Night of the Living Trekkies

Night of the Living Trekkies is a tale of heroism, sci-fi fandom, and flesh-eating Vulcans by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall.  The official release date is Sept 1st and the same publisher who brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Quirk Books, is going to give Zombies & Toys readers an opportunity to win a free copy of their book! 

Jim Pike was the world’s biggest Star Trek fan—until two tours of duty in Afghanistan destroyed his faith in the human race. Now he sleepwalks through life as the assistant manager of a small hotel in downtown Houston. But when hundreds of Trekkies arrive in his lobby for a science fiction convention, Jim finds himself surrounded by costumed Klingons, Vulcans, and Ferengi—plus a strange virus that transforms its carriers into savage, flesh-eating zombies!

I've decided to do this contest a bit differently than previous ones.  I have committed myself to reading and reviewing two other books and have realistically come to the conclusion that I will not have the time to read and review Night of the Living Trekkies in a timely fashion.  I am doing the publisher a disservice by not reviewing the book they have generously decided to send me.  I am doing the author a disservice by not reviewing a novel that undoubtedly took much time and effort.  Most importantly, I am doing Zombies & Toys readers a disservice by not providing you some additional information about some zombie goodness.

As a result, I would like to give my copy away to a reader who would like to submit and have featured their review.  If you are interested in contributing to the ZT community while snagging a free copy of a zombie-filled book, email your name and address to trekkies@zombiesandtoys.com.  One winner will be selected next Friday, Sept 3rd.  I will have the book in the mail the next day on Saturday and would like your review on or by October 15th.  Along with the featured review, we will also be giving away a second copy of Night of the Living Trekkies as part of our normal contest feature.

Also worth mentioning is the Night of the Living Trekkies Facebook page is giving away some nice prizes as well.  Grand prize will be some Troublesome Tribbles (they move and everything!), an unofficial Trekkies T-Shirt, and a signed copy of the book.  Two runners-up will receive an Unofficial Trekkies T-Shirt and a copy of the book.  All you have to do to be eligible is join the Facebook page!

I will be testing some new ideas over the coming months.  Based on YOUR feedback, we will be replicating and/or moving forward with the new ideas or learning from my mistake and ditching them.

Pre-Christmas Contest at the Zombie Toy Store

Christmas is a mere four months away!  Four months may seem like a long time, but who wants to shop after Thanksgiving?  So that gives you three months.  But it starts getting cold in November.  Maybe some snow.  Wet shoes.  Bad driving conditions.  So now we're down to two months.  Because I am sure many of you will wait until the last minute, I've decided to reward those of you who want to relieve some shopping stress early.

From now until the end of Sept, every order made at the Zombie Toy Store will receive free zombie swag!  Stickers, buttons, magnets, keychains, toys, books, and more will be given away!  In addition, for every $10 you spend, you gain one entry towards a Zombie Toy Store goodie bag!  And with each item sold, we'll add more items to the bag!  Followers on Twitter can watch for announcements telling what has been added.

The Tarman - Toy Update

Arguably one of the most recognizable zombies outside of the Romero clan, Tarman is finally making his way to your toy shelf.  Unfortunately, he's been delayed until February of next year.  While this is sad news to many of us, it isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I'll take a delay over a shoddy finished product any day.

Tarman is being brought to us by Amok Time toys who are also responsible for the Bub action figure as well as a 12" Cemetery Zombie.  Amok Time is unique as they seem to create some of the more obscure movie characters from out past such as Blacula and Elvira. 

I had the pleasure of meeting the President of Amok Time, Paul Lazo, at Steel City Con a few months back.  Paul is a great guy and because he's a collector too, I trust that we will have a great figure in the near future.

For the record... YES, we will have Tarman available in the Zombie Toy Store!

The Walking Dead - Official Trailer

The official trailer for AMC's The Walking Dead is now available for all to enjoy.  Some of our Facebook fans were able to catch the bootleg version that was shown at SDCC thanks to Jackie.  Even if you saw it then, don't wait to watch it again!  The Walking Dead will air on Halloween.

