As The World Dies: Fighting To Survive

If you’d like to find out more about her, check out her blog.

Thanks again for agreeing to an interview. Tell us a little about yourself and why you write.

My name is Rhiannon Frater and I am an Independent Author based in Austin, Texas. I have written for a couple of magazines that covered the entertainment scene in Central Texas. I am presently concentrating on writing stories with horror themes that take place in Texas. But I do have a very Gothic old world vampire novel coming down the pike in the near future.

I write because I don’t have a choice. I have stories floating around in my head and the compulsion to write. I enjoy it tremendously. And I enjoy sharing stories with readers, so it all works out.

You’ve got a book in print right now “As the World Dies: the First Days.” Tells us, if you would, a little about it and how it came about.

As The World Dies: The First Days it the first book of a zombie trilogy that I accidentally wrote. What do I mean by that? Well, I was heavily influenced by a dream a friend had and one day at work, I had an inspired moment where I saw a woman standing on the doorstep of her home, staring at tiny fingers pressed under the front door reaching toward her. I quickly jotted down a short story named “Tiny Fingers’ during my break and posted it on a zombie fiction forum. I ended up getting some very good feedback and people wanted to know when the next part was going to be posted. Suddenly, I knew there was much more to the story. It took two years to write and post online. The fan response was quite intense. The fans encouragement is what inspired me to pull down the story, rewrite/revise/edit it and create the trilogy.

Do you read any zombie apocalypse literature besides your own? If so, what do you like?

I’m a huge fan of George Romero. I have read his scripts for Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead (the unfilmed version) and his script for Resident Evil (which was awesome) that was not filmed. I’m also a huge fan of “I am Legend.” I think that novel was amazing. The closest anyone has come to making a faithful adaptation to film was The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price.

When I started writing the zombie story, I had been reading a lot of zombie genre fiction online, but found most of it empty. Characters and situations just didn’t ring true to me. Then I realized I wanted to have a fresh voice in the genre and I should write what I felt worked. I ended up swearing off all zombie novels/stories until I’m done. So the moment I finish the As The World Dies Trilogy, I will be buying a slew of zombie novels!

I know what you mean. I bought a softcover copy of I Am Legend about 4 months before I finished writing Oasis. It just had to sit on my desk until I was done writing. Anyway, you’ve recently posted a preview to your new book “Pretty When She Dies“. What can you tell us about it?

Pretty When She Dies was based on a dream I had that was so vivid and intense I almost believed it was true. That dream is the first three chapters of the novel. I was so intrigued by the nightmare, I wanted to know what else happened. So I wrote the rest of the novel.

I believe this vampire story is a departure from a lot of what is out there right now. I feel vampires have been taken over by the paranormal romance genre. There are some very good books in that genre, but there are a lot that are really pretty bad. At this point, there are so many books that are carbon copies of each other, it’s disheartening. The paranormal (or horror) aspect of the novels is often lost. I’m also very disgruntled with the constant triangles (hot female heroine, sexy vampire, sexy werewolf).

Pretty When She Dies is about a woman who isn’t a super vixen. She really doesn’t have her life together. She tends to drift through life and run from difficult situations. When she wakes up a vampire, she finally starts evolving and trying to figure out exactly what her place in the world really is.

There are vampires, necromancers, zombies and vampire hunters in this tale and it takes place in modern times in Texas. It’s horrific, sexy, scary, funny, and suspenseful.

Any news on book two of the “As the world Dies” series?

Book two, As The World Dies: Fighting to Survive, needed some intense retooling and I’m almost done. I hope to have it with the proofreaders very soon. Book three is going to have to wait until early next year for its rewrite. I need a little time to play in other worlds before heading back into the zombie one.

Let’s finish up by talking about self publishing. Before you self published, did you try to get you book into a “traditional publisher”?

I did fire off a million submissions in my early twenties. I’m glad nothing ever came of them. I don’t think my writing voice was defined at that time. Also, I had no idea what the publishing world was about and probably would have signed any contract put in front of me.

I started submitting again last year, but this time I took the time to do a lot of research on the publishing world. The more I learned, the more despair I felt. The lack of creative control, how royalties work (or don’t work), the gatekeepers of the submission process (agents), and how the whole system is set up as a whole, was very distressing.

There is one publishing house, Permuted Press, that specializes in zombies that has a good reputation. I was going to try to submit As The World Dies to them, but its submissions were closed. I basically gave up at that point and was very depressed.

What made you decide to self publish?

