My Christmas Book

Passing Strange, the third novel of my Generation Dead series, features as its protagonist an undead teen lesbian who lost her battle with depression. She returns from death and must face not only her illness, but a myriad of other forces trying to destroy her. In retrospect, writing such a book with such a character was a bit of a career risk....

I think it is probably the least read of all my published novels, but it may also be the most deeply felt.  The reader correspondence regarding Passing Strange related many stories about how the novel had been helpful to the reader in facing and getting help with depression, in dealing with the loss of a loved one, and in one case, encouraging a reader in a decision to come out to her parents and friends. 

I've been carrying one of those letters folded up in my wallet for a number of years now, a letter that never fails to bring me to the verge of happy tears whenever I read it, which I  do in my own darkest moments. 

The idea held by Wallace and others that the purpose of fiction is to make readers feel less lonely in the world has always appealed to me. I believe the act of writing often produces the same result for the writer. I'm blessed to have had moments of real connection with readers which truly made that circle feel complete.

I made a number of mistakes writing Passing Strange, but I'm also very proud of it and grateful for the positive effect it seems to have had on some of the people who read it. Passing Strange is also a Christmas story in the same way that films like Die Hard and Gremlins are Christmas stories--part of the narrative occurs during the holiday season. My protagonist--Karen--even lands a seasonal job at the mall when she is mistaken for a living girl. Full disclosure, we aren't exactly talking The Christmas Shoes, but I argue that it counts! So if you are looking for a strange story set during the holidays to read or give as a gift, Passing Strange might fit the bill.

Too Soon?

I'm not sure why this special, one-of-a-kind Christmas edition of Generation Dead makes me so happy every year when I post it, but whatever. If you want to give the gift of zombie this holiday season to that special someone, HERE is a great place to start.

I do have a few copies of the first editions of the Generation Dead series, both paperback and hardcover, for anyone who would like to gift (or greedily keep) a signed copy. I may even have some of the Spanish editions, I'd have to check. Also some of Break My Heart 1,000 Times, I think. Cover price plus shipping but if you want a bunch I'll cut you a sweet deal. 

Generation Dead

Available now!

The Generation Dead series!

Including newly released

Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead

Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead Cover

Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead

Table of Contents:

The collected My So-Called Undeath blog

Stitches:

1. How's Life

2. Doll Parts

3. My Dead Heart

4. Purpose Statement

New Generation Dead stories:

1. Still Small Voices

2. Melon Heads

3. The Pain of Being Alive

Bonus new Break My Heart 1,000 Times story:

1. Passing Swiftly

On sale soon.  This will be the first time that any of this material has appeared in physical print.

I am debating including a brief author's note. I always loved when Stephen King kicked off his short story collections with his own introductions. He'd act as his own Crypt Keeper, at times curating, cuing, teasing, and carnival barking not only the work itself but also the process of creating the work. And, often, the impact that the work had on the community at large. It was an essay and not an introduction, but seek out his "Ever Et Raw Meat? and Other Weird Questions" for a great example. I used to dream about receiving correspondence similar to what he mentions in the article, although I no longer et meat, raw or otherwise.

I was always fascinated by how well those intros and essays effectively conveyed the unique experience of being a professional writer while also revealing a complete understanding of what it meant to be a "constant reader", and so the idea of trying something similar is appealing.

Then again, I always hated when just about anyone else tried the same stunt so we'll see.

Up from the Underground?

Generation Dead, Generation Dead Book 2: Kiss of Life, and Generation Dead Book 3: Passing Strange are now available in print and digital editions.  You can help out by recommending them to readers who missed them or were too young to read them the first time around. Reviews on the new listings would be greatly appreciated as well, as would social media/blog/person you met on the bus mentions.

So would buying one, actually. Click  Danny's Amazon Author Page to find and order.

