1. Tell us about your newest release.
Zombie Girl: Dead Awakened is a young
adult dystopian short, set about a hundred years in the future in a city that
seems like utopia. My teen hero Connor wakes from a year long coma with no
memory, only to learn that a bioweapon wiped out most of the population and
turned the rest into mindless cannibals. Now he's got to survive on his own.
2. What was one of the most surprising things you
learned in creating your story?
I had to do a lot of research on the causes,
symptoms and after effects of comas. About 40% are caused by drug poisoning and
25% by loss of oxygen, including heart attacks. All surprising stats to me.
3. Do you have any interesting quirks or
rituals?
I don't know that they're interesting or particularly quirkly, lol. I
have to listen to music while I'm writing, but need silence when I'm editing.
4. What authors or friends influenced you in
helping you become a writer?
Three good friends encouraged me along the way as
I was starting out. I don't think I'd have got this far without their support
in those early days.
5. What does your family think about your career
as a published author?
They thought I was a bit nuts to start with, but now my
little monsters think it's cool having an author as their mum, and my hubs is
often the one to encourage me when I get my down days.
6. Besides writing, what other interests do you
have?
I love to dance, to sew, and I've just started customizing some dolls to
look like characters from my books to have as a centerpiece at conventions.
7. Can you tell us what is coming up next for
you?
I'm re-releasing my debut science fiction romance novel Keir next month, then the print edition
of my superhero romance When Dark Falls
releases in June. I'll also be polishing Zombie
Girl 2 up for submission, and writing ZG3
for July's Camp NaNoWriMo.
8. How can readers connect with you online?
You can stalk me at my website, or at my blog, but without doubt my favorite place to hang around and chat is on
Twitter as @pippajaygreen.
Website – http://www.pippajay.co.uk
Blogs –
Adventures in Scifi - http://www.pippajay.blogspot.co.uk
Spacefreighters Lounge - http://www.spacefreighters.blogspot.com
Romancing the Genres - http://www.romancingthegenres.blogspot.co.uk/
SFR Brigade - http://www.sfrcontests.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/pippajaygreen
Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/pippajaygreen/
Amazon page - http://author.to/PippaJay
Imagine waking up to
find the world has ended, but unfortunately you're not alone...
For Connor Innis, awakening
from a year-long coma with no memories, no ability to move, and unable to speak
was bad enough. Then he learns that a bioweapon set off a zombie apocalypse—for
real—while he was sleeping, and the world he can't even remember no longer
exists.
Rehabilitation might
be torture, but far worse awaits him outside. All too soon, the hospital Mentor
declares him fit to leave but with nothing to go home to except a city full of
mindless, flesh-eating monsters. That is, until he forms a strange relationship
with the one he nicknames Zombie Girl.
Excerpt:
There was a zombie outside the
window, staring in. Every last fragment of hope that he'd had curled up and
died. Not a person. Just a zombie at the door, setting off the buzzer probably
by pure chance. He might as well have thrown himself off the balcony.
Heart pounding hard enough to make
his chest ache, Connor stood very still. He stared into the misted grey orbs of
her eyes. She stared right back. Not at him, but through him, as though
something infinitely more desirable lay far beyond anything she could see. He
read a kind of dull desperation in her blank face. A longing. Even if that
longing was just to tear him apart and devour him. Or maybe that was his
imagination.
"Hello?" His voice came
out as a dry croak and he wet his lips. He had to try something. He couldn't
spend the rest of his life in silence and alone. Even this poor shell of a
human was better than that. And maybe—just maybe—he could reach her. Maybe even
help her find a fragment of her lost humanity. "Can you hear me?"
No sound or movement. No response
at all.
Despair squeezed his throat. The
hospital Monitor said the victims didn't suffer brain damage. The virus just
stopped all the normal responses, isolating higher functions from their basic
animal instincts. Even animals could react to a voice.
"Hey!" He banged on the
glass, but even that didn't break her hungry stare. Perhaps she couldn't hear
him, let alone understand or respond. Losing those higher functions must have
included any communication ability.
Connor sighed, then placed his palm
flat on the glass. "I wish you understood me. I wish you hadn't all got
sick when I didn't." He rested his forehead on the glass and closed his
eyes. "I really wish I could help you."
A moment later a dull thud and a
vibration in the glass drew his attention. He raised his head.
She hadn't moved from staring. But
her hand pressed against his, separated only by the glass.
Bio:
After spending
twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals
laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the
supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work
and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she
spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with
freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although
happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband
of 21 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the
Universe in her head.
Pippa Jay is a
dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, blogging at
Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works
include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to
the paranormal and often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included
in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales
from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy Award winner, been
a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3rd place), the EPIC eBook awards, and the GCC
RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2nd place).
You can stalk her
at her website, or at her blog, but without doubt her favorite place to hang
around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.
No comments:
Post a Comment