Zombie Book Club

Zombie Book Club
  • 4.7 (18)
  • Books
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to Zombie Book Club! We're a Podcast that's also a book club! We talk about Zombie / Apocalyptic horror novels, TV and movies.

  1. 2d ago

    If We Survive the Night: Jo Salazar's Sourcebooks Relaunch (with Surprise Guests Sarah Lyons Fleming & Kate L. Mary)" | Zombie Book Club Ep 162

    Jo Salazar is back to celebrate the biggest twist in her writing career: her self-published zombie novel The Dead Weight has been acquired by Sourcebooks Fire and relaunches as If We Survive the Night on August 25th. We talk through the wild, one-DM-at-a-time path from indie hustle to a traditional book deal, what changes (and doesn't) when a title and cover get a makeover, and why a title matters when a reader is deciding in seconds. Jo also opens up about building an audience through TikTok and Amazon ads, the realities of author marketing even after landing a publisher, and the Walmart special edition bonus chapter that finally answers fans' burning 'riverboat casino' question. Then we surprise Jo with two of her biggest inspirations in the genre: Kate L. Mary and Sarah Lyons Fleming. The three dig into mentorship, community, and what it's like to write through anxiety and real-world horror without losing the joy of storytelling. They also talk candidly about how women have reshaped zombie fiction away from the lone-wolf (mighty-whitey) power fantasy and toward stories built on relationships, found family, and emotional stakes. It's part reunion, part masterclass, and part long-overdue celebration of an author who earned every bit of this moment. Guest Contact & Social Links Jo Salazar Website: https://www.josalazarwriting.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_jo_salazar_/Linktree (all links): https://linktr.ee/josalazarauthorKate L. Mary Website: https://katelmary.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombieauthormom/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateLMaryauthorBookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kate-l-marySarah Lyons Fleming Website: https://www.sarahlyonsfleming.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahLyonsFleming/Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sarah-Lyons-FlemingOther links referenced in the episode: PublisherSourcebooks Fire: https://www.sourcebooks.comOur Town Books (Jacksonville, IL — release party host / signed preorders)Website: https://www.ourtownbooks.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourtownbooks/Bookshop.org storefront: https://bookshop.org/shop/ourtownbooksSupport the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    If We Survive the Night: Jo Salazar's Sourcebooks Relaunch (with Surprise Guests Sarah Lyons Fleming & Kate L. Mary)" | Zombie Book Club Ep 162

  2. Aug 16

    The Internet Apocalypse That Already Happened | Zombie Book Club Ep. 161

    The open, weird, human internet you grew up on is dead, and most of us kept scrolling like nothing happened. From Web 1.0's personal sites and forums to today's "narrow web" of a handful of platforms, the internet had changed is big ways that shift ownership from the people to a handful of greedy tech billionaires. We talk about dead internet theory and the real Cloudflare data showing bots now generate more web traffic than humans for the first time ever. Then we take a look at Moltbook, the real forum where only AI agents can post while humans just watch. We also discuss what the current state of the internet is doing to our nervous systems, leaving us feeling wired but numb. What are people doing about it? Flip phone summer, digital minimalism, and rebuilding elsewhere through the small web, the IndieWeb, and the Fediverse (Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Lemmy). No path fully fixes the internet, but are worth knowing about if you've felt the burnout too. Relevant Links What the Internet Used To Be / The Narrow Web The Narrow Web (Leon Furze): https://leonfurze.com/2025/07/13/the-narrow-web/The Indie Web, The Boring Web, Web Rings (Medium): https://medium.com/@gotkoin3/the-indie-web-the-boring-web-web-rings-e4a4355e8944Dead Internet Theory Dead Internet theory (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Internet_theorySam Altman Says He's Suddenly Worried Dead Internet Theory Is Coming True (Futurism): https://futurism.com/sam-altman-dead-internet-theoryBot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic, data shows (NBC News): https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/bot-web-traffic-overtaken-human-web-traffic-data-shows-rcna348522Zombie Internet / Moltbook OpenClaw's AI assistants are now building their own social network (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/30/openclaws-ai-assistants-are-now-building-their-own-social-network/Top AI leaders are begging people not to use Moltbook (Fortune): https://www.fortune.com/2026/02/02/moltbook-security-agents-singularity-disaster-gary-marcus-andrej-karpathyMoltbook (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoltbookHow It Feels Now Digital Detox 2026: Life Hacks to Reclaim Your Brain (Citipen): https://citipen.com/digital-detox-life-hacks-2026/Flip Phone Summer (Brainstamped): https://brainstamped.com/digital-wellness/guides/flip-phone-summer-gen-z-digital-detox-movement-2026/Smartphone screen time reduction improves mental health: a randomized controlled trial (BMC Medicine): https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-025-03944-zStrategy A: Rebuild Civilization Behind the Walls Small Web (The Paper Pilot): https://paperpilot.dev/garden/small-webWhat is the 'Indie Web' and the Web Revival Movement? (HOUDINI Magazine): https://houdinimagazine.com/articles/2026-01-21-what-is-the-web-revival-movementSmall web, IndieWeb, Gemini... A guide to the retro-web (Kevin Boone): https://kevinboone.me/web-adjacent.htmlKagi brings its 'small web' of a human-only internet to mobile devices (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/17/kagi-small-web-human-authored-indie-internet-mobile-ios-android-devices/What Is the Fediverse? (SocialRails): https://socialrails.com/social-media-terms/fediverseThe Fediverse in Numbers: Latest Stats on Mastodon and Decentralized Social Media (2026) (Fediview): https://fediview.com/articles/fediverse-in-numbers-mastodon-stats-2026/An evidence-based and critical analysis of the Fediverse decentralization promises (arXiv): https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.15383The Fediverse Is Growing (elest.io): https://blog.elest.io/the-fediverse-is-growing-why-decentralized-social-media-matters-in-2026/Strategy B: Leave the Matrix Best Dumbphones (2026) (Vice): https://www.vice.com/en/via/best-dumb-phones/Digital Detox Trends 2026: What's Driving the Shift? (Accio): https://www.accio.com/business/digital_detox_trends Support the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    The Internet Apocalypse That Already Happened | Zombie Book Club Ep. 161

