Pembroke Sinclair - Life After the Undead

LIFE AFTER THE UNDEAD
by Pembroke Sinclair

Pembroke (female) presents us with an apocalyptic future replete with zombies. Nothing like a good zombie fest to keep you up all night.

(Q) Thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, please tell our readers where they can find you.

I have a blog at http://pembrokesinclair.blogspot.com/ and I’m on Facebook.

(Q) Tell everyone a bit about your books including buy links.

My first book, Coming from Nowhere, is a sci fi story that centers on JD, who does not have a past--at least not one that she can remember--and that makes living life on Mars challenging.

With nowhere to go, she is sent to the local military academy where she is trained to become a member of the elite secret police. While there, she becomes a pawn in Roger’s struggle for military dominance and Chris’s rebellion to overthrow the military regime.

She supposedly holds a secret that will change the face of the soldier, but, unfortunately, she doesn’t know what that secret is. Her only desire is to find the truth of her existence, and finds herself thrust into a realm where the truth of her past and present is more horrific than she ever imagined.

You can purchase the book at ETreasures Publishing. 

My second book, Life After the Undead, a YA zombie novel, is about the zombie apocalypse.

The world has come to an end. It doesn’t go out with a bang, or even a whimper. It goes out in an orgy of blood and the dead rising from their graves to feast on living flesh. As democracy crumples and the world melts into anarchy, five families in the U.S. rise to protect the survivors. The undead hate a humid environment, so they are migrating westward to escape its deteriorating effects. The survivors are constructing a wall in North Platte to keep the zombie threat to the west, while tyranny rules among the humans to the east. Capable but naïve Krista is 15 when the first attacks occur, and she loses her family and barely escapes with her life. She makes her way to the wall and begins a new life. But, as the undead threat grows and dictators brainwash those she cares about, Krista must fight not only to survive but also to defend everything she holds dear—her country, her freedom, and ultimately those she loves.

You can purchase it at ETreasures Publishing.

I also have several short stories available from different places. Check out my blog for a list of those.

(Q) Where did the concept for the book (or books) come about?

The concept for Life After the Undead started as a dream. From there, I wrote a short story, then a novel. After sending it to various agents, one suggested I transform it into a YA novel, and that’s how I have this version.

(Q) How long did it take you to finish, from concept to final product?

Close to 18 months. The original story took 3 months for the first draft, then the rest of the time was spent editing.

(Q) Which authors have most influenced your own writing?

Several authors have influenced my writing, including Piers Anthony, Christopher Pike, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Robert A. Heinlein.

(Q) What do you do for fun other than writing?

I don’t have a lot of spare time, so most of my fun is entertaining my 4 year old and 2 year old.

(Q) Do you have any favorite place where you feel your Muse is more apt to come and play while you write? Or perhaps you listen to music? If so, what do you listen to?

Not really. My Muse hits me when she hits me. I used to listen to music when I wrote, but now I find it distracting. I like to have absolute silence, something I don’t get often! Usually, though, the TV is my background noise.

(Q) Do you secretly want to write another genre, but don't think you can do it?

I secretly want to write romance, and have made a couple of attempts at it, but I’m not very good. I might continue to make attempts, but who knows!

(Q) Plotter or pantser?

I’m both. I like to have a general idea of what my characters are going to do, but I also like to let them take me where they want to go.

(Q) What are your writing strengths? Weaknesses?

I think I’m good at writing dialogue. I pay a lot of attention to how people talk and interact with one another, and I try to portray that on the page.

I’m a passive writer. I don’t know why, but I constantly have to go back and fix my passive writing. Sometimes, I don’t catch it, then the editor has to fix it. I don’t think that make them very happy!

(Q) Do you have any new projects that you are working on? If so, what are they? (optional if you don't have a WIP to talk about)

Currently, I’m doing edits to a religious zombie novella that is scheduled for publication at the end of November beginning of December. I’m working on a short zombie story, and anxiously awaiting edits on my nonfiction book. Some time in there, I would like to finish the sequel to Life After the Undead, too.

(Q) What do you do to market your work? How did you start and where do you learn to market?

I have a pretty good idea of how to market. I do blog tours, post on my own blog, have a presence on Facebook, and have reviewers look at my work. I’ve networked with others in my genres (and sometimes outside), and try to give reviews of friends books, hoping they will repay the favor. I go to conferences and workshops, and try to set up readings/signings. I also create key chains and brochures to hand out to people wherever I am. I’ve also had the local paper do a story about me.

I learned to market by reading about what others have done. Even with limited time and a meager budget, I’m able to do some things!

(Q) How about an excerpt to tantalize the readers?

CHAPTER 1

I will never understand peoples’ fascination with the apocalypse. Why would you waste so much time and energy worrying about something you can’t change? Besides, most of the time, it never comes to fruition anyway. Remember Y2K? What a hullabaloo that was. People were so afraid computers were going to fail and throw society back into the Dark Ages that they were stockpiling supplies and moving into the wilderness so they could get away from technology. Why would they move to the wilderness? If technology was going to fail, wouldn’t they be just as safe in a city? I guess they were afraid when technology failed, everyone would go crazy and start killing each other. Either way, it didn’t happen. I wonder how those people felt afterward.

Then, there was the whole 2012 scare. This one was supposedly based on ancient prediction, so you know it was reliable. Are you kidding? Even the Mayans didn’t believe their own ancestors’ “vision.” What happened was there had been a tablet that had the Mayan calendar carved into it. The end was broken and faded, so no one knew what it said. Our culture, being the pessimistic lot that we are, automatically assumed it was an end-of-the-world warning. But, again, nothing happened on December 21, 2012. Christmas came and went, and I think everyone, everywhere, even the skeptics, had a little something more to be thankful for. Life went on as usual, and all those doomsayers faded into obscurity.

The day the world did end was pretty nondescript. By that I mean there was no nuclear explosion or asteroid or monumental natural disaster. There weren’t even any horseman or plagues to announce the end was coming. The world ended fairly quietly. I couldn’t even give you a date because it happened at different times depending on where you were. It was never predicted, and I’m sure a scenario that no one even considered. Who really thinks the dead are going to rise from the grave and destroy the majority of the population? No one but Hollywood, and we all know those are just movies. But that is exactly what happened. Those of us that survived were left wide-eyed, mouth agape, trying to figure out what to do next.