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.
