This Week’s Prophet of Doom: Baileigh Higgins!

Author Baileigh Higgins

Hailing from South Africa, this week’s Prophet of Doom concocts zombie apocalyptic fiction that will frighten all but the most hardened of the genre’s readers. Baileigh’s latest book is Hold The Line, the fourth installment in the Heroes of the Apocalypse Series. Let’s get to know the lady behind these dazzlingly haunting books. (Links in description may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you)

Copper: Your books definitely walk on the horror side of apocalyptic fiction. What books or movies frightened you as a child?

Baileigh: As a child, I loved the movie Gremlins, but I was terrified of Stripe, the main antagonist. He was named after his white mohawk and scared the bejeezus out of me. To make matters worse, my mom knew I loved the movie and the cute and cuddly Gizmo. So, she got me the movie poster and stuck it to my bedroom wall. I had nightmares for weeks imagining that Stripe was watching me with his evil, little eyes. Eventually, I scratched his eyes off with a crayon and my mom realized what was up. No more poster!

Copper: You’ve written a series called Heroes of the apocalypse. Which fictional hero would you bring to life (excluding those from your own books) for the sake of saving humanity?

Baileigh: It’s a toss-up between Deadpool and Wonder Woman. Deadpool is hilarious and pretty much indestructible, plus deep down he’s a nice guy. Cheesy and vulgar, but nice. I wouldn’t want to clean up after him though!

Wonder Woman on the other hand is a goddess and an Amazon. It doesn’t get much better than that, does it? Brave, intelligent, and incorruptible, she represents the kind of person I’d like to be. They both have heart, and I think that’s what heroes need to save humanity, but in the end, it will come down to us. As much as we wish for super heroes, we have nobody but ourselves to rely on or to blame when things go wrong.

Copper: The first book in the Heroes of the Apocalypse series, Trial by Fire, imagines a “deadly plague that turns people into undead monsters.” If you absolutely had to become an undead Universal movie monster (Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man, The Invisible Man) which would it be?

Baileigh: Dracula, for sure. Who doesn’t want to live forever? Plus, the thought of being able to escape awkward social situations by bursting into a cloud of bats is super tempting. I’ll really miss garlic, though.

Copper: What one song would you need to survive the apocalypse for the sake of helping you maintain your sanity?

Baileigh: This is a tough one. I love music, and picking just one song seems impossible. On the one hand, I’d want something to remind me of home. On the other hand, I’d want something that inspires me to keep going no matter what. Something tough and gritty. This Night by Black Lab would serve that purpose, but it could get depressing after a time. So, I’d rather go with Black Lab’s This Blood. A great backtrack for killing zombies. Or vampires. Werewolves. Aliens. Basically, anything.

Check out Baileigh’s Heroes of the Apocalypse series in Amazon!

This Week’s Prophet of Doom: Terry Tyler!

Author Terry Tyler

Our Prophet of Doom this week is the author of post-apocalyptic, dystopian and dark psychological fiction, all available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Terry likes sunshine, history, trees, TV binges and long, long walks, is a reviewer for Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team, and is currently struggling with a sudoku addiction problem. She lives with her husband in North East England. Here’s a link to Terry’s various projects!

Copper: What was it that drew you towards dystopian/apocalyptic fiction?

Terry: I love The Walking Dead and other post-apocalyptic TV series and films, as well as books of the genre—survival in exceptionally adverse circumstances pulls me in every time, especially when those circumstances mean the collapse of society as we know it.
I’d wanted to write my own post-apocalyptic novel or series for a while before I felt confident to do so, then in 2016 I had an idea about a virus manufactured for the purpose of targeted depopulation, in which the UK is used as a pilot for the rest of the world, with each citizen’s chance of survival dependent on certain behavioural factors.
This became Tipping Point.

My books are always character-driven; what interests me most about post-apocalyptic scenarios is how the survivors adapt. Some flounder and rely on others, some accept and make the best of their new circumstances, others flourish as natural leaders—and then there are those whose dark side comes to the fore.

I wrote my dystopian series after reading about Agenda 21, now known as the Great Reset—a fictional take on how it might play out.