I hope to have the fourth book available by the end of June. The cover art is completed and is every bit as gorgeous as the others. Generation Dead Book 4: My Best Friends Are Dead will be available in print and digital, and will include (for the first time in a physical edition!) all four stories from Stitches, the MySoCalledUndeath blogs, and a number of never before seen stories. The new stories set the stage for the next novel in the series, Generation Dead Book 5: Get Animated!, which I'm planning on releasing next year.

Your support is not only appreciated--it is critical! One new reader for each person who read the series when it was originally released will help make GD5 happen, so anything that you can do to  spread the word and bring the next generation of Generation Dead readers into the Haunted House will make a huge difference.

Back From The Grave?

Generation Dead's Colette, By Yaz

In my top ten list of favorite things about being a writer, number four is "Having my work inspire other creative people to do creative work."(number five is "Getting to go first in the buffet line." It's an awesome life!). Every so often a creative person sends me a gift of their creativity; I have been very fortunate to have Yaz Basusta sending me artwork since the very first days of publication. She created, among other things, the Zombie Danny that I often use as my author photo was created by her.

This drawing of Colette was a recent gift from her--and really the gift of art is twice a gift--there's the gift of the time and energy of its creation, and then the work itself. Thank you,Yaz!

You can visit Yaz and see more of her work at her DeviantArt site HERE.

Generation Dead Optioned for Television

I'm happy to report that the paperwork is done and that the Generation Dead series has been optioned for television. Apparently there is some other zombie-related show on tv now that is sort of popular or something--so I'm certain there is a huge audience that will accept Phoebe and her undead pals into their homes on a regular basis. You would, wouldn't you? Let's play casting director! Who would you have as Phoebe if you called the shots? As Adam? Karen? Tommy? As that kid who threw a corn cob at Tommy? Who does that? January Jones would be excellent as Angela Hunter; I wonder if she's busy?

Stitch #4: Purpose Statement

Last year I was happy to be involved with the Dear Bully project, which was put together by my friends Carrie Jones and Megan Kelley Hall. The initial idea for the Generation Dead series came out of my reaction to watching a television show about bullying in schools, and many of my story ideas for the world of GD involve some aspect of bullying. "Purpose Statement" is one story directly in that vein.

I foresee myself writing stories about pretty much all of the more peripheral characters in Generation Dead--since writing Stitches I've written one about Mal--and I've wanted to do a story about Popeye since introducing him in Kiss of Life (Tak will take his turn at bat soon also; I think there could be a whole book about him!) and "Purpose Statement" grew out of that desire.

It is one of the darkest tales in the whole series, but Popeye is one of the darkest characters I've written. I realize now that Margi's appearance in the story was to try and bring some light into that darkness. Popeye is one of those people who always feels that the world is against him, but unlike most people, he prefers it that way.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Don't forget to save $3.19 of your Amazon, B&N, or iTunes gift cards so you can download Generation Dead:Stitches! And eat a few candy caaaaaaanes!

Stitch #2: Doll Parts

Writing this story was like scratching an itch--I'd left poor Sylvia in pieces at the end of Kiss of Life, and then she ended up on the cutting room floor (pun intended) in Passing Strange after I'd excised a long chapter that more fully resolved her situation than her brief cameo in the final book hinted at. I wasn't pleased with making the deletion at the time, but in retrospect the cut made more sense for the novel, and "Doll Parts" was the easiest of the four stories to write. I knew the tone I wanted, I knew the beginning the middle and the end, so all I needed to do was try to get the order of the words right.

My first publications for pay were horror short stories, and "Doll Parts" is similar in tone. And yes, for those of you who are aware of my worshipful love of Mystery Science Theater, the initial inspiration for the story did come from a movie they spoofed called The Brain that Wouldn't Die. That, and the idea that the existence of zombies would provide all sorts of challenges and opportunities to our medical community, some of which would not be approached with good intentions.

