David Barr Kirtley

Science fiction author and podcaster

Teenybuffalo Lists Zombie Protagonists

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Teenybuffalo lists her favorite zombie protagonists, and includes my story “The Skull-Faced Boy.” Here’s what she says:

“The Skull-Faced Boy” by David Barr Kirtley. I first read this one seven or eight years ago, but it wears well. Two college students die in a car wreck, and as it’s the night of the living dead they don’t stay out of the game for long. Horrible backstabbing and world domination ensue. I don’t think this one’s been made free online, but there’s a link to a podcast version on the right-hand side. I may have to give that a listen.

While looking for the above link: Oh god there’s a sequel! “The Skull-Faced City.” Free and on the internet. Haven’t read this one yet, but I will in about ten minutes I’ve read it. Be warned! It’s (a) not going to make much sense if you haven’t read the first one, and (b) gruesome in every. single. way. I had a ballpark idea of what to expect from Kirtley and zombies, and I was still stomach-churned. Not safe for sanity, but excellent storytelling and a good undead protagonist. A worthy successor.

Fan Art 1/7/10

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Here’s a terrific piece of fan art for my story “The Skull-Faced Boy” by Allison Jamieson-Lucy, an Alpha grad. Also check out her profile on deviantART.

She writes, “I’d been meaning to listen to ‘The Skull-Faced Boy’ ever since listening to you read ‘The Skull-Faced City,’ but only got around to it lately, now that it’s cold outside and school is out. I drew while I listened, and it ended up being Ashley, freshly skull-faced.”

the skull-faced boy david barr kirtley art illustration

Fan Art 1/6/10

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Here’s some more fan art from Blazeblackwing, for my short story “The Skull-Faced City.”

So here we have Dustin (the skull-faced boy), Jack (now a decapitated head), Ashley (Dustin’s bride), and Park (a former scout sniper who works as a sort of bounty hunter for Dustin and who goes masked when outside the city to hide his skull face):

the skull-faced city david barr kirtley

And here’s Park without his mask:

the skull-faced city david barr kirtley

Fan Art 12/31/09

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Here’s some great new fan art I just received. The first piece, by Blazeblackwing, depicts the characters from my story “The Skull-Faced Boy” as they appear at the end of that tale. It’s funny, I don’t know if anyone remembers what my website used to look like back in 1999, but the main graphic looked almost exactly like the half-skull smiley face on Ashley’s T-shirt there.

The skull faced boy david barr kirtley fan art

The second piece, by Jandan, is a sort of prequel image for my story “Cats in Victory,” in which she imagines what the characters Lion and Tiger might have looked like ten or fifteen years before the story takes place, when the deadly and vainglorious Lion was just a shy pupil.
cats in victory david barr kirtley jandan fan art

Skull-Faced Boy Fan Art on deviantArt

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I just discovered these two images over on deviantArt that were inspired by my short story “The Skull-Faced Boy.”

The skull-faced boy by blazeblackwing     The skull-faced boy by DarkAlley001

Blazeblackwing, creator of the first one, writes, “Hi. I was told that you were on here by a friend. He saw that I had drawn a pic titled ‘skull faced boy’ and said to see what you think of it. I first read it in a zombie collection of stories and loved reading it! I didn’t draw the skull-faced boy in the way I hoped you saw him, but in the way my own interpretation of him was.”

DarkAlley001, creator of the second image, says, “Recently I’ve become a maniac about podcasts — can you blame a person when the news is so depressing? One of these would be Pseudopod, an amazing source of horror/suspense/thriller short stories. I’ve been thinking of creating something for these stories for awhile, and with Halloween just around the corner, I feel inspired.”

And, if you missed it, also check out Jandan’s skull-faced boy art. I also have a deviantArt profile.

Cover for Anthology The Living Dead 2

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Here’s the cover for the zombie anthology The Living Dead 2, edited by John Joseph Adams, which will include my short story “The Skull-Faced City,” a sequel to my story “The Skull-Faced Boy” which appeared in The Living Dead. I love this cover. It matches the design of the first book, but the blue color scheme gives it a moody look all its own. Also check out the hi-res version.

Cover for The Living Dead 2 John Joseph Adams Anthology

Here’s a synopsis for “The Skull-Faced City”: The zombie army of Dustin the skull-faced boy has grown legion, and has constructed a grim necropolis for him to rule over alongside his reluctant bride, Ashley. His followers are urged to carve off their faces, and bounty hunters are sent out from the city to bring back living prisoners, for purposes unknown. Can anyone put an end to Dustin’s mad, paranoid reign?

Science Fiction Society of Northern New Jersey presents Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated

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I’ll be appearing at: The Science Fiction Society of Northern New Jersey presents Face the Fiction: Zombie Encounter & Film Festival, featuring the premiere of Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated, a re-creation of George Romero’s 1968 classic, now with each scene rendered by a different animator in their own unique visual style. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with me, Kim Paffenroth, Jonathan Maberry, Peter Gutierrez, and John Joseph Adams.

night o the living dead reanimated

“The Skull-Faced Boy” Fan Art

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Here’s a spectacular piece of fan art for my short story “The Skull-Faced Boy.” View the high-res version.
 

