Jonathan Maberry, author of The Dragon Factory (March 22-April 4)

Please welcome Jonathan Maberry, author of The Dragon Factory. Jonathan will be chatting on LibraryThing until April 4th.

Also, you can read my recent interview with Jonathan here:
http://www.librarything.com/author/maberryjonathan/interview

Welcome Jonathan!

I loved Patient Zero. It was an excellent and inventive novel. I appreciated the unique approach to zombies that you used, it was refreshing for the genre I believe. I'm much looking forward to reading the next book and hope to pick it up soon! If I'm not mistaken, it is a direct sequel from Zero, correct?

Hoi Jonathan,

I have to say I read Patient Zero with great interest, even though it is not a genre I would usually pick up. I'm kind of curious to know if you wrote the novel with an eye of having it turned into a game?

Welcome! So nice that you could take the time to chat with us!
I really enjoyed Patient Zero and am currently enjoying an Advanced Reading Copy of The Dragon Factory, and I love Joe Ledger, you have really crafted a character who is fun to read. I like the spin that you put on the zombie genre in Patient Zero, and it seems like both books have a bit of a scientific side which intrigues me because it adds plausibility and structure that you craft your books around.
My question is: where do you find your inspiration for your work? Do you have a science background, or is it something that you are interested in?

Thanks for being with us!

Hi Jonathan!

I also enjoyed Patient Zero. I loved how you managed to twist in both Fatal Familial Insomnia and hibernation to make a scientifically believable zombie. I am a hibernation researcher AND it just happened that I'd read an interesting book about Fatal Familial Insomnia (The Family that Couldn't Sleep) only a few months before reading your book--so I got an extra big kick out of it all. I also noticed that you're on the advisory board for the zombie research socieity. Will you be wearing your grey ribbon this coming May?

There is a zombie research society? That's the best thing I've heard all day!

It's a very important area of research.

http://zombieresearch.org/home.html

I loved Patient Zero and have been waiting a long time for The Dragon Factory. My pre-order arrived recently and I am now into it. Patient Zero was a novel new take on zombies and I find Joe Ledger totally likeable and worth caring for. I have no doubt Dragon will prove equally exciting. When is the next installment coming?
Cheers,
Larry

Jonathan: If you were to put Joe Ledger in the Thunderdome pitted against Mad Max, who do you think would win?

Please suspend any personal faith in your character and respond with details on the fight :)

>7 The_Hibernator: Holy crap. I was not aware of the Zombie Research society. And I had just found a blog post about the houseplants one should keep around in case of a zombiepocalypse:
http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2010/03/list-houseplants-youll-w...

Also, relatedly, I interviewed Jonathan about The Dragon Factory, which you can read here:
http://www.librarything.com/author/maberryjonathan/interview

I'll add it to my first post.

Jonathan, (Patient Zero) was one of my favorite books in a long time. I greatly enjoyed it; it made zombies seem possible, plausible and fun -- in a scary way, and only as long as Joe Ledger is around!

I have ordered (The Dragon Factory). From the reviews, it sounds like you made Vampires believable, too. Do you have any plans to write books about any other mythical creatures? Werewolves? Fairies? Dwarves? I hope so!! Regardless of what you choose to write about, please do keep writing -- your work is wonderful.

Hey Jonathan,

Enjoyed both Patient Zero and The Dragon Factory a lot. Am trying to find your earlier books at the libraries. I can find them at the book stores but my wife has put a moritorium on my book buying for the forseeable future.

Anyway my question is: how much has your work been influenced by the NUMA books by Clive Cussler?

The idea of an ass-kicking scientific organization is what makes me ask. I have noticed a similar idea in the Event series. The Event books are entertaining but yours are better. Joe Ledger is the Jack Reacher for the Sci-Fi set.

Oh, and of course the Sigma books by Rollins are of a similar type.

Hey, Jonathan
Big, Big Fan - Started with GHOST ROAD BLUES and worked my way from there. I gave a small review of PATIENT ZERO for LibraryThing and currently going to do to the same with THE DRAGON FACTORY. ZOMBIE CSU is one of my favorites.
My question, which might have been asked already, but I give it another try - Who are are favorite authors of today and who did you get your influences from with the authors of yesteryear ????
MikeKo

Thanks for the chat?

disappointing that Mayberry never joined the discussion...

13 msgs and not even cursory flyby

Big fan of Patient Zero and the short stories that have come out so far.

I can't wait to read the second book.

Are you familiar with Scott Silgler's works? I found both of you at the same time and read "Infected" (Sigler) just before reading "P. Z." and I could not sleep for weeks from that combination.

Keep up the great reads, I love 'em.