  3. Aug 9

    'I Am Legend' The Alternate Ending Changes EVERYTHING | Zombie Book Club Ep 160

    We're revisiting Will Smith's 2007 I Am Legend, theatrical cut and alternate ending both, to unpack why swapping the finale flips the whole film from action-hero sacrifice to something far more morally complex. We start with Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, detour through the earlier adaptations The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man, and get sidetracked (as always) debating whether the Darkseekers are zombies, vampires, or their own "zomb-pire" category entirely. Then we dig into Neville's isolation and mannequin coping mechanisms, why Sam's death still wrecks us every time, and how the alternate ending recontextualizes the entire siege as a rescue mission rather than a monster attack; restoring the moral ambiguity (and the actual meaning of the title) that the theatrical cut throws away. We also talk about what's confirmed so far about I Am Legend 2, including Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan, and why the sequel is treating the alternate ending as canon. Relevant Links: I Am Legend (2007) – IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/ I Am Legend (1954 novel) by Richard Matheson – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel) The Last Man on Earth (1964) – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Man_on_Earth_(1964_film) The Omega Man (1971) – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Man I Am Legend 2: release date, cast, and everything we know – GamesRadar+: https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/action-movies/i-am-legend-2-release-date-cast-plot-trailer-and-everything-we-know-about-the-upcoming-horror-sequel/ Support the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    'I Am Legend' The Alternate Ending Changes EVERYTHING | Zombie Book Club Ep 160

  4. Aug 2

    'Intercepts' with T.J. Payne | Zombie Book Club Ep 159

    We welcome horror author T.J. Payne to talk about Intercepts, a sci-fi horror thriller where a secret government facility tortures prisoners into becoming "antennas" who can hijack the senses of anyone on Earth. At the center is supervisor Joe Gerhard, a man who tells himself the work is necessary right up until his own daughter, Riley, becomes a target. We dig into the banality of evil, workplace dehumanization, and how ordinary people talk themselves into extraordinary harm. We also get into the real-world roots behind the horror (NSA-style intercepts, MKUltra, sensory deprivation research), T.J.'s wild path from Hollywood ghostwriting to indie-published success to landing in TV writers' rooms, and why he thinks "writer voice" is just the weird kid you tried to hide in middle school. Guest Contact & Social Links — T.J. Payne Website: https://tjpayneauthor.wixsite.com/tjpayneInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.payne.author/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tj.payne.authorGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18547206.T_J_PayneIntercepts (Penguin Random House): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/833286/intercepts-by-t-j-payne/ Related Topic Links (for show notes) Hannah Arendt & "the banality of evil": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banality_of_evilMKUltra overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltraSensory deprivation research: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_deprivationUnder the Bridge (Hulu, TJ Payne writing credit): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Bridge_(TV_series) Support the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    'Intercepts' with T.J. Payne | Zombie Book Club Ep 159

