Late to the party - Amanda Ashby

Of course when I called this post 'late to the party' I wasn't being literal since between genetics, oldest child syndrome and being born as an impatient Aries, being late isn't really my style (and by late I mean not being early). However, when it comes to trends and popular culture, that is another thing entirely and I'm afraid to say that I'm almost always late.

Take for example my current favorite CD. Nirvana. And no, I'm not listening to it because I'm feeling reflective or trying to relive my glory days, I'm listening to it for the first time and finally understand why they are considered such an amazing band (though I have to tell you that there is nothing quite so uncool as a 40 year old mother of 2 driving along pretending that she is a grunge loving 18 year old drop out).

Another thing I've only just got into is Battlestar Galactica which I see Donna has recently blogged about. How did I manage to miss it the first time around? Was I living under a rock? Especially since thanks to being a 40 year old mother, I do remember watching the series from the first time around and I was a fan back then. Anyway, the good news is that I've only watched the first season so I have a lot of viewing pleasure to go. Not to mention it will help me decide if Starbuck really could kick Jack Bauer's ass? I'm thinking yes, though perhaps it's too soon for me to call it?

But I digress, I'm talking about my habit of coming to things a bit late, and it seems there is one small exception to this habit of a lifetime. Zombies. Yeah, I know, if you're going to break a habit you might as well do it in a random style.

Anyway, when I decided to write a zombie book (spurred on by red wine, a love of Shaun of the Dead and the bad habit of laughing every time I heard the 'z' word) I had no idea that anyone else would even be thinking about zombies let alone writing about them. But through some weird fluke of having the right idea at the right time, it seems that for now zombies are most definitely the new black, or at least the new vampire and there are five of us who have zombie books coming out in the next two months. Weird huh?

My own young adult book, Zombie Queen of Newbury High is about what happens with a teenage girl accidentally turns her entire senior year into flesh eating zombies and has to find a cure before they eat her (and totally ruin prom) and is out in March.

Then there is Stacey Jay, whose young adult book You Are So Undead to Me came out yesterday and is about Megan Berry who tries to balance her life as a zombie settler and a school girl with comic results. Another young adult book is Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth about what happens after a zombie Apocalypse. Then there is SG Browne's amazing zombie lament called Breathers, which is a must read for everyone because it is so brilliant. And finally there is Mark Henry's second zombie book called Road Trip of the Living Dead, which is sort of like Sex in the City but with better clothing and more flesh eating.

Of course after zombies I'm pretty sure I'll go back to being about ten years behind the time, but in the meantime I'm going to pretend that I totally did it on purpose. Now, did I put my legwarmers and my Frankie Says Relax tee-shirt?

Amanda Ashby
You Had Me at Halo (out now) 4 1/2 stars Romantic Times
Zombie Queen of Newbury High (March 2009)