Novelist takes on the zombie apocalypse

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Jay Bonansinga

Updated: December 7, 2011 12:16PM

After 25 years as a successful novelist specializing in thrillers and horror, Evanston author Jay Bonansinga has broken through in a big way with The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. Bonansinga co-authored the novel with Robert Kirkman, creator of the award-winning pop-culture phenomenon “The Walking Dead,” a zombie-apocalypse saga which began undead life as a comic book before being adapted into a ratings record-breaking AMC cable-TV series.

The first in a planned trilogy exploring popular characters from the series, Rise of the Governor details the back-story of the sadistic despot who rules a walled town of desperate human survivors. Currently a top seller on Amazon, the recently published novel debuted at number 18 on the New York Times best-seller list and also earned a spot on the Times’ annual holiday gift-guide (have a holly, jolly, zombie Christmas). Pioneer caught up with Bonansinga for a quick chat about zombie appeal, real-life horror and how he owes his career to George Romero and a run-down movie theater in Peoria.

Q: How did you wind up working on this project? How did the collaboration process work?

A: When I first got the call from my manager that there might be an opportunity to write a “Walking Dead” novel, my first thought was, “Boy, have they come to the right guy.” Because I respect this genre so much. I believe in it. I’ve written it. I understand it. I’m steeped in it. As soon as I heard about this, I immediately wanted to do it, because I’d heard such great things about the comic. There were other guys in the running who were brand-name, major writers, but I kept plugging away; sending resume stuff and stories and anecdotes: “Tell Kirkman I know Romero; tell him I’ve stayed at his house!” (Laughs.)

Finally, I got the job — and a big surprise. I had assumed they wanted me to write a tie-in, meaning they would provide me with a script and I would write a novelization from it. That’s what most of those jobs are. Then I talked to Robert and he said, “No, no, no, no, no, no; somebody should have told you. I’m going to give you an outline, roughly eight to ten pages, with the essential story and everything else is up to you.” I thought, “You’re kidding.” Then I thought, “This is fantastic! How cool is this!” (Laughs.)

I got the job last August and the outline just before Thanksgiving and I wrote the book in about three and a half months. It worked out really well. Robert says, “I’m a comic book writer. When I want to try a TV show, I find someone to work with who knows how to make TV shows. When I want to try a novel, I find someone who knows how to write a novel.” Which makes sense to me.

Q: Is “The Walking Dead” different in any significant way from standard zombie fare?

A: I don’t know if I’ve heard the definitive answer about why it’s a success and what makes it unique and why it’s so good. But it’s now been successfully incarnated in three mediums: It started as a comic and then it became a TV show and now it’s taking on new life as an original novel. Why?

I asked myself that question before I picked up the comic book: “Why are people so jazzed about this? It’s just a zombie apocalypse. It’s been done endlessly.” All it took, though, was reading about a half dozen issues before I said, “Okay, it is great. I’m flabbergasted.” What I realized was that you don’t often see these types of stories, meaning hard-core horror, delving as deeply into the sweet, touching, poignant side of love and family. There’s a sweetness to it. Real simply, I think Robert just said I’m going to put real people in this story and write about how they would actually behave in this situation.

Now that I think of it, I think I have to take my hat off to George Romero here, because there’s some element of that in his zombie movies as well. Maybe not “Night of the Living Dead,” so much, but the later ones, “Dawn of the Dead” and “Day of the Dead,” as they matured. There were usually quiet moments with his characters where you could see they were struggling to cope as human beings. I think Robert Kirkland took that to the next level.

I think what George did was really great, though. I’m biased, because he’s one of my favorite people in the business. He’s such a great guy and I’ve been lucky enough to work with him a little and get to know him personally. He’s a lefty, you know, an old hippie. A progressive. Usually, in George’s films, there’s a rainbow coalition of survivors — Hispanic, black, white, Jewish, you name it. And they find a way to set aside their differences and help each other. You have to hand it to him: He found a way to make zombie movies humanist. (Laughs.)

Q: Are you a zombie fan?

A: I guess I have to confess that I am. (Laughs.) And it’s because of Romero. When “Night of the Living Dead” came out in 1968, I was nine or 10 years old and entering that stage of life where you’re really susceptible to imprinting — and I snuck into that movie. It was playing in a really sleazy theater in Peoria, but it was great because security was lax. (Laughs.)

I think what happened to me was that the things you fear the most at that age can become an obsession. It did with me. I became obsessed by zombies and really gory pulp fiction when I became a teenager. And when I became a writer, that’s what I wanted to write.

Q: How do you account for the popularity of zombies? Why do you think so many people find them fascinating?

A: Each of the major horror archetypes — the vampire, the werewolf, the Frankenstein’s monster, the zombie — has a sub-text. For example, vampires, which are a product of the Victorian era, are all about repressed sexuality — which might explain why the “Twilight” stories are so popular with teenage girls. The interesting thing about the zombie is that it’s unique because it’s featureless. It doesn’t have any personality. It’s like a widget. But it just keeps coming at you. It never stops. The zombie is the problem, the looming disaster, that you can’t do anything about — like your mortgage being underwater. You go to sleep at night thinking maybe somehow it will change, then you wake up the next morning and here it comes again. You can’t kill it. If you shoot one in the head there are millions more and they just keep coming. I think there’s something that resonates with people about that, now more than ever.

Q: You’re suggesting that the zombies appeal to us on some level because they can’t be stopped?

A: Yeah. I think so. Of course, I’m talking about the George Romero-type zombie. The zombie that was pretty much invented in 1968, in “Night of the Living Dead.” And that’s what Robert Kirkland is really working with. In fact, he has said that what inspired him to write the original comic book was that he wanted to see, in his imagination, a Romero movie that just kept going. A Romero movie usually ends, at a certain point, where the heroes have escaped or gotten the upper hand at least temporarily.

Q: What’s it been like to find yourself on the best-seller list?

A: For an author like myself who’s been in the mid-list his whole career — I’ve had 14 books over 25 years but none of them have been blockbusters — it’s just so sweet.

Q: Are you currently working on the second book? Have you gotten a new outline from Robert Kirkman?

A: Let’s just say the pregnant woman is now being rolled into the operating room, the doctor has his scrubs on. . . we’re very close to beginning. Robert’s told me he’s almost done with the new outline, so I’m like the fireman at the top of the pole, ready to slide down and go into action. More zombies are on the way.