I've been writing the first draft for Plagued book 4 for a while now, and I have so many cool things in it that I just have to share something...so spoiler alert activated. What you are about to read will give away a lot of cool scenes when you eventually read the thing. If you're a purist and don't want to know, then stop reading here.

For the rest of you who, like me, are itching to be in the know about the things we love, here we go.

I try to put something cool into each book. The duck, for instance. Midamerica's abandoned air terminal, the prison facility on Rock Island, the EPS building (an empty, converted office high-rise), M.B. Houston's train, and snowmobiles. All things that I feel make my stories a little more enjoyable to read.

Thankfully, the duck is once again in the book, but it isn't used to get people anywhere this time. Instead, our heroes need air support, which they get in the form of PPCs, aka Powered Parachutes. These babies are versatile little craft with a wind speed of 25-35 mph and a 10 hour flight capacity with a full tank of gas. They don't need much room for lift-off, and they can land in any open field. Perfect for getting into and out of trouble in the zombie quarantine zone. Who needs helicopters?

The next item on the list is construction equipment, namely a Bragg crane and several cement mixer trucks. I've been itching to use the crane since I wrote book 2, by the way. And yes, there will be some splatter effect with these monster vehicles.

And finally, my favorite of all, is that this book takes place in an abandoned zoo. I'll let you ponder all the possibilities that go along with that. A zoo in zombie land. Oh, my.

So when does all this lovely goodness hit the market? The first quarter of 2016.