2008 was the year that I lost one director credit but gained another, visited New York and Washington DC for the first time, took my citizenship test, attended my first Superbowl party, danced for money and filmed in some of Charleston’s nastiest nooks.

JANUARY

In January I had my first major book store signing for Undead on Arrival, a novel about mixed-up zombies who are too lazy to go hunting for brains.

I can never tell what the turn-out for a book event is going to be. There could be a line of readers waiting to greet me or I might just see a few in the space of an hour. But I’ve always had good, busy experiences at Barnes & Noble in West Ashley, and this was no exception.

The book was officially launched in December ‘07 at The Black Cart in downtown Charleston, where we had a zombie party, undead art, a costume competition, a DJ spinning zombie-related music (yes, the Cranberries were involved), zombie shots and a zombie walk down King Street.

My son Sam turned eight, an incredibly impressionable age where I noticed more than ever how quickly he was growing up. Work permitting, I tried to spend as much time with him as I could before he became too cool to spend time with his dad (traditionally, that happens at age nine).

On the movie front, I heard bad news. I’d spent two and a half years directing a film called All For Liberty, set during the revolutionary war. The film popped up on IMDB with the co-producer, Chris Weatherhead, named as director. I’d left the project in ’07 on the understanding that I would retain my credit, although there were still second unit scenes to be shot. In my absence the film had been re-edited, changing it from an ensemble film (starring four or five actors, including myself) to a vehicle for Chris.

I was left with a dilemma – should I fight for my director credit to have something to show for the two and a half years’ work, even though the final product would be different from the story I’d shot? Chris told me that she wanted to share the director credit, but that her fellow producers had voted her down on the idea.

Whatever the outcome may be, this upsetting affair made me more determined to make my own projects as good as I could possibly make them. That including shooting Cold Soldiers, an espionage thriller that has been in production on a part-time basis since November 2007.

FEBRUARY

In February I filmed the Miss Charleston Scholarship Pageant, the second year that I’ve covered the event. I record the interviews with each candidate and the show itself, giving me a behind-the-scenes insight into the pageant process. I’m always amazed how the organizer Randall Dukes helps so many people prepare for the event; his work never stops, as he guides the winners through their year at the top. He stays positive no matter how stressful the whole process can get.

I cut down on my acting this year, purposefully concentrating on writing and directing. But I kept my hand in, first with a Keystone Kops raid for the Actors’ Theatre of SC. I burst into a ‘20s-themed function with several fellow Kops, whistles blowing, arms waving, making sure that the guests’ drinks were prohibition-approved. I also narrated a couple of children’s stories for Chamber Music Charleston: Ferdinand the Bull and Mary Had a Little Lamb, introducing kids to classical instruments and emotive music.

The first Ferdinand show at the Footlights Theatre was nerve-wracking because I had to follow the music to find my cues for the story. But the performance was successful enough to warrant more bull tales later in the year, and as I got more confident I was able to move around and add more flourishes.

I was able to share my acting horror stories with a fresh group of acting students at South of Broadway Studios in North Charleston, where I began a new course. This is a theatre that I’d checked out when I first arrived in Charleston, and I’d filmed a show for them in 2007. But it was in ’08 that I developed a relationship with the company that would lead to my trip to the Big Apple, a feature-length documentary and a new play.

The theatre was my venue for Metamorphosis, a free multimedia artshow created by Philip Hyman. The show took up the whole area and included paintings, music and a mini-film festival. My job was to procure and screen the films, with the help of Sam and my wife, Ros. I feel that it’s important to support filmmakers and get their work shown as much as possible. The show opened with Trevor Erickson’s animated comedy quickie 2001, and included work by Kevin Harrison of PDA, Cameron Lovejoy and Richard Almes of Almes Productions.

We also premiered Undead on Arrival, a short film inspired by my novel. The film was written by Henry Riggs of the sketch comedy group Maximum Brain Squad, and it featured his fellow squad members. In the film, slacker zombies are sent to a rest home where they can be left alone to eat human flesh in peace (and pieces).

