For our second Holiday episode I had the chance to interview, first timer, Cal Miller. Cal was really excited to be apart of the show and told me he “loves the site.”
The story Miller has written for HA episode 53 is titled Santa Claws Is Coming To Town. The story is “about an undead Santa who goes around “collecting” bad people and making them “elves”, or more specifically one of the bad people who gets “collected”.”
Calvin is well known for his “Zombie Perspective” books. His first book was Het Madden A Zombie Perspective Book One WRATH 2012. He shared with me a little background on his novel, “I have been a fan of the Zombie genre since I was a kid. I had watched the movies, read the books, and I always wondered what they were thinking. What it would be like to die and come back. A lot of stories touched on it, usually quickly or in a totally humorous way, but I felt it would be an amazing experience. And a terribly horrific one as well. Especially if you were in the (probably small) percentage that retained some intelligence. And what would it feel like to have society trying to blow your brains out when you probably thought you were sick and needed help? And I also felt that there would be a highly spiritual aspect to the end of the world. Not merely zombies killing people. So I stuck a demon or two in there for good measure. I wrote the book I wanted to read, and the movie I wanted to see. It truly is the story of someone who has gone through life as the person he became… So many of us get out of school, get a job, and become the person who does that job. We lose ourselves along the way. Het Madden is that story, on steroids. Yet he still tries desperately to set things right, with himself and with his son…”
Miller “also donated about 100 copies of Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective to Operation Paperback. They send books to troops overseas.” “Anyway one of the soldiers emailed me and asked if I would sign his copy if he sent it to me. He enjoyed reading it on that particular deployment. I sent him a new one and that really felt great.”
His next novel The Zombie’s Survival Guide Thrive In The Zombie Apocalypse After You Turn, “was sort of a natural extension” of his first. “I noticed that there were plenty of books written to help you protect yourself against zombies in the upcoming Zompocalypse, but none on how to protect yourself once you turned. And it’s a pretty safe bet you will turn, so you really should be prepared. What exactly IS a Mortuus Sapien? What can you expect, from being bitten to your first kill? What is Reanimation Shock? How Smart Will You Be? How Strong? Will “You” Be “You”? Will You Be The Kind Of Bastard That Eats Families? (Hint: Yes) Is there a Cure? (Hint: No) Where should you “live”? What about a pet? These are all things you’ll need to know in order to be a productive and effective member of the Undead Nation. A lot of people think that all zombies are dumb shufflers that are devoid of any sort of true sentience or consciousness. I feel that if there are smart and dumb people, and even smart and dumb dogs, there must be smart and dumb zombies. The smart ones just wouldn’t be out in the open begging for a shot to the head. They would be hiding and plotting.”
The Zombie fan base is continuing to grow and I have no doubt that Cal’s unique “Zombie Perspective” will continue to grow as well. Already, Miller has also written Cold Blood, The End for The Undead Nation Anthology I did with Alan Gandy, the artist who did the illustrations for The Zombie’s Survival Guide Thrive In The Zombie Apocalypse After You Turn. It’s also available as a novella. I also did two short Zombie stories. One is Santa Claws is Coming to Town in The Undead That Saved Christmas anthology (and the featured Podcast on Horror Addicts 12/23 show) and Zombie World, Death Perception in the upcoming Rhonny Reaper’s Creature Features Anthology.”
When writing Cold Blood, The End, Miller wanted to have some spiritual twists. “[It]takes a look at what would happen if at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve the cycle of life just stopped. All babies would be born dead, and all people who died, well, wouldn’t stop walking and talking. It takes place in a hospital, and the young woman on the cover is Dr. Christine Wells. She is new Doctor and new to St. James Hospital . On the 7th floor her mother is about to die after a long battle with cancer. On the 4th floor, her best friend is about to have a baby. And everything changes at midnight. I wanted to write more of a thriller but the Undead are right there up front. There is a second plot line that runs along parallel about a news anchor whose wife is about to give birth.”
Calvin also shared with me that he “really enjoyed writing this one.”
Also, “[his] Anthology, The Undead Nation Anthology, has stories by [Miller] and 13 other authors. 100% of the royalties from the sale of the book go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and [they] have donated over $700 since it came out in August. [They] are all really proud of that.”
If you enjoy web comics, be sure to check out Ted Dead, Just Your Everyday Zombie. “I thought it would be funny if a zombie worked retail. Plus I wanted to do something fun after writing Het Madden. It also let’s me get out my slight distaste for overexposed Hollywood Celebs. Ted eats them sometimes when they come in the store.”
I was was able to check out the comic and it’s just what Miller wanted. It’s a fun comic that will have the reader laughing as Ted eats celebrities, meets aliens, and sings at concerts. All that and much much more. Cal explained that “I created Ted and I do all the “artwork”. You’ll understand why I put that in quotes if you read Ted Dead. My buddy Greg Bogle and I share the writing duties. There more bizarre ones are mine. I just put all the Ted Deads into a book called Ted Dead, Just Your Everyday Zombie and it’s up on Amazon, too.”
Curious, I asked what Calvin liked so much about the horror genre. Now when I asked this question I wasn’t expecting the answer I got. He told me that “his Grandma once told him that monsters are everywhere.” Then he continued, “I think the horror genre brings that to life. Whether it’s a hoard of zombies, or someone foreclosing on the house you live in life is horrific. Hoards of zombies make the other of life’s horrors a little easier to handle, and it’s also FUN TO BE SCARED!” And I couldn’t agree more…
Well Horror Addicts, be sure to look out for “Het Madden, Lord Of This World. [Which Cal plans] to be huge and amazing and too big to be contained inside a book cover. Besides Het Madden, Lord Of This World I’m working on a concept series called Dead on Earth complete with Aliens, Zombies, and the end of everything. I’m also publishing some other books that are going to be truly amazing including Alan Gandy’s books Voyeur Dead, My Little Brother is a Zombie, and Sister of the Walking Dead. I’ve only been doing this for about a year or two so it’s been a great ride so far!!!”
For more information on Cal Miller be sure to check out these websites:
www.CalvinALMillerII.com
http://teddead.com/
Also, all of Miller’s books are available at http://www.amazon.com/Calvin-A.-L.-Miller-II/e/B002ZKXNS4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1264536687&sr=8-1
Our very first episode with holiday horror was Michele Roger’s Santa Claws, way back on episode #13. That episode has been locked in the vault ever since we switched to Libsyn… BUT! We have uncovered the show!
HorrorAddicts.net 