The next big thing

missesdash said:

The book or the film?

And was the zombie thing ever that big?

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Both, I guess. Zombies are not a huge trend but it's been rolling along for the past couple years, wot? There's a lot of indies over the the KB that have had tremendous success with it. I've never understood it to the point of trying to write it, but there is a definitely appeal for it out there.

triceretops said:

Both, I guess. Zombies are not a huge trend but it's been rolling along for the past couple years, wot? There's a lot of indies over the the KB that have had tremendous success with it. I've never understood it to the point of trying to write it, but there is a definitely appeal for it out there.

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Zombies are big in pop culture and online, at least where I look. World War Z comes out this weekend and the commercials are non-stop right now (I hate the running zombies - so much scarier than the shufflers). The Walking Dead on AMC is big too. Not sure about it being a book trend but the two examples I've given were both in print first before the live versions.

I realised the other day that kids play zombies where two generations ago they'd have played cowboys and Indians.
My 6 year old in particular has a good line in dead-eyed shuffling and brain-eating.

mlharris said:

Zombies are big in pop culture and online, at least where I look. World War Z comes out this weekend and the commercials are non-stop right now (I hate the running zombies - so much scarier than the shufflers). The Walking Dead on AMC is big too. Not sure about it being a book trend but the two examples I've given were both in print first before the live versions.

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Yeah I was in the states last week and couldn't tell whether people were pumped to see it. I can tell they threw a lot of money into marketing (French people aren't generally into horror or zombies but they are advertising a lot here, too.) but not really how it's going to do.

I kind of feel like zombies are timeless. But the gore on screen is a big part of the appeal for me. Not quite the same with a book.

missesdash said:

The book or the film?

And was the zombie thing ever that big?

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In YA? Eh ... It comes and goes. Mostly gone now since Carrie Ryan has moved on and Jonathan Maberry is wrapping up his YA series. Charlie Higson's zombie series are a bigger deal in the UK than the US, if I'm not mistaken. And you get a new one every so often, like This Is Not A Test.

Outside of YA, it pretty much exploded in popularity after The Zombie Survival Guide and then World War Z broke out, bolstered by the Dawn of the Dead remake done by Zack Snyder and James Gunn. I don't think I need to list all the big movie hits after that, and I couldn't even begin to name all the B-grade or lower movies that were made through the mid to late 00s. Plus guys like the aforementioned Jonathan Maberry made a pretty big thing in adult SF/horror for a while.

And that doesn't even touch video games and how they popped up in mods and dlc for just about every major shooter because of Left 4 Dead.

Though, honestly, the pinnacle for me is Mira Grant's Newsflesh series that came in on the tail end of the boom. IMO.

Heh, I know way too much about zombies. I lived and breathed that stuff through college.

Everyone in my town is hugely into The Walking Dead

Becca C. said:

Everyone in my town is hugely into The Walking Dead

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Same here.

I can't help feeling that Zombieland with Woody H. had something to do with raising its popularity. It might even become a cult flick.

tri

triceretops said:

I can't help feeling that Zombieland with Woody H. had something to do with raising its popularity. It might even become a cult flick.

tri

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Loved Zombieland. Not super into zombies in general, though.

A lot of my male friends went through a phase where everything and anything could and should be about zombies. Except that they didn't read a lot of YA books, and I can't really think of many examples in YA.

My brother is one of those all-zombies-all-the-time people. He's a "zombie survivalist"

Windcutter said:

I wonder if SIEGE AND STORM is going to make the NYT list like the first book did. It seems nearly all I saw up there recently was either THE 5TH WAVE or famous contemps like TFIOS.

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It did

Zombies are rising in pop culture, but I don't think it'll be able to support the entire horror genre into young adult reading. I think if a lot SF writers could make a semi-linear storyline with a few likeable characters, that could jump on the ride.

A bit OT but can you guys give me some zombie recs? Both well done and 'OMG This is awful!' ones are fine. I have a plot bunny that refuses to die (lol!) so I kind of want to see what other writers have done with this zombie thing.

