Thursday, May 7, 2015

A Conversation with Author Joe McKinney About All Things Zombie and Horror Related

Joe McKinney is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.

He is the author of such popular zombie horror books as Dead City, Apocalypse of the Dead, Flesh Eaters and The Zombie King.

Mr. McKinney is also a police officer in San Antonio, Texas with expertise in disaster and emergency management.

Joe's professional police expertise and mastery of the zombie horror genre make his work uniquely exciting and compelling.

This makes for a great conversation as Chauncey and Joe discuss all things zombies in this week's episode of the podcast known as The Chauncey DeVega Show.

Joe and Chauncey talk about world building in speculative fiction, the challenges of managing the State's response to natural and other types of disasters, the chaos of a confused and frightened public, how a zombie outbreak would likely be responded to by the police and other authorities, fast versus slow zombies, chasing naked drunk suspects down the street, his approach to the craft of writing, and other related zombie goodness.

Chauncey also shares his thoughts on Freddie Gray and racism beat ambulance chasers, gives some respect to the Washington Post's Radley Balko, getting love from Mark "the Incredible Hulk" Ruffalo and the WWE's Paul Heyman on Twitter, the new Avengers movie, and surrendering to the necessity of wearing under eye concealer makeup.

This episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show with Joe McKinney can be listened to below or "watched" on the official Youtube channel for chaunceydevega.com

The Chauncey DeVega Show can also be followed on Itunes and listened to via Stitcher on your smart phone or like device.

11 comments:

kokanee said...

Enjoyed! Not sure I would and only admit to enjoying a conservative cop from Texas discussing zombies with trepidation!

Why are zombies relevant today? What was the origin of zombies? What are zombies allegory for? Then and now?

http://billmoyers.com/segment/film-preview-birth-of-the-living-dead/

http://billmoyers.com/segment/henry-giroux-on-zombie-politics/

joe manning said...

I like this Chauncey media. Can't wait till its out in video.

Ruffalo always delivers a sensitive performance. Its not surprising that he's hip to racism. Having to reeducate himself after extensive brain surgery has made him especially empathetic no doubt. en.wikipedia.org/Mark_Ruffalo

The way that Morgan was harassed and baited by his cop tormentors is an illustrative description of police parasitism.

I wanted to know if McKinney ever caught that naked guy. His zombies are more plot driven than others as a result of his 90 page preparatory outlines for his novels.

chauncey devega said...

Glad you enjoyed the conversation. He did catch the naked man. I couldn't be a cop for that and many other reasons. He actually has created a great universe which is why I love his books.

chauncey devega said...

Zombies are an amazing allegory. Henry Giroux's use of them in his analysis of consumerism and casino capitalism is spot on. All of the folks who I see walking around looking down at their phones and self-medicated are types of zombies. Have you ever read Stephen King's book Cell?

joe manning said...

Thanks for the links. Most enlightening.

kokanee said...

I've read a couple of King's books but not Cell. I'm putting it on my list and moving on to the next post. ;)

kokanee said...

You're welcome! We do share here at WARN.

Gable1111 said...

Excellent discussion. McKinney certainly has a mastery of the zombie genre. That he's (still) a cop writing science fiction makes him a very interesting subject.

Gable1111 said...

There seem to be two branches to the "zombie" definition.


First, there's the idea of something that won't die although it should by all definition be dead. "Zombie politics" comes to mind, i.e. the well-refuted myths and outright lies that are told to justify certain policies, again and again. "Trickle down" economic policies should be dead as a door nail (can door nails actually "die"?) given how they've utterly failed, in the forty or so years since Reagan made them popular among the right and the chattering classes. The Brownback "experiment" in KS is the latest example. Walker is doing a bang up job of it in WI, proving the failure.

Then there is the idea or people being utterly in the throes of control not of their own. There are many literal examples of this. Recently I started taking the commuter train from the 'burbs downtown to a project I was working on. And its amazing to see the numbers of people head down, totally captivated by some electronic device. Even ten years ago this was not something you'd expect to see.

Then there is the idea of people being zombies by virtue of their being utterly and unwittingly controlled by external media. Advertising does work, and political advertising works as well. Not only do people buy stuff they don't need, they vote time and again for policies that harm them, and then blame "government" for their woes. And yet, the inability to pay attention long enough to understand even basic concepts is a feature, not a bug of what's being done. And people have become totally conditioned to not think for themselves. To wit:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/science/2014/07/03/idle/J2LpEcTdZzLykRCTnZ80fL/story.html



The "life of the mind" has dissipated to the extent it has any popularity, and that's sad. I recall taking long road trips with the family, and us kids would always angle for "the window seat" to have a front row seat on watching the world go by. Today, kids could care less if a car had any windows at all, as the action is going on inside the car. Many cars come equipped with "entertainment," and even kids now have their own devices to entertain themselves.


What does it say that people would rather be tortured than spend a few moments on introspection? And what does that say about the ability for citizens to make practical decisions?

saber86 said...

That Romero flick forever ruined me for zombie movies. When I was attending a community college in so. MD in the mid-1970s, the lounge area of the student center had a TV that played the blasted thing 24/7 for WEEKS on end. I've seen all of the flick once. If I'd seen it *only* once, I might not be so biased against zombie movies/series in general. I also can't get into "The Walking Dead" for the same reason. Good thing I have so many other interests!

chauncey devega said...

What was that experience like?