UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)

9 thoughts on “558 – Cotton Clad Calamity”

  1. Raznaak

    Yup, he’s a bastard XD

  2. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Are those pajamas available in XXXL in the gift shop?

  3. Otaku

    It’s been a while, so let me ask: Did we get a reason for him to WANT Susie dead? Not to backseat, but if we didn’t, I’m worried were about to move into “Stupid Evil” territory. Now, stupid happens, don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad storytelling for that to be the case here.

    You’ve just done a good job NOT having that be a driving factor, so the “Kill off the stars of my successful reality TV show.” seems shortsighted, otherwise. Oh, I guess I could be mistaken about the in-story reality TV show’s success. Like, if the company behind them is losing money, or they think a change in management at the ranch would make the whole thing more popular/profitable, then I can see the above scenario happening as well.

    I REALLY think I’m just forgetting something important, but that I don’t have time to deep dive to remind me of, hence the comment. >_<

    1. Deoxy

      It certainly has been stretched out over quite a while, but there have definitely been hints from quite near the beginning that whoever is running the reality TV show definitely wants her dead.

      But I certainly don’t recall any reason why.

      1. Clint

        Yeah it’s fair to not remember since it’s been a hot minute (many, many minutes) but if you feel like a refresher the most relevant bits would be the beginning of Episode 8 and the end of Episode 15. We haven’t explicitly spelled out exactly what The Exec means by his “side hustle” or who was on the other end of that phone call, though.

        I’m hoping that when the whole thing is eventually available it will make sense, or at least enough sense to have hung this narrative on.

        1. Otaku

          Thanks for the replies, Deoxy and Clint. Yeah, I’d totally forgotten about those things. Good to know!

  4. Evervigilant

    Seems about time for the two people who aren’t there to make a surprise entrance as the ace Susie didn’t even know she had.

  5. Scarsdale

    There’s still 3-5 people on her side that might be planning something. This guy is a megalomaniac with a god complex, so letting him think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed sets him up for a fall. Everything depends on those cameras, and I suspect their little stop over by the charging coffins had something to do with her actual plan, not the one the a-hole thinks it is.

  6. lyra

    Really enjoyed the opening of Zombie Ranch. I like the combination of the western setting with the zombie concept, it gives the story a really distinctive atmosphere. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator, and I’d be interested in seeing how some of these scenes could translate into motion, especially as a short animated teaser or character scene.

    If you’re ever interested in something like that, you can reach me here:

    IG: eve_verse_
    Email: [contact.lilaclines@gmail.com](mailto:contact.lilaclines@gmail.com)
    Discord: Lyralilac_

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558 – Cotton Clad Calamity
Posted on August 26, 2026 by Dawn

What would you call this? Armchair assassination? Merk-from-home?

Well, Suzie ain't dead (or undead) quite yet, so we'll just have to see if his gloating is justifiable.

Get ready to rumble…

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Clint

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t always have my finger on the pulse of zombie fiction, so to speak. I figure that’s forgivable seeing as a good chunk of the zombie genre’s specimens don’t have pulses to speak of.

Still, occasionally I do get my read on, even if it’s a somewhat belated one. If you’re not aware, there is a Reanimated Writers coalition which serves as a community for folks who write zombie fiction. Not too long ago, they came up with an intriguing premise: a short-story contest where zombie tales would be paired up one-on-one in various genres with folks voting to determine the winner of the “round.” The losing author would be “knocked out” while the winner progressed to a further round.

The catch? None of the stories would have the author’s name attached, a conceit which would theoretically prevent any personal feelings from influencing the outcome. The stories would live or die on their own. Insert obligatory “undeath” joke here.

With my usual sense of timeliness, I failed to get around to being part of the initial voting, and before I knew it the contest was done. This despite a friend involved doing his best to prod me towards participating. Don’t worry, he was still scrupulous about the rules and only expressed that he was curious if I might recognize his style. In the end it didn’t matter due to my steel sieve of a mind.

But anyhow… now they’ve made a book out of it, and I ended up buying that, which is arguably better as a support. This is what I tell myself. I read through it during the recent hiatus and it’s about what you’d expect from an anthology, with varying degrees of originality, storytelling skill and even grammatical prowess on display (a disclaimer from the editor warns that all tales are presented in their original forms).

The really unfortunate part from my perspective is that they abandoned the main conceit for this print version and labeled all the stories with their authors, both in the table of contents up front and on each tale itself. True, the voting is long over and the outcomes are now predetermined, but I had retained some hope of being able to give my buddy that honest feedback on whether I recognized his stuff without his name plastered on it. If they do another of these I would hope they consider retaining the anonymity. The authors should of course be credited for their work, but seeing as this is a small publisher exercise free of any big house or guild constraints I don’t see any reason the stories couldn’t be kept unattributed in their entries and then at the end of the book you’d reveal who wrote what and who ended up being the ultimate winner.

That said, you’re getting a good fistful of different takes on zombie fiction from various voices for either a 99 cent digital version or a $10 perfect bound book, which ain’t bad, especially if you’re a real zombie enthusiast. Give it a look if you’re interested, and also keep an eye out because it’s almost a certainty Reanimated Writers will come around with a second card!