A Guest Post about Zombies by Marcella Burnard + Giveaway

Today Marcella Burnard drops by with an awesome guest post about my favorite topic: zombies! Be sure to click on the link to the free e-only anthology that contains a short story by Marcella.

And as an added bonus: Answer Marcella's question in the comments and I'll pick a winner on October 1st, who will win either Enemy Within or Enemy Games (Winner's choice, open everywhere bookdepository ships to, to anyone who's legally allowed to enter)

The winner is Mel


Surviving the Shambling Hordes

Despite to all evidence to the contrary, I’m here by invitation. I swear I didn’t threaten, cajole or otherwise spindle or mutilate Sullivan to get that invitation, either. For proof, when I asked what I should write about, Sullivan mentioned favoring posts about pigs and/or zombies.

As I am not any kind of expert on porcine-kind, I can’t say much more than I’ve noted the obvious superior mental capacity of a few book-blogging representatives of the species. Also, if it’s true that pigs are experts at finding truffles (and I’m not talking chocolate here) they’re automatically my friends.

I think I can do better with zombies. Or at least, I hope, with surviving zombies.

Perhaps you know I live on a sailboat in Seattle, Washington. Here’s a photo.


What on earth makes relatively normal people leave a house and solid ground in order to cram all of their worldly possessions into three hundred square feet of living space? Without sinking said living space? For me, it was the adventure, the fact that I love the ocean.

For my husband? It’s because the boat is an excellent zombie outbreak survival platform. No. Really. He admits it in public. Which isn’t to say that he doesn’t *like* the boat, too, just that his justification for living a sort of alternative lifestyle isn’t entirely ‘cause I want to’. When I was trying to talk him into living aboard the boat, it is possible I trotted out the ‘just think what a great zombie survival plan a boat could be!’ Was he just humoring me or did he really buy it?

If you’re reading the McPig blog, chances are excellent that you already know the zombie apocalypse preparation drill (here’s the CDC’s prep guide just in case. )

· Food

· Water

· Supply of meds

· And of course, your zombie repelling weapon of choice



Slate recently published an awesome addendum list – it’s an article detailing what zombie movies don’t do. The article also has a few thought provoking notions regarding quarantine procedures and for zombie-powered devices. One or more of those ideas, altered to suit my story-telling purposes may show up in future novels. Even if they aren’t about zombies. Per se.

I can also admit that on board the boat, we’re implementing a few of the more practical suggestions regarding food and water.

Because the boat is home, our supplies are automatically in place. The boat holds two weeks’ worth of water. We always carry extra food (emergency rations in geek-speak, iron rations if you’re a Dungeons and Dragons nerd.) Assuming that whatever plague has reduced the bulk of humanity to walking corpses DOESN’T infect the sea life, we’d have a near endless supply of seafood available to our fishing hooks. The cats perk up every time we say that aloud. I think they’re secretly looking forward to the zombie apocalypse.

In an emergency, we could cast off within minutes and be out in the middle of some seriously deep water inside of an hour. Here’s hoping zombies don’t float. Knowing what I do about how the human body decomposes, though, I suspect that they do. I haven’t had the heart to point this out to my smug, geeky husband. He always seems so horrified by the fact that I know stuff like how long it takes for bacteria chowing on human flesh to produce enough gas to float the submerged corpse. It’s not my fault that one of our fellow liveaboards is a local medical examiner. She delights in trading gross medical/dead body information for homemade guacamole and corn chips. I get to meet the coolest people.

The single biggest problem with having an excellent zombie apocalypse survival plan? You actually have to be there when the plague hits. You’ve seen the movies and read the books. You and I both know that never happens. Life goes to hell in a hand basket when you’re as physically far away from everything you need as is humanly possible. This is bad news for me. The hard truth is that if I had to run for my life from a pack of brain gnawing zombies, it’d be all over. I can’t run. Not just that I’m bad at it, which I am. I’m gimped in one leg. If I run, the bone in that leg will break. I’d be zombie chow. Course, the other option is that I’d be patient zero and therefore the one to come knocking on YOUR door asking to borrow a cup of your brains.

What about you?

What would you do to survive the zombies? Also, in the interest of padding my ‘To Be Read’ pile, what fiction book or books would absolutely HAVE to have with you while running for your life from the shambling horde?

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Marcella writes science fiction romance (ENEMY WITHIN, ENEMY GAMES, ENEMY MINE all available now) for Berkley Sensation and urban fantasy for Berkley Intermix. Her first UF, NIGHTMARE INK, is due in April of 2014. She has a sword and sorcery short in THUNDER ON THE BATTLEFIELD called Emissary, and a short futuristic romance, Nobody’s Present, in the free e-only anthology TALES FROM THE SFR BRIGADE.

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About Enemy Within (Enemy #1):

An intergalactic cold war-and some heated passion- from an inventive new voice in futuristic romance.

After a stint in an alien prison, Captain Ari Rose wonders why she even bothered to survive. Stripped of her command and banished to her father's scientific expedition to finish a Ph.D. she doesn't want, Ari never planned to languish quietly behind a desk. She wasn't built for it, either. But when pirates commandeer her father's ship, Ari once again becomes a prisoner.

As far as pirate leader Cullin is concerned, Ari's past imprisonment puts her dead center in Cullin's sights. If she hasn't been brainwashed and returned as a spy, then he's convinced she must be part of a traitorous alliance endangering billions of lives. Cullin can't afford the desire she fires within him and he'll stop at nothing, including destroying her, to uncover the truth.



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Don't forget to leave a comment:
I decided to have an event wide giveaway on my blog for commenters.

At the end of this event I'll pick one commenter on any author post of this event at random and that person will win a book of his/her choice as long as bookdepository ships to where you live, you're legally allowed to enter, and the book costs no more than 10$

And drop by Between Dreams and Reality as well for more great author posts.