With all the Zombie Crawl craze, we decided to hold off on posting our last two Writing Prompt winners so these awesome winners could have the spotlight to themselves. So without further ado, here is John Gregory Hancock‘s winning story! 

To see the photo and prompt the story is based on, visit this link. 

I had searched the city high and low. I thought I was the only one left. I was barely surviving day to day, and then HE showed up.

He said his name was Albert. But I knew it was AL-Br8t. It was right there on his chest plate. I didn’t know if he was pretending he wasn’t an android to make me feel better, or if he really didn’t know.

They made some of them like that, unable to know they weren’t real. It was supposed to make integration of the androids easier. A lot of things were supposed to make it easier.

“Have you found any food caches?” He asked me. Going along with the ruse, acting as if Albert needed to eat, I nodded.

“Good. I’ve been looking everywhere. All I found was this,” he held out his fingers, and showed me the can of peaches he had stowed in his backpack. The fingers were beautiful, graceful. More perfect than perfect.

He looked up at me, with silver-hued irises.

Expectant. Awaiting orders, whether he realized it or not.

“That’s great. I haven’t had peaches in a while. If you want to share, we can go to my stash.” I offered.

So we climbed the stairs and the levels overgrown with moss and lichen. Not quite rock, and not quite metal, the building refused to decay or die. But the world, the plants, birds and insects tried in vain to grow over it.

By the time the sun had set, we found my stash of unopened cans and jars I’d been saving up for a long while.

“That’s impressive,” he said, whistling.

“Your name is Sally, right?”

I stopped. “How did you know that?”

“It’s right there on your breast plate: SA-LLE12.”

I looked down.

“Damn.”

Thank you so much, Megan, for being a part of this BOD author spotlight interview.  I feel like even though we have never met in person, I’m getting the chance to interview one of my good friends, and it’s all because of BOD, so thank you.

I feel exactly the same way about you and many of the other BOD members I’ve had the privilege to speak with both on and off the page.  One of the reasons I think BOD works so well is because it brings so many people from various walks of life and centers them around this strange bookish world, some might even say the worlds we enjoy are ‘taboo,’ we have the gore and the ghouls, and no one thinks we’re morbid or weird because we’re just like them. Authors aren’t placed on a pedestal, they are equals, they (we?) are approachable. How BOD created this unspoken equal-footing-for-all on a book-related page is revolutionary and has proven to be a major success. And FUN.

How long you have been a member of BOD, how did you hear about it, and what interested you in joining?

I was added by Cheer about 5 months ago and did a happy dance when I fully realized what the page was about. There are thousands of book pages on Facebook, mostly focused on the romance genre and its subsequent sub-genres, but never have I seen a single one for Dystopian & Apocalyptic/Post-Apoc fans. It was definitely a breath of fresh air to see an invite from a group that was unique and stayed focused on the topics of interest.

As I have interacted with you on BOD and from my reading of “The Supremacy,” I can see that you are one of those people that has such a fun and unique way of expressing yourself through words. Can you tell us how you got into writing or when you first knew you wanted to write?

I have always loved writing and creating new worlds, but I didn’t make the conscious decision to publish until I was faced with a battle I couldn’t physically fight against. When I was 21 I was diagnosed with cancer. To put it lightly, I was angry at the world. All I really had were my stories. When life became too hard to handle, I’d escape into a world that was so unlike my own that I could forget all the bad around me and live vicariously through the characters I created. All the female characters I have ever written had the strength and determination to survive what I didn’t think I had within myself, but through them, I became stronger. I write characters the way I wish to be, not how I really am.

Thank you for sharing that with us. I find it inspiring to know how your characters were created. I bet a lot of your female characters have more of you in them than you think.  So on those line, do you feel like writing is a task or a job that needs to be done, or do you get lost in the process?

Both. Strangely, I feel a duty to these characters that have presented themselves to me to get their story out. It sounds crazy when I type it like that but once I get started on a new story, or a continuation of one of my already exciting stories, I cannot stop until their story in complete. Whether good or bad, we are following someone’s journey that I don’t even know the ending until we get there.

I had such a fun time reading The Supremacy.  It was a scary thriller, and yet had gentle emotion throughout.  Can you tell us a little bit about it and where your idea originated from?

It is always hard to talk about the book without spoiling it, but I’ll try my best. The Supremacy has a very basic premise written in a very complex way. Who are we and what makes us, as humans, better than another species? There was one quote that really grabbed my attention when I first started the beginning drafts of the novel, “If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.” Many have said The Supremacy was too gory, more like a horror novel than a dystopian novel, and that was the point. I wanted readers to be appalled by what they were reading because, even though it doesn’t happen to us (humans), every scene in the book does happen, every day, not to us, but by us.

Without ruining the book for those that haven’t read it, how would you explain what the beings are that make up The Supremacy?

Without telling exactly what Supremes are in the fictional sense, I can tell you what they are meant to represent in reality—us, humans. Are you angry yet? We are the apex species, but what if we weren’t? What if there was another species out there that was stronger, smarter, faster? What if we weren’t top of the food-chain anymore? We’ve killed entire species out of greed, what if there was a species that thought as little of us as we’ve thought of others?

What can you tell us about the sequel?  When are readers going to be able to find out what happens to Rin and those fighting for freedom from The Supremacy?

Soon! The 2nd book is titled The Keeper and is Declan’s POV from The Supremacy. The Keeper is a book that shows us who Declan really is, what motivated him to turn away from what he is and show so much compassion to a species that he was raised to believe meant as much to Supremes as cattle meant to humans. The Keeper shows us the behind-the-scenes action we missed out on in the first book, and is critical to know for the third, but it doesn’t stop where the first The Supremacy ended.

