Review of “Comes The Dark” from Double Shot Reviews!
Heather over at Doubleshot Reviews was kind enough to take a look at Comes The Dark and after reading it, seems to also be interested in checking out Into The Dark as well, which is great! I guess that means she liked it.
Besides doing a review of my books, I will get the opportunity to be interviewed by Heather on zombies, writing, and the experiences of getting published. Stay tuned as I keep you updated on that. In the meantime, check out Heather’s review of Comes The Dark here: http://doubleshotreviews.com/2010/12/30/comes-the-dark-a-zombie-novel/
Buy Zombie review of “Comes The Dark”
Buy Zombie has written a very detailed and in depth review of Comes The Dark, and my understanding is that their review of Into The Dark is soon to follow. Perhaps within the next week or so. I always appreciate a review that gives specific reasons for what the critic liked and disliked and I can appreciate the commentary. It is always fun to see a review that spends a solid amount of time with the book, and I look forward to the follow up for Into The Dark. I hope you do as well.
So check it out here, and I will make sure I post when their review for Into The Dark is online. http://www.buyzombie.com/2010/12/30/reviews-of-zombie-related-things/comes-the-dark-review-2/
Review of “Barriers Beyond” by Tim Long
Barriers Beyond is a Kindle novella that I decided to check out once I got a kindle for Christmas because I’ve read plenty of Tim Long’s other works and have enjoyed them. Barrier’s Beyond tells the first person perspective of one survivor during the zombie apocalypse, a former military man who shares his experiences during the first few months of survival after the dead rise.
Tim adds a nice twist to the story by giving us a new form of undead-the ghoul. Zombies in this story are your traditional undead flesheaters, while ghouls are humans who get desperately hungry enough to eat zombie flesh to survive after things go south and food is scarce. The taint of that flesh turns those who eat it into something along the lines of a half undead, half human creature (or at least some of them, while others go the full zombie route). These ghouls retain some of their smarts, craft traps, and crave the flesh of humans and other ghouls. They lead the undead in their charge on those few humans who remain. It was a nice little addition to the zombie pantheon.
The story itself is a pretty straight forward apocalyptic thriller-Erik, the main character, reacts to the initial days of infection and prepares for the impending end of humanity by traveling up to the mountains to a friend’s log cabin to escape the assault of the undead. While he is safe there, he finds the loneliness enough to drive him back to civilization, or what remains of it, several months later. The story at that point goes into overdrive and the action gets amped up quite a bit until the end of the story. Again, this is a novella, so it is a quick read and the storyline not too complicated, but it is fun if you enjoy stories about the zombie apocalypse. The window is left open by the author for future novellas, or perhaps a tie in of this story with one of his other apocalyptic novels.
Barriers Beyond can be found on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Barriers-Beyond-ebook/dp/B0042G0QZ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1293518750&sr=1-1
Review of “Elements of the Apocalypse” from Permuted Press
Elements of the Apocalypse, as the title suggests, gives the reader four stories using the classic elements to show us how the apocalypse will occur. I thought it was a creative take on apocalyptic stories from the standpoint of using this theme. Fire, Air, Earth, and Water are the means to our destruction, and a different author took a swipe at each particular element.
The first story, by DL Snell, gives us fire as the source of our destruction. Dylan Bradley is minding his own business on a bus ride home from school for spring break when the bus driver bursts into flames. Rather quickly, most of the people around him are doing the same, as spontaneous combustion takes hold as the means to our end. Dylan races home with several other characters as madness takes a hold of the few remaining survivors, in an effort to find his girlfriend.
The second story, by John Sunseri, deals with aliens invading our planet and placing huge atmospheric generators on earth, which make our air unbreathable for humans. Thirty years later, a team from New America, the last surviving lair of humans, has created a device that might help them fight back. Led by Bess, the toughest survivor left, they climb out of their underground hideout and make their way to one of the alien’s air processing stations with the device in tow. Since the atmosphere is polluted not only with unbreathable air, but with “demons” and “diggers”, both servants to the aliens who crave the oxygen inside human blood, making the trek is somewhat like traversing one of the nine planes of hell.
The third story, by R. Thomas Riley, has the animal kingdom in revolt against humanity when Gaia decides that we are poor caretakers of our planet and she needs to start over. Animals don’t just turn on us, they become smart and vicious servants of their earth mother. But Gaia has a plan, and that includes enslaving some of the humans to do more of her dirty work.
