The Dead Tell Tales

Hello all. I know, I know... I've been neglecting you. Unfortunately, the needs of the real world have been  taking up most of my life for quite some time now. Bills need paid, things need done, and there just doesn't seem to be enough time, money and energy to get to them all. However, I would like to let all of you know that I just released a new book, titled "The Dead Tell Tales". (Note; blogger is being quite difficult in allowing me to post the cover art by my son, Jordan Rhodes, here. You'll have to click on the link to see it. Apologies.) It's a collection of zombie short stories and novellas from different points in my writing career. For those of you that have read this blog since I started it, you may recognize one or two of the stories. Otherwise, most of the stories have not been published elsewhere. For you "Area 187; Almost Hell" fans, though, pay attention; "The Dead Tell Tales" includes the entire prologue to the forthcoming sequel, "Area 187; Almost Home" (yes, it is a real thing, and yes, I am still writing it) as well as a look back into the Area's past with a story that many people have told me they wanted to see starring everyone's favorite old, grizzled-yet-loveable grave robber, Jasper Connelly. My wife/editor, Anna M. Lowther, even weighs in with a tale of her own in the collection that classes up the pages as well.


No matter how you like your zombies; shambling, running, talking, or even magical, I've got you covered in "The Dead Tell Tales". Want alternate history? Done. Want to hear a zombie pontificate on the human condition? Got it. Want happy endings? Er... okay, maybe, like, one or so depending on your life outlook. But otherwise, you want the dead, I got the dead.


This is the first of, I hope, many new books and novels that will be coming out from Marime Press, a publishing house we have founded with the release of "The Dead Tell Tales". But, for this thing to get off the ground, I need your help. Please, check out "The Dead Tell Tales". And, if you haven't yet, take a look at the reviews for "Area 187; Almost Hell" and act accordingly. As I write this, I have yet to gain a single review for "The Dead Tell Tales", so for those of you that live to be first, here's your chance.


I am still working on "Area 187; Almost Home", and I promise you that it will see release within at least your children's lifetimes. It will likely be another large book, mostly because I don't seem to know when to shut up, and these things take time. So bear with me, and until then take a look at "The Dead Tell Tales". Your support now will allow Marime Press to grow, supporting not only me but eventually other small-press authors. As always, thanks for your readership, your support, and to whoever it is that keeps sending me mackerel, please stop. I have enough.


                                                                              Just write, damn it

What is "Area 187"?

(Image Copyright Laura Conkle)






In 2007, an accident at a clandestine U.S. government facility in rural West Virginia released several test subjects infected with a highly contagious, necrotic virus. In an effort to maintain the secrecy of the project and prevent widespread panic, government operatives, military units and private forces are sent into Appalachia with orders to quietly eliminate all traces of the infected subjects, including “secondary infections”. The fiercely independent, close-knit nature of the people and the rough, isolated hills and deep hollows work against them, giving the virus a small yet strong pool of victims, spreading through the rural populace faster than its carriers can be found and destroyed. Whole extended families succumb to the growing undead tide as the loved ones they try to care for turn on them. In a matter of days, the virus is carried throughout southern and central West Virginia as the dead spread through the hills and into first the small mountain communities.

The rapidly-failing government conspiracy leaves no room for warning the populace of the coming zombie hordes or preparing civil services and medical personnel. Rural doctors and the small, ill-equipped regional hospitals that dot countryside rush the newly-infected to hospitals in the more heavily-populated areas of the state, inadvertently sending the virus biting and clawing into tens of thousands more. Days later the virus appears in northern Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania, forcing the declaration of marshal law in the affected states. Thousands of soldiers are lost as the military attempts to regain control of the region, their training in conventional warfare failing dramatically against their unconventional enemy. Within three weeks of the initial outbreak, the federal government and the Department of Homeland Security are forced to publicly announce the crisis. The bulk West Virginia and slices of Virginia and Pennsylvania are placed under strict quarantine. Ground forces are gathered and pulled back, creating defensive lines and temporary blockades as they retreat to the outer edges of the quaratine while the few heavily-populated cities in the state and other "key" targets are leveled from the air. Eventually, the defensive lines are fortified and nothing is allowed in or out, damning those missed in the short period of evacuations to a living hell and locking away the real truth of the virus’ creation.

