Regular followers will know that I am attempting to write a book. Those of you who are new here… er… won’t. For the background info check out when I decided to go balls out in my ambition to become a published author, and the update I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Go on. Go look. I’ll wait here.

Ok, all set?

I’m sat at my desk, writing this (obviously) with my son – Cameron – who is watching Zombies Of Mass Destruction in the background, and it got me thinking; just how much zombie-intake do I receive every month?

I got books, comics, and films constantly invading my ears and eyes. I know it’s a common phrase to “read about things you’re not writing about” but I find myself still deluged by our shambling, rotting friends. Looking at my dvd shelf I can see 31 zombie films, and there are at least another 10 stored on my pc’s hard-drive. Look, I’m the first to admit that some of them are utter shite (hands up Return of the Living Dead 3… despite still being a guilty secret) but I still love and cherish them.

And – as of July this year – I’ll also be in one of them! The Zombie Diaries 2: World of the Dead. So I figured I’d share with you what else I’ve been reading/watching since the turn of the year.

Feed by Mira Grant was an interesting book if you were a teenage girl. Being a 34 year old male a lot of the tale was wasted on me. Really, she should have re-edited it and sold it as a Buffy The Vampire Slayer book – there was even a character called Buffy in it. The one-liners bordered on the ridiculously stupid; always quipped in the middle of a battle, and even cracking gags at the Man Who Would Be President. The story is, however, a fresher outtake on a tired genre, but it just wasn’t for me.

It did make me realise how much grittier and realer my own story is. It actually gave me more confidence in my own story-telling ability.

On the PS3-front, Dead Rising 2 proved a worthwhile diversion… for a couple of weeks before becoming stale and tepid. The storyline (yes, there is one) is fairly attentive and draws you in, and the graphics are next-generation great, but there’s only so many times you can dissect a zombie with a lawnmower/canoe-chainsaw-paddle/lawn dart before growing tired.

Still, a little inspiration for new ways to kill zombies is always a good thing.

Right, time for an admission – I’m a massive comics-geek. Have been ever since my folks owned a newsagents in Norwich and I used to read every damn comic that came in back then. I still pick some up these days (from Cheap Thrills in Newport) and there are more undead comics and graphic novels then ever. So far I’ve trawled through FUBAR (a WW2 zombie anthology); American Wasteland (average art, some stoic dialogue); the DC series I, Zombie (now this I liked, once I’d learnt to appreciate the cooky artwork); and I’m about to read Zombies of Mass Destruction… unrelated to the above-mentioned film. I think.

Returning to books I have read World War Z, which I will gladly say is possibly the best zombie book around. It’s as factual and engaging as you can get, and it also made me think about my own zombie tale in a different light. If I can achieve half as much as Brooks’ book I’ll be very fucking happy.

The book I am reading at the moment is Night of The Living Trekkies which gives me a massive points haul on the Geek-o-meter. And I’m proud. I’m halfway through and it’s a good, fun story that knows how to tell a grand tale without taking itself seriously at all.

Back to the film I mentioned at the beginning – Zombies of Mass Destruction – and it’s still happily piping away in the background. Not a massively budgeted film, but the effects are good (ie; shit-loads of blood), and the writing and acting are pretty tight… with some cracking one-liners…

“I suck dick,  mom!” said the young male character.

I’ll leave you on that note.