What was the first book that made you fall in love with reading?

Gosh, I’m not really sure. My parents instilled a love of reading in me from a very young age, but the first book that truly grasped my attention for more than the short time I was reading/being read to was ‘I Am the Cheese’ by Robert Cornier. It was a novel that had my head spinning from the minute I picked it up and it still never stopped. It made you think. It was one of those books that you loved to hate because the questions kept coming even after the book ended.

When you’re not writing or reading, how do you spend your time, and who do you spend it with?

I am very lucky to be blessed with an amazing, supportive family. And, for me, the question is backwards. When I’m not spending time with my family, I’m writing. I am a mom first and foremost, and when it comes to my writing, I never want my daughter to know the phrase, “Wait, I’m busy.” No fantasy world I could ever create could hold a flame to the reality that my daughter and I are able to share together.

If today was your last day on earth, how would you spend it and what would you want your legacy to be?

However the day would be spent, it would be with family. I think I’d let my daughter decide what we’d do because when the day was over, I’d be gone, but the memories would live on through her.

A legacy? I’ve never really thought about it in the large scheme of things. I am beyond grateful to be alive and try not to think about death and what I will be leaving behind. If I had to choose something to be remembered by, it would be that I loved with all I had and tried every day to remind myself that living is a gift.

ABOUT MEGAN WHITE

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Raised as a ‘Military-Brat’ I’ve had the pleasure of living in many different locals–some amazing and eye-opening, others boring and dull. Being raised in the military lifestyle gifted me the opportunity to meet people and see things I never would have otherwise.I refuse to grow up and become a boring adult. It will never happen.When not writing my stories you can probably find me advocating for Human Rights in many different venues. Some of those topics include the right to your own body, the right to love whomever you choose and the right to speak openly and freely without fear of persecution (whether that be personal or from the government).But most of all, I’m just me and it’s always hard to write a bio on myself. If there’s anything you’d like to know feel free to ask!

Post by Angie Taylor

Thank you D.L. Colon for being a part of BOD’s author spotlight interview.  It’s a fun opportunity for the members to get to know you better.

It’s a pleasure to be here.  I want the members to get to know me better.  I’d like to thank you for taking the time to interview me and for giving me this opportunity.

D.L., why don’t you tell us how long you have been interested in writing, and what first inspired you to write?

I actually never was very interested in writing. When I was younger I found it too hard to do.  But in my high school days I wrote some poems and song lyrics. I didn’t consider it writing though, it was just a hobby.  Now writing has become something I love to do.

I find it immensely daring to write a book in a language that is not your native tongue.  Can you tell us where you got the guts to pull this off, and what has helped you to accomplish this?

Growing up, I actually liked my English classes. I didn’t pay attention to most of my other classes, but I did in English. I first started The Lost City before my last year of high school.  But when my laptop broke down I forgot about.  I remembered about it when an author I liked made the suggestion I should write my own book.

The things that have helped me accomplish writing a book in English are: the US friends I have made through the internet, and most of all, my friend, Christina Escue, who is my editor.

Tell us a little about Drake in The Lost City: Drake’s Revenge, and what the story is about.

Drake’s a Hybrid born from a love that shouldn’t have happened, between an Angel and a Demon.  In The Lost City: Drake’s Revenge, he deals with the loss of his parents, and how he can grow from being a cocky ass boy who doesn’t care about anyone but himself to a man who finds purpose in life and humanity.

The Lost City reads a lot like a fantasy sci-fi book, but the fact that a war between the angels and demons causes the destruction of the world, brings an apocalyptic thread to it.  Can you tell us where this idea came from?

I used to read the Bible when I went to church, and I always liked the idea of an apocalypse. When I started writing in my high school days, and I was trying to figure out what to write about, I remembered the apocalypse parts from the Bible that I really liked.  I have always been a gamer, so I decided to put both worlds in my head and this story came to be.

A couple of your characters in The Lost City have to learn to control their powers in order to find their true potential.  Do you believe people should control their actions, or do you think their emotions should allow them to act however they want?

I believe people have the option to do what they want to do, but I also think people should take responsibility for their actions. I think control is needed, but you must find it inside yourself and not let your actions dictate what will happen to you in the next stage of your life. I have been in control of my choices most of my life, but I had to learn things in a way not many will go through. In my case, I was forced to learn in order to survive, and not because I chose to. It was my only option.

What can we expect for Drake in the future, and where do you see your writing taking you?

Well, you can expect him to go through a lot of situations.  His part is never done, just like many of the characters in my story. We are at war after all, and anything can happen when you least expect it. I hope, in the future, that I can make a movie of the book, or a game.  But mostly I hope my writing will take me to events, help me meet new people, make trips to promote my books (hopefully), and have a peaceful life.

What are some fun facts you’d like all of us at BOD to know about you as a writer?

Hmm, funny. I don’t know.  But I like Japanese music. I listen to music while writing. It helps me concentrate. I don’t like the silence in my room when I write. I sing to the Japanese songs, even though I’m pretty sure I’m messing it up. 🙂

If you weren’t pursuing writing, what other job opportunities would you like to undertake?

Actually, it wasn’t in my plans to become writer.  I have a degree in culinary arts, and I would love to put that to the test.  I will someday.

Dayron, it’s been a pleasure getting to know you better.  Thank you for sharing your time and writing with us!

The pleasure is all mine, and thank you for the opportunity. I appreciate it. I hope we can do this again in the future.

THE LOST CITY: DRAKE’S REVENGE

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Life in the World was simple. As always there was war, poverty, power struggles and a new leader for different years, until 2014. That was when the trumpets were heard.