My husband was upset that the rejections from publishers and agents were based on a short query letter I was submitting and that no one was actually reading my writing. He knew I had a fan base waiting for the books, but I was stuck. He began looking into independent publishing behind my back. He is a huge proponent of the new media and once he had a good idea of what we needed to do, he approached me. I was very resistant at first, but as he talked to me about publish on demand services, creative control, and the ability to get my work out to readers, I realized he was onto something.

We spent a few more months studying up on independent publishing and getting feedback from people I’m close to. We put together our plan and went for it. It was a lot of fun getting the artwork from our friend Detra and working with our proof readers and editors. Learning how to layout the book and the cover was annoying, but I think we did pretty good for our first time out.

How have you liked working with createspace.com?

It has its pros and cons. Setting up the novel was pretty easy. I like their member dashboard and how it tracks the steps toward publication. I also like how they keep track of sales. The royalties are really good through Createspace and the books are automatically listed on Amazon.com. Search Inside and the author’s blog are easy to acquire as well if you’re signed with Creatspace since it is an Amazon.com company.

I wish the company had a phone number for customer service. At this time, everything is handled through email. That can become annoying.

Who did the cover for your first book and your upcoming release? Were you involved in the design?

Detra did the cover for As The World Dies: The First Days. He is an amazing artist. He is originally from San Antonio and he moved out to California. He’s a great person and artist. I told him what I wanted. He interpreted my desires into a cover that I think is just fabulous. He perfectly brought the two main leads of the story to life on the cover.

Rose Munoz did the cover for Pretty When She Dies. I saw the photograph on her Excentric Vision Photography myspace page and rang her up to inquire about it. She immediately said yes to us using it for the cover. I really love her work and hope to work with her in the future on the next book in the Pretty When She… series.

What have you done to promote your work? What results have you seen?

I have a built in fan base because of the time when the story was online. I know a lot of them are supporting this endeavor. I have a writer’s blog that gets quite a few hits on a dailty basis. I’m a friend of Permuted Press and I have a subforum on there. I have done one online magazine interview with TREI Magazine and one blogtalkradio interview with The Odd Mind Magazine. I really enjoy doing interviews, honestly!

I will also be attending conventions as well. The first one is Fear Fest 3 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Without a doubt, word of mouth has definitely driven sales. I would say this is the major force behind my success. People love the book and pass on the word.

I have to give a huge shout out to Dr. Pus’ Library of the Living Dead podcast. For the last few episodes, the first chapter has been presented in segments complete with sound effects, voice actors, and music. Dr. Pus has been a firm supporter of the book and he’s been amazing.

What’s next for you?

Pretty When She Dies will be out in November. We’re trying to get As The World Dies: Fighting to Survive to the proofreaders and the artwork commissioned. I hope to be working on a brand new novel during the month of November just to give me a fresh world to play in. The zombie nightmares are getting annoying.

Is there anything else that I really should have asked you?

Yes.

1. Is it worth it being an Indie Author? Yes, it is. It’s very liberating, a lot of hard work, a ton of fun, and something I’m enjoying. If someone is willing to find proof readers, editors, artists, and do a heck of a lot of work themselves, then I would say to go for it. I have loved working with my husband on the books and it feels so good to present the books the way I feel best represents my work.

2. Have I had any offers from publishers for my novels? Yes. I just turned down an offer for the trilogy. It was awesome and flattering to get the offer and I respect the publisher a lot, but I don’t feel I’m ready yet to give up my status as an Indie Author at this time. My husband and I made a game plan when we started this and we want to play it out and see how it goes.

3. Would I ever consider signing with a publishing house? Yes. Absolutely. I will weigh each offer and consider how they compare to my success as an Indie Author. If they will help me in my personal writing goals, I would definitely ponder signing on the dotted line. But, at this time, I’m happy with my status as an Indie Author.

Just one last question. What’s your plan of action for when the zombie apocalypse finally hits?

I’m in Texas. We got guns. Lots of guns. I think we’ll be fine.

Unless they’re running zombies, then we’re all screwed!

Thanks again for your time Rhiannon. Everybody make sure to check her out on the web.

http://rhiannonfrater.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/gothgoddessrhia

Rhiannon and a fan.

The story I wrote for it is a sword and sorcery yarn called “Pride of the Traveler.”