I think my interest in the genre also derives from a slight obsession with clearing the slate and starting again; an escape from the limitations of ‘civilised’ society.

Copper: Fictional social media platforms play a big role in your books. Which social media platform seems the most likely to bring about a dystopian future?

Terry: Hard for me to say, as Twitter is the only one I use! I write the fictional social media platforms in my books simply for realism, because the real life ones feature so prominently in many lives, and are used to influence the thoughts of the public in a much more developed way than many people realise, with thousands of fake profiles employed to push agendas. Maybe Facebook is the answer to your question, as it’s a bit ‘lowest common denominator’, but I’m not sufficiently up on the ins and outs of TikTok and Instagram to be able to comment. Then again, I do see some TikTok posts on Twitter which make me fear for the generation growing into adulthood now.

Copper: What post-apocalyptic stories (movies or books) have influenced you most?

Terry: The Walking Dead (TV rather than comics)

A little known novel called The Turning of the World by John Privilege – it’s about a pandemic, set in Ireland. Stunning book, I’ve read it a few times; it made me think, I want to write my own.

A zombie apocalypse book called Great Bitten: Outbreak by Dawn Peers, which was my first foray into the genre. The author sent me a short story that would become the novel – I didn’t think I’d like it but it was something of a ‘Eureka!’ moment.

Some people have asked if Tipping Point was influenced by The Stand; a chapter in the latter about how Patient Zero spreads the virus is not dissimilar to the scenario I produced in my own book, but I didn’t read The Stand until a couple of years later. It’s now one of my favourite books.

Copper: What one song would you hope survives the apocalypse for the sake of helping you maintain your sanity?

Terry: Oh, these one song, one film or one book questions! So hard to answer. I recently did a five part series on my blog of my 100 favourite songs, and named Black Water by The Doobies as possibly my favorite song ever. It’s so smooth and chilled out, and makes me nostalgic for a time and place I’ve never visited.

Then again, there’s One Way Street by Aerosmith. Or Gimme Shelter. No, sorry, it’s impossible!

Check out Terry’s Tipping Point, the first in her Project Renova series!

(Links in descriptions may be affiliate links. I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

This Week’s Prophet of Doom: Franklin Horton!

Author Franklin Horton

Author Franklin Horton has exactly the background and storytelling skill needed to deliver high-octane post-apocalyptic thrillers. As you’ll see in this interview and in his books, he’s seen humanity at its darkest but doesn’t fall victim to pessimism. His books are gritty, but in the end, they are tales of survival, not defeat. (Links in description may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you).

Copper: What was your favorite book as a child?

Franklin: Farley Mowat’s Lost in the Barrens. Written in the 1950s, it was the story of two kids surviving a winter in the arctic. I read it over a dozen times.

Copper: Prior to becoming a full-time author, you’ve held a diverse range of jobs such as radio announcer, substance abuse educator, retail store owner and carpenter. Which of those jobs was best as far as providing you with material to use in your books?
 
Franklin: Definitely being a substance abuse educator. Besides teaching me a lot about human behavior and motivations, it showed me that substance abusers are a good example of apocalyptic behavior because they’re already living in their own personal apocalypse. Their desperate search for drugs mirrors how people might lose sight of their own morality in the post-apocalyptic search for food.

Copper: When it comes to apocalyptic societal collapse, are you more afraid of man-made catastrophes or natural catastrophes?

Franklin: I think natural catastrophes are far more likely to impact most people. I always tell people that I don’t prep because I’m afraid of EMPs. I prep because I know that all of us will at some point be impacted by flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, ice storms, blizzards, or something along that line. Everyone should have the ability to filter water, heat their home, and cook without relying on grid power. As far as man-made disasters, I don’t fear a sudden event as much as I fear the slow erosion of freedom, our rights, our financial security, and personal prosperity.

Copper: What one song would you hope survives the apocalypse for the sake of helping you maintain your sanity?

Franklin: Probably a good strong blues song like Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Pride and Joy. Nothing like the blues to remind a person that they can find joy even in the face of despair. That’s a recurrent theme in my books. If you can’t find happiness in the apocalypse, is there a reason to keep going on?

