Zombie Book Club

We're revisiting Will Smith's 2007 I Am Legend, theatrical cut and alternate ending both, to unpack why swapping the finale flips the whole film from action-hero sacrifice to something far more morally complex. We start with Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, detour through the earlier adaptations The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man, and get sidetracked (as always) debating whether the Darkseekers are zombies, vampires, or their own "zomb-pire" category entirely.

Then we dig into Neville's isolation and mannequin coping mechanisms, why Sam's death still wrecks us every time, and how the alternate ending recontextualizes the entire siege as a rescue mission rather than a monster attack; restoring the moral ambiguity (and the actual meaning of the title) that the theatrical cut throws away. We also talk about what's confirmed so far about I Am Legend 2, including Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan, and why the sequel is treating the alternate ending as canon.

Relevant Links:

I Am Legend (2007) – IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/

I Am Legend (1954 novel) by Richard Matheson – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel)

The Last Man on Earth (1964) – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Man_on_Earth_(1964_film)

The Omega Man (1971) – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Man

I Am Legend 2: release date, cast, and everything we know – GamesRadar+: https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/action-movies/i-am-legend-2-release-date-cast-plot-trailer-and-everything-we-know-about-the-upcoming-horror-sequel/

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Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

We welcome horror author T.J. Payne to talk about Intercepts, a sci-fi horror thriller where a secret government facility tortures prisoners into becoming "antennas" who can hijack the senses of anyone on Earth. At the center is supervisor Joe Gerhard, a man who tells himself the work is necessary right up until his own daughter, Riley, becomes a target. We dig into the banality of evil, workplace dehumanization, and how ordinary people talk themselves into extraordinary harm.

We also get into the real-world roots behind the horror (NSA-style intercepts, MKUltra, sensory deprivation research), T.J.'s wild path from Hollywood ghostwriting to indie-published success to landing in TV writers' rooms, and why he thinks "writer voice" is just the weird kid you tried to hide in middle school.

Guest Contact & Social Links — T.J. Payne

• Website: https://tjpayneauthor.wixsite.com/tjpayne
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.payne.author/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tj.payne.author
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18547206.T_J_Payne
• Intercepts (Penguin Random House): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/833286/intercepts-by-t-j-payne/

Related Topic Links (for show notes)

• Hannah Arendt & "the banality of evil": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banality_of_evil
• MKUltra overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
• Sensory deprivation research: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_deprivation
• Under the Bridge (Hulu, TJ Payne writing credit): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Bridge_(TV_series)

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

Dan finally admits what he's been hiding: while everyone assumed he was still deep in his long-gestating zombie apocalypse novel, he secretly drafted an entirely new novella, The Bad Road, in two weeks flat. The origin story is almost stranger than the book itself; it started as a 3D-rendered, fake Instagram book cover of two bikers outrunning a dust-churning zombie horde down a dead-straight highway, an image so convincing that people kept asking where to buy a book that didn't exist. So Dan wrote it. The result follows brothers Ty and Michael, months into the outbreak and out of fuel, fleeing a city-sized horde across the mirror-flat, flood-prone expanse of Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats along I-80.

Relevant to this episode's topics:

• Bonneville Salt Flats: https://www.visitutah.com/articles/bonneville-salt-flats-planning-guide
• Serial Fiction Success for Indie Authors: https://indieauthormagazine.com/the-intentional-craft-of-successful-serialized-fiction/
• Publishing Novellas: A Niche Format for Aspiring Authors: https://spines.com/self-publishing-a-novella/

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

We sit down with Robert de la Chevotière ahead of the August 25, 2026 release of his novel The Twelfth House; a literary work steeped in West African folklore and magical realism. At its center is Etta, an ogbanje: a spirit trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, whose desperate will to live pulls her father Bako from the coast of Benin onto a slave ship bound for colonial Dominica. We talk with Robert about writing unflinchingly about slavery while still leaving room for lyricism and beauty; about the mountains, forests, and ancestral ocean that act as living characters in the book, and about villains who are complicated rather than simply "evil."

Robert discusses teaching middle school after burnout, and what it meant for Robert to feel like Etta "took the pen" from him mid-draft. Along the way we dig into reincarnation as a metaphor for diaspora, the dedication to Wai'tukubuli (the Kalinago name for Dominica), and the uneasy line between allyship and complicity. It's a conversation about memory, resistance, and what we owe the dead.

