Hello Folks,
Jonny T here, i was recently asked if i would help out the lovely chap whom is Robert R Best and of course i will! You may have read some of classic Kung-Fu reviews on the blog and it was great to see him finish his Memorial Trilogy which if you have yet to read i urge you to do so, so take it away Mr Best!
So I was tagged by the illustrious, golden-haired David Dunwoody ( http://daviddunwoody.com/ ) asked me to be a part of the Next Big Thing project. Essentially, we writer folk post a blog like so and tag other writers who must do the same and so on until the universe explodes. So thanks again to David for tagging me and thanks to Jonny T for letting me post this here!
And now, the questions:
What is your working title of your book?
Actually, I have three titles since I just finished my zombie trilogy. So, I’ll just call it by the series name – The Memorial Trilogy. The individual books are Lakewood Memorial, Ashton Memorial and World Memorial.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
Well, the zombies come from a long time love of the zombie genre ever since MTV air Night Of The Living Dead one Halloween and it freaked me out bad. Add to that my wife asking me to write her a zombie book, and it was inevitable.
What genre does your book fall under?
Zombie action-horror
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
C. Thomas Howell in all roles. Like the Klumps.
I really have no idea, but the closest actress I’ve seen to how Angie looks in my head is Sarah Jones from the sadly cancelled series “Alcatraz.”
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A single mom and her two kids fight to survive the zombie apocalypse.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Lakewood Memorial and Ashton Memorial were published by Library Of The Living Dead press in 2009 and 2010. Since then, the rights have reverted back to me and I have self-released Lakewood and Ashton. World Memorial is entirely self-published.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Longer than most writers, I think. I outline extensively and take tons of notes before I start. I have an almost superstitious preference for first drafts. I’ve killed many a book by going over it too much. So I work hard to get the first draft as close to done as I can.
Writing times for each of the three books:
Lakewood Memorial – 7 years (!) – length due to much starting and stopping
Ashton Memorial – 1 year to write a book nearly twice the size of Lakewood. It was a real wake-up call.
World Memorial – 2 years.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I honestly don’t know. It grew from my desire to take zombies back to their Night Of The Living Dead roots and then cross that with a (hopefully) more accurate portrayal of people in rural areas. There are rednecks in the books, but none of them are missing teeth or carrying a jug with “XXX” on the side. Also, anal rape never crosses their minds. Who’da thunk?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The main character is a young single mother name Angie Land. And the idea for her came from my day job as a social worker. I kept seeing these young women in their 20’s or very early 30’s who had multiple children, several jobs and somehow managed to keep things together. There was a strength to these young women that awed me. All that funnelled into Angie.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Let’s see. A strong female lead. Traditional slow, dumb zombies. More accurate representation of rural folk. And even a little bit of a lesbian coming-of-age arc, mainly in books two and three.
Also swearing. Lots and lots of swearing. And tons of gore. The books can get very dark, bleak, vulgar and violent, but I like to think there is a squishy warm heart at the center of the Memorial Trilogy. Check the series out at www.robertrbest.com
Also check out these authors:
Joann H. Buchanhan http://theeclecticartistcave.blogspot.com.
Sherri Bean: www.ofseraphimandcherubim.com
Crystal Connor http://www.wordsmithcrystalconnor.blogspot.com
R K Kombrink http://Rkkombrinck.blogspot.com
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