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Interview with Joseph Souza, author of Darpocalypse

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The second wave of the plague has struck with a brutal vengeance and a full-on zombie apocalypse has spread throughout every corner of the world.

This is very exciting. The last time we talked to you was about the first book in this series, The Reawakening. How does the story continue?
Abandoned by her father, Dar has managed to set up a camp in the Boston Common. Surrounded by hordes of ravenous zombies, one person living inside the camp holds the key to their survival.

A few lucky people on Earth have developed a mysterious immunity from the plague. Known as ghosts, they are prized for their ability to walk among the dead and gather food and supplies without fear. The Boston camp harbors one such person, and President Roberts orders the Army’s finest soldier to bring their ghost to Washington, D.C. at any cost.

As the world descends into apocalyptic madness, the horde grows increasingly aggressive, threatening the wellbeing of every survivor in Dar’s camp. Boston Common becomes ground zero for a dramatic showdown, and Dar realizes that she must make a decision that threatens not only her life, but the survival of every person she’s been entrusted to protect.

Remind us what genre this is.
Darpocalypse is a zombie/apocalypse thriller with a strong character driven plot and told in a unique literary style that utilizes multiple viewpoints. My novels often cut across various literary genres and challenge the reader in ways not often seen in what is the zombie genre. It is one of the main reasons my first novel, The Reawakening, became a finalist for a Maine Literary Award.

There was some question with The Reawakening about if this series is zombie fiction or not. Are we any closer to an answer?
My zombies certainly don’t fit the traditional notion of what a zombie should be, which is why many purists pounded The Reawakening, because the original living dead outbreak turned many of the undead into animal hybrids, and this was caused by the genetically altered food that the animals consumed. A lot of people who were used to the traditional zombies hated the fact that my undead were hybrid creatures, which is why I named the series The Living Dead and not zombie. But I don’t care. I created the zombies the way I intended them to first appear in my series and took my lumps. Fortunately along the way The Reawakening got many glowing reviews from various literary websites, The Portland Press Herald Book reviewer, as well as being named a finalist in Maine’s most prestigious literary competition, The Maine Literary Awards. So in many ways I feel vindicated by the novel.

In Darpocalypse, the living dead mutate into full-fledged human-shaped zombies, although they still go through a brief phase between death and the reawakening, whereby the go through a brief spiritual revelation (although that’s up for debate). The zombies in the third book go through another cataclysmic shift that will definitely challenge the reader’s expectation about the nature of zombies and what they should be. But in my books the zombies are merely a catalyst for describing the interactions between the various
characters.

So what kind of readers will it appeal to?
My novels appeal very much to people who do not usually read the zombie genre, and I’ve been told that by many people who’ve read both books. Of course lovers of zombie fiction love these novels as well, as long as they keep an open mind as to the meaning of what a zombie really is. If they only enjoy the stereotypical zombies then these novels are not for that reader. Other than that, Darpocalypse is an end-of-the-world thriller on many interesting levels with intriguing characters that readers of good literature will find appealing. Both novels will make the reader ask themselves what would they do in the same situation. Darpocalypse combines spirituality, friendship,gut-wrenching horror, loyalty and love.

Remind us about Dar and your other major characters.
Dar is more brutal in this novel than in the first book, and yet at the same time she is also more sympathetic. Readers will find her growth fascinating, frustrating, disappointing and admirable. And she has a little boy named Styx she has to care for as well. Where in the first novel she was just learning about her true self, in this novel she is learning to be a leader of people and a good mother.

Annabelle, who lives in her camp, is a ghost; one of the few people who can walk among the dead and not fear for her life. She provides for the camp by going out and bring back supplies, though everyone believes Dar is responsible for keeping them alive. Prior to the apocalypse, Annabelle was a famous rock star with a life threatening drug habit and low self-esteem. Think Courtney Love. But since the zombie outbreak she’s cleaned up her act and found these end-of-times to be the most meaningful in her life.

Mike Brabas is a domestic terrorist in the vein of Timothy McVeigh. Sentenced to death for his brutal crimes, he learns during the zombie outbreak that he is a ghost and can walk among the dead. Escaping from prison during the outbreak, he heads straight for Washington D.C. with the hopes of taking over the country and running it the way he sees fit.

Colonel Tiberius Gritz, a member of the Special Forces, returns from the Middle East wars to find himself thrust against the zombie horde that has taken over the United States. Soon he is enlisted to go up against Mike Brabas in order to save Dar’s camp from ultimate ruin.

Felicia Roberts is the first black president of the United States. A conservative from the South, she is one of the only survivors to make it out of Washington after Brabas destroys the District. Somehow she makes it to Dar’s camp, where she finds that she is just like everyone else. Except she isn’t.

Sounds like it’s going to blow readers’ minds.
I want the reader to feel as if he or she has visited a whole new world and has experienced every emotion. I want them to feel like they would after watching a great epic movie such as Apocalypse Now or Gone With The Wind; totally spent and exhausted but exhilarated from the spectacle of the story.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love this book.
The Girl With The Dragoon Tattoo Trilogy.

Speaking of trilogies, tell us about the final book you’ve got planned for this trilogy.
Okay, here’s the deal. The trilogy was changed to a series, leaving open the possibility of more books in the future. But the third book ends with a satisfying resolution, at least in my mind. It’s possible I may continue them in the future, so I guess we’ll see what happens. In the meantime I’m working on my new series.

The third book, Darmageddon, takes off right roughly a month after Darpocalypse ends. It’s a surreal road trip of a novel that is broke up into three separate and distinct books. Without giving away the entire plot, let’s say that there’s an Army unit chasing after our gang, not to mention all the zombies trying to get at them as well. Throw in some militant Chinese troops trying to take over the zombie-infested nation and it makes the chase all that more frantic. Add in a surreal Amish compound where strange things are happening beneath the surface, a deranged, brilliant scientist with a God-like complex and a tribe of peaceful Lakota Indians living off the land on their reservation and being kept protected by a mysterious undertone. That’s Darmageddon in a nutshell. I’ll think readers will really love the 3rd book in the series.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’ve published short stories and essays in various literary journals
throughout the country. In 2004 I was awarded the Andre Dubus Award in short fiction from the University of Southern Maine for my short story “Loss Prevention,” which was published in Words&Images. My most recent short story, “The Devil’s Dumping Ground” was published in Quarry; Crime Stories by New England Writers. In 2010 I won Honorable Mention for the prestigious Al Blanchard Award for his short crime story The Stone Walls of Lebanon. My debut horror novel The Reawakening, The Living Dead Series Book 1 was published by Permuted Press was nominated for a 2013 Maine Literary Award and was an Amazon bestseller. Darpocalypse, Book 2 was released 2/12 and Darmageddon, Book 3 is scheduled for publication in early 2014 by Permuted Press. I live in Portland, Maine with my wife and two children and enjoy running, golf and am a devout pizza aficionado.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
www.josephsouza.net.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@josephsouza3 on Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/joseph.souza.7.

What’s next?
The 3rd book in the series, Darmageddon, is complete and awaiting publication, hopefully early 2014. And I guarantee there’s nothing like this road novel. This 3rd one will really grab the reader and keep them turning the pages.

As well, I have new thriller series set in Maine. The first one is called The Liger Terror and involves an evil terrorist with a long vendetta who has unleashed a killer hybrid virus on Cooke’s Island, which is located just off the coast of Portland. The book is currently in the final editing phase and will be published hopefully by the fall.

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