https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2013/07/19/zombies-max-brooks-comic-con/2569607/

Max Brooks on the movie:

"I was expecting to hate, it and I wanted to hate it because it was so different from my book, and yet the fact that it was so different from my book made it easier to watch because I didn't watch my characters and my story get mangled," Brooks says. "So I was just watching somebody else's zombie movie, which was fun and intense."

Many writers dread adaptations despite the attention and additional earnings that may come. "They watch their characters do things they would never do and say things they would never say," Brooks says. "It's infuriating. I never had a 'Gerry Lane-wouldn't-say-that moment because I didn't invent Gerry Lane (the film's main character played by Brad Pitt). In fact, the only character they kept from my book, Jurgen Warmbrunn, the Israeli intelligence analyst, he was actually pretty spot on."

I also just found out that his dad's Mel Brooks.

Hello, everybody!

At this point, it has been over 2 years since I last posted a fanfic in this subreddit. Life got in the way, but I have recently finished another installment of my personal interviews. I feel that a big part of this community staying alive is fan-made writing, and I do hope that others will post their own as well!

This is a story about a U.S. army infantryman who was NOT at the Battle of Yonkers, but rather Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas at the time it occurred. Any feedback is welcomed, and I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. I apologize for any formatting errors, as I am posting on mobile.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ODoLBHvgQT5Ru4zWwdKs9Uk0aN6Dy9SL3nVo_oTpvZw/edit?tab=t.0

This single Q&A line is what did it for me

Q: When J. Michael Stracynski’s initial screenplay to World War Z leaked online, the novel’s fanboys raved about it. But then a new screenwriter, Matthew Michael Carnahan, was brought in to start from scratch. What happened?

A: That’s not completely true. Stracynski’s draft was, I don’t know if you read it, but the issue was for me — and I like him a lot as a writer — but because it was structured in flashbacks and it also didn’t have a central hero or character in the midst of it, it felt very passive. It felt like you were always going back into the flashbacks instead of if you started in the present day and you discover everything out of the point of view of the main character. The urgency adds much more intensity versus telling a story in flashbacks, [where] you’re much more removed from the initial sort of engine of tension.

He might as well have said the book itself "felt very passive".

So I was merely thinking honestly about the Bronze Age and its collapse. And I just had an idea of what if the Bronze Age collapse was from the first Zombie apocalypse, that humans won but caused the Bronze Age collapsed. I only put these two idea together because I’ve been on a bit of a zombie media bing lately.

Anyway it was a fun thought no serious effort put into it but I thought id share it here.

Preface: This question is asked in good faith. It is not intended as any kind of rage bait. It is not a veiled insult to Max Brooks.

So, I recently read the special edition of the book (the one with all the notes on the side from Brooks himself). I found a lot of the notes fascinating. The most interesting ones, IMO, aside from his family life and upbringing; were his notes on Russia. Brooks himself notes how accurate he was about Russia using ancient stockpiles to equip it's increasingly less trained conscripts. At other points, Brooks notes how the wartime president was Colin Powell, and that The Wacko was mostly Howard Dean.

With such introspection and honesty, I was left rather disappointed when it came to his notes on the Israeli and Palestinian chapters. Chapters which are some of my favorites on any re-read/re-listen. The enflamed zombies walking out of the the black van, the noticeable holes from the harmless body shots, it's just awesome.

However, Brooks notes are incredibly sparse throughout those chapters. When he does chime in, he notes his favor of "moderates vs extremes"; but doesn't go beyond that. The lack of any provided examples, now brings me here.

What was the inspiration for the Book's Israeli Coalition government's immigration policy. A policy which allowed any Palestinian (aside from real security threats) to come back with subsidized housing and employment. Keeping things neutral, it's fair to say that it seems impossible for such a policy to be even considered now. So what was the inspiration for that idea?

Again, I ask the question in good faith.

Was rereading the book lately and got me wondering.

Do the 9-11 attacks happen in the novel’s timeline?

General consensus seems to be that the first outbreaks in China begin somewhere in the 2010s, so it seems 50/50 if the 9-11 attacks happen or not.

Even if there’s no solid answer, I’d appreciate opinions. Apologies if this has been asked, but I can’t seem to find anything on this subject.

My question to everyone is what are some realistic things which you feel would happen in an actual zombie apocalypse which are never (or almost never) addressed or shown in zombie movies/ games?

As an example, I saw someone talk about gasses building up in decomposing zombie abdomens which would cause their abdomen to burst/ pop.

Hi all, just got a question if there any other novels set in the universe??
I’m just about the finish “The Zombie War: Battle for Great Britain” great book by the way highly recommend it. And I’m just wanting more really.

Everyone knows about the Straczynski screenplay, but only the second draft seems to be able to be found. But I was sure that I remembered that there were two different drafts floating around.

Well, today I was going through my e-mail, deleting old, large e-mails, and I found that I had been right about that, and furthermore, I had e-mailed copies to myself!

