Showing posts with label jessica robinson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jessica robinson. Show all posts

This Week's Featured Books

ZOMBIES!

This week, I am going to feature my zombie books. As you can see, this is one genre that I really enjoy writing in. There's a little bit of something for everyone in here, including a novella and a nonfiction.

Enjoy!


Seventeen-year-old Krista must quickly figure out how she's going to survive in the zombie-destroyed world.

The one advantage humans have is that the zombies hate humid environments, so they're migrating west to escape its deteriorating effects. The survivors plan to construct a wall at North Platte to keep the undead out, and Krista has come to Nebraska to start a new life.

Zombies aren’t the only creatures she has to be cautious of—the other survivors have a dark side. Krista must fight not only to live but also to defend everything she holds dear—her country, her freedom, and ultimately, those she loves.

Join Krista in her quest to survive in this thrilling apocalyptic novel by Pembroke Sinclair.


Seventeen-year-old Krista has already proven she can survive the zombie hordes.

After moving to North Platte with her distant cousin General Liet to help build a wall that will keep the zombies in the West, it becomes apparent that the zombies aren’t the biggest threat—some survivors are far more dangerous than Krista had ever imagined.

With the help of Quinn, a survivor and fighter from the zombie-infested wildlands of the West, they free the garrison at North Platte from the power-hungry Liet. But there is a bigger battle to fight.

The Families who rule Florida and use intimidation and the threat of the zombie horde to coerce their territory want Krista and Quinn captured, the zombies want to devour them, and other survivors want them dead. Caught between powerful forces, will they survive long enough to devise a new plan and put it into action? Or will they self-destruct?

Find out in book two of this thrilling apocalyptic series by author Pembroke Sinclair.


What happens when humanity's hope rests on the shoulders of a teenager?

Caleb didn’t come out of the zombie uprising unscathed. He’s been scarred—both mentally and physically. The rest of humanity is trying to rebuild, to make the world normal again. Caleb is trying to return to a normal life also, but after all he’s seen, after the loss of his family and friends, the transition is difficult. The darkness that led him down a path of self-doubt and self-harm has never left his mind.

Things only become worse when he discovers he’s immune to whatever makes a zombie a zombie. Fighting zombies was predictable. He knew what to expect. Fighting humans is volatile. They are malicious and treacherous. They won’t stop to get what they want, and Caleb has to figure out exactly what that is.


Does being immune to becoming a zombie still make a person human?

Caleb tried to live a normal life after the uprising. He moved into the city, found a home, and worked a job. He yearned for days full of tedium and schedules. Instead, he discovered he was immune to becoming a zombie, and his life was turned upside down.

Fear and uncertainty have replaced normalcy. Caleb no longer knows if his immunity makes him human or something else … something monstrous. He knows who is after him, but to find out what his captors want and what he is he'll have to play their game and give up his freedom. His sacrifice may or may not lead to the answers he desperately craves.


Drunk womanizer Duke, spends his life selfishly taking care of himself and screw the rest of the world. After one particular black-out alcoholic binge, he wakes to find the world changed the dead are rising from their graves.

Lonely, guilt-ridden Hank is someone who minds his own business, and sympathetic but strong-willed Lana is on the receiving end of harassment by other students. Forced together for survival, the three misfits must confront their world gone strange. God said the people of Earth would be punished for their sins, and so the end has come.

Duke, Hank, and Lana must walk their own paths to salvation, but they also must depend on each other. Will their salvation lie in Finding Eden?

A zombie story with inspirational elements.


Jessica Robinson's obsession with zombie films started when she was in junior high. Horror films are a great lens to examine concerns society has about modern science. Let’s face it, when it comes to horror movies, science has a bad reputation. Blind ambition, experimental serums, and genetic experiments are often blamed for the giant monster terrorizing the city or the reason aliens are taking human prisoners or the cause of the dead rising from the grave to consume living flesh.

Using film, literature, and interviews with experts, Robinson examines how zombies portray real-world fears such as epidemics, mind control, what may or may not exist in space, the repercussions of playing God, and the science behind the fears. Robinson's goal is to explore how zombies become a metaphor for our fears of science and what could happen if science gets out of hand.

The Bio is Finally Done!

