Oct. 2, 2025
Apocalyptic Insights: A.M. Geever on Crafting Gritty Fiction for a Changing World
Send us a text In this captivating episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome award-winning author A.M. Geever, known for her gripping post-apocalyptic fiction. A.M. shares her journey from a passionate reader to a prolific writer, detailing her unique approach to storytelling in the zombie apocalypse genre. With multiple series under her belt, including the upcoming third book in her Steel City Apocalypse series, she discusses the intriguing dynamics of writing within a collabora...
In this captivating episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome award-winning author A.M. Geever, known for her gripping post-apocalyptic fiction. A.M. shares her journey from a passionate reader to a prolific writer, detailing her unique approach to storytelling in the zombie apocalypse genre. With multiple series under her belt, including the upcoming third book in her Steel City Apocalypse series, she discusses the intriguing dynamics of writing within a collaborative world of fellow authors. A.M. delves into the deeper themes of her work, exploring the moral complexities of her characters, the influence of her background in religious studies, and the social commentary woven throughout her narratives. Listeners will gain insight into her creative process, the importance of addressing societal issues in literature, and the role of art in reflecting and challenging the world around us. Join us for an engaging conversation that inspires listeners to explore their own creativity and embrace the power of storytelling.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and, and inspire. Today I am joined by award winning author, a.m. Jeever or Annie. A.m. m.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Hello. Yeah, a.m. m is a apocalyptic author and she also writes gritty post collapse fiction. So we're going to be talking to her about her writings and everything that she's up to and going to be up to. So Annie, thank you so much for joining me.
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> A.M. Geber>Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm really looking forward to talking with you today.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself.
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> A.M. Geber>Sure. well, my name's Annie and I write post apocalyptic fiction. I've got two, three series now. the first two series are zombie apocalypse fiction and the one I. So one series is finished, one series I'm still in the, the process of writing and I'll be releasing the third book later this year. And you know, then I've got this new series, from called Darkest Light and that is, is post collapse. It, it has to do with a solar storm that knocks out all electricity and all electronic components, in like present day America. So it kind of leaves people in a bit of a bind. And that's a fun project because it's in a larger world called Ravaged Skies and that is, has 15 authors who are all writing in the same world, but they're writing their own series. So we have, you know, an agreed upon set of events for the beginning of the story and how it kicks off and then everybody can from that point on develop, you know, their own stories in the world. And sometimes we've got stories that overlap a little, have like little Easter eggs like that. And and that's been a lot of fun and that's been an unusual project for me.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, this question is a two part question. First of all, what made you get into writing? And second of all, you're the first post apocalyptic author, post collapse, you know, fiction that I've interviewed. So what made you want to be an author first of all? And what made you want to get into that, that type of writing,
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> A.M. Geber>As far as wanting to be a writer? You know, I'm a big reader and as a kid I was always that girl who had her nose stuck in a book. And reading was just a wonderful way to experience different, different worlds and times and, and experience of other people. So being a reader, my Love of reading is what made me want to write as far as post apocalyptic fiction. And I mean, that is such a mouthful. I have to think about spelling it every single time. as far as that, I enjoy stories where like, people are put into very, trying and extreme circumstances and what happens after. And it's always been the, what happens after, whatever the calamitous event is that I find interesting. And I think part of that is the appeal of being able to like, tear everything down and then start again. I think that's something that people find, to varying degrees, kind of interesting. And but I also like it because in any kind of story you test and push your characters and you get them out of their comfort zones so that they have to grow and change. And with post apocalyptic fiction, as with several other genres, you can push hard, you can really kind of torture your characters a bit, but the circumstances can be so extreme that you can really test the limits of, well, what people do and you know, how that changes them and how they live with it. So that, that's, those are the two, that's one of the big reasons I like to, to write it because I, I'm always curious about why people do what they do, which is, you know, great and terrible. and so that, that's, that's why I got into it and, and why I enjoy it.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, I know that religious beliefs, good and bad, are all throughout your undead AIDS series. And can you talk about why, why that is and why you decide to do that?
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> A.M. Geber>Sure. well, I have a Master of Divinity degree. I studied to be a Unitarian Universalist minister.
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> A.M. Geber>And by the time I got to the end of it, my program, I realized that ministry really wasn't what I wanted to do. I really enjoyed my, education and the people I met and just being in a really, academically fruitful environment. But I realized that like, ministry was not for me. So after that I worked a whole bunch of different kinds of jobs. and I wound up working at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley in California.
