Interview With Daniel Waters!

What inspired you to write Generation Dead?

The idea for GD came from when I was in a hotel channel surfing, and I stopped to watch a newsmagazine program about violence in schools. basically, kids were having fights or engaging in random acts of violence just so they could film it and put the clips on YouTube. The show ran a few of those clips and I was horrified. I started thinking about all the reasons why a kid would and could hurt another kid, and for some reason as I was thinking this the thought that if zombies existed, they would be the most persecuted kids in the school. I started to wonder what they would do if a zombie tried to take a living girl to the prom!


How has writing Generation Dead and Kiss of Life and learning more about the lives of your "differently biotic" characters shaped your thoughts about death and life in general?


Writing about the characters and what they are trying to do, as well as what they've gone through, constantly forces me to examine life as a transient state of existence. Our time here on this planet is temporary and life--everyone's life--is precious. It makes me constantly aware of what kind of life I want to lead and what I want to leave behind when I'm gone.


So far this is the second Generation Dead novel, but the story seems far from being over. How many more books do you think you'll write in the series?

The story is far from over. I'm anticipating at least five books plus a book of short stories. We'll see.


What about future projects? What evil plans have you been making?

Evil plans? I'm one of the good guys. I've got a few other projects I'd like to unleash on the world when the time is right.


Along with your personal blog you run mysocalleddeath based off of the site that your character Tommy runs, what kind of things do you post there?

Tommy posts news items of interest to the zombie community, updates on his friends, and pieces of his general philosophy. Every so often Karen or Phoebe will post as well. The "zombie meme" they created is pretty popular.


Have you ever thought of making a play list of music that Phoebe and Tommy would listen too?

Well, Tommy isn't quite the music nut that Phoebe is. She has a playlist but it is about a hundred songs long and counting.

(Actually, Dan posted a link on his log a while after doing the interview about this question, and gives us a link to an interview he did at Largehearted Boy giving us some songs from his writing playlists!

Also he just recently did a blog about some groups Phoebe would <3 here!


What's you're writing process like? Is there sweets involved?

Haphazard and ever evolving. I drink a lot of (very sweet) coffee and diet cola.


What were some of the books you were required to read in school? Did you enjoy any of them? If so, which ones?

Hm. High school, you mean? I seem to remember reading The Scarlet Letter, Hard Times, Frankenstein, various Greek myths, Persuasion, Wuthering Heights, Of Mice and Men, The Sun Also Rises, The House of the Seven Gables, Dubliners, Walden, lots of Shakespeare. Maybe I dreamt it all. I enjoyed them all but some more than others.


What's the most recent book you've read and LOVED?

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland, and Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez, which is a huge graphic novel that collects all the Palomar stories he did in Love and Rockets.


Finish this sentence.... "I am the biggest fan of....?"

The cosmic all.

Thanks Daniel for the week, and can't wait for the next book!

Generation Dead Review/ Win SIGNED Paperback Copy

Summery:

Phoebe Kendall’s not exactly popular at her school. Her black hair and Goth wardrobe tend to send out a “don’t come hither” vibe, and when she starts hanging out with Zombies, things only get worse.

Though joining the newly formed Hunter Foundation for the “Differently Biotic”, a research facility that also serves as a home for zombies in need, seemed like a good idea at the time, the piles of hate mail, and bullies in and out of school who are against the zombies rights to live are making it seem like a bad one.

In the first book, Phoebe meets Tommy, a differently biotic boy who joins the school football team, facing opposition from the start, not only from the parents, teachers, and general community, but even from his team mates. The other boys don’t want Tommy on the team, and not just because being differently biotic makes him move slower than a normally biotic person, but because he’s a zombie.

All the boys threaten and bully Tommy to the point where someone else might have quit the team all together, but Tommy sticks it out with the help of the only player on the team who’s semi-sensitive to Differently Biotic relations.

Enter Adam, former football bully turned enlightened martial arts master. He’s got a huge thing for his childhood friend Phoebe and when Phoebe shows an interest in Tommy it makes trying to be friendly a little hard, but Tommy’s got bigger problems then Adam’s grudge. Pete, Adam’s former best friend and newly appointed enemy has it out for all of the undead since his girlfriend Julie died and didn’t come back to life.

