2012 - 05/2012 Meeting

Page Created: 02/17/12. Last Updated: 08/04/12.

LINDA ZIMMERMANN

The author maintains three websites, one for the Bad Science Book, one for the Hudson Valley Apocalypse Book, and one for Ghost Investigations & everything else:

.....http://www.badsciences.com/

.....http://www.hvzombie.com/

.....http://ghostinvestigator.com/

Books:

Ghost Investigations:

.....Ghost Investigator 1 - 9

.....Ghost Investigator 10th Anniversary Special Edition

.....Ghosts of Rockland County

.....Hudson Valley Haunts Historic Driving Tours

History:

.....Civil War Memories

.....Forging a Nation: From Revolution to Civil War

.....A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Gettysburg

.....Rockland County: Century of History

.....Rockland County Scrapbook

Horror:

.....Hudson Valley Zombie Apocalypse

Science:

.....Bad Astronomy:

.....Bad Science

Science Fiction:

.....Dead Center

.....Home Run

.....Mind Over Matter

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: May 12, 2012.

Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River.

Official Attendance: 20.

Meeting Program: Talk by Science / Horror Writer.

Notes:

Newsletter Account:

The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2012 Philip J De Parto:

The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County's monthly General Meeting was held at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center in Upper Saddle River on Saturday, May 12, 2012. We had our usual array of activities before, after and during the meeting proper.

Taras Wolansky continued showing episodes of the anime series, THE TWELVE KINGDOMS, in the Center's basement while Barry Weinberger held court discussing current movies (particularly THE AVENGERS) and other happenings at his Ice Nine discussion.

Club member Linda Zimmermann's talk was the main event of the evening.

Ms Zimmermann had been a research chemist who had a chance to launch a writing and speaking career when her laboratory closed down. Her early works focused on history and on ghost hauntings, but she continued to be keenly interested in science, particularly astronomy. Unfortunately, she could not compete with astrophysicists for speakers' fees, so she decided to create a specialized niche for herself as an authority on discredited astronomical theories and beliefs. This resulted in a book, BAD ASTRONOMY, "back in the Dark Ages of self-publishing." Her recent book, BAD SCIENCE (A Brief History of Bizarre Misconceptions, Totally Wrong Conclusions, and Incredibly Stupid Theories) is an outgrowth of the earlier work.

BAD SCIENCE came into being in a roundabout way. Although our guest was devoting most of her energies into conducting and writing about her ghost investigations, she continued tossing ideas and articles into a Bad Science folder. Eventually she had enough material on Bad Geology to interest and agent and an editor. The book nearly sold to Berkeley Books before the deal fell apart. So the author broadened the scope and self-published it.

The book is divided into seven chapters: Medicine; Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals; Birth; Contraception and Sex; Dentistry; Geology, Paleontology, Archaeology (and other things found in dirt); Astronomy and the Space Program; and Scientists, Heredity, DNA, Firearms, and Everything Else that didn't Fit into Previous Categories.

The book looks at heroes of science like William Harvey who endured ridicule for daring to contradict the legendary Greek physician, Galen, and asserting that the heart functioned as a pump to charlatans like Charles Willie Kent who confidently asserted that sticking electrodes into any part of the body would enhance its functionality.

It also covers hoaxes like Piltdown Man, quack theories like Phrenology, deadly medications like thalidomide, not to mention radium suppositories, Immanuel Velikovsky, perpetual motion machines, alchemy, bloodletting, DDT, eclipses, using humans as Guinea pigs, and more.

We then took a break of about twenty minutes before putting Linda Zimmermann back onstage to talk about her newest book, HVZA: HUDSON VALLEY ZOMBIE MASSACRE.

Zombies are a hot property right now, and our guest wanted the creatures to be as scientifically accurate as possible. She didn't want to give away too much about the book by going into detail, but she did speak about some of the practical research she did for the work.

In order to gain first-hand experience in firing automatic weapons, Linda went on a Machine Gun Safari in New Hampshire where she was able to blast away with AK-47s, Uzi Machine Guns and her favorite, the Thompson Sub Machine Gun (this was the weapon of choice by crooks in old-time gangster movies).

At a certain point in the book, the survivors decide to take shelter in a hardware store. Ms Zimmermann asked an Ace Hardware store in the Hudson Valley if she could use the establishment as a setting in the book. The manager proved enthusiastic, suggesting how to use chain saws as weapons and how to fabricate bolt cannons and flame throwers out of common supply items. The store proudly hosted a book signing after the publication of HVAA. Customers got into the mood by dressing as zombies.

Linda is a life-long resident of the area and used actual settings for incidents in the book. One signing drew a line of Corrections Officers because she had converted a nearby State Prison to a Confinement Center for people suspected of carrying the zombie virus.

Work is in progress on a HUDSON VALLEY ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE graphic novel. The book will feature eight stories by eight different writers illustrated by eight separate artists. It will give additional background on various characters in the book, including a dog. The volume has not been completed, but our speaker is very happy that one of the artists has landed a book illustration job because of his work on the graphic novel

As the business of publishing continues to evolve, marketing campaigns have become more elaborate. This is particularly true for self-published books. Linda Zimmerman currently maintains three websites: one for HVZA, one for BAD SCIENCE, and one for everything else.

The site for APOCALYPSE is particularly elaborate. Linda has partnered with budding film makers and actors to do video blogs, news reports and other projects to promote the book and give the actors and others work credits they can list on their resumes. There is also a poll which allows visitors to vote on whether they like the author better as a zombie or as a zombie-killer.

There was also a discussion of zombies in literature, film, television and in the real world (zombie ant fungus). It was a fun evening, but also a very informative one. Our thanks to Linda and to everyone who helped with the set up and clean up.