Here I thought I'd write a little bit about the content of my first books, rather than the process of self-publication.
This means zombies.
But what are zombies? In our time (i.e., the post-Romero era) we use the term to describe any kind of undead being, usually a human being. Traditionally, the term comes from an African Bantu language via Haitian Creole, and refers to a corpse animated by witchcraft. In most modern depictions the witchcraft element plays a secondary role, or is often not mentioned at all, and this could be because what modern readers are more interested in is the chaos caused by zombies and the gore when they are killed, rather than what caused them in the first place.
The popularity of zombie books at the moment is linked, in my view, to a sense of deconstruction in the real world in the post-GFC era. Corrupt banking practices have been exposed on both sides of the Atlantic, and it has become obvious to most people that the levels of sovereign debt in many countries can simply never be repaid. Unemployment is up thanks to off-shoring and technology is also playing a part in making more people jobless, especially in what is left of the manufacturing sector. This has caused people to question the system like never before, and it is no coincidence that having squeezed wizards and vampires until their pips squeaked, people are turning to apocalypse fiction like Hunger Games, and also zombie books and other dystopia as a way of trying to understand what is happening all around them.
As I say above, zombies predate all of this in one form or another. In modern times they stretch from Romero to the killers in Stephen King's Cell (2006), which also incorporated modern technology as well in the form of the cell phone delivery method. Other modern fears that are able to mix well with this sub-genre are those of out of control viruses. These can be made all the more sinister if we make them man-made, synthetic viruses created on purpose for some nefarious reason, which is the case in my story, Razed. The existence of collusion, conspiracy, etc., at the heart of government is becoming almost de rigueur in modern dystopia these days (not to mention just about every thriller), and perhaps I will write a little about why I think that is another day, but again it is linked to our real history and our understanding of the function and activities of government.
In the meantime... we have zombies running wild in the streets. Society has broken down; there is no one around to help you and you are on your own.... HELP.... so what is the appeal of "end of the world" books?
I can't help noticing that with the eminent exception of Matheson's I Am Legend (1954), the end of the world story is a peculiar British fantasy, made most famous by Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids way back in 1951, and of course later in Terry Nation's Survivors in the mid-1970s. Perhaps these stories are a reaction to the overcrowding of England, and the fantasy being that a new, cleaner world is reborn from the ashes of a burnt-out post-industrial state; where a lack of resources becomes an abundance of resources after a period of trial by fire and water, or more usually, infection; where unaffordable property becomes freely available property, and a new freedom is found. Perhaps the fantasy is about stepping away from the grime and failure of the post-industrial, and re-embracing a kind of agrarian wonderland, after all, these fantasies usually contain the same basic elements: 99% of people wiped out, then the few survivors must battle through a series of threats before finally enjoying a newer, cleaner life on a self-sustainable farm somewhere.
As for zombies, they are, of course, an allegory for a dumbed-down public, one that we imagine exists everywhere but in our own homes, one populated by people who don't understand what "they" are doing to "us". Of interest to me, and I have alluded to it already here, is that for us to be truly frightened by something we must in our hearts believe in its possibility, if not its likelihood, and it for this reason that in our somewhat cynical digital age we have created zombies from technology (usually in the form of an escaped virus, or in King's case, a "pulse" sent from cell phones), whereas originally they were created by witchcraft. But in a world where few believe in the latter, we must turn to the former if we are to frighten ourselves.
Anyway, there it is.
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