]]> http://www.storyhack.com/2008/06/05/me-in-print/feed/ 3 http://www.storyhack.com/2008/04/14/confessions-of-a-print-on-demand-zombie/ http://www.storyhack.com/2008/04/14/confessions-of-a-print-on-demand-zombie/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:18:26 +0000 Bryce Beattie http://www.storyhack.com/2008/04/14/confessions-of-a-print-on-demand-zombie/ I came across an author who has recently self-published a zombie novel. As many of you know, I’ve been planning to self-publish Oasis once I’ve got it done. So, my interest was piqued and I contacted him. His name is Tony Monchinski, he’s a nice guy, and his book is called Eden by Tommy Arlin. And since I know most of you are already interested in zombie apocalypse fiction, I thought I’d introduce him (and his novel) to you.

Tony was kind enough to give a virtual interview. Here’s how it went.

Tell me a little bit about yourself. What is your day job? What are your hobbies?

I am 35 years old and live about an hour north of New York City. I am a high school special education teacher and usually teach history classes (to learning and emotionally disabled students), though lately I find myself more and more involved in mathematics education, so go figure. I’ve been teaching for ten years now. Got my start in a middle school down in Selma, North Carolina; spent time as a teacher with the Peace Corps in the Caribbean; a year in South Korea; and have been in Westchester teaching the past seven.

I’m a family man and my wife and I have a son (little Tony) who is a year and a half old and are expecting a daughter (Honah Lee, like in Puff the Magic Dragon, though it also has meaning in Hangul [Korean]) next month. I love being a dad! It is totally awesome.

My “hobbies” include reading, writing, and more and more photography. I don’t have a lot of spare time because I am also in graduate school, in the middle of writing my dissertation (PhD) in Political Theory. I do find time to catch up on the zombie genre and just recently returned from Maryland’s Horrorfind Weekend convention where I met George Romero and many of the cast members of his films, everyone from Ken Foree to “machete zombie” to “Hare Krishna zombie.” I gotta give props to my friend and fellow teacher Jim Doller and his Maryland Zombie Crew crew (John, Pete and Chris) for getting me into that.

What do you like to read?

Because it feels like I’ve been in school since forever, I usually am reading something nonfiction. Lately its all been related to my dissertation, a lot of stuff ranging from ethics (Kant, Utilitarianism, feminist care ethics, etc.) to education (specifically John Dewey, Paulo Freire and feminist pedagogy). But I make time to read Cormac McCarthy, George Pelecanos, Andrew Vachhs, Russel Banks, Sherman Alexie, and a few others. I also am an avid comics reader and make sure I read whatever Robert Kirkman is doing (The Walking Dead being an obvious favorite).

I grew up reading a lot of fiction, everything from pulpy men’s action adventure stuff (like Don Pendleton’s Mack Bolan; Jerry Ahern’s Survivalist and Track; Jack Hild’s S.O.B.s—Soldiers of Barabas, etc.) to people like Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams to the fantasy of Tolkein and Terry Brooks to the early good stuff of Stephen King and of course comics like Devil Dinosaur, GI Joe and Godzilla.

I also like to read newspaper and magazines and probably subscribe to eight or ten different magazines. As far as the horror genre is concerned, I really like the few copies of Rue Morgue Magazine that I have seen.

Is this your first book? What else have you written?

Let’s differentiate between what I have written and what I have published. I have written four or five novels which I need to revisit, revise, and get out there sooner or later. Eden by Tommy Arlin is the first novel I have published and I sort of put that out there myself with a print-on-demand publisher (Booksurge, an Amazon.com company). Tommy Arlin, incidentally, is a character in some of this other fiction that goes unpublished.

I have two academic texts out and a third on the way. One is a high-level English conversation text for Korean-language speakers that I developed while I was living in South Korea. Another is titled The Politics of Education and details how everything that goes on in our classrooms, from kindergarten to grad school, is political in nature and what that means. Sense published it. Springer is putting out my Critical Pedagogy and the Everyday Classroom next month. I am also in contract with Springer for a second book, Engaged Pedagogy, Enraged Pedagogy, which—because I need to get my PhD done—won’t be completed until 2010. I am grateful to Spinger and my series editor Joe Kincheloe for believing in me enough to allow me to do two books; Springer is one of the largest publishers in the world and they recently got into publishing education stuff, so I am very excited about this.

I am also active in the bodybuilding and powerlifting magazine industry. I have a monthly column that appears in MuscleMag International which I write and shoot (photograph) for. I have written articles, taken pics for, and otherwise appeared in Planet Muscle, the now defunct RX Muscle, Muscular Development Magazine, and Powerlifting USA. I am a big fan of these sports although I was never very good at them (I mean I was never quite as good as I’d have liked to have been).

Tell me a little about Eden by Tommy Arlin.

Eden by Tommy Arlin is all about what happens when the s— hits the fan. Zombies have taken over our world. Humans are holed up in little fortified compounds. Eden is one such compound located in Queens, New York, in a setting very much like one I grew up in.

