http://bit.ly/zbblist
Afterword
I wasn’t so sure I was ever going to write another zombie book.
It’s not that I don’t like zombies. I love zombie books, movies, and video games! But after finishing my Empty Bodies series and then its companion novel, Empty World, I thought I had written enough about the undead. That series had a unique take on zombies, which was vital to me when I started writing it. I didn’t want to just tell “another” zombie story. I love post-apocalyptic fiction, and I have a lot of different types of those stories I want to tell during my lifetime. Most of them don’t include zombies. So I thought I was done.
Until I met Jon South.
I met Jon one day while in the shower (hang with me here.) As my often co-writer, business partner, and most importantly, friend, J. Thorn will tell you, I come up with all my best ideas while in the shower. And Dead South was no exception. I had been planning an entirely different post-apocalyptic series—which I still plan on writing as well—when this character came to me.
Last year, I fell in love with Netflix’s The Punisher and Jon Bernthal’s portrayal of the iconic Marvel character. I binged two seasons over a couple of weeks between writing, reading, hanging with family, and serving my video game addiction. Other than a brief time as a child, I’ve never been a big fan of superheroes, though, in fairness, The Punisher doesn’t check most boxes of your typical superhero. He’s simply a broken man wanting to avenge the death of his family and find some sort of justice in a cruel world.
As I thought more about the concept of The Punisher and particularly the way the Netflix show told his story, I decided a character like Frank Castle would make an awesome protagonist in a post-apocalyptic series. I racked my brain for only around a minute when I asked myself, “What if The Punisher were in The Walking Dead?” and that’s where Dead South started. As a side note, I realize while writing this that Jon Bernthal was in both of those shows…weird that I didn’t make that connection before.
That concept obviously evolved, and Jon South is by no means a carbon copy of Frank Castle. As I wrote this book, he became his own character, eventually growing more empathetic to the world around him. And other things influenced this book. For example, while planning and writing this book, I played through the video game Days Gone. Its zombie world and narrative had a significant impact on this book and will throughout the whole series. I even wrote most of the book while listening to the game’s soundtrack.
So here I am, again writing a zombie series and having a blast doing it. Though, I have to admit that it’s a little strange writing this amid a global pandemic due to the Coronavirus outbreak. How ironic is that for a post-apocalyptic author?
I want to thank you, the reader, most of all. I’m glad you’ve decided to come along for the ride with me, Jon, Brooke, and all the folks from Hope’s Dawn. Stick around and see what happens next. This is going to be a fun ride!
Zach Bohannon
March 28th, 2020
Also by Zach Bohannon
For a complete list of books by Zach Bohannon, click or visit:
www.amazon.com/author/zbohannon
About Zach Bohannon
Zach Bohannon is a horror, science fiction, and fantasy author. His critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic zombie series, Empty Bodies, is a former Amazon #1 bestseller. He lives in Tennessee with his wife, daughter, and German shepherd. He loves hockey, heavy metal, video games, reading, and he doesn’t trust a beer he can see through. He’s a retired drummer, and has had a beard since 2003—long before it was cool.
For More Information
www.zachbohannon.com
[email protected]
Dead South Series (Book 1): Dead South Page 15
