By Jim Mcleod 
The Wildman & The Wasteland: Kevin W K Moore on “Mortuous 28” and the Horror of Reality
Sitting down for an interview with Kevin W K Moore is a lesson in contrasts. Here’s a guy who’s spent 69 days solo hiking across New Zealand, a man who lived in a van for five years, who’s usually found grinning with a pint in a bar in Manzanillo. And he’s the same mind conjuring the unrelenting, nightmarish odyssey of Mortuous 28, a zombie series so brutal readers keep asking him, “Are you okay?”
In this interview, we got to the heart of that contradiction. We talked about how his global backpacking life isn’t just a fun fact in his author bio, it’s the literal fuel for his post-apocalyptic fiction. The journey of his main character, Thaddeus Stormbreaker, from northern Ontario to Southern Mexico, is a path Moore himself drove in his camper van, “The Slurp.” (Thankfully, he notes, without the “flesh-eating zombies” or “murderous lunatics.”)
He pulls no punches discussing the “brutally honest” professional editor who made him rewrite huge chunks of the story, his love for classic horror directors like George A. Romero, and the surprising real-life research that informs the story’s most grotesque, vile human behaviors. This interview is a deep dive into the making of a new voice in horror, one who believes the most terrifying monster might just be the governments desperately clinging to power when the world ends.
Let’s start at the very beginning. For our readers, please introduce yourself. Beyond the author bio, tell us a little about who you are when you’re not writing, what you love doing, what fascinates you, and what fuels your creativity.
Hi, my name is Kevin Moore. My pen name is Kevin W K Moore, which is just my middle initials, because there are so many Kevin Moores out there. I’m 40, I live in Manzanillo, Mexico, more than just part-time, and I have spent the majority of my life travelling and backpacking all over the globe. I’ve spent the last 16 years immersing myself in a host of different countries from Asia and Oceania to Latin and North America. I get itchy feet pretty easily, and I tend to take off on random trips whenever I can.
I’m a huge fan of nature and a pretty devout amateur photographer/videographer. I love to capture the world around me with every available medium. I am also a bit of a wildman when it comes to hiking. I find the most peace when I am out in nature, by myself, with only my wits and what I’m carrying on my back to survive. I have completed a 69-day hike across New Zealand, a 28-day trek through the Himalayas, a few 12- and 10-day hikes through some of the most rugged terrain Canada has to offer, and dozens of 5 to 7-day hikes. The majority of which I went solo.
When I’m not backpacking, hiking or just wandering around a foreign city, you can usually find me in a bar, with a pint, engrossed in a story with a local.
In the early stages of a new project, what tends to come to you first: a compelling character voice, a central thematic question, or a vivid image/scenario? How does that initial spark then guide you in building the rest of the story?
To be honest, it’s different with each story I’ve made so far. I have written some non-fiction that tends to tell its own story. I just have to put the details of my adventures on paper (on the computer). However, my newest series, Mortuous 28, is a fiction and the first fiction I’ve ever completed. I would say that the plot and idea came to me first, but the moment I dove into the characters, my mind reeled back to the thousands of people I have met over my life.
I spent so much time scraping together interesting pieces from so many real people to build my characters. Sometimes my friends ask if it’s actually them. I can’t lie, though, the main character in Mortuous 28 does have a striking resemblance to my own adventurous lifestyle. I did spend nearly 5 years living in a van.
Every book has its own unique set of problems to solve. What was the most difficult ‘puzzle’ you had to crack while writing this book? Was it a plot hole, a character’s motivation, the structure, or something else entirely?
The toughest part of Mortuous 28, in both part one, Ashes of Civilization, and part two, Echoes of the Ancestors, was making the collapse of civilization as realistic as possible. In the story, there are multiple governments and their respective storylines. It was difficult to exaggerate enough to make them believable while still remaining plausible. I do believe that even in the end of times, some governments will still push authoritarian rule before they cede any power to the masses they’ve spent so long exerting control over. While others would abandon their people in the blink of an eye. Something that reflects my words in Mortuous 28.
The journey from a finished manuscript to a book in a reader’s hands can be a surprising one. What was the most significant way your book evolved during the editing and publishing process, something you didn’t anticipate when you typed ‘The End’?
