Q&A with Van Allen

Meet Van

I’m a former Captain in the US Marines who now writes thrillers and futuristic adventures, including stories with conspiracy theories, alien invasions, space wars, and of course the zombie apocalypse. In my 21-year military career, I developed expertise in both combat training early on and then criminal investigations later on. While in the Marines, I completed a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Originally from Houston, Texas and currently residing in Dallas, Texas, I fancy myself a secret physics, statistics, and data nerd. I'm also known today for being a part-time tennis strategy and coaching genius…by my kids…sometimes.

For more on Van, visit: www.VanAllenFiction.com

If you had the power of teleportation right now, where would you go and why? 

I’ve actually written a short story about teleporting through deep space, an adventure involving Portal Navigators (CNSEV Tormalinas Lost). Teleporting is a fun sciency subject for me. To answer this question, the first thought that popped into my head was, “Why not teleport to Hell, as long as there was a way to teleport back?” There is a very compelling story in this somewhere. I’ll add it to my to-do list.

Teleporting is something we are all familiar with from Star Trek mainly, and then from superhero comic characters like Raven from the Teen Titans and Nightcrawler from the X-men. Sounds like an awesome power to have at one’s disposal. I don’t know that I would want to teleport anywhere here on this planet unless I was on my death bed. Maybe just before dying, I would use my teleportation powers to rob several banks and then finally teleport to some obscure secret location and die there, leaving puzzle clues for people to try to crack and then find me and claim all the loot I took with me.

Some of Van's work

I have been deemed a certified zombie survival expert based on my internet content. Some of my content has ended up on The Walking Dead and in major movies like World War Z...no kidding. While I write about a lot more than just zombies, my zombie books are crazy popular. More than 15,000 downloads in two years. Here are some of the more savory quotes from my zombie books:

“Surviving a zombie apocalypse is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.”

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, unless it’s viral.”

“Don’t play with your zombie; it will make you go blind.”

“In a zombie outbreak, treat stupid people like you would treat zombies.”

“Zombies don’t kill people and take their shit; people kill people and take their shit.”

“In a zombie apocalypse, you need to be prepared to fight the living and the dead, but especially the living.”

“In poker, a 9mm always beats four aces.”

“In a zombie apocalypse, be prepared for assholes. God made a whole lot of them and they always seem to have the most phenomenal immunities to the shittiest situations.”

Van Allen's Oddities: I have a collection of books, guns, puppets (YES puppets), comics, superhero figures, and sports cards. Why? Because I can.

My favorite book: The Bible 

My second favorite book: JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit...I consider myself a Master Hobbitologist.

I know a lot about The Bible too.

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/VAFiction

Twitter: @GrProject43X Twitter host of the popular Better Tuesday writing prompt, #Btr2sDay

Facebook: Look for “Van Allen Fiction”

Pinterest & Instagram: I’m working on this content right now. Check it out if you can.