Thursday, March 28, 2013

Soon to be Targeted by Homeland Security

It all started on a trip to World Fantasy Con in San Francisco, where I got the splendid idea to set my next Zombie Exterminator novel there.  I had a bunch of great ideas of zombie vignettes at different tourist sites, but no overarching evil zombie plot to make a novel out of.  Later that week, my brother-in-law, who worked for Chevron in Richmond, suggested the refinery would make a great location for a zombie attack.

I started the book, I Left My Brains in San Francisco.  It had it all—romance, intrigue, environmentalism…Zombies!  All I needed was to plot the attack on the refinery.  However, suddenly, my brother-in-law took a trip to Kansas (or so they said).  Months of not returning my phone calls—had someone silenced him?

My book in peril, I nonetheless made the journey to WorldCon-Renovations, where I met the mysterious Figment.  Figment had knowledge of chemical plants and emergency procedures, and was only too glad to share it just for the fun of planning a zombie attack.  Like Deep Throat, Figment shall remain anonymous, possibly until after my or his/her/its death.

Thus armed, I returned home to write—but visualizing the locale stalled me.  My brother-in-law, meanwhile had been promoted (or had he?) and moved to Los Angeles, so I sought a local source for some information about refinery set-up and logistics.  Greg Hardy, manager of State Government Affairs, Rocky Mountain Region, of Chevron, spent a wonderful and informative hour or so with me on the phone giving me ideas on layout and operations…which I totally reworked to fit my refinery.  Naturally, I also tossed in some clichés of every cop show that ever had a fight in a refinery—it’s that kind of book.

The final attack on the refinery is awesome fun—but I just know, if zombies ever do rise up and attack Richmond, Homeland Security will come knocking on my door.

Purchase links:

Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator :  http://amzn.to/hTqMGa
I Left My Brains in San Francisco: http://amzn.to/Nzm01L
Learn more about the Zombie Exterminator novels at http://zombiedeathextreme.com
Find out about all of Karina Fabian’s books at http://fabianspace.com

1 comment:

  1. I'm happy you're making progress on your book, Karina, but should I be concerned that when someone asks oil company officials for ideas about how to an attack a refinery, the officials oblige?

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