A stripped-down version of the film was submitted to George Romero’s Diary of the Dead video competition and quickly garnered almost 1000 hits on MySpace. Not a huge number, I know, but I’m always amazed when people show any interest in my projects so I was pleased and grateful.

I ran into Kevin Harrison again at a PDA trade show, where he demonstrated a glidecam. I filmed his demo with my little point-and-shoot camera, and to my surprise over 500 people watched the clip on YouTube. Who knew camera equipment could be such a draw?

February was also the month that Volition premiered. This short Star Wars fan film, directed by Scott Piekarczyk, had been almost three years in the making. Volition follows the efforts of a small group of Padawans who put their futures in jeopardy to find their friend and bring her home, only to find that the Dark Side has found her first! Running under 20 minutes with credits, the production time for this flick is a good indication of how long it can take to complete a low-budget, part time project. Its premiere at the Map Room in West Ashley was an excuse for all the filmmakers involved (myself included) to get together and drink too much membrosia.

Over at the Charleston City Paper, the new managing editor and A&E editor were making what they called “rookie mistakes.” For the Charleston Comedy Festival, they commissioned me to write 800 word articles. These were trimmed down to 250 words when the eds realized they didn’t have enough space. I didn’t blame them – it’s impossible to predict how much advertizing space will be sold for the paper, and without sufficient ads the issue has to be trimmed.

Besides, covering the comedy festival gave me the chance to interview cool groups like Harvard Sailing Team. These young funsters enjoyed a glory year, with a hit musical show and appearances on Sesame Street.

I also reviewed movies for the paper, including Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. How could I complain when I was being paid to watch cartoons and write about them? Sadly, the film reviewing gig didn’t last long – we don’t get many advance screenings in this neck of the woods – so I returned to my regular beat of theater and visual arts reporting.

I had less to moan about than most. A severe drought had hit the Lowcountry, drying out the mighty Lake Moultrie. Always one to grasp an opportunity, I filmed reptile expert Roark Ferguson trapping a lizard on the lakebed, using the area to double as Sri Lanka. With the tree roots showing and desolation as far as the eye could see, the replacement was very convincing.
















Cold Soldiers publicity shot by Robbin Knight.

MARCH

After a couple of months’ break we recommenced filming Cold Soldiers. Like All For Liberty, this independent feature film is complex and tough to shoot on a modest budget. Despite our irregular schedule, stars like RW Smith, Sandra VanNatta and Michael Easler stayed committed to their characters and continued to deliver strong, consistent performances that made my job easier. Actors like Trevor Erickson and Charlie Thiel amazed me by constantly helping out behind the camera as well.

I hoped to screen the Undead on Arrival short film at the City Paper’s annual Best Of party, alongside Steve Daniels’ amazingly sick Strings of Death. For the 2008 party, the eds chose a zombie theme complete with costumes, zombie-related music and a zombie walk down King Street. I wonder where they got that idea from? To my knowledge the films were never shown, to the disappointment of the attendant cast.

Sam started playing baseball, continuing his parent-led quest to become an All American Boy (he was born in Scotland). His mom was more committed than ever to the cub scouts, leading her den on various expeditions and crafty activities throughout the year.

In Mount Pleasant I joined an educational program on the USS Laffey, Patriots Point, taking pictures of a group of stalwarts who dress in WWII gear and describe what life was like on the ship while it was in full service. Sleeping on the Laffey and hanging out with its “crew” of volunteers was an authentic and unforgettable experience.

Back in West Ashley, I filmed interviews at the slave cabins on Magnolia Plantation. These cabins were still lived in less than fifty years ago, so we recorded many living memories of African American life there. The interviews were conducted by Craig Hadley, whose Living History Group is managing restoration of the cabins.

APRIL

In April I completed Cat City, a sequel to my first novel Milk Treading. It follows the adventures of Julius Kyle, a feline reporter who follows his kidnapped mate to a politically correct city far from his homeland. Julius doesn’t agree with this PC world where dogs and cats are trying to live together in harmony. Soon after he arrives the system starts to crumble.

