For those of you that have been wondering what I’ve been doing for the past five weeks, I’ve been promoting my novel Days with the Undead: Book One on a whirlwind blog tour that has me stopping at blogs all over the place! It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve written on quite a lot of different subjects from Zombies and other supernatural creatures to discussions on writing. I’ve also done a fair number of interviews. If you’re interested in checking out the other stops on the tour, you can find links here. Don’t forget to read this post first though!
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I’ve been watching the news like everyone else these days and I have to say that I’m completely riveted. I probably shouldn’t be; I’m only fourteen and I live in one of the worst neighbourhoods of Los Angeles. I should be watching for any sign that gang violence is about to erupt, and continuing to avoid the guys on the street corner trying to sell me drugs. Instead, I’m glued to my laptop screen watching the images coming out of some place called Toronto. It’s in Canada, I looked it up.
A riot or something is happening up there. The weird thing is that people aren’t dying when they’re shot. I’ve been reading stuff on the ‘net too. Some are saying the rioters are dead, but that can’t be possible; they’re still walking around. I asked my dad the other night while he was still sober what he thought was going on. He just told me to stop being so nosey. I don’t see it as being nosey, frankly. I view it as taking an interest in current affairs. I want to be a journalist when I grow up, so I need to take a keen interest in what is going on in the world around me. I even have the best name for journalism; Gloria Gonzales. It has a nice cadence, doesn’t it?
Today I start my career as a serious journalist. I might not be the best yet, but I only plan on getting better. I have a feeling that something is going on up in Canada and while I can’t get there, I can take a look from here and see if I can’t help figure some of the confusing bits out for everyone. Not only have I scored an exclusive Skype interview with someone fleeing this riot, she actually has an idea about what is really going on! Without further ado, I give you my interview with Julie Odette, a resident of Toronto and witness to the situation that’s unfolding there.
GG: Welcome Julie! Thank you for agreeing to talk to me today.
JO: Gloria, thank you for giving me this unprecedented opportunity.
GG: Can you tell me what exactly is going on in Toronto?
JO: At the moment, I don’t know much about what is currently going on but I think it’s safe to assume the city is lost. However, I can tell you what happened eight days ago, if you like.
GG: Yes, please do. The public has been trying to get a grip on why the riot started in the first place but with no information coming out of the city, it’s been very difficult.
JO: Eight days ago, a situation arose that I cannot fully explain. A man was brought into the Emergency Room of St. Michael’s Hospital with very weak vital signs. That man passed away and then came back to life. Only it wasn’t life that returned to him. Within minutes, the Emergency Room was in utter pandemonium and the infection was spreading.
GG: Infection? So it’s something communicable then?
JO: In a manner of speaking, yes. I’m not quite sure how to break the news to the rest of the world so I’m just going to say it. That man was dead and when he woke up, he was still clinically dead. Whatever infection he had been exposed to allowed his body to reanimate and caused him to wreak havoc throughout the Emergency Room, spreading the infection. This may be hard for you to hear but what we are dealing with is a full scale Zombie infestation.
GG: Zombies? Seriously?
JO: I’m completely serious Gloria. I examined some of them myself while they were under full restraint at the Centre for Forensic Sciences where I work – I meant where I worked. I know that it’s hard to believe but trust that what I’m telling you is true. My friends and I have been fleeing from them for the past eight days. Hell, we barely made it out of Canada alive.
GG: I don’t understand. Is this some sort of hoax?
JO: Gloria, listen to me carefully. This is not a hoax. I swear. The public needs to be made aware that Zombies are walking the earth at this very moment and there is no one out there in any position to stop them. They are going keep spreading, that’s their nature and as they catch more and more living people off guard, their ranks are just going to explode exponentially. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still time to focus and prepare yourselves.
GG: Prepare ourselves? How?
JO: The first thing you need to do is get out of the big city. High populations are just a higher food source for them and the last thing that you want to do is get stuck in the city with hordes of them roaming the streets. The most important thing is to head in the direction opposite to where they are. You’re close to Mexico; I suggest heading there first and then keep on going. Don’t stop once you think you’ve gotten far enough away. If no one stops them, they will find you eventually.
GG: If nowhere is truly safe, what is the point in running?
JO: There is always a point in trying to survive. The government has to respond at some point and there is always the possibility that they can stop whatever is happening. It’s a slim possibility, but –
As you can see from the video, we lost our Skype connection to Julie there. I don’t know why and I hope that it wasn’t something bad. Can you believe what she said about the Zombies? Can it possibly be true? Maybe she will be able to call back and continue to fill us in. In the meantime, I suggest that we all keep our eyes on the news in the hope that someone will be able to tell us what is going on.
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Days with the Undead: Book One is currently available for purchase at:
Print –
CreateSpace, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble
Digital –
Smashwords, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Amazon ES, Amazon IT, and Kobo
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Julianne Snow
It was watching George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead at the tender age of six that solidified Julianne’s respect of the Undead. Since that day, she has prepared herself for the (inevitable) Zombie Apocalypse. While classically trained in all of the ways to defend herself, she took up writing in order to process the desire she now covets; to bestow a second and final death upon the Undead. As the only girl growing up in a family with four children in the Canadian countryside, Julianne needed some form of escape. Her choice was the imaginations of others which only fostered the vibrancy of her own.
Days with the Undead: Book One is her first full-length book, the basis of which can be found in her popular web serial of the same name. You can find Julianne’s The Living Dead of Penderghast Manor in the anthology Women of the Living Dead and stories in upcoming anthologies called Childhood Nightmares: Under The Bed and Twisted Realities: Of Myth and Monstrosity from Sirens Call Publications.
The FlipSide of Julianne 