Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Night of the Living Dead Christian... sequel?

I'm travelling right now, and part of the fun is leaving you some food for thought while I'm on the road. This post, therefore, has nothing to do with what I'm doing right now but only concerns... THE FUTURE! But is this a post concerning what is to come or merely what may be to come? That is for you, dear reader, to decide!

I talked a while back with Tyndale about doing some spin offs of Night of the Living Dead Christian, specifically doing novella-length stories as "mini-sequels" taking place in the NLDC universe and following in more detail the growth process of one of the minor players of NLDC. The first would be about Robert, the “ex-zombie”, the second about Lara the vampire and the third about Reverend Frank Martin and his other son, Marty.


Now, Tyndale said they wanted me focused on the current book, not off daydreaming about some other thing to come down the line (okay, they didn't say that exactly, and they're much nice than that) but I can't stop thinking about the characters and the story. So, here's a question:


If these stories were available as novellas, as e-books, would you want to read them? And would you be willing to pay a buck or two to do so? And, since I'm asking all these questions, which one sounds best to you?

Story One:
Former zombie Robert Doyle is finding life among the living difficult. He’s so used to following the commands of his zombie master that he honestly doesn’t know what he wants, what his preferences are, or how he’d like to spend his life. The only thing he knows for sure is that he loves hard-boiled detective novels. So he sets up shop as a gumshoe. It’s not long before he’s contacted with his first case… a missing girl, who disappeared at a local church outreach. An initial visit reveals a church full of happy, bubbly, impossibly nice and contented church goers. But all is not as it seems. The trail for the missing girl leads deeper into the church, into the labyrinthine corridors beneath the surface. And now Robert finds himself alone, in the dark, facing off against an entire underground race of monsters… monsters bent on making him and the girl into creatures of the deep below, just like them. The odds seem impossible, but one thing’s certain: Robert isn’t leaving without the girl.

Story Two:
Lara, the newest alto in the struggling church choir Sonshine Singers, has a secret. She’s a vampire. Keeping a secret like that – being (sort of) dead – isn’t easy, which is why she came to a Big Box Mega Church in the first place. But now the head pastor is preaching on “Monsters In Our Midst” and the congregation is out with pitchforks and torches. Plus, Lara is starting to suspect that the pastor himself is not all he seems, despite the long list of accolades, accomplishments and his slavishly devoted fans. To top it all off, Lara is getting “thirsty” and that long-necked tenor is starting to look like a great big juice box… even worse, the Easter Cantata is only three weeks away, and Lara has been “promoted” to soprano. Sounds like a disaster, one way or another, a disaster that Lara is determined to avoid, resist and out-sing. The stakes are high, and the notes are higher, but for the first time in years Lara feels like she has a challenge she can really sink her teeth into.

Story Three:
Reverend Frank Martin had two sons. During unhappy years of his life, he drove them both away, trying (he thought) to help them. Given the recent reunion with his younger son, Luther, Frank is thinking about trying to contact his older son to try to make amends. But finding Marty Martin is proving more difficult than he imagined. Now there are rumors of a strange beast in the forests around Mt. St. Helens… a sasquatch or bigfoot. But a grainy amateur video reveals a loping walk Frank remembers all too well. Now he’s packed his things for an extended stay in the wilderness, hoping to reconnect with his son. The only problem with Frank’s plan is that Marty Martin has no intention of being reunited with his father. On the contrary, he has every intention of killing Frank because of what happened to Marty’s mother. But Frank is determined to show Marty once and for all that a father’s love is more powerful than their shared past.


OKAY... this all hinges on you. What do you think? Yea or Nay?





4 comments:

  1. I love it.

    I think part of it should include some fan fiction. Get people to write ideas based on these prompts, and see where it goes. You could do a contest. I'd submit stuff.

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  2. Yes yes yes. So good. Perfect idea.

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  3. Amanda E9:09 PM

    Absolutely. Go for it.

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  4. YES. I will by and review and recommend these :D

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