William wandered over to me with his latest Lego creation. He’d hobbled together eight spacecraft, each piloted by a gruesome creature.
We looked at them, and Will explained the marvels of each ship. He held one up. “This one’s undead, Mom.”
Viv, who was drawing with pastels, perked up at this word.
“That’s the title of Chase’s book,” she said.
“Actually,” I said, “Clay wrote Undead.”
Viv changed colours. “I get Clay and Chase mixed up.”
“So does Daddy,” I said. “It’s really pretty simple. I run Stuff Kids Write with Chase. He writes about funny parenting stuff.”
Viv nodded. Will staged a dogfight with two planes.
I continued. “Clay writes about the undead and religion and sometimes TV.”
Vivian said, “Those don’t go together at all.”
Indeed.
~~~
Vivian is absolutely right. Zombies and religion and pop culture don’t go together. Except when Clay Morgan is piloting the zombie aircraft. You may recognize Clay’s name. Together, we’ve staged some blogging mischief, most notably Searchbombing. I also became Batwoman when he hosted his own blog’s funeral.
~~~
But the reason we’re gathered here today is to talk about Clay’s new book, UNDEAD: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn, which was just released. Here is the review I posted on Amazon.
When I first heard about the concept of Clay Morgan’s book–zombie nonfiction!–I laughed. What the heck is zombie nonfiction, anyway? Well, now that I’ve read UNDEAD, let me tell you: zombie nonfiction is highly entertaining.
UNDEAD is peppered with whimsical and brilliant pop culture references, from oldies like The Wizard of Oz and Michael’s Jackson’s Thriller (is that old?) to newer references like The Walking Dead and the rescue of 33 Chilean miners in 2010.
The bigger picture, though, that Morgan communicates in a conversational and humorous way, is nothing less than the meaning of life. Specifically, Morgan recounts several occurrences in the Bible where people come back from the dead. Morgan is able to retell stories from the Gospel of Luke with the same easy-to-read quirkiness with which he describes scenes from The Shawshank Redemption.
Ultimately, Clay Morgan challenges readers (and himself) to awake from being spiritual zombies and truly live.
If pop culture, meaning-of-life or Bible stuff doesn’t grab you, there are two other reasons to pick up UNDEAD: (1) to look at the amazing illustrations, which are seductively creepy and mesmerizing; (2) to read Clay Morgan’s hilarious footnotes.
Want more?
For info on how to get the book, check out The Official Undead Page. You can also follow tweets at #UndeadBook.
Also, check out the fabulous book trailer for Undead. It almost literally brings the artwork to life. Go ahead, press play. You know you want to…
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/48493717 w=400&h=300]
GIVEAWAY TIME
I’m going to send a copy of UNDEAD with a Starbucks gift card to one commenter. You know, so you can chai it.
To enter, you can either caption one of the above photos (or all) or share a bad pun or just make some random comment.
See you in the comments.
random comment: I freaking love zombies! What is it about them?! I know there’s a serious philosophical answer in there, but for now, I just think they are cool.
“This doesn’t taste like brains at all!” for the one where you’re eating the book 🙂
Is this what happens when you read the book? You turn into a zombie?? Lol to the last picture…awesome!
“Zombies eat brains…you’re safe.” (To some people haha)
What a cool trailer, too!
“I said skinny, whip, no SOY!!!!!!” 😉
Zombies don’t interest me in the least … unless you and Clay are talking about them. You both crack me up no matter what the topic.
I freakin’ love this post. So funny. Particularly the photos….:)
You guys are hilarious. I can’t wait to read the book.
Can’t wait to get my hands on this book! Love the pics, especially Will’s undead space pilot and the chai one.
Religion and zombies huh? Maybe I could be persuaded to read a religious book again!
I could see myself, sitting in Starbucks, drinking a nice chai latte, reading about the undead….
Soooooo excited! Fabulous trailer!
I recently resurrected my blog. Well, it’s actually in the process of coming back to life now. And it is inspiring. I do feel renewed in my purpose. Like I can write about anything now. And if anyone were gonna hang out with Babe-ra-ham Lincoln, it would be Clay.
And you, queen of Zombify, you know I get competitive about these things. So can I say you look freaking hot as a zombie. Also, if I win, I have demands. Autographed please, Fryber.
I’m no fool.
This book is going to be worth a fortune one day! 😉
But even if I don’t win, I’ll buy it.
Duh.
Speaking of pun, did you know that if you type “pv3pun” and turn it upside down, it looks like “undead”? Of course you didn’t. I only knew that because my zombified brain is taking a break from rewriting and trying to entertain me.
I definitely need to read Clay’s book. My own child zombie story is that my junior high son said just yesterday, “There are no good zombie books. Only TV with The Walking Dead.” I gasped and responded, “Of course there are some great zombie books! In fact, Clay Morgan just wrote one.” Not that I’ve read it just yet, but I’m sure it’s great.
Love the pics, Leanne!
Leanne! I was coming over to subscribe today, but then I saw on Twitter that you had posted your review of Undead. So, double reason to come say, “hey!” I’m not funny enough to come up with any good captions 🙁 but I like your pictures. Please give my chance at the prize to Renee – she loves to win and she’s been very good to me! Now I’m off to finish my book report I mean review for tomorrow. Wish me luck, cause I rarely know what I’m doing, haha!
Clay is the only person who could ever get me to read about zombies or a book called “Undead”. It will be my birthday present to myself.
And you are the only person who could still look hot, covered in blood and staring out at me with weird, glowing eyes.
Has anyone pointed out yet that the blood splatter on your chest is shaped like a heart? I have a feeling you’re not really dead, Leanne. You’re undead, aren’t you? How else can you pay for the Starbucks? And the book? I’m thinking I need to get undead too…Pick me.
Looks like a bloody great book!
Isn’t non-fiction fattening, Leanne?
Great post – and review!
I’ve sent a submission e-mail to your agent, Leanne, but I don’t think she’s been too impressed…
Still, the fight continues; I can only hope I’ll someday enjoy the success that both you and Clay have had. Maybe you could give me an equally glowing review?
I thought it was a romance…
So cool to see the name Clay Morgan on a book cover. Major congrats, Clay! Can’t wait to Leanne Shirtliffe on one.
PS – Please tell Vivian and Will my book is titled Un-Undead, the story of one zombie’s epic quest to discover a semi-clean sippy cup and semi-nonspoiled milk at 2:30 a.m. for his fourth-born 3-year-old. It’s part of the niche procrastinating-on-scheduling-that-vasectomy genre.
Not being an expert at captioning, but here’s my stab at it….
‘Extraordinary people lead extra-ordinary lives.’
Book sounds way cool! First time visitin’ with you.
First photo “Undead=brain candy, give it your friends so the zombies go after them first”