Tag: apocalypse

CYP#4: Cooper Complete!

Finishing up with Cooper marks the completion of PATHOGENS. Or the first draft, anyway. It’s by far my longest book, both in terms of word count and choices. Six whole characters to choose from! Cooper eventually becomes the leader of the merry band of survivors in the city, which is how you meet her in INFECTED. But it didn’t start off that way. You get to step in her shoes and go from ordinary grease monkey to the draconian leader of a group of survivors in PATHOGENS.

m-gf-female-1
PS — Sure was hard to find a picture of a female mechanic actually working. Cooper would no doubt roll her eyes at the bimbos posing secuctivly (wearing, ahem, very little protective gear) that I had to wade through in Google images.

Up next? Editing! However, I’m thinking of reaching out for the first time to beta testers for the various characters. If you’re interested, make sure you sign up for my mailing list.

Thanks for reading! Excited? Confused? Bemused?

Leave me a comment below, and don’t forget to share and subscribe!

by Categories: pathogensTags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Inspiration: Life After Disney

I’m still hard at work with INFECTED: Origins (which I think is called PATHOGENS now), and one of the things I find visually fascinating about the apocalypse is abandoned theme parks. So…one of your choices will lead you exploring a derelict carnival.

Here’s a few shots that will help inspire that sequence. Some are from digital artists, some are from real abandoned parks. All images are hyperlinked to where I found them on the internet and I don’t claim to own any copyrights. Enjoy!

Yeah, I know…Zombieland. But I don’t care. It’s just a vignette, not the whole book. What do YOU think?

Add your opinion in the comments below. And don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

by Categories: OriginsTags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

INFECTED Rises Again

Anywhere in the world, you can win an autographed copy of INFECTED. Check out the giveaway on Goodreads using the links below! Why now? Well, with SUPERPOWERED on its way, I’m trying to breathe new life into the series. So tell your friends!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Infected by James Schannep

Infected

by James Schannep

Giveaway ends April 10, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

And speaking of new life for INFECTED, even though it’s been almost 3 years, I can’t stop thinking about the characters and the story world. There’s just so much left to tell. In that vein, I’m thinking of an INFECTED prequel. A book where you play as other characters you meet in the book, and choose how to survive the inital outbreak from their perspective. This would be the first Click Your Poison book where you wouldn’t play as “you” but instead would enter the mindset of several different characters.

What do you think? Interested? And which character’s perspective would you most like to enter? Do me a favor and VOTE below (you may select multiple characters):

Don’t forget to comment, like, share, and subscribe!

 

by Categories: INFECTEDTags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CAT FONT!!

Look out, internet. The world’s first cat font (umm, where the letters are… cats) is now unleashed upon you. As reported by Brian Ahscraft of Kotaku.com:

…the upper and lower case characters are called “Neko Font” (ねこフォント), which is Japanese for “Cat Font”. The two cats that appear in Cat Font are named “Raizou” and “Mondo”. They are adorable. The font is created from photos of these two furry friends.”

So, in order to increase the popularity of my books, the next one will be written in cat. Or maybe I should just release a cat version of INFECTED?

INFECTED cat

Want to write your own cat novel? Get started here: http://nekofont.upat.jp/index.html

But as long as we’re using the power of cats, here are the top 10 zombie kitten memes (yes, I know I should be working). Enjoy!

Is that ten? I don’t know. I’m too overwhelmed by adorable to count.

 

by Categories: MusingsTags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Happy Published Author Day!

The first of my published works is now available to buy on amazon.com. Hooray!

Check out the awesome cover design by Allie Harold:

Corporate Zombie cover
Corporate Zombie at amazon

Yes, this is a piece of zombie fiction. No, it is not related to my impending book. “Corporate Zombie” takes place in a different world, with slightly different rules. Here, zombies may not learn, but they certainly never forget. And yes–that means zombie ninjas are possible.

It’s $1 to buy, or FREE if you’re a Prime member (don’t worry, Amazon still pays me even if you get it for free), so why not check it out?

by Categories: FictionTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Perhaps a month? And I’m a little scared

As promised, here’s an update on my impending book. I’ve gotten round one of reader feedback from my betas, with Mike somehow making it through unscathed (that dude is a ZAdass–Zombie Apocalypse Badass–sorry…that’s awful) and Chris showing me the best ways to die. Seriously, Chris can be in my survival group, but he’s not making the decisions (love you, man).

What’s up now? I’m sending the manuscript out to a professional editor next week, so she can shred it apart before it rises again as an immortal hellion bent on spreading across humanity like a virus. Also, I’ve got a talented cover artist working on a custom design for me. Here’s something she did a couple of years back:

wolves

So with all this awesome news, why am I suddenly terrified?

Maybe it’s because I’ve been toiling in obscurity so long it’s all I know? It’s like all I’ve ever wanted to do is go skydiving, and now that I’m standing in the door, I keep thinking how crazy I am.

Well, ready or not, I’m making the leap — in a month, perhaps.

by Categories: INFECTEDTags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

113,000 words in 152 days

Okay, I haven’t posted in a while. Sorry about that, but I’ve got two really good excuses:

1) I’ve been busy scrawling away at my breakaway novel.
2) I’m getting married in… (let me check the calendar)… 7 days.

So, I’ve been a little busy.  However, In keeping that this is a professional blog, let’s focus on #1.

Over the last five months, I’ve worked nearly every day with the goal of at least 1000 words. Looks like I averaged around 740–not bad considering I drove across the country, spent two months away from home, and was busy planning a wedding.  Okay, to be fair, my fiance planned most of it.

Still! For the first time, I’m going to be a published writer. This is a certainty. Not because I’m sure I’ll woo an agent and a publishing house, but because I’m not even going to try. I’m self-publishing. I have a story that those in the biz (and people like me who want to be) call High-Concept. This means as soon as I tell you what it’s about, you’ll want to buy it. No matter that you’ve never heard of me and I have no track record; it’s that compelling. Scout’s honor.

It’s a zombie apocalypse story, I’ll say that much, but I’m not going to tell you what makes it so compelling just yet, not until the press release. Sorry.

Thinking of using this for my author picture in the back.

Instead, I can tell you what to expect from here on out. 1) Updates about the progress of the book’s editing, cover development, and release schedule. There is still much work to be done before the release. If you want to subscribe (over on the right), you won’t miss a thing.

And 2) News on the short stories I’ll be publishing as ebooks in the upcoming weeks and months as well.

But you’ll probably get neither until after the wedding.

Here we are at the start of a journey. I’m glad you can join me!

by Categories: Fiction, INFECTEDTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment