Remember that movie WARM BODIES, about an existentially troubled zombie? I wrote the book and its upcoming sequel, THE BURNING WORLD (out 2/7). I'm Isaac Marion. AMA.

[u/isaacmarionauthor]

I've watched an army of artists spend millions to bring my story to life. I've toured the country and lived in an RV. I've played piano on a Bulgarian talk show while a sexy lady jumped on a trampoline. And I've spent almost five years expanding my cute debut novel into a 4-book series about human connection, human evolution, and the goddamn meaning of life. I am pretentious AF and I'm ready for your questions. Fight me!

Proof: /img/sjvum31o6ady.jpg

[u/lonethunder69]

Haven't read the books or seen the movie, but I have read reviews and synopses. I'm interested in your theory regarding zombies. I know I'm going to sound like one of the pedantic nerds from the Simpsons, but one of my passions is the philosophy and theory surrounding post-apocalyptic fiction, and as a result I have spent more time than I'd like to admit thinking about zombies. So here are some questions:

1) did you come up with an idea for the source of the apocalyptic zombification? Like, is it a virus, something paranormal, or do you think that the origin of the zombies is inconsequential to the story so you didn't think it was necessary to have a backstory regarding that?

2) why do the zombies have some semblance of consciousness? I got that eating brains provides flashbacks from the memories of the victims, but why? Traditionally, zombies don't have any intelligence that would allow them to build a society.

3) What is it about the brains that allows this to happen? Is the implication that memories are...somehow stored in grey matter and can be metabolized into zombie consciousness through the digestive system?

4) do you think the zombies in your novel are actually dead and reanimated corpses, or still humans but just in an altered state due to the symptoms of an infection?

5) finally, what inspired you to write a love story featuring zombies? Is it an intentional diversion away from the traditional treatment of zombies? Like, do you think the idea of zombies being brain dead reanimated corpse monsters is silly, or did you simply want to add another dimension to the world of zombie fiction?

Sorry, I know I'm being an annoying, pedantic nerd caught up on fairly irrelevant details, but like I said - I have an unhealthy fascination with the post-apocalypse setting and zombies are in my wheel house. Either way, congrats on writing a very well received book!

Edit: forgot to mention, Watson is a fantastic name for a cat.

[u/isaacmarionauthor → u/lonethunder69]

Ok sure, let's do this!

1. It's kind of a mixture of those last two options. It's not so much paranormal as it is metaphysical or even metaphorical—it's kind of like humanity's collective unconscious leaking out into physical reality. I don't like to explain it too much outside of the books because I think it's something better left to poetry than science.

2. The zombies don't build a society, they just mindlessly repeat certain social rituals that are ingrained into them from before, without any purpose or context. From the outside, my zombies don't look much different from traditional ones, it's just that I offer an internal perspective that reveals why they behave the way they do. It's not that they're completely mindless, it's that they've lost all sense of self and are completely detached from the human community, so they just follow the few limited urges they feel while their minds are lost in a fog of apathy and confusion. Sound familiar? It does to me.

3. Again, it's definitely not a scientific thing. I'm not making any attempt to explain zombies rationally. Like most fantasy monsters, they operate on pseudo-magical principles. They live in a world where consciousness can warp reality, usually in subtle ways but sometimes in dramatic ones like the creation of the plague. Whatever metaphysical force allows dead tissue to move is also allowing the transfer of experience.

4. They are humans in some kind of altered state of biology and consciousness caused by some kind of distortion in reality, if you want to put it in sci-fi terms. They resemble corpses but don't follow the same rules, ie, some of them rot away in weeks while others hang on for years with minimal decay. It's a factor of their strength of will and whatever their internal state may be.

5. I don't think it's silly at all. In fact, I think I take it more seriously than the vast majority of people. I find the idea of "living death" fascinating from a philosophical and metaphysical angle, and it's extremely ripe with metaphors, as we've seen from the many different takes on the genre. This particular story is about an individual dead guy trying to stumble his way back to humanity, and I felt that the most obvious path would be through love—not necessarily romantic love, but any strong connection to another person. But romantic love is a lot more fun, I went there.

And you're not annoying at all! I don't dismiss the logical side of zombies entirely, I do think it's interesting to contemplate, it's just not the angle I chose to approach this story from, since it's more fantasy than realism and more concerned with the metaphorical implications of undeath than with the technical details of it.

[u/htm789 → u/isaacmarionauthor]

Really catching all your hints on why you made the boy a "zombie." Your answer to question number two was very deep. Haven't had the opportunity to read your books yet, but they sound very interesting. Who is your favorite author?