The
Eternal Undead
In
the Time of the Dead
Book
III
David
Monette
Genre: Horror, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Severed Press
Date of Publication: October 1,
2015
ISBN:
ASIN:
Number of pages: 280
Word Count: 100,579
Cover Artist: David Monette
Book Description:
They thought they had escaped.
The battle for Washington DC is
behind them, and the last remnants of the human race have fled from their
undead enemies to a remote Caribbean island where they try to salvage what is
left of humanity. But even here, the zombies have come. Led by the architect of
the holocaust, an invading army wreaks havoc trying to acquire the one thing
that can stop them, and the one thing a small contingent of soldiers knows they
must never get.
Join with Sasha, Terrance,
Virgil, and the little girl, Max, in an all or nothing gamble as they fight
down the road to either salvation or horrible defeat in the thrilling
conclusion of this series.
Excerpt:
As the day
slipped away far off to the west, the darkness of the jungle became a living
thing. Knit together by the slow creep of lengthening shadows, it grew by
degrees into a massive being, shapeless and black. For nourishment it ate the
weak or the unlucky. In return it exhaled moist heat and a cavalcade of sound,
the sound of thousands of separate voices, large and small, all coming together
to meet the ear in a constant sheet of noise. Those who were responsible for
the making of this chaotic ballad were invisible to the naked eye of man. This
was so not just because of the darkness, but because most of the performers—the
frogs, birds, and insects—were hidden within the surrounding vegetation,
frightened of being killed by their neighbors, either eaten, or as was the case
with the troop of humans quietly slipping along a trail, flattened under a
boot.
For one of the
six members of this troop of humans, such an act would have been celebrated
with a certain degree of relish. Terrance hated the sound of the jungle at
night. There were not many things in his life that he gave away for free, but
in his hatred he was quite generous. He hated the bleats, the croaks and hoots,
and he hated the creatures that made the noise.
He hated the darkness and the fact that he had to wear a pair of thermal
goggles to plumb its depths. He hated the heat, and the plants, and the bugs.
He hated the head-to-toe leather suit he wore… and most of all he hated the
reason he had to wear the suit, the reason he was out in the jungle at night in
the first place. He hated the zombies. Or more accurately, he feared the
zombies and he hated them for that fear.
His terror of
these beasts was not unfounded. Since the first day of the apocalypse when a
host of diabolical necromancers eradicated most of the human population on
earth and then raised the dead as zombies, the resulting creatures could, with
a single bite, turn any living person into one of them. Terrance had seen it
done before. It was not pretty. The resilient leather he wore formed a fairly
reliable barrier between a bite and death, so day or night, no matter how hot
it was, whenever he or anyone else left the barricades surrounding the city of
St George’s on a patrol, they wore the protective clothing. The safety it
provided far outweighed the bladders of water they needed to carry or the
periodic “cool downs” they had to perform while nestled in the boughs of a
tree.
Either way,
Terrance hated it all.
In fact, he was
so busy nursing his various hatreds that he barely noticed when Danger, the
woman on point, suddenly raised her fist head-high and froze.
The fire team
immediately came to a stop.
Terrance’s
finger slipped from outside the trigger guard of his MP5SD sub-machinegun to
curl around the curve of the trigger. The contact made him feel safer, more in
control.
Around the task
force the sound of the jungle withered and slowly died.
The point person
opened her fist, laid the flat palm parallel to the ground, and took a knee.
Seeing this,
Lieutenant Burgis, the officer in command, looked back and motioned those
behind to follow suit.
They crouched
and in the dark waited.
There was
something out there.
About
the Author:
David Monette was born and raised
in the cold rural hinterlands of upstate New York. As a typical kid in a
typical community, life for him was pretty... typical. He liked to draw
creatures and contraptions but as the second born of four sons, such ability
was merely a convenient way of standing out from the crowd. As he inexpertly
stumbled through high school, his talent for capturing the images in his head
onto paper was noticed and encouraged by both teachers and family members.
Without any other idea of what to
do with himself after graduation, besides a vague idea of doing something art
oriented, he decided to attend Mohawk Valley Community College where he received
his associate's degree in Advertising Design and Production. Acting on
excellent advice from his teachers at this institution, he went on to Syracuse
University where he learned a great deal about art and eventually wound up with
a bachelor's degree in Illustration.