I haven’t done a formal blog post announcing this, so here it is!

The biography that I wrote for my grandfather-in-law is finished and now available for sale. You can find it on Amazon. It was an honor and a pleasure to be able to write this for him.

 
Lance Dale Robinson dreamed of one day owning his own ranch. Born and raised in a small town in Wyoming, ranching was all he’d ever known and it was all he ever wanted to do. But on his way to achieving that dream, WWII got in the way.

He was a heavy machine gunner for Company H of the 313th Infantry. He landed on Normandy Beach 6 days after D-Day, and tells a story of wading through bodies like seaweed to get onto land. He was part of the Battle of the Bulge, where he was almost court-martialed for thinking his sergeant’s life was more important than his weapon. He received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a British Military Medal.

When he returned home after his service, he went back into ranching. During his career, Dale worked with the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University to improve artificial insemination of cows. He traveled and lectured about the impacts that were being made in the process, and he helped advance science and ranching.


This is the story of Dale's life in Wyoming and in WWII.

I’m also looking for reviewers, so if anyone is interested, please send an email to pembrokesinclar @ hotmail . com (remove the spaces) and let me know if you prefer mobi (for Kindle) or a pdf.

One More Day…

Tomorrow I’m heading to Long Beach for the Long Beach Indie Film Festival. I get to give my presentation about Women and Slasher Films. I’m both excited and incredibly nervous about the whole experience.

One of the things I had to do to prepare for my presentation was cut it down from an hour to 15 minutes. I really had to think about what was important to talk about, and I won’t be able to show all of my film clips. It was a fun challenge to figure out if I could get my point across in such a short amount of time. I think I accomplished the task, and I’m interested in seeing how it turns out.

I can’t wait to get to the conference. I think it’s going to be so much fun! I always get so jazzed and inspired going to them. And I love talking to other people about our passions. Everyone once in a while I just need to geek out, and conferences let me do that.

In celebration of the upcoming geek fest, here’s the information about the book that my presentation comes from. Enjoy!


Horror and slasher films are often dismissed for their apparent lack of sophistication and dearth of redeemable values. However, despite criticism from film snobs who turn up their noses and moralists who look down upon the genre, slasher films are more than just movies filled with gory mayhem. Such films can actually serve a purpose and offer their audiences something more than split skulls and severed heads.

In
Life Lessons from Slasher Films, Jessica Robinson looks at representative works that have been scaring audiences for decades—from Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal shocker, Psycho, to the cult classic Black Christmas and iconic thrillers like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Scream. In this book, Robinson examines common themes that have emerged in these films, their various sequels, and countless imitators—a maniacal and seemingly indestructible executioner, sexual encounters that invariably lead to death, increasingly gruesome ways to slaughter helpless victims, and a lone female survivor who finds a way to vanquish the killer—and looks beyond such tropes for what these films can teach us about life.

From practical advice (listen to your elders) to moral platitudes (teens never learn), each chapter considers a different “lesson” that these films teach. Robinson discusses how the events portrayed in slasher films can resonate with viewers and perhaps offer constructive advice on how to conduct our lives. A fun read for fans and scholars alike,
Life Lessons from Slasher Films offers an entertaining and persuasive look at how life can imitate art, and what art can say about life.

Embracing my Dorkdom and a Giveaway

It's not a secret that I'm a dork.  When I find something I like, I become incredibly passionate about it.  Obsessed even.  I'm that way with Star Wars, the Alien films, and zombies, among other things.  It's fun for me to immerse myself in these worlds and learn as much as I can about them.

A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to be involved with a local zombie 5k.  I was giving away some of my zombie reading kits, but I thought it would be fun to have them fill out some questions to be put into the drawing.  I asked five zombie-related questions, which I thought were fairly easy, but most of the people couldn't answer them.  It surprised me.

Again, I know I'm a dork and full of useless information, so maybe what I thought were easy and common-knowledge questions about zombie weren't.  In either case, I thought it would be fun to see if anyone else could answer the questions.  I'm doing a giveaway, also.  For everyone who answers (whether right or wrong), I will put you in a drawing for a chance to win one of three copies of Undead Obsessed:  Finding Meaning in Zombies.

