Peter Clines weaves a superhero yarn with a powerful zombie backstory in Ex-Heroes

When I worked for Borders, Permuted Press had a co-distribution deal with Simon & Schuster where some of their more popular series also got published by Simon to give them a wider audience, better distribution, and a chance at more marketing and publicity.  After reading Ex-Heroes, I immediately called up my Simon rep and told them they needed to seriously consider Peter Clines and his Ex series for their next round of Permuted Press acquisitions.  Nothing came of it and Permuted went on to publish the second book in the series, Ex-Patriots.  The final book in the trilogy ended up getting delayed, and as it turned out, that was because Peter was working a deal with Crown Publishing (and specifically their Broadway Books imprint) to bring the series to the masses.  I applaud Permuted Press for all the support they offered Peter Clines.  Without them, who knows where this series would be today.

And where it is today, is being released by Random House.  Because I’m such an advocate for Peter Clines, I’m going to write a 3-part blog celebrating his zombie/superhero mash-up.  First up, my review of Ex-Heroes.  Before we get started though, here’s an excerpt, so you can know what to expect.  Click HERE for the excerpt. 

Ex-Heroes

OK, on with the book.  With Ex-Heroes, Clines blends elements from the superhero and zombie genres, which just so happens to be two of my favorite genres.  While being set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Ex-Heroes rotates between the past and present to give readers a glimpse at each of the heroes showcased in the book.  After the apocalypse begins, the heroes band together to save over 4000 people at The Mount.  Each hero has their own personification, but the story focuses mainly on St. George, Cerberus, and Gorgon.  The only problem with having so many heroes featured (I only mentioned half of them) is that I wanted more.  Clines could have easily added another 100 or so pages, but he keeps the pace brisk and the story flowing.  This is due to his background in the film industry I’m sure.  The good news about the fast pace of the novel is that it leaves the reader yearning for more.

Folks looking for a pure zombie novel may be a tad disappointed with Ex-Heroes because it doesn’t just stick with the regular tropes of the genre.  Instead it asks the fundamental question about how the existence of superheroes would affect the zombie apocalypse.  It’s not just the heroes that need to be focused on.  While doing what they can to survive, the survivors on The Mount discover that there’s a rival group who might just be more dangerous than that actual zombies.

I’m extremely happy that Ex-Heroes is on the verge of breaking out even further.  To put it bluntly, it’s a fun read…especially the running contest everyone has on who can kill the biggest celebrity zombie (they are in LA afterall). Think of Ex-Heroes as the book equivalent of a summer movie blockbuster.  Who knows, maybe one day, it’ll transition to the silver screen.

Before I get to the contest, I also wanted to turn your attention on an interview Peter did with me for my Friday 5 series.  Please take a look.  It’s a great read.  You can find the link HERE!

Horror Author Peter Clines

#fridayreads – Friday 5 Questions with horror author Peter Clines

Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines was the first book I ever read from Permuted Press.  I’m not sure why it took me so long to start reading books from Permuted.  They specialize in zombie and apocalyptic fiction (two of my favorite genres), but there was some unexplainable force causing me to resist for some reason.  The barrier was broken when Ex-Heroes entered my life.  A few of my friends recommended it, so I put it on my “I’ll read it one of these days” lists.  It features superheroes and a zombie apocalypse.  How could you go wrong?  Some time went by and it slipped my mind until I was browsing the shelves of a bookstore.  There it was.  I had some extra cash in my wallet, so I decided to give it a chance.  After I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down.  Ex-Heroes was pure escapist fun.  I became a cheerleader for the book and even started following Peter on Facebook.  One thing led to another and I’m proud to host Peter for today’s Friday Five.  The stars seem to be in alignment for Peter these days.  Broadway Books has recently picked up the Ex series (Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots, and Ex-Communication) and are about to re-release the first in the series next month.  Hopefully, this will help Peter gain a much larger audience.  He deserves it.  Coincidentally, Broadway released the new cover for Ex-Heroes this week, so I linked it below.  It has an almost pulp fiction comic/manga cover type feel to it.  Works for me!

If you’re not familiar with Peter Clines, then now’s your chance before his popularity grows even more.  Read his answers below so you can say you knew him when.

If I haven’t done enough to intrigue you just yet, maybe Nathan Fillion can be of assistance.  He said the following about Ex-Heroes:  “My two favorite things, zombies and superheroes. Hurry with the sequel to EX-HEROES!”

Horror Author Peter Clines

1)  You got your start in the world of cinema.  How did your experience as a screenwriter help you as a novelist?