The final story, by Ryan C. Thomas, has water the entire world over disappearing in a rapid fashion, leading to a desperate scramble to find the cause and find the last remaining sources of drinkable water on the planet. Cam, an estranged husband and father, has to work with Scott, his scientist brother in law, in an attempt to discover the cause of this catastrophe, while at the same time trying to find water for his infant son as he lay dying from dehydration.
Each story has individual merits, and I give credit to each author for giving us compelling characters that made each story more than just simple doom anthems. I grew attached enough to the characters that I found myself rooting for them to find a miracle despite knowing how most of these types of stories end. I am not going to pick out a favorite here, because I really don’t think any of them missed the mark, and there were parts of each tale that resonated for me. If you enjoy reading stories about our destruction that lean toward the fantastic, than this book is a entertaining choice I highly recommend.
Elements of the Apocalypse can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Apocalypse-D-L-Snell/dp/1934861502/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293203900&sr=8-1
Double Whammy! Check out reviews for both Comes The Dark and Into the Dark on Zombiephiles!
Ursula K Raphael, who has gotten some big props in the zombie community lately for her letter published in Entertainment Weekly championing the cause of small press zombie writers everywhere, has written a dual review of Comes The Dark and Into The Dark over on Zombiephiles website. So for all of you folks who haven’t gotten either of my books yet, this is a great way to get the full overview of both at the same time. I am pretty thrilled with the review, especially when her biggest gripe is the fact that both my books were over too damn quickly. If that is the worst complaint you ever get about your writing, you are doing pretty well! Seriously though, I am once again humbled by the fact that someone who really loves this genre seems to be really enjoying my books. There is no better feeling.
So give the review a look see over at Zombiephiles here: http://www.zombiephiles.com/zombies-ate-my-brains/library-of-the-living-dead-does-it-again-patrick-dorazio
and then go buy both my books, if you haven’t already. 😉
Sonar 4 Landing Dock reviews “Into The Dark”
Another review has been posted on Into the Dark and I have to admit I am pretty pleased by the response of the folks over at Sonar 4 Landing Dock. My favorite quote from this review has to be this: “D’Orazio grabs the reader and pulls them into this story with a large violent hook and you’re stuck, but what does happen is you don’t mind being stuck, actually you love it.”
Wow! That is pretty dang flattering.
Check out the full review here: http://sonar4landingdockreviews.blogspot.com/2010/12/into-dark-by-patrick-d-orazio-review.html?zx=e2ff0ef7837054b8
and of course, get yourself a copy of Into The Dark and judge for yourself!
Night of the Living Podcast reviews “Comes The Dark”
Hey folks, check out this podcast review of Comes The Dark over at Night of the Living Podcast. Check out the link here for episode 209: http://notlp.com/. The review starts around the 42 minute mark, and they have some fun with it. These guys are pretty hilarious in general and it was fun hearing them talk about my book and changing marriage vows to insure that if your spouse gets bitten by a zombie that you are willing to put a bullet in their head so they don’t come back. Now THAT is love!
Give the review a listen and check out NOTLP in general. They love horror and have a lot of fun with their podcast. Great stuff.
Eric S. Brown has a new contest to win one of his books!
Hey folks, just thought I would share something cool with you. Eric S. Brown, the man behind tons of great zombie books out there is holding a contest in honor of his first release through Simon and Schuster. It’s a great chance to check out a killer book and win some other really killer books. Here are the details from the man himself:
Contest rules and prizes: From Eric S Brown
Sounds pretty simple, and a cool way to win some books!
Check out these cool Library of the Living Dead Calendars!
Hey all! I had to post about the cool calendars that are being sold over at Cafe Press that were put together by some pretty killer artists for The Library of the Living Dead. There are two different calendars and each contains zombified pictures of various authors whose work appears in either Library anthologies or novels. Yours truly is in one of the two calendars and I do have to say that both really kick some major butt!
Give them both a looksee if you get the chance, at this link: http://www.cafepress.com/DrPus?CMP=CJ-CLICK-10461796&tid=skim673X607971&sid=skim673X607971&cjpid=3641109&PID=7532081&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=none&utm_source=cj
And then pick up one or both for yourself and get a few for the zombie lover you know and want to pleasantly surprise for Christmas!
Mr. MoOn’s Nightmares Day, ALL DAY!
Ladies and Gents,
Tomorrow, my good friend, Mr. Jonathan MoOn, is running a promotion on his book, Mr. MoOn’s Nightmares. I reviewed his book here, https://patrickdorazio.com/2010/07/31/review-of-jonathan-moons-mr-moons-nightmares/.
Check out the Facebook page for Mr. MoOn’s Nightmares Day, All Day: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170572399623444 and make sure you are attending this event!
