Author Interview: Carrie Harris

I have a secret. I have never read a zombie book. I have 2 sitting on my bookcase ready for me to read, but they aren’t the hysterically hilarious versions I’m expecting in Carrie Harris’s upcoming Bad Taste in Boys. One of my best blogger friends, Ashley @ Bookish Brunette, is currently having a Zombie Craze and you should totally check it out! It’s freaking hilarious. Okay on with the interview from Carrie Harris who amazes me in her hilariousity (Yes, that is a word.)

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Carrie Harris is a geek-of-all-trades and proud of it. Brains are her specialty; she used to work at a lab where they were delivered daily via FedEx. After that, it seemed only natural to write a zombie book. Now she lives in Michigan with her ninja-doctor husband and three zombie-obsessed children

Can you tell me about your book in 20 words or less?

A science nerd learns that the coach’s secret steroids are turning the football players into zombies! NOM NOM NOM.

Why zombies? Are these the zombies the zombies I would think of with rotting flesh and bulging eyes?

I like campy monster stories. Like the ones that make you go “EEEEW!” and cover your eyes while giggling uncontrollably. And zombies are really perfect for that combo of scary and funny. So yes, my zombies are pretty typical. I tried to give them a fairly plausible scientific background, but there comes a point as a zombie writer where you kind of have to say, “Oh, to heck with the science!” and throw in some dismembered body parts.

These zombies are formed from steroid use. This is a major issue in high schools where sports are its main focus. Where did you get your idea to focus on this issue?

Well, I knew I wanted to write a zombie book, and I also wanted to write about the dead football players from the movie Beetlejuice. They’re only in the movie for about a minute, but they always crack me up. So I started asking myself how the football players could become zombified, and steroids were the logical choice. I also like how it kind of unintentionally says something about steroid use.

DON’T DO STEROIDS, KIDS. YOU WILL PUKE UP BLACK GUNK AND LOSE YOUR FINGERS AND POSSIBLY FRY YOUR HAND ON A GRIDDLE.

I think I should write all the DARE slogans. I’d have fun with that.

What is your current WIP (Work in Progress)? Can you tell me a little about it?

I’m just putting the finishing touches on the next Kate Grable adventure, which is tentatively called BAD HAIR DAY. It’s about werewolves and nanotechnology and CSI and blueberry flavored astronauts and killer coconuts. I get the giggles whenever I think about it.

Do you have a favorite place to sit and write? Where is your favorite place to read?

I have an office, but it’s full of boxes and I never use it. I like to sit on the couch in front of our big picture window for both writing and reading. That way if zombies attack our house, I’ll be able to see them coming. The key to survival is knowing that you’re under attack. And aiming for the head. And marrying a ninja.

Actually, I don’t really care about the first two, because I honestly did marry a ninja.

As a reader do you write in the same genre as you write? What is your current paranormal obsession?

I love a good YA paranormal, but I also like to read other things. I think you can get tunnel vision if you only read the same kind of book all the time. So I pick up a variety of things that are alternately funny, scary, explodey, and tear-jerking. But not at the same time, which is too bad, because that would be AWESOME.

Anything you'd like to add?

I’m ridiculously proud of my website. Like, I visit it and look at the pictures and giggle uncontrollably. I think I can say that without sounding like a total egotistical maniac, because I didn’t draw them, right? Anyway, you should come and visit!


See isn’t she like the epitome of hilariousity? Seriously?


Check out her book I bet it’s just as hilarious!

July 12th 2011, Delacorte Press
201 pages, Hardcover
Young Adult Series

Amazon | Goodreads

Someone's been a very bad zombie.

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steroids are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate!

She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town. . . and stay hormonally human.

Categories: Author Interviews