2024 COVERS

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We are writers mainly from Australia and New Zealand who write speculative fiction with romantic elements. Be it fantasy, paranormal, dark urban fantasy, futuristic and everything in between.

Thursday 11 October 2012

Magic Thursday: There’s more than just Zombies to worry about, my friend...

by Kylie Scott


It’s a funny thing, while I was writing ‘Flesh’ my Post-Zombie-Apocalypse Erotic Romance, the question that kept popping up was: ‘Sooo...is there like a zombie boyfriend and a zombie girlfriend?’ No, there isn’t. That would be gross. But now that ‘Flesh’ has been released a few people have been saying ‘Oh, I’m not into zombies’. Fair enough. Not everyone is into my gory faced favourites. I can accept that. But stop. Think about it. No, go on. Be brave. If the world was to belly up tomorrow care of my nasty zombie plague, then I’m betting it’s not necessarily just the undead that you’ll be running from.

No more law and order. No police or army or any of the protection that being a civilised society has afforded us for quite some time now. People will be left to their own devices with no one to hold them accountable. Which way will their moral compass swing, I wonder? Will they play fair or foul? The zombies in ‘Flesh’ are really just the sharks in the water. Sure, they’re out there, moaning and groaning and shuffling about. They’re far from pretty and in a tight corner they can be downright dangerous. But it’s your fellow man on board the ship that you need to worry about first. Yep, that stranger in the corner giving you the ‘hey baby’ eye. Is he a good guy, giddy to have found another uninfected survivor? Or is he something altogether more dreadful with nefarious notions in mind?

Have I got you all riled up and paranoid? Looking over your shoulder, hoping for the best from that tall, dark, handsome mister but suspecting the worst? Well that’s how my heroine Ali feels. Welcome to ‘Flesh’.


Care to win a copy? Tell me in the comments what your favourite Post-Apocalyptic movie is and why to be in the draw to win! 

Flesh blurb:

Ali has been hiding in an attic since civilisation collapsed eight weeks ago.

When the plague hit, her neighbours turned into mindless, hungry, homicidal maniacs.

Daniel has been a loner his entire life. Then the world empties and he realises that being alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Finn is a former cop who is desperate for companionship, and willing to do anything it takes to protect the survivors around him.

When the three cross paths they band together; sparks fly, romance blooms in the wasteland and Ali, Daniel and Finn bend to their very human needs in the ruins of civilisation.

Lust, love and trust all come under fire in Flesh as the three battle to survive, hunted through the suburban wastelands.



This excerpt follows Ali and Daniel’s accidental meeting while they’re both out searching for food...


Ali glared at the stranger with all the animosity she could muster. Having spent eight weeks hiding in her neighbour’s attic, living like a rodent while the world fell apart outside, there was a hoard of hostility at her disposal. An ample amount of petrified too, but hostility came in handier.

Do it the hard way? She wanted to go medieval on his ass, but oh man, he was big. She wasn’t tiny by any standard, but her neck ached from looking up at him. On a good day she would barely reach the notch in his chin.

Today was not a good day. It did nothing for her terror levels. Her heart tripped about in her chest like she was having a coronary.

She should have stayed at Mary’s house, safe and sound and starving. How could she have missed him even crouched down, rifling through the cupboard? All of the trying to be hyper vigilant on her few trips out into the world, and yet, here she was, caught. She had to escape. Civilization was gone. Law and order a distant memory. Who knew what people would do now that the rules did not apply?

Apart from his size, the stranger seemed normal enough, if appearances counted. A head of dark hair with traces of gray, broad shoulders and a mind jampacked full of plans, apparently. The way he stared disturbed her. And his long, lean face inched lower and lower, as if he planned to kiss her.

Had he forgotten she had teeth? She hadn’t. He risked losing more than a nipple if he tried to kiss her.

Ali heard the moaning the same time the stranger did. His head snapped around as his big body tensed. The oversized paws dropped from her hair and hip, enabling her to make a dive for the shotgun.

All kinds of confidence rushed back into her with the weapon tight in her hands.

God, who to turn the gun on first, zombies or him? Her heart sped.

Ali had watched the world unravel through Mary’s front window, her own neighbours murdering and looting. Once law and order were gone, no one could be trusted. She’d crawled up into the attic and pulled the ladder up after her. Stayed there a month after everything was silent, too petrified to move.

A common enemy didn’t mean a thing. This man had done little to engender her trust. He might not have hurt her so far but he showed no signs of letting her go, either.

Public Domain. Source.



~~~
Thanks Kylie. 

You can buy Kylie's  Flesh from Momentum, and visit her on her website


11 comments:

  1. Oh! zombies! I happen to love books that have zombies in them.

    As for post-apocalyptic movies....
    Hmm... Planet Terror scores high because of all the zombies and the over the top situations.
    For something more serious, but still with zombies (sort of): 28 Days Later

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    1. Excellent! Planet terror was a lot of fun and 28 Days is a fine choice too. Thanks for commenting, Sullivan.

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  2. I'm actually not big on zombies, but perhaps you can make a convert out of me, LOL. But the relationship dynamic sounds very intriguing. Only two men left in the entire world...and one woman. I see conflicts arising there, haha.

    And I'm going to be perfectly honest and say I've never watched a single post-apocalyptic movie. *ducking*. I generally stick to romance. :-)

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    1. I'd certainly like to try! Give Zombieland a try, it might surprise you. Funny, cool and a whole lot of fun. Thanks for stopping by. :)

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  3. I definitely need to be have my ignorance lifted... because Zombie romance seems like an oxymoron to me :P

    I don't read much post-apocalypic stuff, but I did get sucked into the Hunger Games trilogy.

    Congrats on your release!

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    1. Thanks, Nicola. I've only seen the Hunger Games movie but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

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  4. Congrats on your release, Kylie. I puchased your book this am before I headed to work, now I'm sneaking peeks into my Kindle which I've popped into my top drawer. Just cant put it down. Love the characters, love the pace and the action, so want to finish work so I can really get into it. Not sure which is my fav movie, but I'm really sucked into the TV series, The Walking Dead. Love the whole concept of a world gone to hell. Bring on the next book, Kylie.

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    1. Oh that's great, Suz. Thank you so much for the lovely comments. I hope you continue to enjoy it!

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  5. I actually came across a Hollywood movie that's going to be released in 2013 that's a zombie-human romance. Check it out at IMDB at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588173/

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  6. Ha ha - love the title of this post.

    There have actually been some good post-apocalypse zombie films in recent years, but I have to say my favourite is Shaun of the Dead. Just cracked me up.

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  7. I've had the pleasure of reading FLESH already and I can say it's fantastic!

    While the zombies play a part in the story, they're definitely secondary, hovering on the fringes - moaning and an ever present threat (as they tend to be). Enough to make you go "ugk" when they do make an appearance and makes remember those scary horror movies where you pulled your feet up and hoped none of them were under your chair or behind it.

    The highlight though is the complex and riveting relationship happening between Ali, Daniel & Finn, and the action revolving around their surviving and adapting to the new world around them. Gripping stuff - I ended up finishing this book about 2am one morning! That's how addictive I found it. :-)

    Hanging out for the next one in this series.

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