Fried Green Zombies, Part One

It was Thursday. The end of the world was still a few days away. - From Fried Green Zombies

Have you ever picked up a book not expecting too much only to have it wow your socks off? That happened to me (and living in Florida ,I don’t even wear socks) when I read Fried Green Zombies by John Allen.

John handed me a copy of his book when we met at a television station in Biloxi, Mississippi. Though a story involving a Dodge pickup truck, UFO’s, zombies and a couple of rednecks didn’t really sound like my cup of tea, I decided to give it a chance. Am I ever glad I did! It’s a well-written book with eclectic characters, lots of action, and loads of laughs. You can’t help yourself—you’re forced to keep turning one page after another. To me, John’s writing is a cross between Carl Hiaasen and Christopher Moore.

I was thrilled when John agreed to an interview and decided to try something new—making him the featured author of the week. So today you’ll find out a little about John and the book. Wednesday, he’ll talk about how he came up with the title, characters and idea for the book. Friday, he’ll talk about the writing in general including thought provoking insight on self-publishing versus traditional. So don’t miss a day. And feel free to leave questions for him in the comment section.

Here’s John:
To begin, I’m a father of 2.5 kids (two here actually running around, and one on the way), and a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none kind of guy. I dabble in science, music, magic, anthropology, history, religion, writing, and marketing. It is the latter that I made my career, and the next-to-last that I wish to make my career in the future.

Fried Green Zombies is actually my second novel. The first, “Dinner with the Devil,” was a bit of a think-piece about this guy who goes out to eat and always has his dining companion, whomever they may be, possessed by the devil. Needless to say, I hit print and stuck it in my library, where it will forever sit, collecting dust.

Fried Green Zombies was written, believe it or not, completely for me. I needed something that would allow me to escape into another place, and Fried Green Zombies was born. I wrote it because it was fun for me to write.

Tune in Wednesday for more.

In the meantime, you can follow John on Twitter , or visit his website.

Also I’m announcing a contest starting today. The prize will be a brand new, signed copy of Fried Green Zombies. Entry is easy. For the month of June, each time you leave a comment, your name will be jotted on a piece of paper and tossed into a basket. During the month, those that choose to ‘follow me’ will receive an extra entry. To make this fair to those that have been ‘followers’ for sometime now, your names have already been thrown into the basket. On July first, a winner will be drawn at random from the entries. The more times you comment, the better your chances of winning.

But, don’t wait until July 1 to read Fried Green Zombies because you can buy it now in a variety of formats from John's site or on Amazon. Remember books make great gifts, particularly when they are signed. If you are the lucky winner and you’ve purchased the book earlier, you will have a thoughtful gift on hand.

Thanks for stopping by.


Tags: John Allen, Fried Green Zombies, Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Moore, contest,