100 Episodes Strong (but still waiting for the Zom-Poc) | Zombie Book Clup Ep 100

A hundred episodes in, and the zombie apocalypse still hasn't happened—though sometimes it feels like we're getting close. What began as two people talking about zombies in a basement has evolved into something much more meaningful: a community of creators, readers, and enthusiasts who've found their people through a shared love of the undead.

For our centennial celebration, we turned the microphone over to you—our ZomBestie community. From unexpected celebrity congratulations (hello, Chandler Riggs!) to heartfelt messages from authors we've interviewed, each voice reminded us why we keep recording week after week. We heard stories of friendships formed through our Discord, authors meeting at conventions after connecting through the podcast, and listeners finding comfort in our conversations during tough times.

The Zombieween Game Show emerged as a clear fan favorite, with past champions and competitors alike reminiscing about meat crowns, hilarious challenges, and unlikely rivalries-turned-friendships. Many praised our willingness to venture beyond entertainment, drawing parallels between fictional apocalypses and our current reality—finding meaning in zombie stories during increasingly uncertain times.

What struck us most was learning how this podcast has become more than just zombie discussions. For some, it's been a lifeline during mental health struggles; for others, a way to discover new creators and stories; and for many, simply a place where their passion for the genre is understood and celebrated.

As we look toward the next hundred episodes, we remain committed to building this community one conversation at a time. Whether you've been here since episode one or just discovered us, thank you for making the apocalypse less lonely. Subscribe now to join our horde—we promise we won't bite (unless you're into that sort of thing).

Zombie Book Club Links

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Join the Brain Muncher’s Zombie Collective: https://discord.gg/rn3nPDa4CB

ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/

Dan's BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/danthezombiewriter.bsky.social

Zombie Book Club Voicemail: [phone]‬

Zombie Book Club Email: [e-mail]

Our Secret Website That Isn't Finished: https://zombiebookclub.io

Our Merchandise Store (Where you can find our Evil Magic Chicken Zombie Shirts): https://zombie-book-club.myspreadshop.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to the Zombie Book Club, the only book club
where the book is a podcast, andthat podcast just turned 100.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
They grow up so fast.
Happy birthday podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Now we're getting sued.
I'm Dan, and when I'm notnurturing our zombie baby to
maturity, I'm writing a bookabout the zombie apocalypse and
the survivors, who learn what itreally means to be alive as
they struggle to adapt to a newworld.
To be alive as they struggle toadapt to a new world.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
And I'm Leah and I had no idea what I was in for
when I told you that you shouldmake a podcast about zombies.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
You're like hey, then you should make a podcast about
zombies, and I'm like, andyou'll be there.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Basically, and now I'm covered in paint from
working on my third zombie crown.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Another thing I had no idea was I was in for when we
started this.
Yeah, it's been quite aninteresting ride.
Earlier we listened to ourfirst episode and it is, you
know, while the bones are there.
It is really interesting tohear us all the way back then

(01:23):
versus all the way now.
I'd like to say we've improved.
Maybe we have.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Maybe we haven't, I don't know.
Maybe we got worse or we justevolved.
I feel like you know, we're nota one hit wonder, because we've
got a hundred.
Yeah, we did a hundred of themand also people like some of our
stuff and not all your otherstuff.
It's like you know somethingabout like early albums from a
band and then hate the laterthings yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
We evolve as humans.
I feel like we, uh we found ourstride by, like episode five.
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, I mean we were stillfinding our stride after that,
for you know, a couple dozenepisodes, and then later, like
50 or so, and now we're juststarting to get the hang of it
yeah, this time last year wewere recording our 50th episode

(02:10):
and I feel like a huge milestone, and now we're at 100, and then
I think about the undeadsymphony podcast, which has
hundreds.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, um, so I guess we're still babies.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, our first baby our first season, we were only
doing it every other week, true?
So so after episode 26,.
We just bolted out of there,bolted out of the I don't know
what's a horse racing metaphorfor that Out of the gates.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, bolted out of the gate.
Yeah, bolt out the gate.
You know what it's okay.
Yeah, we're not horses.
We know what we're talkingabout, and maybe people who are
listening do.
Actually, today's episode isdedicated to you, our ZomBestie
community.
Oh wow, yeah.
So hi everybody.
Hi I'm not talking to you.
Oh, I'm talking to everybodyelse.

(02:57):
Hi, I will always remember thetime after coming back from
Jamaica and doing a lot ofmushrooms and realizing that I
wanted to know who all of youpeople were.
And now we know a lot of youand it's really great.
You're nice.
Yeah, you're really niceZomvesties.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now that you say that , I do remember you being on the
beach and being like peoplelisten to us.
Who are they?
Who are these people?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, and some of them have become real friends
and some of them I hope tobecome real friends one day yeah
, I agree, um, we've met somereally great people and we're
going to meet even more.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
And yeah, I'm not always thrilled to meet new
people, um, because anxiety, butI found that the people that
we've met through this podcasthave been really great,
top-notch people.
Yeah, it's kind of incredible.
Yeah, uh, we were so afraidwhen we started this podcast
that we really great.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Top-notch people.
Yeah, it's kind of incredible.
Yeah, we were so afraid when westarted this podcast that we
would just get a lot of peoplewho how do I say it nicely?
A lot of MAGA people who wouldnot align with us politically.
And so the first coupleepisodes you're like, if you
like Trump, get out of here.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, I mean, I stand by it, yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
And I was like I don't know if we should talk
about politics, dan, fastforward to 2025.
Things have changed, but it'sit's really nice to be here, uh,
and we really appreciate youbeing here.
And if you're brand new,because you just saw us at, uh,
living dead weekend, hi, welcome.
Yeah, you've got 100 episodesto to get through.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Hurry up yeah, and you, you better, you better get
to it, because we releaseepisodes every sunday, so
subscribe.
Scrub a dub, scrub a dub.
That's what I need to do withall the paint on my body.
Right, that's what I need to dowith all the grass clippings
that are on my body so we'regonna do groans from the horde,
dan?

Speaker 2 (04:41):
yeah, do we have some groans?
We have a lot.
Because, um, I'm shameless andI said hey, everybody, we are
asking listeners to share theirfavorite moments with us.
And a bunch of people did wow,after a lot of me harassing them
I'm kidding a couple people Iwas like you give me your, you
better do it, yeah.
And then some people ollieforgot, ollie, ollie forgot,

(05:05):
ollie forgot.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
I don't have one from Ollie, who sends us messages in
the middle of the night, yes,about random crazy movies that
they read.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Because Ollie reads movies, I just yeah, that's
canon now, but that's okaybecause, ollie, you're one of
the greatest things to come outof this podcast.
I mean, you didn't come out ofthe podcast is ollie the zombie
no, I think ollie.
Ollie has been around since uh2000.
Bc around there oh, yeah, Iforget the exact date.

(05:40):
I'm so sorry.
Yeah, um the original, butregardless we have an original
zombie who's listening right nowand we love you, oliver, oh
yeah, yeah, I thought you meantsomebody else.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
I'm like what?
But that's okay, I'm lost.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, if you're somebody else who didn't get us
something we won't forget.
Yeah, I'm going to rememberforever that you did not send me
a nice message.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
So, Dan, who do we want to listen to first?
I don't know, I haven't heard.
I've only I've heard maybe oneof these, so I don't even know
what they've said.
You're the expert, so.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
I actually, except for the ones that are written.
I have no idea what most ofthese say, because I wanted us
to be surprised when we listened.
Yeah, I have no idea what mostof these say, because I wanted
us to be surprised when welistened.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, why don't we start with our newest Zombesty,
carl?

Speaker 2 (06:29):
We have a.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Zombesty named Carl.
We do, oh, okay.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
And he found out about us relatively recently
through another Zombesty.
Which is how these thingshappen they spread through like
a virus, right?
Right they bit somebody else.
Now they're our Zombesty too,so Carl has an ear infection
because he's been infected viahis ear holes.
Yes, that's how it works.

(06:52):
Yeah, okay, we should write.
We you should write a bookabout that.
Are you ready to listen to carl?
I'm ready.
What does carl have to sayabout his only book club podcast
?