At the City Paper I wrote for a Green-themed issue, which sported an impressive papercut cover by local artist/filmmaker Eric Vincent. Around the same time I started working with Eric on commercials, books and film projects.

My own major project for the month was a music video called Know When To Walk Away. Scrubs star Zach Braff wanted submissions to use as clips in his own official video for Jay Clifford’s song. I shot my version over three long nights in North Charleston, and a couple of short snippets were used in the official version.

I did a spot more acting in a murder mystery for the Actors’ Theatre, playing the weasily British poet & publisher Byron Donne. I witnessed some much better acting in PURE Theatre’s Eurydice, mounted at a half-indoor, half-outdoor space in North Charleston. By this time I was already working on previews for the Spoleto Festival, so I interviewed the characters on camera and filmed part of the play for the company. The magical tale of Orpheus’ bride in the Underworld led to some great images and mesmeric tunery by the New Music Collective.

MAY

SC’s School of the Arts is a county-wide magnet school that blends intensive artistic instruction with a strong academic program for nearly 1,000 students in grades 6-12. It’s the kind of school I wish I’d gone to when I was a starry-eyed sprog. In May I was invited to judge a series of ten minute plays at the school. The quality of the plays was astounding for the high-school age concerned.

I also helped out at Charleston’s new International Film Festival, introducing some of the films and catching some memorable flicks. These included Fred Blurton & Gary Taylor’s Osso Bucco, JJ Lask’s On the Road with Judas and Brad Jayne’s Song of Pumpkin Brown.

I had my own little mini-fest as part of Philip Hyman’s second multimedia art show, Evolution. I showed films by Colin Somers (Somersault), Randy Schrader (That New Car Smell) and Richard Almes (HALOS). HALOS stands for Help And Lending Outreach Support. It’s an organization that provides much needed resources and services to abused and neglected victims served by the Charleston County Department of Social Services.





Richard’s short follows two urchins who are helped by the 11-year-old HALOS, which has been recognized by the SC American Professional Society of Abuse to Children for its collaborative, innovative approach to assisting victims.

Progress continued on Cold Soldiers, with new actors joining the cast (including Danny Jones and Chris Gay) and improvements made to the script. I also began filming a feature-sized documentary with the working title of Broadway Bootcamp. Every year South of Broadway sends kids to stay the Juilliard School in New York. There they study with top-level teachers (including Bob Luke, on-set coach for Enchanted). I filmed a cross-section of the kids in SC before they left, visiting Summerville, Mount Pleasant and St. George in the process.






The Witch of Portobello was a project with similarities to the George Romero and Zach Braff competitions. This time, the source was a book and filmmakers were invited to choose a character and create a short movie to represent one of its characters. Independent director Beth Slagsvol chose the Witch and I played Heron Ryan, a peripheral character. In the makeup room, I was proud that my red neck needed to be toned down (the result of five years living in the South Carolina sunshine). And although I was initially told that I wouldn’t be dancing, I ended up jigging about with professional tango and ballet dancers in a party scene. The pros looked splendid. I looked loopy.

Although Beth’s film didn’t win the competition, it came close and it has some gorgeous shots in it.

Also in May, I wrote about the Lost Trades boat builders for Charleston Magazine, my first full-length feature for the publication. Sam had his first communion, Ros upped her scout leader training and I covered Spoleto for the City Paper and the Post & Courier – a division of labor that would lead to an enforced break from the A&E department I’d helped edit mere months beforehand.

With Cold Soldiers only half-complete and Broadway Bootcamp entering production, there was no way I could take on any more projects. Yet by the year’s end I’d have two more movies and another book project on my plate – and I’d undergo the scariest test I’d ever taken.

To be continued…

Last time I appeared at The Happy Bookseller things didn't go so happily. A women's group was meeting there that night and one of the first things one of their members said was, "I don't like British authors." No generalizations there, of course. Being British and an author to boot, I felt a little alienated. But everything turned out okay and I sold some copies of my cat thriller The Kitty Killer Cult.

