In the Nocent series, both the bodies of the zombies and their disembodied spirits are a part of the story. There is a psychic medium, named Sam, a psychic child and a talking parrot who can also communicate with the dead. At different times, people are able to speak with their passed on loved ones through these mediums. In one instance, the body of Lowe's mother is outside while Lowe is speaking to her through a medium. Her spirit his helped to enter into the light, while someone performs a mercy kill on her body.
An entire chapter of part 3 is from the point of view of the spirit of a teenaged girl who is watching her body, which is now a zombie, commit terrible acts which she has no control over. All she can do is silently witness the atrocity. In one of the sequels, there will be a man who is trapped in a house because a zombie has chased him there. It turns out that the house is haunted by the very spirit of the zombie who is clawing at the walls trying to kill the man. Boy, that would freak me out!
I have really enjoyed writing these stories with the added dynamic of spirits which once possessed the bodies of the undead. A hallmark of zombie literature and cinema has always been the person who has been bitten and doesn't want to end up as "one of them". It's a deeply and richly emotional dimension that I've tried to add to my stories. Zombie stories are, after all, human stories. Beyond all the blood and guts has always been a heart that you rarely see in other monster tales. Zombie stories usually explore human relationships and psychology under extreme duress in a way that most stories in any genre usually dare to. They are usually a backdrop during which conversations of a deeply spiritual nature are shared without condemnations of whose religion is right or wrong. Where else do you ever see that? That's why I like watching, reading about and writing about zombies so much.
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