Interview with Calvin Miller

Calvin Miller is the author of Het Madden, a book that explores the undead side of the zompocalypse. It is truly a one of a kind novel. Miller is currently working on the sequel as well as other literary works. He is a well rounded guy with potential, his work will be well known in the zombie genre, if it is not already. And in my opinion his best attribute is that he looks like a pro wrestler. Enjoy the interview.

Lyle
When was your first brush with undead fiction? 
 
Cal
I used to read my parent's H.P. Lovecraft books. Lots of undead and weird stuff. Then I saw Night of the Living Dead. Then I saw Dawn of the Dead.  Then it was over, I was HOOKED!
 
Lyle
Are you aware of Romero’s upcoming book titled The Living Dead: The Beginning? What are your thoughts about knowing the origins of the zombie from the man who created it?
 
Cal
I have it preordered! It looks like he is going to examine how different types/groups of people react when the dead walk worldwide.  I can't wait!
 
Lyle
How long did it take you to write Het Madden?
 
Cal
A little under a year, after work and weekends. Since it was my first book I was getting my legs under me. I write faster now.
 
Lyle 
Your first novel is written in the view point of the zombie so do you consider yourself to be a zombie sympathizer?
 
Cal
Yeah I think I am a bit. I mean they don't choose to be what they become, they were turned into monsters. Also, we are all zombies to a certain extent. We are forced to get a job and become the person who does that job. We become what we are made into, and not always by the choices we make but by the effects society has on us. And there sometimes comes a day when we look in the mirror and see a monster...
 
Lyle
So when the zombie apocalypse begins you will be the person who ties up and hides them in a basement?
 
Cal
Oh no. You gotta get rid of them! I mean, I feel for them but they are trying to eat me!  Although trying to find a cure would be a good idea.
 
Lyle 
What can you tell us about the movie adaptation for your novel, Het Madden?  
 
Cal
We are gonna make the best zombie movie ever made! Seriously though, Coven Delacruz is directing and doing the screenplay and he really enjoyed the book so I can't imagine it begin anything less than awesome! 
 
Lyle
Do you have any more published work?
 
Cal
Nope, Het Madden is my first book. More is on the way though! I am writing a biography of Coven Delacruz, the director doing the Het Madden movie, right now. I am also writing some more straightforward horror, but the undead have crept in. Not merely attacking corpses, but cunning adversaries that are clinically dead but still walk and talk and eat you. They also like to torment those they once loved. I like to examine the fall of society and the spiritual aspect of the undead, as well as the gore! And there will be at least two more Het Madden books.
 
Lyle
When would we be expecting the next Het Madden installment?
 
Cal
Cold Blood will be first then the next Het hopefully by the end of 2010. 
 
Lyle
How did you come up with the idea for Het Madden?
 
Cal
I've been watching zombie movies and reading zombie books so long and always felt that the undead had to be thinking something. It also didn't make sense that they would all be at the same level of sentience. So I wanted to explore that. I guess I just felt that a story from the zombie's point of view needed to be told. Most non-zombie fan's knowledge of the genre seems to be a bit limited. You say "zombies" and they smile and say "brainzzzzz". There just never seemed to be a zombie identity. Vampires have Dracula, Anne Rice's characters, and a whole lot of other faces and names. Werewolves have The Wolfman, An American Werewolf in London, and other individuals that were werewolves. Ghosts even have faces like Patrick Swayze in Ghost. But Zombies were always a marauding horde and not much more. I tried to get inside the head of a zombie when I wrote my book. To put a name on a Zombie, to show what he was thinking, what it's like to die and come back and find yourself craving the flesh of human beings so much so that you can't control the urge to kill and feed even though it disgusts you and makes you hate yourself, and everything else. All the while you see the infected around you rot away just like you are rotting away. That realization, that ability to relate to a zombie and even be one, I always thought that was the missing ingredient to get a larger following for the genre; someone people could relate to. Vampires always made their plight a bit more glamorous than painful, which just doesn't translate to zombies. LOL.  Zombies have remained too mysterious for too long. LOL. 
 
Lyle
What do you think about Bub from Day of the Dead being the ‘face’ of zombies?
 
Cal
I like Bub! I always wondered what he was thinking. Perform for the doctor get a human hand in a bucket He learned a lot and I always wondered how far that could have gone.
 
Lyle
Have you read other zombie fiction?
 
Cal
Oh yeah. I love After Life by Jaron Lee Knuth, Resurrection Planet by Lucas Cole, Voyeur Dead by Alan Gandy and Etienne DeForest wrote The Zombie Survival Guide: How To Live Like A King After The Outbreak which is hilarious.
 
Lyle
Will you continue writing about zombie fiction or perhaps you will take your skills to another genre?
 
Cal
Other than the biography of Coven, I think I will be sticking to horror/scifi/zombies. 
 
Lyle
What characteristics need to be present in order to be considered a zombie?
 
Cal
The ability to "be" once vital bodily functions stop, and of course you have to feed on the living. Dead, rotting, falling apart is a must, at least initially. Other than that I think the sky should be the limit. Again, Vampires and Werewolves have a "face" in Count Dracula and The Wolfman, but they have also been taken to other levels. For better or worse. :) I think the Zombie Genre needs to be varied and explored as well. New things need to be done to keep it fresh. Don't get me wrong I love the classic Romero stuff, but I wanted to try and write something different.
 
Lyle
I agree The Rising by Brian Keene is a wonderful example. We no longer have the mindless walking dead of old but we are introduced to possessed zombies. Another example is Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Brown. He writes about the discrimination of zombie’s in general. I believe Het Madden would be a wonderful and fresh idea to add to the genre. Speaking of genre, would you still consider zombies being a sub-genre? Or have they become so popular they have become their own genre?
 
Cal
I think it is becoming its own genre. Like Vampires have. I think one of the reasons zombies are better suited in their own genre is that it’s hard to pin down exactly what it is a sub-genre of.

Horror or Sci-Fi? It really depends on the zombie book. 
 
Lyle 
Have you prepared yourself for the zombie apocalypse? 
 
Cal
Initially I wasn't interested in too much preparedness other than education on what to do and how to kill them. But now I am getting more into it: Bug Out Vehicle, survival techniques, etc. It ain't “if” it's “when”, right?
 
Lyle
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me Cal. I had a great time. I look forward to reviewing Het Madden 2 in the future.
 
Cal 
Thanks a million for the interview and book review Lyle!!!