Title: The Beautiful Dead
Author: Daryl Banner
Genre: Post- Apocalyptic
Publication Date: August 2013
She’s dead.
In fact, the whole world’s dead. Every single person, apparently.
Unburied and reimagined into a beautiful living-dead woman called Winter, she
is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in a quaint, peaceful city with no
hunger, no sickness and no bills to pay. Her Second Life is perfect in every
way possible.
So why is she so bent on destroying it all?
After angering the mayor, befriending rebel headless teenagers and
igniting romance with a dark and brooding neighbor, she finds herself wrestling
madly with a First Life she cannot remember and this Second Life she cannot
accept. Not to mention the maniacal army of rotting corpses who want her dead.
Again.
But none of that matters in comparison to an even worse problem.
There’s a guest in her house. A rude, good-looking man on the run ... a man
with a heartbeat.
Daryl Banner is a writer and composer who graduated from the
University of Houston with a degree in Theatre and Psychology.
He does not write in any single genre, as his stories tend to span
several. He is most inspired by the smart and unlikely hero, but urges you (the
reader) not to fall in love with them; they may deceive you with their
innocence. He is thrilled by putting his characters in terrible situations
where they must face choices and challenges that seem impossible to overcome.
Daryl Banner writes contemporary fiction, sci-fi/fantasy (both in
medieval and futuristic senses), unique takes on the apocalypse and paranormal
romance genre, as well as magic realism. He cannot wait to hear what you think
about his stories and welcomes (and responds to!) all feedback.
1. I was born and raised on video games, from Nintendo classics to
Final Fantasy. I even have a scar on my right eyebrow from a fight I had with
my brother over a game when I was four years old.
2. I'm miserably single and enjoying every miserable minute of it.
Anyone who says they're happily single, y'er a liar! Just kidding, everything's
amazing.
3. I have an unhealthy obsession with Lego, ever since I was a
kid. I even still have five Lego castles that I've rebuilt from my childhood
(ah, what calming therapy that was) that my nephew destroys every weekend.
4. When I'm having a particularly stressful night and cannot calm
myself to sleep, I watch an episode of Bob Ross's The Joy Of Painting. Really
feeds the soul, too. (Look at all that burnt umber and magic white in the sky!)
5. I have spent hundreds (maybe thousands) more hours than I will
admit on such time-draining life-consuming games like World Of Warcraft, Final
Fantasy, and RollerCoaster Tycoon. I maybe still do.
6. For my acting resumes, I round up and say I'm 5'5 because I
count the thick-soled shoes I'm wearing and no, I don't have a shortie complex.
What, you think I'm short? You calling me short? You better not be calling me
short.
7. I double-majored in Theater and Psychology at the University of
Houston, and at my time of graduation, I was exactly one hour short of being
able to proudly say that I earned a "double degree" ... Whatever that
is.
8. I was the first person in Katy High School history to be
invited onto the Yearbook staff without having taken the prerequisite
Journalism class.
9. I have not spent a single dollar on movie tickets or popcorn in
the last nine years, as I've been (and currently am) a senior manager at a
movie theater since 2005.
10. My brother is kinda named after the hulk by accident. Don't
piss him off.
11. Though I was born and raised in the south (Texas) both my
parents are from the north (Canada & New York)
12. I've been a suburban cat my whole life, born and raised in the
burbs, dangerously close to the farms and countryside of my small-yet-growing
hometown of Katy (which rests just outside the smoggy clutches of Houston)
13. While initially writing "The Beautiful Dead", I
typed with black background and glowing green letters in my word processor to
"set the mood" of the story.
14. My fanboy letter written to Chuck Palahniuk resulted in him
sending me back a box full of glitter, toys, and a homemade necklace, as well
as a letter of encouragement. He says sometimes even he gets sick of words, but
felt it necessary to write me. I couldn't stop smiling for weeks.
15. I taught myself to play piano when I was still a little
Nintendo-playing kid, learning all my favorite video game tunes by ear. There
are two full-size upright pianos in my house that I sometimes refer to as my
two goddesses. Seriously. They were both passed on to me, one from a dear
friend, the other from my mom's ex-husband's ex-friend's ex.
16. I tour in a trilogy of comedy musicals with two opera divas in
which I act, play piano and keyboards, and beatbox. We will be touring the
Houston area this summer!
17. I had a black cat named Stormy ever since I was five. She
developed diabetes and sadly passed away six years ago. I sometimes see her in
the shadows of my house.
18. My late-night cravings are Chinese food, crispy tacos, and
freeze-n-squeeze margarita pouches.
19. For fun, I do digital covers of popular songs and TV show
themes (and a lot of 80's-and-90's-born radio hits) in an old-school Nintendo
8-bit music style. Because I bend some of the strict four-track-only rules of
8-bit (and sometimes include real drums instead of the obligatory noise track),
I call my remixes "Hyper 8-bit" and release them on my YouTube page.
"http://www.youtube.com/darylbanner"
20. Though I primarily write novels now, my main focus throughout
highschool and college was playwrighting. At 16, my first play "Seeing
Slowly" won a contest, earning it a production at a regional theater in
Houston (Alley Theater, HYPE 2001) and at 18, I directed my second play
"Fake Love" at my high-school as one of two senior-directed shows. In
college, my play "Permanent Daylight" was selected from hundreds to
be produced as part of the Edward Albee Playwrighting Workshop, mentored by the
great (and late) Lanford Wilson, who taught me more about writing and people
than I could ever express in mere words. I owe him so, so much, and sometimes
when I'm writing, I hear his voice in my head telling me "No!" and
"Ugh!" and "!??" and then "There you go, Daryl ...
That's better."
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