Interview with Etienne DeForest

Etienne is like Santa Clause. Whenever someone takes a picture of him. it never comes out clear. As you can see I have evidence to support my clam, just look at the picture above. No matter what i try to claim the fact is that Etienne is the author of The Zombie Survival Guide: How to Live Like a King After the Outbreak. This 4 Undead Heads book is written in the style of crude and offensive humor. If you are one of those people that takes things to seriously do not read his book. Etienne does have a lot of new work up his sleeve so be expecting more from this write. Enjoy the interview.

Lyle
Why zombies and why a survival guide?

Etienne
I had just lost my job like a lot of other people in recent years, that night I had a nightmare about zombie hordes ripping apart my house in a full on outbreak. Right before I woke up I was cowering helpless in a corner basically waiting to die. I didn’t like that feeling, I didn’t like being scared, and I wanted to do something to make me feel better about it. So I got up at 4am and started writing.

Lyle
Did you write the book from beginning to end or did you write different sections first?

Etienne
I wrote from beginning to end, but I planned out what each section was going to be prior to writing the book. So I would occasionally jot down notes and jokes that I would cross my mind while driving or something on sections I had not reached yet.

Lyle
What was going on in your head when you such a humorous book?

Etienne
Honestly, I am incapable of being serious for more then ten minutes. For me to try to write a serious book would have been impossible. So I wrote the book directly in line with my personality. In fact, everybody I know personally who has read the book tells me that they feel like I’m standing in the room with them reading the book to them personally.

Lyle
How long did it take you to write The Zombie Survival Guide: How to Live like a King After the Outbreak?

Etienne
Not long, only about three months. However, I worked on it constantly. I didn’t have a job but I felt like I needed to wake up and go to work still. So that’s what I did. I woke up, went to work in my office, then let myself off work when I was happy with my writing for the day.

Lyle
Did you ever come across any writers block? How did you deal with that?

Etienne
All the time I came across writers block. I’d typically go buy a 12 pack when that happened.

Lyle
I read some of the attacks you have been getting on Amazon from people that just don’t understand the humor. How would you describe your book to people in order to make them understand what you’re trying to accomplish?

Etienne
I’m so glad you brought that up, and I love the way you worded it. They “just don’t understand the humor”. I’d like to say that it doesn’t affect me, but it does. In fact, it pisses me off. I just want to ask them, “Did you flip through the book before you bought it?” “What did you think you were buying?”

I shouldn’t get mad though. Honestly, I was intentionally trying to piss people or make them laugh their asses off. The majority of the reviews are “I LOVE THIS BOOK!” or “THIS IS THE WORST BOOK EVER!” So as far as I’m concerned, I accomplished my goals. The people who write bad reviews for the book I can tell are genuinely offended. I’m actually a little proud of the fact that I can provoke an emotion as strong as anger with a joke.

Lyle
I’ve noticed that. As of right now you have ten 5 stars and three 1 star reviews. Either they hate it or love it. Do you have any upcoming promotions for your books?

Etienne
Man, I suck at promoting my book. I’d like to get it associated with some contest or something but the problem I keep running into is that it’s so damn offensive I’m afraid to ask people to be associated with it. I think I’m going to piss them off or something. So I pretty much just hang back and let people approach me if they are interested in giving it away for a contest or something.

Lyle
What are some of your favor zombie books and movies?

Etienne
Het Madden by Cal Miller, favorite zombie book hands down. After that, WWZ is an awesome book as well.

As far as movies, you know I gotta go with Shawn of the Dead. I’m a comedy guy.

Lyle
Do you have any upcoming work you’d like to share?

Etienne
The next book is Texas Biker Zombies from Outer Space. It’s a Choose Your Own Adventure style book about a coked up biker who finds himself in the middle of a zombie outbreak. So far I think it’s way better then the first book.

I’m also working on a project called Dead on Earth. This is my first experience writing where I don’t have total control of my content. I’ve only been on the team for a week and I’ve already been told that some of my ideas are to offensive for the project. I’m not sure if this will help or hurt my writing, but I’m actually kind of glad there is somebody there to draw a line for me.

Lyle
Out of all the reasons the dead walk, what is your favorite?

Etienne
I like the parasite theory. It already happens naturally with other species so to me it’s the most feasible. 

Lyle
To you, what characteristics need to be present in order to be considered a zombie?

Etienne
A zombie has to be animated death. Everything else is open to interpretation. I hate it when I hear fan-boys say, “Zombies don’t run!”, “Zombies can’t think!” You know what? You can’t think! Make sure to come up for air after you fellate Max Brooks and George Romero.

Lyle
Have you prepared yourself for the upcoming zombie apocalypse?

Etienne
I just bought a case of beer.

Lyle
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer a few questions. I look forward to reviewing more of your work.

Etienne
Thanks for reviewing it!