Here’s Franklin’s latest book, The Death Dealer’s Manual: Book Seven of the Mad Mick Series!

This Week’s Prophet of Doom: Greg Dragon!

This week’s Prophet of Doom boasts a unique brand of Apocalyptic flair. Combining the best of science fiction and crime fiction, Greg Dragon creates novels that unfold with suspense, wonder and good-old fashioned dystopian dread. (Links in the descriptions may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you)

For the uninitiated, The Judas Cypher (the first in the Synth Crisis series) may be the best place to start. It explodes with pessimistic noir like the bastard offspring of Phillip K. and Raymond Chandler. Another good choice for a Greg Dragon gateway would be his latest release, Neon Eclipse.

Copper: Your books have a very cinematic quality to them. If the Judas Cypher were adapted into a film, who do you see playing the lead role of Dhata Mays? 

Greg: Wow, I’ve never thought about this. Dhata is an imposing figure, a little over 6ft in height, and about 230lbs of augmented, middle-aged power, so the closest in look, given that and him being a close-shaven African American male, I would go with McKinley Belcher or Mustafa Shakir. They have the look I had in my mind’s eye when I imagined my detective. Mike Colter could pull it off, Jamie Hector is always playing a detective now, and we’ve seen him cold in The Wire. Dhata embodies both extremes. All this to say, whoever played him would have to toe the balance between cold-blooded and suave. Everyone I mentioned has done it in their roles; that’s why I mention them. Black leading man is a limited, coveted role in Hollywood. It’s the same two to three guys in everything for a short period, so if the decision were mine, The Judas Cypher would be a vehicle to promote the next Chadwick Boseman, someone unknown who could use Dhata to show the world their greatness. 

Copper: Without giving too much away, the Judas Cypher has ‘fake human’ characters known as synths. The book seems to express a concern for authenticity in human beings in the technology driven future. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the ability of humans to survive the onslaught of technology? 

Greg: I believe Science Fiction has always been a lens into the future, sometimes extreme, sometimes frighteningly precise. People love to cite books like 1984 for this type of thing, but we had Star Trek, where communicators were “futuristic” until smartphones became a thing. Artificial people are already here, they aren’t yet as sophisticated as Dhata’s synths or Asimov’s robots, but technology doesn’t move at a set pace. It accelerates with every discovery.  Synths will be here before we know it, and like everything else strange or outside our understanding and control, we will try to destroy them, destroy their creators, and fight the typhoon with our tiny human shields. It’s inevitable. Will it be the fall of humanity like the Matrix or I-Robot? Who knows? Will we find a way to achieve a singularity, where like in The Judas Cypher, those artificial children of ours fix enough of our world to bring in the next step in evolution? Wouldn’t that be nice? It’s an optimistic fantasy until it isn’t. I can’t answer one way or another. 

Ultimately it won’t be up to us, so that is my answer. When the AI starts building the AI and removing flaws to become something close to sentient, it will be our judge. Now, with us as the parents, which way will it go? Some of us form habits to be the opposite of our parents, and others become their parents. Schrödinger’s AI or something like that. Hopefully, this “Arch Brain” will choose to be nothing like mommy and daddy. 

Copper: When discussing writing on your blog, you’ve talked about the need for discipline. What’s your advice for maintaining discipline and focus in a world of social media bells and whistles? 

Greg: When you’re in the act of writing, think about your environment, your headspace, and the time. We’re creatures of habit, so if there are things you can replicate in your writing habits, continue to do them, and try to make writing as much a part of your day as eating and sleeping. Discipline, to me, is being serious enough about your writing that it becomes a part of your daily life, as much as watching a show on Netflix, scrolling Reddit, or playing a video game. These are all things we habitually do, so why not write? Are you being honest with yourself, or is it fear? Is it fear of rejection, fear of people laughing at your prose, fear of being mediocre? What is it?  