Guest Contact & Social Media

• Author website: robdelabooks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robdelawrites/
• Preorder 'The Twelfth House' (Before August 25th, 2026): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-twelfth-house-robert-de-la-chevotiere/1149880270?ean=9781645662037
• Audible author page: https://www.audible.com/author/Robert-de-la-Chevotiere/B0F1MYKPNP

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

We record this one crammed into a sweltering camper with the AC off during a heat wave, accidentally running the most honest apocalypse simulator we've ever tried and quickly learn the real survival threat isn't zombies, it's summer. Forgotten bug spray turns the outdoors into a West Nile virus exclusionary zone full of diseased monsters that want to eat us alive.

Leah apologizes for everything she said while she was suffering from a mild heat stroke, Dan regrets nothing but the audio quality.

Relevant Links / Resources

• Yonge Street history & "longest street" myth — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonge_Street
• Yonge Street Guinness World Records entry (background on the claim) — https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/62917-longest-street

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

This is an unfiltered check-in where the laptops stay closed and we just talk like the two zombie-obsessed humans we are, and discuss an internet video of a man de-veigning a snickers bar to make Jesus happy.

We have two big community updates: a new Kickstarter for the Path of the Pale Rider trade paperback (issues 5–8), and our next book club pick, Intercepts by T.J. Payne; a novel that hooked us so hard we couldn't stop reading until it was finished.

Then we swing into a full teardown of Zombie Nightmare, calling out what doesn't hold up; racist framing, misogyny, and assault played for plot; before widening into camper life, remote work on the road, and the small joys keeping us upright through a heavy news cycle. We close on the stuff a lot of people are sitting with right now: politics, protest, direct action, and how loaded words like "terrorism" get weaponized. Lick the Snick, everyone!

Relevant Links:

Path of the Pale Rider Kickstarter Trade Paperback 5-8: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pathofthepalerider/path-of-the-pale-rider-trade-paperback-5-8

Intercepts by T.J. Payne — publisher page: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/833286/intercepts-by-t-j-payne/

T.J. Payne's author site: https://tjpayneauthor.wixsite.com/tjpayne

Zombie Nightmare (1986/87) — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Nightmare

MST3k Zombie Nightmare (1994) — Fandom   https://mst3k.fandom.com/wiki/Zombie_Nightmare_(film)

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

Feed by Mira Grant promised us zombies and delivered a political thriller, and our book club had FEELINGS about that. Dan and Leah bring a full courtroom vibe to Newsflesh Book 1: praising its ambitious post-apocalyptic world where society survives by way of constant biosecurity surveillance, Romero-rules-as-cultural-canon, and bloggers covering a presidential campaign instead of mainstream journalists. The double meaning of "the feed" opens up rich questions about media trust, who gets to claim objectivity, and what we owe each other when the truth is literally life or death.

But the jury is hung. Between 608 pages of procedural detail, repeated exposition, and a zombie threat that feels more bureaucratically managed than terrifying, Feed didn't fully land for everyone at the table. We dig into representation (disability, body diversity, race, queerness), why a beloved and foundational book can still frustrate readers, and what feels urgently resonant right now: the way "safety" becomes a justification for checkpoints, surveillance, and the normalization of controlled movement.

Links & Contact Info

Mira Grant (pen name of Seanan McGuire)

• Website: miragrant.com | seananmcguire.com
• Bluesky: @seananmcguire.bsky.social

Alice B. Sullivan (zombie author whose love of Newsflesh helped inspire her own fiction)

• Website: alicebsullivan.com
• Instagram: @zombieauthor_alicebsullivan

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

Dan and Leah survived an eleven-hour drive, a basement "murder bathroom" straight out of Barbarian, and the humbling reality of vending books at a zombie movie convention. Welcome to Living Dead Weekend 2026 at the legendary Monroeville Mall. They break down what indie authors actually face at genre cons: the economics of competing with $5 DVD stacks, the split-second power of cover design, and why one patron-saint reader buying from every table can change the whole vibe of a weekend.

The highlights hit hard though; meeting John A. Russo to talk ghouls vs. zombies, coming face-to-face with the iconic Hare Krishna zombie from Dawn of the Dead, and soaking in a fandom that refuses to die. They confess their biggest regret (missing Tina Romero), share lessons to carry into future cons, and lay out what's coming next.

