I love the concept of parallel sequels, and on this occasion McKinnon tells a story which starts at the same point as his previous novel DOMAIN OF THE DEAD, then shoots off in a completely different direction. And it’s all the better for it.

“The world is dead, devoured by a plague of reanimated corpses.

Cahz and his squad of veteran soldiers are tasked with flying into abandoned cities and retrieving zombies for scientific study. Deep in infected territory, hundreds of miles from their support vessel, the ever present dangers weigh heavily on Cahz’s mind as he shepherds his team to make quick, clean extractions.

Then the unbelievable happens. After years of encountering nothing but the undead, the team discovers a handful of disheveled survivors in a fortified warehouse with dwindling supplies.

Surrounded by hordes of ravenous corpses, Cahz is faced with the terrible responsibility of determining the five passengers who will escape in the helicopter. While those left stranded must continue to fight off the infected and starvation long enough to be rescued.”

Some astonishing cover art there too from the ever reliable Craig Paton. Click here for a reminder of Craig’s brilliant work from the AUTUMN website www.lastoftheliving.net.

I enjoyed this book a huge amount, and relished the glee with which McKinnon leads us and his survivors through the dead world. As I said at the time: “Believable characters trapped in a nightmare scenario—REMAINS OF THE DEAD is a breathless, high-octane zombie thriller. [McKinnon has] written another great book here…”

Recommended reading – Remains of the Dead is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

The film I’ve chosen today is one of my all time favourite movies, and one of those rare instances when a film adaptation clearly surpasses the source material. I’m talking about CHILDREN OF MEN, directed in 2006 by Alfonso Cuaron, and starring Clive Owen, Michael Caine and Julianne Moore.

Where do you begin with a film like this? It’s a matter of personal tastes of course but, for me, Children of Men is almost note perfect.

Back in 2009 when I was writing Dog Blood, I talked a lot with my editor about world building – creating a believable environment in which your characters can interact and your story can take place. There’s a lot of clumsy science-fiction out there where the technology becomes the focus – the MacGuffin if you like – diverting the audience’s attention from the plot. Landmark films such as Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and, of course, Blade Runner, presented alternate visions of the future where people simply go about their lives as we do, but using the tools and technology of the future. Deckard doesn’t bat an eyelid when he gets into his flying car – he just gets into his car. In 2001, Dave and Frank casually check the news on their tablet computers (which just so happened to pre-date the iPad by 50 years or so). Do you see what I’m getting at? Although more than 40 and 30 years old respectively, both films still hold their own, not least because of the plausible landscapes in which they’re set.

Children of Men takes place in a dystopian world which feels both incredibly real and uncomfortably close. It’s based on a 1992 PD James novel, but other than keeping the basic premise it deviates considerably from the original text. (An interesting side-note: PD James has a home in Southwold and part of the novel takes place in the town. Southwold, of course, is also where Danny McCoyne makes his last stand in Them or Us, the final Hater book.)

It’s 2027, and it’s 18 years since the birth of the last baby. The human race has, for reasons unknown, become completely infertile. A former political activist (Theo, played by Owen) is recruited by his ex-wife (Julian – Julianne Moore) to help smuggle a female refugee out of the country to reach the Human Project, a ship-based sanctuary floating somewhere on the English Channel. And why is this particular refugee so important that people are willing to risk their lives for her? Because she’s pregnant.

Children of Men makes for an incredible viewing experience. I began this post by talking about world building, and it’s here that the film really comes into its own. I can’t recall having ever seen a more gloriously visualised world. It’s clear that society is crumbling, and the landscape seems to be decaying along with the aging population. There are some wonderful visual treats here, and the level of detail shown is remarkable. Check out the passing shots of the corpses of farm animals burning in the fields; the frothing sewage pumping out into streams unchecked; the dilapidated school buildings, unused for years… My personal favourite – and this perfectly illustrates the level of detail we’re talking about here – the grubby London 2012 sweatshirt Theo wears in the final scenes in Bexhill. Bear in mind that this film was made in 2006…

But it’s not just how the film looks that makes it special, it’s also how it moves. There are some wonderful extended scenes which, to me, are just breath-taking in their execution. The editing, camerawork, special effects and direction combine to devastating effect on several occasions when scenes of apparent normality descend into chaos in what appear to be seamless, single takes. Theo’s narrow escape from a terrorist bomb in the opening scenes is one such example, an attack on a moving car another. All of these pale into insignificance, however, alongside the climactic confrontation in Bexhill. There are spoilers ahead, but do check this out:

Extraordinary. As you’ve no doubt gathered, Children of Men comes highly recommended. I’ll not spend an age going through the ins and outs of the story, or discussing the performances of the uniformly excellent cast, instead I’ll just suggest that you get hold of this film and watch it. If you’ve already seen it, watch it again.

