Zombies let us explore notions of the apocalypse - no water, food, medical care, the government imploding - while letting us sleep at night.

Of all the weapons discussed in this book, nothing is more important than your primary firearm. Keep it cleaned, keep it oiled, keep it loaded, keep it close. With a cool head, steady hand, and plenty of ammunition, one human is more than a match for an army of zombies.

When I started writing, there was nothing about zombies. It was all teen movies, which to me are scarier than zombies, but that's another story.

Remember; no matter how desperate the situation seems, time spent thinking clearly is never time wasted.

Gu was a worrier, a neurotic curmudgeon. If he had a headache, it was a brain tumor; if it looked like rain, this year's harvest was ruined. This was his way of controlling the situation, his lifelong strategy for always coming out ahead. Now, when reality looked more dire than any of his fatalisitic predictions, he had no choice but to turn tail and charge in the opposite direction.

Lies are neither bad nor good. Like a fire they can either keep you warm or burn you to death, depending on how they're used.

There comes a point where emotions must give way to objective facts.