What many thought was the coming of God was, instead, a race for survival. The heavens opened up, not to receive new souls, but it opened to release the battalions of heaven’s warriors against a known enemy, The Demons of Hell. The Demons of Hell, led by Raphael, came with one thing in mind, Total Annihilation of The Angels of Heaven. The Angels of Heaven, led by Gabriel and given free reign by God, came with one thing in mind, Total Supremacy over The Demons of Hell. Since they needed neutral ground to fight against each other they used the one available, Earth.

Humanity was pushed to the brink of destruction during the war and people with abilities came to exist in the middle of the conflict. There was a decision made by each side to use one of their Lieutenants to gather intelligence from the enemy. The Angels chose Maria Faith for this task and Hell chose Simon Black. What neither side expected was for Maria and Simon to fall for each other. Even though they kept fighting the war for their sides on Earth, they were quickly losing interest in the battle. They decided to leave the war and build a life together. Both Heaven and Hell kept watch on them but left them alone until something happened. Maria became pregnant with Simon’s son. On top of everything else, the boy was half Angel and half Demon.

Heaven and Hell couldn’t let the boy live so they plotted to kill him. Maria and Simon, who named the boy Drake Blackfaith, found out about this before the attack and they took Drake to a Guild named Never Too Late. They left Drake with the Guild and a letter, which he was to be given on his 25th birthday. The day of the attack, instead of killing Maria and Simon, Heaven captured Simon and Hell captured Maria. Both of them were to be tortured into revealing the location of Drake. Both Heaven and Hell wanted him because of a prophecy that was passed down 600 years before that says….

On the eve of his 25th year, Heaven and Hell cannot do anything except hide, his wrath and hate cannot be stopped. Both of his sides will unite, to save or destroy what’s left of Earth. Heed my warning, for it will come to pass. Nothing can stop it, it’s just a matter of time…..
Now the year is 3014 and the war still rages on. Drake is approaching his 25th birthday and this is where our story begins…

ABOUT D.L. COLON

Find D.L. on Facebook

Hello Readers. My name isn’t really D.L. Colon, but it is a play off of my real name. I am 23 years old and live in Puerto Rico. I started writing my first novel last year and I just recently published it. For me writing was a learning experience because my first language is Spanish and even though I speak English pretty fluently, grammar is not my strong suit. It may surprise you, but until four years ago I hated reading. I found my love for reading, and my inspiration to write, when I read The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin.

I have a Culinary Arts degree, which I’m planning on using when I move to the US early next year. On an interesting note, I got the idea for my first book, The Lost City: Drake’s Revenge, from playing video games. I’m a gamer at heart, a writer by chance and a chef because it’s something I love. I’m currently writing my second novel, which is the second book in The Lost City series. I hope you all enjoy my first novel and continue on with the series when the rest are released.

Another great edition of WRITING PROMPT last Friday. You can view the original prompt here. Author Lisa Vasquez’s winning entry left us wanting more! Read her story below.

The sun was setting behind the horizon and the sky burned with the colors of dusk. The looming presence of the train stood against the backdrop menacingly. We all stood there in silence, trepidation causing a mass wave of fear. Six months. To us, having lived in isolation for that long, it was a lifetime. Steel against steel, it let out a final hiss followed by a high pitched squeal signaling that it had come to rest on the tracks. A collective gasp washed over the growing crowd who watched with curiosity. The Judges had arrived.

Curling his fingers through the chain link fence, Leo nodded softly and swept his gaze toward the section of women where Julia was already watching him. Since the Plague had eradicated most of the world and left the remaining survivors to fend for themselves in this small, simple village, the two had formed a bond. Between them they cared for the sick, the orphaned, and the despondent. By default, the others looked to them for everything.

As if on cue, the large door of the first car opened and the seven men began to exit dressed in the long, black cloaks that merged both priest and judiciary into one. When they reached the fence, the train let a blow of its horn fill the silence before the Guardian emerged dressed in stark contrast. Her white robes billowed in the wind before she took her first step toward Leo.

She made no rush of her pace, revelling in the anxiety she induced. When she reached Leo and removed the mask, her cold smile chilled him to the bone. This seemed to please her even more.

“Let’s skip the formalities, Leo. Bring me the infant.”

It’s so fun that I get to chat with you about your book Pandemic.  Thank you so much Yvonne for taking the time to be a part of BOD’s author spotlight interview.  We’re so happy to have you!

Thank you! BOD is an amazing group, so I’m thrilled to be interviewed here.

Before we get into Pandemic, tell us how you got into writing.  Was it something you’ve always wanted to do, or have done?  Or does it come from a love of reading?

I still have old poems from around sixth and seventh grade. I was always an avid reader, and wanting to work with words seemed like a natural extension of that. I took my first formal creative writing classes in college but didn’t write seriously until my children were born.

Will you please tell us about Pandemic, and what inspired you to write it?

Here’s a blurb about the story:

In Pandemic, only a few people know what caused Lilianna Snyder’s sudden change from a model student to a withdrawn pessimist who worries about all kinds of disasters. After her parents are called away on business, Lil’s town is hit by what soon becomes a widespread fatal illness. With her worst fears realized, Lil must find a way to survive not only the outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.

In terms of what inspired me, I’ve always been fascinated with disaster situations. For example, I loved Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. When the Swine Flu pandemic occurred in 2009, it wasn’t particularly lethal, but it did make me wonder. What if a virus was extremely contagious and caused a high death rate? And what if a teen girl had to survive the illness on her own?

Pandemic is more about the experience during the disaster than the aftermath.  I found it interesting to think about not only the practical implications of a contagious disease, like potential food shortages, but also about how fear would change social interactions. Dire circumstances can bring out the best and the worst in people and I wanted to explore that in this story.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Pandemic.  I love how informative it was from beginning to end.  Does the knowledge you write about come from personal experience of what to do in an emergency, or from research?

