Re: Zombie Apocalypse

Rules for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse:

Follow these simple but crucial rules and you will survive any Zombie Apocalypses that come your way:
1. Keep Moving:
It’s always best to move around constantly; never ever stay in the one area for more than 2 hours, yes I said hours not days. You’re supposed to be running from the zombies; not waiting for them to catch up to you.
2. No Loud Noises or Bright Lights:
Avoid both at all times. We’ve discovered that most – if not all – zombies are unconditionally attracted to both noise and bright lights. No we’re not saying that you can’t make some noise; that would be impossible, but keep it as quiet as possible. If you don’t; you’ll have 10 times the number of zombies coming your way and that makes it all the harder to avoid them.
3. Always Have a Back Way Out:
Always make sure you have at least 1 exit apart from where you came in. Especially if it’s only a small building such as the local supermarket. If possible make note of other possible exits as well, but always have at least one handy to make a quick getaway if you’re outnumbered. Yes; windows count as an exit... unless they're four storeys up, then your screwed.
4. Stay Together:
This is only valid if you are travelling with someone. Pretty self explanatory really; Don’t go anywhere alone – two or three people makes better odds than just one alone. Oh but just make sure you don’t travel with too many people; but that’s another rule altogether.
5.No Secrets:
Make sure that if you are travelling in a group that no one keeps secrets from anyone else. Everyone has to be honest – that way you stay alive longer. For example; if by some unfortunate circumstance you do get attacked and bitten, don’t just keep it to yourself; Let Everyone Know About It. It might not be a happy thing to be admitting but think of everyone – not just you. You’ll be putting all the people with you in danger if you’re not honest right from the start. Better a quick shot to the head than using your friends as entree`, main and dessert.
6. Avoid Large, Multi-level Areas:
This is just common sense when you think about it. How many times does it happen in the movies? You walk into a shopping centre thinking there’s more than enough places to hide out for a while. WRONG!!!!!!!! That’s dead people talk. Sure there are plenty of potential hiding places but there’s also plenty of open spaces and too many doors that have potential zombies behind them. Also avoid hospitals and medical centres at all cost – that’s where all the infected people went before they turned DUH!!! Danger of infection skyrockets in places like that.
7. Keep a Weapon Handy at All Times:
Baseball bat, chainsaw, machete, gun or walking stick. Anything that can be used to beat off a potential living dead. The last thing you want is to be caught in a compromising position with no weapon to defend yourself. This can also be applied to would-be thieves and other sorts of lower forms of humanity that seem to pop up when apocalyptic events occur.
8. When in doubt; GTFO!
If you find yourself in a place that feels bad. i.e. a large dark room with little light, low average exits and random echoes of shuffling and moaning; high-tail it. Roughly the same as 'When in doubt; chuck it out' except this time the food concerned is YOU. Nothing is worth the risk of winding up as a walking drool-factory hell-bent on devouring every living thing that moves and/or breathes.
9. Don't be a hero:
A hero is someone who gets people killed... or kills themselves in the process, thus becoming a Martyr.
Martyrs are bad. Especially when a majority of the human race will be dead. Or dead-dead (not a zombie but ACTUALLY dead). We don't need to help extinction along on its merry way.
10. Trust No-one:
The hardest rule to follow. Every Man For Himself can be a hard instinct to break in those of us closer to apes than others. Zombie Apocalypses can changed even the best of us into double-crossing good-for-nothing scumbags. Groups are good, groups of 'friends'... not so good.
Unless you got a friend like Natalie... or Jacqui... then you're screwed.

Back to the sword and board!

I gave Daemon a bit of a rest to keep working on my hard core fantasy series :)
Almost finished the first bit of 'Necrophile'! Stay tuned!

Oh and I filled up the little notebook that my friend gave me, I had to buy another one to write in whilst I'm on the way to and from work. Now all have to do it to copy the writing from the notebook to my computer... but it's so much hard work!

The Art of Self-Insertion

My Lovely lovely Bloodlust story has undergone a transformation!
Visit http://www.4shared.com/document/0tBy4uhk/part_1.html and tell me what you think!
I found the easiest way to combat my writers block was to write myself into the story! Little did I realise the dangers associated with that :/
Enjoy what I have so far!

Engineer

Tinka Berberry had seen many explosions in her life. There were bangs, echoing thumps, tiny pops and soundless puffs of smoke... and then there was this.

As a demolitions expert she knew exactly how much gunpowder had been in any particular explosion simply by the tone of the 'boom' (or 'puff'... depending on magnitude). A higher pitched bang indicated tightly packed smaller incendiary devices, whilst a lower sound would more often than not prove to be loose gunpowder in either a crate or a barrel.

