ZombieSlam gives us a double whammy review of Into The Dark and Beyond The Dark
Zombie Slam recently reviewed Comes The Dark, but decided to review the second and third books of the trilogy together, which was sort of cool. So check out their double dose review of Into The Dark and Beyond The Dark here: http://zombieslam.com/2011/06/the-dark-trilogy-ends/! Many thanks to Jessica Martin for checking out the trilogy and posting reviews so quickly. It is a pretty killer website, so keep an eye on these guys.
Night of the Living Podcast reviews Beyond The Dark
If you want to get a hilarious, entertaining review of Beyond The Dark that is not quite like the typical written review, then head on over to Night of the Living Podcast and download episode 231. At about the 38 minute mark, the review of Beyond The Dark starts, and from that point forward, things get crazy. My thanks to the folks at the podcast for checking all three of the books out and giving them the once over (and me too, with comments about my Italian heritage…but fuggedaboutit!). Special thanks to Amy for forging ahead with the review as the guys on the podcast do everything they can to derail the discussion. Again, they are hilarious over there. So check the review out and check them out in general on their website at: http://www.notlp.com/. WARNING: The podcast has adult content in it, so it isn’t necessarily work friendly and you might be careful if you have little kids around before you start listening. Okay, disclaimer over. Enjoy!
Zombieslam reviews Comes The Dark
It has been a while since I posted a review of Comes The Dark, but not that long ago I was approached by Jessica Martin, one of the people who runs Zombieslam, looking to review the trilogy. I was happy to obliged, and she now has all three books in her hands. It is sort of nice to revisit the first book in the trilogy, and getting a brand new perspective from someone just now checking it out. So here is the review. I am looking forward to seeing what she thinks of the other two books when she has the opportunity to read them as well. http://zombieslam.com/2011/06/comes-the-dark-by-patrick-dorazio/
Another Review! Sonar 4 Reviews Beyond The Dark
I must be missing a step here or there. I hadn’t seen the review of Beyond The Dark from Sonar 4 Landing Dock when it was first posted, so I am bringing attention to it now. My apologies for being a slow poke, but it is another one that really gave the most kudos to the third book in the trilogy. I know it sounds like a broken record, but please feel free to check it out for yourself…and if you need more encouragement to do so, here ya go: http://sonar4landingdockreviews.blogspot.com/2011/05/beyond-dark-by-patrick-dorazio-review.html
Buy Zombie reviews “Beyond The Dark”
Buy Zombie, which has been so kind as to review the first two books of The Dark Trilogy, has reviewed Beyond The Dark and the verdict was quite positive. The reviewer, who has some criticisms of my first two books (criticisms that I took well in stride, and appreciated his candor about his view of the books), really appears to be blown away by the third installment of the trilogy. Pretty much everyone who has read this book has declared it the best of the three, and as I have mentioned, I would toss my vote in with the rest. So without further ado, check out the review here: http://www.buyzombie.com/2011/06/13/reviews-of-zombie-related-things/beyond-the-dark-review/
Review of Richard Marsden’s “The Traveling Tyrant”
The Traveling Tyrant tells the tale of what amounts to corporate espionage disguised as dark science fiction comedy. Or is it a science fiction tale disguised as a corporate thriller? Not quite sure, since it handles the influence of more than one genre with relative ease. The basic overview of this tale is that a representative of Galactic Hotels has presented to the board of directors the discovery of a pristine, paradise world relatively untouched by human hands, named, conveniently enough, Paradisa. It will make the perfect vacation hot spot for the ultra-wealthy, except for one minor, niggling detail: a group of religious zealots claimed the world as their own years before. So, to cleanse the place of these annoying pests, the Traveling Tyrant is called in to do what he and his fleet of mercenaries do best, which is to make niggling details disappear. The only problem is that there is trouble afoot, with more than one member of the Tyrant’s command staff attempting to work their way into the Tyrant’s position of power through a variety of twisted machinations. So with religious zealots below and the danger of mutiny in the fleet above, you can rest assured that everyone involved is in for a bumpy ride and a mission that more than likely isn’t going to go all that smoothly.
