. (
Aunt-B and John have a horrible
secret, and when it's unleashed on the unsuspecting employees of the diner,
things get . . . complicated.
Bloodthirsty and dangerous, a zombie
awaits the opportunity to feast on them all.
Who will be served first? Can any of
them make it out of the Undead Drive-Thru alive?
(I'm also sharing some info today on my book GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie at Rebecca's blog!)
Rebecca, welcome! Tell us a little about yourself...
Bec: I’m a wife and mother, a graduate of the Institute of
Children’s Literature, and a writer who has been publish around 300 times in a
variety of mediums in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for various age groups.
I’m best known for my works of adult horror.
What's your most recent release(s)?
Bec: My most recent release is a re-release of my zombie
novella, Undead Drive-Thru. The sequel, Undead Regeneration, will be released
this coming summer.
How do you plan to spend Christmas this
year?
Bec: At home enjoying my family, opening presents, and cooking a large, festive meal.
If someone were to give you a book (or
ten) as a present, what titles would you like to receive?
Bec: Hater & Dog Blood by David Moody, anything I don’t
presently have by Joe McKinney, and the book I don’t have in the Shadow Dancer
series by Courtney Rene (plus the next installation of her Howl series that
hasn’t been released yet).
How many books do you currently have
out?
Bec: Four by just me, although, if you visit my Amazon author page, I’m
associated with 57 titles.
What
inspired your book?
Bec: The original artwork from the first release. I was
inspired by the image Justin T. Coons had created.
Do you have a favorite scene and why?
Bec: I don’t have a favorite scene, I have a favorite chapter;
Chapter 8. The chapter action packed and everything seems to happen at once. I
love action.
What
led you to write about zombies?
Bec: Zombies are fun. I’d previously written a few short stories
about zombies, so a longer work was logically the next step. Besides, Undead Drive-Thru is not the normal zombie book/story.
What
else do you do when you're not writing?
Bec: I’m an editor, maintain websites, watch movies, spend time
with my family, cook, shoot, hunt, play with our puppy, do cross-stitch, crochet, and many, many other things. I’m a busy woman all the time.
Is there anything you would like to
share that I haven’t asked you about?
Bec: Yes, there is! I’m giving away two signed copies of Undead
Drive-Thru (one first and one second edition) to one lucky winner of my
re-release giveaway! Three runners up will win signed copies of the second
edition!
Look for official
rules and how to enter on her blog:
Visit Rebecca Besser:
Excerpt of UNDEAD DRIVE-THRU:
“He knew he was
getting close to the end of the path when he almost stubbed his toe on a large
rock barely visible in the underbrush. Skirting it, he continued toward the
rundown, two-story house, looking for anything out of the ordinary; he’d
learned over the last couple of weeks that being aware was of the utmost
importance. He slowed for a moment as he stepped out of the tan, dry overgrowth
and into the slightly shorter, weed-choked yard. Not seeing any movement, he
continued to the front door. Throwing it open, he braced himself for an attack.
When one wasn’t forthcoming, he stepped through and shut the door behind him,
listening intently for any sound that might indicate what was going on and
where it might be happening.
It took a few
moments, but he finally heard moans and his aunt’s distressed voice floating in
through an open window – they were outside. Growling and muttering curses under
his breath, he went back outside and circled around to the rear of the house,
fighting his way along another overgrown pathway.
Just as he was about
to turn the corner of the house, he tripped over a partially buried brick in
the ground, bordering a long dead flower bed that used to run along the side of
the building. He fell hard, scraping his hands on dirt and small stones and
smacking his head off another of the bricks.
“Shit,” he muttered,
lying on the ground, dazed. Closing his eyes and taking a couple of deep
breaths, he pushed himself up onto his knees as something warm and sticky ran
down the side of his face. Reaching up with one of his sore hands, he touched
the liquid and opened his eyes a crack to see that his fingers were covered
with blood. In less than an instant after he realized he was bleeding, he heard
an intense hiss to his left. Looking up, trying to focus, he saw his uncle,
Sam, charging at him with hunger in his milky eyes.
“Run!” Aunt-B yelled,
trying to net Sam with an old quilt.
Just before the
shambling, undead corpse of his uncle could get his claws into him, John rolled
out of the way and to his feet in one fluid motion. He wavered and almost fell
again as his head wound made the world spin, but snapped erect when Sam darted
at him again. Sam was so close that John could smell his rotting stench and it
made his stomach reel.
“Run, John, run!”
Aunt-B yelled again, charging forward, still trying to catch Sam. “You’re
bleeding! He won’t give up while you’re bleeding!”
John turned to run,
but only made it a few paces away before Sam tripped over the same bricks that
had been John’s downfall.
Sam fell, sprawling,
into a huge, dead bush and flailed, moaning, trying to get free. Aunt-B took
the opportunity and pounced, throwing the blanket over her undead husband. John
turned back and helped restrain Sam, wrapping his arms around the
blanket-covered body in a bear hug, locking his hand around his opposite wrist.
