And Now A Badass Zombie Interview with Tonia Brown...

To kick off this new blog, I thought we’d take a closer look at some of the great authors we’ve got on board here at Books of the Dead.  Because we do have a slew of fantastic authors here.  So, to start our journey off, let’s get to know Tonia Brown, author of the funny and fantastic Badass Zombie Road Trip.

Q:  First, tell me a little about yourself--born where?  Grew up?  Childhood interests.  Current hobbies?  As much of you personal life as you care to share.

Brown:  My father was in the air force for 21 years, and thus I was a military brat. I was born in Shaw, AFB in South Carolina, as the youngest of four daughters, but only by four minutes because I’m an identical twin. With dad in the service, I spent part of my youth in Georgia, Florida and even Japan. I ended up back in North Carolina because this is where both sides of my family are from. Here I met my husband, Tony, and here I still am. I have been happily married for about 15 years to Tony, who shares the same name as my identical twin, my father, my first nephew, my oldest sister’s first husband and the abbreviated form of my maiden name.

My hobbies when not writing—which is really a second job and leaves me little time to do other stuff—include reading, crocheting, doing audio recordings of my and other’s works, reading, board and role-playing games, watching movies, and more reading.

Q:  Writing?  Why?  How?  What led you into this?

Brown: I have always had an interest in writing one thing or another, but I only took it up seriously about five ago. I was complaining to my husband about the repetitive state of fiction today, how series tend to go too long and just start telling the same story over and over, and that an astonishing amount of series are the same story line featuring minutely different characters. He dared me to do something about it, to write something better. With much practice and hard work, I like to think I have at least written something different.

Q:  What was the first thing you wrote?  Do you remember the title, the plot?

Brown:  The first official novel I ever wrote was, at the time, named The Gift of Tongues. It was a paranormal romantic comedy. Yes, I started my career crossing genres and just haven’t stopped. The story followed a young girl who was gifted with the ability to speak with house cats, a talent she despised. Throw in an awkward leading male, a murder spree, and a smart aleck black cat and you have my first attempt at sweet romance. It is still a favorite story of mine.

Q:  Why horror?  What is it about horror that attracts you?

Brown:  I spent my youth fascinated by British comedy and dark fiction, such as Poe or Lovecraft. Through the years I cultivated a love for both humor and horror. My parents were very agreeable to letting us watch all manner of horror films, almost pushing them on us. When I started writing, I wasn’t sure I had it in me to produce dark work, but my husband suggested I try my hand at short stories to see how it felt. It felt grand! I started writing longer and longer works of horror until I was at novel length. Humor seems to creep in without warning though. Somehow they go hand in hand for me.

Q:  Let's talk some favorite authors (horror or otherwise) and why they're favorites.

Brown:  Hands down, Neil Gaiman is my favorite author. I am in love with his prose! Something about how that man spins a phrase just gets me all wiggly inside. I aspire to one day write a novel as poetic as American Gods. His short work and YA stuff, his comics and even his blog posts …  I just eat up everything he produces. That man could transcribe the phonebook and I would read it. No doubt.

A close second is Terry Pratchett. Now there is a master of comedy! I picked up Small Gods many moons ago and within a few hours I went back to the bookstore and bought everything they had by him. I am constantly amazed at his quick wit and deep wisdom. If I could manage to become a fraction as funny and a quarter as clever as him, I would die a happy, happy writer.

Together, these literary giants penned my favorite novel, Good Omens. Yea gods but I do love that book! Ah! To get the pair of them together for dinner at my home, that would be a treat. Of course, I would spend most of the meal grinning like a monkey and unable to form coherent sentences.

On the horror side of things, I am a King nut, as most horror writers are. He has been a huge influence on my work, thanks to his manual On Writing, but also because he taught me that terror comes from a place deeper than just basic fear. Horror with a history to it is the scariest kind of horror. Family ordeals that end in great suffering or terror that arises from a complex mystery, those kinds of plotlines lead to the best scares.

Other than King, I love both Poe and Lovecraft. Again, I like the older, more mysterious horrors. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of modern authors that are putting out some fine work, but I really enjoy those old indescribable horrors from the ageless unknown.

Q:  What's your day job and what does writing give you that you can't get there...and maybe vice-versa?

Brown:  I will go with vice-versa on this one!  I work 10 hours a day, four days a week on night shift, 9pm to 7am, as the front desk receptionist for a rural emergency room. My at a night job that gives the husband and me health insurance and pays a far sight more bills than just writing would allow for. Though, I must admit, it’s also nice to have that human interaction. Meeting and greeting so many folks gives me plenty of food for thought. While I have never outright based any one character or any one scene on my experiences at the ER, I can say that the mood of those moments do influence me.

Q:  Do you have any unusual writing habits?  Where and how do you write?  Do you have a set time, a process, music?

Brown:  With the full-time job, I write when I can, where I can, but always try to write a little something every day. That means just after work on weekdays, and as much as I can on the weekends. It might only be a few lines, or even a few words, but I always try to get something down. When I do manage to write, I prefer music or the sounds of a movie running in the background as opposed to complete silence. Total silence will kill my muse deader than a can of ham.

Q:  Where did Badass Zombie Road Trip come from?

Brown:  About a year or so ago, I was watching The Road to Bali, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamar.  It’s one of several “Road to…” movies featuring that famous trio, and I just love them. As I watched, I began to wonder if the premise of the films could be applied to a modern on-the-road story. If so, how would it work? The more I thought about it, the more it sounded like it would not only make a fun tale to script, but maybe, just maybe, it could work as a novel.

Once I started writing, Satan, a zombie and a redheaded stripper somehow made it into the mix, and thus Soul Searching, the original title of the book, was born. After the fine folks at Books of the Dead accepted it, Roy suggested I change the title, because although the title is perfect for the plotline, he pointed out how it sounded less like a zombie novel and more like a self-help book.

Fellow author Timothy Long suggested the very, very long, very inappropriate title, Satanic Slaughter of the Soul of the Damned and Shit: A Badass Zombie Road Trip. I sent Roy a list of ideas, with Tim’s tacked on the end as sort of a joke, but Roy liked the last one, or rather the last bit of the last one, and now we have Badass Zombie Road Trip in all of its giddy, gory glory.

Q:  What's your favorite part of writing?  Least favorite?

Brown:  My favorite part is wrapping up a novel. There is nothing like watching all of the plotlines come together, and the sweetest feeling comes from typing “The End.”  Not that you have to type “The End,” mind you, but I do it anyways just for that little thrill it gives me!

Least favorite? Self promotion. I am horrible at selling stuff, much less myself. I have a good product, and a bevy of amazing reviews to back me up on it, but I still falter when it comes to saying, “Buy my book.”

Q:  Finally, what's up next for you?  Care to share some details?

Brown:  I am always and forever working on my weird western webserial Railroad!, which has been going strong for just under two years. You can catch all the fun at http://steampunktrain.blogspot.com

Other than that, I am in edits on a backwoods southern horror novel titled Sundowners.  I just started working on a humorous fantasy, which is a bit of a departure for me. Not the humor, the fantasy. Granted, there is a touch of gore in it. Think zombie gnomes. Oh yes, I said zombie gnomes.

So, there's a little about Tonia.  You can pick up Badass Zombie Road Trip at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.  Or just click the cover to the right and go directly to Amazon and get it--and all of the other great works by Books of the Dead authors--today!