I was just looking over an old interview with me from 2005 that originally appeared in Tobias S. Buckell‘s newsletter, and I noticed that at the end there’s this question about zombies. Given the imminent publication of my story “The Skull-Faced Boy” in the anthology The Living Dead, I thought I’d reproduce this segment of the interview here:
TB: Last, but not least, if zombies were spreading throughout the land by infectious bite what would be your 5 point response?
DK: 1. Make careful field observations. What exactly are we dealing with here? Are these the walking dead or merely the infected living? Are these old-school shambling zombies, or newer-model dashing zombies? Most importantly, if you chop off their arm with a chainsaw, will the arm just lie there, or will it crawl along and try to strangle you? These small details matter.
2. Hide in the attic. Not, I repeat not, in the basement.
3. If the group of survivors contains some loudmouthed jerk, just shoot him now. If you don’t, you’ll only be sorry later, and he’s going to die anyway.
4. Wrap your entire body in bite-proof bailing wire. Why does no one ever think of this?
5. We’re going to the Winchester.