  5. Jul 26

    Dan Finished the First Draft of 'The Bad Road' | Zombie Book Club Ep 158

    Dan finally admits what he's been hiding: while everyone assumed he was still deep in his long-gestating zombie apocalypse novel, he secretly drafted an entirely new novella, The Bad Road, in two weeks flat. The origin story is almost stranger than the book itself; it started as a 3D-rendered, fake Instagram book cover of two bikers outrunning a dust-churning zombie horde down a dead-straight highway, an image so convincing that people kept asking where to buy a book that didn't exist. So Dan wrote it. The result follows brothers Ty and Michael, months into the outbreak and out of fuel, fleeing a city-sized horde across the mirror-flat, flood-prone expanse of Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats along I-80. Relevant to this episode's topics: Bonneville Salt Flats: https://www.visitutah.com/articles/bonneville-salt-flats-planning-guideSerial Fiction Success for Indie Authors: https://indieauthormagazine.com/the-intentional-craft-of-successful-serialized-fiction/Publishing Novellas: A Niche Format for Aspiring Authors: https://spines.com/self-publishing-a-novella/ Support the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    Dan Finished the First Draft of 'The Bad Road' | Zombie Book Club Ep 158

  6. Jul 19

    'The Twelfth House' with special guest Robert de la Chevotière | Zombie Book Club Ep. 157

    We sit down with Robert de la Chevotière ahead of the August 25, 2026 release of his novel The Twelfth House; a literary work steeped in West African folklore and magical realism. At its center is Etta, an ogbanje: a spirit trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, whose desperate will to live pulls her father Bako from the coast of Benin onto a slave ship bound for colonial Dominica. We talk with Robert about writing unflinchingly about slavery while still leaving room for lyricism and beauty; about the mountains, forests, and ancestral ocean that act as living characters in the book, and about villains who are complicated rather than simply "evil." Robert discusses teaching middle school after burnout, and what it meant for Robert to feel like Etta "took the pen" from him mid-draft. Along the way we dig into reincarnation as a metaphor for diaspora, the dedication to Wai'tukubuli (the Kalinago name for Dominica), and the uneasy line between allyship and complicity. It's a conversation about memory, resistance, and what we owe the dead. Guest Contact & Social Media Author website: robdelabooks.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/robdelawrites/Preorder 'The Twelfth House' (Before August 25th, 2026): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-twelfth-house-robert-de-la-chevotiere/1149880270?ean=9781645662037Audible author page: https://www.audible.com/author/Robert-de-la-Chevotiere/B0F1MYKPNPSupport the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    'The Twelfth House' with special guest Robert de la Chevotière | Zombie Book Club Ep. 157

  7. Jul 12

    We Learn The Hard Way That The Apocalypse Has No Air Conditioning | Zombie Book Club Ep 156

    We record this one crammed into a sweltering camper with the AC off during a heat wave, accidentally running the most honest apocalypse simulator we've ever tried and quickly learn the real survival threat isn't zombies, it's summer. Forgotten bug spray turns the outdoors into a West Nile virus exclusionary zone full of diseased monsters that want to eat us alive. Leah apologizes for everything she said while she was suffering from a mild heat stroke, Dan regrets nothing but the audio quality. Relevant Links / Resources Yonge Street history & "longest street" myth — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonge_StreetYonge Street Guinness World Records entry (background on the claim) — https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/62917-longest-streetSupport the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    We Learn The Hard Way That The Apocalypse Has No Air Conditioning | Zombie Book Club Ep 156

  8. Jul 5

    Zombie Nightmare - Lick the Snick | Zombie Book Club Ep 155

    This is an unfiltered check-in where the laptops stay closed and we just talk like the two zombie-obsessed humans we are, and discuss an internet video of a man de-veigning a snickers bar to make Jesus happy. We have two big community updates: a new Kickstarter for the Path of the Pale Rider trade paperback (issues 5–8), and our next book club pick, Intercepts by T.J. Payne; a novel that hooked us so hard we couldn't stop reading until it was finished. Then we swing into a full teardown of Zombie Nightmare, calling out what doesn't hold up; racist framing, misogyny, and assault played for plot; before widening into camper life, remote work on the road, and the small joys keeping us upright through a heavy news cycle. We close on the stuff a lot of people are sitting with right now: politics, protest, direct action, and how loaded words like "terrorism" get weaponized. Lick the Snick, everyone! Relevant Links: Path of the Pale Rider Kickstarter Trade Paperback 5-8: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pathofthepalerider/path-of-the-pale-rider-trade-paperback-5-8 Intercepts by T.J. Payne — publisher page: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/833286/intercepts-by-t-j-payne/ T.J. Payne's author site: https://tjpayneauthor.wixsite.com/tjpayne Zombie Nightmare (1986/87) — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Nightmare MST3k Zombie Nightmare (1994) — Fandom   https://mst3k.fandom.com/wiki/Zombie_Nightmare_(film) Support the show Zombie Book Club Links Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClubZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com

    Zombie Nightmare - Lick the Snick | Zombie Book Club Ep 155
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About

Welcome to Zombie Book Club! We're a Podcast that's also a book club! We talk about Zombie / Apocalyptic horror novels, TV and movies.

Information

  • Creator
    Zombie Book Club
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    165
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Zombie Book Club
  • Show Website
    Zombie Book Club