Safe Haven

  I think I may have hit upon a solid reason from my upbringing that could explain why I love zombie stories so much.  When I was in the 2nd grade, my dad was stationed on an army base in Taegu, South Korea.  A TV station for English-speaking people was put out by the military called Armed Forces Korea Network (AFKN).
  Instead of commercials for products like we're used to here in America, AFKN had public service announcements about such things as Operational Security (OPSEC) and fire safety.  One of the fire safety announcements advised families to have an escape bag, which would be a bag full of important things to have should you have to flee your burning house.  Being seven years old, my important things were my toys so I had a bag that I kept under my bed, containing my favorite toys.
  Over the years growing up, I kept that bag updated with things as they became important to me with my changing ideals.  Also, over the years, my parents became more and more disappointed in me as a failure at school.  When I couldn't take the yelling anymore, I opted to stay in my room more and more.  I started to bring secret stashes of food and beverages into my bedroom.  It had become my safe haven.  I was eventually able to stay in there from as soon as I got back from school until dinner time and then until the next morning when it was time to go back to school.  I had music, books, magazines, toys and food, plus my escape bag.
  When I saw George Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead' for the first time, it connected with me in some deep way that I didn't understand at the time.  Looking back on it now, I realize that the people in that movie and in most zombie movies are stuck in a confined space and struggle to make sure that they have everything they need to survive in their safe haven isolated against overwhelming opposition.  In other words, it's the story of my life.

Vampires to the Rescue

  My wife and I saw a preview for the new season of American Idol on TV.  In the past, this show has been addled with allegations of clandestine rendezvous between judges and contestants.  Like you've gotta kiss a little butt to get anywhere in the competition.  That is why we thought it was so funny that the three judges this season include a man notorious for his big lips, a woman famous for her voluptuous rump and a man with a brown nose.  Subliminal message anyone?
  But that's not what I'm here to talk about.  I wanted to talk about the vampires in the Nocent books.  In my books, a vampire is still partly human until he kills his first human.  Then he loses his soul and becomes a full vampire.  Now, if you remember, in these stories, the vampires are the good guys.  That being the case, they can't kill anyone, but need to protect people from zombies and other threats.  I've had to come up with some creative ways for them to do this.
  In one scene, I have a person who has just escaped some zombies at a ski resort by getting on the ski lift.  The only problem is that there are more at the top of the mountain waiting to grab him.  A vampire on the ground has a handgun and aims it at the lunch-to-be's leg.  The vampire then puts his palm over the front of the gun and shoots the bullet through his hand and into the person's leg.  In this way, some of the vamp's blood gets into the person's bloodstream, turning him into a vampire.  Of sourse, the newly made vampire's bullet wound heals quickly.  Upon reaching the top, the new vampire can now fend for himself easily against the zombie horde.  Score one for the home team.
  In another scene, a person is swimming in the ocean and there is a shark nearby.  A vampire on shore sees this but is too far away to help personally.  Keep in mind that a shark can smell a single drop of blood up to a mile away.  Knowing this, the vampire cuts his palm and bleeds into the water.  If the shark can smell the blood, that means there's enough there to also have other effects.  The blood enters the person's body through mucous membranes in the mouth, eyes and nose and he is therefore, turned into a vampire himself.  Now, taking on a shark is easy work.  Chalk it up for the good guys, two for two.

My Concept of Vampires

  I've read so many vampire books and seen so many movies that I wanted to come up with a unique history and mythos for my vampires.  I mention this because, as you know, the Nocent series revolves around a zombie vs vampire war.  My zombies are unique too, but I'll talk more about them some other time.
  The thing that makes my vampires unique is ectoplasm.  Their flesh is infused with it.  In my stories, ectoplasm is a substance that exists between the spiritual plane and the physical realm, as I mentioned in my blog about time travel.  That is why conventional weapons do not harm vampires.  Bullets pass straight through into the Other Side.  Garlic nullifies the ectoplasmic properties and traps the vampire in our world where it becomes vulnerable to mortal weapons.  Holy water has the opposite effect.  It traps the vampire in the spiritual realm where it can no longer cross over into ours.  Ectoplasm is also photo-sensitive and will dissolve in sunlight.
  The last thing I came up with is that ectoplasm feeds off negative energy.  Fear, anger and hatred will make a vampire stronger.  Faith, hope and love can weaken it.  I'll go into the history of my vampires some other time.  I don't want to go too much into it before you've had a chance to read the stories which will illustrate it.

What's A Body To Do?