I’m happy you liked it. 🙂

I did a lot of research, starting with the Spanish Influenza of 1918, then reading about current emerging infectious diseases as well. (I recommend Spillover by David Quammen and Emerging Epidemics by Madeline Drexler.)

The story is set in New Jersey and I was able to find planning documents online, as well as interview a local health officer. He spoke frankly about the H1N1 experience and gave me insight into what problems could potentially occur if a more deadly pandemic struck.

By the way, I thought because of my research that I was well prepared for an emergency. In the midst of writing the novel, we were hit by a severe October ice storm and lost power for about ten days. I quickly found the flaws in my efforts. And there were many! (For example, we didn’t have an easy way to recharge our multiple cell phones.)

I include information about pandemics and preparedness on the Resources section of my website.

I find it ironically scary to have read this book the same week a patient with Ebola was admitted to a hospital in America.  How do you feel about this?

Ebola is frightening. The disease obviously differs from bird flu—it has a longer incubation time, for example, and it’s not airborne. But it seems incredibly difficult to protect the medical staff needed to treat it. The spread of the disease is very worrisome.

The sexual assault sub-plot was so well handled in Pandemic.  Why did you put this sub-plot in a story about a viral epidemic?

I wanted to create a story where the main character is in a difficult place at the onset, even before the disease strikes, so that she must find a way to heal and become stronger during the crisis. The sexual assault was an integral part of Lil’s character for me.

I was also interested in the moral dilemma of whether or not we would help others if it puts us at risk. Since Lil’s philanthropy leads to harm prior to the outbreak (it’s after a food drive that she’s assaulted), she struggles to become altruistic again.

Now tell us some fun facts about yourself.  Do you have a favorite treat you like to eat when you’re writing or reading?

I love hot drinks while I’m writing— coffee, tea, hot chocolate—even during the summer. And I’m a big fan of Hershey kisses as a reward for a creative, productive session. I also like Skinny Pop popcorn but it messes up the keyboard if I eat it while I’m typing, so I have to save that as an editing treat.

Do you have a writing ritual or routine you do to get you in the writer’s zone?

It’s not exactly a routine, but in August and September, I participated in WritingChallenge.org. (I’m taking October off from the group to focus more on Pandemic publicity.) The idea is to write 500 words or edit for one hour each day for the month, tweeting and tracking your daily progress. It’s a great way to feel accountable for getting the work done, and like BOD, the group is friendly and supportive.

If you could do one thing differently about your writing career, what would it be?

Earlier in my career, I tended to rush the fiction writing process and I often felt “done” when more revisions were needed. Writing a novel takes a long time for me, and I wish I had realized sooner that leaving a manuscript alone for days (even weeks) between revisions is a good and necessary step.

Thanks for sharing your time with all of us at BOD, and for creating awesome stories to get lost in!

You’re welcome. As a special offer to BOD members in the US, if anyone wants a bookmark for Pandemic,  email me the address.

Keep reading to learn more about Pandemic and Yvonne!

PANDEMIC

An excerpt from the opening pages of Pandemic.

I stood on the smoking corner behind school reveling in my aloneness. Not many smokers had the same schedule, which made the corner the perfect place for solitude. We always stayed a foot off the high school property, near the big oak tree, and since we were allowed to leave during last period study hall, we weren’t technically breaking any rules.

As if rules mattered.

“Hey, got a light?” Jay Martinez asked, interrupting the quiet. In the fall, he’d moved from Arizona to live with his aunt down the block from my house.

I handed him my half-smoked cigarette. Cupping the burning ember, he used it to light his own. He didn’t fit in with the other smokers, but then neither did I. My black clothes, basic ponytail, and minimal makeup placed me in my own category. Maybe Lazy Goth. But the nice thing about smokers was that they didn’t exclude anyone.

“Thanks.” Jay passed my cigarette back to me.

“Is New Jersey always this cold in April?”

Being the new guy at school made Jay the flavor of the month with the other sophomore girls. They craved him in a nauseating kind of way. He was dark, tall, and lanky, and tended to over-communicate. Totally not my type. Now he ruined my aloneness with weather chatter. I shrugged so he’d get the idea that I wasn’t in a talking mood.

“Ethan was hoping to run into you,” he said.

Another shrug. I’d managed to avoid my ex for months. No reason to change the pattern now.

“So . . . do you have Robertson for bio?” he asked.

I nodded. Jay definitely wasn’t taking the hint.

“What are you doing your report on?”

“Emerging diseases,” I said, finally giving up on staying silent.

“Cheerful stuff.”

The school projects I chose did favor the dark this semester. American history report? The decision to drop the bomb. English book talk? A collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. Thematically, Ebola hemorrhagic fever fit right in.

“What are you writing about?” I flicked the accumulated ashes. “Lung cancer?”

He smiled. “The biology of taste. I write restaurant reviews on my blog and that was the closest topic I could think of. Do you like eating at restaurants?”

Leaning slightly forward, he held eye contact a little too long for me. Was he flirting? Nervous, I pulled my sweater tighter around me and crossed my arms. A flirtatious guy was the absolute last thing I needed in my life. No boyfriends, no coy conversations for me. Not anymore.

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ABOUT YVONNE

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Before becoming a children’s writer, Yvonne Ventresca wrote computer programs and taught others how to use technology. Now she happily spends her days writing stories instead of code. Yvonne’s the author of the young adult novel Pandemic, available since May from Sky Pony Press. Yvonne’s other writing credits include two nonfiction books for kids: Avril Lavigne (a biography of the singer) and Publishing (about careers in the field). You can visit her website at www.YvonneVentresca.com.

