As more news of the COVID-19/Coronavirus emergge, we more comparisons to a number of apocalyptic references in zombie titles, resulting in World War Z author Max Brooks hosting a Reddit AMA to talk about the similarities how the virus is being dealt with compared to the fictional zombie outbreak in his novel.
"I think the coronavirus is as dangerous as we allow it to be," Brooks said. "This is not the end of the world, but we need to take it seriously, implement measures to curb the spread, marshal the resources of government and industry behind a vaccine and treatment. "As regular citizens, we need to think about what we can do: social distancing, washing hands, avoiding crowds, and for God's sake, stay home if you're sick! We can't just think about 'can I get it?,' we need to think about 'who can I infect?' We have the power to turn this around, but we need to make the right choices."
Brooks also explained why his book was censored in China.
"The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned, or rather, tried to censor parts of my book because I criticized them," Brooks said. "That's forbidden in China. The government has all the power so they have to appear perfect. That's what happens in dictatorships. If the people at the top aren't perfect, then they have no right to rule. In our system, we assume that people aren't perfect, that's why we have elections to clean house. The Chinese Communist Party doesn't their people reading a book that exposes the leadership as imperfect."
When a fan asked if people should have understood how the virus would be a global problem when it infected an entire province of China with a metropolitan of 60+ million people, Brooks explained how humans tend to downplay threats.
"I think human beings are slow to realize a threat. We instinctually want to deny danger. It's an ego-defense mechanism. The problem is, if you deny too much, and are caught unprepared, panic sets in. I think we've been gutting our global health institutions for too long. In rich countries like the USA, we now take public health for granted. We don't have that gut-churning fear our grandparents used to have when Polio and other disease raged through the population. This, hopefully, could be a wakeup call for us to spend the necessary money to reinforce our public-global health networks. I'm just so sorry that this wakeup call is coming too late for people who are already sick."
Although it would take more than raw firepower to fight the threat, Brooks noted that the people of the world can work together to solve this problem.
"We've come such a long way. Even now, we've got armies, literally, of dedicated public health professionals fighting this world war," Brooks said. "We can do our part to help them. That's why, in WWZ, there's no one hero. Everyone has a role to play. Just like now. No matter what country you're in, check in with your local public health department. Check in with WHO. Follow the guidelines. Do what you can, from social distancing to hygiene, to help slow the spread. This is so solvable, as long as we all do our part."
Brooks also talked about his research process when writing his books that are deeply-rooted in reality: "Fact-based research is my prime directive. Tom Clancy was my hero so I've always tried to root my fiction in reality," Brooks said. "I usually spend about 10 to 100 hour researching for every hour I write. That includes books, film clips, in-person interviews, and hands-on demonstrations. For example, in "Devolution", I had to physically make the weapons my characters make with the materials and tools available just to make sure that it's possible."
While the Coronavirus may not be as scary as the zombie outbreak in World War Z, the novel reminds us that we all have a role to play to combat the problem.
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