5 Questions with K. R. Chin
by Julianne Snow, owner of the "Days with the Undead" blog page
This entry was posted on April 13, 2014. It was filed under 5 Questions
Today I have the pleasure of featuring an interview with author K. R. Chin.
For those of you unacquainted with K. R., let’s take a moment to introduce him… K. R. Chin, known as “Storm” to his friends and associates, is a long time outdoorsman who got his start in much the same manner as many of us, as a member of the Boy Scouts accompanied by a heavy dose of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. The Scout leaders were former Marines with histories. They and his father “Jack” Chin, thoroughly ruined him by teaching him basic skills from first aid to firearms handling and beyond. His mother, Beverly, made certain he could perform any domestic chore capably. Both of his parents believed that their children should be as self-reliant as possible, as soon as possible.
In part due to their beliefs and perhaps equally much from personal inclination he has a history of tinkering with machines and electronic equipment which has persisted to this day. This gift was further augmented by his training as a Radiotelegraph/teletype operator and automotive mechanic. These talents have served him well throughout his life as he has been able to modify or construct equipage to fit his specific needs. Storm’s martial arts education began along similar lines; having been started by his father and uncles. However, in this case he didn’t just receive training in hand to hand combat from men who’d been there, he also received instruction from Sensei Frank F Kovacs, the soke of Minna-jitsu.
In the midst of all this, sometime around the eighth grade, it was discovered that Storm had a gift for writing. His initial offerings were tech based science fiction and blank verse poetry as well as attempts at other writing forms. During his tour of duty he wasn’t able to find the time to write and after his retirement his spouses discouraged any attempt to return to writing.
Because of his own tour of duty he was allowed to practice his complete skill set in diverse settings.
After returning home to Ohio he became involved with a back country rescue group in a National Wilderness Area and furthered his education in Search and Rescue at the Cuyahoga Community College. He later obtained his Associates Degree in Criminal Justice at ITT Technical Institute.
Storm has also been a guest lecturer on diverse subjects in addition to having been a contributor in the development of survival programs taught by privately operated programs who have an emphasis on teaching LEO’s and the military. Currently he is developing programs to teach people that “survival” is less an expression of what he does than is “self-reliance.” His wife, Jackie, also encouraged him to return to his first love, writing, and combine his affection for zombie apocalypse fiction with the hard science he enjoys learning about; ‘Survivors of the Apocalypse’ Volumes 1 and 2 are the first results of that project with Volume 3 currently in process. Storm also assists Jackie with her highly acclaimed “Zombiepalooza Radio” program on ZTalkRadio.com.
Welcome K. R.! Now let’s get to the questions… Tell us about your zombies? If the dead were to rise, do you think you’d stand a chance against them?
My zombies are the result of a bio-weapons development program conducted by an African nation. They’re designed to be a self-replicating, self-sustaining weapons system for use in foreign nations. The problem? They escaped control …. Their chief advantage is the level of disbelief people have and the ‘ability’ to coordinate their attack well enough to ‘mob’ their target. People do stand a chance against them if they can think, process and adapt quickly enough, anything else is going to pretty well get you killed.
What was your first experience with zombie media? Was that experience was drew into writing the genre?
My earliest experience with the zombie genre was with comic books such as ‘Tales from the Crypt’ and other monster/horror comics. Then came the magazine ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’. By the time I saw ‘The Night of the Living Dead’ I’d been writing techno based science fiction for about two years. It wasn’t until Jackie began encouraging me to do something with my skill at telling stories and my love of the Zombie Apocalypse genre that I actually wed the two… and I’ve been producing stories on a fairly regular basis since. I draw heavily on what I know about tech and my own past experiences to fashion the stories I write.
Now it’s time for a Pop Quiz: The item to your left is your only weapon during the Zombie Apocalypse. What is it and what do you think are your chances at survival?
A porcelain coffee cup? It’s doable, but I’d rather work with the weapon to my right hand, that’s where I usually have my T1 Tracker knife. Both can be used as a knife (the cup, with some work, obviously) and knives of any sort are the most basic tool for constructing many things.
List your five favourite pieces of Zombie media.
I’d have to say books, movies, television and podcasts. I nearly never play video games.
We all know that we sometimes have bad luck. Keeping that in mind, what song do you think would get stuck in your head, playing over and over again on an incessant loop?
Probably your easiest question, ‘Hair of the Dog’ by Nazareth. When I was a cooler (Security manager) some of the DJ’s would play that as I walked in before announcing that everyone had better be on their best behavior. It still gets stuck in my head, sometimes.
Thank you K. R. for taking the time to answer my questions. If you would like to connect with K. R., you can find him on Facebook and his website. Now let’s take a look at K. R.’s Survivors of the Apocalypse (Volume 2)… Don’t forget to click on the link to be taken to Amazon! Some stories continue, some stories begin, as with life so it goes in the world of the Zombie Apocalypse. This edition of the series will continue several of the stories while showing more of the background of other of the characters you met in the first volume. We also introduce additional characters in the Zombie Apocalypse universe.
