Guest Ghoul: Carrie Ryan, author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth

So here I was typing merrily along on my zombie novel when I was suddenly faced with a very important decision. There’s a dog in my book and he jumps into a horde of zombies… do the zombies go for him?

zombie dog Pictures, Images and Photos

I think this is an issue many zombie writers face: to infect or not to infect the animals of the world. I honestly had no problem infecting my lovely little dog (even though there is the age old adage that no dogs shall be killed in books else face the wrath of fans forevermore I wondered if it counted if said dog can come back from the dead… though I guess I Am Legend kind of answered that question).

But then I started to think about it some more. If dogs could become infected, what about all the other animals? And while zombie cows would be totally awesome, I think zombie mosquitoes would totally suck (query: since roaches are impossible to kill anyways, aren’t they basically already zombies?).

Naturally, because I’ll take any excuse not to write, this got me thinking. What would be the worst zombie animal? So I posed this question to friends and I have to give them props for some really creative and yet gruesome zombie animal ideas. First came the obvious: zombie cats but mostly cause they’re so ubiquitous. As has been pointed out before, zombie cats who can see in the dark could be danger.

But as dangerous as zombie chipmunks?

Crafty, small, high pitched and capable of squeezing into small spaces. Thankfully, a slow moving chipmunk would be easy to mow down by anything with wheels.


Then there was the suggestion of zombie tapeworms (though it was pointed out that they already eat human flesh so really, what’s the advantage here?) Zombie hampsters...
zombie hampster Pictures, Images and Photos
elephants...

squid...

and platypus (what I wouldn’t give for a good zombie platypus picture)!

Me? I think the worst would be zombie narwhals. Sure you’d be safe so long as you stayed on land. But seriously, what could be cooler than zombie narwhals?

For real… they’re zombies and unicorns all in one. Nuff said.

So this leads me to the discussion point of the day, what is your most feared zombie animal? And how would you kill it if cornered by it in a dark alley? Extra points for pointing to a cool picture of said zombie animal!

Comments

Zombie bunnies. Bunnicula (though not technically a zombie) screwed me up at a young age and I've never been the same.

Kill it?? Kill a ZOMBIE BUNNY? Impossible. I've seen the Holy Grail. I know when to not push my luck.
Anonymous said…
AFMBE had zombie cows in it, so when I wrote up an adventure for it, I had the zombie plaque originate with the zombie cows. The plaque spread through the town when I bunch of frat boys decided to go cow tipping and it all went horribly wrong.

Good times.

Zombie cows are made of win.

...and decaying bovine flesh of course
Anonymous said…
Jackie, you really don't have to worry about the bunnies. Lets face it you could get a holy hand grenade. That should do the job. You might want to get a pair of these:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/8148/

As to the worst animal zombie, probably anything that would get you flat on your back laughing your backside off. Lets face it, they wouldn't have to chase you as you'd be incapacitated due to laughter.
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said…
My most feared zombie animal would be the Irish Elk. Their antlers can grow up to twelve feet long! Imagine a zombiefied gigantic deer running towards you. I'd probably start hemorrhaging in the left side of my brain.

But since these creatures are extinct, I would have to choose zombie ants. And I quote, "Ants are the only species besides humans that carry out wars and enslave their own. And by enslave we mean pulling out the ant whips and putting the other guy to work against his will." Imagine some of these critters enveloping you entire body (in places you thought no man/woman has went before) and then start munching down.

How would I kill it? Run into the nearest pool/basin of water/river you can find and pray the little buggers can't hold their breath as long as you. There are soap and pipe tobacco methods. But, who wants to mix soap water when they're writhing in pain?
Nicole Peeler said…
Okay, that post was HILARIOUS. Damned near killed me. And my most feared zombie animal would be my dead golden retriever. He was really sweet and dumb, so he just wanted to be near everyone. Which is typical golden retriever behavior. Only he was also this bizarre combination of Macgyver and Harry Houdini, so NOTHING could keep him shut in or out. If you combined his size and his frightening ability to always get into/out of whatever he wanted, with a zombified hunger for brains . . . I shudder to think of the results.
Jessica said…
Personally, I think either or both zombie pigs and zombie chickens. Let's face it, pigs will eat anything anyway and chickens are just freaking scary. Yeah...those would defintinely be my no no zombie aminals.
Jaye Wells said…
I think I speak for anyone who's ever been attacked by this heinous creature---as I have-- would agree with my choice.

ZOMBIE GOOSE!

The hissing! The beak stabbing! The poop!
Anonymous said…
lol I love all the zombie animal suggestions! Anything zombie in the water would freak me out. I'm already afraid of water (in large quantities of course), so a zombie shark or something of that ilk would be pretty scary.
circe said…
A zombie kitteh would still be pretty cute. But a zombie parrot would get quite annoying with all that "Polly wanna brain" malarky.
Karen said…
My 14 yr. old says zombie mice because rodents have those constantly growing teeth and they can pretty much gnaw through anything to get to you. And they can swim. Imagine a horde of them. You wouldn't be safe anywhere. EEK!

For me, I think a zombie hippo would be the ultimate in scary. Since they've already proven that many believed crocodile attacks are actually hippo attacks (yes, they eat meat!), and the damn things can live on land & sneak up on you under water, I shudder to think of the effectiveness of them.

Popular posts from this blog

THE WRITE PRETENDAS

Excerpt time!

Yeah, one more reluctant adult here with free books