After the second season of The Walking Dead finished up last year, I realized that I, among a million other women, had developed a ridiculous crush on the crude redneck in AMC’s extremely popular show.
For a few weeks, I swooned while thinking about him. I obsessively conducted Google image searches on him and watched a few hundred fan-made video tributes to him on YouTube. I honestly have not acted in such a way since I was awestruck by Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing. But that was when I was in high school. I’m about to enter my forties and I’m suddenly thinking like a schoolgirl again.
My poor husband. Then again - my wonderful husband. He went out and bought me Norman Reedus movies including The Boondock Saints I and II. Talk about enabling an addiction.
A few weeks went by after the season two finale and a little fantasy played out in my head. That’s what readers do - we fantasize. We think about strange things and then let them play out in our heads. Then we follow wherever it leads. Full stories develop, plots emerge and details are painted with vivid colors. All in the mind’s eye. It wasn’t long after that when I realized I had an entire story in my head, from start to finish.
My muse was Daryl Dixon. I always have a muse. But this one was the best - by far.
I set to work putting pen to paper. It didn’t take long. I had every chapter neatly summarized in a spreadsheet. I knew where it would take me. I only needed the time to flesh out the characters and build the world. The editing took more time than writing the story. Before I knew it, Days of Love and Blood was born and the feedback thus far has been overwhelming.
Although Daryl was my muse, this isn’t fan fiction. His character influenced the development of my own character. There is no crossbow, no motorcycle, no overbearing big brother. And the zombies aren’t exactly zombies.
Passion is what drives a great novel. I had passion for my muse. The artistry Norman Reedus provides in acting out his enigmatic character of Daryl Dixon brought me passion. From one artist to another, from one medium of art to another.
I said it in the acknowledgement section of Days of Love and Blood and I’ll say it once more. Thank you, Norman Reedus / Daryl Dixon - your art became my inspiration.
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by RS Carter
Paperback: 250 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 21, 2013)
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File Size: 459 KB
Print Length: 253 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1482042053
Publisher: R.S. Carter; 1 edition (January 16, 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
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About the book:
A post-apocalyptic zombie book for women.
Without the zombies.
Worse than zombies.
The Demon Virus spreads worldwide in a matter of days leaving nothing but a few uninfected people in its path along with disease-riddled survivors who possess homicidal tendencies.
Carson drives across the country, back to her parents’ farm, with her son Ronan to begin a new life in a post-apocalyptic world. There she discovers more uninfected people like herself and attempts to build new relationships after the devastating loss of her husband.
Two men distract Carson from her grief, each possessing different characteristics that she found, loved and needed in her husband. Cooper has a bad attitude but gives Carson the space she needs with his self-sufficient, independent ways. Ben panders after her but exhibits a kindness she appreciates. Neither of them embody all of which she lost in her husband’s death.
The need for human interaction intertwines with the daily struggle of tribulation, remorse and adjustment, revolving around the constant battles between the uninfected and the last remaining homicidal maniacs. Days of Love and Blood is a story which examines the bonds created between people in times of change with an unexpected shocking end that will have you questioning your own threshold for pain.
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