Speaker 5 (07:01):
dan and leah.
What's up, guys?
How you doing?
Channel roots here.
Carl from the walking deadgreat to you.
It's great to be talking to you.
I heard that you guys are well,first of all, massive fans of
the show, so thank you for thelove and support.
But I wanted to drop in andgive you guys a huge
congratulations for your 100thepisode of the Zombie Book Club
podcast.
It's just so amazing, I hearyou guys.

(07:23):
Guys have just built an awesomecommunity of zombie lovers and
just created such an awesomespace where zombie authors can
come and share their stories,which is so, so cool.
So huge congrats to you guys.

Speaker 6 (07:34):
Hopefully you guys have just a huge celebration.

Speaker 5 (07:37):
Make sure you just sit down, relax and enjoy a big
old can of chocolate pudding tocelebrate because that's how you
do it and maybe it's not a roof.
Neither, though, it's just inthe bingers.
But, yeah, congrats, guys.
That's so exciting and justthank you for, you know, wanting
to have a podcast around, likehorror stories and horror stuff,

(07:57):
you know, in general, just it'sso cool and and I just love to
see the passion behind just thatpeople have for all this stuff,
it's so cool.
So, thank you, guys for beinghuge fans of the Walking Dead,
and congrats on 100% of yourpodcast.
So great, all right, greattalking to you, great to meet
you, see you later.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
So his name is not Carl, it's Chandler.
You tricked me.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Also, how did he come back from the dead?

Speaker 2 (08:21):
I don't know, from the dead, I don't know.
And also, he has two eyes inthis video.
Is he, is his carl, a zombie?
No, he is wearing a suit.
It looks like he's at some kindof convention because he's got
a lanyard on um with a creditcard logo that I won't name.
So he's very alive and very,very flesh-toned regular
flesh-toned two eyes with twoeyes yeah, that's amazing, um.

(08:45):
Thank you so much, carl yeah,carl, we're so glad that you are
now our zombesty yeah, we'rezombesties.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
It's official now.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
This is canon but, in all seriousness, an anonymous
zombesty sent us this and I gotit in the middle of my work day.
It was not a great work day,and when I say that, I could not
stop pacing around the housebeing like, oh my fucking god, I
was gobsmacked.
I don't do well meeting famouspeople, so even like a famous
person on a video, yeah, butalso it did take me a minute to

(09:17):
truly comprehend that carl isnot dead.
Carl is chandler riggs.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Chandler riggs lives on Chandler Riggs is a human
being.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Chandler, are you our zombie?

Speaker 1 (09:26):
bestie who is not living in the Walking Dead
universe?

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Also enjoying a big old can of chocolate pudding.
It's one of our iconic images.
It's one of the first images Idrew.
Yeah, For us.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
One of our first Leah drawn thumbnails yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
And Chandler, I hate to tell you, but the picture is
of us on a roof.
So yeah, we're on a roof.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
We've also been in a basement, that's true.
I have read a few times.
I mean you might as well get,get the all the traffic out of
it, yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
It's my first GBs ever.
Yeah, they're so cute yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
So what's your reaction to chandler, carl,
chandler, chandler riggs, carl,it's, I mean it's, you know it's
.
It's one thing to see somebodyin a video, it's another thing
for that video to be talking toyou in as a person individually.
Yeah, um, I feel a little uh,it's, it's, it's, it's weird,
it's like.
It's like chandler chandlerriggs has me in his sights now.

(10:29):
He knows our names, he knowsthat we exist.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
He knows there's a podcast.
Maybe we should ask him to comeon yeah, let's ask him we
should.
We should start stalking himreally seriously.
We are already.
Well, I shouldn't say we'refriends.
We follow him on the internet,yeah, and if I was deluded, I'd
believe we're friends because Ilike a lot of his stuff yeah, um
, I think we can make it happen,maybe by episode 200, maybe,
okay, maybe by then.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Um, if our, if our street teams uh, make us famous
enough, maybe we'll have theclout to be like carl sorry,
chandler, you have to call him.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
I'm already, I'm already screwing things up but I
would like to say, chandlerriggs, I'm so glad you're not
actually dead.
Yeah, and I knew that because Ifollowed you, but also it was
still it's, it's, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
You probably get that reaction a lot like oh you have
two eyes, wow yeahcongratulations also also, you
are older than when you were inthe Walking Dead as a child.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, I'm going to change it up and read one.
Okay, from Greg the writer, oneof our OG Zombesties.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah, greg has been around for a really long time.
I don't even know when Gregfound us.
That's how long it's been.
Like, greg, have you just beenhere always?
I feel like he has.
So back when we were the onlyones listening to our podcast,
was it just us and Greg.

(12:01):
The writer.
Maybe Brian from Zompocalypsepodcast maybe brian yeah brian
and greg and us, and that was ityeah we were all besties, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
but then there were people that were around for a
while before we found out whothey are.
There's still people where I'mlike where, where are you from?
Well, I know where you're from.
Actually, that's what's creepyis like I'm kind of reverse,
stalking all of you because Iknow all the places that you
live Not your actual address,don't worry folks but I do know
the city and state or countryyou live in and how often you

(12:31):
listen to us, we're coming over.
Yes, but let's get to Greg'svery lovely message.
Greg says I honestly don'tthink I can pick a single
favorite moment from the podcast.
There have been so manyincredible episodes.
Oh, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
That is very kind of you to say.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
That said, the Halloween game show Zombieween
was a real standout.
Hearing such a great group ofstorytellers having fun together
captured everything I loveabout the show.
Another special moment for mewas the Christmas episode you
did based on my suggestion.
Kevin McAllister vs Zombiesyeah, with Eric.
Kevin McAllister versus zombiesyeah, eric.
Yeah.
Hearing that idea come to lifeon the podcast was such a
surreal and joyful experience.
I really meant.
It really meant a lot to feelincluded in a fun.

(13:09):
I can't read.
This is not going to go welltoday.
It really meant a lot to feelincluded in the fun like that.
What's really struck me, though,is how you both bring together
a mix of voices new andestablished authors alike and
create space for so many storiesto be shared.
You've helped me discoverwriters I might never have come
across otherwise.
More than that, you've made mefeel part of something.
Even though I've never metanyone in the community in real

(13:30):
life, and probably never will.
I felt less alone.
Oh no, now I'm gettingemotional like there's a group
of people out there who get it,who love this weird, wonderful
genre as much as I do.
Yes, there are many of us, greg.
Yeah, there's a horde of us.
And then he says the ZombieversDiscord watch party was
hilarious, but honestly it'sbeen the whole run of episodes
that had me laughing, thinkingand sometimes just feeling a

(13:50):
little bit better, on the dayswhen I really needed it.
The show has pulled me out ofmore than one rough mental
health patch and I can't thankyou enough for that.
You've built something special.
I'm so grateful for it.
Here's to the next 100.
Hopefully I'll be writing inagain when that time comes.
Greg, that's so nice.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
That is so nice.
Yeah, it's kind of amazing thatsomething that we do in our
basement can have such an impact.
I don't know if I everconsidered that it could be
something that somebody uses tocope with mental health crises,

(14:30):
but it's really amazing thatthat's what it's done for you,
because it's not, honestly, it'snot something that I really
ever thought about.
I'm just like I just want totalk about zombie shit.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, and at the same time, though, it makes sense,
because I know that there aredefinitely things that I've
listened to podcasts or justmusic, whatever that help a lot.
So, yeah, um, it's a littlesurprising that that is us
sometimes, but I'm grateful thatwe could do that for you,
because you are why we're here.
I would, I think there'd be apoint if there was no listeners,
that I'd just be like let's notdo this anymore.

(15:03):
Like we can, we this is usevery day.
It's true, these are theconversations you hear us have
are slightly more organized thanour actual daily conversations,
but you're just hearing us talkto each other, so I can do that
without recording it.
Yeah, okay, are you ready foranother one?
I'm, I'm ready.
Let's do a recording, yeah,okay.
Hmm, I'm also to go with a wayback person.

(15:26):
I'm going to surprise you withthis one.
I'm going to go ahead and playit.

Speaker 8 (15:30):
Hello, this is Brian from Zomboculus Podcast.
Hey you guys, congrats on the100th episode.
That's super awesome.
I'm very happy for you guys.
100 episodes, that's freakingcrazy for you guys, 100 episodes
Freaking crazy.
Just to think about 100episodes, man, that's just like

(15:51):
wow, where has the time gone?
I don't know.
So my very, very opinion, verybest episode, or at least my
very best moment of Zombie BookClub is when you guys send a
comment content 8888, where theevil magic zombie chicken Evil
magic chicken zombie and hatchedthe clock.

