YOUNG AUTHOR OVERCOMES THE CHALLENGES OF MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY TO EXPLORE THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
Like many young writers, Javan Bonds dreams almost daily of the apocalypse – usually one populated by the walking dead. But his real-life day-to-day existence is almost as challenging as the world of zombies and collapsing civilizations. Javan, now 30 years old, was diagnosed with Friedrich’s Ataxia, a form of muscular dystrophy, at the age of 11.
Today, Javan’s condition is growing progressively worse. He was 13 years old when he became wheelchair-bound; his sight has been diminishing since 2010 (he is now legally blind), and his hearing has been affected as well. “The summer before my senior year,†he says, “my heart started beating out of rhythm.†Diagnosed as atrial fibrillation, it eventually formed a blood clot. “I had to undergo a transesophageal cardioversion to shock my heart back into rhythm. I went from being a fat kid at 220 pounds to a waif at 120 pounds in just a few months. The class ring I got in my junior year was size 10; I currently wear a size 6.â€
But Javan has never let his disability rule him. In spite of it all, he continues to “read†as many as five audio books every week, and with the help of adaptive technologies, as well as his friends and family, he continues to explore his own dark, dystopian worlds. His four current books, he says, are only the beginning.
Javan’s MD hasn’t slowed him down; quite the opposite. He has already written and published three books in his Still Alive zombie series – Zombie Lake, Zombie Island, and most recently Zombies on a Plane – as well as a grim near-future dystopian novel, Free State of Dodge, about the decline of the United States and its rebirth. And to hear him tell it … he’s just getting started.
“I’m a working author,†Javan says. “Though not starving as some are, I do try to watch my girlish figure.†He published his first book, Zombie Lake, in 2016, and has plans to publish a total of six books in the series by the end of 2017. His books have become Amazon best-sellers, praised for their humor as much as their action. The Still Alive series follows a group of survivors in a small Alabama town as they try to keep their wits about them and make a new life in a world overrun by naked, nocturnal, yellow-eyed, blue-skinned zombies. “Fun times,†Javan says. “Think Zombieland, just better.â€
Meanwhile, his condition continues to deteriorate, and Javan is not shy in talking about it. “Things that were blurry a few years ago are nothing but flat blobs now,†he says. “My sensitivity to color is gradually fading and my depth perception is nonexistent. Reading has always been my escape; and it still is; only now I am limited to audiobooks.â€
Yet the stories keep coming. “For some time, I enclosed myself in a bubble of depression and bitterness, only viewing the world through eyes that could no longer really see it. In December 2015, I entered the hospital, holding over 30 pounds of water weight. The doctors gave me six months to two years to live.†But it was that pronouncement that changed everything. “In that moment,†he said, “I decided that if I was going, I would leave something of myself behind to be remembered.â€
Free State of Dodge was released in May of 2016. The first of the Still Alive series would soon follow and was published at the end of 2016. Today, he says, “I am doing everything in my power to not let my disease keep me from living my life to the fullest.†And he has these words for other stricken by a life-shortening illness: “Live your life. Light your candle on both ends and let it burn. It may burn out faster, but your flame will burn brighter than some who live much longer.â€
Links to his books on Amazon:
Zombie Lake:Â https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MY2S3A9/
Zombie Island:Â https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XHJP7JZ/
Zombies on a Plane:Â https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0728L5YRS
Free State of Dodge:Â https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F9PRXL4
Javan on social media:
Author page on Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/javan.bonds.books/
The Official Javan Bonds Fan Page:Â https://www.facebook.com/groups/1446780428741620/
Still Alive Series on Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/Still-Alive-The-Zombie-Series-610814469076865/
Zombie Lake Synopsis:
Mo Collins hasn’t gotten very far in life. In fact, the End of the World has come. Not an alien invasion or a planet destroying comet, but you guessed it: The Zombie Apocalypse. He’s living on a replica pirate ship, The Viva Ancora, that is currently docked on an Alabama lake, fifteen miles from his hometown.
In this now-dead city, Mo spends his days eating nothing but fish, and attempting to make conversation with his anti-social crewmate, Crow.
There hasn’t been much to look back on over his past twenty-nine years, so, you would think a stampeding horde of naked blue nocturnal zombies defecating everywhere and infecting every living being would provide some high intensity heroics, a big chance at some real adventure—slaughtering the undead, rescuing damsels, that sort of thing.
What Mo finds instead is far more intriguing, opens his life in bigger ways, and is a lot less messy.
Destiny’s a bitch, and soon saddles Mo with an unlikely prophet who labels him the Hero. It’s hard to swallow at first, but the longer Smokes’s divine forecasting plays out exactly as he says it must, the more Mo and his growing number of crewmates accept that in an Apocalyptic situation, fate sometimes deals everyone a hand to play.
Working together isn’t easy, but neither is saving the world.
Zombie Island Synopsis:
Being The Hero of a zombie apocalypse ain’t easy. People expect you to defeat lunatics, save survivors, and recover treasure, when you would rather just make time with your girl. Mo Collins can’t avoid his scripted destiny; his personal Oracle, Smokes, won’t let him. He can still bitch about it, though.
The crew of the replica pirate ship, the Viva Ancora, is growing, and the cast of characters are fulfilling their roles towards destiny. As the group swells, the need to clear the town of the infected and secure Guntersville Island becomes paramount. Isolation from the world will protect them from the naked, blue, undead cannibals—or will it?
Something’s not right with these “zombies;†the script is verging into the unwritten. The more contact the team has with their predatory enemies, the less certain they are of their actions. Are they wiping out a plague…or murdering a new order?
Follow Mo and his crew as they try to skew fate and carve out their own society on an Alabama lake where the fish bite, the Zombies bite… and sometimes life bites. Welcome ashore, friend, to Zombie Island!
Zombies On A Plane Synopsis:
For Mo Collins surviving the zombie apocalypse isn’t getting any easier. Defeating blunatics, saving survivors, recovering treasure and securing Guntersville Island has been taking up Mo’s time when he would rather just make time with his girl. But he can’t avoid his scripted destiny; his personal Oracle, Smokes, won’t let him. He can still bitch about it, though.
The crew of the replica pirate ship, the Viva Ancora, is growing, and the cast of characters are fulfilling their roles towards destiny. Having found his parents and assured their safety on the Island there is still someone else missing; His brother, Easy.
So Mo, Smokes the pilot (Oh Dear God!) and The Expert are off to find Easy. His last known location? Birmingham, AL. Yeah, it total makes sense to fly off to Alabama’s largest city which is assuredly overflowing with the naked, blue, undead cannibals.
But The Hero’s gotta do what The Hero’s gotta do.
Follow Mo and his crew as they try and skew fate, risk life and limb, again, and as they explore more of their new world and go in search of Mo’s lost brother. Easy.
All aboard Flight Z as we fly to parts unknown, where the Zombies bite… and sometimes life bites. Fasten your seatbelt friend; Welcome to Zombie On A Plane!