The questions are below.  Please try to answer them without Googling the answers.  Place the answers in the comments, and please leave a way for me to contact you if you win.  I will announce the winners on Wednesday.  Good luck!  Have fun!

1. What was the name of the zombie in Day of the Dead that they kept chained up?

2.  Who directed Night of the Living Dead?

3.  What was the first film to introduce the world to the fast zombie?

4.  What do the characters in The Walking Dead call zombies?

5.  Who wrote the book World War Z?




Happy Halloween and Happy Release Day!

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love watching my kids get excited about costumes and going trick-or-treating and seeing them try to be brave while the world becomes scary.

But this Halloween is even more special for me.  Undead Obsessed:  Finding Meaning in Zombies is now available for you reading pleasure!  You can find it on Amazon both in print and on Kindle.  I hope you enjoy it.  I had a blast writing it!


Jessica Robinson's obsession with zombie films started when she was in junior high. Horror films are a great lens to examine concerns society has about modern science. Let’s face it, when it comes to horror movies, science has a bad reputation. Blind ambition, experimental serums, and genetic experiments are often blamed for the giant monster terrorizing the city or the reason aliens are taking human prisoners or the cause of the dead rising from the grave to consume living flesh.

Using film, literature, and interviews with experts, Robinson examines how zombies portray real-world fears such as epidemics, mind control, what may or may not exist in space, the repercussions of playing God, and the science behind the fears. Robinson's goal is to explore how zombies become a metaphor for our fears of science and what could happen if science gets out of hand.

Mad House

The last few months in my house have been crazy.  We've moved into a new office building, moved into a new house, and then had a grand opening for new office building.   We also got a new puppy.  All of this on top of all the regular duties I must take care of in life.


Things are finally starting to settle down and get back to normal.  I'm very excited about that.  But I'm also super exhausted.  If I could just sleep for an entire day, that would be awesome.  I think it would help so much.  Sadly, that's not going to happen.

But it's all good.  Everything will be all right.  It may have been super busy, but I also got Undead Obsessed ready for publication, and that comes out next week!  I'm super excited about that, but also really nervous.  It will turn out awesome (I hope).


The Nonfiction Zombie Book

It's hard for me to believe that it has been almost a year since I started working on my nonfiction zombie book.  I began work in July 2013.  Since then, there have been ups and downs, some tears, and a major rewrite, but I believe the book is finally where it needs to be.  I'm proud of what I've done.  Whether it's acceptable or not, I actually like my book.  (I say that because we are usually our own worst critics and nothing is ever good enough.)

The book is with an editor right now, but for all intents and purposes, it's done.  I finished the bibliography this weekend.  The proposal and query are complete.  As soon as I get it back and make changes, it's going out into the world.  I'm very excited and nervous about that process.  From experience, I know they'll be rejections, but I also know that it will eventually find a home.  That is going to be very exciting.

The book has been titled Undead Obsessed: Finding Meaning in Zombies.  Here's a little teaser for you to give you an idea of what the book is about.  This comes from my proposal.  I hope you enjoy!

Overall Description:

My obsession with zombies began when I was in junior high, the first time I saw Night of the Living Dead. I remember being scared, but not cover-my-eyes-I’m-going-to-scream-my-lungs-out scared. I didn’t jump, but there was this uneasiness that settled over me. I was afraid to look out my bedroom window at night for fear that the same lifeless eyes that the creatures in the film had would be looking right back at me. I glanced over my shoulder while walking down the street to make sure some slow-moving corpse wasn’t following me. For a while, I avoided cemeteries.

As time went on, and access to zombie media has grown, so has my obsession. Zombies have overrun the population. They are in books, movies, video games, and on TV. There is hardly a facet of life that zombies haven’t overrun. The proliferation of zombie films inspired me to examine society’s fears.

I had a professor in college who told me that every film has a message, but if you really want to know what society is afraid of, watch horror. Zombie films portray a lot of social fears, including religion, gender, classism, and race, but what I wanted to focus on was science. The vast majority of zombie films I have watched in my life had a scientist or science in them in some way—usually in an unflattering role. Using film (Night of the Living Dead [1968], The Serpent and the Rainbow [1988], and 28 Days Later [2002], among others), literature, and interviews with experts, Undead Obsessed examines how zombies portray real human fears, including my own, of scientific phenomenon such as epidemics, mind control, what may or may not exist in space, and the repercussions of playing God.

