Zombie nation: A gory history, from A to 'World War Z'

There was a story on zombies today in my local paper, The Star Ledger. It focuses on the history of zombies in cinema. It was very interesting and I thought readers of this blog might like it. Check it our below. George Cook, Thedeadwarseries.com

There is a fiend for every fear.

The loss of emotional control? The werewolf is here, ready to turn you into a beast. The perils of physical intimacy? Bare your throat for the tainted kiss of the vampire.

But there's a deeper terror.

Those monsters only threaten to add something to who you are. The zombie takes what you've become — and wipes it away. He's an erasure of the self. He's perpetual anonymity. He's psychic annihilation.

New web series Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Check out this intro to a fan made Resident Evil web series titled Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Unlike the Resident Evil movies the series is actually based on the games themselves. At the end of the episode click on one of the three characters Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, or Leon Kennedy to learn more about their characters in the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City series. Watch and enjoy.

New Book, World War Z : The Art of the Film

On June 18th, Titan Publishing is going to release World War Z: The Art of the Film, a 160-page tome featuring the screenplay and more.

World War Z is the eagerly awaited film starring Brad Pitt. The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to annihilate humanity itself.

World War Z: The Art of the Film is the official illustrated companion to the movie, and features a wealth of stunning production art, design sketches and storyboards, alongside the full shooting script.

Pre-order your copy buy clicking the amazon link below:

Why are there vampires in The Dead War Series?

A question that is always asked of me is why did vampires show up in The Dead War Series Book Two: Abomination? Until that point the series had been a straight zombie series. What gives? The answer is very simple , well sort of.

The Dead War was never supposed to be a trilogy. Hell the first book was only supposed to be a stand alone story. As a matter of fact it wasn't even called The Dead War it was titled Scout: Survive The Night. It actually ended after Sgt. Richards reached The Rock and with his handing over of the vital information he carried to General Holloway. Some of who actually brought that book may have noticed that at one time Sgt. Richards wasn't even named that he was Sgt. Richardson.

After the book sold more copies than I ever expected I decided to write another and to make it at least a trilogy. In my mind this meant having to better explain the cause of the dead walking and adding to the first book. Scout: Survive The Night became The Dead War Series Book One. A prologue was added to explain how the Beserker Virus was released and the book ended with the first battle of The Rock.

Now in planning out the next two books I found myself running into a problem. How would I explain the actions of Duncan and Mitchell in the prologue of book one. I didn't think anyone would really release a virus that would wipe out mankind just for money and wanted a better reason than that. I also did not want to go the full blown conspiracy route that would have involved creating an entire mythology for The Dead War world that maybe I couldn't keep track of.

I damned sure didn't want to go the well worn ( and tired ) route of the evil corporation such as Umbrella Corporation, Weyland Industries, or OmniCorp so I had to think of someone or something with a reason to release the virus.

After some thought I came up with the idea of vampires releasing the virus in an attempt to "thin the herd" and weaken mankind before an all out assault would be unleashed. This made since to me because humans would most certainly outnumber vampires and any attempt to just attack outright would most certainly fail.

So there you have it. That's why vampires appear in The Dead War Trilogy.

George Cook, The Dead War Series

Watch 1st 3 mins of BBC America's new zombie series In the Flesh

Watch the first three minutes from IN THE FLESH, BBC America's new 3-night Zombie Event. Then, don't miss the Premiere *** Thursday June 6 at 10pm/9c *** only on BBC America.

Check out this drawing of Dead War hero Sgt. Richards!

Hey it's me Dead War author George Cook. I asked an artist to a drawing of Sgt. Richards based on the description in the book. Check out the photo below and let me know what you think.

Check out this new Zombie web series, Zombie with a Shotgun

You guys know that I am always on the lookout for new and exciting zombie stuff. So you can imagine my joy when I received an email from Hilton Ariel Ruiz a film maker with a new zombie series.

Zombie with a Shotgun is a new web series and feature film from Hilton Ariel Ruiz. I loved this series from the jump. It starts off with a very interesting premise ( I wont reveal that you will have to watch ) and is intense from the start. Check out episode 1 below:

Watch all the available episodes here: Zombie With a Shotgun.

Zombie with a Shotgun ~ Episode: 1 from Zombie with a Shotgun on Vimeo.