(16:16):
The reason why I enjoy the clockbecause to add on the clock
then it just hatched an amazingidea where everyone can turn in
their best evil magic chickenzombie clock and just for the
longest time everybody came inand done the best clock of all
time.
It was so freaking hilariousand it's just seeing everyone

(16:39):
just come in and like doingwhat's their best zombie chicken
impersonation.
I thought it was so freakingamazing and it lasted such a
long time.
And there's, of course, there'sso many other great moments
during the zombie podcast, butthat stands out the most to me

(17:03):
as I feel it's just really superspecial because I just feel
like a whole bunch of strangersthat came and done their best
clock and it's just so funny andjust like we forgot about the
bullshit in the world for awhile and just we listened for
the best clock and now it stilllived to this day.

(17:28):
So once again for my final best,the evil magic chicken pop.
What it would sound like if itwas real, if it was so like this
.
So hey guys, congratulations.
So here's to 100 more episodes.
Thanks, danielia.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
I hope he has a wonderful night we're bagocking
across the time space continuumfrom when?
Uh, you sent that to us, brian.
Thank you so much.
That was your idea, is a reallygreat.
We got a whole song out of itfrom Jack Callahan which we
should absolutely play in thisepisode at some point we should

(18:10):
Maybe at the end.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, we'll play ourselves out with the zombie
chicken cluck song.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, I have a message from Jack.
Actually, I think we should goto that one.
Jack Callahan is an author,author of Zombie Nerd and the
Half-Term Harrowing.
Lovely fellow from the UnitedKingdom, also special guest of
Zombie Ween Game Show 2024.
I think we should listen to Jax.
Now let's listen to Jax.
Yeah, jack Callahan is one ofthe first few authors we ever

(18:37):
had on the show before.
We knew we would be doing abunch of interviews.
Yeah, and they wrote ZombieNerd and the Half-Term Harrowing
.
Yeah, also reviews yeah, andthey wrote zombie nerd and the
half-term harrowing yeah, also alover of beans, big lover of
beans.
Yeah, jack, you'll never livethat down from zombie ween game
show 2024.
Here is what jack has to say tous hello, dan and leah, it's
jack callahan, hi jack.

Speaker 10 (18:57):
Congratulations on a hundred episodes.
Um, if I had to pick myfavorite zombie book club moment
, it would of course have to beone that I was involved in, and
it's my to and fro, let's say,with Laurie Calcaterra that we
had on the zombie ween episodes.
I thought I made a complete foolof myself, but other people

(19:18):
seem to enjoy it in general, I'mvery grateful for you for
introducing me to so many greatpeople like Laurie Joe Salazar,
naila King, ollie Eats Brainsand everyone else, so really
well done on 100 episodes, andhere's to 100 more.
Seeing as you're editing thisin later, I'll assume that

(19:40):
you've already made a joke aboutbeans, so I won't get one
myself.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
bye are we that predictable jack?

Speaker 2 (19:49):
you were hilariously silly on zombie wien game show.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, yes uh, it, it's.
It's something to listen to.
If you haven't heard jackcallahan and laurie calcaterra,
um, go back and forth on somequeen game show 2024 I made a
whole tribute love story reelfor them.
It was really special yeah,there was definitely an enemies

(20:16):
enemies to I don't want to sayenemies to lovers, but enemies
to marriage proposal.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, yeah, uh, really worth listening to.
Thank you so much, jack.
That's so sweet.
I um find your voice verysoothing.
You should, you should send usvoice messages more often.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah you can talk about anything.
It's true, especially if it'sabout beans always beans, only
beans.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Okay, we've got a written message now from Steph.
From Steph, yeah, listeners ofthe Undead podcast.
Yes, steph thought that theywere too late to be in our
podcast, but they she did notanticipate how late we are in
recording this episode.
Yeah.
After we gave the deadline.
Yes, in fact, we forgot we weresupposed to record this until I

(21:04):
was packing some stuff forzombie or not zombie we living
dead weekend, which is less thana week from now, and I thought
I said, dan, we got to recordthis episode.
It's coming out the week afterliving dead weekend, so you're
right on time.
Stephanie, from listeners ofthe undead podcast, from the
original zombie podcast outthere, so huge shout out to you
and I think, possibly one of theoriginal zombie podcasts out

(21:25):
there, so huge shout out to youand I think, possibly one of the
most like well-versed zombiepeople out there, absolutely
without question.
I always want to hear what youhave to say about anything
zombie related.
So this is what what steph said.
Um, I know it's already toolate to submit my message for
the podcast, but I wanted tospeak here anyways.
I really enjoy the positiveenergy on your guys podcast.
Never felt a warm and welcomingfeeling from a community like

(21:45):
the zombie community here andI've been a part of a lot of
communities.
I always leave with a smile onmy face after a listen oh,
that's really nice.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yeah, yeah, I, you know, I, I really I that's,
that's what I really want whenwe're, when we're doing this is,
I do want everybody to feellike they're welcome um you know
there's.
There's a lot of fandoms outthere and you'll always find the
people who are the gatekeepersor the people who have big

(22:15):
opinions or they.
They tend to talk down aboutthings and uh, especially when
it comes to, um, things likethings like writing and art on
this podcast, I never reallywanted to tell people whether or
not they should think it's good.

(22:36):
I'd rather know the personbehind it and I think that's so
much better way to talk aboutpeople's art than giving it a
rating.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Except for when we do that to movies yeah, I'm okay
with movies, in fact, uh,zoombies, which came out last
week afterwards.
You're like oh no, yeah, I hopewe never interview anybody from
zoomies.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
They're gonna hate us .
Sorry, I mean I'd love tointerview them.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
I have so many questions, but I think they know
what they made yeah.
I think so I think they knowwhat they made.
Let's go with a record.
Oh, we got tippy-tappies fromNero.
We could not have a 100thepisode without a special guest
appearance yeah, from Mr Noodle.
He was giving us some groans.
Do you remember what episode itwas that he interrupted it so

(23:22):
badly that we had to just quitrecording?

Speaker 1 (23:24):
And then you put a compilation of his I don't
remember, but yeah, I rememberwhen it happened.
I don't remember what episodeit was.
Yeah, it took us two days torecord that episode because of
Nero.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Looking back I now realize that was early signs of
his dementia.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
Which he now has.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, he's a full blown dementia buddy Like oh,
that's what was going on.
Yeah, he's having a hard night.
He was.
Yeah, he did not like that wewere talking into microphones
and not to him it's very true.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Okay, let's segue to naela.
King naela, yeah, naela sent usan audio message.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Let's hear it my favorite memory of the zombie
book Club podcast would probablybe Zombieween.
It was just so much fun and sofun-y, as well as just getting
to meet lots of really, reallycool people.
It's such a good community andI love it so much.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yay, yeah, naila was amazing in Zombieween.
Yes, that was the first timeI'd ever talked to Naila,
because usually you're theperson behind the Instagram
messaging.
Um, so I I didn't know muchabout Naila until she was there
and I learned so much in such ashort period of time.

(24:38):
And now I show up uh, maybe notfor every single write-in that
she has, because sometimes Iforget or I go to Living Dead
Weekend but I've been doing awhole bunch of them and we're
writing buddies.
Now we're doing the writingsprints.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah, and I usually make art or I say I'm going to
use this hour to write emailsback to people on Somi Book Club
Podcasts.

Speaker 7 (25:07):
Yeah, that's right, I hate writing emails, yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Because I do it for work, so I have to do it for the
podcast.
I'm like, what is this?