This is definitely a dark comedy at its heartless best. Death and deception go hand and hand here, with virtually every character having more than one agenda, though their desires and goals for advancement and power seem to be quite clear, even if their routes to achieving those goals are often cloudy. This story could easily pave the way for a series of books about the Tyrant and his fleet, plus a client base that has a tendency to be fairly amoral in their desire for conquest and dominance. The writing is solid and the wit sharp, with plenty of deception to entertain and amuse those of us who like a little hemlock with our wine every now and then. While the Tyrant is not a likable fellow, with his lecherous ways and Napoleonic complex, he is only one member of a cast of equally twisted characters, each with their own twisted perspectives and peccadilloes that enhance the story and keep you guessing as to what might happen next and who might deceive who. For some, the darkness of this tale might be a bit much, given that it is fairly relentless, with no apologies offered for the vicious, almost offhand casual way lives are destroyed, but that is also a part of the story’s devious allure. For those who can handle such diabolical tactics in the stories they read, this one should be quite an entertaining addition to their collection.
The Traveling Tyrant can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Tyrant-Richard-Marsden/dp/1456401254/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1307932753&sr=1-1
Review of Ian Woodhead’s “The Unwashed Dead”
The Unwashed Dead tells the tale of a zombie uprising on an English Estate. I have to note that as an American, my interpretation of the term “estate” is something along the lines of a village, or at least a close facsimile. Several residents complain of severe migraines one night, and not long after, they transform into flesh eaters, tearing apart everyone around them. As their neighbors are devoured and others are left trying to grasp what’s happening, the army, or some mysterious government agency, moves in to clean up the mess they apparently created, which translates into making sure no one is left around to tell the tale. The story moves at a rapid pace, with plenty of guts and gore carrying the story forward as many of the characters are slaughtered until only a handful remain.
The Unwashed Dead was a quick, simple zombie read. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table as far as the undead are concerned-they are traditional Romero shamblers, but for me, there is nothing wrong with that. Perhaps the breakneck pace made it hard for me to grow attached or intrigued by any of the characters, but it was clear that the author plans on a sequel due to the sudden and abrupt ending to the book.
The story was a fun bloodbath with plenty of zombie action and gore. It could have perhaps done with another editing run by the author. There are a few instances of misplaced identity, in particular early on in the story-by which I mean that I thought one character was doing or saying something because of pronoun usage, but it was actually another character and I had to reread a few passages here and there. There were some other typos, though my philosophy on that is that I can tolerate them as long as I get the gist of what the author is saying, which I did, but it deserves to be mentioned here as a fair and honest critique. Despite those quibbles, I did enjoy this story for what it was-a fast paced, gory tale of a traditional zombie uprising. It will be interesting to see where the author takes the story with his sequel.
The Unwashed Dead can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Unwashed-Dead-Zombie-Armageddon-ebook/dp/B004U34WXE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1307414173&sr=1-1
Cover of “A Glitch In The Continuum”, a new time travel anthology coming out soon!
I am pretty excited about this one. I wrote a time travel story a while back entitled “Intervention”, which Wayne Goodchild was gracious enough to accept into his time travel anthology. But this isn’t just stories about time travel, but stories about when time travel goes wonky and things get screwed up, both now and then, or is that then and now? I’m not quite sure, but it was certainly fun thinking up the consequences behind manipulating the time streams. I was pretty proud of my little story and was thrilled to find out that it would appear in the book, and first in the table of contents no less. The cover has just been revealed and the book should probably be released later this summer. It is a bit of a departure from my traditional horror story M.O., I know, but I was excited to stretch myself a bit with a twisty little tale of the present and future colliding.
Without further ado, here is the wrap around cover!