Feeling Inspired

A couple weeks ago, I got some really heartbreaking news from a publisher.  Basically, they told me that my nonfiction book wasn't good enough.  Some of the language they used made me feel stupid and embarrassed, which upset me, but after getting over the initial shock, I was able to see the critique for what it really was.  My friends also helped quite a bit in that department also.

What this person did was give me what I needed to change the book into what it really needs to be:  fun.  I tried to make it too serious, too scholarly, but that's not what the book is about.  It has some seriousness in it, but it's also about me and my journey of discovery.  That's what I needed to focus on.

I'll admit it, the edits were a little hard to do at first.  I was still upset and raw from the rejection, but I also had a "screw you" mentality, so I was going to get the edits done.  It didn't take me long to get through them, about a week, and I felt so much better about the manuscript.  I felt even better when I sent it to my editor friend and she told me the book was sooooo much better.

That really inspired me.  It made me feel like I could take on the publishing world again.  I know not everyone is going to like it.  The world is full of rejection.  I just hope one person out there will say yes.

I've been able to get over my anger at the publisher and move on with the book.  In the end, no matter how hurtful the critique was, it inspired and pushed me to be a better writer.  For that, I can only say thank you.

For those who are interested, here's the query for the book that I will be sending out after it gets edited.  Fingers crossed someone finds it interesting enough to ask for more!

My obsession with zombie films started when I was in junior high. They are a great lens to examine concerns society has about modern science. Let’s face it, when it comes to horror movies, science has a bad reputation. Blind ambition, experimental serums, and genetic experiments are often blamed for the giant monster terrorizing the city or the reason aliens are taking human prisoners or the cause of the dead rising from the grave to consume living flesh.

Using film, literature, and interviews with experts, my nonfiction book, Undead Obsessed: Finding Meaning in Zombies (approximately 65,000 words), examines how zombies portray real-world fears such as epidemics, mind control, what may or may not exist in space, the repercussions of playing God, and the science behind the fears.

Science has made it possible for us to live the way we do; it has given us numerous advances in all fields of life from medicine to agriculture to entertainment. Yet, with all of these advantages, there are a multitude of disadvantages that could prove to be detrimental to humans and society. Weapon technology used in wars is one of these major disadvantages, but anything that is beneficial to humanity, including medicine, has the potential to harm us. My goal is to explore how zombies become a metaphor for our fears of science and what could happen if science gets out of hand. The manuscript is completed.

This isn’t my first look at society’s fears. My nonfiction book, Life Lessons from Slasher Films, examines the social significance of slasher movies and was published by Scarecrow Press in 2012. I am a weekly contributor to a blog that features female zombie authors. I have my master’s in English, I was a technical editor for an environmental consulting firm for 6 years, I wrote freelance science articles, and I am now an editor and writer for a university foundation. I’ve also published two YA zombie novels, a novella, and short stories written under the pen name of Pembroke Sinclair, as well as children’s books.

Upcoming Appearances

First thing this morning, I received a text from my mom to let me know that my article was in the Rocket Miner.


I am doing my Women and Horror presentation at the Rock Springs Library.  It is based on part of my nonfiction book, Life Lessons from Slasher Films.

I'm very excited.  I revamped the presentation of my film clips, so I'm interested to see how smoothly that part goes.  If anyone is close and wants to see me present, it's on April 10th at 7:00 at the Rock Springs Library.  I promise you'll have fun!
Pembroke Sinclair's books on Goodreads
Life After the Undead Life After the Undead
reviews: 55
ratings: 100 (avg rating 3.64)

The Appeal of Evil The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation, #1)
reviews: 38
ratings: 63 (avg rating 3.54)

Wucaii Wucaii
reviews: 32
ratings: 35 (avg rating 4.11)

Death to the Undead Death to the Undead (Sequel to Life After the Undead)
reviews: 20
ratings: 39 (avg rating 4.23)

Dealing with Devils Dealing with Devils (The Road to Salvation, #2)
reviews: 22
ratings: 32 (avg rating 4.00)