Suzanne Robb The Zombie Whisperer

1. Suzanne if you have to spend one day without the dead, undead, living dead or zombies. What other "Normal" things would you do?

First, that sounds wonderful, a day off. How I would spend it? I would start with a calorie laden breakfast, then a couple hours worth of swimming. After that I would take my dog to the park and let her run around and have some fun. The day would be finished with a BBQ and dip in the hot tub with friends, and if I was a really good girl, a really hot guy would enjoy the day with me.

2. I keep hearing the word "prolific" in reference to your work with "anthologies." How many anthologies have you been in and give me some highlights?

I hear prolific a lot too, and for me it does not seem that way. How many anthologies? I really do not know, somewhere between sixty-five and seventy-five?

Highlights, my most recent acceptance into the Zombie Fairy-tales anthology being put out by Chaosium is one of my favorites. Others include, Live and Let Undead, in which I have a story about how zombies are "rehabilitated" after the apocalypse. Monk Punk, edited by A.J. French, I worked my butt off to get in that one. Also, the anthology I edited with Adrian Chamberlin, Read The End First, it is one of my favorite projects. Another story that makes me chuckle is Thank God For Chicken, a woman is the sole survivor of an apocalypse and goes a lilttle crazy. It will be in Soul Survivors V2 later this year. Lastly, A New Breed, my story in the Post Mortem Press Dead Souls anthology. There are many others, but these stick out for me at the moment.

3. Conventional wisdom says girls aren't "supposed to like horror." What words do you have for young women looking to break into horror, writing or just loving zombies?

I say go for it. There are so few women in horror, and I have many friends that tell me they would love to try their hand at penning a story, but are intimidated. I try to coax them into it, and offer as much advice and support as I can. Some of the best stories are not being read because of fear, so any woman/girl reading this - if you have a story, write it.

4. Tell me when and where you first experienced symptoms "Zombie Infatuation?"

I was about eight years old and my parents didn't monitor my TV watching. One evening, Night of the Living Dead came on and I was hooked. The phrase "They're coming to get you Barbra," still rattles around in my mind. From then on, the undead were a part of my life. I had nightmares, was terrified of hospitals (one of the extras in the movie was wearing a hospital gown), and developed a strange love/hate relationship with the idea of zombies. Now, I am fully addicted to all things zombie.

5. You have two full length works that have peaked some interest. Tell me about "Z-Boat" and your new book "Contaminated." How can we get a copy of either and or both?

Z-Boat has received a lot of attention. The premise, at least to me, seemed pretty simple. Zombies on a submarine. There are also elements of a dystopian future, spies, mystery, and suspense, with the horror in the last third of the book. As of now, I have it back and am doing an overhaul on it then will be resubmitting it. If another publisher decides to pick it up, you can get a copy that way, other than that I have about four copies left.

Contaminated is from Severed Press and is a shorter story, about 64,000 words. The idea came to me after one to many movies about space and mutants. I asked myself, since Pluto was downgraded to an asteroid, what wonderful goodies has it accumulated during its lifetime hurtling through space? And what if one of those goodies was brought back to Earth. In the book, Dr. Arthur Covington does just that. He loses his family and credibility because of his obsession with his probe. He is an idealist and hopes the sacrifices he made will be worth it. What he does not know are that other people with both known and unknown agendas are at work. When he gets his dream lap in a retro-fitted silo, he doesn't ask any questions. Of course something goes wrong, and the book becomes a tale of survival as he and a few others who must trust one another have e to climb fifteen levels of a secured facility, fighting the undead. At the same time a rescue team is trying to make its way down, when the two meet, not all goes well. It is available here -

Amazon Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/

Contaminated-Zombie-Survival-


Novel-ebook/dp/B008PONZPK/ref=

pd_rhf_gw_p_t_2

Amazon Paperback - http://www.amazon.com/

Contaminated-A-Zombie-


survival-Novel/dp/1478333499/

ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_1

6. Rumor has it your dog has "final say so" on your works. What is her name, what are her qualifications and how can I hire her?

My dog does in fact have the final say. She is a tough nut to crack, and even harder to please. I can't count the number of times I have rewritten something because it did not keep her attention, which is not surprising with a Boston Terrier. Her name is Loki, and she loves to take pictures to help others promote their works. Her qualifications are her ability to find a tennis ball no matter where you hide it, play fetch until the end of time, outrun a zombie, and I have trained her to crawl should the need arise in the ZA. As for hiring her, Milk Bones. She works cheap.

7. Tell me your zombie style do you stay strictly "Romero" or do you take "liberties with the living dead?"

Oh, I am the master of taking liberties. I have done a few "Romero" stories, but like to shake it up. For example, in Z-Boat, the zombies were the result of a bacteria trying to survive. Once the host is infected, they are eaten slowly from the inside out, but can work with others who are infected. In the story I mentioned for Post Mortem, I took a woman who was pregnant get infected. Her husband has to get the baby out before the virus spreads, but he is seconds too late. The result, a new breed, but of zombie or human?


The traditional zombies scare the crap out of me, most likely why I take liberties and try to come up with something different every now and then.


8. Tell me where fans can find you on the web? Have any pages, blogs or other "social media" hideouts? Also tell us what the future will bring us from Suzanne Robb.

I have a blog that I use to promote my work!

- http://suzannerobb.blogspot.

ca/

I am also learning/trying to learn how to use Twitter at @srobb76. I am not very good yet, but learning.


As for the future? I have several short stories coming out in various anthologies. I am working on the sequel to Contaminated. I need to edit the sequel to Z-Boat. And I am working on the final touches on a book I wrote titled The Moonlight Killer. Non-zombie, more of a horror/parody/paranormal/

fantasy. A werewolf story I had a great time writing, and love, which means it is probably horrible.

9. Where do you see zombies heading in the future now that "Hollywood has made them the flavor of the month? Do you like the direction the "genre" has take?

I know people say zombies are done, but it is impossible. We as a people are fascinated with death in all of its incarnations, and the walking dead are part of that. Movies have been made on them for decades. More and more writers are coming up with new and unique ways to bring about the zombie apocalypse.


I think they might fall out of favor for a few years, but they always come back up (bad pun intended).


As for the direction the "genre" has taken, I think it is necessary. Romero made a wonderful movie with Night of the Living Dead, and all of his follow ups. What made them great, was the hidden social commentary within them. Once that starts being thrown back into the mix, I think we will be in for some great movies once again. For the time being, people will have running zombies, funny zombies, whatever kind of zombie you can think of, but the classics never die.

10. Talk to me about season 3 of The Walking Dead. What are you predictions and who would you "kill off?"

I love the show. I know some people get tired of it, but for me I like the interplay between the characters and how they deal with the fact the world has ended. Denial, anger, stupidity, and so forth.
I am glad with some of the characters they "got rid of" last season, however I think one of them was a big mistake because this person was the center of most of the drama between the two main characters.


For season three I hope/pray they start to use the other characters on there more often like Daryl, T-Bone, and Glenn. I also hope Lori never utters the phase "let the men folk handle the walkers" ever again. That scene was so painful to watch. I wanted to rip her head off, then again she is an idiot and why the heck is Carl never in the house? Really, during the Zombie Apocalypse my dog would not be out of my sight let alone my kids.


As for who to kill off, Lori and Carol, or was that a trick question?