Publicly announcing fears that the virus could be used to create the ultimate terrorist weapon, the United States government transfers the responsibility of maintaining the quarantine from the military to the Department of Homeland Security, which christens it “Area 187”. Hundreds of thousands of lawsuits and claims are dismissed under Homeland’s broad anti-terror legislation as government and military leaders and the research and development corporations involved in the development of the virus scramble to cover their involvement in the original project, distancing their investors and reelection campaigns from the large chunk of the continental United States now ruled by the dead.

Years pass. Homeland Security develops and enforces a total news blackout on all things Area 187. Dozens of laws are passed granting sweeping authority to maintain the security of the Area using whatever means Homeland deems fit. Like so many disasters before it, the American people grow tired of hearing the stories of those that escaped and of those that were left behind and of seeing the horrifying, shambling dead on the evening news. And while they continue donate to survivor causes and celebrate the additional day off from work each year, most have become more than willing to move on and allow the government to retake the Area on their own time table. Conspiracies continue to thrive outside the now-immense defensive wall and mercenaries known as “grave robbers” regularly slip in and out of the Area, stealing valuables and taking contracts to bring back specific items for well-paying customers.

Our story begins in the year 2014, seven years after the creation of the undead land the world has moved on, though it keeps a watchful eye on the chunk of the United States ruled by the dead. America itself has more or less made its peace with the Area, and even those in its neighboring states have done their best to forget it exists. Homeland Security and the federal government use this apathy to their advantage, quietly continuing the fortification of the massive walls, fences and state of the art electronic monitoring and satellite systems that now keep the shambling dead and the virus they carry locked away from humanity. But these measures not only keep the zombie hordes from devouring the nation. As the defenses grew, the few dozen survivors a month that managed to make their way back to the living world on their own dwindled to a few a month, then trickled off to a few a year with the last recorded survivors emerging from the death lands in 2012, more than two years ago. Currently, Homeland's position is that no survivors remain in Area 187. Conspiracy theories abound, both from those able to couch their reporting in language barely legal when held up to the light of Area 187 laws and from "outlaw" news sources alike. Many speak of the existence of proof still buried away inside the Area that the virus was created not by accident but as a viral weapon while others believe that Homeland not only knows of the exitence of survivors, but actively works to keep them hidden away behind the walls for fear of what they may know or that they may be able to carry a mutated form of the virus with them should they return to the living world.

Homeland's control of the Area, as well as any Area-related "offense" committed anywhere in the United States, has become absolute. While their agents cotinue their forays into Area 187 in search of grave robbers and sensitive information related to the creation of the zombie virus, others are tasked with tracking down those same things outside it as well. Laws allowing Homeland free reign to arrest, detain and indefinately hold anyone they believe a threat to the security of Area 187 are used to their fullest. The luckiest of the suspected "grave robbers" or those consorting with them are subject to immediate arrest, detainment and a rapid, loaded trial. Most simply vanish without a trace, never to be seen again. News and communications blackouts begun in the early days of the Area not only continue but have spread throughout the world. While Homeland continues to invesitgate and control all news and information concerning Area 187 from U.S. news outlets, networks and even the internet, the federal government controls foreign news gathering and reporting by threatening embargos, sanctions and withdrawl of vital foreign aid dollars to nations that fail to control Area 187-related disseminations. Officially, Area 187 will remain under strict quarantine for the next 25 years to allow time for the undead to rot away and for the virus, devoid of any fresh hosts, to rot away along with them. Officially, grave robbing is not only a crime but carries with it a huge risk that someone could carry the virus back to the living world. And, officially, no survivors remain alive behind the impervious walls of Area 187.

"Area 187, Book I; Almost Hell" follows Josephine Terrell, a television reporter, and John Heath, once an Air Force search-and-rescue team leader that escaped the Area after five years of fruitless searching for his wife, as they risk their lives from both the dead and the living to go into Area 187 to rescue a group of survivors. Josephine is looking for the story of the century, one that will prove survivors exist inside and that Homeland has been covering up their existence. Heath joins her after he sees what may very well be his wife, Eileen, in a video message from the survivors. Death will follow their every step as the pair makes their way on foot through the blasted, nightmarish landscape full of hungering dead. But the peril offered by the mindless corpses becomes second to the danger presented by the living.