  Today, while I was at work, I pictured in my head some people being squeamish at the thought of having to kill a zombie.  I imagined a conversation beginning with the usual reservations about killing "friends and family".  I thought someone might point out that "they're dead" and someone asking "are they really?"  "Yes, they're walking around, but they're dead."  Someone might ask, "Don't you have any respect for the dead?"  To which, someone will reply, "With all that's going on right now, I don't have much respect for the dead."
  At this point, I came up with a good answer to that statement.  "That's not being fair.  The respect we should have is for the person they were before they died.  That person is not what you see walking around.  That is just their body.  If we always based our thoughts of the deceased upon the activities of their bodies, we'd think they're lazy, cold and smelling of formaldehyde.  Why would we ever respect the dead if all they do is lie around all day in coffins?"
  Of course, the person might ask, "So we're supposed to respect them while we're killing them?"  "We're not killing them.  They're already dead.  We're only laying their bodies to rest."  "We're still committing atrocious acts against their bodies."  "Yes, but that is merely in self-defense.  Every man has the right to protect himself and the ones he loves, whether it is against a living person, an animal or a walking corpse."
  Conversations like this are common in zombie tales.  Many of these stories delve into issues of morality and acceptable human conduct.  The value of human life is a core issue when faced with what looks like a human on the outside, but has no inner humanizing attributes.  It brings to question the difference between us and them.  Is it that we have a soul.  What is the lifeforce that drives us and what is it that drives them?
  My stories try to explore what happens to their souls once disconnected from their bodies.  These are very deeply personal questions for me and I do not pretend to have all the answers.  I believe this is something we should each be asking ourselves and a fictional story is as good a motivator to bring out such introspection as any I've seen.  I've been to school, I've been to church and I've been all around the world, but it is within the context of zombie movies and literature that I have found some of my deepest convictions on life, love, spirituality, heroism, cowardice, betrayal and ultimate redemption.

Body and Spirit

  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.

The Nocent part 2: Advent of the Scathing

  This is it, for those of you who didn't purchase my novel from lulu.com, the entire novel, published chapter by chapter, available free online.  I know this list includes most of you since only seven copies sold.  One I bought.  My dad bought 5 copies to give to various family members.  The last copy was purchased by a Naval officer onboard the USS Wyoming, SSBN 742.  The link to the book is to the right, under Zombie Killer's websites.
  I guess I owe it to you to tell you a bit about the book.  One night, when I was in the barracks on the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut, I came up with an idea for a story where two different races of the same alien species are headed toward Earth in a spacecraft.  Onboard, there is a civil war and every member of both races dies.  When the spacecraft crash lands on Earth, the spirits of both sides possess human beings and continue their civil war here on Earth.  One race is called the Nocent and the people they possess become zombies.  The other race is called the Collective and they manifest as vampires.
  The aliens are from the planet Sypraxia.  They are a species whose bodies are made of liquid.  The Nocent's bodies are controlled by the energy of their minds.  The Collective's bodies are controlled by the energy of their hearts.  That is why you must kill a zombie by destroying its brain and you kill a vampire by destroying its heart.  That's the basic premise of the Nocent series.
  The series starts with part 2, which sets up the zombie/vampire war which is the focus of part 3: Revenant War.  The series is wrapped up in part 4: Dragon's Triangle.  This will be followed by part 1: Dark Betrayals, which will be a collection of short stories expounding on the backgrounds of several of the key players in the series.  I am in the process of writing part 3.  I've decided to publish part 2 online in hopes of gaining some interest in part 3 for when I've finished writing it and seek publication.  I hope you all enjoy it!

A little about my blog

  I am the author of a zombies vs. vampires novel called The Nocent part 2: Advent of the Scathing. My wife bought us a bumper sticker for our car which says, "I'd Rather Be Killing Zombies". I work on a Navy base and every time we pass through the gate, the gate guards see our sticker. We have earned the nickname Zombie Killers.
  I am always in the process of writing new stories, including the sequel to my first novel. It's working title is The Nocent part 3: Revenant War. This blog is for the purpose of sharing with the world some of my crazy ideas. The name of my blogsite, Necrolepsy, comes from one of those crazy ideas. One day I was thinking about A Nightmare On Elm Street and the fact that people were afraid to fall asleep because they might be killed. I came up with the idea: what if instead of becoming a victim when you sleep, you become a killer? I made up a name for such an affliction: Necrolepsy. It can also be called Somnihilism.
  Needless to say, that very concept is the premise of a new story of mine. Most of my stories are short, but I have several novels in the works. I plan to publish a compilation of my short stories along with my book-length stories. I also have a bunch of children's books I've written (not zombie-related).