Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Armchair BEA: Book Blogger Interview


Guest Blogger Interviewee: Sullivan McPig

Stats:
I'm part of a large family of pigs.
We all live with my owner in Groningen, the Netherlands.
I travel a lot with my owner and I post stories and pictures of my life and travels on my blog - The Life and Travels of Sullivan McPig.
I also have a blog where I post reviews of books and movies - Pearls Cast Before a McPig.


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Words from the McPig:

1. Who would be in your BEA Dream Panel?

I'd love a panel of:
Kelley Armstrong
Carolyn Crane
Christopher Golden
Gini Koch

and they would have to be discussing zombies!

extra useless fact: Did you know Carolyn Crane once made a guest post at Fantasy Dreamers Ramblings where she made up a list of books she supposedly had written and which had been rejected, including lots of zombie books of which my favourite was 'Road Trip of the Amish Living Dead'? I so hope she decides to write that one for real some day as it sounds really cool!

2. What was your first zombie book read?

Oh, now that's a difficult question to answer. If I go really far back it was a Donald Duck story in which his uncle angered some voodoo priest when he was young and the priest sends a zombie after him, but as the zombie takes a very long time to find uncle Scrooge he goes after Donald instead.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures Voodoo Hoodoo
(Gladstone Comic Album Series No. 16)
by Carl Barks

As for novels the first zombie I encountered was in Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett.

But those stories aside I think the first book I read with a real zombie - meaning returned from the grave and decaying (and hungry for brains/flesh is always good too) - in it was American Gods by Neil Gaiman, but however great that book is (if you haven't read it yet, you should it's awesome) it's not a zombie book, it just has a zombie in it.

So my first zombie book would be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, this means I only really started reading zombie books last year, but that's because English books and therefore also zombie books are sometimes difficult to get here in the Netherlands - online bookstores rule! I must say I'm very glad with the vampire/UF craze as it really increased the availability of zombie books, before that I had to feed my love for zombies with just movies.

3. What are your top 3 favorite zombie books?


Not counting the aforementioned American Gods:

Soulless by Christopher Golden - It's got lots of Zombie Mayhem and a really suspenseful story.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - Zombies and Steampunk! Can it get any better than this?

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter - A meeting of the members of parliament where half of them are zombies and are getting a bit peckish equals Zombie Mayhem galore!


Honourable mention should go to 'Family Business' by Jonathan Maberry, a short story in Zombie, an Anthology of the Undead. I'm really looking forward to his Rot and Ruin, a continuation of that story.

4. What is your favorite zombie book-related site/blog?

Sadly enough I haven't managed to find many zombie book realted sites so far.

But here are some:
Undead in the Head - 3 guesses who pointed me towards this treasure chest of zombie books ;-)

Fishmuffins of Doom - Titania is a fellow zombie enthusiast and thanks to her blog I was pointed towards Soulless!

And last but not least I should mention your blog of course as you keep drawing my attention to cool zombie stuff!

5. Have your ever encountered zombies in Groningen?


Not counting my owner Carien when she's just out of bed...

I haven't encountered any real zombies in Groningen, but there's lots of 'zombies' to be found here, not only in Groningen, but in other parts of the Netherlands too, who don't think for themselves but let other people do their thinking for them and I can tell you I find those a lot scarier than the brain and flesh eating zombies in books and movies.

Wow, that does sound political, which I try to avoid usually.

So let me end this interview on a more fun note with trying to get you all to watch some cool zombie movies:


Shaun of the Dead - a zombie parody which has cool zombie mayhem and the best use ever of the Queen song 'Don't stop me now'.

Planet Terror - another quite hilarious zombie movie

28 Days Later - Well, it has zombies, but I think it's more of a psychological movie than a zombie movie, but still really cool.

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Sullivan's Zombie book reviews:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Soulless by Christopher Golden

Zombie, an Anthology of the Undead - part 1

Zombie, an Anthology of the Undead - part 2

Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat

Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes

hmmmmmmmm, wonder if i should send Sullivan one of these...



because we wouldn't want these running around rampant...



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Happy Zombies in MAY!

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* image source zombie pig created by Feelingless Pencil

* Thanks to Sullivan McPig for sending me your zombie-licious-ness. Please note: he also does non-zombie book and movie reviews.

* Visit Armchair BEA for more Book Blogger interviews.

Armchair BEA
Book Expo America
May 25-27, 2010
a virtual event
(for those of us who could not make the trip to New York)

-o- vvb's Armchair BEA schedule -o-


 
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