Something to Muse About: Peter Stenson

Released: July 9, 2013

Format: Hardcover 304 pages

Publisher: Crown
ISBN-13: 978-0770436315

There are somethings that were never meant to happen. There was never suppose to be a zombie apocalypse, and if there was one, only the strongest should have survived. The ones that prepared, that were best suited to pick up the pieces of civilization and rebuild something better in the ashes. But author Peter Stenson instead gives us a world where the living may just be as empty and hopeless as the dead, they just don't know it yet.

The world has fallen, and all that remain are the dead and the junkies, both with driving needs that are rapidly becoming increasingly unavailable. For the dead, they of course crave the flesh of the living, but for the junkies, the very addiction that's killing them is also keeping them alive.

In this twisted dystopian landscape Chase Daniels rises as the reluctant hero. Chase was never meant to be a hero. He's failed at love, at life, he's broken his parents hearts a million times, he's lied and failed at 12 steps; no, his is not the story of redemption, of overcoming all obstacles. I'm not even if its a story of hope or survival, or love, or if it's just a story of obsession.

Chase is obsessed with the girl who left him, KK, the one who just may be more messed up than he is. When his second chance to be near her comes along he chomps at the bit, but being clean and having a family just can't be in the cards.

Every single tweeker in the novel is obsessed with the meth that destroyed their preapocalypse life, and is currently keeping them alive. Why meth staves off the viruse that turned everyone into chuckling flesheating undead is never explained, but at the same time it doesn't need to be.

When I spoke to Stenson at comic con he described the book as Walking Dead meets Breaking Bad and I wondered how well the two genres could really mesh. The beautiful thing that Walking Dead captures and really works here is not the horror of the zombies, but the dehumanization of people. Stenson takes a page out of Kirkman's book, making the other survivors just as dangerous as the zombies. At it's core Fiend isn't just a horror novel. It's the gritty undertow of the lure of drugs, the bad decisions we make because of them, and how sometimes even when we know our actions are wrong we just can't force ourselves to do the right thing.

In an oversaturated genre Fiend is a breath of fresh air. Although this is Stenson's first foray into the novel field he certainly has a firm grasp on his material . His story sets a rapid pace delivering plenty of shocks and vivid imagery. The language is abrasive at time, and descriptions stomach churning, but they're certainly right on the money and realistic. I, for one, cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.

By the time day 2 of Comic Con hits, the need for sleep is at a high, but it doesn’t matter because you’re at Comic Con, and you can sleep when you get home. So with the Game of Thrones signing ticket in the bag, there was some time to hit the floor.

One of the things that I usually do when I first get my badge is check out the program book and see what booths will be there. This year, one ad stuck out: a book ad for the new book Fiend. Its cover was interesting and it was billed as “Walking Dead meets Breaking Bad.” I was so in.

So with some time until I had to hit the other signings and events on my agenda, I headed to find Fiend. When I got to the booth, the guy working tried to get me to put on a temporary tattoo advertising the booth. I made him put it on my hand, if I was going to wear the thing I wasn’t going to put it there myself. Then I asked him to pitch me the book. He gave it a fantastic pitch, and I was completely sold. I told him I’d buy a copy and asked if the writer would be in so I could get it signed, but he said it was already signed. I’m odd, I like items to be signed in front of me if they’re being added to my collection. But he didn’t say he had any unsigned, he said that I could have the copy for free though, but I still wanted to meet the writer.

Now at this point normally an author would have piped up and said he wrote the thing, and not many authors are out selling their own books down with the publishers, so I didn’t expect the guy I had been chatting with for the last thirty minutes to be the author but I caught a glimpse of his name tag and saw that it was. Oh I felt so silly, but I told him, since it was his first book that I had to buy it to support his work. But he insisted that I take the book free of charge. So I told him that I would buy one for the girl I was with, and he gave her a copy too, telling me that we could play this game all day. So I settled for giving him a hug and offering to write a review for him, which he graciously accepted both. Check back for the review!

Next we regrouped and headed over to pay Michael McMillian a visit. Michael is one of those people who are on the top of my to-do list for comic con, even though I see him not only every year, but several times a year. He’s just a lot of fun to be around, and his stories are really quite charming. This year he was there to promote his upcoming book for True Blood, Steve Newlin’s Field Guide to Vampires. It was obviously written prior to Steve’s transformation, and it’s very funny, especially the parts that are written by the characters of Eric and Pam.

Next up was the Phineas and Ferb signing, which almost didn’t happen for me because of time constraints and the large amount of people waiting for them. This show has a huge following, seriously huge. But I have a little one who is nutty for the show, and so its not one I can skip without consequences, partly because it was the first time I had seen Alyson Stoner at a convention. Every year I not only bring back something signed by the cast, but also a voice memo of some sort for her, and she already had one from everyone there (Jeff 'Swampy' Marsh, Dan Povenmire, Vincent Martella, and Dee Bradley Baker) except Alyson. So while the line managers said only one thing per person signed, he let me slip in two since I also had a poster that was just missing Alyson’s signature, and Alyson recorded a message as Isabella inviting her to join the fireside girls. This cast is really great with their fans.

The last signing of the day for me was the Game of Thrones signing. It was the first time I had ever gotten a signing ticket and I could not be more excited. The downside was that it was at the WB booth. The way they set up their signings its almost impossible to get pictures if you’re in line for it, and even if you’re outside of it, they have security blocking it. But I got a little facetime with the cast, D.B. Weiss, David Benioff, George R.R. Martin, Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Michelle Fairley, Richard Madden, Rose Leslie, and John Bradley were all in attendance. The worst though was seeing some fan favorites who had perished it made me miss their characters all the more, but they all had other projects that they could talk about.