A press release from RJ Sevin of Creeping Hemlock Press:
Have you ever wanted to be on the cover of a zombie novel? Now’s your chance! Just in time for Halloween, acclaimed indie publisher Creeping Hemlock Press/Print Is Dead announces The Zombie Census contest.
The modern American zombie first shuffled onto the scene in 1968, in George A. Romero’s landmark horror classic, Night of the Living Dead. Over forty years later, the walking dead are everywhere, and we need you to help us keep tabs on this ever-growing pustulent population.
In celebration of the release of the fourth novel from Print Is Dead, Martin Mundt’s Reanimated Americans, we’re pleased to announce The Zombie Census.
Are you a zombieholic? A cadaveriffic cadet? An undead aficionado? Have you always wanted to see yourself through milky uncomprehending eyes? Or are you just going as a zombie for Halloween? If you said “Yes” to any of these questions, you should know that speaking responses aloud to internet questionnaires is actually unnecessary! And also that this contest is for you… We want to count you among the living dead!
It’s simple: email us a photo of yourself as a zombie, DMV/photo ID style, just like the pics on this page. You can use make-up or Photoshop or both (but please, none of those silly zombie apps—show some creativity).
All entries will be posted, and the Grand Prize winner—chosen by none other than the legendary John Skipp—will appear in some form on the cover of Reanimated Americans, to be released December 20, 2011.
Prizes:
Third Place: a signed copy of Reanimated Americans by Martin Mundt.
Second Place: signed copies of all four current Print Is Dead novels: Pray to Stay Dead by Mason James Cole, World in Red by John Sebastian Gorumba, Scavengers by Nate Southard, and Reanimated Americans.
Grand Prize: In addition to an appearance on the cover of Reanimated Americans, you receive all four signed books and a special zombie surprise pack.
Rules:
One photo per person, so send us your best (worst) mug. Photos should be in jpg format and should be at least 1200×1800 pixels with a maximum file size of 5mb. We’re looking for simple zombie mug shots against a blank or single-color background—nothing pornographic. No feasting zombies. No photos of actual dead bodies (because at least one of you was thinking about doing that). Email photos to: zombiecensus [at] hotmail [dot] com. Include your name (and the name of the photographer if credit is desired) in the body of the email. Submission implies acceptance of these terms: The winning photo and two runners-up become exclusive intellectual property of Creeping Hemlock Productions, LLC. In the case of non-winning/non-placing submissions, Creeping Hemlock Productions, LLC is granted the right to use images for promotional purposes only and all other rights (e.g. reproduction and sale) remain with the author.
Contest ends November 15, 2011.
Need a reminder as we shamble closer to the date? Like The Zombie Census on Facebook at facebook.com/zombiecensus.
About Reanimated Americans: Jett Ahrens has just joined the Zombie Division of the Census Bureau, hoping for a dull, uncomplicated job counting the country’s newest citizens—the Living Dead. Y’know: Zombies, Rotters, Grave Potatoes, but don’t call them any of those names. They’re Reanimated Americans, and they aren’t anything like their cinematic counterparts—they don’t eat your flesh or want your brains. They just… stand around. Loitering. Stinking up the place.
Easy enough, yeah, but one of Jett’s partners might be a little nuts, and then there’s the serial re-killer going around town and setting walking dead folks on fire. Not to mention the Red Death Gang transforming the undead into works of art. Or the pair of psychotic cops tracking the serial re-killer and wreaking havoc of their own.
Or the nasty secret Jett keeps in a rental storage unit…
A biting satire about how civilization might cope with its most popular boogieman, Reanimated Americans by Martin Mundt will send a chill down the spines of zombie-lovers and bureaucracy-fearers everywhere.
About Print Is Dead: Creeping Hemlock Press was founded in New Orleans by the husband-and-wife creative duo RJ and Julia Sevin. As sometime writers and passionate readers, they found themselves frustrated with the scarcity of generous-paying, atmospheric short story anthologies. They took matters into their own hands in late 2004 when they began to accept submissions for their own anthology. Many months, one baby, two hurricanes, and one soggy home later, Corpse Blossoms was born to critical success and a nomination for the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker award.
As their homeless wanderings carried them to Texas and back, the Sevins also produced an original limited-edition novella by Tom Piccirilli, Frayed, to terrific reviews and enthusiastic reader sentiment. The December 2007 release of Piccirilli’s The Fever Kill brought them into an entire new league of publishers. Critically lauded and carried in bookstores nationwide, this popular title has sold far beyond expectations.
Not long after the release of The Fever Kill, the press released two zombie chapbooks—Thin Them Out (a collaboration between the Sevins and zombie lit master Kim Paffenroth) and Flesh Is Fleeting… Art Is Forever! by Gary A. Braunbeck.
The chapbooks were unveiled to much acclaim at Zombie Fest, in the hallowed halls of the Monroeville Mall (the mall location used in George Romero’s classic, Dawn of the Dead). Thin Them Out went on to be reprinted in J.J. Adams’s epic zombie anthology, The Living Dead II, and the Sevins found themselves surrounded by the living dead. The seeds for Print Is Dead were planted…
Even before the disaster and reaction surrounding Katrina demonstrated its true meaning, charity was a pillar of Creeping Hemlock Press’s philosophy and business model. The press dedicates 10% of earnings to various charities. Your purchase from Creeping Hemlock Press or any bookseller carrying the press’s titles will help to benefit those in need.