Vampires and Werewolves are Out - Zombies are In

How do you create a trend or a fad? Is it accidental? Do focus groups sit around discussing what should be the next big thing? How do you figure out what the public will latch on to - and what they won't?

I'm voting for accident. In the early 1970's, an advertising executive named Gary Dahl was joking among his friends about the inconveniences associated with pets. They shed, they need to be fed, walked, and bathed. They get sick and die. He suggested that a good alternative to the average pet would be a rock. It was this conversation that would spawn the idea that would make Gary a millionaire...the Pet Rock.

I remember this fad very well. Not being able to afford to buy a pet rock, I went out and found one of my own. Perhaps you could say it was a feral rock. I could never train my feral rock due to its wild nature but I loved it just as you would one of the domesticated ones. Those were hard times but through it all...we had each other.

This leads me to the title of my blog post. Some of you may be thinking "What do rocks and vampires have in common?" "Why is she drawing me in; tempting me with vampires, werewolves and zombies just to ramble on about pet rocks?" Hang in there...I'm getting to it.

Last week during testing at my job, my colleagues and I had some down time with no students in attendance and with our grades for the semester competed - we had the time to talk about timely world events. And, as you would expect from a group of people with multiple graduate degrees, decided that we would devote this rare unscheduled time to a cerebral conversation about several important issues.

1. What should we eat for lunch?

2. Should we order in, or go out?

3. Why are vampires and werewolves the magic bullet in terms of popular fiction, movies and TV? Why not zombies?

This encouraged me to write an introduction (with apologies to the talented Stephenie Meyer), similar to a very popular book that you may have heard of. But, instead of vampires and werewolves - giving a voice to a less popular group - Zombies. Included in the book entitled "Dusk" that takes place in a foggy small town in the Pacific Northwest called "Spoons", is the following:

"Times had changed. It was a new era of diversity. Vampires and werewolves had been accepted into society. The E.E.O.C. had declared them an under represented group, granting them the rights to shop in the mall after midnight and mandating employers to allow required breaks during the work day to morph into canine form.

Blood was the new Snapple.

Being un-dead was cool, swapping species at a red light in traffic- even cooler. But for us, the previously dead, things had gotten worse.

Perhaps it was the smell of decay, or the fact that our limbs had the tendency to fall off from time to time. Where we had before been able to camoflauge our existence by blending into human society as cafeteria ladies and carnival staff - we were now targeted as different. And, as has been the way in the history of the world, different was the enemy."

A future love scene from "Dusk":

"I look into his eye, the other having fallen out leaving his brain exposed through the hole in its absence. Could I have ever imagined such passion?

"I know what you are."

He exhales, the putrid smell of decay arouses me in ways I've never known.

"Say it.”

I hold my breath, partially out of excitement and partially to control the nausea.

"Zombie.”

Something registers in his eye. He knows I recognize him for what he is. I am repulsed, yet my desire is almost palpable.

"Are you afraid?”

“No.”

He comes closer, reaching out to touch a strand of my hair, his thumb falls off. I know I should be horrified - but at the same time it is just so endearing.

"You shouldn’t of said that.”

And he eats my brain.

Okay. I should get back to working on my lessons for the new semester. Besides, there are too many recent references to zombies in popular culture for me to create a new fad, or better yet, a multi-million dollar best seller based on teenage zombies. Zombies aren't sexy enough to generate a large following. How about a high school where everyone sings all the time, never goes to class, and dances in the cafeteria and in the gym during basketball games. There could be the popular captain of the basketball team meeting the smart new girl who is not only good at Science, but can also sing in a 5 octave range at the drop of a hat.

Nah. Something like that would never work.

photo courtesy of photobucket.com. The title Dusk courtesy of Alicia Voss.