Don't miss "Area 187, Book I; Almost Hell" by Eric R. Lowther, coming soon from Library of the Living Dead Press, along with "Area 187, Book II; Almost Home" slated for publication Winter 2010. And remember, check back here often for further publishing news, updates, free short fiction and more about the world of Area 187, and thanks for reading.

Eric R. Lowther
ericrlowther@yahoo.com

P.S. Just write, damn it.

Welcome...

Many thanks for having stumbled into my little corner of the Web. My name is Eric R. Lowther, a semi-amateur writer of speculative fiction, horror and dark fantasy. What you'll find here are a few of my short works of fiction and perhaps a few mindless rants here and there. But, mostly fiction. Some may have been previously published with their rights having reverted back, some may be unpublished works and you may even see a post or two in shameless self-promotion for upcoming short-fiction placements and for my first novel project, "Area 187", a novel in two parts slated for publication this fall and winter respectively from Library of the Living Dead Press.

I welcome comments and feedback of all types. A career in the small press has not only given me an ideal playground but has also given me the skin of a rhino for both constructive and non-constructive criticisms alike. My website, www. ericrlowther .com is currently under construction, and as I am far from the most tech savvy of individuals it may be a long time in coming.

To begin my shameless self-promotion, I will leave you with a list of my work still currently available for sale or, in some cases, free for the reading. If you like what you see, great. Drop me a line and let me know. If you don't like what you see, great. Drop me a line and let me know. Email any comments, complaints and/or flaming puppies to ericrlowther @ yahoo .com.

I'm not sure just what the folks over at Scotopia Press are doing these days, but you can find my short serial killer tale "Alley Cat" in the pages of Dark Distortions, Volume 1. You can also go here for a quick review.

Check out two different issues of Theaker's Quarterly Fiction. For Issue #19 for my award-nominated, novella-length tale "Rural Legend", high fantasy with a rural twist, and to Issue #26 for my cover-inspiring short story, "We Three Kings" for a little holiday cheer from where it all began. I share the pages with many other talented authors in these and all my other anthologies, so if you go don't just stop at my pages. Both issues are available to download as a free PDF, but at their price you can afford to support small press, can't you?

For the more humor-driven, go to A Library of Unknown Horrors, a mix of some classic tales from the masters as well as a few of us pups filling out the pages, to read my story "The Great Morgan Family Reunion and Snipe Hunt". Don't forget your gunny sack...

For those with tastes that run to the more traditional, check out my ghost story "Suburban Legend" in Drollerie Press's fine anthology, Bump in the Night. You can get it from their website as well as Amazon.com.

For a little Urban Legend Flavor, hop over to Amazon for editor Jennifer Brozek of www.edgeofpropinquity.com fame for the anthology, Close Encounters of the Urban Kind for my take on the man-in-the-backseat in my short story, "It Came from the Back Seat".

Here's a great little mag', published both electronically and now on good ole' American paper (wait, we still grow trees here, don't we?). Do yourself a favor and check out Necrotic Tissue Specifically, see e-issue April 2008 for my story, "Milliner's Farm" (now free for your downloading pleasure) and their first print issue listed as January 2009 and look for my short story, "Tenure", Issue #7. That one has also been adapted for the stage as part of a four-act stage production, "3 Zombies and a Demon" by internationally-known playwrite Roy C. Both that, quite frankly, I can't wait to see. "Tenure" as well as the other three scripts are available here, all bound up in a nice soft-bound book with a fantastic cover for any of you looking for something fresh to perform.

Another cool mag' for all you vampire fans out there is Night to Dawn. Though I believe it's on a bit of a hiatus, you can see my take on the vampire with a tale about my recurring vampire character, Shakespeare (Look for my next blog post for "The Taxman Cometh" for a previously published Shakespeare tale), in issue #13. Vampires DO NOT SPARKLE. EVER. If you feel they should, then you probably shouldn't go here and order a copy of the magazine for my tale, "Rotting Meat".

And while you're at it, click over to Zombie World News to see what the world of today would look like if the zombies really were rising as told through news stories, pictures and commentaries from the reporters and commentators following the zombie plague in an effort to keep Mr. & Mrs. America informed. Oh, and tell 'em Arthur Helms sent ya...

