Community

What will you do when the zombie apocalypse comes?

How well do you know your FR Authors? Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you can expect an update to the author roundtable, featuring many of our best Forgotten Realms authors’ answers to the world’s most important questions, right here on this blog. Submissions for new questions welcome through private message. 

Elaine Cunningham (co-author of The City of Splendors): Wear lots of gray-green makeup, spritz on the L’Air du Corpse, and try to blend in. And get a crossbow, just in case. 

Ed Greenwood (author of The Sword Never Sleeps): Go up to my cottage in the wilderness and catch up on my reading. After all, that’s where my axe and chainsaw are, and various ready firepits, and the marshmallows for roasting. Not to mention hungry bears; zombie flesh has GOT to be an improvement over the garbage they eat at the dump.

Mark Sehestedt (author of The Fall of Highwatch): Hide out until they finish decomposing (zombies are dead flesh and thus it’s only a matter of time), then help myself to all the Bushmill’s and cashews left in the world. Oh, and air freshener. All those decomposing zombies, after all . . .

Richard Lee Byers (author of Unholy): I will scurry in the direction of my friends who are gun enthusiasts, and hope they take me in. Then I will advocate that we become marauders. Because in post-apocalyptic movies, the marauders always look like they’re having more fun than the guys who are trying to cling to civilization.

Philip Athans (author of A Reader’s Guide to R.A. Salvatore’s Legend of Drizzt): Probably put on a good show at first then die pretty quickly. Assuming the whole infrastructure collapses, if I can’t watch TV, use a computer, and eat processed foods, I’d just end up shambling around moaning anyway—may as well get on with it!

Erik Scott de Bie (author of Downshadow): Assuming I survive the initial panic, I find myself a shotgun, a few spare gallons of gasoline, and (if possible) recruit Summer Glau because seriously, have you seen Serenity?

Jaleigh Johnson (author of Mistshore): I’m thinking I’ll head for the Galapagos Islands, find some remote spot to hold the zombies off as long as possible.  That way at least I’ll be able to cross off the islands on my list of 1000 places to see before I die.

Richard Baker (author of Avenger): Arm myself to the teeth and find a good place to fort up. I’m thinking a smallish island would be perfect. Blow up bridges if necessary, grid off the island, and de-zombify it one sector at a time. I’m handy with a rifle, shotgun, grenade launcher, pistol, and machete (well, just kidding about the machete) so I like my chances. Zombies don’t swim, do they?

Rosemary Jones (author of City of the Dead): Hide under the bed. Seriously, rotting dead people spook me out. Which is why there are always ambulatory but dry skeletons in my novels! I love skeletons, ever since I saw Jason & the Argonauts.

Bruce R. Cordell (author of City of Torment): Stock up on Interferon that targets the Zeta-prion responsible for rapid zombification. In the meantime, I’ve been experimenting with vaccine, injecting test subjects with heat-denatured Zeta-prion to see if they build up an immunity. Lately I’ve been seeing some strange results. In fact, I’m sort of worried I may have miscalculated . . . Damn it!

James P. Davis (author of Circle of Skulls): I will try very hard not to appear excited . . .

      . . . then I will put into motion one of my many well thought out, highly detailed, plans for survival depending on where I am and who I’m with when* the zombies arrive.

      *I believe the word ‘when’ is important to note. Not ‘if’, but ‘when’ . . . be prepared.

Lisa Smedman (author of Ascendancy of the Last): Run! (Zombies are slow, aren't they?)

 go to next question, "Unexpected Talents"