“How did he get out?”
John snapped, wrestling Sam toward the front of the house.
“I don’t know! I was
too busy trying to keep him from wandering off to figure it out!”
The bundled-up Sam in
John’s arms fought vigorously and tried to break free, using all his undead and
blood thirsty strength. It took everything John had to keep him under control,
but even with his head pounding and his body sore from falling, he held on
tight while Sam moaned incessantly.
Sam bit at the
blanket and tried to get to the fresh blood that was so close.
Aunt-B rushed ahead
of them, being careful not to fall herself, knowing more blood would only make
Sam more difficult to handle. She reached the front door and held it open as
John struggled around the corner of the house, gasping as Sam almost threw both
of them off their feet again when he started shaking violently.
John swore and held
on, leaning backwards slightly. Using his superior height to his advantage, he
partially lifted Sam’s feet off the ground. Soon, the flailing stopped and
Sam’s feet wiggled around in the air, trying to find footing once more, but he
still bit at the blanket and tried to claw his way out. Groaning, John put him
down and forcefully pushed on to the waiting door.
“I’m sorry,” Aunt-B
whispered as they wrestled into the house.
John wasn’t sure if
she was talking to him or Sam. He knew how she still had a soft spot in her
heart and/or head for her husband, and it bothered him. A normal, sane person
would have killed – or had someone else kill – their spouse who’d turned into a
zombie. But no, not Aunt-B, she was too softhearted to ever do anything like that
and left every day to chance. She chanced Sam getting free and hurting others,
or even starting an outbreak. She also risked their lives by insisting they
live in the same house as such a dangerous creature.
John and Sam stumbled
through the house, knocking over furniture, and almost fell a couple of times.
“Open the cage!” he
yelled, holding Sam slightly away from the door that opened into a small
bedroom wherein a steel cage had been built.
“I’m coming! I’m
coming!” Aunt-B huffed as she wiggled between them and the wall, clamoring over
a chair they’d knocked down during the struggle; she stepped inside the
bedroom.
Flipping the switch
on the wall, the room lit up with light from a single florescent bulb in a
ceiling fixture and she made sure the cage door was open; it was a large
enclosure that almost completely filled the small room, pressing up against
three of the walls.
“It’s ready,” she
said, stepping back out of the way, letting John in front of her.
“Stand back,” John
huffed breathlessly. “I’m going to pull the blanket off and shove him in as
fast as I can.”
“Okay,” Aunt-B said
from a few feet away.
John glanced at her
to see where she was and his jaw tightened when he saw the tears running down
her face and the way she was wringing her hands.
She’s probably scared
I’ll hurt him, he thought bitterly.
Using the pissed off
energy and the pain coursing through his body to fuel him, he quickly pulled
off the blanket and planted his foot on Sam’s butt. He kicked his uncle forward
hard enough to propel the zombie into the holding cell, sending him sprawling
as he fell on his face.
John slammed the
steel door sharply and was about to turn away when he noticed it hadn’t
latched.
, it's up to Chief Elf Inspector Finius Flaherty to find out who stole the gifts before Christmas is ruined! No zombies, but a fun little holiday read.
. (Amazon UK) (Be sure to check out the giveaway!)
- 12 tales of evil children - and adults - getting their due.
- New 55 page tale where young Skip must track down Santa to set things right in a dystopian world gone mad.
reinvents the Krampus tale making him nearly good again... Krampus was once the right hand of the Claus. Now, he’s just a fading memory who’s been banished from the North Pole Corporation and left to rot in his Cave House while the new head of the NPC casts him in the role of the Yuletide villain. When he discovers that the Claus has disappeared, Krampus rallies his forest friends and the children of the world to save him! 
, Jessica Robinson (Pembroke Sinclair) uses film, literature and interviews with experts to examine how zombies portray real-world fears such as epidemics, mind control, what may or may not exist in space, the repercussions of playing God, and the science behind the fears. Robinson's goal is to explore how zombies become a metaphor for our fears of science and what could happen if science gets out of hand.
is a short story where three men take risks to bring happiness to surviving kids on Christmas morning.
a collection of 25 holiday and YA short stories, including the appropriately titled, Home for Christmas and Jingle Brains. 
* Jack Wallen is the author of the I Zombies series, including the latest, Cry Zombie Cry (I Zombie Book 8)
- Bethany Nitshimi is back and ready to crush the Zero Day
Collective with a wall of sound. Together with the metal band Unsun, Bethany
will have the undead horde banging their heads until brain runs thick in the
streets. 
on Kindle and just released in paperback. Think an original Godzilla with a little romance, sci fi and scary monsters! (Yes, monsters!)
. 
under the name C. Le Mroch. (37 pgs.) (She has a way with writing interesting short stories!) 
* Coming soon! Any day now! Check out Jaime Johnesee's Bob the Zombie collection, The Misadventures of Bob the Zombie - includes her three novellas PLUS a new novella and bonus short story! 