Zombie Car Wash

There will be a charity car wash on August 28th to raise money for The Animal Rescue League.  As-if going to get your car washed for a worthy cause isn't a good enough reason, allow me to tempt you more...

First, your car will be washed by zombies.  And what better place for a bunch of zombies to wash your car than at the Monroeville Mall, the same mall where the original 1978 Dawn of the Dead was filmed.  This charity event is being hosted by Monroeville Zombies, a museum and tourist attraction celebrating zombies in pop-culture.

The president of Monroeville Zombies/Time and Space Toys, Kevin Kriess, had the following to share:

“We've been recruiting and training a special team of zombies just for this worthy charity.  Zombies have always been animal friendly as they only crave human flesh. Plus they are great at lunging at cars and learning repetitive tasks such as sponging and rinsing so we are confident they are the best creatures for the job.”

Pizza and the Zombie Apocalypse

So the inevitable undead uprising has finally happened and you have put your zombie contingency plan into action.  Making the trek to your safe house or barricading yourself in has caused you to work up an appetite.  A pizza sounds great but who would deliver?  Hell Pizza.  Yes, it is a real pizza place.

So where do the zombies come in?  Hell Pizza has created an interactive adventure movie filled with zombies!  Think a choose-your-own-adventure book only in video form.  Do they still make those or am I showing my age?  The video, Deliver Me To Hell, can be found on YouTube by clicking here.  It is also saved as one of Zombies & Toys' favorites for those of you who follow us there.  Have fun!

New Images From The Walking Dead

With a title stating there's new images from The Walking Dead, is anyone even going to read this?  This may be the biggest zombie event in history.  First of all, the comics and story are amazing.  They are, without a doubt, the best zombie literature you can find.  Now we add what is quite possibly the best looking zombies I have seen on film?  At this point, I think it will actually take effort to mess up this series.

Zombies Existed 48 Million Years Ago

Zombies existed 48 million years ago?  Yup...  Sorta.  We reported in a previous post some scientific reasons a real zombie apocalypse could really happen.  One of those reasons cited the mind-controlling power a fungus has over ants.  And this isn't the only time such a phenomenon has been found in nature. 

Basically, a fungus controls the mind and actions of its host.  In this case, an ant, begins to act like a zombie taking itself to the highest point it can find.  Once there, it grasps onto the leaf in what is referred to as a "Death Grip" while it dies.  Once dead, the fungus begins to sprout out of the ant where it can release spores.  The spores spread and start the cycle over again.

Scientists have discovered evidence in a fossilized leaf proving that this behavioral modification has been taking place for over 48 million years!  So how long until this fungus evolves and mutates into one that possesses humans to crave flesh?

Oh, and the pic above?  Said fungus growing out of the back of dead ant's head.

Source: New Scientist

13 Visions

My obsession of finding great new zombie artists continues!  And because I'm certain that everyone reading this blog also enjoys new zombie art, I will continue to share my discoveries.  The talented mind of Scott Cole is one of my recent discoveries.  Well, maybe not "recent".  Like most everything else with this blog, I'm about 2 months behind!  Regardless, Scott's amazing work can be found at 13 Visions.

13 Visions is where you can find Scott's art and design work. You can also check out the 13 Visions blog for more personal ramblings such as his interest in the horror genre, graphic design, audio drama, and random thoughts.  An artist and graphic designer based in Philadelphia, Scott's work has appeared in magazines, art galleries, and on that show flyer you picked up at the coffee shop. Also a writer, we can expect to see several short stories coming to publication before the end of 2010.

Encouraged by his parents, Scott has been drawing since a young age.  "My mother in particular is very artistic, though our styles couldn't be further apart. As a child I was constantly drawing monsters and skulls and creepy floating ghosts and bats.  I still have a "book" entitled "The Haunted Castle", which I co-wrote and fully illustrated with colored pencils in first grade."

I know I've mentioned Mail Order Zombie before while during one of my podcast rants.  As a quick recap, MOZ is a weekly podcast that reviews every zombie film that is released.  That description is very generic, however.  MOZ has turned into a fun community of zombie fans and features extras like convention reports and interviews.  Scott can also be found on MOZ reviewing zombie audio drama in a segment called "Dead Air".