BOD author Ann Christy won this week’s Writing Prompt over in the group. Check out the original post here and then read Ann’s winning story below!

“That’s ridiculous!” Emma cried. “There are no trolls. And if there were, they wouldn’t live on top of bridges, but under them.” She rolled her eyes at Gary. He might be twelve and she nine, but she wasn’t a baby.

“It’s true. I swear,” he said, an annoyingly superior look on his face.

“Then prove it.” The ultimate challenge issued, she crossed her arms and leaned back against the bridge.

Gary huffed, momentarily at a loss, then hissed, “Fine. Tonight!”

—–

Emma woke in a panic, Gary’s hand over her mouth. When she saw her brother, she pushed him away, sat up in bed and punched him in the chest.

“What’s that for?” he half-whined, half-whispered, rubbing the spot.

She waved him off, got up and dressed. Silently, they snuck downstairs, donned their outerwear and left the house. At the bridge, their flashlights darted about, chasing creepy night sounds.

“Let’s go.” His voice was shaky, perhaps reconsidering this course of action.

Emma felt victory close at hand and winning would be delicious. She wasn’t having any wavering. She charged toward the bridge’s center, her boots clomping loudly.

Gary hesitated, then followed. Under the little building, Emma faced him. She felt brave now, convinced of her rightness. He’d tried to scare her. He’d lost. Emma shone her light up toward the hole in the building’s bottom. Nothing peered back, no croaking voice demanded a toll.

“See,” she said.

Gary started, his flashlight bouncing around, his breathing suddenly harsh. “Shh. I heard something.”

Again, Emma rolled her eyes, patience gone. Then Gary squeaked and crouched a little, fear blossoming on his face. Emma looked up again and saw what he saw. A pair of orange eyes framed by a green face leaned out of the hole above. Then another pair. Then another.

Post by Angie Taylor

This week I had the amazing privilege of interviewing fellow BOD member and author Ilsa J. Bick. Please enjoy this awesome author spotlight interview!

Thank you so much, Ilsa, for taking part in our BOD author spotlight interview. I know all our BOD members are so excited to hear from you!

My pleasure. I love knowing that all those hours spent hunched over a hot keyboard actually means something to someone besides my cats, who really only see me as the Can Opener.  But you take what you can get.

You have done so many interesting things in your life, and have had many different careers. When did you know that writing was going to stick?

Gosh, I don’t know. I’d like to say that it snuck up on me gradually. See, as a writer, you start out with small goals—or, at least, I did. First, all I ever wanted was to write nonfiction essays on film and television. Then my husband dared me to write a story; he thought I was afraid to because I might actually like it. So then it was . . . finish a damn story. Then it became publish a story. Then, it was a couple stories, and then that morphed into what was my biggest goal: to write a Star Trek book.

Hey, you think I’m kidding? Look, Captain Kirk was serious beefcake in my day. So that was definitely something in my sights. I even remember telling an editor that all I wanted was to hold a Trek book in my hand that I had written.

But, you know . . . it’s always something new and more and different. Once you’ve accomplished something, you need to keep moving, or you become boring, and I knew that I really couldn’t stick with Trek forever because I kept thinking bigger and broader.

A very wise writer once told me that every book should be a challenge; that you’re always about trying something new. I guess you could say that I got addicted to that idea. I love learning new things. In fact, researching topics and learning new stuff is one of the most exciting and gratifying things about being a writer. My mind is a kind of magpie. You know, these are birds that see something glittery and think, Oh, that would look great in my nest and Wow, that’s a pretty shiny thing. Me . . . I’m like that, gathering scraps of data, interesting facts. I hate being bored, and that’s the thing about being a writer: it’s never boring. Frustrating, yes. Slit your wrists because what you’ve just labored over all day is absolute garbage . . . that happens a lot. But it’s never boring. Drive you to drink, yeah. But never boring.

How have your other careers influenced your stories, and more especially, Ashes?

It’s so interesting you ask that. I was just thinking about my past lives: Air Force major, child psychiatrist, forensic psychiatrist, film scholar, surgery intern, wannabe actress. You know, past lives aren’t like bad cases of the flu. You don’t get over them, you only move on and, in another context, I once wrote that you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been. We are our memories and experiences and dreams, pure and simple.

Gandhi once said, “A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do, nothing else,” and so you might say the same of memories and experience. I’ve met a lot of people in pain, and I’ve sat across from a scads of others—I’m talking when I worked with inmates in a women’s prison—who you really wouldn’t want to know or meet on a street, even in broad daylight. So, in my case, I think that when I write, I really want to work my way into a character’s head, squirm into those deep, moist, dark, nasty, very secret places most people hide or don’t want to admit they’ve got. It’s not as simple as understanding what makes them tick; I want to see through their eyes, and I can only do that if I also access everything that’s gone into making them the characters they become on the page.

In terms of ASHES: When I set out to write this trilogy, I was very clear from the get-go that my book had to be as real as possible and not one more in a seemingly endless (and boring) array of books about the world centuries after a plague, a virus, blah, blah. So, the science is pretty real. What I present—massive waves of electromagnetic pulses that effectively throw the world into a preindustrial black hole—could conceivably happen. Congress has known that for years, and if you think what went down in Fukushima was bad, imagine what might happen if all reactors went off-line with no ability to keep them from melting down or the water cooling those spent fuel rods from boiling away.

So now we’re talking about a world where things are going from bad to worse, and people struggle to stay alive. By the way, all that survivalism is real, too. Making debris shelters, purifying water, making fires—all that and much more—are things I’ve done and techniques that will keep you alive if the worst happens. Mind you, I didn’t say comfortable; we’re not talking toasty slippers before a hearth, but you can make it if you know basic survival tricks. Ditto the medical stuff, too, and the surgical procedures. Been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt.

