“Stemming the Tide” in DEAD NORTH

deadnorth

My story “Stemming the Tide” is included in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s DEAD NORTH (Exile Publications, 2013), a collection of Canadian zombie fiction from Exile Books. Contributors were tasked with writing tales of the dead that were uniquely set in Canada, regardless of time or place. My own piece is set at the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. The mechanics of the tide that comes in and out there are true, though I must confess the actual landscape differs in many ways from the real setting. Apart from the walking dead, of course. Still, that landscape isn’t what the story was about, but rather the dissolution of another relationship (if there even was one to begin with) and the growing spite that can happen near its end. This tale came together in a very short time—only a few days, in fact—which its length no doubt suggests, but unlike much of my work it did its coming together in a blazing heat, burning on its way out. I am pleased Ms. Moreno-Garcia liked it enough for her book.