Though you might think they’re cold, you’d be wrong. Zombies are hot!
There’s the hit cable drama series “The Walking Dead,” in which a band of survivors fight zombies to stay alive.
The movie “Warm Bodies” is a weird comedy about a zombie who gets romantically involved with a human female. Zombie “R” is your sparkly type of zombie.
And there’s the new zombie book series being written by Snohomish author M. Lauryl Lewis.
“Zombies are more in style then ever,” Lewis said. “But my zombies certainly don’t sparkle.”
Lewis’ zombies are the opposite of “R.”
Lewis has created a new “brainier” breed of zombie: They hunt in packs, are able to communicate with each other and use live humans as bait.
The other novel thing about Lewis’ zombie books — she’s written two so far in the series — is that Lewis sets the scenes locally.
Her first book, “Grace Lost,” begins in rural Silvana, known for its bucolic pasture land and Silvana Meats.
Lewis, born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, picked Silvana for its small-town feel.
“Me and my family, we are big fans of the Silvana meat market,” said Lewis, a wife, the mother of three sons and a registered nurse. “They have excellent bratwurst, but I don’t know whether or not they sell brains.”
“Grace Lost” follows a small group of survivors through a zombie apocalypse.
Lewis just completed the second book in the series, “Tainted Grace,” in which the survivors visit the town of Concrete in Skagit County, Marysville and Dagmars Marina in Everett, where the group is in search of a boat to escape to an island.
The survivors are loner Zoe Kate, her lifelong friend Adam Boggs, Emilie and Gus. The four witness horrors and experience unthinkable losses — good old zombie apocalypse stuff.
Lewis self-publishes her books through Amazon. Her sales are good and so has been the feedback.
The one complaint so far has been that “Grace Lost” had too much sex.
That made Lewis laugh. Lewis didn’t want to put sex in the book at all; her husband wasn’t thrilled and she thought about her mother reading it.
But she said the romance between Zoe and Adam is a “naturally occurring event.”
“This is not a ‘50 shades of Grey’ ” thing,” Lewis said.
When her pastor asked her where he could get a copy of “Grace Lost,” Lewis confessed to him about what he might read. He wanted a copy anyway.
“I warned him about it but then I guess even pastors need entertainment,” Lewis said. “Even pastors might like zombies.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