With a disturbingly large amount
of student debt and a decent portfolio, he learned what it was to be a starving
artist. Namely, he found that artists don't starve; they simply pick up an
endless series of part time work to pay the rent while continuing to plug away
at their true passion. This was essentially what he did until he received his
first illustration job and from that point on, he didn't look back. As an
illustrator, his highly detailed fantasy and science fiction work has appeared
in many books, magazines, board games, and collectible card games for such
varied publishers as Dell Publishing, Wizards of the Coast, and Atlas Games.
Initially, he had completed these diverse projects utilizing oil and acrylic
paints as well as pen and inks.
As digital technology continued
to improve, however, he decided it was time to tackle the arduous task of
mastering the computer and eventually figured out a way to adapt his style to a
digital format. With this knowledge and experience, he went back to school and
received his master's degree in Illustration from the University of Hartford.
While there, his instructors reviewed his written work and had strongly
suggested that he combine his writing ability with his talent as an illustrator
to chart his own path.
And hence, an author was born.
Interview
I live in Upstate New York. Now, many people assume
this means Upstate New York City. It doesn’t. It means the upstate portion of
New York State. If you were to look at a map of New York State, where I live
would be that little corner way up by the Canadian and Vermont borders. It’s
about as far from New York City as you can get and still be in New York State.
Tell
us your latest news?
My latest news is that my newest book, “The Eternal
Undead,” has just been released! It is the third and final book of the “In the
Time of the Dead” trilogy.
When
and why did you begin writing?
I began writing about six or seven years ago. I did
so because during that time, I was attending college for my MFA in Illustration
and one of my professors there suggested that I pair my writing talents with my
skills as an illustrator. I listened to him, and here I am!
When
did you first consider yourself a writer?
I never really thought of that before. Let’s see; I
pretty much first considered myself a “writer” the minute I sat down with the
intent of writing a novel. I considered myself a “novelist” when it was done.
And I considered myself a “published author” when it was published.
What
inspired you to write your first book?
I was inspired to write my first book because I had
an idea I thought was good and the crazy sort of confidence it takes to follow
through with that idea.
Do
you have a specific writing style?
Anyone who writes has their own writing style, their
own voice. It is as distinct as their individual personality. If I were to
categorize mine, I would have to say it falls on the more liberal use of words
end of the spectrum.
How
did you come up with the title?
Nothing all that fancy. I knew I wanted something to
do with the undead in the title as well as something to indicate the scope of
the problem for the survivors of the apocalypse. “The Eternal Undead” felt like
the perfect embodiment of that.
Is
there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
That’s up to the readers to figure out.
How
much of the book is realistic?
I’d have to say that it’s as realistic as you can
get considering it’s about fantasy creatures.
Are
experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
No, not at all.
What
books have most influenced your life most?
That’s really hard to say. I don’t think there’s any
one book that has influenced me the most. The reading of books in general
influences me. It all gets mixed up into the pot.
If
you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
I’m not sure. I think that in order to consider
someone a mentor you’ve got to know more about them than the work they’ve done
or a biography written about them. You’ve got to know them as a person. I don’t
really have that many writers that I know well enough to say they are my
mentor.
What
book are you reading now?
I’m reading “Requiem for a Nun,” by William
Faulkner, and “The Crossing,” by Cormac McCarthy.
Are
there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
The two authors I just mentioned earlier. I’ve also
recently read Neal Stephenson. He’s got some good stuff, as well as Margaret
Atwood and some Steinbeck that I hadn’t read before. Oh, and James Agee. I read
“A Death in the Family” again. These authors aren’t really “new,” I know, but
they’ve grasped my interest.
What
are your current projects?
I’m currently about 11,000 words into a historical
fantasy novel that takes place in 1920’s America, the Prohibition Era. So far
it’s going good. The research. The research. Anyone who has written a
historical novel knows what I mean.
What
would you like my readers to know?
Don’t just skim through my books. Read them well.
Pay attention to the use of color and symbolism.
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/davidmonetteauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaintWriteDave
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7334521.David_Monette
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmonette
Instagram: https://instagram.com/paintwritedave/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/David-Monette/e/B00FMX73DM
Tour
giveaway
1 prize containing all 3 ebooks
of the trilogy
You know, I was just thinking, if we were to lose Washington, D.C. to the undead, it might actually be an improvement. I'm just sayin'.
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