Next time at the Post-Apocalyptic Movie Club – a slice of obscure, made for TV, 1980’s US Cold War drama.

Children of Men is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

“They took the job to escape the world. They didn’t expect the world to end.

Kasker Rampart: a derelict refinery platform moored in the Arctic Ocean. A skeleton crew of fifteen fight boredom and despair as they wait for a relief ship to take them home.

But the world beyond their frozen wasteland has gone to hell. Cities lie ravaged by a global pandemic. One by one TV channels die, replaced by silent wavebands.

The Rampart crew are marooned. They must survive the long Arctic winter, then make their way home alone. They battle starvation and hypothermia, unaware that the deadly contagion that has devastated the world is heading their way…” 

OUTPOST is a great, fast read. Baker presents a truly nightmarish scenario (on many levels) which twists and turns like you wouldn’t believe. Considering the isolation and inaccessibility of the refinery location, he manages to spin the tale off in several unexpected directions whilst still maintaining an air of claustrophobic hopelessness. I really enjoyed the book, and I contacted Adam to ask a few questions about the novel and his career in general.

In interviews I’ve often talked about my first viewing of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and the effect it had on me. Whilst reading OUTPOST, the polar desolation felt reminiscent of John Carpenter’s THE THING, and it seems that that movie had a similar effect on Adam as NOTLD had on me: “My cousin rented it on VHS in the early eighties. We drew the curtains, planted ourselves in front of the TV and let it scare the life out of us. The atmosphere of that single viewing grew in my imagination. The cold. The isolation. The dread.”

Although he says he’s always wanted to be a writer, Adam’s CV lists a number of unusual vocations including gravedigger, mortuary attendant, and cinema projectionist which, he says, “was a great gig because, once the films were running, I could sit in the projection box and write. Most of OUTPOST was written during late-night Saturday shows at Cheltenham Cineworld.” As well as time to write, it seems the projectionist job also provided plenty of inspiration. I asked Adam what kind of research he did to make the refinery setting in the book so believable. He told me a lot of it came from working “in a dilapidated cinema. I became a connoisseur of industrial decay. Paint-caked water-pipes, rust-streaked ducting, dust-furred girders. Kasker Rampart, the oil refinery in OUTPOST, is a floating city constructed from these textures and memories.”

OUTPOST is an excellent book which I thoroughly recommend. Adam’s next novel, JUGGERNAUT – the prequel to OUTPOST – is out in February with the third book in the series due later next year.

Recommended reading – Outpost is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Last night at the Warwick Arts Centre, I was part of the Halloween Horror Night event alongside Adam Nevill and Gary McMahon.

The evening was hosted by Michael Wilson of Read Horror. Each of us gave a reading, then answered a few questions. Adam read from The Ritual (and you can click here to remind yourself how much I enjoyed that book), I read Muriel (from the recent SFX Zombie special), and Gary read Down, an excellent short from his latest collection, It Knows Where You Live.

It was great to finally meet Adam and Gary, other folks including Joseph D’Lacey, Simon Marshall-Jones, and also more members of Moody’s Survivors who’d made the trip to Warwick (now roll on Lowestoft!)

It was truly heartening to see so many people supporting the event with such enthusiasm. Thanks to Adam, Gary and Michael, and thanks also to everyone who came and spent their Halloween evening with us. Writing can be an incredibly insular occupation at times (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing), and it’s great to have opportunities like this to present your work in public and get such a positive and immediate reaction. Here’s to more Read Horror events.

Photographs by Andy McGeechan, used with permission.

Halloween Horror Night is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

UPDATE – COMPETITION NOW CLOSED – WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SUNDAY 21st AUGUST

To enter, just do one or more of the following before midday (UK time) on Saturday 20th August (you’ll get an entry for each you do).

• follow me on Twitter (@davidjmoody) and Tweet about PURIFICATION (remember to include the hashtag #autumnzombie)
• become a fan on Facebook (www.facebook.com/davidmoodyauthor) and post about PURIFICATION on your wall (remember to tag me so I know you’ve entered)
• join the mailing list (click here for form)

PURIFICATION giveaway is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Trapped between the military and the dead, the remaining survivors carve out a fragile and uncertain existence. In a moment of madness their safety and security is jeopardised. All hope is gone, but in the rotting shadows of the past, they find the key to what remains of their future . . .