Speaker 1 (25:14):
And you know what, one day, when my book is
finished, you can thank Nailafor having mandatory writing.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Naila definitely needs to be in your
acknowledgements.
Yeah, for sure.
And if you're a writer or youjust want to have a creative
space with a bunch of otherpeople, join Naila's Discord.
We'll put it in the show notes.
Super fun Weekly write-ins onSaturday or Sunday, and it's
just a nice community.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah, I love the write-in yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
And Naila is also an author and was on an episode
with us at some point this year.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, I forget what day we already talked about
writing.
Yeah, it's a really good one.
Check it out.
I think it was called Naila'sGhost Carnival, that's right.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
And Jack actually joked about Naila being the most
illustrated podcast guestbecause my brother-in-law, your
brother Simon, drew her as aghost.
That's right, yeah, that's verycool.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, Naila was a ghost.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
I think, my favorite thing about Naila and maybe
you're listening to this, Naila,I think is your give no fucks
about the apocalypse and justparty till you die.
Attitude, yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
It's very refreshing.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
It was because it's honestly a take that I hadn't
considered, which is we're allgoing, all gonna die, so let's
have fun.
I don't know how you neverconsidered that.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
I guess I never said I wanted to have fun.
I just said I wanted to get outof there.
I guess just because my myfirst impulse is fight yeah, the
zombie apocalypse is just anexcuse for me to fight that
makes sense.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Okay, let's listen to brandon star.
I think actually our second orthird interviewee ever.
Second, second, absolutelysecond Second interview
Introduced us to.
Lori has been on our show twicenow.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, I think episode 17 was the first one.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Wow, that's amazing that you remember that.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
I'm guessing, but I think it is.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
They are the creator of Avalon, a really awesome
comic series, yeah, and theysent us a little a voice note.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Hello, I'm Brandon Starocki, creator of Avalon
comic and celebration of theamazing zombie book club podcast
100th episode.
I wanted to share my favoritemoments of the show.
Ironically enough, they aren'teven moments where I am present
on the show.
These are the Zombie Ween gameshow episodes and I don't know

(27:30):
if I said that right or not.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
You did.
You're the only one Invited toeach one.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Present to none, Due to no one's fault.
It's just how life works.
But the day will come when Iwill be on that game show and,
Laurie, I'm coming for the meatcrown.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
Oh, I, I almost, I almost want it to just be canon
that we invite brandon everytime and he never shows up.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, I, think brandon wants to come now.
One day brandon will and I wantbrandon to come now.
One day Brandon will show upand I want Brandon to come
because I want to see the BattleRoyale.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, that's going to be quite the battle, and
everybody else better I don'tknow get behind something solid
when that happens.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
I don't know.
Sylvester's going to be thereto probably take it too.
It's going to be this year'sZombieween the very three people
at least that I'd like to bethere to probably take it too.
Like it's gonna be this year'szombie wean my very three people
at least that I'd like to bethere.
Brandon, you're officiallyinvited.
It's june 1st.
Let's get our dates straightnow.
Uh, brandon staraki, laurayalkatera, sylvester barzy.
So we got two former winnerswieners, brandon, and then I

(28:40):
don't know who else.
I I've got some ideas.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
We're going to reach out.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, we'll see A lot of great potential out there,
because we're going for funniesand there's a lot of funny
people in the zombie apocalypsegenre.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
I won't name them because I know that they don't
like receiving compliments.
So you know who you are rightnow.
But they're very funny.
But I feel like they would sayno if we invited them, and if
you know who you are, you shoulddm me later.
But I think you know who youare.
Oh, is it carl?

Speaker 1 (29:16):
no, sorry, carl, I can't say who it is if chandler
rags wants to come to zombieween, I think we could probably
find a spot for him.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
I feel like this is the right time to listen to Lori
, the inaugural wiener ofZombieween Game Show 2023, who
got the first meat crown.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
Lori actually sent us videos, so y'all are going to
get to see the videos later andthere's two of them and I'm not
sure which one is which order,so let's try.

Speaker 12 (29:48):
All right, lori, let's hear what you've got to
say.
Congratulations, zombie BookClub on your 100th episode From
yours truly, lori Calcatero.
Writer-creator of Path of thePale Writer.
I have had such amazingmemories from being on the
podcast and participating in theZombie Ween Halloween show
slash contest oh my gosh.
So from the show, my favoritewas oh and this is kind of a

(30:09):
spoiler being on the show andhaving Dan and Leah guess where
the story is going and I have topretend that they didn't just
stumble upon the biggest spoilerever.
But and then?
you know, casually carrying onthe conversation about zombie
ethics, talking about, uh, sexafter zombie ism, um gosh.

(30:33):
We've talked about so manygreat things on that podcast.
And then the other thing is, um, the podcast brings creators
together.
I would have never met thelovely Joe Salazar, so talented,
great book, Good soul, goodhuman.
And then James Cole, creator ofthe zombie board game.

(30:54):
I got to meet him in Fort Worthand it was funny because we
have been talking back and forthvia socials and we finally got
to run into each other, whichwas a lot of fun.
So, zombie book club bringingpeople together in the community
.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
We got another one, but I just want to respond to
that.
I love you so much, laurie yeah, and I it.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
It is amazing because , like I, I never expected that
people would find each otherthrough this podcast and that's
like it's such a surprise thatthat happened, especially
somebody who, no, already knowsso many people like laurie
calcaterra and james cole.
Yeah, um, like that, thatlaurie calcaterra is like our

(31:37):
connection to the comic side ina lot of ways, um, because she's
she knows so many people thatit's it's kind of bizarre that
she would meet people through us, but I guess it makes sense
yeah, I mean we are allconnected.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
It's the whole six degrees of separation thing.
But um, laurie, you know welove you very much.
Please move to vermont and beour zambesti in person.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
That's all I'm saying yeah, you can uh buy our
neighbor's house.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
Oh my god, anybody can buy our neighbor's house.
We'd be happy.
Okay, I'm going to play thesecond one from Lori.
There's more.
We got lucky.

Speaker 12 (32:12):
Zombie Ween Annual Contest.
Oh my Lord, jack Callahan, Iwill forever be astounded by
your turn from frenemy to lover.
I don't know what the hellhappened there, but apparently
to win some men over over, allyou need to do is recite the
speech for gondor.

(32:33):
That's what did it.
I don't know, everybody's gottheir thing.
And then, of course, the veryfirst zombie wean contest, uh,
which I won.
I got goosh, who is still withme, who lives in the center
council of my car, um, shootingprecious moments out of a junk
jet, and, gosh, so many funnytangents we went down.

(32:53):
Gosh, I forgot to mention thecrown.
If you don't know, you need togo see the crown, the crown that
Leah made with fingers andeyeballs and buttholes.
It's all there Bite marks andconfetti, and, oh my God, you
need to go see this crown.
Oh my gosh, you guys, thehijinks we get into and the

(33:13):
laughs we have.
You got to come along for theride.
You got to join, you got tolisten to Zombie Book Club
podcast, the one, the onlyZombie Book Club podcast.
Congratulations again on your100th episode and, oh my Lord, I
cannot wait to see the next 100.
And where you guys go, I'll bethere listening you will

(33:34):
participating zombie weenkicking butt flory calcaterra
out oh, thank you so much, floryyeah, that was amazing yeah, um
, your most recent crown, leah.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
How many buttholes are there on it?

Speaker 2 (33:47):
zero whoa, it's my.
I've made three, now the firsttwo, I think.
Maybe that's for the zombiewieners.
They need a butthole on theircrown, yeah, um, but I made one
for a living dead weekend and Iwas I.
There might be kids there, yeah.
So I was, like you know, Ithink, dismembered fingers,
bloodshot eyes, a nose that'sbeen like ripped off and then

(34:10):
reassembled.
Um, really disgusting teeth.
That's fine.
Taking it too far, uh you know.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
On another note, um, laurie mentioned goosh uh, the
four foot tall inflatable zombiebaby that we sent her um
originally.
We, you know, leah leah justrecently in the last year, took
up making uh, meat crowns, um,but the?

(34:39):
Uh, the intention before was tosend somebody something that
they would regret winning uh,and I wanted to just send them
something obnoxious and horrible.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
So I sent this inflatable zombie baby that
looks just awful, um, and laurieloved it, yeah she blows it up
to be in the front seat of thecar when she picks up her
children at school.
That is who laurie kakatera isand why you are a zombie bestie.
We adore you, so grateful to bein community with you.
This is literally like all thethe people that have messaged us

(35:10):
for this or just in general,are listening to the podcast.
I love this podcast because ofyou.
It's just a lot of fun and I'mjust going to get emotional
about it, probably a coupletimes this episode, so we'll
just keep going.
Another author that we had theprivilege of having on the
podcast Z Martin Brown.

