Scary Stories for a Good Cause: Dana Fredsti on "You'll Never Be Lunch in this Town Again"

By L.S. Johnson (https://traversingz.com/)

Dana Fredsti is the author of the Ashley Parker series, Spawn of Lilith series, and co-author of the Time Shards series. When she originally wrote “You’ll Never Be Lunch in This Town Again,” Melanie Griffith was still hot in Hollywood and cell phones had yet to become smart.

Tell us a little about your story, “You’ll Never Be Lunch in this Town Again.”

Back in the day (‘the day’ being the late ‘80s) I read Book of the Dead, an anthology of zombie stories edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector. I was, and still am, a huge fan of zombie movies and was delighted to find that this book existed. I know it’s hard to imagine a time when there weren’t a lot of movies or books to choose from in that genre, but we lived in a time before the remake of Dawn of the Dead. T’were barren years for those of us what loved flesh-eating ghouls…

 After I read Book of the Dead and found out a sequel was planned, I became obsessed with the idea of writing a story for it. Well, I missed the boat for the sequel, but heard the happy news that a third Book of the Dead edited by John Skipp was in the works and submitted a story for it. That story, A Man’s Gotta Eat What a Man’s Gotta Eat (featuring Chuck T-Bone, a zombie detective that finds missing people), was not what Skipp was looking for, but he liked my writing enough to encourage me to write and submit another story. So I did, and that story is You’ll Never Be Lunch in this Town Again, which is my take on what would happen if a first-time director had to finish his or her film during a zombie outbreak. This Amazon review says it best: “Dana Fredsti’s ‘You'll Never Be Lunch In This Town Again’ is Hollywood satire at its best, as a young director reassesses his real priorities as tinsel town collapses around him and his dwindling cast and crew.”

Your depiction of Hollywood feels like an inside perspective. Have you worked in the film industry before?

 I did, as an actress in some bad low-budget movies, a specialty stunt player (sword fighting being my specialty), and also as a production assistant and a Second AD (assistant director). I have no patience with actors who treat the crew with disrespect, and no patience with cast or crew that can’t figure out how to throw their own damn soda cans in the trash.  

What is your relationship to California?

This is my home. I’m a California native, born in Torrance (a coastal town in Los Angeles), and raised in San Diego. I moved to Los Angeles (Venice Beach and Glendale) for over ten years, and then moved to San Francisco fourteen years ago. While there are other states I’ve visited that I love, I would not want to live anywhere but California. We have pretty much everything here, including awesome wine and breweries! 

As writers, we constantly use our imaginations, sometimes in terrifying ways. But can you imagine a hopeful future for California? What might that future look like?

 See above for awesome wine and breweries. Plus, if we ever seceded, I think we’d be okay. And despite political differences, when we have disasters—such as the horrible fire that destroyed Paradise—people join together and do what they can to help the survivors rebuild and recover. 

Where can readers find more of your work? 

My website www.danafredsti.com pretty much lists it all! 

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NEXT POST ON MONDAY 11/04/19, SCARY STORIES FOR A GOOD CAUSE: L.S. Johnson ON “Ada, Awake”

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