Wasteland

by Allison Pang

So, first off - thanks for all the well-wishes for the release of A Trace of Moonlight! :D

Second - a contingent of Word Whores has descended upon World Fantasy Con this week in Toronto, so if you're there, come say hi. Linda and I both have readings and Jeffe is moderating a panel, so we're nicely in the thick of things.

*muppet flails*

Otherwise, I had been going to write a little something about zombies today. I *do* like zombie movies, oddly enough - even though you could argue that they're a metaphor for something entirely different. (Sort of like vampires are all about erotic repression, I guess.) I don't know exactly what zombies represent. Maybe the breakdown of humanity, or hell, maybe they represent our own inner turmoil. Double-tap your fears before they consume you?

The best zombie stories aren't always about the zombies anyway (not counting things like Diana Rowland's White Trash Zombie or Mark Henry's Amanda Feral books - where the protag *is* a zombie.) Usually you've got a group of people in some horrible zombie-ridden world and it's about how *they* survive. It's kind of fun to watch the breakdown of society into it's absolute bare bones and see what we're really made of.

Except I'm not really in the mood to talk about society breakdowns.  As most of you know, Hurricane Sandy ran rampant up the east coast this week and basically decimated the Jersey shore and part of NYC. I don't know if my beloved beach house is even still standing. (I might know this weekend if my dad can get on the island - they aren't letting anyone on right now). But honestly, it's not looking too good. Even if it somehow survived, the rest of the island is just...gone. The place I had my wedding reception was completely washed away. The pavilion on the beach where my brother got married is gone. Many of my childhood memories are just...gone.

And I'm lucky. Some people lost everything in this storm. I still have my family and if the house is gone, well...it was a summer home. It can be rebuilt.  Some people lost their actual homes or cars, and that's far more catastrophic.

But looking at the pictures of the aftermath- it doesn't feel real. It looks like something out of The Walking Dead. There's debris everywhere. Broken houses, overturned boats, sand all over the streets and still several feet of standing water. No electricity.  Some places burned down. The amusement park at Seaside Heights is partially in the ocean. (which feels like some sort of surreal scene from a post-apocalyptic zombie movie, doesn't it?)

Also - there were photoshopped images of sharks swimming up the streets. While possible...no. But genuinely creepy to think about.

Anyway. Guess that's all I've really got to say at the moment. Obviously many other places got hit hard - NYC still has a flooded subway and shut down airports, so it's going to be a really interesting time in the next few weeks as people put the pieces back together.

Here's hoping the actual zombies stay away. ;-)