New Book Trailer and Lower Price

Hi everyone!

In preparing for the Tacoma Zombpocalypse (Tacoma Zombie Festerval and Preparedness Expo 2012) this weekend, I have lowered the price of the e-book both here and on Amazon to $2.99!

Also, we just finished putting together the first of two book trailers! You can check it out on the Home page or Media page of the site.

Are you unsure about reading the book? Check out the Free Chapters page for a small taste of the beginning of the book. But it gets better worse, so be sure to buy a copy to find out what befalls the residents of Willow Brook.

You can also read what others have been saying about the story on the Buzz page.

I’ll be taking video of the event this weekend and posting video and pics. Hope to see you there!!

This last Saturday found a crew of five (plus a helpful husband) in a cold, cement-walled garage shooting the first book trailer for When the Dead. On board we had:

• Shayla Jones – Shayla is the owner/operator of Phantomlight Media. She co-wrote the script for the shoot, aided immensely and equally in the creation of the concept and storyboard scenes and she directed and produced the shoot itself. Shayla also knows many talented and creative people and she brought several on board for the project.
• Domenic Barbero – I don’t know much about Domenic except that he is incredibly skilled at making visions come to life through the camera. He drove from Bellingham to work with us, provided valuable ideas for scenes and was super easy to work with. I recommend him wholeheartedly. Domenic was the Director of Photography for the shoot.
• Becky Hansen – Becky is my sister and zombie makeup partner extraordinaire. She was our Makeup Artist and Art Director and her work was disgustingly beautiful. She truly helped the dead walk, or, lay on a steel table . . .
• Nicholas Swenson – Nicholas was our infected person. He came early and put up with everything we put him through (ice packs and a fan to his half-naked body, onion to his eyes, liquid latex to his lips), a real trooper. He was so helpful, hardworking and aware of continuity issues. And for the record, he would survive the zombie apocalypse!

Of course I was there too. I got to play the mysteriously anonymous part of The Scientist. The trailer itself has a mix of imagery from the first (published) book and the second book that I am currently writing. Below are some sneak peek, unedited (!) stills from the video we captured. Check back for the actual trailer!!!

I can’t wait to make the second trailer! More characters, more weapons and a little bit of life and death.

Hello zombie fans,

I recently ran a contest offering a chance to become a character in the second novel of the When the Dead series. Congratulations to Erik Leiren and Rob Nickerson for securing novel fame!

If you feel like you missed out because maybe you didn’t check Facebook when you got home from work, maybe you don’t have fast hands or because you just didn’t know about it, make sure you “Like” When the Dead on Facebook and subscribe to the feed so you don’t miss out again.

Some of the contests/prizes to look forward to:

• – Get 10 of your Facebook friends to “Like” the When the Dead FB page – Win a spot in one of the WtD book trailers! (you must live in Seattle to participate for this one)




• – Leave reviews on three websites (websites to be determined by author, ask for links) – 75% off the WtD paperback! (you need to have read the e-book to participate)




• – Share a post from the WtD FB page or share a link to my purchase page – Receive a When the Dead sticker!

There will be more contests and I’ll be posting them on FB so check your news feed and win something! I’ll try to run one contest a week. Good Luck!!

If you’ve got your Kindle in front of you and you’re looking for a new zombie novel, visit the Kindle Store and search for Michelle Kilmer, When the Dead or go to the link here to purchase a copy of the book.

When you finish reading, don’t forget to leave a review and rate it!

We are amping up to make our first book trailer a reality. I can’t give too much away but I wanted to share a sneak peek of the wound makeup we are working on. I know, it’s gross! But you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t like a little gross, would you?

My sister and all-things-zombie buddy, Becky, did this awesome bite wound on my arm. Where normally we’d use a prefabricated latex wound, we opted to self-build one with spirit gum, wax and latex. The wax allowed us to control the size of the wound, the depth of the bite and also made for better blending between the wound and my actual skin as the wax is very pliable, smoothing right out.

Finishing touches with our trusty Ben Nye bruise kit, colorless body powder and stage blood complete the gore. Another wonderful thing about self-building a latex-sealed wax wound is that it stays more flexible, moving with the body, than a prefabricated latex wound does.

We have a few other makeup components to work on before the big shoot but overall things are really coming together. Check back for the trailer, probably in early October if things go as planned!