Event Recap: The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller

It’s been so long since I’ve been to a regular book event so when I saw that Old Firehouse, my local indie, was hosting Lindsay King-Miller’s queer zombie book, I had to go! I grabbed an audio ARC of this book (narrated by Mara Wilson!!) so I already knew I wanted to read it. Check out some behind the scenes info below and be sure to pick up The Z Word, out now!

The Z Word

by Lindsay King-Miller
on May 7, 2024
Bookshop
Goodreads

“Sexy, scathing, delightful, and intimately devastating.”—Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt and Cuckoo
Packed with action, humor, sex, and big gay feelings, The Z Word is the queer Zombieland you didn’t know you needed.
Chaotic bisexual Wendy is trying to find her place in the queer community of San Lazaro, Arizona, after a bad breakup—which is particularly difficult because her ex is hooking up with some of her friends. And when the people around them start turning into violent, terrifying mindless husks, well, that makes things harder. Especially since the infection seems to be spreading.
Now, Wendy and her friends and frenemies—drag queen Logan, silver fox Beau, sword lesbian Aurelia and her wife Sam, mysterious pizza delivery stoner Sunshine, and, oh yeah, Wendy’s ex-girlfriend Leah—have to team up to stay alive, save Pride, and track the zombie outbreak to its shocking source. Hopefully without killing each other first.
The Z Word is a propulsive, funny, emotional horror debut about a found family coming together to fight corporate greed, political corruption, gay drama, and zombies.

Event Recap – The Z Word Launch

Lindsay was joined by fellow local horror author, Angela Sylvaine, whose books I immediately picked up because who can resist some 90s horror/thriller vibes? Not me.

They started the conversation by talking about where the idea for The Z Word came from and how Lindsay crafted her characters. The story grew from a mashup of “What if you had to find plan B during an apocalypse?” and “What if zombies attacked Pride?” She brought in comedy and horror such as, what would happen if dykes on bikes were fighting zombies at Pride (idk but like…can we have this float in 2024?!). She acknowledged that she couldn’t tell this story without including the reality of threats to the queer community and how the queer community is impacted by rainbow capitalism. Lindsay shared that she thinks about what a character’s personality needs to be to make a specific plot point happen, and then took her own negative qualities and gave them to each character. She also considered what kind of person would have the worst time in a certain situation. How kind of her haha.

We learned that Lindsay previously did slam poetry, including horror poetry reading. She’s still figuring out how to read fiction in public and how to give an experience in reading her book aloud (she did a great job!). And we can’t talk about writing horror without talking about favorite horror and zombie media (Scream and Girl with All the Gifts, if you’re curious).

If you can’t get enough of Lindsay’s words, her next book is a possession story out in 2025! She did caution us that it has a more serious tone than The Z Word but we do love an author with range :).

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