This month’s 12STORIES entry is an unexpected AUTUMN bonus. Until a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea I was going to write it.
A while ago, as part of a competition organised by the WRITTEN UNDEAD Facebook group, I offered a chance to appear as a character in one of the new AUTUMN short stories as a prize. If you remember, there’s an omnibus edition of THE LONDON TRILOGY coming next month, complete with a number of brand new shorts that impact on the events of the three novels, DAWN, INFERNO, and EXODUS.
My initial plan was to include the winner of the competition as a character in one of the stories I was already working on. However, when the results were announced, things took an unexpected turn.
The winner’s name is LESLIE SCHNEIDER BEARD, and she’s from Warrenton, Missouri. When I asked her some background questions for her character in the story, it became clear that my plans needed to change. I know I’m already stretching credibility by writing about the living dead, but there was no way I was going to be able to parachute Leslie into post-apocalyptic London easily!
More importantly, though, I didn’t want to.
The more I chatted to Leslie, the more I found myself wondering how the events of AUTUMN would have played out in Missouri. There’d be many differences, not least the amount of open space there is in her part of the US compared to the congestion of central London. Also, if you remember your AUTUMN lore, the ‘event’ begins in the wee small hours in North America, when the vast majority of people would probably be asleep. I decided to write a completely separate story set in Warrenton for Leslie – THE SLEEPING DEAD.
The story will appear in the LONDON TRILOGY omnibus edition and on www.lastoftheliving.net. I’m also posting it here as September’s entry in my 12STORIES project. You can read it now, and I hope you enjoy it.
Huge thanks to Leslie and to Angel (her dog) for being such good sports!
