Author speaks on surviving zombie apocalypse
Move over, vampires. And werewolves, too, while we’re at it. Zombies are taking over mainstream America’s undead/beast hearts, one bite at a time.
No man is perhaps more responsible for this in the last few years than author Max Brooks, creator of “The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead,” “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War,” and, new this fall, “The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks,” a graphic novel compiling history’s most infamous zombie attacks, starting with prehistoric man’s first interactions with the undead.
True to form, the graphic novel is filled with Brooks’ dead-pan wit and insight into zombies.
Brooks recently took a few minutes to talk to Graffiti about the books and his fascination with zombies.
Graffiti: Why did you choose zombies instead of some other supernatural creature for the subject of your books?
Brooks: Most other creatures you have to go find. Zombies come to you, and they come to you in the millions.
Graffiti: Why do you think the American public has been captured, so tospeak, by zombies as well?
Brooks: We’re living in very, very scary times. Zombies, because of their apocalyptic nature, allow us to have a safe avenue in which to explore the end the world.
Graffiti: When you were planning the survival guide, how much did you base your tips and suggestions on actual survival techniques and how much was completely made up for the circumstance, ie surviving a zombie attack?
Brooks: Pretty much everything in “The Zombie survival Guide” is based on real world survival lessons. Take out the zombies, and it’s still an actual guide book.
Graffiti: What are the chances of something like a zombie apocalypse ever happening?
Brooks: Never… I hope.
Graffiti: How did you decide a machete was a practical survival weapon against zombies?
Brooks: It’s rugged (depending on the one you get), easy to use, and can serve many purposes.
Graffiti: Why did you choose to write World War Z from so many perspectives and how did you decide when you had enough voices?
Brooks: My old man always told me “It’s never finished. It’s finished enough. At some point it just felt finished enough.
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Contact Justin at jmcintosh@graffitiwv.com