Also, having served in the military definitely played into what I did with the trilogy (and in almost all my writing). First off, my dad was in the Air Force; I served at the same base he did; and I’ve been around military folks in some capacity all my life. I treated a lot of servicemen and women who were doing jobs that took them away from their families, exposed them to immense stress, and—in some cases—nearly broke them. I have nothing but admiration and a tremendous amount of respect and compassion for their sacrifice. When I think of what soldiers endure to keep me and everyone else in this country safe to enjoy the freedoms others want to take away, or hear the National Anthem, or see a bunch of soldiers hanging out? I can get pretty choked up. I’m not embarrassed by that either; it merely reflects how strongly I feel.

I’ll be honest, too. I don’t think that enough people truly understand what it’s like to be in the military. They may sympathize and they can be supportive, but that’s not the same. There is no sense of shared burden or sacrifice here as there is in other countries where service is mandatory. As unpopular as the draft was, if you think back to how many young men and women lined up to serve in World War II, it’s not right when that kind of patriotism—that sense that we’re all in this together—is so lacking.

I know some people who treat military members the same way they do guns—wouldn’t touch ’em with a ten-foot pole—and that’s just a shame. What troubles me even more is the notion of the military—and, by extension, war—as things most kids know only from playing computer games. They glorify it, and they shouldn’t because combat is ugly and the cost is high. So I bring a lot of that when I deal with characters like Tom and even Alex: people who’ve seen a lot of combat and death.

Teachers always ask me about the violence quotient in the trilogy: like, I should be bothered because I make the violence so realistic and in your face. My response is this. Nothing I do is any worse than any video game or movie. More to the point, I try very hard to dwell on what happens to the person who pulls the trigger. A lot of books don’t. Video games never do. But I remember the first time I shot a .45. I remember how I felt; how I nearly peed my pants; how I was shaking—because firing a gun and understanding that you now have the power to take a life is a visceral, humbling experience. It shouldn’t be glorified, and the idea of blowing someone away is most certainly not fun. So I want my readers to get that, too. The person who pulls that trigger pays a price.

As a reader, I love discovering characters who appear normal but end up having special powers. I especially loved that this happens to some of your characters in Ashes. Why do you think readers are so drawn to protagonists who exhibit supernatural strengths?

I don’t think that it’s anything more mysterious than a good story almost always involves ordinary people put in extreme and extraordinary circumstances. Supernatural abilities are just one manifestation of this “specialness.”

Then, too . . . and I’m not being condescending, but it’s true . . . teenagers, in particular, need to believe that they are special in some way. Think about it: you’re being asked to leave everything you’ve known, all the people who’ve taken care of you, and strike out on your own, whether that’s in college or a job or whatever. Well, that takes extraordinary courage, for one—it really does—and a belief in your own specialness, for another. If you didn’t believe that you could conquer that great unknown beyond your parents’ front door . . . why ever would you turn the knob? Boil them all down, and that’s what these stories are: they are coming of age narratives, when a young person is thrust into a position of having to face a hostile, unknown world and, in doing so, discovers an unknown strength (or has it imposed on him/her).

You illustrate so clearly in Ashes how delicate the mind is, and yet at the same time, show what a magnificent machine it is. What interested you in focusing on this dynamic in Ashes?

Gosh . . . I don’t know? I guess that, as a shrink, I’m always interested in the mind driven to the brink or an extreme. I don’t stint here either because one thing I do know as a shrink who’s crawled through some pretty slimy sewers of the mind: people can be quite brutal and no one ever does what he imagines he would when his life is on the line. In my books, we see people making choices and doing some fairly horrible things because I think that reflects reality. That’s what interests me: the rules people are willing to break and the compromises they’ll make just to survive. People say, I’ll never do this or that. I say, Baloney. You don’t know because you’re not there yet. Talk to me when you’re starving, or someone’s holding a gun to your kid’s head. Conversely, I am also intensely interested in what things are truly worth dying for—and I don’t think there’s a single answer for everyone.

To my mind, it’s also not enough to simply survive. I want to understand what it means to live.  I see this novel—and the entire trilogy—as a journey as the principal characters fight to carve out some kind of life for themselves in a world gone to pieces.

In Ashes, the majority of the humans portrayed lose their humanity pretty quickly when they feel threatened. Do you think, for the most part, that we as humans would really act like this if faced with similar circumstances?

Without question. Just turn on the evening news, if you don’t believe me. Or go read some history. My dad is a Holocaust survivor; the Nazis came for him when he was just a little boy, and he was in three different concentration camps before he was finally shipped west and out of Europe to America. The rest of his family, except his grandmother, all died in Auschwitz.

We act in depraved ways now, not only to one another but to the other inhabitants on this Earth who have no advocates and whom we drive into extinction simply because we can or believe our needs are so very much more important. Trust me: humanity can always be counted on to live down to your lowest expectations. The hard part is not to stand by and think someone else will fix it for you. You want something to change? You want something better? Then get off your butt and make it happen.

If you were to develop a super sense, what would it be, and what would you use it for?

Bless me, I don’t know. I’d rather have a superpower, to be honest. Like . . . I wouldn’t mind being able to fly. Or read minds. Except then I’d know what you really think about me.

Use it for? Heck, I don’t know. You know if I could fly, my carbon footprint would be really low. That’s something.

Out of all the characters you have created, which one do you feel you’re most like, and which one would you most like to be similar to?

You’re going to think this is a cop-out, but they’re all me. They have to be because they all came out of my head. So I understand and feel like every single one of them, even my villains.

