Undead by Clay Morgan

What's a nice sweet girl like me who only likes reading about rainbows and butterflies and puppies and true love doing reading books about zombies?  Yes you read that right. Zombies.

The story begins almost a year ago when I was at a marketing seminar put on by my agent. A group of us went out to dinner, and I ended up sitting by this guy named Clay. We did the requisite, "So what do you write," conversation that invariably happens at these things. By now, you know that my answer was, "I write romance." Cue the stars in the eyes and the little angels fluttering above my head. His response: "I write about zombies." Um, okay. I'm not really a zombie girl. Not only does hubby explicitly forbid me from watching movies that do not end with, "and they all lived happily ever after SO HELP ME GOD," I am also not allowed to watch scary or violent movies. I'm pretty sure this includes zombies since they're kind of gross, and I don't even watch the gross parts on medical dramas.

This should have ended any thoughts I might have entertained about Clay's zombie book. But Clay is a neat guy, and he had some really interesting things to say about zombies. More importantly, how WE are really zombies. And I thought, "Huh. Maybe I'll read this book."

So... when Clay asked to have some folks help him spread the word, I decided to give it a shot. Even though I'm creeped out by zombies and anything that might possibly be a little gross, I've learned to keep an open mind. Besides, the zombie thing is about JESUS, so how bad could it be?

I learned three important lessons: One, do not make the mistake of thinking that you can start this book while making dinner. Your family won't appreciate dinner being a lot late. Two, if you're going to eat or drink while reading this book, do not read the footnotes.

The third, and most important lesson I learned is that in spite of my desire to live in the land of rainbows and butterflies and happily-ever-afters, I still dwell among the living dead. One of my favorite parts in this book was when Clay talks about us living in the state of undead. My favorite section is on page 122 "We find ourselves behind walls that keep us from God, whether it we build them ourselves or allow others to do it for us. We're chained to things that keep us from the sustenance of life that God offers. In that spiritual sense, we slowly die behind obstructions of self-love or addiction or whatever it is that buries us alive. It's often hard to recognize the face of death in our own lives. We don't see it so clearly when we are the ones on spiritual life support. Undead monsters make a great metaphor for spiritual death because decaying zombies and eternally damned vampires symbolize the opposite of purity and holiness, which is the essence of God."



We're dying. Every single one of us. And we yearn for the wholeness that can only come from God. Maybe that's why the whole death and dying and zombie thing freaks me out. Maybe there's a part of me that's afraid to look in the mirror and see the truth- I can pretty myself up all I want, stick a unicorn in the background, but it won't change reality. The good news is that while I am dying in this earthly body, there is real resurrection, real life after death, and I don't have to stay a zombie to receive it.

So that's the real me... zombie girl, ready for action. I hear tell that my next encounter with Clay the Zombie King might involve some swing dancing. Thanks, Clay, for sending me a copy of the book and putting me on your Undead Launch Crew. For those of you who are nice little girls like me who prefer rainbows and butterflies and happiness all around, this book is for you. And if you dig the whole zombie thing, I think you'll like it too. Visit Clay's website for more information: http://claywrites.com/undead

Zombie Swing Forever!!