Other books written by David Wellington:
99 Coffins: A Historical Vampire Tale
Sci-Fi Author Profile
David Wellington
David Wellington was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the hometown of George Romero and therefore the birthplace of the modern zombie. He attended Syracuse University and then Penn State, where he received an MFA in creative writing. He currently resides in New York City.
Website: www.davidwellington.net
Book Reviews: Monster Island, Monster Nation, Monster Planet
Interview: AlienAlmanac.com interviews David Wellington (April 2008)
Zombie fans, pick up this book! Marked as the first in a trilogy, the story takes place in New York City after a global disaster that has transformed the dead into flesh-eating zombies. A small team is assigned to retrieve needed pharmaceuticals out of the city before they are devoured. Fast-paced, blood-gurgling, excitement, you don't want to miss this one.
Monster
Nation by David Wellington
Monster Nation is a prequel to the first book Monster Island, essentially telling the story of how it all began. Unfortunately, this book uses the same formula as the first except the names are different. I'm a fan of zombies films and I did like the first book, however I feel I was a little gypped by this book.
Monster Planet by David Wellington
This is a sequel to Monster Island and picks up several years later where the survivors of a global zombie assault are drawn back to the United States to stop evil from reigning forever. The book is well written and exciting. There's actually some drama and mystery regarding who is actually in charge of the zombie army. The story leaves you guessing until the end. Enjoy it and add it to your zombie novel collection.
AlienAlmanac.com interviews David Wellington
I just finished David Wellington's third zombie book in the Monster series titled Monster Planet. I thoroughly enjoyed all three books and wanted to find out more about the author, his writing approach, and other things that interests him. David has been traveling quite a bit lately, spreading the word about his newest book, 99 Coffins. I'm appreciative of David's time participating in this interview.
MEG 04.2008
AA: Some of our site visitors may be familiar with your novels
and only know you through the brief biographies in the back pages. Can
you tell us a little more about yourself?
DW: I was born in Pittsburgh, PA in 1971. I've been writing since I was
a kid but I published my first novel in 2005. I went about it in an
unusual way: I serialized the book online, writing three chapters a week
and then posting them on the web every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Readers were given the opportunity of commenting on each chapter as it
appeared, and the comments shaped the chapters yet to come (though not
always in direct or obvious ways). That book, Monster Island, proved to
be so popular online that it was picked up for publication as a trade
paperback by Thunder's Mouth Press. Until recently all my books appeared
online first before they hit the bookstores. My latest novel, 99
Coffins, was the first that never appeared online.
I currently live in New York City with my wife, Elisabeth, and my dog
Mary. I'm a trained librarian and I worked for the United Nations on a
digital archive project. Now I write full time.
AA: I read that you've been writing since the age of 6. What's
inspires you to write?
DW: I was a rabid Star Wars fan when the first movie came out, in 1977.
I wanted more stories like that, so I turned to books--science fiction
novels, originally--and I was always struck by the idea that I could do
better, I could write cooler stories. I was wrong; I had no idea what a
good story was at that tender age, but that childish arrogance drove me
to try. I've been doing it for so long now that if I don't write
something every day I have weird dreams--my subconscious needs that
outlet or it torments me.
AA: What do you like most about the process of writing? What do you
like the least?
DW: I like writing the last sentence of a book the most. I like writing
the first sentence the least. It's always a struggle starting a new
project--I never think I can do it. Once it gets going, though, a book
drives itself and I just try to hold on and enjoy the ride.
AA: You've had a very interesting writing career breaking into the
horror genre by publishing some of your early works online for free.
What made you seek out this method? What was one of your early
challenges publishing online?
DW: I turned to the web because I couldn't get published anywhere else!
My style and especially my subject matter were so different from what
other people were doing and publishing that I just couldn't get anyone
to take me seriously. It turned out that people actually did like my
stories, but I had to prove it first in the real world. The internet
provided that opportunity. There were so many challenges along the way.
The hardest part was probably sticking to the schedule. There are days
when I just can't seem to write anything useful. I'll plug away at it
for hours and finally erase everything I've done because it feels clunky
or wrong. I didn't have that option when I had to produce three chapters
a week, without fail.
AA: You grew up in Pittsburgh, same as George Romero. Did you ever
meet Mr. Romero?
DW: I've never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Romero. I'd like to, very
much.
AA: Which do you like more, Mr. Romero's original movies or his
latest updated versions? Which one is your favorite?