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> A.M. Geber>So it's a Jesuit university. And you know, Jesuits can kind of be rabble rousers on behalf of the downtrodden and the poor. And so I'm working there. And I decided while I'm working there that I'm going to, I'm going to start writing a book.
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> A.M. Geber>And once I established that I was going to make it, a zombie apocalypse group or book, you know, you, you have the good people and the bad people in the story and you Know, I knew who the bad people were, so. And I was setting my story in this particular place, so I thought, well, who would be the counterbalance to that? And I was like, well, it would be the Jesuits, you know, so that was kind of. So that part very much was like, not. It was a conscious choice, but it wasn't because I was trying to do anything or make anything or say anything. It was just a piece of the puzzle and the landscape that I. That was there. and then, you know, there's also a really terrible, religious group in this series and a, somewhat delusional person who thinks he's God on Earth. And, And in some ways, actually, in some ways it was. Again, it kind of gets back to, like, why do people do what they do? What do they believe, and what did they base it on? And, you know, for, you know, my main character in this story, I wanted to write someone who had a very strong moral compass, and yet her life has altered and changed her so much because she has lived through this terrible experience that, you know, her outlook on life has changed. And even though she still has this very strong moral compass, she doesn't always make what we might consider the right choices because of how that experience has changed her. And, and if you can have it in the context of someone who's got a very strong religious faith life, then that can be kind of fun. So. But I mean, to be honest, in that particular series, I didn't really think. Think about it too consciously. It was only later when people started, you know, I would meet people at book shows or I would talk to people, on podcast, and they would ask me about it, or, you know, people would mention it in reviews of the books, and I'd be like, oh, wow, that's, like, pretty cool that people are seeing that there, because I didn't. I didn't set out to do that particularly.
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> A.M. Geber>But again, I think it all just falls back, circles back to my curiosity about why do people do what they do.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, let's talk about the social commentary and your writing. You know, it's a big part of your writing. So, you know, kind of talk about that and. Yeah, talk about, how readers react to it.
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> A.M. Geber>Yeah, absolutely. well, I grew up in a very activist family. my, I have a lot of brothers and sisters, and my, parents were very active in the civil rights movement and then the women's rights movement and, you know, successive, you know, liberation struggles in the 70s and 80s. And, you know, my mother, till the day she died, which, you know, and my father is 92 and he's still interested in trying to make the world a better place. so I grew up in this very activist model where, like, it was drilled into us at a young age that, you know, we had advantages that other people didn't have. We were working class, which meant we had an obligation to support other working class people. And, because there was a very strong union background in my family and you know, so I grew up with that. That was like my starting point. Like when I was a little girl. I was a little girl. In the 70s, the United Farm Workers had, were striking out in California.
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> A.M. Geber>Cesar Chavez, was trying to help them organize.
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> A.M. Geber>And so my family was boycotting lettuce and grapes. And I knew why we were doing this, but I also found it really annoying because, like, I liked grapes. So, like, I remember as a kid being like, this really is terrible. Like, I knew it was a good reason, but I personally found it very inconvenient, as only a seven year old can.
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> A.M. Geber>so another thing that plays into it is the zombies as we know them now in popular culture. They were invented in 1968 by George A. Romero, who happened to be a filmmaker working here in Pittsburgh. So I grew up, you know, half an hour from the mall.
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> A.M. Geber>That's in his second movie, dawn of the Dead. The town where he, he, filmed Night of the Living Dead is maybe an hour and a half away. You know, so because, so this idea that you have these, these undead creatures that are, you know, rise from the dead and, you know, then try to eat people, that was new because before that, the idea of zombies was very much coming out of the voodoo Caribbean tradition and more as like people who were being controlled, you know, by magic or, or mind control or whatnot. So George Romero had all kinds of social commentary in his films. And you know, he said that he didn't necessarily set out to, to do it, but it was kind of like, a reflection of the times he was doing his filmmaking. Because Night of the Living Dead, it was made in 1968 and, the hero was a black man. Well, I had never seen a black man be the hero in anything before I saw Night of the Living Dead. And and not only does I.
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> A.M. Geber>And not only is he the hero, but at the very end he's killed by people who think they're like, mopping up after this event and the zombies, you know, so he's, he's tried to be this really, he's been this really great person throughout the whole film and, and he dies. and then the second dawn of the Dead film was set in a, ah, suburb outside of Pittsburgh about, I don't know, in the 70s later.