Update

Zombie news has been a little slow for a change and I can't say that I mind much.  Truth is, I'm becoming a bit overwhelmed.  My being overwhelmed usually translates into good things for ZT readers, though.  So I'll start by letting everyone know what we're working on for the reminder of the year. 

The exciting news is that there are plenty of great contests lined up.  I believe that there will be a Sourpuss Clothing and a Horror Signs contest each month!  There's also more shirts to give away from our friends at TShirt Bordello.  Another friend of ZT, Billy Tackett, will be making another appearance with some items for you to take home.  For those of you with time to read (lucky), there is going to be at least two more book contests in addition to this month's contest to win The Angels Are Reapers.  In fact, confirmed thus far is Tales of Woe!  One of the contests I'm most looking forward to is for a complete set of over 50 very unique zombie miniatures valued at over $200!  Of course, there are more surprises in the works and we're working hard to make new friends you should like. 

Details of the second Undead Bazaar will be official by year's end and we will begin accepting participation requests.  Having bit off more than I could chew with the first one (nom), the second bazaar will have a limited number of available participants and will adhere to a one-month time length.  For participants of the first bazaar reading, I have not forgotten that several of you have not received your "thank you" bag of ZT fun. 

The Zombie Toy Store is growing and I'm constantly looking for fun and interesting things to stock.  A huge "thank you" to everyone who purchases their zombie goods there.  In the works, also, is a "donate" feature.  It won't be a typical donation-type thing.  There will basically be different Zombies & Toys fun packs that your will receive for helping out.  So, it's more of a purchase than a donation.  Just as a small example of site costs, think that shipping for each contest prize can range from $3 to $10.  And so far, there are 7 contests this month alone.

Finally, our last two convention appearances this year will be at Horror Realm and Steel City Con.  Horror Realm is Sept. 17th - 19th in Southern Pittsburgh.  Steel City Con is Dec. 3rd - 5th in Monroeville.  We are hoping to venture out a bit further next year with our convention appearances.

Tales of Woe

It's not too often that I post non-zombie news but I do try to try to cover some gray areas now and then.  With that thought in mind, here's a heads-up about a new book getting released this week that will probably interest many of you.  Tales of Woe by John Reed sounds like it's going to be a different ride and one that will appeal to the post-apocalyptic fan in me.  This book is for everyone who watches the end of movies like Night of the Living Dead, The Road, or Martyrs and says to themselves, "sometimes there can't be a happy ending".

Tales of Woe is a book compiling the stories of human suffering;  Tales of murder, accident, depravity, cruelty, and senseless unhappiness.  The real twist?  All of the stories are true.  While I don't think this book was written just to laugh at the hardships I'm sure there are some that will.  For the rest of us, it may serve as a reminder of how fortunate we are.  Either way, reading stories of true horror is always fascinating.  Even though we'll know how the stories end.

This one is definitely on my list and I hope to share my thoughts about it sometime in Sept/Oct.  Right now, I'm enjoying The Reapers Are The Angels.  Which, by the way, is one of the most well-written books I have read.  I'll have more on that one later...

Behold, The Monster King

Those of you who have been reading ZT for awhile are already aware of my enthusiasm for artists.  I enjoy the creativity zombies inspire an I enjoy sharing my discoveries with everyone who reads.  The Undead Bazaar was a great way to showcase many of the talents that exist but it will definitely not be the only time I mention new talent I stumble upon.  In fact, last week's feature with Terry Callen is the first of several coming up.

So on to the Monster King, Stephen Vincent.  Stephen enjoys creating monsters of all types but it seems as if there's a special emphasis on zombies.  Browsing through the Monster King Productions site, you are given the opportunity to view quite a few monstrous creations. Of course, you want to spend some time looking through the gallery but you will also find ways to stay in the know.  You can learn about upcoming events, head over to the Facebook page, and subscribe to Twitter.

