DO ANYTHING BUT BORE ME, SAYS KEVIN J. BURKE. HE SURE DOESN'T BORE HIS READERS!

 

A debut that is anything but boring.

Swedish Zombie: What was it that made ​​you start writing about the apocalypse and zombies? What were your first influences?

Kevin J Burke:  I first really took notice of zombies when the remake of Dawn of the Dead scared me half to death.  I literally couldn’t sleep for weeks imagining the savagery and determination of the new, fast zombie.  As someone who thought I had been desensitized to everything, I found it intriguing that something could hold power over me and frighten me.  So I confronted it head-on.  Saw Shaun of the Dead, got scared by it (as crazy as that might sound).  Walked into a screening of Romero’s Land of the Dead practically quaking in my boots, totally regretting my decision to buy a ticket.  But like most fears, when you face it, you eventually conquer it.  I did that, I’m not scared anymore and I love zombies now.  So much so, that I write about them.

Swedish Zombie:  How do you look upon the zombies? What do they mean to you? Are they metaphors, or simply cool monsters?

Kevin J Burke:  I’m probably in the minority, but I think they’re just cool monsters.  Like I said, they had the power to scare me, which I find appealing.  I can see where people are coming from when they try to psycho-analyze why we find certain things frightening but it’s not something I like to write about or dwell on.  If a movie or book starts pounding me over the head with metaphors and messages, I tend to roll my eyes and lower my opinion of that work.

Swedish Zombie:  Zombie enthusiasts are often conservative. How much do you think that one should experiment with the concept?

Kevin J Burke:  The only rule I go by is “Entertain me!”  If you want to tell a regular, classic zombie tale that breaks no new ground but is done really well, I’m all for it.  If you want to go nuts and say zombies can fly and when they spit on you, your face melts off, well that’s interesting too so go for it!  As long as I’m not bored.  Do anything but bore me.

Swedish Zombie:  It is often hard to pick favorites, perhaps it is simply foolish to try. But are there two or three books in modern zombie fiction that you think has meant something extra for the genre?

Kevin J Burke:  I haven’t actually read it, but World War Z kind of put zombie literature on the map, so to speak.  I hear it’s very good.  Same goes for Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.  Anything that’s wildly successful and in the mainstream is good for all of us lesser known authors in the genre. 

Swedish Zombie: How do you consider the genre's future? Zombies seem to be viable. Can this peek last and if so what

Kevin J Burke:  There are peaks and valleys to everything.  Right now paranormal stuff is red hot, but it would be naïve to think that it will stay like that indefinitely.  As authors, all we can do is put forth our best effort every time.  If Permuted Press continues to crank out one amazing book after another, then there’s no reason the zombie craze can’t continue for a long time.  If the audience starts thinking that every zombie book they read is total garbage, then the bubble will burst.  It’s up to all of us to make sure that doesn’t happen any time soon.  But even if it does, zombies will be back.  They have become such an iconic monster spanning almost every culture that it’s hard to imagine them not being around in one form or another.

Swedish Zombie:  A good book is always right. Some writers want to renew, others strive to convey an already well-known story with his oh hers unique twist. How do you look upon your own writings?

Kevin J Burke:  I call The Last Mailman my love letter to zombies.  I always wanted to be a writer, though I never set out to be a “zombie guy.”  But when I started watching all the zombie movies, it became a part of me and it was then a natural draw.  I think I did manage to throw some of my own little twists into the zombie story, but for the most part, I was saluting everything I had seen and paying homage to zombies … in a way that is uniquely my own.

Swedish Zombie:  Through the ages, writers and directors stuck to various explanations for the end of the world.: infections from space, environmental degradation, military experiments, terrorism etc. Which scenario behind the zombie apocalypse do you think is most interesting / believable at the moment?

Kevin J Burke:  As I said before, I don’t like to get too caught up in the message.  If the zombie apocalypse is caused by the military, then there’s probably going to be a lot of time devoted to “Hey, isn’t war bad, man?”  If it’s environmental, then you’re going to hear about how we’re killing the planet.   My favorite explanation is NO explanation.  Who cares how it started and why?  That zombie that used to be your best friend wants to gnaw your arm off- now deal with that before you worry about why he’s doing it!  

Swedish Zombie:  What will you write in the future? What stories remain in you, do you think? Is there anything in particular you feel like writing?

Kevin J Burke:  I plan to keep writing zombie stories until I crash and burn.  Permuted Press has made my dreams of being published come true and if they want ’Last Mailman: Part 12’ someday, then I will probably feel obligated to try and give it to them.

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Kevin J. Burke is one of this year's Permuted Press debutants. The Last Mailman: Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Zombies! Is now available from all major internet book stores, and it is truly a great read! The novel is described with these words at permutedpress.com:

“Four-year degree in business. Trained in hand-to-hand combat.

Works well with zombies.

This is the resume of the last mailman on Earth. It is the near future, and the modern world we knew has been overrun and destroyed by reanimated corpses who hunt humans for food. Mankind has retreated to small pockets of civilization and practically surrendered to the walking dead. But one man routinely leaves behind the safety and comfort to find the people and things we’ve long abandoned. He battles the elements. He battles his own brewing insanity.

But mostly, he battles zombies.”

You can visit Kevin J. Burke online at kevinjburke.com

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