The story itself is about a man named Harris, a decent, honest man, who is infected by zombies in the first sentence. The book charts his decline and the unfolding of his plans for revenge against those he perceives responsible, interspersed with flashbacks that detail the outbreak and how Harris came to be in Eden. It’s a story of how extreme situations bring out the best and the worst in our species.

How long did it take you to write Eden?

It took about three years off and on. I’d write, put it down, come back to it. When I finally had a publishable copy I put it down, walked away for almost a year and then came back to it. That way when I read it I was almost like a beta reader, a second someone who gets a fresh perspective on the overall work. There were parts I’d forgotten I’d written and it was nice to be surprised. I also found a number of errors-from spelling to continuity-that I was able to put correct.

When the inevitable zombie apocalypse finally strikes, what is your plan?

Now that I have children,,,something like this would be really f—ed up. I’d have to fend for my family. I guess I’d raid the local Wal Mart first and stock up on ammo. Maybe try and commandeer a boat and someone who knew how to pilot it and make our way up the Hudson River into Canada or down into the Caribbean (the only thing worse than the incessant heat for me would be undead cannibals attempting to devour me and my offspring). Basically kiss my ass goodbye, but I’d go out with a blast! Thanks for the interview and readers can check Eden: By Tommy Arlin out at Amazon.com.

Thanks for taking the time, Tony, and best of luck with your book.

Anyway, the book I read this time was “The Mental Wizard.” The back of the book has the following description: “The massive creature-a mile from head to toe!-sleeps in the steaming jungle. Is the behemoth real, or has the golden enchantress ‘Z’ conquered the magnificent MAN OF BRONZE with the hypnotic power of her superhuman mind? Doc Savage meets his mental match when he uncovers the strange lost kingdom of the deadly Amazon.”

I would just like to start by saying two things.

1. That description is totally misleading. It makes it sound like Doc will be facing off against a giant jungle beast. The fact that the description is misleading doesn’t mean the book is not enjoyable, though. The book is great.
2. If you ever find a stockpile of Doc Savage’s stuff, and you see several cans marked “coffee,” don’t be fooled- they’re really filled with explosives.

If you’ve read the last review of a Doc Savage book I did, you already know that if you cut Doc Savage, he bleeds awesome.

But here are some things you may not know about Doc.

• He does not own any shirts that are not ripped to shreds. Just look at any Doc Savage book or magazine cover.
• He is good at faking his own death/unconsciousness. He does it twice in this book.
• Like Frodo, he has a mithril vest. Or at least a tightly woven yet light chain mail vest. It’s tight and strong enough to stop a poison dart needle.
• Doc is calm in any situation. Seriously. Bombs are exploding left and right, strange men wearing strange leather smocks show up (and immediately die), a Amazonian princess descended from the pharaoh Klantic and has hair that appears to be gold plated (and telepathic control powers) shows up and causes trouble, it doesn’t matter. He keeps it together.
• During part of his spare time, he designs military airplanes for large-scale production. The Columbian army even has (at least) one, which they loan to him. The afore-mentioned woman crashes it.
• Doc is prepared for anything. He has a pocket metal detector (remember, this was written in the 1930′s) thats alert him to the grenade in the fruit basket the bad guys try to deliver.
• Doc is possibly the best chemist ever. He uses a small chemistry set to make tear gas and a chemical that dissolves stone. He uses the stone dissolving one to become the new pharaoh Klantic. There’s no way for me to explain that one without having you just read the book.
• Doc may very well have invented RFID tags. He’s left a tracer on each of the automatic pistols that he gives to his five aides. As a matter of fact, he hooks a RFID-style detector to the detonator that makes the before-mentioned coffee cans explode. He leaves the guns for the bad guys to find, and they rush him (after he’s warned them, of course) and that sets of the coffee-bombs…

Despite the fact that everything I’ve said here sounds like it comes from different books, it all really makes sense as you read it. And it’s a lot of fun.

Before I go any further, let me just say one thing; They sure don’t write ‘em like they used to.

Honestly, this book was awesome in more ways than I can count.

There’s no possible way that it could be mistaken for “Literature,” but that doesn’t matter. It is pulp, pure and simple. And its a lot of fun. Reading it made me feel a lot better about some of the absurdities that creep their way into Oasis. More on that later.

If you are not familiar with Doc Savage, let me introduce you. First, think of the manliest man you have ever seen, heard, or read about. Now, multiply that by Chuck Norris. That’s Doc Savage.

