Book Blast, Giveaway & Interview: The Eternal Undead by David Monette @PaintWriteDave

 

 

The Eternal Undead

In the Time of the Dead

Book III

David Monette

Genre: Horror, Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Severed Press

Date of Publication: October 1, 2015

ASIN- B015NY9J4A

ISBN- 978-1-925342-53-6

Number of pages: 280

Word Count: 100,579

Cover Artist: David Monette

Book Description:

They thought they had escaped.

The battle for Washington DC is behind them, and the last remnants of the human race have fled from their undead enemies to a remote Caribbean island where they try to salvage what is left of humanity. But even here, the zombies have come. Led by the architect of the holocaust, an invading army wreaks havoc trying to acquire the one thing that can stop them, and the one thing a small contingent of soldiers knows they must never get.

Join with Sasha, Terrance, Virgil, and the little girl, Max, in an all or nothing gamble as they fight down the road to either salvation or horrible defeat in the thrilling conclusion of this series.

Available at Amazon

As the day slipped away far off to the west, the darkness of the jungle became a living thing. Knit together by the slow creep of lengthening shadows, it grew by degrees into a massive being, shapeless and black. For nourishment it ate the weak or the unlucky. In return it exhaled moist heat and a cavalcade of sound, the sound of thousands of separate voices, large and small, all coming together to meet the ear in a constant sheet of noise. Those who were responsible for the making of this chaotic ballad were invisible to the naked eye of man. This was so not just because of the darkness, but because most of the performers—the frogs, birds, and insects—were hidden within the surrounding vegetation, frightened of being killed by their neighbors, either eaten, or as was the case with the troop of humans quietly slipping along a trail, flattened under a boot.

For one of the six members of this troop of humans, such an act would have been celebrated with a certain degree of relish. Terrance hated the sound of the jungle at night. There were not many things in his life that he gave away for free, but in his hatred he was quite generous. He hated the bleats, the croaks and hoots, and he hated the creatures that made the noise. He hated the darkness and the fact that he had to wear a pair of thermal goggles to plumb its depths. He hated the heat, and the plants, and the bugs. He hated the head-to-toe leather suit he wore… and most of all he hated the reason he had to wear the suit, the reason he was out in the jungle at night in the first place. He hated the zombies. Or more accurately, he feared the zombies and he hated them for that fear.

His terror of these beasts was not unfounded. Since the first day of the apocalypse when a host of diabolical necromancers eradicated most of the human population on earth and then raised the dead as zombies, the resulting creatures could, with a single bite, turn any living person into one of them. Terrance had seen it done before. It was not pretty. The resilient leather he wore formed a fairly reliable barrier between a bite and death, so day or night, no matter how hot it was, whenever he or anyone else left the barricades surrounding the city of St George’s on a patrol, they wore the protective clothing. The safety it provided far outweighed the bladders of water they needed to carry or the periodic “cool downs” they had to perform while nestled in the boughs of a tree.

Either way, Terrance hated it all.

In fact, he was so busy nursing his various hatreds that he barely noticed when Danger, the woman on point, suddenly raised her fist head-high and froze.

The fire team immediately came to a stop.

Terrance’s finger slipped from outside the trigger guard of his MP5SD sub-machinegun to curl around the curve of the trigger. The contact made him feel safer, more in control.

Around the task force the sound of the jungle withered and slowly died.

The point person opened her fist, laid the flat palm parallel to the ground, and took a knee.

Seeing this, Lieutenant Burgis, the officer in command, looked back and motioned those behind to follow suit.

They crouched and in the dark waited.

There was something out there.

 

Did you always wanted to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?

No, actually I didn’t even know I wanted to be a writer until several years ago. Before that I was an illustrator (I still am—I do the covers and interior work for my books).

How long did it take to get your first book published?

Let’s see now… I had a few people give the first book I wrote, The Zombie Axiom, a read and that took a couple months. After that, I wanted an agent, so it took me a few weeks to get a cover letter and synopsis done the way I wanted. When that was finished, about three months after I started looking, I found an agent. We then spent about a year looking for a publisher before I said, “The heck with this,” and I decided to self-publish the book. Only three months after, I had a publisher pick up all three books.

Do you do another job except for writing and can you tell us more about it?

Like I said earlier, I do illustrations for different companies. But I am also an adjunct lecturer at my local community college.

What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarize it in less than 20 words what would you say?

The name of my latest book is “The Eternal Undead.” A summary in less than 20 words? I’d say, “A thrilling conclusion to this action-packed series.”

Who is your publisher? Or do you self-publish?

My publisher is Severed Press.

How long does it usually take you to write a book, from the original idea to finishing writing it?

