Summer of Zombie Blog Tour - Mark Tufo

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The Summer of Zombie Blog Tour extravaganza continues here with our fourth participant and he's a heavyweight in the genre. Mark Tufo has made a big name for himself in zombie fiction. His INDIAN HILL trilogy and ZOMBIE FALLOUT series land Mark Tufo at the top of the charts on Amazon.com. He has a variety of other stories as well including Tim and Tim2 which have been getting a lot of buzz lately.

We handed Mark Tufo our SoZBT interview questions. Much to our delight he did not toss them in the garbage and get on with his life. Instead he answered them with great delight in hopes that you too, Constant Follower, would find him engaging as the rest of us do.

We've wasted enough of your time so let's let Mark waste the rest of it. Enjoy the Mark Tufo Zombie Blog Tour interview:

The Blogshit:  Which of your books do we need to be talking about now and what is inside the pages to get excited about it?

Mark Tufo: I just released Tim 2 it is a zombie book through the eyes of a self-aware zombie. The reason we need to be excite about it is because it centers around the socio-economic eccentricities of a world power on the decline...okay I’m just kidding, because it’s a dark, gory ass story about a character that has almost no redeeming qualities.

Pennywise Eat Your Heart Out

The Blogshit: What is it about zombies that keep you writing in this genre?Mark Tufo: I've tried Z.A. (zombies anonymous) to get over my addiction, but it runs deep. Ever since I was seven and my babysitting cousin thought watching Night of The Living Dead might be a good idea. I’ve been hooked ever since.

The Blogshit: With the saturation of zombie fiction in the current market, what do you do to keep your writing fresh and relevant?Mark Tufo: It is my ever evolving characters and the interplay between them that I believe keeps folks coming back for more.

The Blogshit: What makes your zombies stand apart from all the others?Mark Tufo: Umm I don’t think my zombies necessarily are abundantly different from a myriad of others walking amok out there. I do have some of them mutating as the books go on, but again they are not vastly different from Mr. Romero’s vision. It goes back to the characters that are fighting them, that is the difference.

The Blogshit: Do you write (or plan to write) outside the zombie genre?Mark Tufo: My first series of books (Indian Hill 1-3) were actually in the sci-fi realm. I also have two others (Callis Rose and The Spirit Clearing) that are more in the mainstream horror genre.

The Blogshit: Do you think the mega hype around the movie adaptation of World War Z will have a positive or negative effect on the zombie fiction scene?Mark Tufo: Don’t get me wrong I love WWZ (the book) but those things flying around that screen are about as much zombies as my dog Henry (an English Bulldog) is.

The Blogshit: Is there a need for attrition in the zombie fiction market? Mark Tufo: Is it glutted? Sure. But the audience will do the attrition. I’d never be the one to tell someone they shouldn't pursue their dream and write a book.

The Blogshit: What do you see in the future of zombies, both on the page and off?Mark Tufo: Personally I’m thinking WWZ the movie might be the peak in this cycle of zombie love. Like anything in life it waxes and wanes. The market is getting saturated with movies, books and now television shows, folks can only take so much in before they begin to tune it out...for now.

The Blogshit: We are building a menu for a fictional sandwich shop. Typically we ask what to put on the namesake of you sandwich. For the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour we are going to set aside a special menu sub-section so: What do we put on your zombiefied sandwich?Mark Tufo: I would like a green eggs and spam sandwich (on ciabatta) Nothing says rotten flesh like green and a meat-like substance.

Mark Tufo Moonlighting As The White Flava Flav

So there he is folks! Mark Tufo, zombie writer to the stars (I'm sure at least one D level celebrity has read his work at the very minimum). We've read many but not all the writers on the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour. Mark Tufo is one we have regrettably not delved into as of yet. You can bet your bottom dollar that these bloggers are going to plunk down for Tim2 as it comes highly recommended by fellow Tourer, TW Brown (as can be heard in his podcast interview in Episode 16 of the Books, Beer and Bullshit Podcast). Do Mark, yourself and us a favor and grab some Tufo.

Now for a bit of Mark Tufo biography courtesy of the man himself as well as contact and purchasing links so you can get the goodies. Check out his web site and blog they are both uber professional looking and friend him on FaceBook, as always very accessible.

Hi my name is Mark Tufo and this is my small bio slash zombie homage. First off trying to boil your life down to a few paragraphs is like trying to get out of the house with a newborn in under 5 minutes. Those of you with kids will understand the reference. Speaking of which I have three, thankfully they are mostly grown at this point which has allowed me to pursue a writing career. I grew up a blue collar man in a blue collar family, after a stint in the Marines and then the more dangerous Post Office, I decided to educate myself and get one of those cushy white collar jobs. Well I got a few, damned thing was though I couldn’t hold on to them. Kept getting laid off. It was during these down times that I began to write, it was a way to cope with the stress of having a family that was becoming more and more difficult to support.

My wife and I put out the first Zombie Fallout book in February of 09, there was huge fan-fare, ticker tape parades and maybe even some hyperventilating from the one fan that bought the book that month. Didn’t matter much that wasn’t why I had written it in the first place. I wrote a zombie book because I’ve always been fascinated with the genre. Ever since I was 7 years old and my cousin who was babysitting thought watching Night of the Living Dead would be a good way to while away the time. I’d never been so scared and enthralled at the same time in my entire life. I devoured all things zombies, movies, books, comics. Didn’t matter much. And then during one of my lay-off periods, my wife dared me to write one. (Mostly so I’d leave her alone) And I haven’t looked back.

The Zombie Fallout series is 6 novels and 1 novella long, with Zombie Fallout 7 due in October. I have the Timothy series which is written through the eyes of a zombie (not for the faint of heart - and don’t eat and read it - you’ve been warned). And there is also the continuing saga of The Book of Riley, a zombie tale told through the eyes of Riley an American Bulldog. I don’t always write about the quasi-dead, but they’re never far from my brain! (Horrible pun but fitting - Thank you for taking a few moments to learn a little about me)


Please check me out here.Mark Tufo on Amazon.com  or marktufo.com or even on FaceBook!