Next Big Thing

I was asked to participate in this vast, expanding blog tour by the Horror Homemaker, Carole Lanham!

I apologize - I asked a bunch of people, but the expanding chain letter had already reached them! So I can't refer you to the next group! I can only offer you my humble Next Big Thing, my new project!

1) What is the working title of your next book? Pale Gods

2) Where did the idea come from for the book? I used to tell people it's a zombie version of Moby-Dick, but I think that got too confusing, since it's not about an undead whale. But I'm taking the underlying idea of Melville's novel is not just whaling, but the idea of theodicy - God's disputed justice and goodness in a world of infinite malice, cruelty, and randomness. And what world is more violent and random than one overrun with the walking dead?

3) What genre does your book fall under? Horror and post-apocalyptic

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? I like Edward Norton for his ordinariness, and the Ahab character should be Bruce Willis

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? In a world where the undead control the continents, a team foraging for supplies becomes increasingly obsessed with the undead's seemingly increasing intelligence.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Published by Permuted Press, due in November 2013

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? About two years

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Monster Island by David Wellington

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? See above - Melville's Moby-Dick

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? Smart zombies!