Today, I'd love to welcome Adam Selzer, author of I Kissed A Zombie, And I Liked It (will always love this title.) Thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview you. If you're a fan of zombies you should definitely check this book out!
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Adam Selzer is the proud coiner of the immortal phrase "you don't have to be smart to be a smartass, but it helps." He writes humorous books (both fiction and non) for readers of all ages by day and runs ghost tours in Chicago by night. If you can find two cooler jobs than that, take 'em! He is one of those people you hear about on the news who has to choose between paying off student loans and having a health care plan, and occasionally claims to be the third cowboy from the left in the famous "lost thunderbird photo." He is also credited by film historians as having inspired the film "Bedtime for Bonzo," which starred Ronald Reagan and a chimp. People who point out that said movie was released decades before he was born just don't know enough about quantum physics. Adam enjoys standing in long lines for tickets, and hopes to one day travel back in time to wait in line overnight for tickets to see a Charles Dickens reading.
For more info on Adam, visit his site(s):
-Website
-Blog
-Twitter
-Facebook
-I Kissed A Zombie Website
More books by Adam:
How to Get Suspended and Influence People I Put a Spell on You: From the Files of Chrissie Woodward, Spelling Bee Detective Pirates of the Retail Wasteland
Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps: True Tales of an Accidental Ghost Hunter
The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History
For more books go here: GoodReads
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I Kissed A Zombie, And I Liked It by Adam Selzer
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 192
Summary: Algonquin “Alley” Rhodes, the high school newspaper’s music critic, meets an intriguing singer, Doug, while reviewing a gig. He’s a weird-looking guy—goth, but he seems sincere about it, like maybe he was into it back before it was cool. She introduces herself after the set, asking if he lives in Cornersville, and he replies, in his slow, quiet murmur, “Well, I don’t really live there, exactly. . . .” When Alley and Doug start dating, Alley is falling so hard she doesn’t notice a few odd signs: he never changes clothes, his head is a funny shape, and he says practically nothing out loud. Finally Marie, the school paper’s fashion editor, points out the obvious: Doug isn’t just a really sincere goth. He’s a zombie. Horrified that her feelings could have allowed her to overlook such a flaw, Alley breaks up with Doug, but learns that zombies are awfully hard to get rid of—at the same time she learns that vampires, a group as tightly-knit as the mafia, don’t think much of music critics who make fun of vampires in reviews. . . .
Now Available in Bookstores!
Book Trailer:
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Author Interview:
Adam Selzer is the proud coiner of the immortal phrase "you don't have to be smart to be a smartass, but it helps." He writes humorous books (both fiction and non) for readers of all ages by day and runs ghost tours in Chicago by night. If you can find two cooler jobs than that, take 'em! He is one of those people you hear about on the news who has to choose between paying off student loans and having a health care plan, and occasionally claims to be the third cowboy from the left in the famous "lost thunderbird photo." He is also credited by film historians as having inspired the film "Bedtime for Bonzo," which starred Ronald Reagan and a chimp. People who point out that said movie was released decades before he was born just don't know enough about quantum physics. Adam enjoys standing in long lines for tickets, and hopes to one day travel back in time to wait in line overnight for tickets to see a Charles Dickens reading.For more info on Adam, visit his site(s):
-Website
-Blog
-I Kissed A Zombie Website
More books by Adam:
How to Get Suspended and Influence People I Put a Spell on You: From the Files of Chrissie Woodward, Spelling Bee Detective Pirates of the Retail Wasteland
Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps: True Tales of an Accidental Ghost Hunter
The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History
For more books go here: GoodReads
______________________________________________
I Kissed A Zombie, And I Liked It by Adam SelzerGenre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 192
Summary: Algonquin “Alley” Rhodes, the high school newspaper’s music critic, meets an intriguing singer, Doug, while reviewing a gig. He’s a weird-looking guy—goth, but he seems sincere about it, like maybe he was into it back before it was cool. She introduces herself after the set, asking if he lives in Cornersville, and he replies, in his slow, quiet murmur, “Well, I don’t really live there, exactly. . . .” When Alley and Doug start dating, Alley is falling so hard she doesn’t notice a few odd signs: he never changes clothes, his head is a funny shape, and he says practically nothing out loud. Finally Marie, the school paper’s fashion editor, points out the obvious: Doug isn’t just a really sincere goth. He’s a zombie. Horrified that her feelings could have allowed her to overlook such a flaw, Alley breaks up with Doug, but learns that zombies are awfully hard to get rid of—at the same time she learns that vampires, a group as tightly-knit as the mafia, don’t think much of music critics who make fun of vampires in reviews. . . .
Now Available in Bookstores!
Book Trailer:
______________________________________________
Author Interview:
1) Adam, at what age did you know you wanted to become an author?
AS: It was one of many careers I considered when I was seven or eight, along with actor, baseball player, rock star, and stuff like that. I guess I was in my late teens when I realized I was better at writing that I was at baseball or guitar!
2) What inspired you to write I Kissed A Zombie, And I Liked It?
AS: Well, I didn't TOTALLY give up on my rock star dreams - about ten years ago I wrote a song called "I Thought She Was a Goth" and this year my editor liked the idea of me doing a book based on it. I worried that I'd be late to the vampire/zombie party a bit, but I also really liked the idea of having a book about a really smart, maybe-too-smart-for-her-own-good girl getting involved in a relationship she would have called other people idiots for. I also thought I could work in the moral of The Corpse Bride, which was old Jewish folk tale before it was a movie. The moral (well, one of them) is that it is the responsibility of the living to LIVE enough for both themselves AND the people who died before they could live their lives. They sort of left that out of the movie, but I still loved it.
3) Are the characters in the book based on someone you know?
