GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Interview: Kevin Richey author of Zombie Fairy Tales + giveaway | I Smell Sheep

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Interview: Kevin Richey author of Zombie Fairy Tales + giveaway

Recently I reviewed Blood Red Riding Hood, a fabulous fairy tale gone horribly wrong. I know there are tons of zombie retellings out there, but author Kevin Richey's sets his self apart. I was so thrilled with his story I wanted to pick his brain (not literally!). Don't let his little boy face fool you, he is a Coke-Cola fan and we all know what that means...

 Sharon: Tell us about your Zombie Fairy Tales series.
Kevin: Zombie Fairy Tales is an anthology series that retells classic fairy tales, but places the characters in a dark, zombie-infested world where they interact, sometimes fighting off the plague of the undead, and other times, becoming part of it.


Sharon: You look so young, what are you 12? <G>
Kevin: I’m vampiric like that. I’m actually nearly thirty, but still get carded for Rated R movies. ;)

Sharon: O_O I think I hate you just a little bit <G>

Sharon: You went to the animal fair. All the bees and birds were there. The big baboon by the light of the moon was combing his auburn hair. The monkey he got drunk and fell off the elephant’s trunk. The elephant sneezed and fell to his knees. So, what became of the monk, the monk, the monk?
Kevin: He became lunch, obviously.

Sharon: And that kids, is why you should never mix alcohol and pachyderms.

Sharon: When you aren’t writing what do you do?

Kevin: I’m a bit of a bum: I like to read, watch movies, stare out windows. If I could, I’d always be on vacation. I love traveling and visiting new places.


Sharon: Got a favorite vacationing spot?
Kevin: I like huge bodies of water, so beaches and oceans are a natural draw for me. I love lighthouses, and seagulls, and imagining that I’ve been swept away to my own private island (with WiFi and power outlets, somehow…). I also like big cities and big city museums; the old buildings and peopled streets; cities with distinctive characters, like New York or San Francisco. And, being a huge fan of all things Disney, I am a frequent visitor to the Disney theme parks. 

Sharon: Which fairy tale character do you think makes the scariest zombie? Which one makes the sexiest one?
Kevin: I think the children are the creepiest, maybe Peter Pan the most. I don’t know about sexy. The most romantic is easily the Beast.

Sharon: Which is your favorite fairy tale before and after zombie-ization? 
Kevin: Before: maybe Hansel and Gretel. It’s so grim and bleak and then shockingly violent. After: I think it’s a tie between Blood Red Riding Hood and The Little Mermaid of Death.

Sharon: Who does your covers?
Kevin: My boyfriend, David, did all the covers. We used friends as models, David and I did the zombie make-up, and then he took the photos. There’s more about the process in a behind the scenes blog I wrote. http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2581143-behind-the-scenes-the-cover-of-zombie-cinderella-ii

Sharon: That’s pretty cool! Do you have a picture of you as a zombie? Do you dress up for Halloween?
Kevin: I do dress up for Halloween, and I think for the past few years it has been as a zombie. And yes, there are pictures.

Sharon: You have another series Unloved Ones. Tell us about it.
Kevin: The Unloved Ones is based in modern day, with more realistic characters and settings, so in that respect it’s very different. But it’s also a reinvention of a familiar genre, because it is about seven teenagers who find out that they are the children of the same vampire, sent away to be raised by human families, only to come together again to find out that only one of them can survive to join the vampire world. The rest have to be killed—by each other. I’m writing a prequel series now, which introduces each of the siblings before they meet each other in the main series of novels. The novels begin in 2014.
all are only $.99/each for the kindle

Sharon: During the zombie apocalypse what is your weapon of choice and which fictional character would want to have your back?
Kevin: I think my weapon of choice isn’t really a weapon, but a sort of tool: a helicopter that somehow never runs out of fuel. Helicopters always seem to provide the happy ending in zombie stories, and I don’t know of any zombies that can fly, so it seems like the safest survival tool. As for a fictional character, I’d choose Batman, both because he can fly a helicopter, and because he’d offer the best protection.
Sharon: Good call on the helicopter. I would choose Optimus Prime… everyone knows why and no judging me! <G>

Sharon: Do you read comics/graphic novels? Got some favorites?
Kevin: I do. I’m a fan of most of the standards writers (Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman) and any Spider-Man or Batman lines. I like graphic novels and comics because they really are the perfect middle-ground for movies and books, and I’m obsessed with both of those.

Sharon: I agree! I love the horror/humor ones best.


Rapid Fire Round

Sharon: Death by axe or death by knife?

Kevin: Axe. It’s faster.


Sharon: Pepsi or Coke?
Kevin: Coke.

*Katie does the victory dance in the background*
Sharon: You know that part about hating you a little bit? Yeah, that just became a lot. :P
Kevin: I almost never drink sodas though. I’m more of a water/juice/iced tea kind of guy. But for some reason, I must drink Coke when I eat Chinese take-out.


Sharon: Ride a unicorn or ride Pegasus ?
Kevin: Pegasus


Sharon: Sexy librarian or naughty cop?
Kevin: Naughty cop


Sharon: Mexican or Chinese?
Kevin: Chinese

Sharon: Speedster or offroader?
Kevin: Offroader

Sharon: Jet ski or snowmobile?
Kevin: Snowmobile

Sharon: Cake or pie?
Kevin: PIE. All the way.
Sharon: Got a favorite?


Kevin: Savory: a traditional chicken pot pie is fine by me. Sweet: warm pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream.


Sharon: Thanks for visiting with us today. Got anything you want to let our readers know before we give you a tour of the dungeon?
Kevin: Just that the print edition of Zombie Fairy Tales might make a good Christmas gift this year. Just sayin’. ;)


About the Author:
website Facebook ZombieFairytales FB page | Twitter  Goodreads
Kevin Richey lives and writes in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Zombie Fairy Tales, a series of short stories set in a dark fairy tale universe plagued by zombies, and the forthcoming Unloved Ones series, a YA urban fantasy series about seven vampire siblings who have one year to reduce their family to a single member, by whatever means necessary.





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14 comments:

  1. The Ugly sisters from Cinderella - they are so awful that them being zombified would be really scary!

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  2. Rapunzel - think of all that hair streaming behind her and the damage she could do with it, if she realized what a weapon she had just with her hair. She could snag her prey with a hair lasso and drag it to her. Nasty.

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  3. Oh my....*thinking* I am going with the Gingerbread man...BRAIIINNNNSSSS

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  4. So many to choose from. Hmm. The dwarves from Snow White. They are short and you might not see them coming and they've got their numbers on their side!

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  5. I think they all have potential to be scary zombies, but the Big Bad Wolf from Red Riding Hood, would be really badass.

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  6. I think it's really cool how you get the covers done.

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  7. I think the witch from Sleeping Beauty would be the worst zombie...she used to scare me when I was a kid!

    Thank you for a generous giveaway!

    Barrie

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  8. The seven dwarfs from Snow White would be pretty creepy!

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  9. The witch from Sleeping Beauty.

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  10. Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Thanks for the giveaway. I would love to read this book.

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  11. The Big Bad Wolf from Red Riding Hood

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  12. Red Riding Hood. Something about that red cape and the basket. Creeepppyyy.

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  13. pinnochio! - regnod(at)yahoo(d0t)com

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