Welcome, Armand Rosamalia, to JayWilburn.com, the most boring named blog ever. I have shrunk him down and trapped him inside the computer Tron style. Only there are no cool death matches. Just a bunch of old men sitting around drinking. This is the only sport Armand and I are really built and conditioned for …
So, as I wasn’t saying, but am saying now: Armand has released Daying Days 4. The link is hyperlinked everywhere you see Dying Days 4 in the post. You can also read more about the book, the series, and the recent Summer of Zombie Blog tour featured on this photo of Armand in the classy tee shirt/ denim shorts combo below in my upcoming Bits of the Dead column in the August issue of Dark Eclipse ezine from Dark Moon Books, the finest publisher with the word “Dark” or “Moon” in their name which is most of them.
Also, the link for Dying Days 4 UK!
Dying Days 4: Location, Location, Location
Armand Rosamilia
Fans of my Dying Days zombie series (which should, by rights, include everyone) will notice I set the series in Florida. Why? Short answer: because I live in Florida. Duh.
The series started as I drove down A1A, south of St. Augustine. It is a gorgeous area, with a perfect view. Million dollar stilt houses on the beach. Tom Petty owned one at one point, I’ve been told. Sunbathers, fishermen and more boats on Matanzas Inlet than you could count.
Side note: Matanzas means massacre. I think that is comforting.
Anyway, back to our riveting story: as I drove I realized two things.
1. It was the perfect gorgeous setting to have something horrific happen to people. Who needs rain and gray buildings and fallen cities in every zombie story? Why not sun and sand and death?
2. I’m really screwed up.
I set the Dying Days story right in my proverbial backyard, and then I started really having fun. Why make up a sunny part of Florida when I could easily adapt the places I’ve been to as potential settings for the zombie series?
I once had a fan want to come to Florida and take a tour of the many places mentioned in the series: Kokomo’s Café, Flagler Pier, Java Joint and many others in Flagler Beach as well as European Village and Flagler-Palm Coast High School in Palm Coast, or the many spots in St. Augustine like the Lions Bridge and Casa Monica. Even down south down A1A a bit to the Ocean Center and Main Street in Daytona Beach.
Maybe someday the fan can come down and I’ll take her on the tour and they can pay for lunch and dinner and a few cocktails or three…
I stay true to the surroundings I’m used to while being able to tweak and play with them. Which leads me to go anywhere in Florida now and give it a good look to see where the zombies would hide and where survivors can make their final stand before being bitten and violated.
I read way too many depressing zombie stories set in dark and creepy decaying buildings, with dirty rain dripping and everything bleached out and gray.
If you’re going to die, ripped apart and eaten by former friends and loved ones, why can’t you have it done in the sand and sun, right?
I just released Dying Days 4 (you knew the plug was coming at some point), and it stays true to the rest of the main series. It is still set in the same relative area, although I’ve moved around a bit to the west and north. Who knows where Dying Days 5 will take us?
Armand Rosamilia
http://armandrosamilia.com
DYING DAYS 4 DYING DAYS 4 DYING DAYS 4
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