Q&A on Season Five Of The Undead

Hi Ian, that’s an awesome question.

Season Five of The Undead was eight books. The Undead 26 to 33. (The audio books are numbered differently, Part 22 to Part 29).

They were written to be a rapid-release set of stories, much like a TV show with a new episode dropping every week. In this case I think the releases were timed to be roughly every two weeks as I wanted to give people a chance to keep up.

So, why did I do it?

I’d just always had the urge. They used to do episodic fiction or serialised releases back in the old days. Conan-Doyle and Dickens wrote loads of short episodic stories there were put in papers or pamphlet type releases. And having the creative freedom with The Undead meant I could try it out.

The structure was clear to me from the start. Eight books. Eight storylines – all while building towards the bigger plots (Winchester / George in The Fort. I’m trying to be careful about spoilers ☺️).

The other big reason for doing it this way was because I’d always struggled to fit everything I wanted into previous Undead novels. I kept having to cut scenes to prevent drag, or because they didn’t fit, or simply because the word count was already huge.

For instance, the now famous swift-half  pub scene, and the scene where Cassie and Gregori go to the zoo were written years ago, but they had to be cut from their respective books as they broke the flow of those stories at that time.

Doing it this way meant I had oodles of space. That was liberating! So, from a creative point of view it was a wonderful experiment.

The writing itself was equal parts gruelling and super rewarding. It was months of writing non-stop with no reward of release, while also being nagged about not getting new Undead books out 🤦‍♂️. While at the same time as being able to have the space and the time to craft and shape the stories. It also meant that even while writing the last one, I could go back and make changes to the first one.

I wrote it mainly during the winter. I've got such fond memories of getting into my office and putting my little heater on and being all toasty and warm while rain lashed the window. I'd become lost in the stories. I was in the garden centre, or in The Fort. I was in Winchester and going to these amazing places. Writing The Undead, for me, is like hanging out with close friends. That's the feeling I get from it..

The launch Eventually, the time came to start releasing them. Eight books were done & edited. I’d made all the covers and then boom! They started going out.

What an amazing thing that was! The response was electric. The Undead readers really got behind the whole vibe.

There was a shift in how The Undead is perceived around then too. The industry as a whole had always looked down its collective nose at The Undead. A self-published zombie series is at the bottom of the food chain in the literary world - I’d quietly built a reputation as a consistent producer of bestselling novels. The Extracted Trilogy. The Code Trilogy. Delio. A Town Called Discovery. GASLIT. They'd all done brilliantly - but I kept going back to The Undead, and I don't know, I just started to feel the shift from this quirky little indie series to something recognised, and mainstream.

It suddenly became its own clear strong brand within the zeitgeist of books and the medium of creativity.

It was being discussed on forums and places like Reddit. The difference in reactions was telling too. When I'd speak to industry professionals they'd always refer to my other books - now they were actively mentioning The Undead. You're The Undead guy. I was hearing that more. I was also seeing people wearing my Undead t-shirts around and about too, which is surreal AF! 😂

So yes, those releases created a massive buzz and it’s something I will cherish forever. Seeing so many people happy about getting faster regular hits of the characters they love was worth all of the time it took to write them.

The only niggle we experienced was with the audio books. Audible subscribers were angry because they were using their monthly credit for a shorter book. But the audio book producer, WF Howes, had priced them below average and made them available across multiple platforms - so that backlash was unfair in my eyes. We can’t control how people use a credit system, and it’s a shame when those subscription models start shaping how stories are told.

Otherwise though, it was an incredible experience. I’d absolutely love to do it again, and it’s also very flattering to now see other authors doing fast-released episodes runs of their stories.

What do you guys think though?

Do you prefer the longer normal novels? Or would you like to see Season Six done in a similar way? Let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Much love! 🥰