One true story can spark a lot of fun lies.
A couple of years ago, I met with a man who was a fan of my work. It was an interesting afternoon. We discussed the logistics of the end of the world.
Most zombie books have standard tropes.
They drop you in the middle of the action so you don’t see the fall of civilization. Somebody wakes up from a coma and, bang! Zombies galore! My new friend appreciated my story, This Plague of Days, because the reader sees how the world falls. It’s apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic. If you haven’t read This Plague of Days yet, the story emerges more slowly than the action you’ll find in AFTER Life. The suspense builds as the virus mutates globally. The action in AFTER Life is more claustrophobic and fast-paced. I succumbed to the trope zombie fans love. No regrets. I like both approaches now.
Then that fan told me an unbelievable story.
Well, at least I hope it’s unbelievable. If true, it’s a scary idea and it is the seed that germinated and bloomed into AFTER Life. He told me there is, in fact, a virology lab in the middle of Toronto. There are many such labs but I’d assumed they were all remote, deep underground and surrounded by razor wire. That’s clearly not so. Yes, we have a real-life security problem that is indeed an existential threat. That’s a true story. I filed that information away and occasionally wondered how much to believe.
Then came the onslaught suffered in Houston by Hurricane Harvey.
One of the many real concerns was that a dangerous virology lab could lose containment due to flooding. Freeze the little beasties bent on killing us all you want. If the lab’s generators are damaged or run out of fuel, we’re in trouble. That’s why those generators are supposed to be on the roof and those labs require very high security. Those generators must keep running or terrible diseases could be released.
That reader also told me that he knew someone on Toronto’s police force. The story he was told was, should there be a loss of containment at the downtown lab, the policeman’s orders were to storm the building and shoot all the staff. I don’t want to think that story is true … but writers ask, what if? We’ll all sleep a little better if we shrug it off as a rumor, a conspiracy theory or a lie. I write a lot of violent stuff amid the plot twists but many a true story in the news is far scarier than a lot of fiction.
After the success of This Plague of Days, I didn’t know what else I could possibly have to say in the zombie apocalypse realm. I’d already destroyed a huge chunk of the planet with slavering hordes. What was left unsaid? There are plenty of zombie books. How could I do something different enough to justify the effort? Then something happened that I thought was bad but turned out better.
I was working on another gargantuan book in another genre. It was a huge, frustrating project that was taking too long. The pressure was mounting with all my deadlines and my day job situation was going off the rails. I went a few rounds with anxiety. My frustration mounted so I took a stress leave from my day job to work on writing and my health. It wouldn’t do to keep pounding on the big frustrating book. I needed to do something fun. Then I remembered the story of the Toronto police officers who are tasked with merciful murder. What lengths would an ETF team reach in order to secure a virus research facility?
I couldn’t resist writing another story about the infected raging through a city, hunting the healthy and converting us to rabid beasts. It turned out I had more to say on the subject of the end of the world, brought to you by the infested AKA fast zombies.* Thanks for reading AFTER Life. The next book in this series, AFTER Life: Purgatory, is out now.
Paradise will be released September 3, 2018.
If you dig my sling, please spread the happy word and leave a review.
Thank you and all the best,
~ RCC
August 2018