There’s a new zombie podcast out there making waves in the world of zombie fans. It’s called Library of the Living Dead. It’s a podcast full of gore, the walking dead, and dark humor that will tear your sides open from laughing. Library of the Living Dead also features zombie fiction, debates on zombie science, zombie-themed music, and much more every time it airs. Though a young show, it’s already had over 30 episodes air and a new one is released every week. All the shows are also available as downloads, so even if you miss a show when it airs, there is nothing to stop you from catching up on what has gone before. The podcast is run by the infamous Dr. Pus who kindly agreed to take some time out and chat with us to share all the gore-filled details of how the show began and where it’s headed.
 
What got you into horror, and more specifically, zombies?
 
Dr. Pus: When I was in 6th grade, I stayed at a friend’s house and we stayed up late and caught "Chiller Theater", WIIC, Channel 11 from Pittsburgh, with your host "Chilly Billy Cardille". It was a double feature of "Last Man On Earth" and "Night Of The Living Dead". Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink that night and had nightmares for months afterwards. I instantly became a horror fan and specifically a zombie fan. Even though "Last Man On Earth", a wonderful adaptation of Richard Matheson's most excellent "I Am Legend", is really a vampire movie, it was the impetus for George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead". If these movies could scare me like that, I just had to watch every zombie movie I could find. I especially like the low to no budget independent zombie movies. I own over 300 zombie movies on VHS and DVD.
 
What's the most difficult part of doing the show?
 
Dr. Pus: There really is no difficult part in doing the show. My voice does get a little raspy from all the reading, but more than a few Coronas help the ole vocal cords.
 
What do you enjoy most about the show?
 
Dr. Pus: My favorite parts are the "Putrefied Poetry" segment, the "Zombie Songs" and reading my zombie novel "Beginning of the Dead". I also enjoy the hell out of voice mails and reading e-mails about the show in the "Zombie Mailbag" segment. I love my fans.

Are you happy with how the show has taken off, and what are your future plans for it?

Dr. Pus: I'm completely blown away about how the show has taken off. Completely blown away. Library of the Living Dead is now getting over 800 downloads a week. THAT freaks me out. Future plans included some webcam videos and doing real "Old Time Radio" presentations with a real cast and lots of sound bites.
 
How did you get into doing the zombified songs featured on the show?
 
Dr. Pus: I've been a musician since I was in the 7th grade. I continued playing bass and then picked up guitar, keyboards, harmonica, drums, vocals, well, just about everything. In High School and College, when the "real punk" explosion hit, I picked back up the bass and played in numerous punk groups in the shittiest bars in Morgantown, WV. It was the grandest of times. After dental school I gave up music for a while until I got married to my lovely wife Tam. She heard some of my old original songs and told me I should pick up that habit again. I did. Writing original songs I formed a group called "Renfield", a very tight 3-piece who could play anything. We stuck to the Alice Cooper/Ozzy/Black Sabbath genre but were best known for our original songs. Once I got online years ago, I found "The Reel Horror" forum. A few years ago, the owners of the site decided to start a podcast. I was hooked immediately. I started doing "Dr. Pus' Manic Minute Movie Mutilation", where I would review a movie, adding funny bits and songs, where I talked as fast as I could trying to get it done in a minute or less. During this time, I stole my youngest daughter's Casio keyboard, started screwing around with the prerecorded songs on it and zombie lyrics popped into my head. Thus was born the zombified songs. The producer at "The Reel Horror Podcast", Erisa, told me I had enough talent, as well as fans of "Manic Minute", to do my own podcast. Since I was such a huge zombie novel/comic/graphic novel fan already, it was only natural to make THAT the theme for the podcast. Library of the Living Dead was then unborn. I used the Casio for many of the first episodes to record zombified songs. The lyrics did, and still do, just pop into my head. When the muse hits I have a hard time typing fast enough to get them down. Then a friend of mine, Joe, who is responsible for some really funny intros for Library of the Living Dead suggested using Napster and its karaoke songs to add lyrics too. That is how I got into doing zombified songs on Library of the Living Dead. I'm still loving it.
 
Which are better: fast zombies or slow zombies?
 
Dr. Pus: I most certainly prefer the slow shamblers. Since "Night of the Living Dead" made me a zombie fan, those are the ones that float my boat. It's just incredibly horrifying that there would be thousand of the shamblers all wanting to eat my flesh. They're just overwhelming. Though I must admit, the 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead" was cool as hell with its fast zombies. Different can be soooo good sometimes. And this one was.

Who are your favorite zombie authors?
 
Dr. Pus: My favorite zombie authors are Dr. Kim Paffenroth of "Dying To Live", D. L. Snell of "Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines", David Wellington of the "Monster" series, Travis Adkins of "Twilight of the Dead", Bowine Ibarra of "Down the Road" and "Down the Road: Apocalypse End", Max Brooks "World War Z", but my favorite author of all is a guy by the name of Eric S. Brown. (Sound of butt kissing here.) But really Eric, I absolutely love your stories.

What are your favorite zombie films?

Dr. Pus:
"Night of the Living Dead" (1968)
"Dawn of the Dead" (1974)
"Day of the Dead"
"Video Dead"
"Shatter Dead"
"Meat Market" 1 & 2
"Binge and Purge"
"The Dead Next Door"
"Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things"
"Zombi" - Fulci
"Night of the Comet"
And sooooooo many more...
 

Thank you, Dr. Pus. Anyone interested in checking out the show may find it by visiting http://dr-pus.podomatic.com/. Trust me, if you’re a zombie fan, it’s worth your time.