Seriously, he’s a better detective than Sherlock Holmes, in better shape than Batman, he’s sneakier than The Shadow, he’s a world class chemist, surgeon, martial artist, engineer, rock climber and besides all that, his skin and hair are in perfect shades of bronze. You won’t forget that if you ever read a Doc Savage book, because the book will remind you pretty much constantly. (The bronze giant entered the room completely silently… The metallic man punched left and right, beating the snot out of the two largest henchmen… (This is actually better than I make it sound.))

At one point, a man just watching Doc work out breaks out in a sweat, due to the power of suggestion inherent in the intensity of the exercises.

And if that weren’t enough total pulpy goodness, as it ends up, Doc is above the law. That’s right, when Doc Savage catches bad guys, he doesn’t send them to the police. They are shipped to his private rehabilitation center called the “crime college”(guarded by remote control machine gun nests).

It gets even better.

Doc has discovered the cause of crime.

You ready for it?

In your (and everybody’s) brain there is a crime gland. Oh yeah. A crime gland. And when the crime gland is broken, you lose the natural inhibitions that would normally stop you from committing crimes. By the way, one of the things that happens at the crime college is every patient is given a surgery (without their consent- he’s above the law, remember?) that fixes the crime gland.

In “The Annihilist,” someone has figured out a way to kill using the crime gland. Rather, they’ve created something that, when the crime gland gets excited, causes your eyes to pop out and you die. And the police think it’s Doc Savage who’s doing it. Awesomeness ensues.

The bottom line is this: it may very well be hokey, pulpy, campy, totally impossible and cheesy, but it is a whole lot of fun.

Good luck finding your own copy, though. I bought mine (along with a bunch of other Doc Savage books) at a local used bookstore for $0.75 each. You might be able to get it at Amazon – The Annihilist (Doc Savage #31).

Or, I have a sweeter deal for you. Because I want Doc’s greatness to live on, I’m willing to send my copy of “The Annihilist” to one of you, free of charge. If you’re interested, leave a comment and tell me why I should send it to you. As soon as somebody gives me a good enough reason, I’ll send it off. If nobody wants it, that’s OK, too. It will simply return to its hallowed place upon my bookshelf.

It’s a serial, like Oasis (although different genre) and as of this writing has 17 chapters.

One sentence synopsis:

Three friends become entangled by supernatural happenings in an old mansion with a bloody past.

Go check it out.

However, because I know you’re just dying for something new to read, I do have a couple of suggestions.

1 – In the comments to my last chapter,  Glenn pointed out an author named David Wellington, who’s been doing serial novels online for a while now. He has several zombie-flavored works up, including his current serial, Plague Zone, as well as a Vampire and a werewolf book. So if horror is your thing, you definitely need to check him out.

2 – For those of you who are more into pulp type fiction, you need to check out the first issue of a new pdf only pulp called Astonishing Adventures Magazine!

The John Carter Of Mars, or Barsoom series begins with the book in the picture, A Princess of Mars

It’s about a civil war vet who gets mysteriously transported to mars, where due to the lower gravity, he finds himself with super powers. Sure, it sounds a little hokey, and in reality it is. Doesn’t matter, though. It’s great adventure fiction.

This was one of my main influences for starting Oasis.

There are constant rumors that Hollywood is going to make this into a movie. Who knows, maybe some day we’ll see it.

Oh, yeah, and it also includes what is quite possibly my favorite line from any novel, ever. John Carter has found himself paralyzed on the cave of a floor with bloodthirsty Indians searching for him and what may very well be a terrible monster behind him, where he can’t see. He doesn’t know it, but he’s about to be transported to Mars.

That’s right, this might very well be the end of good ol’ John, and this is what he thinks:

Fear is a relative term and so I can only measure my feelings at that time by what I had experienced in previous positions of danger and by those that I have passed through since; but I can say without shame that if the sensations I endured during the next few minutes were fear, then may God help the coward, for cowardice is of a surety its own punishment.

That’s right, John Carter is a man, baby.

If you’d like a copy of the book, the picture will take you there. If you’re a cheapskate, you can pick up a digital version (several formats actually) for free at Munseys. A Princess Of Mars

There’s a whole bunch of other books in the series, too.

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

This is Stephen King’s memoir/writing book, and it’s really good. The memoir portion is chock full of interesting and amusing tidbit’s from King’s life. The writing part gives some excellent and practical advice.

The main point he makes is that you shouldn’t let anything get in the way of the story. Don’t bog your work down in useless information. One of my favorite lines in the book is, “first draft – 10% = second draft.”

It’s a great book and I highly recommend it.