Oh, hey, it's your friend's nice dad who always pronounces your name wrong.

Oops, alleyward, and welcome to the thrilling conclusion of spooktober.

Here it is.

Let's turn our brains right over to zombies, shall we?

But actual natural zombies.

So this guest, whoo, someone I met interviewing for a panel at the Beloved Natural History

Museum of LA County, I was immediately thrilled to meet another high caliber dork, big

dork, who spent his spare time researching our weird world.

You're going to love him.

He's a longtime science writer.

You've likely already read his work in wired magazines, absurd creature of the weak column.

Perhaps you've enjoyed one of his many books, such as The Wasp that brainwashed the caterpillar,

or Plite of the Living Dead, what real life zombies reveal about our world in ourselves,

or a poison like no other, which is his latest book.

His books are really deeply researched.

They're also hilarious.

They're such a joy to read.

I'm a really big fan of his and his Plite of the Living Dead came out a few years ago

so he was not expecting me in his inbox, but I reached out to him and was like, hey,

buddy, hi, hi.

Remember me?

And I was like, since he spent years writing a book about zombie creatures and traveling

...