More details to follow. I hope plenty of you will be interested in checking this one out.
Monster Librarian Reviews “Into The Dark”
Taking a step back from reviews of Beyond The Dark, here is a review of Into the Dark from Monster Librarian, which indicated that this book takes things a step beyond the first in character development. I hope they will be reviewing Beyond The Dark as well, and look forward to see what they think of that one. Check out the review here: http://monsterlibrarian.com/zombies.htm#Into_The_Dark_by_Patrick_DOrazio
Dollar Bin Horror Reviews Beyond The Dark!
The review keep rolling in, and so far, it seems that everyone has agreed that Beyond The Dark is the best book of the trilogy. Dollar Bin Horror has taken their swipe at it, and they seem to enjoy the rapid pace of the action taking place in the final chapter of the saga. That seems to be a consensus: there is no real stopping point to take a breather, and that was how I intended it. I let the audience perhaps catch their breath a bit at times in Into The Dark, but this last piece of the puzzle moves at a clip that keeps things popping the whole time. So check out the review, and my thanks to Rhonny Reaper and the rest of the folks over at Dollar Bin for having read my trilogy and writing reviews of all three books. They’re great people over there with a terrific website, so don’t only take a look at this review, but everything else they have to offer: http://dollarbinhorror.blogspot.com/2011/05/dollar-bin-horror-spotlight-beyond-dark.html
Heather Faville at Doubleshot Reviews gives “Beyond The Dark” the once over
Okay, so now I guess it’s official. More than just a couple of reviewers have stated that Beyond The Dark is the best of the trilogy (which I happen to agree with), so I guess I wasn’t just imagining things when I first started thinking that shortly after finishing that book up. The latest reviewer to offer up that opinion is Heather Faville over at Doubleshot Reviews. She states that Beyond The Dark grabs you by the ears and does not let go, among other things. Quite a compliment. She also is kind enough to offer up links to the other two reviews she did of the trilogy. So check out the full review here: http://doubleshotreviews.com/2011/05/29/beyond-the-dark-by-patrick-dorazio/.
New review for Beyond the Dark up at Living Dead Media
Another review has been posted for Beyond The Dark, this one over at Living Dead Media. Their reviews for Comes The Dark and Into The Dark were very positive over there, so it was quite flattering to read that this was their favorite book of the three. I feel that way myself, so I’m pretty thrilled that I’m not the only one who thinks so. You can check out the review here: http://www.livingdeadmedia.com/zombie-books-and-fiction/250-beyonddark.html.
I would like to thank Living Dead Media for taking a chance on a newby author and their willingness to not only read my first book, but all three of my books. Having the opportunity to get the word out to the folks who check out their website for zombie related stuff is priceless.
So if you have been waiting to check out Beyond the Dark, read the review and then pick up the book! That is, of course, if you’ve already read the first two books in the trilogy. 😉
Review of Bowie Ibarra’s “Down The Road: The Fall of Austin”
Down the Road: The Fall of Austin is not a continuation of the saga that Bowie Ibarra started with the first two novels in this series, but a story that runs parallel to it. More specifically, there are connections to the first book and the main character in that storyline, George, the teacher who is flees Austin as the zombie apocalypse gets rolling in Texas. The author takes things from a different angle, giving us a point of view from characters that were passers-by in the first story, but play a significant role here. This is somewhat of an ensemble piece, with an assortment of characters slowly migrating together toward the end of the story, but for the most part coming to grips with the apocalypse as individuals or in small groups in the rest of the tale. There are two fire teams from the army (who are at each other’s throats) that are assigned to clear out the capital building of viral threats, a police officer with a partner who seems to be a sadist, a teacher that George, the main character in the first book, had a tryst with before he fled Austin, a prison guard and the gang banger prisoner he frees as the world around them begins to fall apart.