Of all the stories you’ve written, is there any one in particular that’s nearest to your heart?

Nope. Every book I write is my baby of the moment. I have to feel that way in order for the book to have any life at all.

Can you tell us anything about your work in progress? What’s next for you?

Well, I’m just finishing up proofs of The Dickens Mirror, which is the sequel to White Space and Book II of The Dark Passages Series (Egmont USA). I’m now in hand-to-hand combat with a standalone about love and spiders and lies, tentatively entitled (appropriately enough) Love Among Spiders. With any luck, I’ll either finish this book, or it will kill me.

Ilsa, thank you again for spending a little time with us at Band of Dystopian! It has been such a pleasure!

Thanks for having me!

Ashes Links: Egmont USA | Amazon |Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound | Walmart | Target

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

It could happen tomorrow . . .
 
An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

ABOUT ILSA J. BICK

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Ilsa J. Bick is a child and forensic psychiatrist, as well as a film scholar, surgeon wannabe, former Air Force major, and an award-winning, best-selling author of dozens of short stories and novels.  Her YA credits include the critically acclaimed paranormal mystery, DRAW THE DARK (winner of the Westchester Fiction Award, a VOYA Perfect Ten, and Bank Street College 2011 Best Book); the bittersweet DROWNING INSTINCT, a story about a sixteen-year-old girl’s relationship with her chemistry teacher; and THE SIN-EATER’S CONFESSION, a mystery revolving around the murder of a young boy, who may or may not have been homosexual, that was also a 2014 YALSA BYFA and just honored with the 2014 Independent Publisher Gold Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction.

ASHES—the first book in Ilsa’s YA apocalyptic thriller trilogy—follows Alex Adair, a 17-year-old with an inoperable brain tumor.  Embarking on what she believes is a one-way journey into Michigan’s north woods, Alex suddenly finds herself fighting to stay alive after a wave of electromagnetic pulses sweeps the globe, crippling power and communications grids and killing most adults, sparing only the very young and the very old while most teenagers are “Changed,” meaning that they not only make an interesting lifestyle change but become people you really don’t want to meet in a dark alley.  ASHES was a 2011 VOYA Perfect Ten; 2012 YALSA Top Ten Teen Nominee; 2012 YALSA Best Fiction Nominee; 2012 Outstanding Book by a Wisconsin Author;  2013 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers Finalist; 2013-2014 Gateway Award Final Nominee; 2014 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominee; and 2014 Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award Nominee.  SHADOWS is the second volume, and MONSTERS, released September, 2013 to starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus, rounds out the trilogy.

Ilsa’s latest YA novel is WHITE SPACE: Book I of the Dark Passages series, a  psychological horror/sf YA thriller that’s been pegged as both metatextual—whatever that means—and “a freaking head trip,” which sounds much more to the point.  Think The Matrix and Inception meet Inkheart: a story that revolves around teenagers who may be real or might only be characters plucked from horror novels penned by Frank McDermott (Wisconsin’s Most Famous Crazy Dead Writer).  Now, imagine that they’re all trapped in a bizarre, snow-shrouded, fog-filled valley that has the knack of bringing all their worst nightmares and monsters to life—and you’re getting warm.  The sequel, THE DICKENS MIRROR, will be released in 2015 from Egmont USA.

Ilsa lives with her very tolerant family and other furry creatures across from a Hebrew cemetery in rural Wisconsin.  One thing she loves about the neighbors: They’re very quiet and only come around for sugar once in a blue moon.

This weekend we held our second edition of BOD’s Writing Prompt contest. We posted an image with a writing prompt asking for a story in 300 words or less. Here was the original image and prompt. Again, we had many great stories but one stood out from the pack and Bridget Nash was our winner! Here’s her story:

“We got another one!” I yelled over my shoulder as I took a step back and shut the door firmly. What was on the front step would have to wait a minute.

“You’re kiddin’ me,” Ray said, shaking his head.

I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t even shake my head. It was a miracle we’d pulled this off for this long. Everything was packed up and the truck was loaded, waiting in the alley. I was sure this last act would be our demise. They were going to find us.

“Hurry up!” Ray barked. He wasn’t wasting any time. He already had on his scrub coat and surgical hat. He was pulling the 3M N100 respirator over his mouth. It was our disguise.

Somehow (Providence? Dumb luck?) we had convinced the Authority we were scientists. Ray’s sheer genius and my knowledge garnered from researching natural healing allowed for us to talk like scientists in the interview, but how we passed any of the background checks is beyond me. Sure, we made some fake stuff for the internet and printed some fake diplomas, but someone must have been sleeping on the job for us to get approved.

And yet, we were approved. And they were shipping the live test subjects to our residence.

Some didn’t have a chance of surviving transport. The Authority thought we were testing vaccines on these people. Vaccines to halt the horrific disease that had swept the nation.

We pulled the delivery into the house and locked the door. Ray pulled out his knife and cut the dripping plastic wrap. Like all the others, this young man was bound and packaged like he was nothing more than a grocery store piece of meat. The small breathing hole wasn’t enough for some.

But it had been enough for this guy.

Today, Author Emily Goodwin has joined us for an interview about her work, particularly her zombie series, Contagium. 

Do you remember your first introduction to zombies? When did you first get hooked? 

I’m a fan of the Resident Evil games and movies, and I saw Zombieland in theaters, but that was really the extent of my zombie love until after I wrote Contagious. I had a dream about zombies and woke up knowing that I had to write about them. I actually went into the zombie genre as a total zombie newb. I had no idea about zombie stereotypes, or that female zombie authors aren’t always well received. Luckily, I avoided said stereotypes and I’ve been warmly welcomed into the genre.

