by Jay Wilburn

I’ve been impressed with Chris Philbrook as a writer and as a storyteller in the zombie genre in particular. Is AUD (Adrian’s Undead Diary) universe is one of the most well-developed and explored available to readers to date. On this tour we featured The Shed.

With as far as he has brought the series, I asked him what it is like to look back to the first books now. Years later, and many books sold, now he says he’s worried about how he writes, and what he writes. Instead of just writing for the fun of it, it’s a job, so he takes it more seriously. Also, with a daughter and one on the way, he doesn’t get nearly the same amount of time to write as he used to (even being a full-time writer), so he needs to write less tied to outlines and goals. Now he writes as much as he can, when he can, and allows the process to happen organically.

He’s thorough. When he was a game developer, and continuity nerd for their world, he needed to know the answers to questions that might never be asked. Now, as a writer, he does the same thing. Even if a character’s story never gets fully explored in a book, he still wants to know what that story was. I see this in book like The Shed where he goes back to fill in a fascinating story hinted at in the very first book. He includes others in his universe with anthologies which take in other zombie writers to explore tales in the AUD.

He loves to challenge himself. He loves to see what else he can write, and if it’s easy, or hard, or even if he’s any good at it. He wrote and donated a story to the Betrayed anthology about an abused young boy, mostly because he wanted to dredge up some dark, serious emotions, and see if he could translate them to the page. He wants to write human drama, not just action and gore and guns. Also, he likes to be funny at every opportunity, when he can fit it in appropriately.

He’s wrapping up the next Adrian’s Undead Diary novella; An Ill Wind right now, he’s got a short story to write for an anthology, and then he’s back to his Young Adult novel. I’m excited for all of this and as a big fan of his work and his voice, I’m sure other readers will be pleased with the results too.

I hope I have made the case for Chris Philbrook. Check out The Shed and any of the other works linked above.

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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