Brown - ALL DEAD: The Complete 12 Books of the DEAD Series

ALL DEAD

(The Complete 12 Book Set of the DEAD Series)

Written by: TW Brown

ALL Dead: The Complete 12 Book Set of the DEAD Series

2017 May December Publications LLC

Sixth Edition

The split-tree logo is a registered trademark of May December Publications LLC

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living, dead, or otherwise, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author or May December Publications LLC.

Printed in the U.S.A.

Behind the curtain of the DEAD series

When I first sat down and wrote the opening line for the DEAD series, I was thinking, Maybe I have a five-book series here. By then end of that book, I knew it was going to take more than that. My mind was made up that I was going to write the Wheel of Time (or, if I can be so bold The Stand ) equivalent for the zombie crowd. I was set to build an entire world and then take the reader on a whirlwind tour of the apocalypse populated with a cast of characters that might reach a hundred in any given book. And yeahI knew it was risky. But I also felt that the zombie fans were a group that deserved something with depth.

The formula that I chose was inspired by George R.R. Martin. If you have dipped your toes in the books that the very popular Game of Thrones series is based upon, then you know how he does each chapter from a different perspective of one of his characters. I tweaked it for my own devices and came up with Steves Story, The Geeks, and Vignettes as my three rotating chapters. If you have read any of my DEAD series, then you know that each book is always 18 chapters long (6 per story line). However, things have changed some since that first book. I learned some lessons.

Of course, Steves chapters are all in first person. That lets you really see things from one persons perspective. You are only as clued in as he is during any particular moment. The Geeks was my homage to every single zombie fan who thinks that the Zombie Apocalypse would be so freakin cool. This is the story that I get to sink in to as I write it. I channel many of my friends and the snippets of conversations that we have had since that day in the 70s when we all came out of the original Dawn of the Dead with some fairly silly adolescent fantasies. However, it is the Vignettes where I think I have learned the most as a writer. And that is sort of my focus here as I let you peek behind the curtain.

The vignettes were initially just supposed to be snapshots of the world in chaos. I even toyed with the idea of folding every one of those stories in to my two main story lines. Somewhere along the way, many of those shorts began to take on a life of their own. In fact, they are the source of the most hated and loved (according to reviews and personal emails) of my character; Garrett being the former and Juan the latter.

In the first book, DEAD: The Ugly Beginning , I wrote the vignettes as they came to me. So, there was no order, rhyme, or reason. However, as some of the stories began to take on a life of their own, I started to really get invested in what would happen. By the second book, DEAD: Revelations , I realized something: I needed to keep the stories in the same order chapter by chapter. By the third book, DEAD: Fortunes and Failures , I had a refined formula. What I would do was continue to keep the main vignettes in order, but I would give each vignette chapter what I termed as a one-timer. This would be a single open-and-closed short.

Funny thing about when an author sits down with an idea. They are usually the only one who understands it. So was the case with Vignettes. The idea is one that I would not change as a whole, but I do think that I would have modified it to some extent. And that is where I believe it to be now.

Readers of the series have had to go through this process with me, but I do think what I have now is the way to go. Now, in Vignettes , there are the main story lines that have endured since the first book or two of the series. However, since I tried to complete the main ideas of a story arc in each three-book offering, I introduced a new vignette at the start of books 4, 7, and 10. That allowed me to write a bit of a novella-length story. Some will fold in to the main stories, some will simply reach a climax and end, and others might be melded into one of the other vignettes.

Now, I realize that I still run the risk of too many characters as some critics have pointed out. However, I believe that, once you become engrossed in this DEAD world, you will find it a very rewarding experience.

At least that is what I am hoping.

I still wake up every day and pinch myself. I see reviews that are no longer from my friends and family. Ive met total strangers that have become real-life friends, and Ive heard from so many of you that it is a truly humbling experience. To have people tell me that they get swept up in my world is often overwhelming.

I just want to thank you one more time.

And now, I will let some of my peers and fellow writers as well as fans of the series tell you what you are in store for.

A few words from fans and fellow writers as to why you need to read the DEAD series

Ive been a zombie fan ever since I saw the original Dawn of the Dead at a drive-in (Yeah, Im old.) way back when. Lets just move along before someone decides to try to do the math on how long ago that was.

I didnt get into zombies in book form until after I got my first Kindle. Id bought the occasional zombie story in physical book form but there werent many of them and, frankly, most of them sucked.

Then I joined the digital book world and I discovered there were a lot of zombie books available--most of them cheap and some of them were even free. There were a few which felt overpriced even at free but most of the books were a decent enough read.

Every now and then, however, youd come across an author with actual skills, someone who could craft a well-written story with characters who had dimension, a plot that moved well and held your interest, and, of course, plenty of that good zombie action.

TW Brown is in that category. As soon as I finished reading his first book, I went straight to Amazon to see what else he had written, going through everything he had written to date. I have no higher compliment for an author.

Ive been a fan of Todds ever since his first series, Zomblog. Hes done several series of zombie books since then and Ive read them all. Ive seen a real progression and evolution in his writing abilities with each series and each book. In fact, I like his writing so much that Ive been one of his beta readers for his last few books.

All of Todds books are set in the same universe. Although the physical locations and the characters vary widely in the various books and series, one thing remains the same--the zombies.

The zombies in his universe are the good old-fashioned Romero-style shambler zeds. They are slow and stupid. Sure, you can get safely away from one or two of them without much difficulty but the thing is, it never stays at just one or two.

Zombies are the roaches of the monster world. For every zombie you see, there are hundreds that you dont, hiding in the shadows waiting to swarm forth at the first sign of food--and that food is you. The sheer numbers of them, coupled with their tireless and unrelenting pursuit of their prey make them truly dangerous and terrifying.