Down Home Zombie Blues

Just a short little fan squee here....I was lucky enough to read a copy of Linnea's upcoming book, Down Home Zombie Blues, and oh, my gosh, I loved it!

This, of course, is no big shock since I love her stuff (Finders Keepers, I'm looking at you most especially!), but I particularly enjoyed this one because it was right up my "earth-based science fiction" alley. I'm not going to give away plot details here as the book is not up for sale until November, but the basic premise is a female (alien) zombie hunter comes to Earth, searching for missing technology and a fellow tracker who has disappeared. She discovers that zombies (which are not, in fact, zombies as we traditionally think of them but machines that have taken on a life of their own, of sorts) are on Earth and threatening the planet. Because the zombies were her people's creation, Jorie feels responsible for hunting them down. Of course, her exploits take her straight into the path of a human policeman, Theo.

I don't want to say much more for fear of giving away pieces of the story that you will delight in discovering for yourselves. However, my favorite parts involved Jorie's observations about human culture and her understanding of certain cultural imperatives (such as stopping for red lights). Linnea excels at something (lots of things, actually *grin*) that I have trouble with as a writer--removing her human and earthly perspective from her characters. How do you think like an alien without making it so alien like as to be be completely foreign to readers who need to understand and relate what you're saying?

When I was contemplating writing a short story (kind of a prequel for TSS) in Asha's perspective, I had the worst time thinking like an alien. Particularly one with no context for the world around her. Asha kept thinking about beating people up--of course--but I would hear about it human terms. Bones breaking like fragile chalk, for example. Well, does a recently awakened alien on earth know about chalk? Maybe, given the downloads they probably received in preparation for missions, but it probably wouldn't be her first choice of wording. And she had no memory of her homeworld so...*throws hands up in the air*

But Linnea is very good at this, and the story is a blast (ha, pun intended!) from beginning to end. As I told her, Theo is my new favorite among her heroes. So mark it down on your calendars, November 27, 2007, Down Home Zombie Blues.