ZOMBIES: Interview - Dawn Peers brings UK zombie horror in Great Bitten: Outbreak

It's a great privilege to have one of Permuted Press' rising stars on the blog today.  

ZombieBloodFighters, please welcome straight from the UK, Dawn Peers!

ZBFbooks.com - Great to have you on the blog, Dawn. How are things across the pond?

Dawn Peers - Ha ha, thanks! Great to be 'here'. Things are good - it's finally starting to warm up, and the World Cup will be here in a few months' time. This means the entire nation will be gearing up for that magic week where we can all wear tshirts and bemoan our national side going out of a major tournament on penalties. Again.

ZBFbooks.com - I hope you don't mind doing an interview with a Yank like me. And a Texan at that. I hear there's a lot of regional pride in the UK as well. Is that true?

DP - I don't mind at all! I've never been interviewed by a Texan before *winkwink*. There is a fierce amount of regional pride. As I've moved from my homeland of the 'shires (Warwickshire) down to the Sussex coast, I feel more strongly and more defensive about my home than I ever have been. It's nice though, experiencing different parts of the country, even as small as the UK is.

ZBFbooks.com - You seem to have an interest in alcoholic beverages. What a coincidence. I do to! Tell me about the Whiskey's you enjoy and recommend.

DP - You noticed that, huh? Whoops! Yes as I get older I find myself more and more interested in spirits - specifically at the moment single malt whisky. I seem to have an unconscious leaning towards Speyside malts. When I first started drinking whisky the tagline was "the more it tastes like dirt, the better" however on my sideboard now is a very nice variety. I would recommend, every day of the week, Laphroiag (which by the way does taste like a heavenly peat bog) and a very good offering from the Yamazaki distillery. Don't underestimate how good Japanese whisky is. If you're after something simple and blended, I would recommend Monkey Shoulder any day of the week. Blimey, I talk a lot about whisky...

ZBFbooks.com - I'm drinking Canadian Hunter now. It's a poor man's Crown Royal. Have you had it before?

DP - I've not heard of it before, but now I have, I'm going to have to find some and give it a whirl.

ZBFbooks.com - Tell us about your title with Permuted Press.

DP - My debut Permuted title is called Great Bitten: Outbreak. It follows the survival efforts of the protagonist Warren Fiedling. He is an early observer of an outbreak in the UK, and decides to abandon his home in London to find his sister. I decided to make it a UK-only story, and not for insular purposes. Over here, people do not carry weaponry, and even personnel such as the police force rarely go fully-armed. My intention is to explore the basic reactions of real people. My story isn't full of armed kung-fu experts and tactical geniuses; they are normal people making normal decisions. They make mistakes, and in a post-apocalypse scenario, the consequences for mistakes are, as you might guess, pretty dire. It's a first person story; I feel that first person present works really well in the horror genre, as you can really get in to the heads of your characters.

ZBFbooks.com - Zombie tales seem to have similar elements. What are some things in this story that set it apart from the field.

DP - Apart from it being solely in the UK - the country is placed under quarantine not long after the outbreak starts - as I've intimated before, it's a story I feel people could relate with. Over here, we don't enjoy the range of personal weaponry people in other countries can use to defend themselves. So in GB you will find people running around with axes, hammers, kitchen knives and tools from the garden shed. I think in some ways that's more relatable than a military-based offering. For some readers, at least.

ZBFbooks.com - Name a few zombie books you've enjoyed.

DP - I came relatively late to the genre - my first love was fantasy fiction. I seem to be making up for lost time, though. The first zombie book I read was ZA Recht's "Plague of the Dead" and it therefore remains a favourite for 'opening the door'. Tankbreak by Paul Mannering is a very original action-orientated title that was incredibly enjoyable. And "The Valley of the Dead" by Kim Paffenroth and "What Our Eyes Have Witnessed" by Stan Litore are historical-based zombie books which gave a nice alternative slant on a genre which is usually set in contemporary locations.

ZBFbooks.com - What are some of your favorite zombie movies?

DP - Now this - don't laugh - is an awkward question. I can't watch horror films. Unless I have a pillow. Or something to distract me. They're too jumpy. Well... I'm too jumpy. I can watch the Resident Evil films because they're more action adventure - and the same goes for World War Z. I did manage to sit through most of Cabin in the Woods the other day, and thought the zombies that featured throughout that were pretty sterling.

ZBFbooks.com - Where can readers find your books?

DP - My Permuted book will be available through Amazon and will be available to your local bookstore - they may have to order it for you, but I promise you it will be worth it! I will also be running promos on my networking platforms to win signed copies, so it might be worth readers keeping an eye out.

ZBFbooks.com - Where can readers network with you?

I work in IT as a 'day job' and so like very much having an online presence - I am most comfortable behind a keyboard! I am most active on my Facebook page - www.facebook.com/dawnpeersauthor

I am also maintaining a blog as I try to build up my ability to watch horror films, and you can find that at www.zombie-horror.com

You can reach out to me at my website, www.beyondapocalypse.com

And then there is the mandatory Twitter account, which is @dawnpeersauthor

ZBFbooks.com - Cheers, Dawn.

After you've networked and picked up Dawn's book, pick up a ZBFbooks.com title and support the blog.

BOWIE V. IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press. He lives in Texas where he lives the dream. Network with him at his official website, ZBFbooks.com today.