Horror Realm-Day One Recap

The Friday night before Horror Realm, I got insanely sick with a cold. I just can't get a cold and shake it off in a few days. I always get a lung infection and end up with asthma issues. This happened again and I was miserable. Then my husband got sick, and we both worried we would not make Horror Realm.


Lots of meds and rest later, we both felt loads better and realized it was Wednesday and we had to fly out the next day. So neither one of us slept as we prepared to leave for Pittsburgh. I was sure I would sleep on the plane and it would be fine.


I was wrong.


Turbulence and a crying baby made sure I didn't get a lick of sleep.

We arrived at the Pittsburgh airport exhausted, but excited. The amazing Dr. Pus and Travis Adkins (the author behind Twilight of the Dead) picked us up and drove us to the hotel where the event was taking place. Travis, Dan Galli (cover artist for Zombology and other LotLD Press covers), my hubby, and I headed over to the mall across from the hotel to grab something to eat at the food court. We were tired and hungry, but I could only eat about half my meal. My excitement was growing at the prospect of meeting everyone. Travis and Dan were awesome and I was thrilled to finally get a chance to talk with them. That Travis drives like a madman and his GPS talks in an Australian accent only adds to the guy's charm. He's really a very nice guy.

After we ate, my husband collapsed to take a nap, but I was too wired to sleep. I changed into my party clothes for the barbecue at the convention organizer's home scheduled for later in the evening and headed downstairs to meet up with Dr. Pus. We climbed into his car and headed into downtown Pittsburgh to pick up Kody Boye from the bus station. This was the only chance I had to see the city and next year I hope to take a few more days off before Horror Realm to see the sites. Sadly, I didn't make it to the Monroeville Mall or the cemetery this trip.

Kody Boye, only seventeen and a published author, climbed into our van along with his Mom and off we went. We had a great time driving back to the hotel. When we arrived, we found a whole crowd of "good librarians" coming out of the hotel. It was like a massive family reunion. People were hugging and kissing and there was plenty of laughter. I was thrilled to see Jacob from Permuted Press coming toward me and gave him a hug. Dr. Pus was in a great mood as everyone swarmed him.

I grabbed my husband and we hitched a ride to the party. I was living on pure adrenaline at this point. I had forgotten I hadn't slept in over 24 hours and had eaten very little. I wore my zombie high heels to the party, only to have trouble walking on the big back porch. I ignored this annoyance and dove into greeting and talking to people.

I was on drink no. 2 when the alcohol hit like a freight train. This is not always a good thing. I tend to not have filters when I drink too much. I had some great conversations and had a blast, but...ugh. I wish I had remembered my lack of sleep and food. And, of course, since I wasn't sober, I ended up busting the heel off my zombie shoes. I walked around barefoot the rest of the night.

Well, long story short...the producer who optioned As The World Dies: A Zombie Trilogy shows up, I hug him, and he knocks my third drink out of my hand. It went flying and that is how our first meeting went. LOL. Happily, he is a great guy and we had a lot of fun at the party.

At some point, I cornered poor Ken Foree and told him how much his acting in Dawn of the Dead touched me. I poured out how his portrayal drew me in emotionally and taught me that it's the characters who make a zombie story great. I rambled on...hehehe...and on. Poor guy. Then he says, "I want my friend to have a shot!" And I say, "YES!" So drink number three goes down (how can I say no to Ken Foree?) and I was a goner.

The trip back to the hotel was a blur. I somehow managed to drop a cupcake I had in my hand in the elevator. I hugged the producer goodnight and my poor husband managed to get me into bed.

I fell asleep happy, excited and very drunk.

Thus ended day one of Horror Realm.

Letting Go and Moving On

The last few months feel like a blur. I get almost dizzy when I reflect on all that has happened in such a short period of time. I feel immense satisfaction and happiness that As The World Dies: Siege came out one year to the day of the first book, As The World Dies: The First Days. I am very proud of the trilogy and feel it is one of the greater accomplishments of my life up to this point.


As The World Dies: Siege is doing incredibly well (as you can tell by my previous posts) and has made it as far as #60 on the Amazon.com top 100 Horror Novels list.


Yet, I went through a serious funk after its publication. It was emotionally very difficult to leave behind the characters I had come to love in the course of writing the three books. Closing the door on that world was heart wrenching.


It almost felt like a breakup where you feel you will never love again.


But life does go on and the next story I'm going to write has seduced me. I'm in love with this new world I have to explore, and the cast of characters intrigues me. It is exciting to experience something new, and I'm giddy with anticipation. I miss the As The World Dies universe, but it is time to move on.


So what comes next?


First is the regency era vampire story in the vein (hehe) of the old Hammer Films called The Tales of the Vampire Bride: The Dead Travel Fast. I wrote it before the As The World Dies Trilogy and it is one of my favorite works. It has beautiful, wicked, brutal vampires and plenty of Gothic atmosphere. It has my usual characterization and the blood/gore factor is high, but it also has a sumptuous feel that I really love. I know this is a departure for the zombie fans, so I plan to start posting the novel online before its November 2009 publication so you can get a feel for the story.

Meanwhile, I have two zombie novels (that are not related to each other) in the planning stages and I've already began to write one of them. I think you will really like both of them.

On the promotional front, I was recently interviewed by Eric S. Brown, author of World War of the Dead for Abandoned Towers and you can read the interview here.

Since I love putting Eric on the spot, I interviewed him for my blog. That will be appearing tomorrow. Please check it out. It was fun picking his brain.

Now that things are a little more settled, I hope to update my blog on a regular basis and keep you up to date.

Next week I will be blogging from Horror Realm in Pittsburgh!

Thank you!!!

This is As The World Dies: Siege rank as of tonight on Amazon.com.

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,390 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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