by Chris Philbrook

I want to write a new zombie novel. Not a new novel in the Adrian’s Undead Diary series, but something entirely new. A new concept. A new cause. A new perspective. A new plot.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the popular trope of “surviving the apocalypse” or “surviving the initial outbreak.” These are still entertaining stories to read, and they’re still fun to write. I want to write a new zombie novel because…

We aren’t doing enough with zombies.

I say we and I mean the authors, writers, film directors, producers, studios, anyone who has created entertainment in the zombie genre the last 20 years. I think we can all step up, and try new ideas.

Many people have. Look at the novel and movie Warm Bodies. Very unique idea on the genre. Curing the undead? Sentient zombies? Cool. Nice idea, dude.

Look at Shaun of the Dead or even Zombieland. I mean now, we all consider Shaun of the Dead to be archetypal, but a zombie comedy back when it came out, was risky. Zombieland hammered the idea home that a bigscreen zombie comedy was not only funny, but viable as a success.

Maybe we need more zombie comedy books? Maybe I’ll write that?

We’ve got zombie movies and books where we see things from the eyes of the zombie. We’ve got zombie animals, we’ve got zombies from viruses, zombies from voodoo, zombies from God, zombies from outer space…

Zombies who stumble, zombies who walk, zombies who can run, plus zombies that can use tools now and then. Sentience even, as I said above.

We’ve got books where the zombies have sentience, and even won the war! Look at Paul Mannering’s Tankbread for a cool story about that.

We’ve seen zombies in multiple eras of time, too. Army of Darkness showed us some medieval demon spawn zombies, which was fun. We’ve got stories set in the dark ages, stories set in the renaissance, stories set in the civil war, the wild west, the prohibition era, the cold war, modern day, and even the future.

The locations used are endless as well. Every continent has been covered (I think. Maybe that’s a point of research. Zombies in Antarctica? I betcha someone has put Nazi zombies there.) and dozens of countries have been dragged into the apocalypse, kicking and screaming.

We’ve got stories that mix zombies with everything else in the world of monsters. They’ve been roped in with werewolves, vampires, wizards, witches,

And yet… I hunger for more. I hunger for more stories that use zombies in new and interesting ways. I want more movies, more books, more… anything that shows me zombies testing humanity. Zombies testing zombies. Zombies testing the government. Zombies testing the military. Zombies testing water quality as part of a home inspection. Zombies taking a standardized aptitude test.

Wait… has that not been done yet?

Be right back. Got a book idea.

-Chris

Until he wraps up that new book idea check out the great ones he has already written. Pick up his latest, The Shed, or begin with book 1 in his series.

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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