bringing things to an end

As usual, I’m a few days late in announcing the winners of my Married with Zombies giveaway. The upside? I get to announce the winners of the Dangerous Neighbors contest at the same time! Three cheers for consolidation!!! Wait…that’s lame? Right. Umm...let’s switch that for a lackluster “yay.” Seems more appropriate now, doesn’t it? In any case, the winners of a copy of Jesse Petersen’s Married with Zombies:

Nely of All About {n}

and Raelena of Throuthehaze

Nely answered the question “Of the people you see everyday, who would be the first to succumb to the zombie plague?” with “I'd say that the first one to succumb to a zombie plague would be ME. I am a klutz! I'm constantly banging into things and tripping all over the place. So I know for a fact that if I were to be running from a zombie I'd probably fall and start crying and well... aaaaaahhh ahhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh {that's me, moaning as a zombie}. You catch my drift. ;)”

Raelena wrote, “Probably me. I would end up having an anxiety attack, and while I am out of breath and disoriented a zombie would come up and chomp on my brains.” Well, it’s unanimous. We’re all going to be the first person we know to turn. Lovely. *grin*

[i recently bought a copy of this print from the

holli etsy shop]

And the lucky new owner of an ARC of Beth Kephart’s Dangerous Neighbors:

Jasmine1485 of Nothing Too Fancy

For this one, I requested that readers respond to a prompt: “I asked Beth about ‘sisters in fiction.’ When you hear that phrase, what comes to your mind immediately?” Jasmine said, “My very first thought was of Little Women, which I read as a teenager but haven't reread for years. Even at that age I thought it was touching, I have a couple of sequels too, I'm not sure how many there were.

Oddly enough, my second thought was of Buffy and her sister. I didn't even watch that when it was on TV, and I don't know her sister's name, so it's an odd choice for my brain.”

Congrats, winners! If you haven’t yet, check out the giveaway for a movie tie-in edition of Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story and a film soundtrack. You can enter here. Also? Have a lovely week!

hello monday! here, have a zombie update.

Start of the work week. The day my brain looks least desirable to the undead (due to changes in texture…all mushy on Mondays, trust me!). The day…that is right before Tuesday. And also before I’ve had sufficient coffee to function for the workday.

Let me cheat (just this once, I promise!) and post a zombie link update. Pretty please? Okay. Keep your anti-zombie weapons at the ready…

David Lubar, author of the Nathan Abercrombie: Accidental Zombie books, writes about zombieism and humor and the unintentional side effects of being undead.

Next, Harrison Geillor, the author of The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten, talks about the advantages of living in a rural community in the event of a zombie apocalypse (hint: lower population = less dead people).

Tor also gets several authors weigh in on literary works they’d like to see zombified.

It also turns out the University of Baltimore will be offering a class on zombies in their course catalogue (yes, zombies can even take on academia). And finally, Jesse Petersen, the author of hilarious Married with Zombies, blogs about how zombies can really bring a family together. If you haven’t already, I suggest that you enter the giveaway for her new release! It's pretty hilarious.

This post is part of the September Zombies event hosted by Velvet at vvb32reads.

interview with a zombie. err...zombie author! (+ giveaway)

Jesse Petersen, the author of hilarious new release Married with Zombies (my review HERE) is with us today for a zombie-licious interview.

What made you want to write about zombies? Have you had any personal experience with them?

No personal experience… yet. Though I think I’d do pretty damn well with a zombie apocalypse if I do say so myself. As far as what made me want to write them, I just got an idea I thought was funny after we saw "Zombieland". It was strictly to entertain myself and then suddenly it was sold! Which is awesome.

Ever meet someone whom you thought (secretly, of course) could be a zombie? Maybe a reclusive neighbor? A distant relative? An old fourth-grade teacher?

My second grade teacher was kind of mean, but not zombie mean. More Stephan King mean. We used to have hookers and druggies who hung out in the alley behind our shitty apartment in Seattle. Any one of them could have been a zombie and I never would have known the difference. Gross.

I know that most people browsing around a bookstore are drawn to the title or the cover artwork. Who do you think will pick up your book?

I hope anyone who likes the funny and the zombies, which I think are both reflected in the cover art (done by the fabu Lauren Panepinto at Orbit) and the title (which was put together by my editor Devi Pillai and her team). Doesn’t that cover just POP! I love it.

How hard is it to write funny books? Imbuing your words with the meaning you want them to have isn't easy, so how do you manage to make people laugh out loud? (Or, how long does it take you to come up with jokes?)

Like I said, I wrote the first book in this series mainly to entertain myself, so I think I had the cheaters route. If it made me laugh, I wrote it down and kept it in. Luckily Devi and my agent both shared my twisted sense of humor and so have most of the readers I’ve encountered who have read it so far. The second and third books were harder. I was thinking more about the “big picture” audience at that point. Don’t want to repeat jokes, that sort of thing. But still… if it makes ME laugh, it tends to stay.

Do you read zombie books on a regular basis? Are there any you'd recommend?

I’ve been very zombie-centric lately. I loved WORLD WAR Z, FEED (by Mira Grant) and I just started THE WALKING DEAD graphic novel series. Honestly… zombie almost always equals awesome. They’re like pizza. Even when they’re bad, they’re good.

What about romances or chick lit - any recent favorites?