Stitch #1: How's Life

My first writing sale, as in "I send you a story, you send me money", occurred two years before I sold Generation Dead. Although I had a number of stories "on the street", it was the only sale I made that year. I was paid seventeen dollars and thirty-one cents; the publisher paid by the word, much like the pulp magazines of old, a detail that somehow made the transaction seem more concrete and legitimate to me. They paid me on publication via Paypal, so I didn't have the thrill that I've often read about of making the lonely trek to the mailbox on the corner and finding the payment envelope within, but Then again I had the money. I then set for myself a business goal for my writing: I would try and double my writing income every year, so that the following year I would need to make $34.62, the next $69.24, then $138.42, etc. Doing the math out for ten years helped me feel like I had a pretty spectacular career on the horizon. I sold some horror stories and a horror music column the following year, enough to beat the $34.62 goal, and the year after that I was given a contract for Generation Dead and Kiss of Life, a contract that was worth quite a bit more than $69.24, so hooray for setting goals.

While working on those two books, I did not write any short stories. I wrote a few ideas down--I've got a roomful of story idea featuring GD characters-- but it wasn't until I was invited to submit a story to the Kiss Me Deadly anthology that I actually wrote one. I was thrilled with the way "Many Happy Returns" turned out, and writing it rekindle my passion for short stories. Writing the stories that ended up being included in Stitches was a pure pleasure, a nice break from working on novels, and a great opportunity to write different types of stories (one of the Stitches is a straight-up horror story) as well as explore some of the character relationships in a deeper way than I was able to in the novels.

"How's Life", the first story in the collection and the first of the four that I wrote, comes directly from that impulse to explore relationships. One thing that nagged me in the novels was that I didn't take more of an opportunity to work with Margi, especially how she worked to overcome the fear and loathing she has at the start of the series for zombies. It doesn't come out on the page as much as I would have liked, but in Kiss of Life especially I wanted to juxtapose Phoebe's instant acceptance of Adam with Margi's initial rejection of Colette. "How's Life" is a story of the emotional work that friends sometimes have to do to strengthen their friendships.

There was a song echoing in my mind when I was writing the story, "What is Life" by George Harrison. Perhaps wrongly, I've always assumed that song to be about the love between friends and not romantic love, and its tone and the sentiments express match closely what I hoped to convey in my story. Catch me in the right mood and I get all choked up listening to that very beautiful song.

I almost used his title as my title, but then I thought that "How's Life" was something Margi or Colette would be more likely to say to each other. I instead adopted George's no question mark technique in the title; omitting the question mark makes his song a declaration and I've always been in love with that semantic nuance.

I Saw My Skull

I've only had real stitches once in my life--23 of them. Fifteen years ago or so I knocked heads with a guy while playing basketball. I split my forehead open; he got a concussion. Smashmouth athleticism! I literally could see my skull in the curving wound above my left eye; I touched it with two of my fingers. I was a gory mess. 'Cause guess what? Head wounds bleed a lot.

I was conscious and joking around, on an adrenaline high because of all of the slam dunks I'd been throwing down. About have a dozen medical staff gathered around to watch the doctor stitch me up, probably just because it was one of those cool non-life threatening wounds. I never took the Percocet they gave me.*

Stitches the book has nothing to do with that harrowing experience. I called it that because the stories link or "stitch" the novels together; "How's Life" occurs after GD but before KOL, "Doll Parts" happens after KOL but before PS, the last two happen after PS and before...??? Plus I liked Stitches as a title because I picture some zombies as being stitched up, Frankenstein-esque, sewn together by hands less skillful than those that stitched me.

Over the next few days, I will blog about each of the four stories in Stitches, now out at fine ebook sellers everywhere.

*This story is actually mostly true. Except for the slam dunk part.

Generation Dead:Stitches

Out today in ebook! iBook,Kindle and Nook!

"How's Life"
"Doll Parts"
"My Dead Heart" (Exclusive to this collection!)
"Purpose Statement"

This one is dedicated (or is that deadicated?) to YOU. It's true! Buy a copy if you don't believe me!

Get All Stitched Up

Available for preorder at many fine e-tailers!