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My post is about "The Guy Who Started it All"
They say someone is always to blame. Everything has a point of origin, the point where the match lit and things escalated.
My intro into the zombie book field came with a story I wrote about Becca, a teenage girl who turns part-zombie in GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie. The whole thing starts with her 20-something-year-old cousin, Spence, a guy even his sister describes as someone who “doesn’t make the best of choices.”
Spence's story - and what happened to him before he got home - is in "CHANGES: A GIRL Z Prequel, A Zombie Story
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Spence’s problem is he got tired of his mother’s nagging him to get a job. He answers a blind ad in the back of the newspaper, gets offered a job with incredible benefits, and goes all the way to Kentucky to work in a lab. Of course, things don’t go according to plan as Spence finds himself in the middle of an outbreak with people turned into flesh-eating monsters.
."Spence’s problem is he got tired of his mother’s nagging him to get a job. He answers a blind ad in the back of the newspaper, gets offered a job with incredible benefits, and goes all the way to Kentucky to work in a lab. Of course, things don’t go according to plan as Spence finds himself in the middle of an outbreak with people turned into flesh-eating monsters.
Then he makes the worst decision possible – he decides to come back home. Because of him, Becca goes from a normal teenager to a girl with “weird quirks, habits and things no teenage girl wants to be noticed for.”
Spence’s naive hope was to do one thing—warn his family and get what he hopes are life-saving drugs into their hands—but time is not on his side.
About the book:
After graduating from college, Spence Sanchez expected to get a good job working in science, which he always loved. Instead, he makes a hasty decision and leaves home to take a job working in a secretive lab in another state. That decision turns into a fight for his life as his co-workers turn into flesh-eating monsters. Now Spence’s only hope is to get home and see his family one last time, before all traces of his humanity are gone…
Blog: GirlZombieAuthors
Blog: GirlZombieAuthors
Website: http://cverstraete.com
* Links for Changes: (ebook/Kindle)
Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/qzrcyvu
All Amazon countries: http://authl.it/B00XWWO79S
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/543942
Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/npdonmf* Links, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie: (ebook, Kindle, print)
All Amazon links: http://authl.it/B00E8HCVQM
Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/d889gzn
The author answers a few questions:
Q: Was it hard to write Spence’s story?
If you mean was it hard to write about someone so selfish that they continue home, even when they know they are turning into a zombie, then no. I purposely wrote GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie to show Becca’s life and point of view, which is the aftermath of that one person’s decision.
The beginning of GIRL Z offers a few family comments about Spence and only shares his unexpected arrival when his sister, Carm, spots him staggering across the lawn. At first, Becca thinks it’s a drunken neighbor. Then she is not sure if it’s someone who’s ill or one of the marauding “sick” persons appearing across the country. She tries to stop Carm from going to help him, and is still skeptical when she realizes it’s Spence, her other cousin, who is clearly ill. Given that scenario, I definitely wanted to share Spence’s experiences and show what happened to him before he came home.
Q: What is life like for the main character, Spence?
Full of unanswered questions and yes, regret. How many times do we make a decision we have to live with? You hope, though, that you never make a decision that in the end will kill you.
Q: What’s different about this story?
I wanted to share a story from a near-zombie’s point of view, a kind of “I am Legend” viewpoint. Not that I can claim to write anywhere near the level of Richard Matheson, but I found it interesting to read that story which is based on one person and their inner feelings.
While Spence interacts with other people at the beginning of the story, his being infected and trying to get home before the infection fully blooms, becomes the main focus of the story. It’s a man versus the elements, good versus evil, life versus death kind of story as seen through one person’s eyes.
It sounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I got your book last year and LOVED girl Z!!!! Oh, and congrats on the new one:))
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween and blog hop!
@annecmichaud
I DO like zombies. I like the ones that are more intact than others, but that's just aesthetics. I love the idea of people wandering around with hollow minds and holes in their souls. *grin* Happy Halloween and happy hopping!
ReplyDeleteBoth books sound interesting to me - like thoughtful takes on the zombie life. As for what I dislike about zombies, I dislike the thought that I must watch every movement for every moment of my life or I can become a meal to a roving zombie. I dislike that their most potent thought seems to be the overwhelming need for flesh or brains - and mine could be the next meal on the menu, if I'm not careful.
ReplyDelete