The editing process was very overwhelming. Near the beginning, a few friends edited the first couple of drafts, but I learned quickly that friends are too nice. Everything was apparently perfect, and the story was amazing. When I found a professional editor, she was brutally honest. She found so many plot holes, unfinished storylines, useless jargon, and far too many conversations that real people would never have. I really appreciated the truth, even if it took me another six months to rewrite a huge chunk of the story. That, and I struggled so hard to name my chapters. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t find names for half of them until the very end.
Once a book is published, it no longer entirely belongs to the author; it belongs to the readers and their interpretations. Has a reader’s reaction or analysis ever revealed something about your own work that surprised you?
Yes, a few readers so far have asked, “Are you Ok?” There are some seriously disturbing scenes in the story, which are mostly part of the vile human nature that the horror genre tends to sell. Something the Mortuous 28 series is loaded with. I’m generally a happy, outgoing person, and I’m always smiling and laughing, so apparently, some of my family and friends didn’t expect a few of the more grotesque things I put into the story.
Writing is a demanding, often solitary pursuit. Beyond the apparent goal of ‘telling a story,’ what is the specific, personal fuel that keeps you going through the difficult stretches? Is it the joy of discovery, the need to understand something yourself, the connection with a future reader, or something else?
Ooo, this is a tough one. I took many long hiatuses during the writing of Mortuous 28 and struggled to keep the motivation going on many occasions. I think the truest answer is that I just wanted to be finished writing. Knowing that the process of marketing and selling the story is possibly more difficult and time-consuming than actually finishing the writing process had pushed me to keep going. I can also say that I have a brain full of other projects that I need to get crackin’ on, and I can’t start anything else until I finish the last one.
We often hear about authors being influenced by other books. What are some non-literary influences on your work, such as a specific piece of music, a historical event, a scientific theory, or even a landscape, that have profoundly shaped your storytelling?
This one is easy. I am a huge backpacker, traveller, wanderer, whatever you wanna call it. I also lived in a camper van in a couple of different countries over the course of nearly 5 years. The Mortuous 28 series takes its readers across the entire North American continent, from northern Ontario to Southern Mexico.
I may not have done the exact same trip as Thaddeus Stormbreaker, the main character in Mortuous 28, but I did drive from the Yukon in the far north of Canada to Central Mexico in my camper van named “The Slurp”. There weren’t any murderous lunatics or flesh-eating zombies, so the trip was a bit more relaxing, but it was a three-month journey that was one of the highlights of my life.
Is there an author, living or dead, whom you consider a ‘silent mentor’? Not necessarily someone you try to imitate, but whose approach to the craft made you feel permission to write in your own way?
Interestingly enough, I would say that it’s the directors of movies whose names have stuck with me the most. From a young age, I loved all things horror. We had a movie rental store down the street that would rent 5 horror movies for 5 days for 5 bucks. My buddies and I would spend every weekend scaring the shit out of ourselves in different basements.
Some of my favourites were from George A Romero, Stan Winston, Mark Jones, Dan O’Bannon, and so many others. I know they weren’t the writers; it was the writers who made the stories, but the directors were the ones who brought them to life on the screen. Being from my generation, the movie screen was such a big influence. That being said, I can’t answer this question without mentioning R.L. Stein. The Goosebumps were, and still are, some of the most influential books from my youth.
Who was the first person to see your early drafts, and why did you trust them with your unpolished work? What is the most valuable piece of feedback they gave you?
Funny enough, it was a best friend of my ex. She was supposed to hate me, and I thought she would have the most honest opinion. She works for a horror production company, so I knew she did at least have the right taste for the genre. She told me it was great and encouraged me to keep going. She also told me I need to turn the book into a movie. So I might have to tackle a completely different project one of these days.
Horror is often most potent when it’s internal. Beyond external monsters, how do you explore the slow unravelling of a character’s sanity or the horror of their own mind?
When my mom passed away, I took off to New Zealand and embarked on a 1300 km hike across the country. I had been abusing alcohol and drugs to cope, and my own sanity was unravelling. I ran as far as I could to escape. I figured disappearing into a bush would be the best way to break through the veil of grief. That 69-day hike took me to a place I didn’t know existed in my mind. I used a lot of that escapism, depression, dread, and guilt that hung over me, and I hung it over my characters.
