I’ll be signing copies of Z.E.O. (and maybe doing some zombie trivia) at the Zombie Outbreak Film Festival this Saturday (Nov. 14) at the Portage Theater in Chicago.  It looks to be a great event.  They’re showing a bazillion awesome zombie movies, including my favorite of all time: Return of the Living Dead.  There’ll be a zombie makeup contest, vendors, raffles/giveaways, and similar festive stuff. 

Also appearing will be Ron Fitzgerald (co-star of Tales from the Script), Claire Fluff Ryan (Director of Tales from the Script), Kitty Zombie, The Undead Comic, Justin Johnson (Director of Zombie Girl the Movie), Mac Eldridge (Director of Chemical 12-D), Walter J. Walsh (Director of The Basement), and Sam the Zombie Hunter. 

It’s just $12 to get in, or $10 if you buy your tickets in advance on the interwebs.

Here’s the film schedule:

Does anyone even get my Raymond Carver sub-references?

Anyhow, Rue Morgue called Z.E.O. “fun and insightful” in a nice little review in their November 2009 issue.  It’s not online anywhere yet, but here’s a scan I made. 

The current cover

As someone who has been commissioned by his publisher to write a book about “zombie pirates,” I have resolved to read all I can on the topic.  (It has not been exhaustively explored.)  So imagine what a pleasure it was for me to learn that one of the only prominent books containing zombie pirates was a book by one of my most favorite novelists… that I had yet to read!

The book, On Stranger Tides by the great Tim Powers, is a shrewd combination of history, science-fiction, and horror.  Tides imagines the Caribbean of the early 1700’s as a place where pirates like Blackbeard use magic and wizardry to forge relationships with New World spirits and empower themselves. 

Remarkably, Tides seems to include “both kinds” of zombie.  That is to say, there are traditional Voodoo zombies who act like spooky automatons and serve their masters like robots, and there are also Romero-style zombies who rise from the deep to attack humans (with teeth, yes, but also with cutlasses).  Here is my favorite description from a scene in which the protagonist finds his ship and crew attacked by a boatload of undead pirates:

“Then one of the lively corpses danced ponderously up to him and whirled a green cutlass at his head… Its body smelled like unfresh fish and felt like chains and jelly in a wet leather bag.”

The original, first-edition cover

Ha!  What a great description!  I love it.

If you are unfamiliar with Powers–but you like zombies–then I think Tides is an excellent way to discover one of the greatest living Sci-Fi/Horror authors.  I should warn you that it’s a slow build–zombies don’t appear for the first 100 or so pages of the book, but when they do, hold on to your freakin hat!

Final Thought: How is this book “Print on Demand”?  (This means that if you order it from BN.com or Amazon, or special order it at a brick-and-mortar bookstore, the publisher will print one copy and mail it to you, but it is not regularly stocked on bookstore shelves.)  Seriously, I’m mystified.  Powers is one of those authors like John C. Gardner who are so good and so important that I have trouble believing that everything they wrote is not constantly in print.

This may, in Powers’ case, change soon, however. 

Many years ago, Tides was optioned by Walt Disney, which promptly sat on it and did nothing with the rights.  However, this year it was announced that the next installment in the Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean franchise would be titled Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  Probably, this means they plan to import the plot of Powers’ book to the world of the film-series.  It’s unsure if the film will get made (reports on film websites say that Depp is having “second thoughts”), but if it is made, then hopefully a long-overdue Powers renaissance will occur.   

This post is not about zombies, but instead about a weird discovery I made in my neighborhood. 

The other day I was buying a bicycle pump at Wastyn Cycles near my house, when I espied an unusual cornerstone on a building at the corner of Fullerton Ave. and Talman Ave.  It was engraved to read: “ALL BELGIANS ARE EQUAL 1921″

And I thought: “Okaaaaaaaay…”

But then I did a little research, and according to the Chicago History Museum, my neighborhood was an epicenter of Belgian immigration to Chicago in the early 1900’s.  Then as now, there was French-speaking-Belgian vs. Flemish-Speaking-Belgian tension.  So to smooth things over, a group of them founded something called the All Belgians Are Equal Club, which, in 1921, erected the building at Fullerton and Talman as a kind of clubhouse for the Belgian community.

Here are some pictures I took:

The cornerstone

The building

ABE = All Belgians Equal

I wonder if the project worked, and if the Chicago-area Belgians learned to coexist peacefully.

When I was younger, I lived in Belgium for 3 years, in a French-speaking area.  I’d hear about the intra-Belgian tension, and think to myself, man, these guys should really bond together instead of fighting.  It’s not like there’s that much Belgium to go around.  Why do you need to divide it up and make it even smaller?

I get the same feeling when my poet-friends criticize other contemporary poets.  It’s like, dude, you guys are already only half-a-shelf in the bookstore as it stands.  I think you need to work together to help poety get a wider audience instead of fighting over that half-a-shelf.

A musican/artist named Luke Kuzava has created Zombies Can’t Dance, an online concept album that tells the story of a zombie apocalypse via 10 songs and 10 connected illustrations.  It’s pretty cool.  You can check it out here.

Z.E.O. got a nice little mention in USA Today this morning.  Here’s the link.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct. 28), I will be interviewed about zombies on Martha Stewart Living Radio (SR 112, XM 157), at 9:30am CST.

Here are some pictures from Saturday.

The Barnes & Noble store on Webster Ave. in Chicago

I’m doing a reading/signing for my new book Z.E.O. this Saturday, October 24 at 3pm at the Webster Ave. Barnes & Noble store in Chicago.

I had a great time signing books, speaking on panels, and causing trouble generally at Spooky Empire in Orlando over the weekend. 

I also finally got to meet Max Brooks, who was a really nice guy.  (I was wondering if he had heard of me, and when I introduced myself he cocked his neck like he wasn’t really sure.  But then he saw the cover of my book and was like “Oh, you’re that guy!”  And I was like: “Yep, I’m that guy.”)

Here are some pictures:

Being assigned the book-signing table next to Max Brooks is a little like being assigned the urinal next to Ron Jeremy. (I still sold quite a few books, though. Thanks to everybody who came up and said hi!)

Gettin' set to discuss zombies!

With Dana Snyder!