Whatever you do, don't forget to head over to the Monster King Store.  There are some cool shirts available including a working 3D zombie shirt!  Yes, 3D!  It even comes with a pair of 3D glasses.  How cool is that?  If you're a button junkie like me, make sure to grab a button set.  There is even original art for sale.  At the time of this writing, there is an affordable painting of Karen from Night of the Living Dead.  Seriously, if you have yet to buy an original piece of art, you need to.  Pictures of paintings never have the same effect.  And to find a great painting for under $100 is awesome!

I've been speaking with Stephen for over a month now so my apologies to both him and everyone reading for my delay.  And even though I have dropped the ball on several occasions, Stephen is still wanting to give a ZT reader a shirt of his or her choice!  So email your name and address to monsterking@zombiesandtoys.com for your chance to win.  One winner will be selected to receive the shirt of his or her choice from the Monster King Store in addition to a button set!  Spread the word, check out the Monster King site, and thank Stephen for the opportunity.  Oh... and make sure to email your entry by Sept 14th.

Screaming Brain Studio

Those kind enough to take part in the Zombies & Toys Facebook page know that we just arrived back from Steel City Con in Monroeville, PA.  This was our second appearance at SCC and I'm happy to say that you can expect to see us there again this December. 

The highlight of working at the conventions is always having the opportunity to meet readers who stop by.  Equally as exciting is meeting attendees and vendors with common interests.  This trip granted me the opportunity to meet artist, Terry Callen, of Screaming Brains Studio.  To no surprise, Terry is a talented creator of zombies. 

Terry created Screaming Brains Studio as the outlet to market and distribute all of his artwork.  There, you will find shirts, prints, sculptures, comics, and information about Terry's projects which also include his designing of a soon to be released model kit.

Because I'm sure you all regret not coming to the convention, Screaming Brain Studios has been kind enough to give 2 readers a chance to take home Terry's comic book.  Sick As A Dog gives you the opportunity to see what happens when werewolves are introduced to zombies!  For you chance to win one of these autographed books, email your name and address to screamingbrain@zombiesandtoys.com.  Winners will be selected at the end of the month.

"No Rip-offs. No Knock-offs. Just scary good original art."

New Horror Signs Contest

Is it too soon for another Horror Signs contest?  I didn't think so!  If you would like to own this "Zombie On Board" sticker, email your name and address to horrorsigns@zombiesandtoys.com.   One winner will be selected at the end of the month.

Plants vs Zombies vs ...Inmates?

Five prisoners in a Philippines jail escaped while the guard on duty played Plants vs Zombies.  Global Nation reports that the five inmates easily escaped with four being captured shortly after.  Anyone who has not played Plants vs Zombies can easily roll their eyes and wonder how such a thing could happen.  However, those of us who have played the addicting game are probably nodding heads with a grin saying, "I can see how that happened".

The Game of the Year Edition of Plants vs Zombies is now available.  We can also expect to see PvZ on Xbox Live next month.

The Horde - available today

Another quick reminder that The Horde is available through IFC On Demand beginning today.  I'll be renting it this weekend and hope to have a review up next week.  For trailers, pics, and previous posts, click here.

Google Maps' Street View Zombie Game

What we have here is an extremely interesting and very different zombie game. You begin by entering your age and the zip code of your address. After this, the Google street view zooms in to an area you are most likely familiar with. You navigate through your city traveling to an area where someone needs rescued. As you travel through the streets you are attacked by zombies. Only a shot to the head (obviously) will put the zombies out of their misery.

The game is free, fun, and allows you to shoot zombies in front of your own home. While playing, I kept thinking about how the future of gaming is changing. It was a very cool experience being able to navigate through my neighborhood and shoot zombies in familiar territory. Another fun feature of the game happens when you die. You have the ability to link the game to your Facebook profile. If you are killed, your Facebook profile picture is zombified and your friends must come to your aid for a rescue.

However, the game is basically an advertisement for Virgin Trains. You are rescuing public transpiration victims who have been zombified by their boring commute. Your weapon of choice? A train ticket dispenser gun. The game is definitely worth playing and you can be your own judge by heading over here.