Setting in horror is often described as a character in its own right. How do you approach transforming a location, whether a house, a town, or a landscape, into a source of active dread?
Sometimes I feel that it doesn’t take much to lay waste to our civilization or society as it is. Just look at the news and social media. It is pretty dreadful already.
Writing a terrifying buildup is one skill; delivering a satisfying payoff is another. How do you decide when to finally show the monster or reveal the source of the horror?
Originally, this story was going to be a three-part series, and I wanted as much action, gore, violence, and zombies as I could cram into it. After I thought I was finished, I was sitting at an obscure number of words that were too many to be one or two books, but not enough for three books. I then spent so much time cutting out anything and everything that wasn’t the best of the best, which kinda just let the story reveal itself in its own time. Therefore, to answer the question, I don’t feel I had as much control over the monsters as they had over me.
The horror genre is rich with established tropes and archetypes. How do you engage with these familiar elements, the haunted house, the ancient curse, the final girl, in a way that feels fresh and surprising? Do you consciously seek to subvert a trope, or do you focus on executing it with such depth and authenticity that it becomes new again?
The most established archetype in Mortuous 28 is the zombie, which is a hard nut to crack in such a saturated market. I stuck to my guns and held on to my favourite style of undead monster with as much authenticity as I could. You could say I’ve returned to a more classic style.
How do you approach writing scenes of intense terror or violence to make them feel physically impactful without tipping into gratuitousness?
Some of the most grotesque, inhuman scenes actually came with pretty intense research. No spoilers, but I’ve learned some pretty vile things that real people have done. Through that research, I’ve tried to keep things within the realm of realism while still packing in as much gore and violence as possible. Sometimes fiction mirrors reality a little too well.
Do you have a favourite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us?
Men with power are as insatiable as the undead’s hunger for flesh.
What is the specific, core truth you are trying to expose or explore through your horror?
I’m not even sure there is one. I’ve been building an apocalyptic story in my head for decades, and I just want to be able to say I’ve created one. If no one reads it, that’s ok with me. I’m just happy I have the ability to create something.
You have precisely two minutes in a crowded bookstore to hook a reader who is skeptical of the entire horror genre. They look at your book’s cover and ask, ‘Convince me. Why should I read this? I don’t even like being scared.’
If The Walking Dead and Mad Max had a baby, that baby would be named Mortuous 28. Seething with gore, violence, vile human behaviour, and hordes of festering, undead monsters, this two-part, unrelenting, nightmarish odyssey is sure to satisfy your lust for gut-wrenching carnage and bloodcurdling despair. If the end of times gets your blood flowing or if you are a fan of Tender is the Flesh, The Only Good Indians and anything by Max Brooks, then you can’t miss Mortuous 28. You won’t be able to put it down.
Mortuous 28: Ashes of Civilization by Kevin W K Moore
~~Polish your shotgun, sharpen your machete, and get ready for the first blood-splattered installment in the Mortuous 28 series by International Bestselling and Global Book Award-winning author Kevin W. K. Moore. This unrelenting, nightmarish odyssey is seething with gore, violence, vile human behaviour, and hordes of festering, undead monsters. Ashes of Civilization is sure to satisfy your lust for gut-wrenching carnage and bloodcurdling despair.
Following the journey of Thaddeus Stormbreaker, a hardened Finnish-Canadian immigrant forged by his survivalist father and Indigenous mentor to thrive beyond the reaches of civilization, the Mortuous 28 series takes you on a blood-soaked, action-packed journey across a North American hellscape.
A decade of pandemics, economic collapse, and global conflict has left the world order in ruin. Lines in the dirt have been redrawn, militaries are exhausted, and the once-dominant superpowers no longer have the might to protect and police the world.
Just as civilization is regaining its footing and the ashes of World War III have only just settled, a viral outbreak, its origins shrouded in mystery, tears through the demilitarized zone in Russia’s Chukchi Peninsula. Is it a biological weapon of a rejuvenated war effort, or nature’s retaliation against the scourge of humankind?
Dubbed Mortuous 28, the viral contagion sweeps across the globe like wildfire, transforming everything with a heartbeat into ravenous, flesh-eating beasts. As North America devolves faster than the infection can spread, chaos reigns, and humans lose their humanity to self-preservation. Violence becomes the new currency of survival, and the living are often more dangerous than the undead.
