I am often asked why I picked a zombie apocalypse as the background for my novel, Dead Tropics. I can understand their confusion: I hate gore and I tend to write humorous stories, so zombies do seem an odd fit for me.
I have always loved zombies because a zombie apocalypse allows ordinary people to become heroes, to discover strengths they never dreamed they had, to evolve into leaders of men. What has always annoyed me, though, was that the heroes in the books were always men , bristling with weaponry. Where were the mothers? Where were the families? What about the people who weren't fortunate enough to have a cupboard full of guns and flamethrowers?
It seemed to me that if anyone was likely to survive a azombie apocalypse, it would be the mothers of the world! Sure, men have more practice being aggressive but mothers have the protective instincts of a tigress when it comes to their kids. They would let nothing harm their kids, not even zombies
Indeed, the idea for this novel first occurred to me after my own 'tigress' moment. I was waiting outside the movies with my small children when a drug addict started harassing my little boy. Instantly, I morphed from a amiable woman who had never said 'boo' to anyone in her life to a a Ellen Ripley 'get away from her, you bitch' type of woman. The drug addict backed away so fast, he nearly tripped over his own feet. My kids stared at me with open mouths. They had never seen me act like that and I was the topic of conversation at home for the rest of the week. It got me thinking, because I did not have a clue that I had it in me to react like that.
The heroine of Dead Tropics, Lori Nelson, is also an ordinary mum living in a small tropical town in Australia. She works, she loves her kids, she struggles to manage her busy schedule. Pretty typical mum stuff. But when a virus devastates her sleepy town, creating chaos and death on every corner, she discovers what she is truly capable of.
Lori battles zombies in hand to hand combat, scales buildings, rescues her children, plans an escape and still has time to find love! She evolves from stressed out mum into a kickass, gutsy heroine we can all identify with and cheer for. In the course of a couple of frantic, fast-paced days, Lori learns how to fight, she discovers how to lead others, how to make quick - and sometimes, painfully hard - decisions, how to conquer fear and, yes, how to appreciate the love of a good man when she finds it
Hopefully, my readers will be able to enjoy the ride as Lori takes them on one breathless adventure after another in the battle to save her family. Enjoy!
Title: Dead Tropics
Author: Sue Edge
Publisher: Black Stump Publishing
Available: Amazon
Website: www.deadtropics.com
Want to win a print copy of Dead Tropics?
Answer this question in a comment below-"What situation has - or would - bring out the Ellen Ripley heroine in you?"
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2 Winners will be chosen and announced next Wednesday
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10 comments:
I think if I was stranded somewhere.
sgiden at verizon.net
If anyone or anything tried to hurt a family member or friend.
My sister and I both worked in an ER and an upset family member started acting aggressively towards my sister. Even though she was about 25 at the time, I started to come over to protect her. (I'm 10 years older.)
When I was in high school a group of kids were messing with my older brother. I stood up and smacked the leader in the face and told him if he didn't leave him alone I'd beat the crap out of him (all 5ft. of me). I did this all without thinking and almost had a stroke later while I was shaking from the adrenaline. No one ever bothered us on the bus again.
acm05atjuno.com
I'm with Anne, if anyone or anything try to harm my family, child, elderly person, or animal; Anyone who is helpless or defenseless.
I haven't read a zombie book but am interested. Zombie Apocalyse sounds good.
Thanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
Any threat to my family or friends.
kissinoak at frontier dot com
Protecting a child from physical or mental harm turns me into a total Ripley. My family has to talk me down before I do something rash!
jepebATverizonDOTnet
Anytime my family was threaten
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(='.'=)
(")_(")
alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/
If anyone I cared about (friends/family) or any of my pets were threatened... I'd kick-ass...
Thanks for the contest!
We love zombies too...
Linda T.
lindalou@cfl.rr.com
If someone was threatening my son. I would definitely step in and I don't know what I would do to them if they tried to hurt him. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. Tore923@aol.com
Like you and a lot of the other ladies, when it comes to my children or any children and my family and friends, even helpless strangers, I can become very hostile and violent. My need to protect others become more important than protecting myself, even though I am 4'11, 100lbs, and have no experience with self defense.
I'd say situations like rapes in an alley. Spouses being physically and mentally abused in public, an individual being beaten by a group. Sadly there are quite a number of people who would ignore this because they dont want to get involved, though understandably.
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