Blog Tour & Giveaway: Why Faeries and Zombies Belong Together

We're very pleased to welcome Melanie Karsak to the Salon this morning with a fun discussion about some of the surprising supernatural creatures in her novel, The Harvesting. Check out her links and don't forget to enter to win a super cool swag bag at the bottom of the post.

Crossing Genres; Why Faeries and Zombies Belong Together
By Melanie Karsak

**Before I begin the post, I want to let readers know that I will be talking about some of the “other” paranormal creatures in my series, “The Harvesting.” I will do my best not to give away any big surprises, but you will discover one minor spoiler here.

My book jacket mentions that in “The Harvesting,” we have the story of Layla’s struggles during the zombie apocalypse. I also allude to the fact that zombies are not her only problem. Other creatures have been lurking about in our world waiting for mankind’s fall from power. In the world of “The Harvesting,” there are several supernatural creatures creeping about. One of the first “otherworld” players Layla encounters are “forest spirits.” Now, why in the world would a book about zombies include forest spirits or faeries? Some die-hard zombie readers hit the fantastical wall in “The Harvesting” then turn the novel aside in confusion. But one must consider what zombies and faeries communicate about us and the duality of their metaphor.

Zombies:

The zombie is typically depicted as an undead, unthinking creature who likes to do nothing but eat. It consumes flesh as it ambles mindlessly in search of the next meal. Zombies don’t seem to notice other zombies. They walk over others as if they do not see them. They have no consciousness of the physical environment. They have no consciousness of their physical self—save hunger. They just move, absently, through their world while they consume. Sound about right? Now, let me ask you something: have you ever been in Walmart on Black Friday? Notice much difference? Save entrails gnawing, our current culture seems to have generated a league of zombies. How different are we from the undead in the way we interact with our environment and others. Zombies have become the very symbol of a culture that feels dead inside. So what does that have to do with faeries?

Faeries:

When you think of the faerie folk of lore, the human-sized, magisterial beings of the Celtic past, what do you imagine? Do you envision creatures that are sensitive to emotion? Do you envision creatures that are so in-tune with the earth that they are often one with the natural environment? Do you envision creatures gnawing on a massive hunk of processed meat or someone daintily eating a fist full of berries? Faeries, forest lords, the ancient ones, are symbolic of mankind at its purist. It is a form of our legendary self. Lore suggests mankind’s rough ways sent the faerie folk into hiding, but that we may be, in part, descended from them. Both zombies and faerie folk are one step removed from human, but are related to mankind nonetheless. And they create a perfect duality.

In “The Harvesting,” I present both of these mythical creatures, zombies and faeries, to get people thinking about the “sides” of mankind. The unconscious verses the conscious self. Zombies depict what is worst about us, our lowest, id-driven thinking. Faeries depict us at our best, our highest level thinking. It might seem odd to mix the genres, but when you pair these two against one another, the results are pretty interesting. The forest lords of my novel seem to want to help mankind. The question is why? If you enjoy dark fantasy, I invite you to consider these and other creatures in “The Harvesting.”

Thank you so much for the tour stop today!

The Harvesting  

The Harvesting Series, Book 1
Melanie Karsak

Genre: Horror/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Steampunk Press
ISBN-10: 1479327247
ISBN-13: 978-1479327249
ASIN: B009GI3YBY
Number of pages: 394
Word Count: 71000
Cover Artist: Michael Hall Photography

TV interview with book info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGHrhTv5YAA

Amazon Smashwords

Book Description: 

When mankind finally consumes itself, can any spark of humanity survive? Layla fights to keep those she loves alive when the zombie apocalypse unfolds, but she soon learns that zombies are not the only problem. With mankind silenced, those beings living on the fringe seek to reclaim power. Layla must learn who to trust, fast, if she hopes to save what is left of our kind. 

About the Author:

Melanie Karsak, steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and caffeine junkie, resides in Florida with her husband and two children. Visit the author at her blog, melaniekarsak.blogspot.com, to learn more about upcoming projects.

http://melaniekarsak.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/MelanieKarsak

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMelanieKarsak

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6539577.Melanie_Karsak

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Zombies and... Parkour?

Some of you may know that I’m a little bit obsessed with the sport parkour. Not that I’ve ever practiced it myself - I’m far too fond of my body parts to try it. However, I love to watch it, and it’s popped up in several movies the last few years, including Casino Royale, and my personal fave, District B-13 and sequel.

Recently, the word parkour has been paired with another favorite of mine: zombies. Type the two into the Youtube search box, and you’ll find a bunch of indie and homemade films. Most are great fun, but let’s face it, if zombies moved like this, no one would survive, LOL. Here’s a trailer that illustrates the trend, and I hope people continue to run with the idea (pardon the terrible pun). Enjoy!

Cheers!

Ella

Who Wants More Zombie Love?

Scary is sexy, and one of the reasons I love urban fantasy is that a lot of it is borderline horror. Back when the genre was new, I was among the many bookstore grunts debating the proper place to shelve Anne Rice and Laurel K. Hamilton. For those of us that still had a horror section in our store, it was the area of choice for what would now be considered urban fantasy. Not a surprise, considering those early books were filled almost exclusively with monsters from classic horror tales, just presented a little differently. But UF didn't just make scary more sexy, it also made it more romantic since the heroines stopped running from the night stalkers and started dating them instead.

Vampires, werewolves, witches, even demons have transformed from frightening creatures to heroes and romantic leads. The one monster that never seems to change much in speculative fiction is the zombie. There have been quite a few humorous versions like Shaun of the Dead, Fido, various zombie survival guide parodies, and my personal favorites, Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series and Peter Jackson's hilarious Dead Alive. But let's face it, when things start getting really gory, it naturally seems to lean towards the funny side anyway (at least for me). These stories have produced a new category known as the ZomCom, heh.

By and large, zombies come in one basic form: dumb, dead, flesh-eaters that are somewhat hard to kill. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like about the standard zombie, as illustrated by Adriana Ryan in her blog post on Monday. However, it shouldn't be ignored that zombies are starting to come into their own with some really fun, charming, and dare I say lovable characters.

Randall Skeffington from the cartoon Ugly Americans "went zombie" to win the love of a girl who had a (brief) thing for the undead. Awww, now that's romantic. He's also a total ladies man, despite the fact that he tends to loose track of his, well, the important bits. Sidekick zombie Marcus Deckler from Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, played by Being Human's Sam Huntington, is downright adorable. The upcoming indie flick, A Little Bit Zombie, follows a couple on their way to the alter while the husband-to-be slowly (and disgustingly) falls apart after getting infected by a virus.

Then there's last year's hit Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, about a zombie called R who falls in love with the girlfriend of one of his victims. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but some of the reviews for the book are quite touching. Even though R is clearly a monster, people still find a way to root for him and his unorthodox romance with Julie. The movie version is scheduled for release in August, with director Jonathan Levine commenting that he tried to expand the zombie mythos by making them better looking than in other films.

Cute zombies? Maybe. Give them a winning personality and a ton of deodorant and they just might give all the other monsters a run for their money. Of course, there's still a very tongue-in-cheek quality to this new trend and I'm not sure I'm ready for a serious take on zombie love. I think it's the rotting flesh that's the issue. Still, they've come a long way for being one of the grossest creatures ever imagined, and deserve some credit for ushering in the next big genre, the ZomRomCom.

Happy Valentine's Day (after)!
Ella