"Never Slow Dance With A Zombie"

E. Van Lowe was born in New York City and moved to Los Angeles to attend graduate school. He cowrote the Academy Award-nominated short film Cadillac Dreams, and was a writer for many TV shows, including The Cosby Show, Knight Rider, and Even Stevens. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on Even Stevens.

He applied the Page 69 Test to Never Slow Dance with a Zombie, his first novel for young adults, and reported the following:

Page 69 is not representative of what happens in Never Slow Dance With A Zombie, however it is a pivotal moment in the story. In the book, Margot Jean Johnson (as self centered a protagonist as you will find in YA lit) comes to the realization that she has achieved none of the goals she has set for herself in high school. One of her goals is to have a boyfriend. Sybil convinces Margot to allow her (Sybil) to ask school hottie, Dirk Conrad, to go to the carnival with Margot. Why would Sybil do this? Because she’s Margot’s best friend. But the asking leads to an argument, and when Margot and Sybil show up at school the morning after the argument and the carnival everyone at school has become zombies. Well, almost everyone. It seems Principal Taft isn’t a zombie either. P. 68 is where the girls go to Taft to tell him that their classmates are all zombies. On P 69 we get his outrageous response.

When Margot says “So we should just pretend this hasn’t happened?” Taft’s response is: “No, I’m not saying that at all.” He lifted his head. “But would it be so bad if we did? Just until the end of the semester. There’s only seven weeks left…” I’m sure the reader will be compelled to go on because how many high school principals would ask the remaining living students to ignore that they are in the midst of a zombie uprising?

Never Slow Dance With A Zombie is an absurd look at high school life. Along with all the usual high school issues one might have, Margot and Sybil must navigate life among the zombies. They realize they can have the best semester of their high school careers. All they have to do to achieve it is stay alive.

The book has been described as Mean Girls meets Night of The Living Dead. I had a blast writing it. I hope people enjoy reading it.

Read an excerpt from Never Slow Dance With A Zombie, and learn more about the book and author at E. Van Lowe's website, blog, and MySpace page.

Check out the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue