Saturday, February 20, 2010

Dollar Bin Horror Spotlight - Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective (Book Review and Interview)


Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective is the story of a man's transformation from human to zombie, through his eyes, and the story of his first hand accounts of the struggles faced by the zombie nation. Inhuman testing, being locked together like animals, even being used as sex slaves, a zombie's life is hard! Het, along with a few other well functioning zombies, decide it's time to take the power back from the "healthies" and show the word that just because where technically "dead", we still have rights and won't let you use ad kill us!
I really really LOVED this book! It was very well written, the pace of the story was spot on, and this is one book that really makes you feel empathy and sorrow for the down and out zombies of the world, even though they wanna eat you! This book is definitely different than any other zombie novel I've read and is a must read! It's published by the new independent company ZilyonPublishing, so check them out. Plus, EXCLUSIVELY for Dollar Bin Horror readers, If you use the code YRKXRY9B you get 20% off the $9.95 paperback price at https://www.createspace.com/3408910! How cool is that my little reapers!!!!

Also, the author, Cal Miller, was kind enough to sit down for a one on one interview, so enjoy!

Q: How did you come up with the idea of a Zombie book from the Zombie's point of view?

A: I have been watching zombie movies and reading zombie books for years and I always thought that something had to be going on in their heads. Don't get me wrong, I love the classics. I have to watch anything by George Romero at least 10 times! But I always thought that in order to successfully bring on a near complete downfall of society, it just didn't make sense to me that at least some of the undead wouldn't have some degree of cunning. All predators need to be somewhat intelligent to succeed. And there are smart and dumb people, so it follows that there would be smart and dumb zombies.

Q: How long did it take you to write this book?

A: About a year at night after work and on the weekends. But I loved every minute of it!

Q: What Inspired you to write about zombies in such a way that the reader really feels empathy for them?

A: I think that to truly enjoy a story and the characters in it you need to be able to truly relate to the MAIN character. You know, I have felt alot like Het Madden on many occasions in my life. An outsider, picked last for a team, not accepted by the mainstream (think high school :)). I guess I got tired of the prettiest woman and the handsomest man always being the hero. Why not the underdog? Why not the "Every Person"? Why not the ZOMBIE? From something, to nothing, to more than he ever was. I like that.

Q: What new projects are you working on? Where can we learn more?

A: I have a web comic at www.TedDead.com I do with my buddy that I have alot of fun with. Ted Dead is just your everyday zombie. He has a job at some sort of retail establishment or office of some kind. He has a habit of trying, and succeeding, in eating customers but Monkey Meat and other distractions remedy this. I am also working on a new horror book that takes a different look at zombies/undead called "Cold Blood" that I want to get out in June. And the second Het Madden book, "Het Madden: Lord of this World" this fall. I will be getting out more info on "Cold Blood" soon and will get it to you Rhonny.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Loved this book, and loved hearing about the process involved in its writing.

JJ said...

Awesome interview with Mr. Miller. Read the book and thought it was GREAT! Thanks, Mr. Miller! Can't wait for the next one.

William Malmborg said...

Oh wow, this sounds really good. I'll be picking a copy up real soon.

Anonymous said...

A great book by a great author!