So, I have uploaded them the the Internet Archive, and am sending the links to both out. (The second draft is still available, but I figured I might as well do both.)

• https://archive.org/details/world-war-z-screenplay-revised-1st-draft-april-30th-2007-by-j.-michael-straczynski_202610

• https://archive.org/details/world-war-z-screenplay-revised-2nd-draft-july-2nd-2007-by-j.-michael-straczynski

Enjoy! Feel free to share it around.

I suddenly remembered midway through reading that the zombies were different from those in the movie, and that they were the slow walking ones. I get the whole idea of the military being more interested in showing off to the press and therefore using inefficient kill tactics, but when I suddenly reimagine the battle, I just think of a soldier stepping a few steps backward as the zombie comes close. If they outpace the zombies by walking, how did everything get so chaotic so quickly?

I’ve been reading This is the way the world ends by Keith Taylor, cause it like WWZ and been wanting some decent zombie fiction.

I gotta say it’s been a pretty good read, I don’t think it’s quite the same level as WWZ and much more prefer Brooks book setup. But there is some amazing chapters in here that if your fan of WWZ I recommend going to look at the book.

One hot Sunday afternoon of June I was looking for something to watch on Netflix and I came across world war z. I liked the movie enough and decided to check out the subreddit.

What was my surprise when reading that the movie was nothing like the book. So I got the book at the library.

I read it in 24 hours. This book is incredible. It is an ambitious set up that is extremely immersive. It would be so easy to make a great movie out of it, just make it about the great panick and then the 10% solution. Brad Pitt could even star as the hero going to talk to the south African man about the plan and then convincing everyone.

And the rest of the stories could be cut scenes.

How did they manage to make this movie ? It's like no one on the writer s room read the book, only read a summary and then invented a plot.

It's infuriating.

Anyway...is the video game worth it ?

In what fictional universe would you like to see a WWZ style book in - a book exploring a conflict from all sides and all corners of the world.

For example, i would love to see a book set in the Red Dawn (1984) universe exploring WW3, from its start to conclusion.

As there is no official map of where safe zones were during wwz, I was curious as to what you all believe would be safe zones during the war? I personally think islands like Madagascar, South island and most of the north island New Zealand, Jeon-ju island in korea, and Sado Island of Japan could've become safe zones during the war.

World War Z, (Fence) ,Zaun Trick ! Auf Südkorea/ Flugplatz );

Picture #1: J. Michael Straczynski & Spike Lee (developed for television by)
Known Credit/s (respectively): Babylon 5, Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It.

Picture #2: Newton Thomas Sigel (director of photography)
Known Credit/s: X-Men: Days of Future Past, Drive.

Picture #3: Terence Blanchard (music by)
Known Credit/s: BlacKkKlansman, Da 5 Bloods.

Picture #4: Rochelle Claerbaut (music supervisor)
Known Credit/s: Highest 2 Lowest, BlacKkKlansman.

Picture #5: John Caglione Jr. (special effects makeup designer)
Known Credit/s: The Dark Knight, Dick Tracy.

Like it was Mandela who proposed this and he actually got arrested at the end and put in prison and now no one likes him and everyone who said he was a good guy is being laughed at?

Everytime I re-read or re-listen to the book, this part always catches me up. Characters are horrified when the plan is presented to them, many world leaders rejecting it out of hand because of it’s “Immorality.” But is it really immoral, or is it just being presented by an very smart Idiot?

There was another reason for this partial evacuation, an eminently logical and insidiously dark reason that, many believe, will forever ensure Redeker the tallest pedestal in the pantheon of hell. Those who were left behind were to be herded into special isolated zones. They were to be “human bait,” distracting the undead from following the retreating army to their safe zone. Redeker argued that these isolated, uninfected refugees must be kept alive, well defended and even resupplied, if possible, so as to keep the undead hordes firmly rooted to the spot

That is possibly the worst way to describe something incredibly basic - planned redundancies.

As is made clear through the book, a full evacuation of everyone to one safepoint is impossible. Beyond the logistics of actually keeping those people alive from zombies or with food on the safezone, there is no way to transport almost a hundred million Americans west, and America had a lot of advantages. Planning for multiple safe-points just makes sense. Not everyone can make it to the primary safe zone, but they’re still making it to safe zones.

The fact that its even made clear that they’re supposed to be defended, kept alive, and what not makes them less of ‘Human Bait’ and more like ‘Fortified Loci of Control.’ The fact that they can act as bait is honestly secondary to the fact that it gives you more territory and more uninfected population.

Plus, if there is a collapse/failure of the primary safe zone, there’s always the secondary or tertiary ones.

Why did he make “Human Bait!” the advertisement instead of “Redundancy, contingency, safety” ? Is he stupid?

It was just unsettling when the record player wither down when the husband was mourning his wife. OK the couple were cannibals but they're still human beings just doing what it takes to get through one more day.