When Tom, the son of a very powerful Senator, becomes stranded in the Plagued States while searching for his lost sister, his only hope of survival rests in the hands of a few grizzled veteran zombie hunters and a mysterious half-breed zombie woman he thinks may know where to find his sister.

Tell us about this world you’ve created.
In my zombie world, the salivary glands are the only thing that make a zombie infectious. So in order to domesticate zombies, slavers catch them and bring them to a station to be surgically altered, then sell them on the open market to companies looking for cheap labor. Of course Tom arrives looking to find his sister, there’s a prison break that lets out the hoard, and Tom finds himself in the company of several zombie hunters and vacationers (yes, people come to Biter’s Hill like it’s a theme park) aboard a rickety old duck – a partly-submergible truck, facing one danger after the next including several encounters with zombies, apache gunships, and even a bear! During the romp we learn about the mysterious half-breed and the government experiments that produced her. Lots of people die.

Sounds very exciting. We like the salivary glands idea. It’s a clever twist.
Let me start by telling you why I wrote it in the first place. My mother went in for surgery to remove a lump in her salivary gland. The scar was gnarly – bruised and bloody and with a trail of black stitches from the top of her ear to the nape of her neck…yuck. I made the joke that it looked like a zombie had its way with her, and then to make it up to her I told her I would write a zombie book in her honor. So that’s what started it all.

Tell us a little more about Tom.
Tom is the son of a senator. He was sent to Biter’s Hill with his older brother to review all the documents the registrar keeps on the zombies that they sell. He’s looking for his sister whom he let get bitten ten years ago. He hates the idea of doing this the rest of his life.

Is there any other main character we should know about?
Penelope is the half-breed zombie woman. She is the property of a slaver named Peske, who is also the owner of the duck on which Tom hitches his ride when the mayhem starts. Penelope has no memory of her former self. She’s only about three years old in terms of memory, but she remembers the children held at Midamerica, including Tom’s sister. She recognizes her from a picture Tom carries.

This is the start of a series, right?
I have 2 more in this series I am still writing. The second book in the series is due out by Christmas, 2013.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I don’t write zombie books. I am a software engineer by day. I write historic fiction and contemporary fiction usually. I dabble in science-fiction and fantasy for fun.

How can we put this delicately? Did your parents christen you Better Hero Army?
I’m glad you asked. Since I am actually a writer of historic and contemporary fiction, especially stories that are classified as chic-lit, I decided to publish as a band under the name Better Hero Army. I plan to release one story a quarter, depending on demand and other projects. Not everything will be zombie related. In fact, I only have 4 zombie stories in me. The rest will be science fiction, fantasy, and the occasional historic fiction piece. The Better Hero Army will publish other authors’ works in the future as those who I associate with provide me with material.

Does this project have a website?
www.betterheroarmy.com

What are your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, Instagram, Flickr, Foursquare, MySpace, LinkedIn and Pinterest links?
I don’t really do social media. It’s exhausting.

What’s next?
The next eBook on the docket for Better Hero Army is a western zombie thriller called Nine Hours ‘Till Sunrise.