(35:31):
Z Martin Brown.

Speaker 6 (35:31):
Z Martin Brown.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Sent us a message.
They are currently neck deep incollege courses, oh yeah, and
also thought they were too lateto be on the podcast, so this is
a surprise for them.
Z Martin Brown is the author ofthe Non-Essentials 1 and 2.
We interviewed him for thefirst book, uh, back in, I think

(35:53):
like january.
It came out of 2025 so go checkthat out, right yeah and this is
what our lovely friend has tosay 100th episode, that's a huge
milestone.
Congratulations.
I love the podcast and well,between me and you and whoever
else is listening, my favoritezbc moments are when you and dan
deep dive into the eerieparallels between a zombie
apocalypse and the current stateof our country.

(36:13):
We're living through a majorshift on the timeline and, fuck,
if someone doesn't call a spadea spade, who the hell will?
I seriously appreciate thehonesty and how you both
articulate the issues whilestill driving home the core
topic zombies, media and culture.
You and dan delivered all thenatural voice, free of charged
corporate dollars, yeah, I mean,I'll take it's true, though we

(36:36):
have no, we have no corporatedollars, and I for one am really
grateful someone's out theredoing it.
Oh, and I also adore the fuckout of the animation videos you
make for each at least most ofthe episodes.
They're awesome.
Bravo.
You too.
You freaking rule.
Tell dan I said hello.
Oh, cheers to 100 more.
Everybody assumes there's goingto be another hundred.
That's a lot of pressure, y'allyeah, we might.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
It might be the zombie apocalypse before we
reach yeah I don't know what'sgoing to happen, but it's like
almost another two years that'swhy everybody needs to get one
of those rate.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
What are those radios called again a ham radio?

Speaker 1 (37:07):
yeah, yeah that's how we're gonna zombie book club's
gonna be on ham radio.
Yeah yeah, that's how we'regoing to keep going.
Zombie Book Club is going to beon ham radio after the
apocalypse.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, but thank you, z.
I think hearing the people likeour depressing episodes is what
I call them is kind of helpful,because I can't ignore what's
going on in the world right now.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Yeah, I mean, it's rough out there and I'd be lying
if I said it didn't take aserious toll on my mental health
and I've had to really justlike dial back my eyeballs from
seeing a lot of things, becausethere's just so much that I have
no control over Most of it, andit is all really upsetting, um,

(37:45):
but whenever I switch from mypersonal Instagram account to
the zombie book club.
So much.
I'm like, oh, I can useInstagram again without being
really mad and I see whateverybody is doing.
I'm seeing like people writingnew books, making videos,

(38:09):
leaving comments and it's somuch, so, so much nicer, but so,
but you know, we also can'tignore what's happening around
us yeah um, as much as I'd loveto it doesn't make it go away,
it doesn't.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
And we got to figure out how to survive it.
And, um, I remember the firsttime I brought up gaza on the
podcast, I was like, okay, I'mgonna do it, um, but I think
it's, I think we're better forit yeah, and now we're
terrorists yep, yep, let's uh.
This is why I'm afraid to crossthe border.
Yeah, I'm gonna do it anywaysfor my brother's wedding yeah

(38:45):
yeah, uh, but in all seriousness, I appreciate that you like
those ones.
Um, we try and keep it fun.
That's the, that's it's liketrying to find the balance right
now in life in general and alsoto remember, uh, frankly it's,
it's rough here in the unitedstates, but what the united
states is doing to places likegaza is, um, the deepest level

(39:05):
of hell I could imagine livingin, and I think that's very
sobering to remember yeah, we'rejust right now.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
It's just a little taste of what the US has been
doing to countries all aroundthe globe for decades.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah yeah, it is a full-blown apocalypse in many
places in the world, paid for byour tax dollars, and so we got
to talk about it sometimes, yeahyeah.
So thanks, zee, for encouragingus to keep doing that.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, this has been a pick-me-up sometimes, yeah,
yeah, so thanks, thanks, z, forencouraging us to keep doing
that.
Yeah, what this has been a pickme up, yep I'm gonna pick
something.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Let me see what else I've got.
Uh, let's go with our buddy,your longtime buddy, chris w.

Speaker 11 (39:44):
Oh, chris yeah, well , well, well.
100 episodes.
That's crazy.
I remember back when thisstarted.
I remember back when I was on apodcast with you.
It's the garbage of a podcast,literally Don't look it up.
But I'm super proud of how faryou've come, dan, and I'm super
happy that you found Mia, andI'm super happy that you guys

(40:05):
are having a wonderful life,talking about the ending of our
civilization as it slowly rotsaround us Truly motivating words
, I think.
Oh man, I remember the longdrives to and from Tri-Cities in
Portland.
You can look that up on a map.

(40:26):
It's about two and a half hourseach way.
I had to do that every week fora year.
That was when the podcast wasstarting to way, and I had to do
that every week for a year andthat was when the podcast was
starting to go and I wouldlisten to it out during my drive
all the time.
It was a wonderful respite andI'd be driving down the Columbia
River Gorge and looking atpretty much heaven on earth and
I would be listening to Dan tellLeah how to fight a zombie in

(40:47):
pitch black as I'm looking atthe most beautiful sunset on
earth.
It's a very funny juxtaposition.
So it's crazy to see how faryou have both come, and it's
wonderful to see the communityyou have built, and I'm looking
very forward to the next 100episodes.
I figured you guys wouldeventually do something like
this way.

(41:08):
Back when you had thatSnakefish Explosion podcast with
leah which was, by the way,adorable I could hear you two
just falling in love throughoutthe entire thing.
It's very funny.
If you can find it, you shouldgive it a listen.
All right, folks, I'll catchyou later.
And dan, thanks so much forbeing a good internet friend for
so many years.
Talk soon thanks, chris.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Chris, we we actually go back further than chris even
uh, implies, because chris umand I were part of a fandom of a
filmmaking youtube channelcalled Indy Mogul, of which our
friend was a host, who weactually became friends with

(41:55):
because we were such fans of ofthe YouTube channel.
It was a place where you'dlearn how to do practical
effects and editing andfilmmaking and people would
share their short films andstuff and Chris was was a part
of that community and from therethe the host of of indie mogul
and I made a channel calledsnake fist explosion, which was

(42:19):
a gaming channel, and chris camealong to that to support us
there, um, and we did that for areally long time and then I
became a truck driver and thatkind of went away for a while.
I came back shortly after andI'm like, hey, let's make a
podcast and we called it theDumpster Fire.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Podcast.
I remember you still have atiny dumpster.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yeah, I bought a little dumpster.
Yeah, it's very cute and we didexactly two episodes.
Not that I didn't enjoy doingthe podcast.
I think it was a really funnypodcast.
I just didn't have the time atthe time, so it did just fizzle
out.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Maybe, it's time to bring it back.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Yeah, we're bringing back the Dumpster Fire podcast.
There was never any plans.
We just winged it live on myYouTube channel and people liked
it, but it was all over theplace.
And then, of course, chris wasone of the earliest adopters of
this podcast, because I'm notsure when Chris found out about

(43:29):
this, maybe Chris had beenfollowing the entire time.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
Yeah, we don't know.
Let us know, Chris.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
But I do know that once I added my old YouTube
channel to the RSS feed and itautomatically started uploading
episodes to YouTube, chris wasalways the one that would leave
comments and and leave his likesand uh and share all of his
ideas, usually in one really bigpost.

