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Some interwebs foofaraw occurred a few weeks ago when Living of the Living Dead Press abandoned plans to publish a queer-content antho of zombie short fiction. But then it seems that the controversy abated and the book was put back on the schedule. So I was thinking about actually trying to write a story to submit to it, as a sort of creative challenge to myself. I don't think I have written any full-blown zombie fic at all in my life, and I haven't attempted very much horror of any kind in recent years. But my sf novel-in-progress does include a phenomenon that has some small similarities to a zombie situation, and my NaNoWriMo novel brushed up against an idea that could have gone full-tilt-zombie if I had let it.

So the other day, when I was wondering if I could come up with a zombie story that would be both sufficiently zombified and also somehow LGBT, I thought about the NaNo story and wondered what might have been had I taken it in a different direction. That story opens with one of the main characters dying of a mysterious disease called the "Waste" that rapidly deteriorates physical and mental functions. I think, somewhere deep down, I was really writing about Alzheimer's and what we've done to the way people die, but I inserted a few creepy details suggesting that the body goes on living and moving for awhile after brain death. In the first section of the NaNo novel, this character successfully (with the aid of his boyfriend) commits suicide before the disease progresses too far. He successfully opts for what he sees as a death with dignity on his own terms. 

But if what if that hadn't quite worked out as planned? What if he survived the suicide attempt, and what if the disease was actually more like a full-blown zombie plague when it went into its terminal stage? That worked as a prompt , and I have spent much of the evening drafting it. It's kind of creeping me out, but maybe that will keep me interested in it long enough to finish it. I'm going with Romero-type shamblers as the zombies, too. Classic. 

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-09 07:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kyellgold.livejournal.com
Hey, cool! I have a zombie short that I wrote for a convention that was zombie-themed last year. Was thinking about polishing that up as well.

I think if you're going to have a zombie story with an LGBT theme, you need the relationship angle in there somehow. And that's tough, because zombie stories traditionally don't have a lot of relationship arcs in them. :)

Good luck with your story!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-09 11:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mbranesf.livejournal.com
Hey Kyell! Yeah, I think what I have (assuming it works out) is pretty solidly centered on the relationship, which does seem pretty necessary to even get at the LGBT theme. I guess it could be just a "regular" zombie story with an incidental LGBT character or two, but I think the queerness probably needs to be more central to what it's about. The original story that I am pulling elements from for this was basically a family drama with some spec-fic elements sort of framing the characters' world but not real front-and-center. So I think it could work if I keep that relationship central but pull into the foreground the spec-fic stuff...and make that all about zombies. I haven't even really read much zombie fic lately, so I am not as familiar with that subgenre as I might be. But I'll give it a try.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-20 05:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kyellgold.livejournal.com
Sounds like that would work. Mine was a reversible zombie plague where the main character's boyfriend had become a zombie and he was trying to find the formula that would save him...

I don't see the anthology on their website yet. Is it definitely back on or still pending?

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-20 12:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mbranesf.livejournal.com
Yeah, the call for subs is not that easy to find. I heard it was back on and then had to dig around in their forum to find it. But this link should take you to straight to it
http://libraryofthelivingdead.lefora.com/2010/02/15/zombiality-a-queer-bent-on-the-undead-submissions-/
Deadline is June 27

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