This explosion was a series of 'boom's, instigated by 6 sharp 'crack's. These 'boom's and 'crack's were four crates of loose gunpowder, stacked – one on top of the three – with an Arcane Incendiary placed lightly on top like a glazed cherry on a high-powered birthday cake as a catalyst.

Each of these volatile multi-layered concoctions were placed in positions strategically engineered for total demolition. Nothing would be left in the Clockwerk City except rubble and the bodies of 6,422 Necrophile warriors – hopefully dead.

Like a finely tuned fireworks display, the explosions shot stone and rubble into the air, the Arcane Incendiaries firing so hot that the rising dust cloud was impaled with the trailing blaze of molten metal and rock like bright red shooting stars.

It was her best work. An order from the High Overspark himself; leave no foundation standing, no hallway unburied and no courtyard uncluttered... and she had done it in a record time of 2 hours and 16 minutes.

Tinka Berberry watched the Clockwerk City of Crankshaft explode like an overfilled balloon and wept, for she had just destroyed the only home she had ever known... and the halflings that had not been fast enough to run.

Time to buckle down.

Okay, no more procrastinating. I WILL finish 'Daemon' damnit!
Dad's prodding me into publishing a small anthology of everything that I've started over the years. It really hit me once I started going through my really old stuff. The sword and board epic fantasies that I'd stay up all night (all school night) writing. I mean, seriously, where'd all that energy and focus go?
So, now, I'm making a pledge to myself. I give myself until christmas this year to finish 'Daemon' in it's entirety. By that time my friend at work will have set up his binding business - meaning that I can employ one of his business partners to print at least 10 copies, get it bound by him and do the cover graphics myself. Hey presto! 1st edition copies of my book for christmas presents :D
Hmmm maybe I'll sign them too...

Listening to;
Help, I'm still Alive - Metric

OST coincidence or not?

Acquired the Clash of the Titans (2010) soundtrack from iTunes and had a little listen-through while I was working on Wicked Truth. Words just fell out of me! It was wonderful! I think I found my new inspiration tracks for this book :)
It was interesting too, the score was composed by Ramin Djwadi - who work as an assistant composer to Hans Zimmer on Pirates of the Carribean! You can actually hear some of the same elements, which was nice because its the bits from the PotC score that I really enjoyed; the soft drums keeping time with a lot of violin 8th notes working up and down. Most of all are the wonderful bits where the music swells with the brass section... it sounds... striving, if thats a way to put it. You can hear the epic struggle in the pieces.
Anyway, on that note I shall return to my writing. I HIGHLY recommend this soundtrack, even as a little background music. The music is beautiful :D

New story time!

My newest irritating story flitting about my head finally got put to text during my road trip to Melbourne this past week. A friend gave me a notebook for my birthday to write in whilst in the car, which definitely came in handy :P
So my newest endeavor revolves around the Tuatha De Danann - 'Peoples of the Goddess Danu'. In my particular case; Irish faeries. It's got little bits of Samhain and Beltane law with a bit of Green Man legends and all manner of funky bits of folklore like a Sheela na Gig, fairy raths and a secret underwater Crannog.
I love Irish fae-lore to bits.
The only thing is I want to try and keep is as believeable as possible. I mean it's nothing like my Briar Rose sequence (which, by the way, can be found here. Chapter 1 :D) which is all magic and fairies and stuff. Wicked Truth is more folk-lore mystery that's got you goin 'is it or isn't it?'... kinda like Sherlock Holmes when you think the bad dude is a warlock, but really he isn't.
The only task now is to type it out from my notes. I got about the first 3 chapters and a bit done :) not bad for 20 hours work!
Hmmm I also wouldn't mind doing a little list of my leading males, for comparison. I don't wanna start making them all the same. That's the thing I hated about Stephanie Meyers books Twilight and Wanderer. Melanie and Bella have almost no behavioral differences, and you can draw lines between Jacob/Ian and Edward/(the dude melanie's in love with). I want them all to be somewhat different.
So Daemon is a half-Japanese grump who walks with a limp, has a scar from cheek to chin (on such a perfect face! /sob) and is a general badass with 2 guns and a wazikashi blade. Pale, black hair to his jaw and muscled like an AFL player.
Taliesin is a 2000-something year old War-mage who uses blood-sacrifices, charms and a wand to blow people to bits. He also can drain people's life-energy by touching them directly. He's got dark-tanned skin and loooong black hair to his waist... plus long pointy ears and fangs :)
Dominic is half-arab, half-irish (don't ask me how it works, but it does) doctor of Religious Symbology pertaining to European ancient history. Also a descendant of the Fir Bolg people, after the run-in with the Ifreet (fire-demon) he shows certain Jinniyeh aspects (i.e. Keylee has a vision of him disappearing in smoke etc.)
Gotta read up a little more on my Arab folk-lore though for that one -.-
Anyways, till next time!