Review Exclusive: Q & A with ‘Plague Town’ Author Dana Fredsti

Review Fix chats with “plague Town” author Dana Fredsti, who gives us the inside scoop on her book and her love of zombies.

Review Fix: Why do you think zombies are so interesting?

Dana Fredsti: For me personally or the general populace? If the latter, there are many speculations as to why zombies resonate with so many people these days, with the two most prevalent being:

1. Zombies are a blank slate that can stand in for any fear a person might have, from rampant consumerism to terrorists to the loss individualism, with many other fears stuffed in between those three.

2. Zombies are us and we are them. I¹m not entirely sure what that’s supposed to mean, but I interpret it as a fear of losing our humanity, along with the paranoia that your friend or loved one could suddenly turn on you for no rational reason. I used to have nightmares where my parents looked my parents, but they were soulless inside and I knew I had to hide from them.

For me personally, there¹s something about the whole relentless walking corpses intent on eating people alive that just tickles my “Wow, this is disturbing and scary!” bone and I happen to love being scared. Not much frightens me any more; my biggest fear in life is dying suddenly and my pets ending up in the pound or starving to death. A zombocalypse plays into that fear quite nicely.

Review Fix: Ashley Parker is like a zombie version of Blade the Vampire Hunter. The first line of the book is pulled from “Big Trouble in Little China.” Considering that, how much have comic books and pop culture influenced your writing?

Fredsti: Comic books not so much. I used to read them when I was a kid, but other than some graphic novel series (anything to do with zombies, 30 Days of Night, Prometheus) I haven¹t read them in years. Books, films and television shows, on the other hand, have definitely influenced me along with personal experiences. Whether we realize it or not, everything we experience in our lives lurks in the subconscious (or the consciousness for that matter) and bits and pieces sneak their way into our conversations, art, writing, filmmaking, etc. I don¹t think about the pop culture references that show up in my writing; none of them are pre-planned.

Review Fix: How are your zombies different from everyone else’s?

Fredsti: Each one has been lovingly handcrafted by artisans and- okay, maybe not. My zombies are, in many regards, your classic Romero shambling flesh-eating corpse. Those are my favorite type of zombies regardless of the argument that speedy zombies are scarier. I¹d argue that speedy zombies raise the level of potential FUBAR for the human race, but I don¹t know that they’re actually scarier. But I digress. I have a couple of things planned (one of which I¹ve implemented in Plague Town) for the series as far as zombie “upgrades,” but I’d rather not go into it here for risk of spoilers.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite element of Ashley’s character?

Fredsti: Her sense of humor, sarcasm, and willingness to speak her mind when confronted by asshats. I know those are “elements” rather than the singular, but I think they go together.

Review Fix: If you could take one element of her personality and incorporate it within your own, what would it be and why?

Fredsti: Well, I already have the sense of humor and sarcasm, but I¹m not as good at speaking my mind when confronted by asshats. Oh, I¹m great if it’s on someone else¹s behalf (one of my nicknames is Mama Lion), but not so good if I’m the one in the line of fire. Although I have to say I¹m getting better at it. I think age has something to do with it. I find things popping out of my mouth without thought when I get angry or annoyed, whereas before I was too well-brought up (stop laughing, Mom) to vocalize these things. These days I’m saying the quiet part loudly a lot more often. I look forward to being one of those cantankerous old ladies who terrorizes my relatives and grocery store clerks.

Review Fix: How do you think this book will appeal to a modern day zombie fanatic?

Fredsti: It’s got classic zombie action and gore combined with a feisty heroine who kicks ass without being a bitch. It also looks at the zombocalypse from a feminine perspective, which is still fairly rare in the genre so it offers a change of pace from survival/gun porn stories inhabited by disenfranchised teens and/or lantern-jawed military heroes. Which is not to say every other zombie book out there falls into those categories, thank goodness.

Review Fix: How do you want this book to be remembered?

Fredsti: With shock and awe. As the Gone with the Wind of zombie novels. Or War and Peace. I’m not picky. Except War and Peace is a much more tedious read than Gone with the Wind. So let¹s stick with that one. Actually I¹d just like it to be remembered as a fun, fast read that leaves the reader wanting more. I’m not greedy.

Review Fix: What’s next for you and the series?

Fredsti: Plague Nation and Plague World. I look forward to expanding my zombie outbreak beyond Redwood Grove and Big Red College, and putting my characters (except the cats) through a fair amount of hell. After that? We shall see. I’d like to spend a month doing nothing but reading and catching up on all those cool series people keep telling me about that I don¹t have time to watch.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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