Snatchers (Book 7): The Dead Don't Yield (27 page)

THE END

If you enjoyed reading SNATCHERS 7:
The Dead Don't Yield
, feel free to mail me your thoughts on
facebook
or Twitter, or leave a review where you've downloaded the book.

Very kind regards,

Shaun Whittington

Author's Notes

Once more, another big thank you for purchasing the latest book in the Snatchers series. The fact that the series is still continuing is because YOU guys are still buying the stories. Right now I really have no idea when this will end.

Originally, I wanted to turn it into a trilogy, then I thought maybe I could stretch it out to five books and see what happened. At the moment I have a Snatchers: Volume One out, which is the first three books. Eventually I'll have a Volume Two out which will be (obviously) books four to six. So my latest idea is to go up to book nine, at least then I can still have my trilogy in the form of volumes by 2017: Volume One (Books 1-3), Volume Two (Books 4-6) and Volume Three (Books 7-8 or 9). So there will be EIGHT or NINE books in this series, at least.

For me, this seventh book felt like a first book: New camp, new characters and new enemies were introduced, so it is probably slower-paced than the ones that you have read in the past. I don't think we get our first zombie kill until chapter ten, by the archer, and even then there's hardly a resistance as they are killed with ease by her crowbar.

Speaking of which, in this latest addition we have a new character, nameless at the moment, and is a young female survivor that has a bow and carries a crowbar. In chapter ten we re-visit scenes from Book Two as she walks through the sports centre that Pickle and co stayed, the same sports centre where Thomas Slade had died and where Kerry Evans took her life. In Book Two the Snatchers invaded the centre and the new character was now walking and looking at the aftermath from what happened four or five weeks ago. The creatures in the swimming pool, that she destroyed with the crowbar, were the same ones that fell in after Jack Slade over a month ago, once he fell in after unsuccessfully hanging himself.

Other stuff that was mentioned was the almost headless ghoul in the sports centre who was wearing the 'Slightly Damaged Human' T-shirt, which was the same person that Pickle refused to pick up in the prison van at the end of Book One, and the same person who was infected in the opening chapter of Book Two who was eventually decapitated by Jack with a kettle-bell whilst trying to escape at the end of Book Two.

Wolf's cabin from Book Three and Four was also revisited as The Bear and his companions briefly stayed at the cabin, and the young boy—that attacked Pickle but was soon put in his place in Book Four—had also made a small appearance before being mistaken for the dead at the Sandy Lane barrier and taken out after Bear had removed his hand.

In Book Four there was an episode where Vince and Jack were lost in the woods, and it was part of the book that I really loved. There was good banter between the pair of them, and it showed the reader that Vince wasn't all
that
bad. I decided to re-visit this scenario with Vince and Pickle being lost and I hoped these pair provided some humorous moments for you readers.

In this one, like the last book, Karen is taking a backseat when it comes to the action. She has to. But I do have plans for her in the next instalment, and I would really like to try and pair her up in a situation, somehow, where it's just her and Sheryl.

Since Shaz's demise, I had to bring in another strong female character, not because I wanted to even things up or that I was afraid that some female readers would be put-off by a male dominated book where all the MCs were men, but in real life females are just as strong as men. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I used to be a prison guard and seen many female officers take down a violent inmate while other male guards stood around pissing their pants, so why would it be so different in an apocalyptic situation?

Sheryl's character is definitely somebody who is psychologically damaged and has an edge that no other character has about them. The sexual incident with Lee only a day after she was attacked by Ben and Cal proved what an unbalanced and unpredictable individual she is. Near the end we see one of the reasons why Sheryl Smith is a damaged human being, and I'll be digging deeper into her psyche over the next couple of books. Like Vince, maybe she'll be a character that some may grow to like...eventually.

I really do wish I could write at breakneck speed, but the harsh reality is that I usually get a book out three or four months after the last one. I released the first Snatchers book in September 2013, and now we're onto book seven. I suppose seven books in two years isn't that bad. The fact that some people are willing to wait and continue to purchase the next one makes me put the Snatchers series as my top priority when it comes to writing, but it is going to end eventually, I just don't know when.

Finally, even though I'm not a fan of cliff-hangers, I admit I was a little cruel with this book. What's happened to Vince? Will The Bear get his comeuppance? Will the camp be safe? And who is the mysterious archer in the woods?

All will be revealed in the next book.

Very kind regards,

Shaun.

Snatchers 8: The Dead Don't Pray

The next book in the Snatchers series will be out late 2015/early 2016