inches deep in some spots, it muffled the occasional piece of falling concrete. There were no zombies in the streets anymore, just corpses of those unlucky enough to be hit in the head by falling debris or from the many pieces of shrapnel let loose from the exploding artillery shells.
Quietly, almost gently, a chunk of stone shifted on the ground and then rolled a few feet to settle into a dusty valley. The single movement was followed by another, then yet another still as the pieces of the Art Center shifted and writhed, pushed up from below. Springing from the dirt, like a plant growing frantically fast a pale, bloody hand thrust upward into the moonlight.
Author's Note
This book took me a bit longer to write than I had expected, I started it on March 13th 2009 and finished it on July 27th, 2010, although the bulk of the writing was finished on April 13th. Editing, a bit of re-writing and some tweaking of the various time/logic details seemed to take me forever this time around. I had fun writing this book and I suppose if I ever 'Don't have fun' I won't write anymore. I already have a few chapters of TZC3 written and hope to make better time finishing the last book in the trilogy than I did writing TZC2. I am very grateful to the many fans who have taken time to write and to the people on Amazon who have left comments, thank you guys! There are a couple of people in particular who I need to thank; Mike Keleman deserves a major thank you and kudos for his help in reading, highlighting errors and urging me to put in more sex and fight scenes with every email. He co-authored the first book with me and he may climb back in the saddle for a future work. I also want to thank Jessie Masoner! You've been with me from the beginning and I really appreciate your help and comments along the way. I can't count the number of times when your kind words have encouraged me and I am grateful for them.
I have taken extra time to sort through 'Discovery' and weed out the spelling and grammar issues, I do not think I have gotten them all, but I feel I did a much better job this time around than with any of my previous books. Progress is always good on the editing/grammar front.
Where do I go from here? Book 3, of course, but I also have a few other items on the agenda. First I will probably write a short story called, 'Whatever Happened in Nebraska?' detailing the fight between Red and Ramey, it grew a little long and seemed to pull too much of the focus away from Max and his crew so I left it on the cutting room floor for this book, but I want to re-write it and give it the attention it deserves. Plus I love the idea of writing about Jimbo and Veronica… While I was editing this book I continued to write and I have a couple of stories in dire need of completion ('The First Zombie' and another called 'Contender') I will get those finished up and move to the heart of TZC3 in the fall.
My personal life hasn't changed much, I still live in Iowa, I still work as a computer programmer with aspirations of 'writing' someday and I still have a large family that lives with me and keeps me on my toes, even when I would rather relax. Every Saturday night you can still find me on the ramshackle 'Man' deck behind my house where I go to grill ribs and drink beer (or rum) while I listen to the radio to people who really know how to tell stories.
Don't be a zombie, do good things!
Mark Clodi
July 28th, 2010
