The Dead & Dying to be published by LOTLDP

Oh man, I am so psyched for this!  Over the weekend I got word from Doc that "The Dead & Dying" had been picked up by the Library!  I wanted to make sure it was kosher to post an announcement before the official contracts were signed and he assured me that it was.  I can't tell you all how excited I am to be joining the Library's stable and to take my place beside such a talented and wonderful group of people.

So what's it about, you may very well ask?  I think I described it best in my initial query to Doc, so here it goes (while this is a little lengthy it doesn't gave away any spoilers)

The novel weighs in around 60,000 words or so and explores the roles beliefs systems, perception, and personal relationships would play in an undead apocalypse without sacrificing any of the action that aficionados of the genre have come to love.

The story opens with our central character, Carl Teegarden; mauled by zombies, he has hauled his bleeding body into a small shack in the West Virginia woods. He has no illusions about the fate that awaits him. He has seen what the bites can do and knows it's only a matter of time before the last drop of life has leaked from his body. While realizing that death is an inevitability, however, he isn't quite ready to die yet . . . at least not enough to take matters into his own hands with his pistol. Instead, he allows his mind to wander because he finds any distraction is a welcome relief from the pain. As he says in the opening chapter “Maybe if you die quick, your life really does flash before your eyes; but if its draining out of you nice and slow like then there's not really much call for rushing through.”  With those words, he begins thinking back to the events in his life which have lead up to this point: him slowly bleeding to death, tired and alone.

However, unbeknown to Carl, he isn't really alone. In the same room is the spirit of Josie, a woman with whom he had found love in the apocalyptic wastelands of a fallen society. She was called to this place from the darkness of the beyond, called to be by the side of the man who she describes as the sweetest and most noble person she has ever met; however, she doesn't understand why she has to be there to witness his suffering, to see him die when he can't see or hear her in the least bit and she is powerless to offer him comfort..

Across the room from her, with Carl between the two, is another spirit . . . this one of a little boy. Whereas Josie is radiant and beautiful in death, The Child (as he is initially known) looks as though the ravages of decay have effected his spiritual body just as it would have his physical. Even though Carl can not see this spirit either, Josie can; she witnesses the sheer hatred that radiates from this child as he tries in vain to attack Carl, pummeling the man's face and body with fists that seem to simply pass through Carl's body. Unlike Josie, however, The Child doesn't realize that he's dead and believes Carl is simply enduring his assaults and ignoring him as a means of making the kid even more angry.

These three form our trio of narrators and they weave the story of how their lives were touched by the collapse of civilization and the role Carl played. For the most part, the storylines occur at different points during the apocalypse. Carl and The Child found themselves brought together during the early days of the end, whereas he and Josie met much later.

The title of the novel, “The Dead & Dying” refers to both Carl and the two spirits with him as well as Carl and the horde of the dead who walk the earth.

If you want to know more I guess you'll just have to buy the book when it comes out :)

Anyhow, a huge THANK YOU! to Doc for making this possible.  I was really hoping this one would find its way to The Library as I was writing it.