The Dead Series (Book 2): Dead Is All You Get (43 page)
Read The Dead Series (Book 2): Dead Is All You Get Online
Authors: Steven Ramirez
Tags: #Zombie Apocalypse
Will you take a few minutes to write an online review?
Honest reviews are crucial for a writer. They connect us with our readers and provide important insights into how we are progressing in our craft. And don’t worry if you didn’t like the book. I’d still like to hear from you. Really.
Thank you again, dear reader.
More Fiction by Steven Ramirez
Tell Me When I’m Dead:
Book One of THE DEAD SERIES
“Walker,” a short story
“A Bone in the Throat,” a short story
Acknowledgements
This book isn’t only a product of my time and imagination. It’s the result of the patience of my family—Corinne, Gabby and Candy. There were many times when I had to just get to it. Their understanding and support was crucial in helping me complete this novel. If you are a writer, you’ll understand what I’m telling you. And if you have a writer in the family, please give them the encouragement they need. It’s a tough road, writing.
I’d like to thank Marti McKenna, who did a fantastic job editing the book. Also thanks to Deborah Bradseth for the beautiful cover design. As she can attest, I can be a handful. And finally JW Manus for her wisdom, patience and formidable formatting skills.
A huge high five to Kevin Asmus, who created the cover art. Previously, Kevin allowed me to use his work
Last Man Standing
for the cover of
Tell Me When I’m Dead
, the first book in this series. When I asked him if I could commission a new original cover for
Dead Is All You Get
, he practically leaped at the chance. He’s an incredible artist with a big heart, and I am thrilled to feature his work.
I also want to thank my beta readers—especially authors Danielle DeVor and Tony Gilbert, who offered important suggestions and insights that helped make the book better. Finally, I want to thank Joseph Berube, who has spent many years in the military and who provided me with crucial technical details around a soldier’s life.
The little girl at the end quotes 2 Corinthians 4:1. This is from the
New Living Translation
, which can be found at
biblehub.com
:
Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.
This, which Jim quotes in a dream, is also from the
New Living Translation
version of John 8:32:
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
“Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy,” or “Kyrie eleison,” was taken from the Order of Mass.
This line, which Dave quoted, can be found in
Masterpieces
by Khalil Gibran:
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.
The Rockefeller Report referenced in the novel is real. You can find it by searching the Internet on “Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans’ Health?” In case you’re interested, this is from the Forward:
During the last few years, the public has become aware of several examples where U.S. Government researchers intentionally exposed Americans to potentially dangerous substances without their knowledge or consent. The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, which I have been privileged to chair from 1993-94, has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the extent to which veterans participated in such research while they were serving in the U.S. military. This resulted in two hearings, on May 6, 1994, and August 5, 1994.
Information on the Tuskegee syphilis experiment was taken from an article in Wikipedia, which can be found at
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment
.
Plum Island, also mentioned in the book, is real and has a long, dark history. You can find a wealth of conspiracy theories by searching the Internet.
Lastly, I dedicated this novel to “the men and women who serve our country.” Though this book is not really about soldiers or the military, it is populated with fictional people who served in dangerous places like Afghanistan. I have nothing but respect for these brave individuals, and I sincerely hope that in creating my characters, I didn’t in any way do our men and women of the military a disservice. Hooah!
The Playlist
Okay, now for some fun! Here is a playlist of songs relating to this novel. The ones marked with an asterisk are mentioned in the book. The rest are thematic to the story. I hope you find them entertaining.
About the Author
You can connect with Steven on
twitter.com/byStevenRamirez
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/StevenRamirezWriter
Goodreads:
www.goodreads.com/StevenRamirez
Google+:
plus.google.com/+StevenRamirezWriter
Amazon Author Page:
amazon.com/author/stevenramirez
Steven’s website and blog can be found at
stevenramirez.com
.
Steven uses Authorgraph to connect personally with readers.
Request an Authorgraph
to receive a personalized inscription that you can view in your favorite reading apps and devices.
Want to know about new releases from Steven Ramirez? Sign up for his newsletter at
stevenramirez.com/newsletter
. You won’t receive spam, only information about new releases and reissues.
Steven Ramirez
began writing seriously as a sophomore in high school, concentrating on that time-honored vehicle of teen outrage and simmering hormones—poetry. Each week, he created these verses and “borrowed” the school’s copier equipment, which allowed him to distribute his work to the unsuspecting world. He still owes the high school twenty-eight bucks for supplies, so please don’t tell anyone.
In college, he dabbled in short stories and filmmaking, all to avoid working on his actual major—music. After a trip to the UK and Spain, where he learned that Californians really
do
have an accent, he returned to the states and graduated with a BA in music, which helped him land a job answering phones.
Eventually, Steven began writing screenplays, mostly because everyone else in LA is writing a screenplay. It’s the law—look it up. If you are not at least “working” on a screenplay, they banish you to South Orange County, where you can take up surfing. Come to think of it, they might have rewritten that law, but you wouldn’t know it visiting Starbucks. What set him apart, though, is that for a while he had an agent. He still didn’t sell anything, though. Agents are like lawyers. Unless there are crisp, new thousand dollar bills nailed to your forehead, they tend not to return your calls.
Then came a fateful meeting with the Davids—David Rimawi and David Latt of
The Asylum
, the prolific studio responsible for ‘
Sharknado
.’ These fine gentlemen read Steven’s work and decided to take a chance. The result was the horror-thriller film ‘
Killers
.’ It was funny, bloody and action-filled, and featured a young
Paul Logan
, who has gone on to enjoy a nice movie career while Steven became old, embittered and … wait, that’s somebody else’s life.
Tired of hawking screenplays, Steven returned to short stories. Though over the years he had written several novels—none of which were published—he decided to try again and in 2013 published
Tell Me When I’m Dead
, a zombie thriller. In 2014, he followed up with the sequel,
Dead Is All You Get
, and is hard at work on the last book of THE DEAD SERIES trilogy.
In addition to writing, Steven is a pretend musician, having written songs and played in bands since high school. He started on the accordion long before it was popular, then graduated to the piano. Thankfully, he decided to give up music and focus on writing.
Steven lives in Los Angeles with his lovely, long-suffering wife and two beautiful daughters. He has a highly distracted Shi Tzu who insists bananas are a major food group. He enjoys Mike and Ikes with his Iced Caffè Americano, doesn’t sleep on planes and wishes Europe were closer.
Contents