As for upcoming projects, I'll pass on more information as it comes on my aforementioned novel project as it comes to light. I will also appear in an upcoming issue of All Hallows, the Ghost Story Society Magazine with my story "Hunter Ghost". More on that when I have a release date. Now, go forth and write, damn it.

Read here first, and welcome to my head...

Many thanks for having stumbled into my little corner of the Web. My name is Eric R. Lowther, a semi-amateur writer of speculative fiction, horror and dark fantasy. What you'll find here are a few of my short works of fiction and perhaps a few mindless rants here and there. But, mostly fiction. Some may have been previously published with their rights having reverted back, some may be unpublished works and you may even see a post or two in shameless self-promotion for upcoming short-fiction placements and for my first novel project, "Area 187", a novel in two parts slated for publication this fall and winter respectively from Library of the Living Dead Press.

I welcome comments and feedback of all types. A career in the small press has not only given me an ideal playground but has also given me the skin of a rhino for both constructive and non-constructive criticisms alike. My website, www. ericrlowther .com is currently under construction, and as I am far from the most tech savvy of individuals it may be a long time in coming.

To begin my shameless self-promotion, I will leave you with a list of my work still currently available for sale or, in some cases, free for the reading. If you like what you see, great. Drop me a line and let me know. If you don't like what you see, great. Drop me a line and let me know. Email any comments, complaints and/or flaming puppies to ericrlowther @ yahoo .com.

I'm not sure just what the folks over at Scotopia Press are doing these days, but you can find my short serial killer tale "Alley Cat" in the pages of Dark Distortions, Volume 1. You can also go here for a quick review.

Check out two different issues of Theaker's Quarterly Fiction. For Issue #19 for my award-nominated, novella-length tale "Rural Legend", high fantasy with a rural twist, and to Issue #26 for my cover-inspiring short story, "We Three Kings" for a little holiday cheer from where it all began. I share the pages with many other talented authors in these and all my other anthologies, so if you go don't just stop at my pages. Both issues are available to download as a free PDF, but at their price you can afford to support small press, can't you?

For the more humor-driven, go to A Library of Unknown Horrors, a mix of some classic tales from the masters as well as a few of us pups filling out the pages, to read my story "The Great Morgan Family Reunion and Snipe Hunt". Don't forget your gunny sack...

For those with tastes that run to the more traditional, check out my ghost story "Suburban Legend" in Drollerie Press's fine anthology, Bump in the Night. You can get it from their website as well as Amazon.com.

For a little Urban Legend Flavor, hop over to Amazon for editor Jennifer Brozek of www.edgeofpropinquity.com fame for the anthology, Close Encounters of the Urban Kind for my take on the man-in-the-backseat in my short story, "It Came from the Back Seat".

Here's a great little mag', published both electronically and now on good ole' American paper (wait, we still grow trees here, don't we?). Do yourself a favor and check out Necrotic Tissue at www.necrotictissue.com. Specifically, see e-issue April 2008 for my story, "Milliner's Farm" and their first print issue listed as January 2008 (though I'm pretty sure it was 2009) now conveniently converted into PDF format for your downloading pleasure and look for my short story, "Tenure". That one has also been adapted for the stage as part of a four-act zombie stage production that, quite frankly, I can't wait to see.

Another cool mag' for all you vampire fans out there is Night to Dawn. Though I believe it's on a bit of a hiatus, you can see my take on the vampire with a tale about my recurring vampire character, Shakespeare (Look for my next blog post for "The Taxman Cometh" for a previously published Shakespeare tale), in issue #13. Vampires DO NOT SPARKLE. EVER. If you feel they should, then you probably shouldn't go here and order a copy of the magazine for my tale, "Rotting Meat".

And while you're at it, click over to Zombie World News to see what the world of today would look like if the zombies really were rising as told through news stories, pictures and commentaries from the reporters and commentators following the zombie plague in an effort to keep Mr. & Mrs. America informed. Oh, and tell 'em Arthur Helms sent ya...

As for upcoming projects, I'll pass on more information as it comes on my aforementioned novel project as it comes to light. I will also appear in an upcoming issue of All Hallows, the Ghost Story Society Magazine with my story "Hunter Ghost". More on that when I have a release date. Now, go forth and write, damn it.