I still love my historical romances. Love Lisa Kleypas, Kathryn Smith, just read SOULLESS, which isn’t shelved as romance, but has a strong romantic element.

A good portion of your novel takes place in Seattle, my hometown. What made you pick such an obviously awesome place?

I lived there for almost six years, so it was a city I felt comfortable writing from a technical standpoint. Plus, it’s Seattle! Homebase of cool!!

If you had to own a cow (in a naturally-occurring cow color), what color cow would you own?

Oh, good question. I’d probably go with a how-now-brown cow in a natural color (because I’d get to say that every time I saw it). In an unnatural color, I’d say purple.

What is going to cause the Apocalypse?

Zombieism. I’m voting for zombies. Probably caused by a government leak.

I’ve been hearing about a Zombies vs. Unicorns war that is brewing in the YA book sphere. Who do you pick for the win?

See, now Unicorns have horns, but the problem becomes that the second they are bitten then they are zombie unicorns with horns. So I’d say zombies in the long term. With a lot of carnage caused by unicorns first.

Thank you, Jesse! And just for the record, I agree with you completely re: Zombie Unicorns. Double awesome.

Would you like to win a copy of Married with Zombies? I’m giving away two. Just see the info below!

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To enter:

Leave a comment on this post answering this question, “Of the people you see everyday, who would be the first to succumb to the zombie plague?” You can earn an extra entry by commenting on my review.

Please include a method of contact. Giveaway is open internationally. Comments will close on September 30 at 11:59pm EST, and I will notify the randomly selected winners via email.

Good luck!

This post is part of the September Zombies event. Author photo credit info here.

married with zombies

I don’t know about you kids, but I’ve been pigeonholed. I’m the de facto ‘zombie girl.’ My friends text me photos of zombie books from the airport kiosk with taglines like “thinking of you.” I have a roommate who got invited to a zombie party, and she immediately told me I would be her date. My other roommate tells people I’ve barely met about my ‘zombie romance’ habit.

Okay, already! I am into zombies. And…yeah. That’s all. I kind of like it. Better to be zombie girl than nerd girl or smart girl or something equally amorphous or vague. BUT, just so you know, I draw the line at scary zombie flicks. Have never seen one, never will. Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead, yes. Dawn of the Dead, no. And now that we’ve cleared that up, let me tell you about the next awesome addition to the zombie canon, Jesse Petersen’s Married With Zombies.

A heartwarming tale of terror in the middle of the zombie apocalypse.

Meet Sarah and David.

Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things - the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat.

Meet the Zombies.

Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

Oh. Dear. Lord. What zombie-loving fairy went and made my day? Because I didn’t know it, but I needed zombie chick lit in my life. We already had the YA zombie novel, the YA zombie romance, and now we have the zombie version of crack cocaine for women. I mean, obviously not literally on the crack cocaine, but you know. Best of all? It’s genuinely funny. And PINK. I would die of happiness if I didn’t think there was a small chance of coming back as a zombie.That would be tragic.

Let’s dive into the story. Sarah and David are in a rough patch, and just when it seems like the end of the road, the world gets zombified. Suspend your right to disbelief, my friend. They HAVE to work together to stay alive. Lots of zombie slaying ensues. Will this working together have a positive effect on their marriage? Read it and see!

I think it’s clear by now that I loved the concept. Did I approve of the execution as well? Yes. Mostly yes. I really wanted to. DAH. I’ll explain. The chapter headings are really so hilarious that I giggled out loud. Some of the scenes between Sarah and David are truly heart-warming and/or funny, and there’s a lot to like throughout the whole book, even if you’re not into gore and zombie-slaughter. It’s just good old-fashioned silliness and slapstick in parts.

BUT, in the version I read (ARC, subject to change), the point of view seemed to seesaw between omniscient (i.e. We didn’t know this at the time, but revelation-that-kind-of-spoils-the-next-bit) and first person (i.e. I smashed his face in with a baseball bat). And I could have totally gotten those two confused with other points of view or grammar rules or something. I’m not an expert, so please-don’t-use-the-baseball-bat. And I don’t know if you were counting, but that’s one tiny irritation versus a lot of love. So this book goes squarely in the ‘like’ category.

Recommended for: fans of light zombie fare, anyone who needs a laugh and doesn’t mind a small dose of gore, chick lit aficionados looking for a laugh and a scare, and anyone who doubts they’d survive the zombie apocalypse, but dreams about being a hero/heroine with skills anyway. Enjoy!

I picked up an ARC of Married With Zombies at ALA, and I’m posting this as part of the September Zombies event at vvb32reads.

happy (zombie) valentine's day

I stumbled across this gem over at Jesse Petersen's blog - it's a zombie valentine! Which is perfect, really. And HI-larious. Can't wait to see what Married with Zombies has in store...

In the meantime, enjoy these Marriage Survival Tips During a Zombie Apocalypse:

Balance the workload in your relationship. No one person should be responsible for killing all the zombies.

Put the small stuff into perspective. It's better to be wrong and alive than right but eating brains.

Talk out your big decisions. Hear both opinions before you decide if you're going to flee the city or hole up with Campbell's Soup and CNN.

Share in your activities and interests. If you're going to kill zombies anyway, why not do it together?

Plan romantic getaways. Or just getaways.

Show physical affection. Nothing says 'I love you' like bearing the entirety of your spouse's body weight.

Or read the first chapter of Married with Zombies here.