When Pete Crowther over at PS Publishing agreed to collect my complete zombie stories to date in a single volume, all he asked was that I provide him with an original for the book so that all those Edelman completists out there would need to buy it. So I wrote the short story “What Will Come After,” which ended up also providing the title for the collection itself.
I felt I needed to push the envelope with this one, and so wrote the most personal zombie story I could imagine (well, the most personal story, period), one which looked ahead to what would occur after I died … and returned as one of the walking dead.
Not only am I in the story, but so is my wife, my parents, my son …
I’ve given readings of this story at conventions and have never managed to get through it without choking up. As time goes by, I think its affect on me will only get worse.