Max Brooks's Blog, page 5

Last week I was invited to attend a Hurricane ROC (Rehearsal of Concept) drill at Fort Sam Houston. It was very educational to observe the backstage mechanisms of public safety.

IDW comics has just partnered with Open Road Media to re-release “GI JOE: Tales From the Cobra Wars,” a book of short stories I edited and was lucky enough to write a short story for. It’s a great collection of writers and a fun edition to the GI JOE universe and now it’s available in ebook form from Amazon and iTunes.

It’s finally finished! We’ve finally recorded all the characters for the complete audiobook of World War Z! It’s been a long road, going back roughly six years when we first completed the abridged version. Since that time I’ve been asked at every convention and every book signing, “When is there going to be an unabridged version?” Nobody wanted that more than me, and when Random House gave me the green light a year ago, I made it my number one priority. It’s been an amazing experience, not only working with some of the finest talent ever, but also some of my personal heroes. As a dyslexic kid who grew up on audiobooks, this is nothing short than the fulfillment of a childhood dream. Thank you to the cast, to Random House, and especially to fans of the abridged audiobook who pushed so hard to complete the story. They will not be disappointed!

Come see Max speak at the 12th annual San Francisco Sketchfest. His event will be part of the Sketchfest Comedy NightLife event, and will take place at the California Academy of Sciences. NightLife features food, drinks and DJs and is for guests ages 21 and over.

Details: Thursday, January 31, 6-10pm, California Academy of Sciences, 21+

Click here for event info and click here for more about Max’s appearance.

Come see Max speaking on January 17th at the Fowler OutSpoken Conversation:The Walking Dead: Zombies in Haitian Vodou and Contemporary Popular Culture.

Of many fascinating spirits featured in the Haitian Vodou sphere, the zombi has an interesting trajectory from Haiti to contemporary culture. In this roundtable discussion, panelists Max Brooks (right, author of The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead and World War Z); Anna Creagh (left), teaching associate at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Culture; and Patrick Polk (middle), co-curator of In Extremis and the Fowler’s curator of Latin American and Caribbean Popular Arts examine the origins and manifestations of these “troublesome dead” in the Haitian belief system and modern zombie culture.

EVENT DETAILS

Fowler OutSpoken Conversation: The Walking Dead: Zombies in Haitian Vodou and Contemporary Popular Culture

Speakers: Max Brooks, Anna Creagh, Patrick Polk

Thursday, January 17, 2013

7:30 pm

Fowler Museum Auditorium

Free lecture

For more info, join the Facebook invite here.

Last week, I attended the Denver film festival and was invited to sit on a panel about zombies and popular culture. I was with my friend, Dr. Steve Schlozman, author of “The Zombie Autopsies” and our mutual idol, George Romero.  It’s not every day that you get to spend time with the father of a genre. I’ve always said that, when it comes to Zombies, it’s George’s world and the rest of us are just lucky to live in it. George also happens to be one of the funniest, kindest and sharpest men I’ve ever met and it was a pleasure and an honor to share the stage with him.

Oh yeah, and I also saw a trailer for a movie last week that happens to have the same title as a book I once wrote, and I’ll say more on that when I know more.

Sent to me by a gentlemen on a trans-Atlantic flight.

This was the most important Comic-Con I have ever been to. It was a blast being part of the Legendary Comics team, (especially when Joe Straczynski did a surprise walk on during our panel). It’s always awesome spending time with co-workers I respect like Mark Wade and Bob Schreck as well as bumping into creative legends I’ve always admired, like George R.R. Martin. However what made this year’s con so special was meeting a young man named Deven from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. His wish was to come to Comic-Con and I was on his list of people to meet. He is a brave and smart kid and way more prepared for zombies than I ever was at his age! Deven, if you read this, I meant what I said about staying in touch. Anytime you want to shoot the breeze about zombies or whatever, you know how to reach me.

Mr. Abraham might be most famous for his role as Salieri in “Amadeus,” but to me he’ll always be General Alekseyev, and Major Sergitov, and all the other characters from Tom Clancy’s “Red Storm Rising.” When I was in high school, I listened to the abridged audiobook in which he played every character! His performance showed me how amazing this art form can be and it set the talent bar for the full-length audio incarnation of World War Z.

In 2006, Henry Rollins voiced the role of T. Sean Collins in the abridged audiobook. This time he returned to finish the job and read Collin’s final thoughts. As cool as it was to hear him say “I’m addicted to murder,” getting to speak with him afterwards was the real treat. Henry is a deeply intelligent, insightful, curious man. I wish there had been more time to hear about his travels. I might have written about North Korea but he’s actually been there! I look forward to hearing about his further adventures, whenever we (hopefully) meet again. Safe travels, Henry.