Your protagonist Orissa is a carefree, party-like-tomorrow-is-the-apocalypse kind of girl, but when the actual zombie apocalypse occurs, she shifts into another role, one of a fierce warrior. Orissa is well-trained in weaponry. Do you have expertise in archery and firearms or did you spend time researching arms combat? 

I’m no expert, but I do know how to handle a variety of guns. I’ve been into shooting since I was a kid, and while normal girls were inside playing with dolls, I laid on our deck shooting targets through my mom’s decorative grass pretending to be a sniper. I’ve used a bow and arrows before, but that is something I am currently working on learning. I spent a lot of time researching weapons and speaking with others well-versed in using those weapons. I also shot a lot of ‘zombie heads’ to see how different weapons exploded zombies brains. That was a lot of fun.

If you could give one piece of advice to Orissa, what would it be? 

I would tell her to let go of the past. In the beginning of the series, she is still very angry and hurt from things that happened to her in the past. And she holds onto a lot of guilt from things she did, which she channels into anger. She is a very complex character, and I love that about her.

Uh oh! It’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author, living or dead, do you want by your side? 

Don Mann – he’s a former Navy Seal and wrote a survival guide. Who better, right?

After writing apocalyptic fiction, have you made preparations for the end of the world? Are you a prepper like Orissa’s Grandfather? 

It’s definitely made me think about the worst possible scenarios. I do like to have enough bottled water and food on hand, and I may or may not always have a weapon on me (there is not a machete in my trunk…). But I’m by no means a crazy prepper. My husband is the voice of reason. If it weren’t for him, I’d have a room full of food, water, ammo, and weapons.

One of my favorite characters in Contagious is the fierce, but lovable Doberman, Argos. As a proud Doberman mama myself, I know that behind the scary exterior lies a total softy. Do you have experience with this breed or a pet that serves as inspiration for Argos? 

I have a German Shepherd who is our furry baby. I wanted to pick a dog that was similar in traits, so I went with a Doberman. I worked at a vet office and then a pet store while I was in college, so I do have experience with Dobs. They are wonderful dogs! You are so right too; they are great dogs!

Not all zombies are equal, which was evident in Contagious. Your zombies display unique characteristics that correspond to their individual state of decay. Can you tell us a little bit about them and their fun nicknames?

I tried to make my zombie virus as realistic as possible. I was in nursing school at the time of writing this series, so I had many doctors and nurses around to ask for advice. I also spoke with a neurologist about brain function. In my series, the virus attacks the parts of the brain that control memory and emotion—basically what makes us human. As the virus progresses, it kills off more of the brain, giving the infected that typical zombie stagger. The body starts to slowly die off, and blood flow decreases. The extremities are the first to go, and the skin becomes necrotic, which allows the infected to look like zombies. You find out more about the virus in the final book, and I don’t want to give away spoilers! The virus does progress in three distinct stages: getting infected and going insane, zombie, then really zombied-zombies that are literally falling apart. The characters refer to them as crazies, zombies, and gummies…since the skin and organs get gummy and gooey so close to the end.

What can we expect next from you?

I just started a new series. I don’t have a formal description or blurb written yet. The series has a dystopian setting in modern times, but the US is still set up in colonies. Witchcraft is illegal, and if you are found guilty you are either sentenced to burn at the stake or allow your body to be used for medical testing.

Thank You Emily for taking the time to answer my questions and for your active participation on BOD.

Thank you for the interview! It was fun!

Emily’s Links: Facebook | Website

ABOUT CONTAGIOUS

During the Second Great Depression, twenty-four year old Orissa Penwell is forced to drop out of college when she is no longer able to pay for classes. Unable to find a job, she moves in with her aunt in Indianapolis. Down on her luck, Orissa doesn’t think she can go any lower.

Orissa is used to only being responsible for herself. When she finds herself a reluctant leader of a group of survivors, she must make a choice: set aside her issues and help the others or go off alone in search of her own family and friends.

ABOUT EMILY GOODWIN

Emily Goodwin is the international best-selling author of the stand-alone novel STAY, The Guardian Legacies Series: UNBOUND, REAPER, MOONLIGHT (releasing 2014), The Beyond the Sea Series: BEYOND THE SEA, RED SKIES AT NIGHT (releasing 2015) and the award-winning Contagium Series: CONTAGIOUS, DEATHLY CONTAGIOUS, CONTAGIOUS CHAOS, THE TRUTH IS CONTAGIOUS (Permuted Press).

Emily lives with her husband, daughter and German Shepherd named Vader. Along with writing, Emily enjoys riding her horse, designing and making costumes and Cosplay.

Last week we launched a new contest – Writing Prompt. You can view the original post here. We posted a photo and challenged BOD members:

“You just woke up here. In 300 words or less, explain how you got here.”

We had a lot of great stories come in and the feature was so popular that many of you demanded we do it again! And we intend to do it weekly.

Our first winner, Justin Vokey, stood out with his originality and it’s our pleasure to share his story with you in case you missed it!

There is nothing worse than thirst. My skin had been empty for a day now. I checked the quiet world around me one more time, squinting at the hateful sun. There was no water of course. But I had to know if they had caught my trail.

I had stumbled upon this bizarre shelter, an old bus stuck in the ground like a pathetic imitation of a tree. Not that trees grew anymore. It was all just dust without the magic of water.

God, water would be so nice right now. I remember when there were streams of water just running along the ground. Free flowing water had turned from a reality into a fairytail for children.

They wanted water, the ones that followed. And the human body contained a lot of water. Between flesh and blood, I was a walking canteen. They were coming for my flesh and blood, and by God I would make them pay for it.