On Friday, August 29th I'll be braving the bookstore again to sign copies of Undead on Arrival. This will be in parallel with the shop's Happy Cafe slot, where people come to eat, drink and hopefully check out a book or two.

The Happy Bookseller is at 4525 Forest Dr., Columbia, South Carolina 29206. I'll be there from 1 to 2 p.m. For more info call (803) 782-2665.

I’ll be at Waldenbooks, downtown Charleston tomorrow (Saturday May 3rd) signing copies of Undead on Arrival.

This is my first time at a Waldenbooks store, so I’d appreciate your support. Come and say hello if you can.

The signing will take place at 120 Market St. on May 3rd from 1 – 3 p..m.

For further information please call the store on (843) 853-1736 or visit the Nick Smith Books website.

AMC has announced that it will close its two movie theaters at our local malls (West Ashley and Northwoods). It seems that there just aren't enough shoppers who want to go see a film after a hard day's browsing, and the 6-screeners can't compete with the city's larger mulitplexes.

Since I'm a fully signed-up slave to celluloid I've frequented the AMC at Citadel Mall often. One of my favorite experiences there: watching the Dawn of the Dead remake. The movie's set in a mall, so to view it then step out of the theater and see a very similar mall was a mind-rattling experience.

You can read the full story about the closures on the Post & Courier website. I take exception to their comment that Charleston's multiplexes are state-of-the-art, though; only one - away out in Summerville - is equipped with up to date digital video projection equipment.

Zombies may be cold in the grave, but they’re hot in today’s popular culture. From video games like Dead Rising to books like Max Brooks’ World War Z, it seems that any product featuring zombies sells better than warm brains at an undead cookout.

A quick glance at the racks in Captain Lou’s Comics gives an indication of the way zombies have conquered comic books. The Walking Dead is generally accepted as the best of the current onslaught, drawn in black and white to match its stark storyline. Over 50+ issues, writer Robert Kirkman has developed a world where flesh-eating zombies already have the upper hand and only a few fucked-up humans survive to bite each other’s heads off.

Aside from the gore and the taut storytelling, the comic’s succeeded because the characters seem real. They make believable decisions, even in the face of something as unbelievable as an undead epidemic.

Senseless slaughter. Bullet-to-the-head executions. Hordes of bad guys bent on our destruction – or assimilation. Are these evils really so unbelievable or are they a fact of life? Part of the monsters’ popularity comes from their power to reflect contemporary culture and the way we view the world. In the ‘60s, George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead took some of its gruesome, apocalyptic inspiration from televised images of the Vietnam War; while they’re holed up in an isolated house, the heroes of the film watch their society disintegrate via a TV set.

Decades earlier, director James Whale undoubtedly derived some of Frankenstein’s dark humor and stitched-together visuals from his personal experiences of scarred soldiers from WWI. More recently, Joe Dante used Homecoming, a segment of Showtime’s Masters of Horror, to dramatize “this elephant in the room, this Iraq war.” Set during an election year, dead veterans of the War on Terror drag their khaki-clad asses out of the graves to the polls, voting out a president who sold them a war on the basis of "horseshit and elbow grease."

The same atmosphere of doom, gloom and rising from the tomb that informs blatantly political films like Homecoming and Romero’s Land of the Dead is present in most of the recent batch of pessimistic zombie flicks. But more than anything else, there’s the sense that our technologically obsessed, fast-moving world is crying out of for savage shambling ghouls to remind us what’s really important in life: the freedom to live, breathe and get some goddamned personal space.

Take a look at Night of the Living Dead and its many (mostly Italian) imitators. A small group of people are stuck in the middle of nowhere with little chance of rescue. Slowly, an increasing number of stumbling, starving, groaning, faintly recognizable bodies bust into the house, forcing them back further and further from the front door until they’re stuck in a little corner (or the cellar, or the attic), trapped in surroundings that are usually familiar and comfortable. It’s like your extended family coming to visit for Thanksgiving, giving you no peace and eating you out of house and home. Except this time, you’re the turkey.

