Guest Blog!! TW Brown chats about.....

I stumbled across TW Brown in the autumn of 2013 at the time he was meerly a named editor in another much loved authors book series; give it a whirl I thought. I love the apocalyptic genre AND series, so imagine my delight when I discovered TWB!

I was soon suckered in and the next DEAD become something I waited for and relished. At book 10 I started to realise that this must come to an end, TWB had made it very clear that 12 was the magic number.  Yes, there were add ons, other series he was writing (Zomblog and That Ghoul Ava are amoung my favourite worlds) and bonus content BUT in two books time THIS world was ending.......

However, it seems TWB has more to give his fans (horah) and this is him (yes really!) on MY blog explaining why, how and what to expect. So, read on and enjoy!

Oh, but before I go here is his Newfoundland "pup" !!

Returning to the DEAD world

When I sat down and began writing the original DEAD series, I hoped that I would be able to put together a 4-book series. As the story unfolded before me, I realized there was so much going on…and that led to my producing 12 books (that was over 1,000,000 words!). The truth is that I could have gone on MUCH longer. There is a gigantic ten-year time jump for example. But I knew the ending, and to reach it in 12 books, I had to skip ahead.

I found that I skipped over a lot of details as I plowed ahead to that ending. Yes, I could’ve easily discarded my 12-book total announcement. However, I’d made that announcement publicly. I know of one writer that ended a series at book 6. This person went on to other projects that I was hired to edit. One day, book 7 of that series arrived in my email. I sent back a query. 

Me: “Hey, I thought you were done with this one.”

Reply: “Yeah, the other stuff isn’t making the money like “Series X” so I am gonna extend it.”

I thought that was unfair to the fan base. And while I admit this is a business, I just thought it was playing dirty. However, true to the hopes of this writer, the fans scooped up the additional books in large numbers. So, I guess that is okay. I just feel that I gave my word. I wasn’t going to be like The Who and have twenty Farewell Tours” when it came to the DEAD series as the fans knew it.

To that end, I have produced the DEAD: Snapshot—{insert town here} collection of standalone novels. To date, Portland, Oregon; Leeds, England; and Liberty, South Carolina have all received the DEAD treatment. I think the Leeds, England book is some of my best writing. It is one of the books that I truly felt good about. As a writer, I often feel my stuff is lacking.

So, all of this brings me to the real reason I am here with you today. On October 31, 2016, the DEAD world will be the setting of my new series. It begins with DEAD: Onset (Book 1 of the New DEAD series).

So, what makes this different? For one, this series will be through the eyes of one man: Evan Berry. No rotating chapters with Geeks and Vignettes; just the story of one man trying to figure out what is going on and then how to stay alive.

Evan is just a regular guy. I think that resonates more with readers than some military super-soldier packing an arsenal and having a way to rig every situation to his liking. Evan will make mistakes. Sometimes, I am betting that the readers may not like him very much. You will be inside his head, and we all know that we’ve thought things that would cause those around us to be shocked or think badly of us. You will be privy to those thoughts when they cross Evan’s mind.

The real Evan!!

What I hope to do with this series is to explore the world a bit more closely. One of my favorite twists in the mythology of the zombie is how children are different after they turn. I was inspired along this track when I was in a college psychology class. The topic of how much more active the young mind is, how open it is to learning gave me the inspiration that my child zombies would have a degree of sentience. That makes them a bit more frightening. While not actually holding on to their humanity…they are somehow different. They don’t just walk into a storm of bullets. They lurk. They wait.

Additionally, I think I was one of the early writers to explore the idea of possible immunity. That comes from Stephen King’s The Stand. The human immune system is a mystery. Some people just do not get whatever bug or virus is making the rounds. SO why shouldn’t there be those who are immune to the bite? However, once bitten, why not make that person a carrier? Imagine the schism that would eventually arise as the survivors had time to get past that first shock. And now, a person bitten but immune could infect another through fluid exchange. Think back to the hysteria and societal over-reaction to HIV and the AIDS virus. Strip away law and order, toss in those who feel they are now “The Chosen” as well as those who see the immune as dangers and abominations.

It doesn’t take long in my zombie books for zombies to become the least of people’s worries. DEAD: Onset (Book 1 of the New DEAD series) has no set number of volumes. I will write this story until I have nothing left to say. I am not in a hurry to reach an endgame. I want to suck the reader into this world and make them feel every emotion possible. Happiness, sadness, anger. I hope you enjoy it. I have said it before, but it bears repeating: I feel that every new book is my audition. 

I look forward to hearing how you feel about this book. I don’t go out seeking a flurry of 5 star reviews. It is impossible to be all things to all people, especially in the entertainment world. And I often learn things from well thought out critical reviews. If you can’t take those 1 star stingers that come every so often…you are in the wrong field. Do they feel good? No, but as long as you are seeing more love than pleas that you never take up the pen again, you should feel like you are on the right track. Let’s hope I am with my new series.