This story, much like the other two in this trilogy, stands alone. You don’t need to know what came before to read this tale, though it doesn’t hurt to have read those books, in particular the first one. The spectacle of gore and zombie violence is pretty steady throughout this story, but it doesn’t overpower the story lines of the individual characters and groups that inhabit this world. Each character is well defined with clear motivations and developed personalities. I might not have agreed with everything that happened or how everyone reacted, but it made sense in relationship to the plot and who these people were. For the record, I wasn’t a big fan of the second book of this series, primarily because of the broad brush strokes the author used to paint the military and government in a negative light. I was pleased to see a more evenhanded approach in this book-there were evil men, but also good ones, who donned uniforms in this tale. Overall, the story was entertaining and filled with ripe imagery, though I did feel that every now and then the author would choose to dip into the similes and metaphors a bit more heavily than necessary, but it didn’t detract from what was, in essence, a quality zombie apocalypse tale that had the advantage of being in a local that the author knows and loves, which allowed him to paint a highly detailed picture of a world being swallowed up by destruction.
Down The Road: The Fall of Austin can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Down-Road-Austin-Bowie-Ibarra/dp/1934861235/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1305947355&sr=1-1
“Collabthology: Kindle of the Dead” is now available!
A year ago (or there abouts), I agreed to be a part of a project that would bring together around twenty different authors in a collaboration effort to write a zombie book. Each of us would take on the responsibility of writing a chapter of the book, until we got to the half-way point, and then we would mix it up and write another chapter each to finish the book. It would be a chance for each of us to build upon what anyone who had written chapters before us, and try to keep things cohesive while messing things up, killing off beloved characters, and putting those who survive into some really crazy situations.
We are now halfway through the project. In an effort to raise the funding so that once this magnum opus is complete, it can be published, the coordinator of this project, Matt Nord, came up with the idea of creating an anthology of short stories written by the various authors involved in the project. He would also put the first five chapters of the collaboration in this anthology, in an effort to wet the future audience’s taste buds for this project. So what we have is something that Matt has called Collabothology. Despite this odd word, it is a great little project, and here is the description of it:
Collabthology. Is it a real word? Yes. Will you find it in the dictionary? Probably not, unless you get one that I’ve found a scribbled the word “Collabthology” into.
But that’s besides the point. What you hold in your hands is an anthology chock-full of fan-freaking-tastic horror stories (note that while most are zombie stories, not all are) from a ton of names you probably know as well as some new writers you may not know. Either way, you are in for a treat!
This anthology is also my attempt to introduce the public to the world of the Collaboration of the Dead. At the end of this anthology are the first 5 chapters from the Collaboration of the Dead, a novel featuring over 20 of the best and brightest writers in the horror/zombie genre. Each writer adds a bit of themselves to the story and makes it their own.
Collabthology features stories by Patrick D’Orazio, Gerald Rice, Mike Mitchell, Rebecca Besser, John McCuaig, Brandon Cracraft, Jeremy Bush, Ken Goldman, Lorraine Horrell, Marius Dicomites, Jamal K. Luckett, Douglas Hackle, Cassie Shaver, C.H. Potter, T.W. Brown, Tony Schaab, Suzanne Robb, Mihai Boc, Ben Langhinrichs, Michael S. Gardner and Matt Nord, poetry by Carey Burns, Karime Limon and Matt Nord and sample chapters from Collaboration of the Dead from Matt Nord, T.W.Brown, GNBraun, Zombie Zak and Stephanie Kincaid.
So, for those of you who don’t know what Collaboration of the Dead is, this will be your first taste of what we are about! Bon appetit!
And so, I am proud to be a part of this project, both the collaboration itself and this anthology. If you are looking for an opportunity to check out some interesting and varied horror stories, and want to see a bit of the collaborative effort some of my fellow authors have put to paper at the beginning of the book that will hopefully come to fruition in the next year or so, swing by Amazon and pick up your copy of Collabthology. Just click on the image below, and it will get you there. 
