I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am to be part of the blog tour for Rhiannon Frater’s As the World Dies, Untold Tales. I absolutely love these books so to have the author of one of my favorite zombie series write a guest post for my blog the week before Halloween has me over the top excited. If you are already familiar with this series, you’ll know that Frater wrote one of the most horrific scenes in the history of zombiedom at the beginning of The First Days. More of the same imagery and twisted zombie mayhem continues in the Untold Tales. She’s written a guest post about why she writes zombies instead of bright, happy stories. Enjoy!
Guest Post:
Zombie Fairies Riding Undead Unicorns
By
Rhiannon Frater
So how did that title grab ya?
Disturbing, yet funny, right?
Also, it’s a great opener on a guest post about why I write horror and not nice sparkly pretty stories. For most of my life I have been asked one particular question by friends, family, and complete strangers.
“Why can’t you write something nice?”
The answer is fairly simple.
The imagination dial in my brain is broken and stuck on HORROR.
When I tell this to people, they don’t often believe me. Looking a bit concerned for my mental well-being and maybe my very soul, they usually ask something along the lines of:
“Why don’t you write a nice love story?”
“With monsters?” I ask hopefully.
“Well, with vampires. They’re romantic.”
Instantly, I’m thinking of blood-drenched scenes and brutal fangs.
“Or werewolves. Werewolves are sexy,” is the next suggestion.
My brain instantly conjures up a fearsome man-wolf ripping off the head of some poor victim.
“Nope, not happening,” I say sadly.
“How about just regular humans?” the questioner asks, taking a fearful step backward.
“Is one of them a serial killer?” I ask, eyes lighting up.
I just can’t get away from the horror element. My brain goes to dark scary places. I long ago realized I experienced life in a very different way from most people. My imagination was always ON and story scenarios were always catching my attention. To make matters even weirder, most of those stories were on the scary end of the scale.
For example:
Walking down a long, seemingly never-ending hallway in the Denver airport just a few weeks ago, I started thinking about zombies and how much it would suck to run down the corridor I was trudging through to escape.
A few hours later stepping into an elevator with two sets of doors that opened either on one side or the other depending on the floor, I thought how much it would suck if the wrong set opened and you found yourself on a mysterious hidden floor filled with monstrous creatures.
The reality of the situation is that my muse has fangs. I’ve accepted that and I enjoy the stories I write. Certain members of my family and society may always regard me with great suspicion because of this fact, but at least I’ll be ready when the zombie fairies ride into town on undead, fire-breathing unicorns.
AUTHOR BIO
Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of over a dozen books, including the As the World Dies zombie trilogy (Tor) , as well as independent works such as The Last Bastion of the Living (declared the #1 Zombie Release of 2012 by Explorations Fantasy Blog and the #1 Zombie Novel of the Decade by B&N Book Blog),and other horror novels. Her next novel for Tor, Dead Spots, will be published in 2014. She was born and raised a Texan and presently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and furry children (a.k.a pets). She loves scary movies, sci-fi and horror shows, playing video games, cooking, dying her hair weird colors, and shopping for Betsey Johnson purses and shoes.
You can find her online at:
Website: rhiannonfrater.com & astheworlddies.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/astheworlddies
Twitter: twitter.com/rhiannonfrater
Blog: rhianonfrater.blogspot.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/rhiannonfrater/
Email: rhiannonfrater at gmail.com
As the World Dies Untold Tales
THE FIRST DAYS: AS THE WORLD DIES introduced Jenni and Katie and their harrowing journey to the makeshift fort in the Texas Hill Country. But theirs is not the only tale to be told. In the first volume of the AS THE WORLD DIES UNTOLD TALES experience three terrifying tales of those who are forced to face the unrelenting and hungry walking dead.
Deep in the Texas Hill Country, a man and his little dog takes refuge in a bed and breakfast located in the hills above a doomed town where an infested rescue center might unleash the hungry undead…
On a deserted highway slicing through the desolation of West Texas, a woman struggles to survive as she faces the horrifying aftermath of the rise of the zombies…
And finally, discover what happens on the first day to Katie’s beloved wife, Lydia, as the world dies…
THE FIRST DAYS: AS THE WORLD DIES introduced Jenni and Katie and their harrowing journey to the makeshift fort in the Texas Hill Country. FIGHTING TO SURVIVE: AS THE WORLD DIES continued their story as the two women joined the members of the makeshift fort in Ashley Oaks in the fight for survival against not only zombies, but the evil designs of bandits.
But theirs is not the only tale to be told.
In the second volume of the AS THE WORLD DIES UNTOLD TALES experience three terrifying tales of those who are forced to face the unrelenting and hungry walking dead.
In a nearby town Ken and Lenore have started their regular routine at Ken’s Beauty Salon. A terrible accident brings the undead plague to their front door and soon the best friends are scrambling to escape their overrun town…
Katarina is just finishing her shift at a roadside café when a badly injured man stumbles through the front door. She quickly realizes that to survive she must learn to kill…
And finally, a trapped family must face the fearsome truth that sometimes zombies are not the worst monster they have to fear as the world dies…
In the third volume of the AS THE WORLD DIES UNTOLD TALES experience three terrifying tales of those who are forced to face the unrelenting and hungry walking dead.
Returning to Texas after celebrating his divorce in Vegas, Rune, a biker cursed with the ability to see ghosts, discovers that the world is being taken over by the hungry undead. Soon he realizes he will have to depend on all his abilities to survive not only the ravenous zombies, but the dangerous men lurking on the back roads of Texas.
Senator Paige Brightman abandoned the Madison Mall and its inhabitants to the hungry hordes, but her journey did not end there. Her attempt to reach the president’s safe haven called Central has far reaching ramifications for her and the people she abandoned.
The final in the three stories reveals the aftermath of the great battle in SIEGE as one woman faces the ultimate decision whether to live or die in a world of the undead.
My Thoughts
Of course, all 3 volumes of Untold Tales were incredible! Each volume brings the reader right back into the devastated world created in As the World Dies. These tales not only shed light on some of the past and personalities of some of the characters we’ve gotten to know throughout this series, but are also brief snapshots of a world in complete chaos. The imagery created in Frater’s writing never fails to put a clear picture (often disturbing) in my mind of what the world looks like as well as the emotion of the character. Each short story is given just as much attention, detail, and priority as every one of her full length novels.
I can’t recommend these and the entire series enough for fans of this genre. I mean this is the epitome of zombie fiction, it simply doesn’t get much better than this. From terrifying and bloody scenes of zombie carnage, to inspiring stories of survival against all odds, to heartbreaking scenes of love and sacrifice, this series has it all and more. I can’t think of anything more I could ask from this series but then she goes beyond even that and adds these Untold Tales that answer questions I never even thought to ask and provides even more insight into this world and the people in it. I’m telling you, if you like being scared, this is an author you don’t want to miss.
The Untold Tales Volume 1 will give you an idea of what to expect if you haven’t already read The First Days, but I suggest that you read the rest of the series before reading Volumes 2 and 3 so that you understand certain references and are not spoiled on anything.
Rating – 5 of course!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