Meanwhile, Phoebe’s started going out with Tommy, making things tense between her, Adam, and Tommy. As her feelings for Tommy grow, she can’t help but wonder if she’s falling in love with a Zombie. Then, Tommy tells her that he’s heard a kiss from your one true love might be able to bring you back from the undead, and the revelation sets Phoebe to thinking he might just be using her to get another chance at the life he lost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Review:

Can't say enough how much I LOVED this book! The charicters were very relatable (even the zombies) and the only one I really didn't like was Pete but I think that was mostly to be expected. >_< Actually the chapters in his POV bothered me a little because I wanted to get back to Phoebe's story (And Tommy.... *Swoooon*) and I found them pretty depressing because of all of the Zombie bashing, *doesn't read sad books* but they have an important place in the story so I was glad that I'd kept with it in the end. :P

Phoebe as a main character is so cool to me, I think part of the reason is that she dares to be different even if that means having Adam pretend not to be BFFs with her at first, or getting strange looks in the hall. It's like she's above caring so much that it brings her down, and that made her seem really strong.

I loved the progression of her relationship with Tommy and how he seemed to say so much with few words. *giggle* It was like it developed on a mental level really deeply because it was hard for him to communicate and that was just insanely cool to me.

Adam = <3! Whether I'd choose him over Tommy I'm still undecided about, but Adam's a really stand up guy and somebody I'd love to know in real life!

Margie's fun, her prejudice against the zombies put me off a little in the beginning but you know, she's Margie so I forgave her... ;)

Other then the Pete chapters that slowed it down a bit for me, the plot flowed really nicely, the story was really original, and well writtenm and I was really happy I'd read the book in the end! I'd actually been wanting to buy it for MONTHS before I was finally able to, so I was so glad when I finally got to read it, and liked it a ton! ^^

Would definetely recomend this one to anybody who will listen! XD





And now... how to win a SIGNED paperback copy of Generation Dead!

First Entry: Comment and tell me about you're favorite Zombie out of Dan's books.

+1 Follow me on Twitter. (And Tweet me! Seriously, I love hearing from you guys! ;P)

+1 Follow Dan's Blog. (I'm sure he'd love to hear from you too!)

+2 Link this post to your blog, or tweet, facebook, myspace, whatever it and leave me a link.

+3 Take, draw, paint, or photoshop a picture inspired by Generation Dead/ Kiss of Life, and email it to me. (Or post it on your blog, send me a link to it on photobucket, whatever.)

+5 Make a Video inspired by Zombies and leave me a link in your entry post.

Leave a comment about whatever you're doing to enter, and for postage reasons, USA entries only please, sorry!

There you have it! Go enter, and good luck! Enjoy the rest of Daniel Waters week!

xoxoxo

The Week of Daniel Waters

Hey guys, welcome to our second author week featuring Daniel Waters! (**Side note** From now on these will be held every two weeks, featuring a new author cause it's way past time for me to get organized about this blogging thing! ;P)

Here's how the week's gonna go:

Monday: (TODAY!) Contest for Signed paperback of Generation Dead by Daniel Waters! *Rules below*

Tuesday: Too Many Books Tuesday: Zombie Edition

Wednesday: Review of Generation Dead (First book in the series)

Thursday: Kiss of Life Review (Eep! *girlysqueal*.... *coughcough* Anywho!)

And....

Friday: Interview with Dan, and I announce the winner of the contest!

WOO! I'm so excited! >_<;; OK, so, on to how to get a signed book.


First Entry: Comment and tell me about you're favorite Zombie out of Dan's books.

+1 Follow me on Twitter. (And Tweet me! Seriously, I love hearing from you guys! ;P)

+1 Follow Dan's Blog. (I'm sure he'd love to hear from you too!)

+2 Link this post to your blog, or tweet, facebook, myspace, whatever it and leave me a link.

+3 Take, draw, paint, or photoshop a picture inspired by Generation Dead/ Kiss of Life, and email it to me. (Or post it on your blog, send me a link to it on photobucket, whatever.)

+5 Make a Video inspired by Zombies and leave me a link in your entry post.

Leave a comment about whatever you're doing to enter, and for postage reasons, USA entries only please, sorry!

There you have it! Go enter, and good luck! Enjoy the rest of Daniel Waters week!

xoxoxo

Help With Upcoming Interview From YOU!

Ok, so I've got an interview with Daniel Waters (Author of Generation Dead) coming soon, possibly next week, but I really need some help with questions! Any ideas? Much appriciated! >.<

xoxoxo