Hi, I'm Meredith Russell, and I'm here to introduce myself and my upcoming release Dead Things. Writing this story has allowed me to combine three of my favourite things: Romance, Zombies, and Strong Female Characters.
Romance: despite the blood-soaked setting, I am at heart a romance author. Whether as reader or writer, I want nothing more than a happy ending for the story's leads. Of course, I expect our heroes to come up against a few obstacles along the way, it makes the relationship they're embarking on just that little bit sweeter. I like to see characters come together and overcome physical, mental or emotional struggles and finally find some peace and happiness – preferably in each others arms and with lots of kissing and caressing of manly chests.
Zombies: not the most romantic of settings, I know, but it's a genre I completely adore, and what's more hindering to a love story and potentially mood-killing than a bunch of zombies stalking our characters?
I'm not sure what it is about zombies that have me going gaga over them. I remember as a teenager playing Resident Evil 2 (Leon, yum!) and turning down the lights and upping the volume and my heart racing as I crept around the levels hoping nothing was lurking around the corner waiting to take a bite. It was damn creepy, but thank god for the healing herbs!
I have watched so many zombie movies, some I thought were brilliant (the original … of the Living Dead movies), some hilarious (Shaun of the Dead anyone?), some thoughtful (Colin – a low budget film told from Colin the zombies POV) and some just weird (Zombie Strippers – I totally watched it LOL). I've also enjoyed the evolution of the zombie in movies, some mixed with vampires – Stakeland did this excellently – some a little more human – the 28 Days/Weeks movies are my particular favourites plus they gave us scarier and quick moving zombiesque creatures. So yeah, what can I say, I love a little zombie action.
Female Characters: though I am a writer of m/m romance, I have to say I adore creating a world for my characters to live in and therefore I need to populate that world with, hopefully, other interesting characters. I am of the generation growing up with Scully, Buffy, Seven of Nine, Sydney Bristow, Ripley and many more of who I consider strong female characters. What does that mean to me? Yes, most of them could kick your ass, but they also have the intelligence, and emotional vulnerability to make them 3 dimensional characters and equal to any other character. With Dead Things I hope I have added some interesting characters, two of which are women, both strong in their own and different ways.Thanks to RJ for letting me loose on her blog and all that remains is to share a little bit about my story, Dead Things.
Dead Things
Blurb: A deadly virus rages indiscriminately across the United States and then beyond. The survivors face a new terror—the undead creatures created in the wake of the infection.
Devin Reid is part of a group surviving out of a high-security penitentiary near Kansas City. Resources are limited and it's down to a handful of people like Devin to meet the demands on food and supplies. The newly-made monsters are hungry, and the survivors risk their lives scavenging the cities and highways.
On one fateful venture, Devin finds something, someone, with the potential to change a dark future, destined for blood and heartbreak, into one of hope and second chances. He finds Noah Weber.
Available from Silver Publishing 11th August 2012: https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/coming-soon-c-2/products_id/1179/
Add to Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15738170-dead-things
Find Meredith
@facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meredithrussellauthor
@blogspot: http://meredithrussell.blogspot.co.uk/
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