Daryl Dixon & Xander Macnamara: Where The Walking Dead meets Zombie Attack!

People often ask me where the idea came from to base the novel around a 16 year old boy with a katana. I think the most honest answer is that Xander springs from my childhood obsession with martial arts and weapons and all things horror. As a kid I would read about ninjas and fantasize about becoming one. I watched Enter the Dragon with religious fervor. I sent away for nunchucks and throwing stars from the back of martial arts magazines. I would sharpen the metal blades up and hurl them at my backyard fence until it was pockmarked with proof of my 'extensive' warrior training. I still have some of them and a pair of fading chucks with the gold painted dragons peeling off. During this same period of my childhood I also spent Saturdays mornings doing chores and Saturday afternoons watching Kung Fu theater.

So Xander is my inner child set loose in a more modern setting after all hell has broken loose. He's also so many things I wasn't at that age as well – including a killer, albeit a reluctant one. He is the perfect protagonist to me because he had wisdom beyond his years but he still had the heart of a kid. His weapon of choice being a katana just made sense because it tied into his love affair with martial arts and his need for family, since it was a gift from his older brother. Also swords are quiet, a big plus in the zombie filled world, and they don't need reloading.

When I set out to write Zombie Attack I knew that I wanted it to be about more than just mindless gore and violence. I had been a fan of young adult literature since the second Harry Potter book was released in paperback. I knew I wanted to create a world where characters dealt with the aftermath of the end of the world, at least as much as they killed the undead and ran for their lives. Far from being just another story about killing bad guys and monsters, Zombie Attack quickly began to develop around the idea of family. Xander leaves in search of his older brother and mentor Moto. He brings his new friend Benji with him, caring for him like a brother. Along the way he attempts to help out Sam, an even younger kid in need of protection and support. When he meets his teen crush in the form of Felicity Jane, former child star turned reality television disaster, she convinces him to take her to see her mother. Over and over the theme of family, and what constitutes it once the world has gone mad, comes up. I'd say it's the second most important issue of the book, right after the scourge of the undead.

At the time I wrote Zombie Attack I hadn't seen a single episode of The Walking Dead. People kept telling me that it was amazing but I was afraid that if I watched the show it might accidentally end up influencing what I was writing. After I wrote both my zombie novels I sat down and watched all of the episodes available in a row. Naturally I was hooked! I'm now a fan of the show and looking forward to seeing season 4 and what happens with the Governor like the rest of you. I did find interesting parallels between the show and my book, but not enough similarities to make me alarmed. Naturally I was impressed with Michonne and her katana skills. I was also very glad that I had written my novel and published it long before she came on the show.

What struck me most about The Walking Dead when I compared it with Zombie Attack was how congruent Norman Reedus's character Daryl Dixon and my protagonist Xander Macnamara were. At first glance they didn't seem all that alike but the more I compared them the more overlap I began to find in their characters personalities and lives.

Xander grew up in a military family with his retired father. His mother died when he was young. His father's indiscretions during his service led to the birth of his half brother Moto, who came to live with them when Xander was a kid. Xander is clear that Moto made them a family, made them complete. It is the love and guidance that his brother showed him, along with the survival skills he taught him, that make Xander so amazing.

Daryl Dixon seems to have come from a world where his older brother antagonized him more than anything else, but Merle makes it clear that he trained him to be resourceful and self-sufficient and to survive anything. There is a lot of pain in their shared family history from what is inferred but Daryl sticks by his brother, even when he makes the wrong choices, because he is family.

Daryl, like Xander, is also extremely loyal. Faced with the heart breaking decision of choosing between his brother Merle and the group at the prison who had become like family he chose his brother, but he never stopped fighting for his new friends either. He worked hard to bring his brother around and to make peace between the two – realizing, just as Xander does, that in the post apocalyptic world of the undead family is more important than ever. There is a certain tenderness about him, a sensitivity that is held just beneath the surface, that shows what a kind heart he has. Likewise we see Xander suffers this same tender heart. It gets both of them in trouble and leads to interesting plot developments in both The Walking Dead and in my novel Zombie Attack.

The most compelling similarity between Xander and Daryl is that they are both loyal to their families as well as their friends. It's what makes them attractive characters that we root for and want to see win. They both fight for what they believe is right and aren't afraid to speak their minds. They both manage to maintain a certain tender, good heart despite living in a world that requires daily killing and making decisions with deadly and permanent consequences. Both are exceptionally skilled at using their preferred weapon of choice. You never see Daryl without his crossbow just as Xander hates being without his katana. And both exhibit a mind numbing amount of control. When the rest of the world around them is falling apart it's the cool headed approach of Xander and Daryl that ends up seeing them through to another day. Last but far from least they both have something about them that just seems to drive the ladies crazy. I'm guessing it's the fact that they both have great hair.

At the end of the day I'd like to believe that if Xander ever met Daryl Dixon they would become the best of friends. I imagine them hunting together and swapping stories about what it was like growing up as the baby of the family, talking about how their brothers tortured them the way only an older sibling can. Xander would teach Daryl martial arts techniques and Tai Chi. I'm fairly certain that Daryl would be able to teach Xander a few tricks about catching food and sneaking up on people as well. They'd certainly come in handy, considering where Xander is heading in the sequel.

Ultimately I guess that's why so many fans of The Walking Dead have told me they loved Zombie Attack. There are a lot of great zombie stories out there but I believe ZombieAttack transcends the genre to become about more than just the end of times. It focuses on what matters most in this world – family and what defines it.

Zombie Attack is available now on Amazon. It will be available in paperback and Audible this November from Permuted Press. Grab a copy while you're waiting for The Walking Dead to return and let me know what you think.