AS: No, I try really hard not to do that! Alley is based on what I imagined Dorothy Parker would have been like as a teenager. Her friend Trinity pops up in a couple of my other books.
4) What was the hardest part of writing I Kissed A Zombie And I Liked It?
AS: Going back and looking at all of the things Alley COULD have done in any situation, then coming up with a good reason why she didn't. Girls in vampire and zombie stories have a real tendency to do stupid, stupid things, like get caught by a monster that's running about two miles per hour while they bang on the door of an obviously empty house saying "let me in! let me in!" I really didn't want Alley to be one of those, so every time she makes a bad choice, I want people to at least see WHY she did it.
5) Out of all the books you've written, which one is your favorite and why?
AS: Now THERE'S a tough one! I love them all for different reasons. I'm especially proud of one I have out right before Zombie called THE SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN HISTORY. That was such a massive project that I'm proud just to have finished it!
6) Do you have any other projects you're currently working on?
AS: Of course! I just finished a new manuscript, and I'm taking notes for a couple of nonfiction projects.
7) Are there any new authors that have sparked your interest?
AS: Why, Daniel Kraus and James Kennedy, my esteemed colleagues in The Brothers Delacorte! (www.brothersdelacorte.com)
8) Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your current and future readers?
AS: Uh....drink your juice, or you'll get scurvy!
9) Tell us something about yourself that no one knows about.
AS: This is (one version of the) honest story of why I decided to write YA. One time I had this dream where I was the king and it was National Prank Call From the King Day. I would pick out a victim by pointing at a character on the cover of my copy of SPACE STATION SEVENTH GRADE by Jerry Spinelli, each of which was said to be a local "mathesin," which, in this version of the world, was what we called the poor people. "Mathesins." I don't know why. But, anyway, on Prank Call From the King Day, I would point to one of the characters on the cover, some royal phone book guy would find their number, I'd call them up and say "You are very poor!" then hang up. This would have been when I was in about eighth grade. I kept a dream journal that year and when I read through it now, I still remember a lot of the dreams. Some years later, I ran into someone whose last name was Mathesin and thought about that dream and SPACE STATION SEVENTH GRADE. I re-read it and realized just how great YA books could be and decided to write my own.
AS: It was one of many careers I considered when I was seven or eight, along with actor, baseball player, rock star, and stuff like that. I guess I was in my late teens when I realized I was better at writing that I was at baseball or guitar!
2) What inspired you to write I Kissed A Zombie, And I Liked It?
AS: Well, I didn't TOTALLY give up on my rock star dreams - about ten years ago I wrote a song called "I Thought She Was a Goth" and this year my editor liked the idea of me doing a book based on it. I worried that I'd be late to the vampire/zombie party a bit, but I also really liked the idea of having a book about a really smart, maybe-too-smart-for-her-own-good girl getting involved in a relationship she would have called other people idiots for. I also thought I could work in the moral of The Corpse Bride, which was old Jewish folk tale before it was a movie. The moral (well, one of them) is that it is the responsibility of the living to LIVE enough for both themselves AND the people who died before they could live their lives. They sort of left that out of the movie, but I still loved it.
3) Are the characters in the book based on someone you know?
AS: No, I try really hard not to do that! Alley is based on what I imagined Dorothy Parker would have been like as a teenager. Her friend Trinity pops up in a couple of my other books.
4) What was the hardest part of writing I Kissed A Zombie And I Liked It?
AS: Going back and looking at all of the things Alley COULD have done in any situation, then coming up with a good reason why she didn't. Girls in vampire and zombie stories have a real tendency to do stupid, stupid things, like get caught by a monster that's running about two miles per hour while they bang on the door of an obviously empty house saying "let me in! let me in!" I really didn't want Alley to be one of those, so every time she makes a bad choice, I want people to at least see WHY she did it.
5) Out of all the books you've written, which one is your favorite and why?
AS: Now THERE'S a tough one! I love them all for different reasons. I'm especially proud of one I have out right before Zombie called THE SMART ALECK'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN HISTORY. That was such a massive project that I'm proud just to have finished it!
6) Do you have any other projects you're currently working on?
AS: Of course! I just finished a new manuscript, and I'm taking notes for a couple of nonfiction projects.
7) Are there any new authors that have sparked your interest?
AS: Why, Daniel Kraus and James Kennedy, my esteemed colleagues in The Brothers Delacorte! (www.brothersdelacorte.com)
8) Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your current and future readers?
AS: Uh....drink your juice, or you'll get scurvy!
9) Tell us something about yourself that no one knows about.
AS: This is (one version of the) honest story of why I decided to write YA. One time I had this dream where I was the king and it was National Prank Call From the King Day. I would pick out a victim by pointing at a character on the cover of my copy of SPACE STATION SEVENTH GRADE by Jerry Spinelli, each of which was said to be a local "mathesin," which, in this version of the world, was what we called the poor people. "Mathesins." I don't know why. But, anyway, on Prank Call From the King Day, I would point to one of the characters on the cover, some royal phone book guy would find their number, I'd call them up and say "You are very poor!" then hang up. This would have been when I was in about eighth grade. I kept a dream journal that year and when I read through it now, I still remember a lot of the dreams. Some years later, I ran into someone whose last name was Mathesin and thought about that dream and SPACE STATION SEVENTH GRADE. I re-read it and realized just how great YA books could be and decided to write my own.
4 comments:
This book looks good. Great intreview.
This looks like a good and funny book ... the title cracked me up. I really want to read that :)
Nice interview! I love Adam's reasoning about how to NOT write a TSTL (too stupid to live) heroine. Refreshing and funny.
Excellent interview!!=)
I have yet to read a zombie love interest plot and so I am looking for a start! I am TBRing this one!!=)
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