Goodreads asked Richard R. Rose:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Richard R. Rose I came up with the idea for Wild-Eyed Southern Boyz about 20 years ago. The story I wrote is not the story I originally had in mind. The original story involved the main character with a Sasquatch as his childhood friend but it didn't have the depth as what you see in the book. Since my early childhood, I've been fascinated with Bigfoot. Even when I was a child, I thought it would be cool to have a bigfoot portrayed as a superhero, battling evil. I also developed a love of the zombie genre in my early thirties. I wanted to write a zombie story, but I didn't want to write just another tired old story where there is a zombie outbreak and a group of survivors struggles to survive, moving from one place to another. That story has been told millions of times. I wanted to write something unique that readers don't see every day. I decided to take some of my original ideas for Wild-Eyed Southern Boyz and throw in some zombies. I grew up in East Tennessee in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, which I thought would be a great setting for the story. I originally intended to make this book more of a campy comedy, but that changed as the story developed. There are still plenty of comedic elements in the story, but I decided to take it more seriously. I ended up writing a complex story with endearing characters. The story is a blend of horror, comedy, science fiction, romance, and fantasy that certainly stands out from your run-of-the-mill Walking Dead ripoff.

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