If you count from having the original idea to finishing the writing of a book, I’m not really sure. For instance, as I was writing the first book, The Zombie Axiom, in this series, I was already jotting down ideas I had for other books. The book I’m writing now was one of those ideas. However, if you count from when I actually begin researching and writing a book until when it is done and sent to a few test readers, I’d say about a year.

What can we expect from you in the future? ie More books of the same genre? Books of a different genre?

I would consider this series to be urban fantasy, though it is mostly listed as horror. The book I am currently writing is more of a historical fantasy work. It takes place in 1920’s America, the Prohibition Era, only with a fantasy twist. I’m about 11,000 words deep into that.

What genre would you place your books into?

I kinda answered that in the earlier question, huh? I would place this series into the urban fantasy category, I think.

What made you decide to write that genre of book?

I mostly just had an idea that I thought was pretty fresh. Genre doesn’t really matter all that much to me.

Do you have a favorite character from your books? And why are they your favorite?

No, I don’t have much of a favorite character. They are all neat in their own way.

How long have you been writing?, and who or what inspired you to write?

I began writing about six or seven years ago. I did so because during that time, I was attending college for my MFA in Illustration and one of my professors there suggested that I pair my writing talents with my skills as an illustrator. I listened to him, and here I am!

Do you have a certain routine you have for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in a certain chair?

I don’t have much of a routine when it comes to writing. I mostly write in my studio, music playing sometimes and sometimes not, but every now and then I head to the café downtown and write there.

Do you read all the reviews of your book/books?

I do. I can’t help myself.

Do you choose a title first, or write the book then choose the title?

That completely depends on the book. The second book in this series, The Warring Dead, I think I had the title first. But for The Eternal Undead, I had started writing and thought of it while writing. Or maybe I have that the other way around.

How do you come up with characters names and place names in your books?

This trilogy, In the Time of the Dead, is a modern tale, using modern names and place names, so it was pretty easy to do. For the novel I’m currently writing, it’s a bit more involved. I have to do a little research to find out common names used back then, in the 1920’s. Either way, though, when I land on a good name, I know it.

Are character names and place names decided after their creation? Or do you pick a character/place name and then invent them?

It can go either way, but usually I have an idea for how I want a character to be, and then I find a name that I think fits. Place names are easier. I just use the names on the map, though sometimes I do change them to send my cartographic-minded readers into paroxysms of frustration and/or rage.

Do you decide on character traits (ie shy, quiet, tomboy girl) before writing the whole book or as you go along?

No, I have the characters fleshed out before I start writing.

Are there any hidden messages or morals contained in your books? (Morals as in like Aesops Fables type of "The moral of this story is..")

I’ll leave that up to the readers of my books to decide.

Which format of book do you prefer, eBook, hardback, or paperback?

I like all three. And I’m not just saying that. Right now, I’m reading a book on my Kindle and one that is hardback. I save the Kindle for reading in bed or traveling and the hardback or paperbacks for any other time.

What is your favorite book and Why? Have you read it more than once?

A favorite book? How can you pick just one? I like different books for so many different reasons I can’t just pick one.

 

 

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David Monette was born and raised in the cold rural hinterlands of upstate New York. As a typical kid in a typical community, life for him was pretty... typical. He liked to draw creatures and contraptions but as the second born of four sons, such ability was merely a convenient way of standing out from the crowd. As he inexpertly stumbled through high school, his talent for capturing the images in his head onto paper was noticed and encouraged by both teachers and family members.

Without any other idea of what to do with himself after graduation, besides a vague idea of doing something art oriented, he decided to attend Mohawk Valley Community College where he received his associate's degree in Advertising Design and Production. Acting on excellent advice from his teachers at this institution, he went on to Syracuse University where he learned a great deal about art and eventually wound up with a bachelor's degree in Illustration.

With a disturbingly large amount of student debt and a decent portfolio, he learned what it was to be a starving artist. Namely, he found that artists don't starve; they simply pick up an endless series of part time work to pay the rent while continuing to plug away at their true passion. This was essentially what he did until he received his first illustration job and from that point on, he didn't look back. As an illustrator, his highly detailed fantasy and science fiction work has appeared in many books, magazines, board games, and collectible card games for such varied publishers as Dell Publishing, Wizards of the Coast, and Atlas Games. Initially, he had completed these diverse projects utilizing oil and acrylic paints as well as pen and inks.

As digital technology continued to improve, however, he decided it was time to tackle the arduous task of mastering the computer and eventually figured out a way to adapt his style to a digital format. With this knowledge and experience, he went back to school and received his master's degree in Illustration from the University of Hartford. While there, his instructors reviewed his written work and had strongly suggested that he combine his writing ability with his talent as an illustrator to chart his own path.

And hence, an author was born.

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/davidmonetteauthor

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Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/David-Monette/e/B00FMX73DM