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> A.M. Geber>And in the first few minutes of that film there is a race riot where, you know, predominantly white police are beating up African Americans and Puerto Rican nationalists who are fighting this, who are, you know, trying, who are part of a liberation movement and are trying to get attention brought to their, you know, to this liberation struggle, which was very reflective of the times. He again had another, act. There were two actors who were like the leading men and a, woman who was the leading woman, one of whom was black in like 1975, 6 and mainstream media. And which again was unusual. And of the two main characters, he turned out to be the one who really like, was the dependable person who wasn't going to give up the other guy. He was, he was kind of annoying in my particular, my opinion. But, you know, George Romero had all this in his films. And so my introduction to zombie films was not only that they were like, made in Pittsburgh, so it gave them this like, outsized influence in the place that I lived in. But, but that, you know, they weren't just about these monsters that were trying to, that were trying to eat people, you know, and it wasn't even just race relations. Like, you know, in that second film he has people stuck in a mall and these zombies are just coming back and they're like congregating outside the mall and people are trying to, they're, they're speculating, well, why are they doing that? And, but, you know, Romero did it because it was a reflection of what he thought of as the mindless consumer culture of the times. So, so that appeals to me. And the thing, the other thing that appeals to me about it is that social commentary can be very subversive. I think the best social commentary is something that people who are looking for it pick up on, but the people who aren't don't. And either way the story works. So, so, yeah, so the combination of liking to do something that's a little, a little sly and having it be about issues that I care about, is part of the reason why I like social commentary. Because anybody can, can put an element in a story that just beats you over the head, you know, but not any, everybody can put an element in a story that is there and that people can pick up on if they're paying attention.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, you also dedicated A book to George Floyd.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So talk about that and why you decided to do that.
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> A.M. Geber>Sure. well, that was my. The third book in my, Undead Age series. And, I was writing that book just as Covid was coming out. And then the Black Lives Matter movement exploded. And it was, it was such a. It was such a weird time. First off, the pandemic, it was such a weird time because, you know, you know, people, your support systems were changing, who you could see was changing. And, I had decided that one of the characters in that book, he was going to be traveling with small children. And, traveling with small children in the zombie apocalypse isn't necessarily going to be the easiest thing. And, but I wanted to make it even harder. So I was trying to figure out how I could do that. And initially I decided I would have this child have some kind of developmental delay, which would make present an extra challenge. But then Ferguson happened and, you know, you know, and Eric Garner was, you know, killed for selling cigarettes on the street. And.
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> A.M. Geber>And like, it was just, it was just so horrible.
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> A.M. Geber>And it was just another like, America failing moment, you know, because I remember talking with my girlfriend and she said, oh, yeah, well, I heard somebody telling like a, It wasn't a joke really. It was like, ah, this is America kind of thing, which was, did you hear about the black man who was killed? And person would say, oh, yeah, so. And so they're like, no, no, no, not that one.
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> A.M. Geber>And a person would say another name. It's like, no, no, no, not that one. And so it was like, we're having. And again, you know, obviously I can't experience what racism is like for someone who is African American or black. But I was always raised to be very aware of it. And in fact, even my mother was raised to be very aware of it in the 30s and 40s. So I'm watching all of this unfold around me and I thought, I'm not going to have these children that this guy is traveling with be developmentally delayed. I'm going to. Because my character was a white guy, I thought, I'm going to make them be little black kids and I'm going to have them run into white supremacists. Because it was a way to address what was happening right at that moment and in the context of the story that I, that I was writing. And I'm also going to be, you know, bringing white supremacy into this series that I'm writing right now, this, this post collapse series. just because, you know, like, you know, I grew up in the suburbs. You know, my family was moved out here in the 70s, which was the part of the whole white flight from cities all over America. And you know, there was one. There were two black kids at my school. And I was just always aware of like, how. And I knew one of them really well because our families were friends. I, knew Shashan really well. And you know, as I got older and older, you know, and my awareness grew of just the structural pervasiveness of racism and not only just how horrible it is, but how clueless my community was. You know, I mean, just the. The things you overhear people saying or people say, you know, and it's just like, did. Did you really say that? And, you know, you know, sometimes engaging with people and sometimes not. And, and just, you know, feeling like you're banging your head off a wall, you know. so. So anyway, so that's why I dedicated the book to George Floyd, because I wanted it to be a tangible. Even though it's just a book dedication. You know, book dedication isn't really much of anything, but I wanted him to be remembered. And I thought, you know, somebody might look at that dedication and not know who he is. And maybe they'll investigate and they'll find out and they'll be, their awareness will be raised. and, so that's why I did it.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, what would you have to say to somebody who feels like politics has no place in writing? And also, this is a two part question.