In an overpopulated world, peace will become increasingly hard to come by. So it’s no surprise that our crowded planet is welcoming the zombie mythos. Even the Marvel superheroes have got in on the act, winning their comic book publishers a notable share of the macabre profits. In the alternate dimension of Earth-2149, Spiderman, Captain America and their pals have all been infected with an alien virus that transforms them into the Marvel Zombies, superheroes who’d rather eat your liver than save the day. In the hands of writer Robert Kirkman (again), even our coziest childhood idols pose a threat to our survival.

Not all of Marvel’s reanimated corpses are as greedy for flesh. In 1973, the company sought to expand its range of black and white horror magazines to cash in on the then-present craze for movie monsters. In an early example of modern narrative retrofitting, the developers of Tales of the Zombie took a short 1950s strip by Stan Lee and added a top and tail, expanding the character of Simon Garth. Garth was a greedy, selfish workaholic; not typical star material for a comic book.






To make things even tougher for the writers, after his murder and rebirth Garth could feel nothing and cared about nothing. Why would he? He was dead. But the voodoo-charged adventures of Garth, told from the tenacious monster’s point of view, were strangely captivating and Garth has been revived for a new miniseries this year.

It will be interesting to see how Garth, who owed more to the revenging cadavers of EC Comics than today’s brand of body biters, will be reevaluated and made relevant for current readers. Zombies as a concept have been around for a long time – they’re in the millennia-old Epic of Gilgamesh – but it wasn’t until Romero decided to give his corpses a craving for flesh and the ability to expand their numbers through their bites that we got the creatures that we know and love to blow the heads off of today.

Perhaps it’s their zen qualities that we admire so much. Zombies don’t have to control themselves or be civilized. They give in to their base urges: hunt, feed, lurk. Peter Dendle is associate professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, and he’s made it his mission in life to know all about zombies and their social context. He thinks that their contagious nature is their real hook. They herald an apocalypse where we must struggle to survive, paranoid that the next person round the corner could give us a hickie we’ll never recover from.

Whatever the reason for our zombie obsession, there’s no question that the genre taps into our fears that the world will end, or that we’ll lose the people and things around us that we love. That’s a frightening enough concept to keep us coming back again and again to read more books and watch more movies where the dead refuse to rest in peace.


This love letter to walking corpses first appeared in the Charleston City Paper.

I’ll be signing copies of my latest novel Undead on Arrival at Books-a-Million West Ashley today (March 15th) from noon to 3 p.m.

Books-a-Million doesn’t publicize its events, unless the author’s megafamous. I even had to make my own poster for them. So I’d appreciate any support you can give. Nip in and say hello on your way to the mall.

Books-a-Million is at 832 Orleans Rd., just off Sam Rittenberg Blvd in Charleston, SC. For further information, call the manager’s spendthrift ass on (843) 556-9232.

The author and a zombie friend at an Undead on Arrival signing.

Philip "The Machine" Hyman - aka Mr. Eyeball - is tirelessly devoted to promoting original, contemporary art in Charleston and its environs (his tirelessness has earned him the "Machine" tag - not sure about the Eyeball one).

He has two new shows this weekend. One is a group show at the Old Village called Distractions from the Truth.

The other, at Vickery's in downtown Charleston, is a solo exhibition to mark the one year remaining of President Bush's term. Hyman reckons he's already under suspicion and expects Homeland Security to visit him after the one-week-only affair. Of course he's kidding (I think), but a one-man show from the creator of "RoboCheney" has got to be worth surveilling.

Here are the sordid details:

Distractions from the TRUTH: “An art show”

Instead of finding out what Britney and Paris are up to, come see an art show with plenty of TRUTH and great distractions. Musical entertainment by Subterranean Bleu Mind(s) and DJ “The Bird Hermit”

Saturday January 19th, 7pm-11pm at The Mill, East Montague Ave. in the Old Village, North Charleston, S.C.