DW: Night of the Living Dead isn't just a classic horror movie, it's one
of the best movies ever made. Dawn of the Dead is a brilliant horror
film. The remake of Dawn of the Dead is so completely different from the
original but they're both excellent films and they both work in their
own separate ways.
AA: Monster Island, Monster Nation and Monster Planet were fantastic
books. What interests you about zombies? Why write about this particular
sector of horror?
DW: Thanks! Zombies interest me because they're just like us--but with
their personalities stripped away. When you're dead, the little things
that make you who you are--your tastes, your pet peeves, your guilty
pleasures, your noblest features, are all gone. Zombies are scary
because they show us what a thin line separates thinking, feeling beings
from mindless abominations, and that this line is so easily crossed. In
a zombie movie all it takes to make you a monster is one bite, a little
scratch, anything. In reality the difference can be as simple as one bad
decision, one failure of humanity.
AA: Did Monster Planet officially end this series or do you think we
might see more zombies in future works?
DW: I had outlines for at least three more books, maybe as many as six.
I still have them. For now I'm working on other projects, but I never
really stop writing a given project. We'll see...
AA: You just published 99 Coffins. Can you tell us a little about
your new book?
DW:99 Coffins is my best book so far and I'm really proud of it. It's a
vampire novel, set both during the present day and during the most
tumultuous part of the Civil War. It stands well on its own but it's
also a sequel to my first vampire novel, 13 Bullets.
AA: What do you like most about vampires?
DW: Vampires scare me, which is how it should be. I wrote these books
partly to respond to the growing trend of romance novels starring
vampires. When I was a kid I read Dracula and Stoker's monster really
scared me--I didn't want to go on a date with him. I didn't want him
anywhere near my neck. When I wrote my own vampire stories I wanted to
make them monsters again. Predators. That's scary to me, that there
could be something out there that preys on human beings, and it can't
easily be stopped. That we would have to live in a world where we
weren't the top of the food chain.
AA: If you died and came back undead, which would you rather be a
zombie, a vampire, or a werewolf?
DW: Well, werewolves aren't technically undead... but I see the point.
All three of these monsters are cursed, shoved out of society and forced
to live in the shadows. I guess being a vampire would be best, since
you'd retain the most control over yourself. I'm terrified by the notion
of losing control, of not being in charge of my own life. My vampires
are like drug addicts, they have to have the blood, and if they don't
get it all they can do is obsess over it, endlessly thinking of ways to
get blood, willing to do horrible things to have one more drink. That
doesn't sound very appealing to me. Still, it's better than being a
mindless, rotting corpse or--worse--getting to be normal some of the
time but then every so often (say, when the moon is full) being
transformed into a creature with no humanity in it at all.
AA: Do you ever see yourself deviating from horror and writing any
other speculative fiction? What else interests you?
DW: I write all kinds of fiction and I don't necessarily think of myself
as primarily a horror writer. I've never been a big fan of genre labels.
If a story is set in the future, is it automatically science fiction? If
it includes magic, is it always fantasy? The term "speculative fiction"
is appealing but in the end even that is limiting. I try to just write
the story I have in mind and not worry about which shelf they'll put it
on in the bookstore.
AA: Which book are you reading now?
DW: Right now I'm reading Stained, by Lee Thomas. It starts out as a
serial killer novel, and I hate most serial killer novels, but then it
goes to some very interesting places and you start realizing you aren't
reading what you thought you were reading... I like any book that keeps
me guessing.
AA: Which movie are you looking forward to seeing in 2008?
DW: Iron Man looks like it'll be a lot of fun. Either that, or they had
a very good director do the trailers.
AA: Which TV shows are you watching?
DW: Mostly I Netflix my video choices. I watched every episode of the
Venture Brothers in one long marathon with very few bathroom breaks. I
could not get enough of that show.
AA: Are you working on any new novels?
DW: I'll have something to serialize this summer. I'm working on two
more vampire novels. Beyond that, all information is classified!
AA: Any advice for aspiring writers who may want to break into the
horror genre?
DW: Yes. Do it. Most people can't write a good story. That's because
they've never really tried. Set your sights high--there's no point in
learning how to write little, boring stories, even if there's a market
for them. Decide what kind of story you want to really write and just do
it. You'll fail many times, but do it again and again and eventually
you'll get somewhere.
AA: Where can fans find you in 2008? Any personal appearances?
DW: I'll be at Wrath of Con at the end of May--that's in Florida, they
have a good website you can check out, at
www.wrathofcon.org for more
information.
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