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> A.M. Geber>Sure.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>First part is what would you say to somebody who says politics has no place in writing? And what do you feel the role of the arts and the artists plays in society?
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> A.M. Geber>Well, I'm going to answer them backwards. Artists are always ahead of the curve in terms of looking at what's going on in society and having it reflected in their work. So, you know, obviously, you know, artists are, you know, trying to, depending on what kind of art they're doing, they're trying to uplift or entertain or, or, you know, open up a person's awareness, you know, but artists aren't just painting pretty pictures for the heck of it most of the time. and you know, playwrights and writers, you know, are often, you know, in examining the human condition, I think you are inherently engaging with the issues of the day. So, what I would say to someone who says it has no role is that I would try to help them understand the role of the artist throughout, you know, history in as much as I am able to do that because I don't know everything. and, you know, I would say that, you know, artists are people too.
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> A.M. Geber>And people, people are allowed to have their opinions, that people are allowed to have their goals. And, and you don't necessarily have to like it. and. But it's, it's, it's part of the larger structure of life and society and the world we live in. And you know, people who get into some form of art are usually doing it because they feel like they have something they want to say, even if they're not consciously thinking about that or even starting out there. And so that's what I would say. And then the other thing I would say is, you know what? There are plenty of books out there that have zero of this in them. You know, there's plenty of stuff that's just strictly, you know, an exciting thriller or a romance or whatever. And, you know, if you don't like what I'm doing, you don't have to read it.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>To us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.
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> A.M. Geber>well, like I mentioned earlier, my, my second zombie series is called Steel City Apocalypse and it's set here in Pittsburgh, because I was living in California when I wrote the first, series, the Undead Age. And I, you know, set it there because I was there and I was really familiar with there and the area and there were some things that, that worked for the story being there. But when I moved back to Pittsburgh, I was like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna write right about zombies here, you know, because it's just a lot of fun. So I've got the third book for that Steel City Apocalypse series that is coming out in December. And then I'm also, like I said, I just started this, Ravaged Skies World series with the Powerless World. And I'm going to be starting working on the second book of that soon. And then, and then I'm getting various books into audio, format for people who prefer to get their stories that way.
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> A.M. Geber>And you know, we'll have some of those coming out later this year and early next year.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.
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> A.M. Geber>Sure. My, I have a website and it's amgever M and that's G as in George, E E V as in Victor. Er.com.
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> A.M. Geber>i always spell it because people hear B's and R's and interesting places. So that's, you can get in touch with me through my website or check out what I'm doing there. I'm also on Instagram and Facebook. again, my handle is amgever. And, you know, I also have a newsletter if people want to sign up for it, because I can let people know what I'm up to, what's going on with my projects. And, you know, I like to do nice things for people who do take the time to subscribe to and read my newsletter. So I do send out things to people that are exclusive. So those are the best ways, to keep track of me.
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> A.M. Geber>Close.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about, that you would like to touch on any final thoughts you have for the listeners. And I want to say before you do that, I apologize for pronouncing it wrong. It's Am M Geber, not Jeever.
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> A.M. Geber>You know what, Everybody does it, so don't worry about it. any final thoughts about, like, anything in particular or just, final thoughts?
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Any final thoughts that you have for the listeners?
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> A.M. Geber>I guess. I guess my only final thoughts would be that, I find it really exciting to be able to explore the world through writing. And, I know that everybody has a way that they. A lens through which they like to explore it. So I guess my final thoughts would be keep exploring. Because you never know what you're going to find and, you know, something that really speaks to you. Could be a book or a song or, you know, a walk down the street away.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, ladies and gentlemen, for more information on AM Gieber, visit amgeverm.com Please be sure to follow rate review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Check out Am? Gieber's books. She really has some amazing writings going on. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform and visit www.craveball337.com for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Am, thank you for all that you're doing. Thank you for your writings and thank you for joining me.
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> A.M. Geber>Thank you.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.craveball337.com until next time, keep Living the Dream.
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