Horror Realm - Part Two

So I'm back to wrap up my report on Horror Realm. Read the first part to hear about Frank Serrao, Robert Cordray, S.G. Browne, and Billy Tackett.

During my visit, I had the honor of meeting Kim Paffenroth. Kim is the author of several zombie novels including one of my personal favorites, Dying to Live. He has also written Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth, The World Is Dead, History Is Dead: A Zombie Anthology, Dying to Live: Life Sentence, as well as many others. Kim's Amazon page can be found here and you can check out Kim's blog here. Kim not only took the time to the book I brought and ones I purchased, he was also kind enough to offer a book for one of our contests and answer some fun zombie questions! Here's what Kim had to say:

If we were in the midst of a zombie fight and you were bitten, would you want me shoot you or leave you be? I don’t think being a zombie is going to be that bad so I’m going to say I’ll go sit under a tree.

If you were a zombie and had the opportunity to eat anyone's brain in the world, who's brain would you eat? That’s a tough one. On one end you should say a smart person, but on the other it would be nice to get someone who’s really bad. So you know, I think the world would be better off without Dick Cheney’s brain functioning. Its not doing us any good at the moment. I don’t know if I want that on the internet. I’ll have the secret service after me. (note to secret service reading: we were both laughing over this answer so please don't bust down Kim's door)

If we were going to make a Kim Paffenroth toy, would you be a zombie or a hero? I don’t know about hero... Okay, zombie slayer... I'd be the guy behind the scenes trying to organize the community.

What accessories would you come with? A Book and Binoculars.

Thanks to Kim Paffenroth for his time and kindness. I will probably be offering up all of the books and swag I obtained early next year. So don't wait around to check out some of his books!

I also had the opportunity to speak to Travis Adkins. Travis is responsible for several zombie novels including another one of my favorites, Twilight of the Dead. Travis was kind enough to offer his follow-up to Twilight, After Twilight: Walking with the Dead, for review. So (hopefully) I'll have that posted soon!

Also in attendance at Horror Realm was Ken Foree from Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Meeting Ken was really the only thing I found disappointing at Horror Realm. He declined to offer any comments to the few brief questions I had and didn't seem too thrilled to even sign a photo. I was able to catch him early on for a photo, though.

There were a hand full of vendors available in addition to all of the great guests in attendance. My personal favorite was the display provided by Sourpuss clothing and accessories. There was a large selection of genre shirts and even a large selection of children's sizes and onesies for the baby. Here are some pics of my son modeling his new zombie shirt. Actually, it's a young Frankenstein-type but I'm not going to tell him that. He's been wanting a zombie shirt for awhile.

Here are some pics of the other displays at the show:

Oh! I almost forgot... Here are the answers to the questions I asked of Frank Serrao.

If we were together when you were bitten by a zombie, would you want me to shoot you? Yes, blow my head off my shoulders!

If you were a zombie and could eat anyone's brain in the world, who would it be? Osama Bin Laden's to make sure he is payed back for all the destruction he caused.

If we were making you into a toy, would you be a zombie or a hero? A Zombie with sharp teeth.

When the zombie apocalypse happens, where do you want to be? Anywhere in a large military tank with plenty of food and fuel.

Frank was also kind enough to share the latest painting of The Grey Suit Zombie!

Horror Realm Report

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to attend Horror Realm this past weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. It was the first horror specific convention I have attended. I know, I know… I hope you don’t think less of me. I do attend regular geek …er, comic and toy conventions on a regular basis.

Overall I had a great time. I was able to put faces to some familiar names, have some conversations with interesting people, and bring back some swag for the fine readers of Zombies & Toys! You can expect a “part 2” to my Horror Realm report as I have more pics, notes, and information to go through yet.

The first person I had the pleasure of meeting was Frank Serrao who is better known as The Gray Suit Zombie from George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Frank was one of the genuinely nicest people I have met. If you ever have the opportunity to meet him, make sure to stop by and say “Hi”. Besides, it’ll give you the opportunity to see first hand the Gray Suit Zombie sculpture that has been featured on Zombies & Toys. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, please check out this month’s feature on Colby Blair.


Frank introduced me to an author I was unfamiliar with and whose books I purchased, Robert Cordray. His books, Memoirs of a Haunted Man: A Zombie Trilogy and Zombies 101: Knowledge Is Survival are in my possession and on my very long list of books to read. Even better is Robert took the time to answer some fun questions I had prepared in addition to donating an autographed copy of one of his books to be given away to one of you! Here’s what Robert had to say and I’ll apologize if my transcribing is not 100% correct; it was extremely noisy at the con:

Okay, Robert, so we’re fighting off some zombies and you’re bitten. Should I shoot you and put you out of your misery or just walk away? No, let me walk around because I’m still valuable for a short while. Anywhere between (pauses) you know 10 and 12 hrs before I start getting really sick. Then it’s seizure, coma, death, and reanimation..

But what about once you reanimate? Put me out of my misery. Three in the head and I’ll stay dead.

Alright. So we’re going to make a toy of you. Would you be a zombie or a hero? Oh, I’d be the hero.

What accessories would you come with? I’d bring 2 pistols. One’s called a ZKA . It’s an 8mm ultra round. About 32 caliber about 1650 ft per second has a 22 round magazine capacity plus one in the pipe. Then I’d bring the Jury. It’s a 12 round magazine plus one in the pipe. That means it’s your judge, your jury, and the person who’s wielding the gun is your executioner.

You know a bit too much about those guns. Actually, that’s the book. Those are the weapons that our hero uses in the book.

Finally, when the apocalypse happens…

The Zombpocalypse, yeah.

When it happens, where do you want to be?

Anywhere. I’m prepared at all times.

Thanks to Robert for taking the time and sponsoring an upcoming contest. A super-friendly guy who takes his zombies seriously, make sure to spend some time with him if you have the opportunity.


I was also able to meet Travis Adkins whose book, Twilight of the Dead, is another one of my favorites. It’s one of those books that I read a while ago and have been meaning to post a review of. I’ll try to get that posted more sooner than later as I obtained his follow-up book, After Twilight: Walking with the Dead and plan on reading that one ASAP.

S.G. Browne was also present at Horror Realm. I didn’t bother him with my questions since he was kind enough to take the time a few months ago. Instead, I learned that the ending we are familiar with in his book, Breathers, is not the original. I also discovered that it took over 80 agents before someone finally decided to move forward with his book. For those who didn’t already know, it was this agent who had ties with Diablo Cody and is the reason we can now look forward to a Breathers movie! Browne was also kind enough to give me some pins and stickers that I will be giving to a few lucky readers.

Across from S.G. Browne was another featured artist this month, Billy Tackett. Again, I didn’t bother Billy with any printable questions since he we already have him featured. Instead, I learned more about some of his upcoming projects. Sorry, folks, top secret stuff but rest assured Zombies & Toys will have more news as I’m able to report it. I also picked up the amazing Zombie Sam print Billy was kind enough to sign and donate for this month’s contest.

Check back later for part two of my report where I’ll share my experience with Kim Paffenroth, Ken Foree, some of the artists and vendors present, as well as report on more goodies guests donated to give to you!