New Zombie ‘Tec with Dan Shamble in ‘Sleep with the Fishes’
The zombie detective deals with organized crime (involving, of course, actual monsters)… Plus there’s a TV show in the works!
“Series fans will be pleased to see Shamble still going strong.” (Publishers Weekly)
Horror fiction and comedy have worked together for years: From the classics with Universal monsters (like Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein and The Munsters and Mad Monster Party) to ‘90s classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Army of Darkness to more recent mashups like Shaun of the Dead and What We Do in the Shadows.
(And more! Feel free to insert your own favorite examples in the list.)
Another great example is Kevin J. Anderson’s crime / horror / comedy fiction starring Dan Shamble, Zombie PI. His latest in the series is the brand-new novel Sleep With the Fishes (Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Book 12).
From Sleep With the Fishes’ official description:
There’s a new Big Fish in the Unnatural Quarter! When the demon Mafia Don receives an eternal prison sentence—life without parole, and he’s immortal—a new underworld kingpin rises to the surface. Sammy the Salmon and his scaly goons are running the illicit wolfsbane trade—and bodies start to float belly up. Only Dan Shamble can stop a mafia family war that puts his friends in the crossfire!
(Technically, there are more things that also happen in the novel. More complete description here.)
Why Anderson loves writing his monster / comedy / detective stories
KJA is actually a very busy author——writing lots of different kinds of horror / SF / fantasy books. This includes a number of official titles for media giants like Star Wars and X-Files and Dune.
But he always loves revisiting Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.—which he says is one of his favorite characters:
“He’s funny, he’s clumsy, he’s charming,” the author says. “Whenever I’m writing something new in the series, my wife says ‘You must be working on Dan Shamble, because you’re always in a good mood.’”
Notes Publishers Weekly:
“Anderson’s zombie sleuth leading man returns (after 2025’s Horn Dogs) for another zany outing. Shamble gets a hazardous assignment: Sammy the Salmon, the new kingpin overseeing the illegal wolfsbane trade, wants him to track down the financial records of a rival crime boss. Unsurprisingly, violence ensues and Shamble finds himself in the crosshairs. Anderson’s silly sense of humor offers plenty of easter eggs for genre readers. Series fans will be pleased to see Shamble still going strong.” (Publishers Weekly)
The author says that, despite his business with all those other big-deal books, he’s especially fond of the zany antics in these zombie PI books:
“My Dan Shamble, Zombie PI stories are more like corny spoofs—Mad Monster Party, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein—but I fell in love with the characters so much when I was writing them, I would love to keep working on the series.” (Diabolical Plots)
He also explains how his wife helped influence him to write these stories:
“Rebecca influences everything I write; I talk with her about my projects as I’m thinking about them in the planning stages, she brainstorms with me as I develop the story and characters, and she critiques the draft manuscripts as she reads them. We watch many mystery TV shows, and know the expectations of the convoluted cases as well as the interesting characters. And what can be more interesting (or funny!) than a zombie private detective?” (Mt. Shasta News)
OH—AND THEN THERE’ THIS TV SHOW UPDATE
During his Kickstarter for Sleep With the Fishes, KJA shared some more info regarding the work-in-progress TV show starring the zombie detective:
Dan Shamble—Soon to Be a TV Series! Lights, Camera…Shamble!
“We’re excited to announce that Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. is in active development as a television series,” says Anderson. “I will write the series bible and the pilot, and serve as Executive Producer. This will be more fun than a truck load of free brains! For now, information is locked up as tight as a vampire’s coffin wrapped in silver chains…”
To get updates (on all the KJA stuff going on) join the author’s Readers Group.
Find Sleep With the Fishes
WordFire Press (official publisher)
Bookshop.org (support your local bookstore!)
Libro.fm (support your local bookstore!)
Kobo
BAM! (Books-a-Million)
The zombie detective deals with organized crime (involving, of course, actual monsters)… Plus there’s a TV show in the works! “Series fans will be pleased to see Shamble still going strong.”