DEAD-Onset

Some silly questions with Jeffrey Kosh and review of Dead Men Tell No Tales.

• 
  Jeffrey Kosh is a man of many talents; he can scare the pants off you with his horror stories, thrill you with his erotica stories or just amaze you with his graphic art.

  
  

  You can find him on; Goodreads, Amazon and Shelfari where he often collects 5* reviews for his multiple works.

  
  

  His stories are mainly divided in two series: 

  The Prosperity Glades Series  - Feeding the Urge, Kamp Koko by Night, Spirits and Thought Forms, FIVE.

  
  

  The Dead Men Tell No Tales Universe; Dead Men Tell No Tales - The Full Tale, Dead Men Tell No Tales - The Short Story, and Black Brig.

  
  

  Jeffrey Kosh also has some amazing short tales and novelettes, like REVENANT, Haunt, Stryx and The South Will Rise Again.

  
  

  Lets not forget the two erotica short novels Thrill of the Hunt and Home Invasion.

  
  

  But he likes to think of his main job as a graphics artist and he certainly manages to conjure up some spectacular work if you want to have a peek here is the link to the website gallery, or have a read of his full bio' on the Linkedin site.

  jeffreykoshgraphics

  
  

   He can also be found on Facebook and his blog site

  jeffreykosh

  
  

  Now for some silly questions and a cheeseontoastgrilling;

   

  What is your favourite sandwich? Drink? Chocolate/candy bar? (you can just pick one if you like!)

  Well, I’m not very picky with food, as I love almost everything my stomach can digest. I had alligator meat in Florida, snake in Thailand, some kind of cheese with live worms in Sardinia, and a lot of strange stuff. But I must admit that bugs, no matter what they say, don’t taste like shrimps … they taste of … sh@t. Now my favorites: coffee (lotsa o’ it), Brit fish n’ chips, quiche Lorraine, all kind of pasta.

  
  

  Do you have a favourite place to write?

  I need isolation when I write. I don’t mind music, but I need to focus on my characters and details, so I get easily distracted. Like cats, my hunting instinct is attracted by all kind of movement. Seriously. You roll a ball in front of me and my eyes dart after it.

  
  

  Who or What is your personal favourite character/novel?

  The Frankenstein’s creature. I have a strong affinity with that character. He reminds me of Lucifer in Paradise Lost, Caliban in The Tempest, and myself. As for my favorite book, well, that’s easy: Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.

  
  

  If you had a theme track, what would it be?

  There are many songs I associate with me. I love country, blues, hard rock, metal, but I can just go crazy for some modern classic composer. Have to pick one, right? Okay: ‘Dark Night’ by The Blasters. You know that piece at the beginning of From Dusk Till Dawn? Yeah, that’s my pick today. But if you ask me tomorrow …

  
  

  If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?

  Teleport. I traveled a lot in my life, and still do. But I really hate taking a plane, coach, or train. Heck, I even hate taxis! Point is, I like driving, being in control of my trip, stopping whenever I want, going from point A to point B at my pace, not at the whims of a driver or pilot. Back in the States, I used to drive for long distances, enjoying the whole trip. Roads, especially in the Southwest, are like being on Star Trek: you never know what can be out there and you can surely have some strange and memorable encounters. Like that time I was traveling from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. Couple of rednecks spotted my California license plate and decided to play a prank to a city slicker: they pulled beside me and pointed a revolver to my face. I thought I was being hijacked, but they just wanted to scare me. That’s all.

  Weird, intense people out there.

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  My review of Dead Men Tell No Tales.

  
  

  Whilst Pirates and ghost stories would not normally be my “thing” any story that you pick up from the Kosh is going to be amazing, so I dived in!
  

  The spread of characters is diverse; each has a very in depth personality and reason for being part of the story. Drake is a bit of phwoar he certainly knows how to create some swash and buckle. 

  Initially I found the verse and tone of the book hard to get into, especially the Creole language but this added to the spook element, the character definition and eventually I was so immersed in this world the difficulty slid away.

  When the Risen slaver is described with its undead crew I must admit to feeling a little queasy, but as the story progresses even worse things come and I felt the hairs on my arms start to tingle a little.

  The fight scenes are full on pirate/undead and so descriptive that I could feel the splash of gore, pus and blood.

  Pirates of the Caribbean this is NOT but I think it would make an awesome film as the visuals are very intense.

  The real history that is interwoven throughout is very impressive and shows the depth of research and attention to detail that the Kosh has.

  The resulting climax to all the fights, intrigue, Voodoo, Plague and Undead is not disappointing and Kosh even manages to throw some love and sex in there!

  Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone wanting and fascinating if gory tale of the sea.

  
  

  Dead Men Tell No Tales