Show features artists Erin Eckman, Phillip Hyman, Connie O’Donald, Sharen Mitchell, Chuck Keppler, Michael Lane, Seth Corts and others.

Count Down to 1/20/09 “Reflections of the politics of war, a one man art show”

Artist Phillip Hyman reflects in art….. how he kept his sanity for the last 7 years during the Bush administration.

Meet the artist on opening night January 20th, 7pm-9pm at Vickery's Bar & Grill, 15 Beaufain Street, Charleston, S.C.

Art will be on display until Sunday January 27th.

Hyman hangs out with some of his zombie art, displayed at the Undead on Arrival book launch at The Black Cart, downtown Charleston. Can't imagine what he's pointing at.

Thanks to everyone who came!

- Nick

Above & below: My son, Sam, keeps me company during today's

book signing at Barnes & Noble.

I feel like I've been hibernating recently, staying at home, watching bad movies and behaving like a lazy git.

Now the warm weather's back it's time for me to get out and about again... or at least drag myself to the local bookstore.

I'll be doing the first ever bookstore signing for "Undead on Arrival" at Barnes & Noble West Ashley, 1812 Sam Rittenburg Blvd, Charleston this Saturday January 12th at 2 p.m.

If you get the chance, please drop in and say hi!

Here's a blog post from Charleston City Paper's Arts & Entertainment editor, John Stoehr back in December '07 (sounds like a long time ago, doesn't it?):

"Be sure to check out Nick Smith’s review of an old-school screen printing show at 52.5. The exhibit, set among racks of CDs and punk ‘zines, runs through Dec. 31. And while you’re at it, Mr. Nick has a new novel out called Undead on Arrival.

"The official launch party was earlier this month at The Black Cart. He’ll do a book signing and reading on Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. Barnes & Noble, 1812 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. Smith, evidently a lover of Felis silvestris catus, is also the author Milk Treading and The Kitty Killer Cult. For more information, call the bookstore at (843) 556-8979 or go to http://arts.ccpblogs.com/2007/12/19/journal-screen-printing-101-and-mr-nick/www.bn.com."

http://arts.ccpblogs.com/2007/12/19/journal-screen-printing-101-and-mr-nick/

Come to The Black Cart bar for a Zombie Night! Dress code: cadaver casual.

I'll be officially launching my new novel Undead on Arrival at The Black Cart (above Joe Pasta). It's a free event that starts at 8 p.m., with a book signing, zombie art, DJ/music and a special zombie shot.

Be warned - there may be zombies around on the night. The only sure way to be safe is to come dressed as one yourself!

Where: The Black Cart, 54 John Street, Downtown Charleston, SC

When: Thursday, December 6, 8:00 p.m.

Undead on Arrival has been named book of the Month by publishers Luath Press. It's currently being distributed in Britain - my mum just got a copy from Amazon - and should hit US stores in time for Halloween.


Here's what Luath had to say about the new novel:


Bestselling author Nick Smith's new book, Undead on Arrival, introduces us to the grave new world of zombie 'life'. In a brilliantly funny, incredibly original fantasy world, where zombies must fight for their constitutional rights as citizens of our world, our hero, Glen, is struggling to come to terms with the drawbacks of being a zombie - and desperately trying to find his killer.

According to Amazon, Undead on Arrival has just been released in the UK.

No news from my publisher, Luath Press. No advance reviews. But the novel's available for purchase on Amazon.co.uk.

Undead on the Horizon

Big news of the week: after several months of futering and postponed printings, advance copies of Undead on Arrival have finally arrived at the San Francisco office of my publicist, Peter Handel.

He says it "looks great" - and he's not one to make stuff up (read his sporadic blog, Rejection is My Middle Name, for proof).

The book's printers, Bell & Bain say that their printer was out of commission for cleaning and maintenance until just recently. That led to a considerable hold-off time for publication and an agonizing few months for me. At least the delay allowed some extra time for several hundred back orders to build up for the book.