TDWZS (The Dead War Zombie Series):
Jeffrey Littorno: What inspired you to become an author? Well, I’m not sure I was inspired as much as just knew that I was a good writer and enjoyed creat-ing a good story. Of course, life has a way of getting in the way of writing. But over the last few years, I have made sure that nothing stopped me from finishing a few books.
TDWZS: Why write in the zombie genre?
Jeffrey Littorno: Like many people, I was scared sleepless by Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead. And I guess that excitement never left me. The reemergence of the genre with 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead gave me a strong nudge in the direction of the undead.
TDWZS: Lets's get to the The Most Uncommon Cold series.What's the series about? How many books are there in the series?
Jeffrey Littorno: The series is told from the point of view of Kevin Turner, a newspaper reporter. When the books start, he is investigating a riot at SFO. Of course, everything goes off the rails from there. The second book Surviving in the Time of Zombies comes out on September 13th, and I am currently working on the third and last book.
TDWZS: As I'm sure you know there are thousands of zombie books out there right now. What makes yours stand out?
Jeffrey Littorno: Other than the great characters and story? Well, I hope that The Most Uncommon Cold books stand out because they focus on the interaction between people and their reaction to the zombie and let that drive the action. I think zombie books are most engaging when they focus on the smaller, more personal view rather than the huge picture.
TDWZS: What's the cause of the zombie apocalypse in your books?
Jeffrey Littorno: As the title gives away, the zombie apocalypse is brought on by a new strain of the cold. The idea that the apocalypse could be caused by something seemingly innocuous as a cold truly frightens me.
TDWZS: Are your zombies the fast or slow moving type?
Jeffrey Littorno: I split the difference on speed. Newly-created zombies are fast and have some language ability. However, as the disease progresses over time, the zombies become slower and possess less in the way of intellectual skills.
TDWZS: Are you trying to make any greater point with your books or just write a good zombie story?
Jeffrey Littorno: I set out just to write a good story. Of course, as I am writing, some greater points occur to me. To tell the truth, when I started writing the first book, my plan was that the zombies were just going to be inside of the narrator’s head. Later, I realized that this would make a strong point about our isolationism in the real world. A few readers have commented that they didn’t know if the narrator was insane or not, which is because I didn’t know either until about halfway through writing the book. I read a review that credited me with a number of deeper concepts that I really hadn’t consciously considered. Nice to be given credit though!
TDWZS: Do you have an online presence? If so where? Blogs, web sites, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Jeffrey Littorno: I have a few spots online.
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Jeffrey-Littorno/e/B004UMNNVW
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLittorno
Website - http://thingsofhorror.weebly.com/
Twitter- @JALittorno