(43:57):
Um, that was uh with.
That was really hard to tellwhat point of the podcast he was
switching between and I reallyappreciated that because it was
nonsensical and hilarious, justlike dumpster fire podcast.
Yeah, it was a dumpster fire.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
You know, chris, I've never met you, obviously, in
person, and we've never talkedin real time, but I just want to
say thank you for being such agood friend to Dan all these
years.
Thank you for remembering ourlittle podcast episode of Snake
Fist Explosion fame, when thispodcast was but a twinkle in our
eyes, yeah zombie baby.
We didn't even know zombie babywas coming um the zombie baby

(44:37):
was conceived and then gestatedfor um four years.
Yeah, five years, six years uh,it was 2018 and we did that.
So, yeah, it's math.
I I really love that episode,but it's also incredibly
vulnerable and I don't know ifyou have you taken it down
everywhere.
I don't I don't know, I thinkit's on youtube well, it's

(44:59):
called entangled hearts and itstarts with my favorite song by
metric, which for some reason,all nouns are leaving my brain
today and I can't remember whatit's called.
That's terrible.
Um doesn't matter, uh,regardless, it was the first
time, one of the first few timesdan and I talked, after eight
years of not talking um becauseI married somebody else and they

(45:22):
didn't want me talking to danbecause obviously, uh, if I was
talking to dan, I'd probably bewanting to fuck dan, and so I
didn't know you were going to gothere.
Should we delete that?
No, Well, to make love to Danmy handsome handsome partner.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yes, Very gently.
We've just lost some people.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
But I'm glad that you listened to that.
It was a really vulnerable andspecial time and it meant a lot
to me.
And there's actually anothersecret, one that never came out,
that Dan tells me still existssomewhere but is too vulnerable
to share it does.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
It's in my Google Drive and it is incredibly
vulnerable and explicit and Idon't know, and that's also six
hours of footage.
Um, we basically just hitrecord and then had an all night
conversation, um, about allkinds of stuff and uh, yeah, I
was, I was going to edit it intoan episode, and then I went to

(46:28):
truck driving school and thingswent on hold and now I, uh, I
don't know how I could dive backinto it because it's just so
much it would be really intenseto listen to again.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Yeah, yeah um.
Part of me is terrified to hearthat that version of me same,
like my version of me too,because a long time ago we both
evolved a lot as people.
Yeah, but it's a nice littletime capsule.
Okay, we have a written messagefrom captain magenta again I
don't know, your name captainmagenta, but I guess it's

(46:58):
captain.
yeah, so captain says as a newlistener.
These podcasters certainly keepyou gripped.
They discuss many topicsregarding zombies and things
outside of the zombie culture,from book to tv series, movies
and real life scenarios, eachdiscussion in great detail and
hilarious, might I add.
Thank you, oh, thanks the hostsamazing.
They have such a great sense ofhumor and have had me rolling
with laughter each episode.

(47:19):
I would like to say that I hadno sense of humor before, dan.
So thanks, dan, and my sense ofhumor was crass.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah, you think it's evolved.
Yeah, you've reeled in thecrassness of my humor and I've
donated some humor for yourselfso that you could build that up.
It's like a calcium deposit onyour humor bones.
Yeah, you know, you just gottagive a little bit so that the

(47:48):
deposits can build up and formsomething hazardous.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Is this why I was supposed to drink milk as a kid?
Is that how I get funny?

Speaker 1 (47:57):
If you drink milk as a kid, you get funny.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Didn't happen, for your funny bone grows.
I drank a lot of milk as a kid,so that's a lie.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Oh, well then, I'd never meant to say it.
Then it's okay.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
I just was super serious, I don't know why.
Why I was a super serious,super depressed kid for a long
time and you've definitelybrought a lot of joy in my life.
Okay, continuing to, captainmagenta.
Uh, you can feel the chemistrybetween them and, with constant
puns and facts, they givenon-stop entertainment if you're
a fan of books, movies, tvshows regarding zombies and
beans, oh yeah, this is the lastshow to listen to.

(48:29):
My favorite episode that I keepgoing back to is the sean of
the dead episode.
That's like episode two yeah,really back there.
As a brit, I find hilarity inamericans trying to understand
our culture.
I would love to hear, captain,what?
What did we fuck up completelyin our attempt to understand
british culture?
Uh, he says dan and leah justhad me in tears talking about

(48:50):
the movie being in a discordwith these two and all the other
podcasts, or podcasters, is agreat honor, and sharing a love
and passion for zombies makes itall the more welcoming to fans
alike.
Keep up the great work, guys.
Love your work and love theshow oh, thanks, captain.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Uh, captain, my captain, um yeah, we uh, captain
magenta was in the watch partyfor zombies.
They were, and we heard CaptainMagenta's voice at the
beginning and end and it waskind of nice because it's like,
oh, it puts a voice to the nameand that can be a very

(49:25):
meaningful thing.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
It is.
Yeah, it was fun.
I hope we do more of those.
And for those of you who don'tknow what Discord we're talking
about, we're talking aboutOllieEatsBrain's Discord called
the Brain Munchers ZombieCollective Discord.
So we technically have our ownDiscord, but we like hanging out
in that one because it's acollective of other authors,
creators, artists like me,crafters, zombie aficionados.

(49:49):
It's a fun place.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Much like a horde of zombies.
Zombies, we're strongertogether than we are alone.
So I, I love the collective uhdiscord, um, because uh, you can
.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
You can get so much in one spot yeah, I got a couple
other messages from the discord.
Uh, speaking of james of zombiesurvival infection game fame j
James S Cole, the illustrator,he said his favorite memory was
meeting Lori Calcaterra of paththe pale rider frame randomly in
an event that we firstconnected through zombie book
club.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Wow, yeah, you know, I remember seeing the pictures
from that and I'm like they'rein the same place.
It's.
This is crazy.
Look at them.
They're standing next to eachother.
I want to be in the same placeyeah, let's all be in the same
place.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
I am so much more excited about traveling for this
podcast than I ever am for work, yeah, which says a lot, but,
um, maybe one day we'll all gettogether yeah, maybe one day
we'll have some zombie ween inperson exactly uh.
Kurt folster, another awesomeauthor of martha's notebook fame
yeah, been on the uh the showwith us says I love the wide

(50:59):
range of zombie fandom that youcover, from board games I've
never heard about before to alltypes of movies and film, to
just simple conversation withthe shelf of the gas station you
live off of during anapocalypse.
It's never boring.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Thanks Kurt.
Thanks Kurt, that was nice.
Yeah, the episode that we didwith Kurt was amazing.
Kurt is hilarious.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Kurt is on my short list for Zombieween, oh, but I
don't know.
We'll have to see.
We're trying to figure out howmany people to have on
Zombieween 2025.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Yeah, Because if you have too many people, it can, it
can, it can become difficult.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
We had what did we have?
Five last year and it was hardto wrangle six yeah, I think so
yeah, it was.
Uh, it was a thing.
Okay, we've got two more, threemore three more yeah, all right
, let's go with sylvester barzy.
2025 zombie ween king.
2024, 2024 yes, because nowit's 2025, right?
Yeah, let's see what sylvesterhas to say 100 episodes versus a

(51:58):
zombie gorilla.

Speaker 9 (52:00):
I think y'all could take them.
I think I think it'd be easy.
Congratulations on your 100thepisode.
I love the podcast.
I love everything that you guysare doing.
It's just amazing to have justa space for zombie fiction,
especially zombie books, becausethere's not that many out there
.
So let me think I do love theinterviews, but I really like

(52:23):
when you guys are solo, becauseI love the breakdowns and the
research that you do and justthe banter is real funny.
But my favorite episode mightbe last year's zombie queen,
because you know it was a goodtime and then we, uh we got to
crown a new king, and who wasthat?

(52:44):
He was handsome, it wasn't me.
So you know I love that.
I'm looking forward to thisyear to see who I get to take
down and, uh, once again,congratulations, happy 100
episode.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
You guys are great we love you, sylvester barzy thank
you so much, sylvester also oneof our earlier interviewees for
planet dead.
Such a good, gory fucking book.
Yeah, that's what I remember ofPlanet Dead.
Also, we did an interview withSylvester for Dead Soil, which
was gory and dark in a totallydifferent way than Planet Dead

(53:22):
Both zombie books, completelydifferent.
They are one of the prolificauthors that we've had the
opportunity to become friendswith and he's got so many.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Yeah, like Planet, dead is a series series, yeah,
um, and we haven't even talkedabout those books yeah, and then
there's all the books that arenot related to zombies that
sylvester has written like campuh, camp lanier yeah and uh,
young blood, there's a wholebunch of them.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Stitches, many, many.
I think there's another onethat's on our shelf that I mean
to read eventually it's.
You know, I love books and Ilove reading, and I'm so slow,
that's the worst.
But thank you, sylvester.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah, I'm really happy that Sylvester mentioned
that he likes the episodes wherewe're just solo, because we've
done so many interviews latelythat I also missed those types
of episodes and it's nice toknow that there's people that
enjoy those ones.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
It is Cause we take a break from interviews, and
we're in the middle of thatbreak right now.
Yeah, but our next intervieweeis going to be Courtney
Constantine.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
Yeah, a baby, a babysitter of the apocalypse.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Yeah, that's going to be in July, so, but with that
we're not even doing thatinterview until the end of June.
Yeah, so it's a really nicebreak for us.
But we do love talking toauthors too.
But, yeah, it's nice to getback to our roots of just trash
talking a movie together or mebelatedly discovering Romero
films, as I've been doing a lotof lately.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah, we're doing them almost back to back now.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Okay, do you want to pick door number one or door
number two, dan?