Links & Contact Info

Living Dead Weekend / Monroeville Mall

• Official site: thelivingdeadweekend.com — https://www.thelivingdeadweekend.com/
  Living Dead Weekend
  
  
• A note for listeners: this may have been the final Living Dead Weekend at Monroeville Mall, which is reportedly set for demolition after being acquired by Walmart. Here's a write-up: https://www.publicsource.org/monroeville-mall-last-living-dead-weekend/
  PublicSource
  
  

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

Comic creator Laurie Calcaterra joins us to break down the world of Path of the Pale Rider; her genre-bending indie comic where death isn't a virus or magic, it's just broken. The "living impaired" keep rotting, brains decay at different rates, and even animals rise again, turning every meal and moral choice into a survival equation. We dig into what makes this series unlike anything on the shelf: QR code scavenger hunts, hidden videos, riddles, sign language, and layered clues that reward rereaders — plus a frank conversation about why real innovation keeps living in indie comics while big studios recycle the same tired stories.

Then we crack open Issue 8 and step inside the Golden City, where Jude St. Clair finally arrives at the place that's haunted the series since page one. Hot showers. A buffet. Showgirls and tuxedos. It sounds like heaven after five years on the road... and that's exactly the problem. We unpack the auditorium sequence, debate the symbolism of the split angel portrait, theorize about who (or what) broke death, and wrestle with the ugliest question the series keeps asking: what are people truly willing to trade for comfort when the world outside is falling apart? Plus, Laurie previews the upcoming trade paperback Kickstarter for Issues 5–8.

Guest & Relevant Links

Laurie Calcaterra / Path of the Pale Rider

• Website: pathofthepalerider.com
• Instagram: @path_of_the_pale_rider 
  
  

Kickstarter Campaigns

• Trade Paperback Issues 5–8 Kickstarter (from show notes): kickstarter.com — Path of the Pale Rider Trade Paperback 5–8
• Issues 1–8 Kickstarter: kickstarter.com — Path of the Pale Rider Issues 1–8

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]

We finally watch George A. Romero's Resident Evil — the 2025 documentary unpacking one of horror's greatest what-ifs, and trace the whole messy story: Romero hired by Constantin Film in 1998, his meticulous approach to studying the game scene-by-scene, the commercial footage that proves he could have nailed the tone, and the moment "creative differences" quietly buried a zombie legend's game-faithful script. Along the way we get into the Biohazard origins, horror ratings pressure, and why studios keep chasing a PG-13 that imagined box office math demands instead of the movie the genre deserves.

Then we turn it into something bigger; the social critique running through Romero's entire Living Dead catalog, why zombies became cinema's sharpest tool for talking about race, consumerism, and survival, and why the horror community keeps attracting the most empathetic people in any room. This episode drops right before we head to Living Dead Weekend 2026 at the Monroeville Mall — the last year before the mall closes — and we're going in loaded with books from zombesties Sylvester Barzey, Rebecca Cuthbertson, Dia Van Gunten, and Laurie Calcaterra, bunking with Alice B. Sullivan, and looking forward to seeing Brandon Starocci of Avalon Comic.

LINKS & INFO

The Documentary

• George A. Romero's Resident Evil (2025) — Official Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fiIdvhCLMI
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21990960/
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Romero%27s_Resident_Evil

Living Dead Weekend 2026 — June 12–14, Monroeville Mall

• Official Site & Schedule: https://www.thelivingdeadweekend.com/
• Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/living-dead-weekend-june-2026-the-dead-will-walk-the-mall-tickets-1980534479944
• Living Dead Museum at Monroeville Mall: https://monroevillemall.com/store/living_dead_museum

GreenMan — Pittsburgh Artist

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grnnann/

Authors

• Alice B. Sullivan | Tomorrow Never Came + Elementary Undead | https://alicebsullivan.com/
• Sylvester Barzey | Intense BIPOC-centered zombie horror | https://sylvesterbarzey.com/
• Rebecca Cuthbertson | Waves of Undead | https://rcuthbertsonwrites.com/
• Dia VanGunten | Pink Zombie Rose graphic novel series | https://www.diavangunten.com/
• Laurie Calcaterra | Path of the Pale Rider comic (issues 1–4 trade paperback) | https://pathofthepalerider.wordpress.com/
• Brandon Starocci | Avalon zombie comic series | https://avaloncomic.com/

Support the show

Zombie Book Club Links

• Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
• ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
• ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
• Zombie Book Club Email: [email protected]