Guest Post by Joshua Cook 'The Inspiration Behind Alice in Zombieland'

When I first started reading Alice in Zombieland, one of my first questions was where did Josh come up with this title? Why would you want to give a twist to a classic children's story? Here is his reply.

[Remember to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post! The winner will receive a free digital copy of Alice in Zombieland and an entry into a drawing for a limited edition paperback copy!]

Alice in Zombieland began more in title than anything else. After finishing one of the short stories and trying to decide on a title, the name Alice in Zombieland popped into my head. Realizing this name was too good to use on a short story, I tucked it away in my mind. The more it sat there, though, the more it began eating away at me.

I have to use it for something… Something good.

Over and over I would come back to Alice in Zombieland. After finally getting around to doing a search, I found there were already a number of Alice in Wonderland – zombie mash-ups out there. Instead of flooding the genre with another take on this formula, my mind began focusing more on my Alice.

The young, red haired sixteen year old Alice was already taken by the greedy Richard Roslun at this point. I put myself in her shoes and discovered something. Much like the classic Alice, my young Alice also felt lost and confused. She was about to be thrown into a whole new world; one where the life she had always known was about to be taken away. In its place would be a new life where she would have to learn to grow and take charge of her destiny. Both versions of Alice face new enemies and meet mysterious creatures in their journeys. The enemies my Alice must face in her new life will cross the spectrum; everything from undead foes and mad scientists to mutant creatures and redneck zombie hunters.

Even with these horrors all around her, my Alice will meet good people who are fighting the good fight. When zombies run on more than mere instinct, the living will need all the help they can get to defeat their Queen of Hearts. This evil comes in the form of Richard Roslun, a powerful business man who will stop at nothing to keep the power he has grown to love so much.

It was only after I had spent these countless days and nights pondering the Zombie A.C.R.E.S. story as a whole that it began to occur to me. My Alice’s transformation on Blake Island is much like Lewis Carroll’s Alice falling through the rabbit hole. So it seems, without playing a large part in the conscious planning and writing of AiZ: Alice in Zombieland (Complete Saga), influences of Alice in Wonderland can be seen throughout the journey my young Alice begins.

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AiZ: Alice in Zombieland (Complete Saga) is now available in the Amazon Kindle Store, on Smashwords for all formats, and through many online retailers. Pre-orders are open the signed limited edition paperback, as well as the regular paperback editions, at ZombieACRES.com. Also available through Amazon is the anthology 100 Horrors, which features an exclusive Zombie A.C.R.E.S. story, along with 99 other tales of terror. 100 Horrors is available in Kindle and paperback formats.

Joshua Cook is a writer for hire living in the Seattle area. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. To find out more about Zombie A.C.R.E.S., visit them on Facebook, Twitter, and in the ACRES merch shop.

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