#fridayreads – 5 Questions with Jay Bonansinga, co-author of The Walking Dead novels

I’ve done several “5 Questions With…” features on my blog since its inception, but I’m hoping to make it a more regular occurrence.  Since Friday is also known for Friday Five, it just makes sense to move this feature to Friday as well, don’t you think?

I’m starting things off with a bang – with the New York Times bestseller and co-writer of The Walking Dead novels, Jay Bonansinga! Before he teamed up with Robert Kirkman for this project, Jay was responsible for 16 other novels including the Stoker-nominated The Black Mariah.

© 2011 jill brazel photography

I got my first taste of The Walking Dead book universe with the first in the series – Rise of the Governor.  This book already had a few things going for it:  it was part of TWD’s universe, it focused on The Governor, and it was well-written.  I had big plans for the book in terms of promotion at Borders.  I was presented it right before Borders went belly up, and I was immediately ready to make it the focus of my October 2011 promotional efforts.  Those plans never came to fruition unfortunately, so it’s especially cool that I was contacted about helping promote the second book in the series.  I jumped at the opportunity!

So, without further ado, here are my Five Questions with Jay Bonansinga.

What’s it like to be part of the Walking Dead universe and to be able to work with Robert Kirkman?

Best job of my career… really.  Twenty-five years in the horror field, sixteen books, 60 short stories, a gig with George Romero, and an absolute LOVE of zombies, and I feel like I have been in training for this work my whole career.  Love it, love it, LOVE IT!!

Now that the comic has transcended to just about every form of medium, do you find it challenging to make sure the novels stand out in the crowd?

Yeah, absolutely, it’s really scary and fascinating to see the novel form pitted against these sexier mediums… but that is what’s SO interesting about this whole experience, the books are self contained and yet perfectly conformed, like genetically modified organisms, to the comic and TV series.

The first novel focused on the origins of the Governor and the latest novel mainly focuses on Lilly.  Do you anticipate branching out into different parts of the world in future work, or are you going to stay close to Woodbury?

I want to do this until I die… so, yeah, I see it branching out… in fact, I want to do it beyond the point that I die, especially if I turn and come back as a zombie, in which case I will continue to write, although my penmanship will suffer.

What would you say to fans of the comic or fans of the show who haven’t given the novels a chance to entice them into checking them out?

I would say that the novels are like having sex with a lot more foreplay, and it’s really excellent foreplay, so come on… if you want to just get your rocks off, fine, but don’t you want more foreplay?  (Is this a family publication?)  Editor’s Note:  We’ll let it slide

Who’s more fanatic:  Trekkies, Star Wars fans, or Walking Dead fans?

I would say either Trekkies or Star Wars fans are more fanatic… Walking Dead fans are more like GRATEFUL Dead fans… and we all know Dead Heads are too stoned to be fanatic.

Also, if you want to give it a shot, Paste Magazine posted the first three chapters of The Walking Dead: Road to Woodbury HERE!