Review of Keith Adam Luethke’s “Shelter From The Dead”
Shelter from the Dead tells the tale of three survivors after the advent of the zombie apocalypse. The story starts out by introducing us to Alex, a young man whose uncle, the last of the people he knew or cared for left alive, is being executed by a biker named Graves, who just so happens to be the leader of a gang called the Marauders. Most of the world is split up into groups of different survivors, many of which are gangs that take what they can to survive, and kill who they need to so they can continue to remain in power. Graves decides to leave Alex behind, tied up with the zombies moving in, taunting him as he rides off, believing that he’ll be devoured long before he can do anything about the death of his uncle. The other two survivors that are the main characters in this story are Sarah and Joelle, two women who are in Graves’ gang. Their story starts out with them on a mission to gather supplies from someone hiding out in a building that refuses to give up or share. Their mission goes south and they are hounded by both the living and the undead as Joelle breaks her ankle and they are captured by a different gang. In their quest to find their way back to the only safe haven they know, they run into Alex, who keeps his quest for revenge secret, knowing that these two will hopefully lead him back to his prey, Graves. The three of them form a relationship and team up to find Graves and the rest of the Marauders, who are on the move, heading north for the winter.
Overall, this is fast paced, gory post-apocalyptic thriller and a tale of revenge that gets sidetracked as new loyalties are developed and relationships formed between survivors who are not quite sure who to trust and who to rely upon. The story was an easy and fast read for me. The three main characters were interesting, though I couldn’t quite pin down Joelle. Sarah and Alex are both driven, tough, and focused. Alex wants revenge no matter what, even as he forms a romantic attachment to Sarah. Sarah is willing to do whatever it takes to survive, and is, in many ways, ruthless about it, no matter who she has to kill. Joelle, while appearing to be docile throughout a great deal of the story, gives off contradictory signals as to where her loyalties lie. Even with the acceptance that the men who make up the gang she aligns herself with are murderous rapists and butchers, being with them is still home to her, and her daughter is with them, though in some instances, she seems to forget about the little girl’s existence. As the book goes on, things become clearer and I gained a better understanding of what she was all about, though I still felt as if she were a bit confusing and unsure about things, all the way until the end of the tale. It made for an interesting character, though I think she was a bit schizophrenic at times.
I enjoyed this story. While it breaks no new ground on the zombie front, I am far from being someone who needs or expects that. I prefer something character driven, and this focused on the three characters through the entire tale but also focused on action that did not let up. A zombie fan looking for gore and action should be pretty satisfied with this one. At the same time, as I typically do in a review, I like to point out where I felt were the rough spots in the story for me. Rape is a major theme in this book, and plays a part from beginning to end. I accept that rape would play a part in the new and ugly landscape of the world in such an environment, but perhaps not to the extent that the author proposes. He shows how commonplace the brutality of men can be, but I felt that perhaps it was excessive in the story. Then again, I have no doubts that a world like that could and would turn many men into animals. Besides this I had only some minor geographical quibbles that I won’t go into detail on, except to say that being someone who has traveled in the northeastern U.S., I noticed some discrepancies that didn’t really distract from the story itself, but were noticeable. Don’t take these criticisms as any sort of deal breaker here. This is an entertaining, gore-drenched zombie tale that any fan of traditional, slow moving undead should enjoy. The author likes to spread the blood and the viscera around, and like with almost every worthwhile tale of the apocalypse, the real monsters are never the ones that are already dead, but the ones that are still alive.
