Author Spotlight: Vickie Johnstone

Let's welcome Author Vickie Johnstone!

I Dream of Zombies

A zombie novel set in London over six weeks in 2013, with a strong female lead character. 

It starts with a dream and then the nightmare takes over. 

It all begins on a summer’s day with the media reporting with some hilarity that people are dreaming of the dead coming to life, but those who have dreamt them are convinced they are a warning of things to come. Marla takes it all with a pinch of salt until she experiences the nightmares herself. Cue paranoia and disbelief until reality shows its new face. 

All over London there are incidences of people becoming sick and aggressive. As the attacks mount, the media is forced to take the matter seriously, but what is causing it? Is it a virus, and is it natural or man-made, and is the government responsible? 

Marla, her sister, Ellen, and friend Tommy find themselves fighting for their survival as their sense of reality is smashed. Will the army and police maintain control or will the country find itself in lockdown, isolated from the outside world? 

“Good character development, good descriptions...and friggin' scary” – Stewart Bint.

Excerpt:

The dream... 

"A sickening sense of dread ravages him as fear drifts over the surface of his skin like fingers, icy cold and unrelenting. He turns again and sprints towards the exit, his pace becoming increasingly slower as if something is pushing him back. Yet still he finds himself in the exact same position, his feet rooted to the spot, his arms sweeping, useless. His hair blows in the breath that the creature now turns on him, sickening in its putrid scent of death and putrefaction. There is not a word he can think of to describe this thing in front of him. Fear creeps, regardless. Twisting, crawling, the maggots swarm across its bloodied face as it opens its mouth wider. Something rips. The yawn seems to swallow him whole into this darkness of despair as a jagged, ripping pain overwhelms him; the sharp teeth chafing, gnawing at his neck, seeking to pierce the jugular vein within. From far off in the distance comes the ripple of laughter."