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Oh, I'm always going to pick door number two.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
Okay, this is from Gerard Clark, author of the End,
the End, best friend withKillian Murphy, who I believe I
finally said right, that's right.
Yeah, from 28 Days Later.
Well, actually, his dad's dogis his best friend is is killian
murphy's dog's best friend yesand that's that's our uh kevin

(55:19):
bacon.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
Six degrees of separation to killian murphy
yeah, uh.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
Apparently the plan right now is to find out if, in
28 years later, killian murphyis in it, by having jared
gerard's dad's dog ask, yeah,killian murphy's dog, so and
then getting back to us gerardsays dog, don't let us down.
Yeah but, gerard, we had a lotof fun in our interview with you
.
Um great book the end.

(55:47):
Everybody should check it out.
And there are irish, which ispart of my way back playback
ancestry yeah, it's probablymine but I didn't know very much
about it and we actually in ourepisode we also got schooled on
the potato famine yeah, welearned a lot in that episode we
did all right.

Speaker 6 (56:03):
Let's hear what gerard has to say hi everyone,
this is gerard clark, author ofthe end, and I want to give
congratulations to the ZombieBook Club podcast for reaching
their 100th episode.
It's been a fantastic journeythrough the apocalypse and my
favorite moment has to beepisode 87.
This was a compelling departurefrom the usual, offering a raw
and insightful look into Dan andLeah's experiences with the

(56:26):
current climate in America andhow it's impacting on ordinary
people.
It was particularly amazing tohear Dan's perspective as a
veteran and his profound need toprotest against what is
happening today.
The discussion drew chillingparallels to how society can
unravel, vividly illustratinghow the fantasy of an apocalypse
can inch disconcertingly closerto reality.

(56:47):
I found it to be an incrediblypowerful episode with a strong
and resonant message, so if youhaven't given it a listen, I
suggest you go back and do so.
Congratulations again, guys,and I look forward to hearing
many more Thanks.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
Thanks, Gerard.
Thanks, Gerard, I also.
The episode before the one thathe mentions is the one that we
did with Gerard Clark, episode86.
And that was a really funepisode with Gerard Clark,
episode 86.
And that was a really funepisode.
We had great conversations inthat episode, including talks
about the Irish potato famine.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Yeah, that's why I had some misconceptions about it
that I was, I relearned, Iunlearned and relearned because
of you, gerard, and thank youfor again another person saying
that apparently our real lifeapocalypse episodes have people
like them.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Some of them, yeah.
And episode 87 that he wasmentioning was right after March
14th.
March 14th was the VeteransMarch, where we went to our
state capitals and I don't knowhow many people showed up around
the country.

(57:54):
I think it was a lot.
I think it was a couple millionpeople showed up, but the idea
was that this is all veterans,or people who support veterans,
all saying hey, we're not coolwith fascism.
All saying hey, we're not coolwith fascism.
And it was really amazingbecause even here in Vermont, I

(58:17):
didn't expect a huge turnout,but there was well over 200 or
300 veterans there, and it wasjust really helpful to go there
and see that there were otherpeople like me that weren't
going to sit by idly.
Yeah, um yeah and sometimes,sometimes you, you get a a

(58:40):
misconception of who veteransare, who soldiers are uh, you
get, you get an idea of whattheir politics are because you
know they joined the army.
So they, they must, they mustbe somebody who believes a lot
of, a lot of stuff on theright-wing side, like they want
to go invade people and and allthat.

(59:03):
But you know, what you learnabout things like that,
especially during those types ofget-togethers, is that we're a
complex group of individuals whohave seen the world and we've
seen some of the darkest partsof humanity as well as some of
the most beautiful parts, andnot all of us want to see people

(59:25):
hurting.
So thank you for bringing thatup, because I actually forgot
that we did that episode.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Yeah, that's what happens when you don't.
I mean, it's like how manytimes have I told the same story
on this podcast?
Probably a few.
It was only 10 episodes ago.
Well, you know, a lot'shappened.
That was March.
Now it's June, June 1st.
Everybody, we're recording this.
Let's listen to one of ourfavorite ZomBesties, Joe
Salazar's message to us.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
Yeah, who we're going to meet this week, in less than
a week?
Yeah, less than a week.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
Yeah, we're going to be silly high school kids
together.
That's how we've been talkingabout it, because we're both so
excited.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
And, dan, hopefully you're getting more excited and
less nervous.
Oh yeah, I've been dealing withthe anxieties of going to a big
public meeting space for a con.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Yeah, it's not the hanging out with Joe, that's the
anxiety To be clear, joe, oranybody else that we're meeting
up with there.
It's the big physical spacewith a lot of people.
Yeah, all right, are you readyfor this?
I am so ready.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Y'all ready for this?

Speaker 7 (01:00:30):
The 100th episode to the Zombie Book Club podcast,
and we all know that zombiestories are always about more
than just zombies, and theZombie Book Club podcast is no
different.
This is a podcast about morethan just zombie books, comics,
games.
It's about bringing peopletogether and learning from
zombie culture and differentapocalyptic scenarios.

(01:00:50):
It's about thinking about theworld differently, and I don't
know how they did it, but Danand Leah have put together a
podcast that kind of makes youwant to laugh and cry but also
somehow take notes, and theyhave this magic kind of
chemistry that makes you feellike you're just hanging out
with your best friends while youlisten.
It is rare and it is special,and I feel so, so lucky to be

(01:01:15):
part of this community.
So thank you, dan and Leah, forputting in the work to bring us
100 amazing episodes of theZombie Book Club podcast.
We can't wait to see what thenext 100 bring.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you so much, Joe.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
That was so nice, joe .
You definitely know how to hitme in the feels, in writing, in
your books and also as a humanbeing.
Joe introduced me to taylorswift this week actually.
Oh, you met taylor swift no, butjoe convinced me finally to
listen to taylor swift and now Iget it.
I feel like I can feel like joe.

(01:01:48):
You're such a heartfelt personand um taylor swift's folklore
album emotionally destroyed mewhile I was painting my latest
meat crown.
So and the first time Ilistened to that message from
you also got me a little bitteary.
So thank you for being ourbestie, um, very excited to give
you a hug soon yeah, also joehas um a new book coming out

(01:02:10):
soon yes, I don't know.
We're allowed to talk about itvery much right now.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
So we'll just say I'm not going to say anything.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
We got a sneak peek of the cover and it's fucking
awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
It is, it is so awesome, yeah, and also just
it's, just it's, it's going tobe good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Yeah, there's no question of that.
Yeah I.
I love all the fan art you madefor the dead weight too.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Yeah I you know, I, I , I I haven't talked too much
about this, but I, I really gotback into 3d art, something that
I've done for a long time butthen also took off a lot of time
, and making art for the deadweight, for Joe Salazar was kind

(01:02:50):
of like my return to doing thatand it's been a lot of fun and
I've been keeping up with it.
Yeah, every now and then, likesome of our thumbnails are my 3d
art, like the uh, the Neganepisodes.
Um, that is, that is my Negan.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
So satisfying to see the guillotine yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
Uh, my Negan, my Rick , my guillotine yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
But enough about us.
Thank you, joe, so much forbeing uh one of our community
members.
We're so grateful.
In fact, I think you're one ofthe first people that said
community and that we werebuilding a community and I
hadn't really processed that atthe point in time.
It's like what, I guess?
Yeah, we're all building acommunity, though that's what
that word is.
Yeah, we just happen to be thepeople who sit in front of this

(01:03:34):
mic and randomly say things thatpeople listen to, and then we
have conversations about it withall of you, which, like I said
before, is the reason I do this.
I love hearing from you, I lovehearing what you have to say.
I love hearing your opinions.
I love when you disagree withme.
I love when you agree with me.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
Yeah, I love when people agree with me too.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Yeah, last but not least, we have a message from
Jacob.
Jacob found us through theirown podcast, viva La Festiva
podcast, and they wanted to do alittle shout out for us on
their show way back in the fall,and they've definitely become a
Zombesty that I really enjoyhearing from.
So let's let's hear what Jacobhas to say.

