Written by GeekGirlCon Manager of Editorial Services Winter Downs.
I hate zombies.
Oh, sure, zombies have been the zeitgeist for so long that I’ve developed a list of exceptions to my zombie media antipathy–Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century series, the videogame State of Decay, and most recently the ridiculous/awesome/ridiculawesome TV show iZombie are great examples. However, I realized that the zombie fiction I like all fits into one of two categories. Either it emphasises community-building (particularly of marginalized people) in the post-apocalypse, or it humanizes the zombie characters. On reflection, it’s not really surprising that I favor stories that center character and relationship development over mowing down mindless hordes of enemies.
iZombie: Liv (a zombie) and Ravi (a human) bonding in the morgue. Image source: Entertainment Weekly.
When I heard that May is Zombie Awareness Month, I scoffed. Who isn’t aware of zombies? The lists of zombie films, novels, and games grow longer every month. The CDC uses zombie preparedness campaigns as an education tool. Zombie Awareness organizations have sprung up that imitate other awareness campaigns with ribbons and buttons to advertise their cause. Even hardcore zombie bandwagoners are starting to tire of the ubiquitous hordes.
But there’s an opportunity here to talk about zombies and what they represent in our cultural consciousness.
Written by GeekGirlCon Manager of Editorial Services Winter Downs.
Dead Scare, which at the time of writing has hit 86% of its Kickstarter goal, is “a tabletop RPG where you play the women and children fending for themselves against zombies and the McCarthy regime in 1950s America.”
It’s written by women and non-binary game designers, about women, children, and other marginalized people fending off zombies in McCarthy-era America. Russian spies unleash a bio-weapon in an attempt to assassinate President Truman, turning everyone who was out in the streets and other public places into flesh-eating zombies. As a result, the only human survivors are people who were excluded from the public sphere–women, children, and people with disabilities.
The game is based on Apocalypse World by Vincent Baker, a versatile system that’s been adapted for many genres and settings.
GeekGirlCon had the opportunity to talk to Elsa S. Henry, the writer of Dead Scare, and ask her a few questions.
GeekGirlCon is running a series of blog posts about strong female characters from all sorts of fiction, from books and comics to movies and TV shows. Welcome to our inaugural post, penned by GeekGirlCon staff copy writer Sarah Grant (aka SG-1)!
My favorite female characters tend to be strong (emotionally, mentally, and physically), smart, and sassy. Considering this characterization is how I tend to view myself, this preference isn’t too remarkable. It doesn’t matter if said female is human, alien, android, or fae; if she’s strong, smart, and sassy, I identify with the character.
Last year I read the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant (no relation!). Feed, the first book in the trilogy, was published in 2010; Deadline and Blackout followed, along with a novella called Countdown. It’s a post-zombie-apocalypse series, and one of the grimmer series I’ve read (perhaps not for the kids, folks). The storytelling style is unique: the author combines blog posts, private journal entries, the occasional Internet announcement, and first-person narratives by most of the main characters at one point or another. This may sound confusing, but don’t let it put you off. I’m giving you the inside scoop: at the beginning of each chapter, there is a blog post or journal entry written by that chapter’s narrator.
Now, you’re wondering when I’m going to get to the strong female character. Here she is: Georgia Carolyn Mason. Georgia, her brother Shawn, and their friend Buffy make up a team of journalists who are selected to accompany a hopeful presidential candidate on his campaign journey. Along the way, they encounter bad politics, extremely enhanced security measures (including regular blood tests, bleach showers, and retinal scans), and—of course—zombies.
George (as many call her) is the “newsie” of the trio: she finds and reports facts to her readers, and she has journalistic integrity coming out of her ears. She won’t post anything she isn’t sure is correct, and she has no qualms about posting news that might get her into trouble. Shawn enjoys “poking dead things with sticks and getting it on camera” to entertain the masses, and Buffy writes stories and poems, as well as acting as the team’s tech wiz—she’s never met a piece of technology she can’t figure out in less time than it takes me to boot up my computer.
What makes George a strong female character, and why do I like and admire her so much? Three things:
1. She’s intelligent.
2. She’s sarcastic.
3. She’s loyal—to her brother, and to the truth.
All too often, female characters are used as the android-type, uber-smart foil to another character. That other character tends to be a guy, or just as often a pretty girl who is the main character—but as decoration. Think about Scooby Doo: Daphne (the pretty one) has the boyfriend, and she’s the one everyone watches. Velma (the smart one) has the stereotypical glasses and general nerd factor. George is the main character, and she is the perfect mix of both. For instance, she knows how the “The Rising” happened in the summer of 2014—the science behind two unrelated viruses combining to reanimate the dead around the world. George also takes care of her appearance: in a world where repeated bleach showers streak everyone’s hair blond, she dyes her hair regularly, determined to look good while she’s busy reporting to the world.
I personally learned sarcasm in utero, and George’s sarcasm seems to be on that same level. She will always give the sarcastic answer before she gives a real answer. George and I have the same sense of humor—though she tends to be a little bit more on the fatalistic side of things, what with living through the actual zombie apocalypse. There are very few situations in which she will be serious to the exclusion of sarcasm, though one of those situations is the death of a close friend. If I knew George in real life, we’d completely get each other.
George’s best characteristic is her absolute loyalty to two things: the truth, and her brother. Shawn is the only person she’s ever felt she can really depend on, and she knows he will tell her what she needs to know, whether she asks for it or not. She has the same way of dealing with him: she doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear, but what he needs to hear. George can be tactful with people outside her team—especially handy for dealing with politicians and their minions—but otherwise she doesn’t hold anything back. This is definitely a characteristic I aspire to.
The truth is what drives Georgia: truth in life, truth in journalism, and making sure that the people (her blog readers around the world) get both of these from her. It may not be the easy thing to do, and it’s certainly not the safest, but it is the right thing to do. As the team wends its way through the presidential trail with their candidate, their personal danger increases at every moment. Others tell them to go home, that the only way they will be safe is to distance themselves from the campaign and the uncomfortable truths they are uncovering. George’s sense of black-and-white morality absolutely precludes her stepping back; she needs to know the truth so she can bring to light the shady decisions of the government and bring about change in her world. I believe in knowing and telling the truth as well. I like to think that if I were in George’s situation, I would be just like her.
Georgia Carolyn Mason fits my ideal of the strong female character in fiction. I initially started reading Feed because I am a fan of Mira Grant (and her alter ego, Seanan McGuire), but watching George interact with her world and do everything she can to make things better and tell the truth about what’s happening quickly pulled me into the story in a way that not many books do. I highly recommend the Newsflesh series to anyone looking for action, sarcasm, intelligence, and just plain fun–and I’d love to hear from you when you read them. Drop me a line: sarahg@geekgirlcon.com.
, the first book in the trilogy, was published in 2010; 
and 
followed, along with 
. It’s a post-zombie-apocalypse series, and one of the grimmer series I’ve read (perhaps not for the kids, folks). The storytelling style is unique: the author combines blog posts, private journal entries, the occasional Internet announcement, and first-person narratives by most of the main characters at one point or another. This may sound confusing, but don’t let it put you off. I’m giving you the inside scoop: at the beginning of each chapter, there is a blog post or journal entry written by that chapter’s narrator.