I think I lucked out because I was working on film crews as a prop master while I was trying to get a screenwriting career going.  It meant I got exposed to hundreds of screenplays with the added bonus of actually seeing how they were interpreted on set.  I think a lot of would-be screenwriters don’t consider that there are a hundred other people the story’s going to be filtered through before it’s actually seen, and it was clear really quick what made for a good script and a bad one.  I worked on a few shows where I can remember everyone in the office groaning when a new episode would show up and we’d see writer X’s name on the cover.  So it made me very aware that a writer—any writer—needs to be aware of who their audience is and how they’re going to interpret things.

Screenwriting is also very concise, so it taught me to try for maximum impact with minimum words.  I may write a loose first draft but I cut the hell out of it in later drafts.  Especially with action.  I’m a big fan of tight, fast action.

Cover for the Broadway Books reissue of Ex-Heroes

2)  When I heard about Ex-Heroes, the first thing that came to mind was “what a great idea,” quickly followed by “why didn’t I think of that?”  How did you get the idea to put superheroes in your zombie novels?

Well, to be fair, it’s not a terribly new idea.  Zombies have been showing up in mainstream comics for years.  Heck, if memory serves, when John Byrne took over the Superman titles in the mid-eighties he had Superman fight them in Action Comics.  I think it was a Phantom Stranger team-up.

I think what’s new about it is that it’s superheroes actually fighting a full-scale zombie apocalypse.  One of the Big Two comic companies announced years ago that they were going to do a Romero-style zombie invasion in their universe and I got so excited.  An honest crisis like that is where you get to see heroes at their best and their worst.  It’s such a great setting for serious action and drama, but also great heroic moments.

The book they did, though, was… well, I understand a lot of people liked it, but I just thought it was such a wasted opportunity.  In my eyes—as a horror fan and a long-time comic fan—it just did everything wrong.  Thinking about “how I would’ve done it” was one of the sparks that started Ex-Heroes.

3)  With Ex-Heroes heading over to Crown / Broadway, what are your future plans with both Permuted Press (and Random House for that matter)?

To be honest, I’m not sure.  I don’t mean that in some scheming way, just in an honest “we’ll have to see” way.  I’ve got crazy hopes and things I’d like to happen, yeah, but I’m also a realist.  If they’ll have me, I’d love to keep working with Crown and doing stuff with their Broadway imprint, but I’m sure it all depends on how the Ex-Heroes series sells.  This is a business after all, and they’ve put a ton of work into re-launching the series.

And I’m still going to be working with Permuted—they’ve got 14, my Robinson Crusoe horror mashup, The Junkie Quatrain, and a bunch of anthologies I’m in (including a new one called Times of Trouble, about time travel gone horribly wrong).  If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am now.

14 by Peter Clines

4)  While I first discovered you because of your zombie superhero novels, you also had a great year with 14.  What’s your elevator speech on that novel?

14 is a book I wanted to write for about a year and a half but things kept getting in the way.  I kind of lucked out that I had another project lined up and when the time came to start it Jacob Kier at Permuted told me to hold off.  He’d just bought a book from another author—Bryan Hall—that had a couple similar themes and ideas, and he didn’t want two books competing against each other.  As it happened, Permuted had just broadened their scope a bit, so to speak, as to what they were accepting, so I pitched Jacob the idea for 14 (which was called The Apartment at the time) and he loved it.

At its heart, 14 is sort of a horror-mystery-adventure story.  It’s about a very regular guy named Nate who moves into an old apartment building in Los Angeles and starts to notice unusual things about it.  Individually each little them is just kind of odd, but as they start adding up there’s a whole greater pattern of weirdness.  And it’s also about forming a community and how people become friends.  It’s tough to say much about it because it’s a slow-burn mystery that keeps building through the book, and I’m very anti-spoiler.  Nothing sucks more that getting something out of context and having all the strength and fun sucked out of a twist or reveal.  My original one line pitch to Permuted was “LOST set in an apartment building,” and I’ve been very flattered to see a lot of other people making the same comparison.

5)  What’s on deck for you next? 

Well, right now I’m trying to juggle work for the re-release of Ex-Heroes and Ex-Patriots, plus edits on Ex-Communication and trying to finish a fourth Ex-book in time for an October release.  Then I’ve got a couple of conventions.  And then I might sleep for a week or two.

After that… I’ve got an idea for a new series.  Something a bit more real-world grounded.  Well, as real-world grounded as I can get, anyway.  And then, if people want it, maybe another Ex-book.  Or two.  It’s more important to me to have a good, entertaining story to tell than to crank out another book just to keep the series going.