Zombies, Fairies, and Ninjas... Oh My!

I just finished reading "Rot & Ruin" by Jonathan Maberry.  It was an excellent read.  I loved it.  His characters are really believable and it was a great coming of age story.  I loved the relationships between the characters.  Benny and Nix were believable and great.  I also liked Tom.  Benny was the central character of the story.  It was a postapocalyptic zombie story (and before you say anything YES I DO READ OTHER BOOKS TOO) and a very good one with a different twist on things.  I enjoyed Mr. Maberry's twist and thought it was well written.  I have read other books of his.  I will have a hard time deciding which is my favorite.  Previously Patient Zero was my favorite but I actually really like this one alot too.  I like the Joe Ledger series as The Dragon Factory was an excellent sequel but now I don't know which 2011 sequel I am looking forward to more.... Dust and Decay or The King of Plagues.  Either way he is a fantastic author - check him out if you haven't already!

So, being on another zombie kick all of a sudden - today I went to the library to pick up a book they were holding for me and it led to one of the oddest conversations I think I have had with my kids.  Ever. 

The book they were holding for me was "The Loving Dead," by Amelia Beamer that I got based on recommendations posted by Christopher Moore.  He is one of my favorite authors and being that I am on a huge zombie kick lately I thought I would give it a try.  I will let you know if I like it or not.

... Anyways back to the conversation.  My munchkin (age 9) saw the cover of the book and said, "Mommy wouldn't it be cool if there was a zombie that turned into a fairy and flew into the forest.  It could use its fairy dust to lure all the forest creatures to it and suck their brains out."

Keep in mind this is the child that HATES anything even remotely scary....

Next my son pipes up, adding his two cents, "Well I was going to write a book about a zombie apocalypse.  Because zombies are cool.  There was going to be a dark cloud that came over Dayton for 2 days and when it left there would be 10 survivors."

"Wow, kiddo," I said, "Who were you gonna let live?" 

He named off his choices which really surprised me.  They were ALL family.  No friends.  SO, I mention to the kids, "Well, that would be good for SHORT TERM survival but what about long term survival of the species?   You would have to continue on eventually.  You would need to pick a boyfriend for Lily and a girlfriend for you so that eventually you each could have kids and then maybe a few other couples to so that they could have kids too and eventually your kids could have kids with their kids and the human race could survive."

My son said, "OH yeah, you're right mom. I didn't think of that."

I teased a little, "Right - because brothers and sisters can't have babies together, they will be mutants, two headed and all.  I have seen them.  They shop at Wal-Mart after curfew for hooks, axes, and knives to go after the teens who are out making out instead of being where they told their parents they would be."

He laughed and said, "Very funny mom." (He is 12).

My daughter piped up, "We would be okay Mom - he and I aren't blood related.  IF we HAD to have babies they would be just fine.  I am yours and he is daddy's but we don't have any DNA the same.  They wouldn't MUTATE.  Daddy just adopted me.  We are a family but he is just my stepbrother.  We don't share blood."

I said, "We still need more survivors lets not make it a VC Andrews novel.  NEW SUBJECT!"

Sometimes kids are just too darn smart for their own good and as parents we shouldn't let their conversations continue just because they are amusing us.    I should have just turned the radio on once we got into the car!! HA!

They have both been obsessed with zombies since we participated in a Zombie Walk in Yellow Springs last summer.  They had so much fun.  The whole town staged a zombie attack to raise money and food for charity.   If you are connected to me on facebook I have a ton of photos of it up on there.   It was so much fun to participate in and it was crazy!!  My friend Hannah has a bunch of photos of it up here.:
http://www.gather.com/viewAlbum.action?albumId=27757&num=20&currentPage=1&start=0

She is a professional photographer and got a lot of really great shots.  Here is a shot she got of my daughter:

PHOTO BY HANNAH WALLEN

NOW, I want a frozen coke or a slushie.  Which is weird because I hate snow and I am freezing my butt off.  It makes no sense but I am going to just go with it. 

Now all this post needs is a ninja.  Brains......must have brains......