Guest Blog from author Kody Boye!

Every once in a while I get the chance to do something fun because of this writing and reviewing gig I have created for myself.  No, I haven’t gotten a space on the next commercial flight up to the international space station, but that would be cool, wouldn’t it?  But unless I become a bajillionaire, or they start giving those away for free, I am out of luck on that account.

Nope, that ain’t happening, but something pretty cool is occurring here on my blog.  Kody Boye, a young and talented author who has impressed me with his skill with the written word (well, part of it is jealousy, since he is less than half my age and probably has written three times as much stuff as I have thus far in his brief career), suggested that we do a blog swap to promote the release of his new book.  What is a blog swap?  Well, I’m glad you asked!  It is just what it sounds like.  One blogger writes a post for the other blogger and vice versa, and then they post them on their respective blogs.  So Kody has handed off a post that he wrote specifically for me, and I have done the same for him.  I can’t tell you when my babbling will appear on his blog, but you should definitely pop on over there and check it out, and not just for my words, but for his, because Kody is a diverse talent who has written horror, fantasy, and in plenty of other genres.  Most recently, Kody’s book, Sunrise, has been re-released after he did some major overhauling of this zombie apocalyptic tale.  I read the original version and had the privilege of  reading the reworked version not too long ago.  Let me just state for the record that Kody wrote Sunrise originally well before he was eighteen.  In many ways, it was obvious with that first version how young he was.  Kody saw things in a certain way that I think was unique and was coming from the mind of someone who had experienced a lot in a short time, but still had some growing up to do.  But don’t we all, even into our forties and beyond?  In some ways, losing the haze of youth is both sad and necessary, and as such, the changes with the revised version of Sunrise reflected those changes in Kody.  Compare the two versions side by side and you will see how Kody has changed as an author and as a person over the past few years.  His writing is crisper, sharper, and inevitably, filled with more of the harsh tones of reality we face in this world and the world of adults.  My review of Sunrise will follow this post later tonight, but for now, please enjoy Kody’s simple and eloquent analysis of zombies below, along with the cover of his book.  -PD

Zombies: What they Represent and How They Parody the Living

                There is much debate as to what zombies represent in the media and fiction. Some say they are a result of our lesser reptilian conscience coming to life in the most stressful of situations; others say that they are meant to reveal the most intimate flaws that exist within each and every one of us. To a writer, zombies can mean many things. Life, death, the present, the future, the past, what happens to us after death and just where our minds (or our ‘spark’) go—we have begged to question just what it was that happens when our physical bodies cease to exist for millennia. Why, we would not be human if we did not think on such things, as it was with higher conscience we evolved to walk as we do now.

To me, zombies are simple.

Zombies represent the most primal instincts within humanity. The animalism presented in their actions, their conscience and desires are what take us back to that fateful age when, thousands of years ago, all we craved was food and survival. We were, however, driven by instinct to protect ourselves. Unlike zombies, we have always had fear to inhibit and hold us back. It is not without reason that as children we are afraid of the dark, as during the night it is said that monsters will rise from under the bed to destroy all that it we feel is safe, and it is not without consequence that we are afraid to commit actions that would otherwise land us in severe trouble. That is perhaps the most terrifying thing about the zombie. Their no-holds-barred, unrestrained behavior when they attack their prey is akin to a predatory instinct that we have long since evolved away from. Sure—we may still hunt our prey on occasion, but we most often do so with simple guns and ammo, possibly even bows and arrows should we be willing to return to our former roots in our ways of hunting. There are very few occasions when we actually physically hunt our prey with tooth and claw—which, to the rest of the animal kingdom, seems outrageous. We were created as omnivores for a reason, to find and seek and hunt and kill the prey and foods that we eat. It is terrifying to think that, once upon a time, we were no more than animals, which is why, in my opinion, people are afraid of zombies. It is not about a lack of conscience, the loss of memories or even the desire to kill those we love—it is the return to animal roots that make them the most frightening.

Kody Boye’s zombie novel, Sunrise, is now available on Smashwords.com and on Amazon in paperback formats (with Kindle forthcoming.) You can find more about him and his future projects by going to KodyBoye.com.