Fangirl Interview: James Melzer

Do you know how hard it is not to start an interview piece off without sounding like one of the anchors from Good Morning America? Very hard. Even harder to remain professional and not fangirl insanely.

I wanted to play a game of twenty questions with newly published author, James Melzer. Originally it was going to be after he finished edits for The Zombie Chronicles and sent it off, but as luck would have it, he was willing to play the game with me before then. So this fangirl wrote up her twenty questions and emailed them off to James.

To my delight, I woke up the next morning with a reply email. This excited me to no end. Even though I didn’t squee  or bounce up and down my in my seat, which I am known to do, I was still very excited. It was just too damn early for any sort of squeeing.

Zodi: What was the inspiration for The Zombie Chronicles?

James Melzer: There’s been many influences but the main trigger was the Hale Bopp comet.

Z: Do you think Nameless will ever be given a name?

JM: Yes. He has a name. You’ll find out soon enough.

Z: How much of yourself is Nameless?

JM: I’m all about sarcasm, so that part of me is thrown in there. Other than that, we both speak English. Those are the only similarities.

Z: Who is your favorite author?

JM: Stephen King

Z: Who do you most admire? Why?

JM: It may sound cliche but my mother. She raised me and my brother all by herself and taught me the value of hard work. She’s my inspiration

Z: What is a typical day in the life of James Melzer?

JM: Up at 6am. Off to my day job at 7am. Work until 5pm. Get home at around 6pm. Eat and work on various projects until I get tired. Usually around 11pm-12am.

Z: What single thing might people be surprised to learn about you?

JM: That I’m a published author

Z: Would you clone yourself for $25,000 to feed Zombies?

JM: I’d clone myself for free right about now.

Z: What equipment do you use to make a podcast recording?

JM: I use Audacity and a Blue Snowball mic. It doesn’t take much.

Z: How much research did you have to do for The Zombie Chronicles?

JM: Not a whole lot. That’s the good thing about writing zombies, you can make half this shit up as you go along.

Z: Where would your dream vacation be?

JM: In Australia, where my brother lives. Always wanted to go there.

Z: To you, what would be the greatest accomplishment for The Zombie Chronicles to achieve? Why?

JM: That’s a tough one. I have no set expectations. If people buy it or listen and they like it and take the time to send me an email, I’m happy with that.

Z: Did you ever expect to have a fan club started specifically for The Zombie Chronicles?

JM: No. I’m flattered. Thank you!

Z: How long did it take you to write the first draft of The Zombie Chronicles?

JM: 6 months.

Z: When your book is finally printed, how do you plan on celebrating?

JM: By getting shit-faced beyond belief with many good friends.

Z: Do you wish you could have a super army of zombies?

JM: Can they write books?

Z: What challenges did you face while writing this novel?

JM: I was podcasting it at the same time as writing it. Don’t do that. I’ll never do it again.

Z: What advice would you give to other writers/would-be writers?

JM: Write every day. It’s the only way you’re going to get better. It’s advice I’m sure they’ve heard before but you’d be surprised how many people don’t listen.

Z: How did the last good book you read end up in your hands and why did you read it?

JM: I bought Scott Sigler’s ‘Contagious’ and enjoyed it. It’s the sequel to Infected so I kind of had to read it to find out what happened. I’ve read other stuff since then…not as good.

Z: What makes your book different from other zombie apocalypse book on the shelves?

JM: It has real characters with real emotions. It’s not about guts and gore, it’s about what these people go through and the changes and sacrifices they make.

Z: And finally just because it popped into my head right now…
Is there anything you would like to tell the readers of this interview?

JM: I love you. Buy my book. 🙂

I was very happy that I had a chance to pick James’ mind and find out all the answers to my questions. I did tell him that it could very well trigger another twenty questions that I’m sure he won’t mind answering. But that is for another day.

If you want to hear The Zombie Chronicles, head on over to JamesMelzer.net and tune in. You won’t be disappointed. I tuned in recently and couldn’t stop listening until I had caught up, now I listen faithfully every week.

If you enjoy as much as I do, then please join the ever growing Fangirl (fanpeople) Army over on Facebook, where you don’t have to be a girl just to fangirl. You can also buy some of my cheesy TZC fangear on Zazzle.com. All proceeds will be forwarded to James to donate to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada. New stuff will be added as soon as possible.

Keep it real and rockin’

❤