David Barr Kirtley Jandan art illustration The Skull-Faced Boy
 

The artist writes:

So I got the anthology The Living Dead about two weeks ago. DEVOURED the book. And this is the one story that really sticks out. I’ve had this image in my head ever since I read the short story … I don’t think I quite did the image justice, but for the most part I am happy with it nonetheless. If you are a zombie nut, GO READ THIS STORY. Hell, GO BUY THE BOOK. You will NOT be disappointed.

Check out the rest of her portfolio over on deviantArt.

Temple Library Reviews reviews The Living Dead Anthology

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Temple Library Reviews is reviewing every story in the anthology The Living Dead, which contains my piece “The Skull-Faced Boy.” My story’s in the latter half of the book, and the reviews have been going up since December, so for a long time this review has been approaching … slowly … slowly but inexorably … like a hungry zombie. I was thinking what a drag it would be if after all that suspense they totally slagged the story, but fortunately the review is quite positive:

“The Skull-Faced Boy” by David Barr Kirtley: Another interesting story, which is emotional as well as a pure joy to read due to the world-building decisions. According to Kirtley, those newly deceased of natural causes and incidents come back as zombies who are intelligent but also with no hunger. This however is not the case with those dead for a longer period of time or already munched on. The main protagonists are Jack and Dustin, who die in a car crash on the night zombies decide to rise, and while Jack has an intact humanity and moral compass, Dustin raises an army of the dead and decides to conquer the living in America. Fun, huh? But not for Jack, who has to be an outsider and treated with hate by the living and feel out of place with the other intelligent dead. I can really connect with this story since it is largely about those people, the minorities, the misfits, who are usually looked down on and mistreated for being different.

John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley on Hour of the Wolf

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This morning I appeared alongside John Joseph Adams on Jim Freund’s Hour of the Wolf radio program on WBAI 99.FM in New York to discuss John’s recent anthologies The Living Dead and Seeds of Change. I also gave a reading of my story “The Skull-Faced Boy.”

John Joseph Adams   David Barr Kirtley

Below are some of the highlights from the show, including — right near the beginning — me coming one consonant away from getting myself into trouble with the FCC when I begin to discuss Catherine Cheek’s story “She’s Taking Her Tits to the Grave.”

Part 1 – Discussion
Humorous zombies?, Joe Hill, Owen’s King’s Who Can Save Us Now?, Seeds of Change, The Living Dead cover art

Part 2 – Reading
“The Skull-Faced Boy” by David Barr Kirtley, read by the author

Part 3 – Callers
Andy Duncan, Zora Neale Hurston, George Romero, From Dusk Til Dawn, Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead

Sketches for My Short Story “The Skull-Faced Boy”

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I thought I’d post some of the doodles I’ve done for my short story “The Skull-Faced Boy.” I used to (and may again someday) do “concept art” to help me think through a story. Back in the summer of 2000, I wanted to write a zombie story, but I didn’t have any ideas. So I started just sketching zombies, such as this:

The skull-faced boy by David Barr Kirtley has appeared on the pseudopod podcast and in the anthology the living dead

I liked how that one came out — with the pieces of skull showing through his face — so the next zombie I drew had even more of just a skull for a face. For whatever reason, I imagined this next zombie as wearing a military uniform and leading an army:
The skull-faced boy by David Barr Kirtley has appeared on the pseudopod podcast and in the anthology the living dead

That drawing inspired me to dream up a whole sequence of events to explain who this character was and why he had an army. A few days later, I knew what the story’s climax would be, and drew it. If you haven’t read the story, this next picture is a monumental spoiler, so I’m going to put it behind a link:
 
“The Skull-Faced Boy” Image #3 SPOILER
 

When “The Skull-Faced Boy” went up on Pseudopod, at least one listener complained that it wasn’t plausible for a skull-faced boy without lips to be able to enunciate clearly, and that this totally ruined the story. (Though apparently the part about everyone on earth simultaneously rising from the dead wasn’t a problem.) Since then, I’ve spent hours trying to see how well I can talk with my lips pulled back, and I seem to be able to manage pretty well, in fact. (I’m reluctant to actually carve off my face in order to do a really meaningful experiment on this, but if someone else wants to give it a go, let me know your results.) And anyway, I went back and checked the story, and it never actually says that the skull-faced boy is missing his lips. The only parts of his facial anatomy that are specifically identified as being missing are his nose and cheeks, so maybe he’s still got enough flesh around the mouth not to suffer any kind of embarrassing speech impediment, which I’d imagine could be really socially debilitating for a living corpse who’s missing most of his face. Anyway, if you’re one of those people who just couldn’t get over how a guy without lips could talk (do the creators of He-Man get these complaints?), I drew this last sketch of the skull-faced boy with lips, so you can picture this while you’re reading or listening to the story, and hopefully that’ll set your mind at ease.