And check out his blog to see what goodies he is giving away! http://bit.ly/dUQ9QW
Most importantly, make sure you swing by Amazon and pick up a copy of his book here: http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Moons-Nightmares-Jonathan-Moon/dp/1451577249/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287516260&sr=1-1 and then write a review on it after you read it. I am sure he will be happy you did, and my guess is that you’ll be happy you checked out this terrific book as well!
My interview on The Creepture Feature Horrorshow at Horror Hound Cincinnati
I promised that once this interview was posted that I would post it here. Ben Rogers and I were interviewed by Greg Amortis over at “The Creepture Feature Horrorshow” podcast about our novels. Check it out, and check out some of the other great podcasts that Greg and the gang have done besides their visit to Horror Hound.
Here is the link: http://thecreepturefeaturehorrorshow.com/2010/11/28/podcast-25—special-episode—interviews-from-horror-hound-2010-in-ohio.aspx
Our interviews start around the 25 minute mark, so check it out!
Review of Mark Justice and David T. Wilbank’s “Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road”
I have not read what I understand to be a novella that started the Dead Earth Series, entitled “Dead Earth: The Green Dawn”, but the authors did a commendable job bringing me up to speed with what happened in the first story through much of this novel, without any need for a prologue. What that translates to for someone who does forgo the first book is an immediate jump into the action with a story filled with zombies controlled by an alien invasion force dubbed “Necros” (short for Necromancers), by the few surviving humans who remain.
There are two groups of survivors at the outset of this tale. One group is made up of bikers running free and trying to avoid getting eaten while roaming around the Mexican desert in Baja California. Lead by Luther Kemp, there is friction between him and another member of this ragtag gang, whose nickname is Mother…and he is one big Mother, that is for sure. Mother only wants company because there is safety in numbers, while Kemp has bigger plans. The other group is led by a former sheriff’s deputy from New Mexico named Jubal Slate. Jubal is bound and determined to make his way up to Area 51 in Nevada, where the aliens apparently broke through into our dimension, started changing the atmosphere, and raising the dead to help in the take over of humanity.
It seems that those who have survived have some immunity from turning into zombies-they can be bit and survive, though if allowed to die, they too turn in the end. It is an interesting slant, and allows for a few gruesome scenes where I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
Not long into the story, Luther Kemp is bequeathed a gift from one of the Necros, who fly in glider-type machines, as his band of renegades is surrounded by a zombie horde. A metallic band that adheres to his head, giving him power over the undead and the ability to read the minds of the living, as long as he follows the commands of these New Lords over the Dead Earth. That is about the time that Mother realizes that he wants nothing to do with Luther or his little band of devotees, as Kemp decides that he is pretty tickled to serve his new alien masters, as long as he is given power over both the dead and the living humans.
The two groups clash throughout the rest of the story, with both sides making the trek north from Mexico up to Nevada. There is plenty of gory zombie action and interesting variations on that due to the alien influence on the story. The near future time frame add little hints about the earth technology left behind, and we get a big dose of it from one of the secondary characters, who has the ability to tap into the ever diminishing world wide web through a chip implanted in his head. I enjoyed the pacing of the story-it was a fun and easy read. My criticisms of it are mostly tied to whether or not this book is the final chapter in this saga or not. My belief is that based on a very revealing chapter near the end, when a lot of divulged about the aliens and their plans for earth, that this series will continue. Also, without providing a spoiler, I felt that one character’s departure from the story was rather anticlimactic and my guess is that they will return in a future installment. If, however, this is where it all ends, I would be disappointed that there isn’t more to be revealed. My guess is that isn’t the case, though the authors certainly hit a dramatic stopping point which would allow them to leave things as is if that is the route they choose to go.
I felt that the three main characters in this story were all fairly well developed. Jubal taking the fight to aliens and undead was a refreshing change from what we typically see-there is rarely a main target to focus on during the zombie apocalypse, so seeing someone willing to do whatever it takes to undo the undead and the enemies of man was enjoyable to see-he was on his own personal Jihad. I liked the morphing Luther Kemp, as the necro technology he is gifted with starts changing and empowering him in twisted and devious ways. He goes from being a run of the mill sociopath to someone with an almost religious zeal and devotion to his new masters that is frightening. And my favorite character is Mother, the scarred, imperfect, reluctant hero that goes through hell and comes out of it looking for vengeance. He was the most developed and complex of the three, and also the most human of the bunch.
I do look forward to seeing where the Dead Earth series goes, and hope to hear about the promise of another installment from the authors somewhere in the not so distant future.
Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road can be found at http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Earth-Vengeance-Mark-Justice/dp/1934861561/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291266382&sr=1-1