Publishing can be intimidating. There’s no shortage of comments online from anonymous people who speak in absolutes, tearing down popular books, shouting out “rules,” and all sorts of nastiness. It can stunt your creativity when you feel maligned and will hamper you if you let it. I’m not against brainlessly surfing writing forums and social media, but many times they could be the source of you not making that first step. Think about it. 
Whenever I get writer’s block or hemming and hawing, I have learned to sit back and consider why I’m in my way of getting my word count accomplished. Most of the time, it’s something unrelated, hampering my confidence, so I focus on that and how I can get past it to get back to writing. There is no easy way to make writing a habit, but being honest about what’s making you stop may help you get past it. Your mileage may vary. 

Copper: And finally, the most important apocalypse-related question: what one song would you need to survive the apocalypse to help maintain your sanity? 

Greg: Mobb Deep – Shook Ones, Pt. II. If I were the last survivor inside a bunker with limited ammunition, I’d imagine this song would charge me enough to do alright against the zombies or rival camp. Let’s go. 

This Week’s Prophet of Doom: A.R. Shaw!

Each week, we feature interviews with your favorite post-apocalyptic and dystopian authors, directors, screenwriters and assorted nay-saying troublemakers! (Links in the descriptions may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you).

A.R. Shaw

Annette Shaw’s unique blend of evocative storytelling and nerdy, science-heavy backstory makes for captivating reading, as legions of dedicated fans would happily attest. Writing under A.R. Shaw, she debuted as an author in 2013 with The China Pandemic, an accidentally portentous tale of a world in peril due to a catastrophically lethal virus of sinister origin.

In the years since, she’s thrilled us with PA medical thrillers, survival stories and has even teased readers with the promise of an upcoming cozy post-apocalyptic novel!

While we ponder the debut of this intriguing sub-genre, let’s learn more about USA Today bestselling author A.R. Shaw.

Copper: You often deal with nature-related catastrophes as a theme in your books, but those catastrophes will frequently have human error or greed as their true source. When it comes to apocalyptic disasters, would you describe yourself as more fearful of humanity or nature?

A.R. I know there’s a lot to fear in the atrocities humanity is capable of, especially when they’re desperate, but I’d bet money any day of the week that Mother Nature has that one in the bag. Pompeii is a mild example. In fact, we keep finding remains of human existence much longer ago than anyone one fathomed. And the only eraser then was nature. Fear her above all others. 

Copper: The China Pandemic is a truly frightening book made all the more frightening by the way it foreshadowed the current pandemic (minus the sinister origins). As a young reader, were you influenced by any books that frightened you?

A.R. Not necessarily frightened but Yes. I was an avid reader as a child. It kept me out of trouble. Mostly historical fiction and in particular, Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Surprisingly, that particular book showed me how one survives without power and by will alone. I mean, they did it back then. It was their way of life and it wasn’t really that long ago when you think about it. My grandparents parents lived with no power most of their lifetime. A little later, I was drawn to Alas Babylon, Earth Abides, and Lucifer’s Hammer. All early classics in the post-apocalyptic era. There’s something about stripping humans of all comforts and showing them what they’re made of, that intrigues me.

Copper: Has your military background as a communications radio operator influenced your approach to imagining a technologically crippled world?

 In the late eighties, I worked on radio equipment from the 40’s and 50’s at Keesler AFB and Kelly’s MARS Station. Even the buildings we worked and were housed in, were from the WWII era. And Sgt. Green, my boss at the MARS station, was sitting at my desk a year before my appointment when he was the first point of contact after a devastating earthquake in Mexico City, about 1985, that had happened three days prior to the event. Thousands died. Radio was the only way they were able to get word out for help. It was a pretty remarkable event that seems lost to history. And though radio doesn’t always work…it’s still the most reliable way of communication when the grids, satellites, and towers go down. So most definitely, my writing is influenced by my back ground. 

Copper: And finally, the most important apocalypse-related question: what one song would you need to survive the apocalypse to ensure your sanity?

A.R. Two songs, actually. Drift Away by Dobie Gray to relax and Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival when it’s on!

Check out A.R. Shaw’s Surrender the Sun series and look for a new sequel coming later this year!

Next Week’s prophet of Doom, author Greg Dragon!