Why did you consciously want to have some of the characters be immune to the zombie virus when it was initially airborne?
That was kind of a direct lift from The Stand. I always liked the idea in The Stand that there was this virus that moved through 99.9 percent of the community and there was that .1 percent that was genetically predisposed to be protected from it. Whether they were good or bad they just had that little extra genetic LEGO stuck onto them that allowed them to not be affected by the virus.
The most horrifying part of the book for me didn't center around the zombies, but featured the survivors of the Star Destroyer itself. That neatly stacked piles of uniforms from the fellow soldiers they ate to survive gave me goosebumps! Why did you decide to make some of the humans creepier than the actual zombies?
When you're writing a book like this you not only consider the supernatural elements, but also know there's still a lot of potential to be had in the way people react to that situation. Your choices are either rise up and resist, or fold and accommodate and make concessions. Eventually, you might sacrifice your own humanity just in a desperate attempt to survive. That can be really horrible.
There's also a fine line between resorting to cannibalism for survival and practicing cannibalism because you like it. The zombies in your book have a virus that compels them to eat flesh, they're not calling the shots. But those particular survivors seem like they have become zombies by choice.
That's really insightful. I didn't think about that while I was putting it together, but I think that's totally true. There's a sense of contagiousness not just with the virus but with the mindset of appetite that can jump from the zombies to the people; which means they're infected in a more terrifying way.
Unless you just want to think of those survivors as the ultimate recyclers and they were just being green.
That's another excellent way of describing it. (laughs)
Was there anything you wanted to add to the book, but couldn't because of the book length requirements, or because it didn't fit in with the storyline?
There was a point where I actually wanted to try and see if I could show the effects of a droid if it got infected with the virus. I wrote a scene where some bizarre contaminated droid had gotten the virus, but it just wasn't working out in the practical sense of the continuity.
I also wanted to follow the idea of one of the zombies actually getting away from the Destroyer without falling apart for some reason, like having a strain of the virus that allowed it to endure. But then I really just wanted to follow the survivors.
The way you wrote Death Troopers lends itself to having one heck of a horrifying prequel. Any chance fans will be getting the tale of what happened on the Star Destroyer before the prison barge showed up?
Actually, I just finished the next book and sent it to Shelly Shapiro. It's a prequel that deals with the virus and where it came from.
What do you think of the Death Troopers cosplay that's been happening because of your book? Were you able to see the members of the 501st Legion in all their bloody glory at Comic-Con?
I've been able to meet of them at my book signings. Ed Dennis from the Southern California Garrison was at my signing at the Barnes & Noble in Huntington Beach. He built a second suit of armor that was all zombified. When I shook his hand it was sticky with fake blood!
Why do you think Star Wars fans, who might not read horror fiction, should give the book a read?
When I sit down to write, regardless if it's a Star Wars novel or a horror novel or a suspense novel, the same elements come into play. Unless the writer can get inside the story and make it come alive and make it work, they really have no right to ask for the readers' time.
But if they can do that, then the reader is in for a really good experience regardless of whether they consider themselves a horror or a sci-fi reader. Those genres, when they're done right, have in common a well-executed story.
If you enjoy the Star Wars universe, then you'll enjoy this story even if you wouldn't normally pick up a zombie novel otherwise. If I've done my job, you'll enjoy it regardless.
Read an excerpt from Death Troopers here.
Read more about Death Troopers on its official book site.
Keep up with the latest book news from author Joe Schreiber's blog The Scary Parent, as well as his Twitter.
