One of the better things about working in the internet is the surprising number of like-minded folks you can meet purely by chance. Not on myspace or in chatrooms (what you do with your own internet time is entirely your own business) but through similar tastes in politics, movies or, in our case, difficult books.

Throughout all the hullabaloo surrounding our iPad app last month, I received an email from a really great online reading group, the Infinite Zombies, who’ll be taking an eight week tour through ULYSSES beginning next week. As someone who works in webcomics, I’m usually a little wary of any emails with the word “zombie” attached to it. But, believe me, there’s no short rations of brains in this group. They started as a readers blog for David Foster Wallace’s INFINITE JEST and grew into a community of people trying to help one another through some of the most challenging books in literature. They’re just finishing MOBY DICK at the moment and have added some great illustrations there from Matt Kish to the mix that I was really jazzed to see.

Though I’m not nearly as far along in my own Joycean journey as Matt is with his Melville, I’ll be joining the Zombies on this tour of ULYSSES. Judd Staley, the guide for Zombies eight week plunge into the novel, just did an interview with me talking about my process for adaptation that you can find here. Lot of stuff there already covered on this blog, but Judd and I have some really similar interests in the book and how to get first-time readers into Joyce.

Eight weeks is a difficult pace to keep running on ULYSSES, but I’d encourage any fans of this site to come along for the ride. You’ll find fresh insights from pretty smart folks and some different ways of seeing, and sharing, the novel for both new and experienced readers.

-Rob