Becca C. said:

Everyone in my town is hugely into The Walking Dead

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Becca, don't worry. If your town is ever overrun with zombies, they won't stay long. There's hardly anybody there. Heh heh heh.

jessicarabica said:

Becca, don't worry. If your town is ever overrun with zombies, they won't stay long. There's hardly anybody there. Heh heh heh.

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LOL.

I'm pretty sure Whistler is already experiencing a zombie outbreak... yeesh, that town.

lolchemist said:

A bit OT but can you guys give me some zombie recs? Both well done and 'OMG This is awful!' ones are fine. I have a plot bunny that refuses to die (lol!) so I kind of want to see what other writers have done with this zombie thing.

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Carrie Ryan's work. I've only read The Forest of Hamds and Teeth, which eventually ignored the zombies for a romantic plot tumor, but it had potential. I haven't read the follow-ups.

Charlie Higson's The Enemy, The Dead, The Fear and (I think) The Sacrifice. Lots of characters, pretty gruesome, kind of hit and miss at the same time.

Jonathan Maberry's Rot and Ruin and sequels. I've only read the first so far. The MC almost made me quit the first 1/3 of the book. Then he got better and had a pretty decent character arc.

Ilsa J Bick's Ashes. Starts out pretty straight up zombie apocalypse. Then it becomes ... Something else and MC contracts some stupid and forgets how awesome she is for some boy. Also ends of a cliffhanger that left me wishing I had a physical copy so I could defenstrate it.

You could make the case that the mutated creatures in Ann Agguire's Enclave are zombies, but they're just kind of only there for the first part of the book.

And then there's the Zombies vs. Unicorns anthology from a few years back. Some are good and some make no sense. And then there's Maureen Johnson's story that involves the babysitter to an Angeline Jolie clone's army of zombie babies. Yeah, it's all over the place.

On the adult side, lots to choose from. I still highly recommend Mira Grant's Feed, Deadline, and Blackout. Just be prepared to have your heart stomped on a bit.

Also, you can't go wrong with having a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide.

Books I have not read so I can't attest to their quality:

This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers (SO was meh on it)
The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
I think Amanda Hocking has a zombie series.

I'm gonna stop now.

lolchemist said:

A bit OT but can you guys give me some zombie recs? Both well done and 'OMG This is awful!' ones are fine. I have a plot bunny that refuses to die (lol!) so I kind of want to see what other writers have done with this zombie thing.

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Adult, but WORLD WAR Z by Max Brooks is a very very interesting read.

KateSmash said:

Also, you can't go wrong with having a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide.

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My husband got this for me and was SO EXCITED because he's terrible with gifts and thought he'd hit a home run. I wanted to love it, but alas. It just made me anxious that I'm completely unprepared for the end times.

Yo.

Anyone with twitter should check out the #MSWL hashtag to read the wish lists of agents and editors. I'm seeing lots of thriller requests and I've seen about five say they'd love a good heist book, like Oceans 11.

Tons of YA on there, plus MG and some adult.


ETA: oh and because some people are just not good at the Internet, it's not a pitch thing. Not pitching. Just take notes. Although some have asked that you put the hashtag in your subject line when you query if you think your MS matches

In addition to the above, there's a tumblr (lemme get back to you on the link) that's collecting the tweets to weed out the spam.

A few hours ago when the tag first started was inundated with wishes for pirates and historicals. In case you have something ready to go.

Yes, I'm making a note of all the ones asking for historicals, though they're mostly US-based and I plan to try UK agents first.

No-one has mentioned zombies so far. Quite a few seem to want YA thrillers, especially psychological ones.

There was also a lot about LGBT characters, preferably where the mc's sexual orientation isn't the main thing about them.

Can someone provide a link to the agents asking for historicals? I have my BATB retelling all ready to go (It's a retelling but set in 1830s). Thanks so much.

Belle_91 said:

Can someone provide a link to the agents asking for historicals? I have my BATB retelling all ready to go (It's a retelling but set in 1830s). Thanks so much.

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I can message you the ones I cut and pasted from the first hour or so, if that would help.

The Tumblr will eventually have all the tweets on and you can search it by 'historical fiction', but they've reached their limit for the day so most of them aren't up there yet.