Q&A with Ian DG Sandusky discussion

Oh zombies.

I know, I know - they're becoming the new vampire. We're about to be inundated with more undead fiction than you could read in a year - and I'm friggin' stoked.

In any case - what makes a good zombie for you?

I like mine freshly dead and mindless. Slow moving, yet relentless. Bloody, soaking with assorted other bodily fluids. Unintelligent, yet determined to eat flesh. Hunger for flesh vs. brains. Biologically attributed - aka a virus, or infection versus demonic posession.

Oh - ZOMBIES DON'T USE TOOLS! And the whole 'memories of their prior lives?" Yeah, that kills it for me.

You?

Zombies also shouldn't dance! (Jackson thriller video)

Insidebooks wrote: "Zombies also shouldn't dance! (Jackson thriller video)"

Very true. My good friend Sean T Page (author of The Official Zombie Handbook (UK) who heads up the Ministry of Zombies actually conducted an inquest into that video. Turns out it was a Union matter - the dancers weren't members. The suit is still pending, though all testimonies thusfar have only been variations on "BRAIIIINS."

There are numerous rules which don't make sense to me, especially regarding what damage (if any) will stop a zombie. The "aim for the head" trope largely formed via the Romero films are the best example of logically working within a set of physical parameters - having bits of zombies (a hand, perhaps) crawl after a victim? Not so much. I like consistency across a story, and any diversion from the standard jumps out at me.

Interestingly, having zombies speak - as in Marvel Zombies - isn't as bad as it would seem. As long as the vocal chords are intact, there is no reason they should be rendered mute. I DO have a problem with complex activities (a zombie flying a plane, for example) as higher brain functions *should* be impaired by their undead status. Sticks and other implements are fine - it doesn't take a genius to pick up a plank of wood and hit someone with it. Even chimps have figured that out.