The Zombie Book The Encyclopedia of the Living Dead

Q&A with Nick Redfern and this book is co authored with Brad Steiger.

Brought to you by Visible Ink Press

This new book title can be found on Amazon.com

1. What was your dark inspiration and motivation in creating your new book, “The Zombie Book The Encyclopedia of the Living Dead”?

ANSWER:

Actually, there was no dark inspiration! Visible Ink Press was looking to have a definitive, lengthy book on zombies published, one that would provide the reader with hundreds of entries on various aspects of zombie lore – in history, movies, novels, mythology, folklore, and more. Visible Ink Press approached my agent to see if I would be interested in writing it for them, and I said “Yes.” For me, it was great to be approached to do the book, as I have been a big fan of the zombie genre ever since, as a kid, I saw the Hammer Film, “The Plague of the Zombies.”

2. With the recent Ebola scare and the bubonic plague making a come back, we seem to be reaching closer and closer to a zombie reality in some horrid form or another. Could you get into some of the zombie like diseases mentioned in your book?

ANSWER:

Well, certainly, the closest thing, in the real world, to a real-life zombie virus would be rabies, which provokes major changes in character, and causes violent, erratic behavior in the infected, to where, eventually, they have to be restrained – not just for their own safety, but for those treating them, too. Rabies is, really, the only, single disease that comes close to resembling the zombie virus.

3. So which do you prefer, fast moving zombies or slow moving zombies?

ANSWER:

I don’t really have a preference. The fast running ones definitely have you on the edge of your seat, purely because of the roller-coaster-type ride imagery they provoke. But, the slow, shambling ones are definitely more menacing, in terms of that creeping, slow attack.

4. I’ve seen the article and video “Zombie Ants Found With New Mind-Control Fungi” With weird news like this making the circuits, how possible do you think it would be for a real zombie apocalypse to happen? I can see mad scientists toying with these insects in a lab somewhere as we speak!

ANSWER:

I don’t think there is a chance in Hell (no pun intended!) of a real zombie outbreak occurring. That’s to say: the traditional image of someone getting bitten, dying, reanimating, and then attacking and eating the living. It makes for great TV and movies, but it’s not going to happen. What could happen, though, is something like the scenarios in “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later,” where the zombies are not actually reanimated corpses, but are living people infected with what’s called the “Rage Virus.” Perhaps, one day, something worse than rabies might surface that very closely mimics the rabid, crazed actions of the zombie. But, I think that’s as close as it will get to what most people think of as a real zombie outbreak.

5. What can you share with us about the CDC Zombie preparedness?

ANSWER:

The Centers for Disease Control has a section of its website devoted to nothing less than how to deal with a zombie outbreak. In a May 2011 article the CDC provides a good, brief history of zombie lore. More intriguing are the words on what direct action the CDC might have to take in the event that a real world scenario befitting The Walking Dead one day comes to pass. Technical assistance, the CDC states, would be provided at a city, state, and even international level when, or if, a “zombie infestation” began. Control of the spread of infection would be achieved by quickly placing those affected into quarantine and isolation. Attempts to find a cure for the zombie virus would be paramount, explains the CDC. Clearly, then, the CDC has given a great deal of thought to what might happen in a theoretical zombie outbreak.

6. Would you tell us the story of the MacArthur Causeway Face-eating zombie?

ANSWER:

On May 26, 2012, Rudy Eugene, a 31-year-old man, drove onto Miami’s MacArthur Causeway. As Eugene approached the East End of the bridge, his car broke down. His only option was to walk back the way he came, on foot, to seek help. As Eugene reached a ramp that led onto the causeway, he did something very strange, unpredictable, and downright nightmarish. Eugene’s attention was drawn to a homeless man. Out of the blue, Eugene violently lunged at his victim and quickly tore out the eyes of the man. Eugene then took hold of the man’s throat, throttling him until he passed out. He was completely at the mercy of crazed Eugene, who proceeded to systematically eat the man’s face, from chin to hairline, no less. It took five police bullets to finally take Eugene down.

7. This is a wild card question. What interesting would you like to share from the book about zombies with our readers?

ANSWER:

Well, one of the things that fascinated me, while I was doing the research, was how zombies have a history that dates back long before the traditional zombies of the movies, and even that of Haitian lore and ties to voodoo, etc. In reality, belief in the reanimated dead, and their hostile nature, dates back hundreds of years – in some cases, even longer. Tales of what sound eerily like today’s zombies can be found in ancient Chinese and Scandinavian folklore, for example. And, let’s face it, a lot of folklore has some basis in reality.

8. Night of the living Dead was a movie that scared the hell out of me as a kid. Would you share some thoughts on George Romero’s legendary horror gem?

ANSWER:

It’s without doubt the one movie that defines the image of the zombie. It’s such an iconic film that it’s unlikely to ever be eclipsed when it comes to how zombies are perceived in movies. It was definitely ahead of its time and opened the door for so many others, too. I like the moody black and white aspect of it too, which is much more atmospheric than in color – even if the latter shows off the blood more!

9. Will you go into the Nazi experiments to resurrect the dead pretty please?

ANSWER:

My co-author on the book, Brad Steiger, did an interesting section for the book on this subject. In part, Brad states of certain things that went on during the Second World War: “Some who were there said that not only were the German soldiers marching to their death as if they were zombies, some G.I.s swore that the men especially those in the S.S. and the Hitler Youth were zombies. Some of the charging troops, it was said, revealed faces that had been half-blown away in earlier conflicts. Some of the zombie-like troops had a number of old unclosed or unhealed bullet wounds that had left gaping wounds before they were finally struck down for the final count. One veteran of such an encounter said that when he searched for a fallen German’s identification papers, he was repelled by the stench of death. People were dying all around us, he said, but some of these SS guys smelled like they had been dead for days and decomposition was setting in.”

10. What are you up to next book wise and any projects or links you’d like to share with us?

ANSWER:

I’m always working on a few books, so there’s plenty more to come from me on strange creatures, UFOs, etc.