Countdown to My Zombie Wedding Release - Day Three!

Today is all about Pinterest! I love using Pinterest during my writing process, to give me visuals of scenes, characters, or images I'm creating, and so I can share them with readers once the book is finished. I have Pinterest boards for each of the main characters (see below) and I also have a general inspiration board for My Zombie Fiancé.

My Zombie Wedding also has a general board, which you can view a preview of here:

My Zombie Wedding

Some of the images will make more sense in the context of the book, but included are: Kit's ai tattoo, Kit and Edward's wedding outfits, and the flowers in Kit's wedding bouquet (flower symbolism, y'all).

If you'd like a bit more of a visual tour of the Undead Canadian world, here are the boards for each character:

Edward
Kit
Mariel (Edward's mentor)
Bone (Edward's ex boyfriend)
Boo (Edward's undead cat)
Winston (Kit's cat)

Learn more about the Undead Canadian Series here.

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Day Two

My Zombie Fiancé Countdown - Day 5 - Pinterest

Yesterday I introduced the characters of My Zombie Fiancé through music, and today I'm going to tackle a different sense!

Much like the playlists from yesterday, I created Pinterest boards for Edward, Kit, Mariel, and Bone for My Zombie Boyfriend's release. I've added to them in the last year and a half.

I've also created a general My Zombie Fiancé board based on different locations and characters (besides the four I mentioned) in the book.

Most of My Zombie Fiancé takes place in Kingston, Ontario, and I've included images of several important places Kit and Edward visit: the library, the Prince George Hotel, and Fort Henry.

Edward is called to a farm near Kingston, Ontario, owned by Jim Robinson. I've included a model image for him and his daughter Sarah, and models for their farmhouse, and historical photographs of farming in Ontario.

Another important location is Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and I've included images of people and places from there, as well as historical photographs of Mohawk individuals and ceremonial tools.

Who is Mister Jenkins? Why are there runes on this board? You'll just have to read My Zombie Fiancé to find out!

Edward's Pinterest board - (main character) 19th century curio cabinet, full of oddities and specimens.

Kit's Pinterest board  - (undead Canadian, Edward's Fiancé) expect lots of duckies, cats and other soft animals, along with recipes, motivational sayings, and preppy fashion advice.

Bone's Pinterest board  - (Edward's ex boyfriend, undertaker) creepy, dark and strangely full of goats. Everything is just a little bit...off.

Mariel's Pinterest board - (Edward's mentor, Vodou priestess) colour and light, tea and skulls. Flowers growing from skeletons; death giving way to new life.

Boo (Edward's zombie cat) - pretty much what you'd expect; pictures of black, fluffy cats.

Winston (Kit's blue British Shorthair) - adorable cats and kittens with delightful jowls

You can still enter the preorder giveaway!

All you have to do is preorder My Zombie Fiancé from Torquere Press (15% off) and post a comment here with proof of purchase (ie: order number). 

Day 6 ~~~ Day 4

My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Five: Edward

Day five, and here's the last character to introduce: Edward. 

Model: Aidan Turner

My Zombie Boyfriend is told from Edward's point of view. At age four (and a half), his cat, Boo, died. He brought Boo back from the dead (not very well...he was only four and it was his first zombie!) and has had him ever since.

Edward grew up to become a medical student. His life is simple, and he likes it that way: school, weekly dinners with his parents, and training his necromancy with his mentor, Mariel. He definitely wasn't looking for the added complication of Kit.

Edward's life has been a fairly sheltered one, both socially and sexually. The only people he's slept with (to my knowledge...he's shy about these things!) are Mariel and Bone.

Kit is exactly what's needed to draw Edward out into the world--whether he wants to or not!



Here's Edward's board on Pinterest.





I feel as though Edward's playlist might require a little explanation, especially to non-Canadians. When I was growing up, you could hardly turn on a TV without seeing the National Film Board's animations of the Black Fly Song or the Log Driver's Waltz, and as Edward is only a few years younger than me, it seemed like an experience he would have had too. Edward's musical experience is limited, so the majority of his music comes from other people, like his father. His playlist is very nostalgic for the most part, with the exception of The Ballad of Serenity. Firefly is one of the few shows Kit and Edward can enjoy together. I drew most heavily on my own experience for this playlist: my mom didn't listen to a wide variety of music, so I basically grew up on Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, and Mozart.

My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Four: Kit

Wow, here we are on day four of the countdown already! Please join me in welcoming Kit!

Model: Taylor Hanson.

Kit, for those of you who aren't yet aware, is not a typical zombie. Oh, Edward intended for him to be (at least he likes to tell himself that), but Kit has a mind and will of his own. And personality. Hooooo boy does he have personality! He's smart, sarcastic, and sassy. He prefers to be called an Undead Canadian.

Understandably, after waking up in a strange man's basement and being told he's a zombie, Kit is wary of Edward at first, and isn't convinced that Edward didn't kill him. It takes Kit a long time to warm up to Edward as he adjusts to his new afterlife...unlife?

Kit has quite a crush on Mariel, at least at the beginning of the book. (For her part, Mariel likes Kit, but she likes her zombies as, well, zombies. Kit is far too independent for her liking.)

My Zombie Boyfriend trivia: The Official Preppy Handbook, which I mention in the book, is a real thing. I read it while I was researching MZB and it is hilarious.