The skull-faced boy by David Barr Kirtley has appeared on the pseudopod podcast and in the anthology The Living Dead

Wil Wheaton Comments on My Blog

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Holy shit, no way! I just got a comment on my blog from Wil Wheaton! In response to this post. (And if you don’t know who Wil Wheaton is, here are some basic facts about him.)

Wil Wheaton (and I emphasize Wil Wheaton, man) writes:

I will admit that I have a google news alert set up to let me know when someone mentions me in their blog, so that’s why I’m here.

My copy of The Living Dead arrived earlier this week, and I spent much of yesterday morning reading it.

Because I’d read this post before the book arrived, yours was the first story I turned to. Not that my opinion means much, but I really liked it. It’s damn hard to do anything original in the zombie genre, but you pulled it off, man.

I look forward to reading more of your work!

Wow, thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed the story, and thanks for stopping by!

(And if you’re just tuning in, the story he’s talking about is “The Skull-Faced Boy.”)

The Living Dead Anthology “In Contention” for New York Times Best Seller List

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In response to my last post about the anthology The Living Dead, epic_socks writes:

What a coincidence–I just bought the book last night. Your story was kind of completely awesome. I haven’t gotten very far in, but the first few were really good as well. And now I have to go find the other zombie anthologies recommended in the preface.

Thanks, epic_socks! I’m glad you enjoyed my story, and thanks for buying the book. And speaking of that, I just saw this post by Jeremy Lassen of Night Shade Books:

So, I just found out that the Night Shade title The Living Dead made the NY Times best seller REPORTING “In Contention” list.

It doesn’t mean the book made the list (regular or extended), but what it probably means is that it shifted enough copies at the distributors and wholesalers that it was one of the top books in its category (trade paperback adult fiction), and is thus considered “In Contention,” and retailers are asked to enter the number of copies sold. Without this prompting, a book only gets counted if it is a “write-in” title, and books that are write-ins almost never make the list.

A rough estimate shows that just under 100 books get pre-listed in this category each week.

I’ll find out on Tuesday if we made the extended list. But still, it’s kind of cool. For the last couple years, one of our company goals has been to crack the NY Times Extended list. This is a nice first step.

Oh, and if you were planning on buying The Living Dead, or get copies for people as a gift, if you were to all run out and buy it this week, that might help us for next week. If everybody who reads this message buys 2 copies, and posts this message to their blog, we’ll be on! :)

The Agony Column Interviews Jeremy Lassen about The Living Dead

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The cover of the anthology The Living Dead, edited by John Joseph Adams    Here’s an interesting interview about the anthology The Living Dead (which contains my story “The Skull-Faced Boy”) and about some of the political subtext of zombie fiction. The interviewer is Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column and the interviewee is Jeremy Lassen of Night Shade Books.

A sample:

Rick Kleffel: I’m going to read Clive Barker’s comment on zombies from The Book of the Dead, the introduction. He says: “Zombies are the liberal nightmare. Here you have the masses, whom you would love to love, appearing at your front door … with their faces falling off. And you’re trying to be as humane as you possibly can, but there they are, after all, eating the cat! And the fear of mass activity, of mindlessness on a national scale, underlies my fear of zombies.” Now, I think this is a really interesting comment on some of the political nature of zombies, because we have seen that as a nation we’ve kind of been acting in a mindless fashion, and I think the resurgence of interest in horror fiction is somewhat a result, at least to my mind, of our current economic crisis.

Jeremy Lassen: Well, that’s definitely the case. There’s always been a tie between horror and politics. There’s an old saw that says that horror fiction is always popular when Republicans are in office, and that sort of has proven to be true, continuously. I guess you could add the corollary that the economy always ends up in the tank when Republicans are in office, and so thereby makes the economy-and-horror connection. But that’s interesting, casting this as “the liberal nightmare.” Because that is sort of the case: The fear of the masses who vote against their own self-interest.

Spotted in the Wild: My Short Story “The Skull-Faced Boy” in the Anthology The Living Dead

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Spotted in the wild: My short story “The Skull-Faced Boy” in the zombie anthology The Living Dead, edited by John Joseph Adams. At Borders on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto.

The anthology The Living Dead, edited by John Joseph Adams, at Borders in downtown Palo Alto

When I bought a copy, the cashier actually exclaimed “Awesome book!,” in a way that suggested to me that he recognized the book and had possibly even read it. Or maybe he just says that to every customer, to make them feel good about their purchase, who knows?

The Living Dead also just got a mention on the blog of geek icon Wil Wheaton. It’s weird and kind of cool to think that Wil Wheaton might possibly read my story.

Roger Barr

My grandfather Roger Barr passed away early this morning at the age of 98. He was my mom’s father, and was my last surviving grandparent. He was being cared for by my uncle Steve (his son) and aunt Denice — both medical professionals — and was still sharp and good-humored in his final days. Yesterday […]

David Barr Kirtley

David Barr Kirtley is the host of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, for which he’s interviewed over four hundred guests, including George R. R. Martin, Richard Dawkins, Paul Krugman, Simon Pegg, Margaret Atwood, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Ursula K. Le Guin. His short fiction appears in the book Save Me Plz and Other Stories.