E9: zombie book fun

Let's look into the nasty little villain of my story—the virus I named Necroticord-Mortifungus. Let’s break that down: ‘Necrotic’ means decay, ‘cord’ is borrowed from Cordyceps, those REAL fungi that hijack insects’ brains (Google it if you dare). Then we have ‘Morti,’ because why not double down on the death vibes? And, of course, ‘fungus’ because what’s a zombie story without a bit of mouldy madness? After a lot of research the name came together perfectly.

The story kicks off in China, where I set the stage to trick the readers into thinking the outbreak might have originated there. As you dig deeper into the story, you’ll discover that the virus didn’t come from a lab but developed naturally, like an uninvited guest at a party who just won’t leave. If you’ve read the book, you already know how tough Xiang Li has it as the head scientist with this monstrous discovery. By Chapter Five, we switched scenes to the USA and I don't bring up Xiang Li's importance until the very end.

In the USA, things heat up a couple of weeks later—spoiler alert—with our two lovebirds, Tom and Emma. I had a blast writing Chapter Five because it starts off so calm and peaceful, only to take a sharp turn into horrific tragedy. From there, the story dives into darker territory, and we meet my favourite trio: Owen, Jaime, and Joyce. They’re like my fictional family, only much cooler and way less likely to argue over the TV remote. In fact, if my real family were as adventurous as these characters, I’d probably be living in a very different kind of chaos right now. So, thanks to my real-life family for keeping the drama to a minimum and letting my fictional one handle all the craziness!  Now, you might be wondering why I named a character after myself. The answer is simple: I wanted to! It’s like giving myself a cameo without having to worry about the budget. But don’t worry—aside from the name, this character and I have nothing else in common.

Stop reading now if you don’t want a spoiler, because I’m about to reveal why I decided to connect all the books together. In this book, you’ll spot characters from Electronic Exodus, Time Traitor and Murder On Corsica. Now, I know what you’re thinking—what are the odds of all these characters surviving a zombie virus and crossing paths? Pretty slim. But let’s be real: these guys have already been through some insane adventures in their own stories. Besides, I couldn't resist the fun of bringing them together for one final doomsday.

The inspiration! Where did it come from? Well, like any good story, it started with a bit of fanboying. I was inspired mostly by the video game and TV show, The Last Of Us. The biggest similarity? Both my virus and theirs come from a mutated Cordyceps fungus. But that’s where the comparison stops. For this book I really didn't use inspiration from anything else other than my previous books. I made sure to create something quite different and exciting at the same time.

For those who’ve read the book, brace yourselves—I’m about to spill the beans on early plot twists that didn’t make it in. So, here we go! Originally, Joyce was going to be killed off because of her age and how much she slowed the team down (sorry, Joyce, it wasn’t personal). Owen Black was almost named Owen Bear—because, hey, why not throw in a random animal name? Oh, and get this: the book was originally titled Faces United (which, looking back, makes no sense). Owen was supposed to be the cure thanks to his rare blood type, which would’ve made him zombie-proof or something. I had plans to make the characters’ lives even more miserable by creating an antagonist who hoards resources, becomes a world leader, and builds an army. Sounds more like a sequel idea, so, who knows? Carlos was also going to be the team’s worst nightmare, trying to sabotage everyone at every turn. As you can see, my ideas were all over the place, like I threw them in a blender and hit ‘chaos mode.’ But hey, that’s the fun of it—anything can happen when the writer’s got too much time to think!

In conclusion, this book has definitely been my best work and my most developed idea yet!