Not only does Kit have a Pinterest board, he also has a Tumblr. While I was creating both of those, I realized that Kit has many more hobbies and interests than I do...

This is a little embarrassing to admit, but Kit's playlist was the most difficult of all to create, for the simple reason that my wife and I aren't as cool as him. We don't follow popular music, and Kit definitely does. I only hope I've done him justice! (I've also included a song from My Little Pony because, not only is it a very Kit song, Kit watches MLP and is basically Rarity in zombie form).

My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Three: Mariel

Here we are on day three of the countdown, and I can't wait to formally introduce you to Mariel!

Model: Aïssa Maïga 

Mariel is a practicing Vodou Priestess, or Mambo, and Edward's mentor for necromancy. She's older than Edward and has been honing her abilities for longer (though exactly how much longer remains a mystery...) so her necromancy is more powerful, and she often saves Edward's butt.

She has a Haitian accent and speaks Creole with her zombie servant, Pierre, but has never disclosed much to Edward about her past.

In the book, I chose to go with 'Vodou' rather than the more commonly seen 'Voodoo', because my research led me to believe it's a more accurate spelling.

My Zombie Boyfriend trivia: In her early design, before I started writing the book, Mariel had a daughter named Kamaria. For all I know, she's out there somewhere...

Here's Mariel's Pinterest board:





Enjoy a Mariel-inspired playlist! Creating this playlist had its own set of problems. A lot of the songs I wanted to add made me think of her, but weren't necessarily what she would listen to, which is what I was going for. A few of the songs, like Toccata and Fugue and The Witch Queen of New Orleans, I couldn't resist including...but I can also see her enjoying the music and laughing about it.

My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Two: Bone

Welcome to day two of the My Zombie Boyfriend countdown week! Today I'm introducing Bone.

Model: Andrej Pejic

As some of you may know, My Zombie Boyfriend was originally conceived as a webcomic. Early on, we decided that we wanted Edward to have a contact at the morgue, because that seemed like a useful thing for a necromancer to have. In the book, Bone is Edward's ex-boyfriend, and they still consider each other friends.

Of all the characters in My Zombie Boyfriend, Bone has undergone the most changes. His original design was much less human and much more demonic-looking, but I pictured him differently when I started writing the book. He's now very small and pale, with very light hair that is, according to Edward's inside information, natural. There's speculation in the book that Bone isn't human, but Bone doesn't say anything to the contrary and Edward's never asked him. Speculation about what, exactly, he might be is open!

One thing hasn't changed for all the incarnations of Bone: he's creepy. Even though he plays a relatively small part in a book about a necromancer literally dating a zombie, and a zombie cat who occasionally loses bits of himself, I can say with certainty that Bone is the creepiest character. He doesn't just work in a morgue--he's really into death (which, let's be honest, is at least 90% of the reason he dated Edward in the first place). He also enjoys flirting with Kit, who is so not into him.

While Edward is decidedly vanilla, I apparently couldn't entirely keep BDSM out of my writing. Bone is definitely kinky, though his exact preferences aren't disclosed.

Another little bit of MZB trivia: originally, all of the characters had cats, not just Kit and Edward. If Bone were to have a cat, it would be a Ukranian Levkoy named Rasputin.




Here's Bone's Pinterest board (warning: some of these images could be disturbing to some viewers):

Follow T. Strange's board Bone on Pinterest.





Enjoy a Bone-inspired playlist! The challenge with this one was cutting it down to fewer than fifteen songs. I've been planning these playlists for a while, adding songs as I thought of them, and getting my wife to do the same (while our taste in music mostly overlaps, hers is a little Bonier than mine). When we went to narrow it down, he had over a hundred songs!

My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day One: Winston and Boo

With exactly one week to go until My Zombie Boyfriend's release, I thought I'd start introducing you to the characters!

First up are the cats, Winston and Boo.

It's funny, when I'm writing, how I won't realize the connections between things until much later. I didn't think of this until this morning, when I was planning this post. I was afraid of cats for most of my childhood, due to lack of exposure (my mom doesn't like animals) and a half-remembered incident involving a mother cat scratching me when I wanted to keep playing with her kittens. I now have two cats (well, a cat and an Eldritch Horrorpuss) and I love both of them very much. I hope that both my love and fear of cats comes across in My Zombie Boyfriend!

Phantom

Lee 

(I like that this picture is grainy because it makes it look like a Bigfoot sighting or something...)

Boo is Edward's childhood cat, who Edward raised as a zombie when he died. Aside from being a zombie, Boo is everything that's frightening about cats--he's mean, destructive, he lurks in dark corners, and he would definitely eat your body if you died. Despite all of that, Edward loves Boo completely and defends him against anyone who's repulsed by him. Boo was inspired by the Siamese cat, Saki, my wife had when we met. My wife was the only person Saki loved...and she'd still drop pins on my wife's face while she slept. You can find inspiration for Boo on Pinterest!

Winston is the blue British Shorthair kitten Edward gives to Kit for Christmas. Winston is the opposite of Boo in every way. He's sweet and friendly and meets Kit at the door when he gets home. Winston also has a Pinterest board. Lee, pictured above, was supposed to be a Winston-cat. Unfortunately, she turned out to be a Boo-cat. (But we love her anyway <3)