Available from: AMAZON.COM BARNES & NOBLE AMAZON.CA BOOK DEPOSITORY (free worldwide shipping)

AUTUMN: PURIFICATION US edition now available! is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Today’s first story concerns Robert Woolgrave – a young man who makes a few rash decisions in his fight to survive. Read his story first, because Robert also makes an uncredited appearance in today’s second short, the fifth part of the tale of Amy Steadman. She’s been dead for 17 days now, and as you can see from Craig Paton’s excellent illustration, she’s not looking too good! Robert’s story, by the way, is illustrated by a beautiful photograph by Antony White. You’ll see more of Antony’s pictures in the coming weeks, and later in the year I’ll be featuring interviews with all the artists involved with the project on this site.

I thought it would be good to give you a little more detail about what’s planned for www.lastoftheliving.net and the AUTUMN series in general…

So far, much of the free fiction posted to the site has consisted of brief character sketches designed to introduce you to characters you’ll meet in upcoming books. After the US release of PURIFICATION in August, however, this will change slightly.

Between August and November you’ll hopefully (providing I get it finished in time!) be able to read BEGINNING TO DISINTEGRATE – a brand new, multi-part novella which will introduce the main characters from AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION, and will explain how they get into the state they’re in at the beginning of the book.

March 2012 should see the release of the final AUTUMN novel, AFTERMATH, which I’m currently writing. In the run up to the final book you’ll see some more brief character introductions. Between now and the release of AFTERMATH you’ll also get a number of standalone novellas, including THE GARDEN SHED (in which a retired accountant does all he can to defend his home from the oncoming zombie hordes), THE HUMAN CONDITION (a group of survivors trapped on the top floor of a high rise), SKIN (teenage angst at the end of the world), and UNDERGROUND (the final days of the bunker from AUTUMN: THE CITY and PURIFICATION). Some of you will inevitably have read these before, but I’ll also have BREAKING POINT for you –  a previously unpublished piece (ever wondered what happened to Michael and Emma between the first two books?).

So there we go. Don’t say I never give you anything. There will be another novella appearing next week. It’s my personal favourite – OFFICE POLITICS.

An AUTUMN update and even more stories added to www.lastoftheliving.net is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Now someone’s had the bright idea of setting a choose your own adventure book in the world of the zombie apocalypse, and that someone is Max Brallier. Max, coincidentally, works for Thomas Dunne Books (my US publisher), and my editor, Brendan Deneen, hooked us up just before Max’s book – the superbly titled Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? – was released. I approached reading it with trepidation, knowing that ideas like this usually only go one of two ways: they’re either superb or awful. Fortunately for all concerned, this book is a blast.

Once you start reading CYStZA?, you’ll be hooked. Max has crowbarred in a huge number of zombie scenarios – some cliched, some hilarious, some downright bizarre – and there are a vast number of wildly different potential outcomes. I mentioned working my way backwards through ‘choose your own adventure’ books when I was younger. With this book I found myself ferociously flicking back and forth through the pages, not wanting to miss anything. From gangsters to baseball, zoos to sewers, George Lucas to George Romero, CYStZA has pretty much everything you could imagine coming across in Manhattan when the dead rise.

I took the opportunity to ask Max about the book, and also about his bizarre novella VATICAN ASSASSIN WARLOCK – co-written with Brendan and inspired by the recent exploits of Charlie Sheen…

DM: Obvious question – which came first: the writing or the career in publishing?

MB: Publishing.  I mean, writing was definitely there for a while.  In high school, I used to write these awful John Woo rip-off action movies.  They were so bad.  And then these “screenplays” where I was doing just everything in my power to imitate Kevin Smith’s voice.  Terrible.  I wish I could find those.  All these characters – high school kids of course – trying to figure out how to get girls.  And I thought it was brilliant!

Anyway, I stopped for a while – then did some short story writing in college.  Most were really bad, a few I liked.

Then I took a really great sci-fi writing class in college that sparked my interest again.  And, in a roundabout way, that led to me wanting to write about sports for a living.  So I started a sports blog.  That led to some real writing gigs – then, five years later, this book!

But yeah – I was in publishing pretty soon after college, and being in publishing gave me the opportunity to meet editors and build a network and that’s how I ended up getting my first book published.

Sorry, that was really boring.  Apologies, all around.

DM: One thing that really struck me about CYStZA? was the sheer number of wildly different alternative outcomes. Did you intentionally try to pull together as many disparate endings as you could, or are they just a list of your own zombie apocalypse fantasies?