Speaker 13 (01:04:14):
Yeah, hey Zombesties , it's Jacob.
Congratulations on thehundredth episode.
That is quite the achievement.
I just want to say that myfavorite zombie book club moment
was probably hearing Z MartinBrown's answer to y'all's
question about which food wouldtake him into the zombie
apocalypse.
And when he answered peanutbutter I was like, oh my gosh,

(01:04:36):
that is the perfect answer and Igotta say it has made me
appreciate peanut butter 10times more.
Every time I have it, I swearI'm just like you know what this
is going to save me one day.
Anyway, congratulations on100th episode and I can't wait
to hear more from y'all.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Thanks, Jacob.
I got extra peanut butter inour backup apocalypse pantry,
Thanks to Z Martin Brown too.
So I agree.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Yeah, we also have powdered peanut butter when
things get really bad, when theyget really bad you know what
would be super tasty is a bigcan of chocolate pudding and
peanut butter.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Oh yeah, oh my God, A little scoop of peanut I'm
salivating.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
It's probably because it's getting close to dinner
time.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
It's true, we have to make dinner now, it's true, so
have to make dinner now.
Also, jacob, when you hear this, you're going to realize that I
wrote you an email inviting youto come on our podcast and then
I put this email thread in my100 episode folder so I'd have
them all organized.
Didn't see your response tillright now, so sorry about that.
I'm going to you're going toget an email from me momentarily

(01:05:37):
.
We'd love to still have you onthe show.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
Well, that's it.
If there was other ones, I amsorry that I lost them and I did
not put them in the folder, butI think that I caught
everybody's.
We really appreciate you takingthe time to share a favorite
memory with us.
But thank you so much,everybody.
That was really heartfelt,feels like almost like a little
party that we just had with you.
Even though it was across timeand space, it was like we were
all together for a little while.

Speaker 1 (01:06:02):
Yeah, we got together , we shared some stuff and it
feels good.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
Dan, you're going to close us out with our very own
assessment of the capitalist,ableist, misogynist, racist of
the living dead.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
Yeah, so we're going to apply all four of these tests
to ourselves.
Let's start with the bechdeltest.
Um, this evaluates therepresentation of women in
fiction.
Requires a work to have atleast two women in it who talk
to each other about somethingother than a man.
Um, what do you think, leah, wefail.

(01:06:38):
Yeah, there's only unless we'reinterviewing a woman yeah, some
, some episodes pass, but, as onthe whole, this podcast is a
failure.
On the bechdel epic failure.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
Uh, race test, oh fail, yes, um I have been called
the whitest person thatsomebody's ever seen multiple
times.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
And you are also white yeah, I am very white yeah
, there's no diversity on this,no racial diversity,
specifically okay, the uh, thevito russo test um, named after
a film historian and lgbtactivist, vito russo.
This test assesses therepresentation of lgbt, lgbtq
plus characters.
I fucked that up.

(01:07:21):
The alphabet community, yep.
For a work to pass, it mustcontain an identifiable LGBTQ
plus character who is not solelyor predominantly defined by
their sexual orientation orgender identity.
That's me, yeah, that's Leah,we pass.
Yeah, that's a pass, we did it.
Yay, we passed something.
Finally, the Fries testevaluates media representation

(01:07:43):
of people with disabilities bychecking for one characters with
disabilities portrayed ascomplex individuals beyond their
disabilities, two narrativesthat are not solely about
overcoming disability and three,ideally, actors with
disabilities playing these rolesto ensure authentic
representation.
Pass for both of us.
Yeah, team disability.
Yeah, let's Pass for both of usyeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
Team disability yeah.
Let's high five across thetable.
High fist pump yeah.
And our last segment for thisis what are we doing next, dan?
I have no idea.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
We're going to Living Dead weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Yeah and yes, we're going to keep going.
We don't have a timeline onthis podcast.
We're going to keep doing it aslong as there is a community to
do it for and the time and theinternet with which to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
Yeah, I mean I'd love to say that we're going to get
another 100 episodes, but alsowhen I think about that I'm like
oh, that sounds hard.
Yeah, one step at a time, oneepisode at a time we're going to
do one episode and then anotherone after that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Yeah, Thanks for being with us every episode, or
just the ones that you come andlisten to once in a while.
We love you, yeah we love you.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
We do.
I don't think that we have totell you this, since you're here
at the end, but thanks forjoining us on the Zombie Book
Club.
You can support us by leaving arating and a review.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Have you left a rating and review.
I mean, I feel like everybodyjust gave us a really lovely
review in this episode.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
Can we put those reviews up?
I guess we will, as thisepisode.
Yeah, this is our reviewepisode.
Yeah, you can send us avoicemail.
Many of you did 614-699-0006.
It's like a burner phone.
You know we don't pick up, butit's like a burner phone.
You know we don't pick up, butyou can leave a voicemail and

(01:09:26):
ask for drugs.
You can sign up for ournewsletter.
I'm still working out the bugs,but there is a newsletter.
It might go to your spam folderand you can also follow us on
Instagram at zombie book clubpodcast or, like we mentioned
before, join the brain mantras,collective discord.
Those links are all in thedescription that's down below.

(01:09:48):
It's part of this episode.
You can find a description, butthanks for listening Everybody.
The end is not as nice as itwas before.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
I feel a little more hopeful for the future because
of the zombie apocalypse bookclub.
Yeah, bye-bye everybody,bye-bye, bye everybody, see you
soon.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
Bye, bye In a world where chickens are grown in
factories.

Speaker 13 (01:10:14):
Arkansas alone has over 6,500 chicken farms, each
farm with over 100,000 chickens.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
Humans thought they were the king of the roost.
The job is easy Hands go downthe chute, roosters ride the
blender.
But when evil magic resurrectspoultry back from the den.

Speaker 13 (01:10:33):
They're just something ain't right with these
chickens.
How did they get out of alltheir cages?
They're free range.

Speaker 1 (01:10:42):
The town's pecking order is about to change.
They're dead.
They're supposed to be dead.
To save this small town inArkansas, it's time to call in
an expert.

Speaker 13 (01:11:00):
Colonel Sandals reporting for duty General Sal
sent me to fry up some trouble.

Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
Sanders, you're out of control.
You've completely flown thecoop.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Save me, Colonel Sanders.
I can't outrun them in my highheels and heaving breasts.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
But as feathers and fate collide, old rivals show up
.

Speaker 13 (01:11:21):
I don't know who sent you preacher man, but you
have no business with chicken.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
I agree, this church's chicken champion was
poorly thought out.

Speaker 13 (01:11:31):
I'm a lone rooster in this hidden house, so
scramble.
Same goes for you cop-eyedback-off.

Speaker 1 (01:11:40):
Don't count your chickens before they hatch,
because this summer summer, apeckin is coming try my extra
spicy recipe you evil magic evilmagic chicken zombies zombies.

Speaker 13 (01:12:00):
Y'all smell that sentence, miles I coming to a
Netflix near you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
This is so stupid.

Speaker 11 (01:12:11):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
I want this movie.

Speaker 8 (01:12:19):
Zombie chicken impression.
I'm on deck.

Speaker 9 (01:13:46):
Zombie Chicken Impressions Time on deck at
12.08pm the.
I'm not sure if you can hear me.
Oh, we'll be right back.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

(01:14:09):
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
What the fuck.
What the fuck, what the fuck.

Speaker 8 (01:14:36):
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what
the fuck, what the fuck, whatthe fuck.
Come on, come on, come on, comeon, come on, come on, come on
again.
Come on, come on again.
Come on, come on, come on, comeon again.
Come on again.
Come on again.
Come on again, come on again,come on, come on, go Ha Ha On

(01:15:06):
the clock On the clock.
On the clock On the clock.
Go, go, go, go Go.

Speaker 3 (01:15:42):
Go Ghost, ghost, ghost, ghost Ghost, bye-bye,
bye-bye, bye-bye.
No more, no more, bye-bye.

Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye,
bye-bye.