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