Max Brallier

1)      What’s your apocalypse survival plan?
In my head? DESTROY ALL THE MONSTERS! Hunt them down and beat them up and cruise around in a monster-crushing Corvette and save mankind. In reality? Probably cry a whole bunch, never leave my apartment, starve to death. 

2)      What’s the scariest creature(s) in this book?
The gargantuan terror: Acid Blarg! I always love in movies and comic books when bad guys take on their final form. The heroes think they’ve beaten the monster, and then no – it grows like 85 tentacles and a bunch of new teeth and starts hurling cars at you. And Acid Blarg is crazy-scary looking because Doug’s illustrations are so freaky and vivid.

3)      Although you have not survived the monster apocalypse (yet), are any parts of this story based on your own real life?
The tree house. I moved around a good amount when I was a young kid, and I never quite felt like I fit in – like Jack. So when we finally got settled, my dad built me a tree house in this apple tree in our back yard – sort of my own little Fortress of Solitude. It had a zip line and a rope ladder. I spent every day up there, reading comics, playing Magic with my best friend, spying on neighbors.

4)      Which scene in this book was the most fun to write?
I had a blast writing about Jack’s “Feats of Apocalyptic Success.” I love the idea of taking videogame achievements – for example, “Race a zombie 10 times to earn a reward” – and inserting them into real life. Plus the research wasn’t so bad – just playing videogames for hours and hours on end.

5)      If you were stocking a tree house for maximum protection from the zombie hordes, what’s the one item you’d be sure to bring with you?
I like Jack’s weapon of choice – the Louisville Slicer aka The Baseball Blade. As Jack says, “I call it the Louisville Slicer, because it used to be a Louisville Slugger, but now it’s splintered and sharp and it slices things and, well, you get it.” So yeah – give me that. And coffee. And Funyuns. And Coke Zero. And Mr. Goodbars.