MB: Bit of both.  I definitely tried to cram as many different endings in there as possible – happy, sad, good, bad, zombified.  And I really tried to switch it up and play with the tone – some are goofy, some are more serious, some are kind of realistic, some are quite obviously pure parody – like the ending where George Romero is revealed to be the ruler of the living dead.

Some are sort of fantasies – like the path where you hook up with the Hells Angels and end up at MSG and then at the Empire State Building – that was probably my personal zombie apocalypse fantasy.  The character behaves like I’d like to imagine I might behave if the world ended – though in reality, it’s probably a very flattering depiction.

DM: Do you have a personal escape plan for the Z-Poc, and are you able to talk about it? Is it in the book?

MB: I don’t.  I should.  This is the question people always ask me – and I sort of just shrug and say I dunno, the book isn’t a how to guide – it’s a fun “what if” thing.

I’ll say this – if the Hells Angel section of the book is how I’d like to imagine it happening, the katana wielding stripper section is what I really wish WOULD happen.  I wish I’d hook up with a ultra-violent exotic dancer who would leave me to safety. Yes.  Definitely.

DM: CAN YOU SURVIVE… is damn funny at times, and laughs and scares often go hand in hand in horror. Do you think there really is humour in horror – I guess what I’m asking is, are we laughing with the characters in horror books and films, or at them? Come the Z-Poc, will anyone be laughing?!

MB: It depends.  I just watched House of the Devil recently (woo-hoo, go Netflix Instant).  It was amazing.  Loved it.  Best horror movie I’ve seen in forever.  And it scared the hell out of me.  But I watched it with my sister, and there was one part where we were laughing our butts off – but there was nothing actually funny happening – we just sort of burst out laughing – this sort of cathartic, scared release.  Cause man – we had the lights off, the surround sound going – we were SCARED.

Come the zombie apocalypse, if it happens like it does in the movies and the books, sure, I bet people will be laughing.  My favorite scene in any horror movie – and one of my fav scenes in any movie – is in Dawn of the Dead where the Pennsylvania coal miner boys are drinking beers and laughing while picking off the zombies stumbling through the field.  I think that’s pretty realistic as to what mind happen, to be honest.

DM: How did VATICAN ASSASSIN WARLOCK come about, and what kind of reaction have you had?

MB: It came about in the elevator – the ride down with my colleague, Brendan Deneen, from the 15^th floor to the ground floor of our offices.  It was the first day where that Charlie Sheen news was everywhere – and people weren’t sick of it yet – and it was crazy and funny and weird.  In the elevator, we were like “is there a book in this?”  And we kind of back and forthed it, and by the ground floor we had a book idea – what if everything Charlie Sheen was saying was literally 100% true – he actually is a Warlock, he actually has tiger blood, he really was a Warlock assassin – and all this crazy stuff he was saying was just a way of distracting from this crazy, dark reality.

Then I went home and wrote it.  Deneen’s wife was about to go in labor, and did go into labor during like day 3 of writing it.  So I would write these very rough chapters, email them over to him, and he would expand, polish, and write more.

In 5 days we had a really fun dark fantasy action sci-fi humor novella.

The reaction has been great from everyone – people really seem to get it.  It’s just really fun.  And it’s up on Amazon now – and it’s free!

DM: What’s next for you (apart from VATICAN ASSASSIN 2)?

MB: I just finished writing a non-fiction kids book for Chronicle – it’s sort of a fun way of learning about numbers.  Chronicle’s an amazing publisher, I’ve always loved them, so that was kind of a dream come true.

Brendan and I are working on Vatican Assassin 2, and I’m writing a more serious fantasy novel as well.  And I keep busy writing videogame scripts, as well.  So some fun stuff!

Recommended reading – Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Amazon Kindle arrives in Germany is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

APRIL

• FURIOSII (Romanian HATER paperback – 8th)
• CIUDAD ZOMBIE (Spanish AUTUMN: THE CITY paperback – 12th)
• AUTUMN: PURIFICATION (UK hardcover – 21st)

MAY

• DOG BLOOD (US paperback – 11th)

AUGUST

• AUTUMN: PURIFICATION (US paperback – 16th)

OCTOBER

• AUTUMN (UK paperback – 13th)

NOVEMBER

• THEM OR US (US hardcover – 8th)
• AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION (UK hardcover – 17th)
• AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION (US paperback – 22nd)

DECEMBER

• THEM OR US (UK – 29th)

And there will be an anthology appearance or two and, I think, several more foreign language editions to add to this list. So it’s looking like a busy year, and I’m really pleased. I know lots of people have been waiting for AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION and THEM OR US for far too long…

New releases for 2011 is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series