May 3, 2021
Twisted World Week CLOSED
Week 18 – Twisted World
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Zombie
Release Date: September 23, 2016
Cover Design: Kate L. Mary
Formats: ebook, audiobook, and paperback – grab the ebook for just $0.99 for a limited time!
Amazon US
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UK Audiobook Listeners Can Grab A Code for a FREE Audiobook HERE!
This is a book I never planned to write, but I’m so glad I did! As everyone knows, I really did toy with the idea of leaving Axl, Vivian, and Angus behind for good when I finished writing Forgotten World. It was a long series and I had a lot of other ideas I wanted to focus on, and I just didn’t – and still don’t – want every book I wrote to be about zombies. It gets monotonous. But after taking a break, I came up with the idea for this series, which takes place twenty years after the group made it to the safety of New Atlanta. The main character is Meg, the daughter of Ginny and Jon, and we join her at a very difficult time.
I loved, loved creating this dark and gritty post-apocalyptic city. I was definitely inspired by the city in the book (and the movie) Warm Bodies, but I wanted it to be darker. We’d already gotten a glimpse of New Atlanta in Alone when Roman travels there in hopes of getting the zombie vaccine, but in Twisted World I got to really explore the city and more of the way this new reality is set up, from the entertainment district to the prison colony, which is where Donaghy comes from. (His name is inspired by my Literary Agent, Stacey Donaghy.) I loved the fights, the bars, and the shanty town.
Another thing I loved was being able to twist the zombie outbreak into something much darker and more sinister. Readers at this point already know the virus has mutated thanks to Alone, but before writing Twisted World, I had no idea where it originated, and I didn’t really have any plans to tell anyone. Since I write from first person, the readers’ knowledge is limited to what the character knows, which means I don’t really ever have to explain it if it makes sense that my character would have no idea. But then I began to write this book, and as the story started taking shape, I realized it was time for readers to finally learn the origins of the zombie outbreak.
Another thing I love about this book is The Church. When I wrote this in, I meant for it to just be a funny thing that would make readers laugh and roll their eyes. People worshipped Angus James. It’s crazy, right? Since I don’t plot, I had no idea how much that little idea would shape this series, or that The Church would play such a big part in how it all ended. It still makes me laugh, though. Especially when I look back on who Angus was in Broken World.
My son gave me the title to this book. When I was still writing the Broken World Series but getting close to the end, he suggested I call one of the books Twisted World. I liked it, but it didn’t fit with the story I was creating at that time. When I went to start a new series, though, I decided it was the perfect title.