With his machete, rifle, and souped-up camper van, Thaddeus is forced to decide his fate and survive the impossible: crossing a continental wasteland to escape the flesh-eating monsters, save a long-lost love, and reach an unsullied Mexico. In this blood-slicked and brain-splattered new world, Thaddeus Stormbreaker will soon learn that men with power are as insatiable as the zombified beasts.
The sixth great extinction is upon us. Time is running out. Can a cure be found? Or has humankind’s time on earth come to an end?
Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1069688525
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/mortuous-28-1
Apple Books – https://books.apple.com/us/book/ashes-of-civilization/id6754579862
Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1889384
B&N – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ashes-of-civilization-kevin-w-k-moore/1148609890
Kevin W K Moore
Born in the 80s in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, I quickly left the comforts of my hometown to explore the world. Armed with a camera, a pen, and paper, I spent over fifteen years capturing stunning landscapes and drawing inspiration from the world’s most vibrant cultures.
As an experienced backpacker and nature lover, my writing was inspired by the journals I kept while exploring hidden trails and bustling cities. With a passion for storytelling, I tried my hand at writing and achieved great success with my debut self-published novel, Dude, Where’s My Walking Stick, an adventure memoir about my 1,300km hike across New Zealand.
The book was an instant hit, winning a Global Book Award for Best Amateur Writer, reaching the top position on Adventure Memoir and Walking lists, and breaking into the top 1000 on all of Kindle. I appeared on CBC News and Windsor Life Magazine, and I was interviewed on CKLW Radio to talk about the book’s success. The success of this novel has inspired me to continue with the written word, expanding and honing my creativity by diving into fiction.
The years are catching up, but I am still an avid outdoorsman who loves to get lost in some of the world’s most unforgiving landscapes. I recently completed a ten-day solo hike through Kluane National Park in Northern Canada. I am also an amateur nature photographer nominated for the Yukon Visual Arts award in 2024. My prints adorn walls all across the globe. However, my true passion is storytelling, whether it’s over a pint in a bar or through the written word.
At 40, I’m not slowing down. I currently live in Manzanillo, Mexico, with my girlfriend and our cat. After living in the far north of Canada for a year, there’s some much-needed warmth down here, and soon enough, I’ll be able to tell stories in another language.
Mortuous 28 Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582904325363
My Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/kevin.moore.7798
My website – https://thekevinmoore.ca/
Interviews on Ginger Nuts of Horror
If you’re a fan of horror literature and cinema, then you absolutely need to check out the horror interview section of Ginger Nuts of Horror.
Firstly, the interviews feature a diverse range of authors, filmmakers, and horror enthusiasts, allowing readers to gain a multifaceted understanding of the genre. Each interview is an opportunity to explore the creative processes, inspirations, and personal stories behind the minds that produce some of the most chilling and thought-provoking works in horror today. From seasoned veterans to up-and-coming talents, the variety of voices ensures that readers can find something that resonates with them.
Moreover, these interviews often delve into the nuances of what makes horror such a compelling genre. Contributors share their thoughts on the psychological aspects of fear, the societal influences on horror trends, and the ways in which horror reflects cultural anxieties. This deeper exploration not only enriches one’s appreciation for horror stories but also fosters discussions about broader themes, such as identity, morality, and existential dread.
The interviews frequently touch on practical advice and industry insights. Writers and creators often share the hurdles they faced in their careers, tips for aspiring horror writers, and the realities of getting published or produced. This wealth of knowledge is invaluable for anyone looking to navigate the sometimes challenging waters of the horror genre. Readers interested in breaking into horror writing or filmmaking will find a treasure trove of wisdom that could pave their path toward success.
Lastly, the community aspect of Ginger Nuts of Horror cannot be overlooked. Engaging with these interviews allows readers to feel connected to a larger community of horror enthusiasts. Comment sections and social media interactions often follow, enabling fans to discuss their thoughts and engage with both the interviewees and fellow readers.
In conclusion, the horror interview section of Ginger Nuts of Horror is an essential resource for anyone interested in the genre. It provides rich insights, guidance, and inspiration that can deepen one’s appreciation for horror while fostering a vibrant community among fans and creators alike. Don’t miss out on the chance to delve into the minds of your favorite horror creators!
