series is about to experience a huge story shift in the third book. This shift will allow the series to carry on past the Civil War and into new realms of time. I have the end game for my Phoenix Virus storyline in Middletown Apocalypse plotted out. Lastly, I have some ideas for how to expand the plot threads left dangling in Dying Days: Death Sentence.

I started with a couple of short stories thinking I would wash my hands of zombies afterward. No, I’m blessed with those rotting people and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Check out Dying Days: Death Sentence now.

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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