You can find Shelter From The Dead here: http://www.amazon.com/Shelter-Dead-Keith-Adam-Luethke/dp/145379042X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305520620&sr=1-1
Review of Jonathan Moon’s “Heinous”
Before I started on Heinous, I assumed it was going to be something like Mr. Moon’s Nightmares, which was a series of short stories and novellas with some intertwined themes to it. Instead, this was a single tale-a tale about Gavin, a somewhat normal teenager that occasionally has dark visions of torture and other disturbing things run through his mind. Still, he seems relatively innocent, and carefree, living his life in a college town hanging out with his best friend and not worrying about much of anything. The story starts out with a hellish dream with visions of people wrapped in barbed wire as they laugh uncontrollably, their agony beyond all reason as they are tortured and odd creations trickle through the visions Gavin is having. We step back into the past after the dream, to the days of Gavin’s youth, before he meets up with, and is subjected to, the creature he later dubs Heinous, though it has had many names since its birth at the dawn of time. Heinous is chaos incarnate, a symbiote with a desire to cause pain and death while it tortures those who it chooses to do its bidding endlessly.
This is a story that pulls no punches and doesn’t apologize for the grim realities it unveils. Gavin resists the creature at first, watching as it uses him to do unspeakable things to those he loves, but then, in time, he embraces the dark cravings of the beast and releases what seems to have been buried inside him from the outset-a lust for the same evil that Heinous spawns. I have said it before in a prior review of Mr. Moon’s work-the man knows how to spin a tale. He is a story teller of the macabre and this story tears and claws at you, much as Heinous tears and claws at Gavin, shattering him both inside his head and throughout his body. I will warn you that Moon doesn’t soften the blow at any point, and kept me wondering what grand new vicious treat was waiting around the corner with every page I turned. It is interesting, because as I read this book, it almost felt as if Heinous was the incarnation of Gavin’s darker self, something he created in his own mind as a justification for his evil actions. At the same time, Heinous seems to have gravitated to the one person with the capacity to embrace his level of wretched depravity. Gavin is that person, and goes along for the ride, able to handle the visions that torture him as he does perpetrates as much evil as Heinous can offer up to the world.
As is the case with most good stories, a lot of what the interpretation of what is truth is left up to the reader to decide for themselves. All I know is the truth that came from this book was filled with a grim darkness that will stick with me for some time to come.
Heinous can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Heinous-Jonathan-Moon/dp/1461096227/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305258398&sr=1-1
Ursula K. Raphael gives a big thumbs up to Beyond the Dark!
Well, the first review of Beyond The Dark is in on Amazon, and it is from none other than Ursula K. Raphael, who as many of you may know, is one of the most well known reviewers and fans of zombie lit out there. So it is quite flattering that she entitled her review “Spectacular End To The Trilogy!” You can read the rest of her review here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3JGJWZA04IAY5/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm and follow the link to check out the book if you haven’t done so already.
The Dark Trilogy is now on Kindle!
Just a brief while after it hit smashwords, my trilogy is now on the kindle! I am pretty thrilled about this one because it is FINALLY on the kindle, without the errors that the faced the original release of Comes The Dark that led to my publisher and I agreeing not to do any more kindle releases until the entire trilogy was ready to go. And now, it is ready to go!
Here is the description:
Patrick D’Orazio’s Dark Zombie Trilogy (Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, and Beyond The Dark), was originally released on the Kindle in an unedited form under the first book’s title, Comes The Dark. It is being re-released with the entire trilogy as it was meant to be read: edited and expanded, with additional chapters not appearing in the original Kindle version, along with the Dark Stories that have appeared in the author’s blog that provide a full fourth book of additional stories about many of the secondary characters appearing in the trilogy, including Megan, George, Jason, Michael, and Ben. The Dark Trilogy, Revised, Expanded, and with Additional Stories is over 250,000 words of an intense saga of the zombie apocalypse.
The end came with a whimper, not a bang. The mysterious virus came out of nowhere and engulfed the world in a matter of days. Everyone who was infected seemed to die…and rise again. Governments collapsed, armies disappeared, and entire civilizations turned to dust as the human race tore itself to pieces. Jeff Blaine had a good life: a beautiful wife, adorable children, and a nice house in the suburbs. He liked his job, loved his family, and spent his lazy suburban Sundays out on the deck, barbecuing with the neighbors. Things were perfect until everything fell apart. And no matter how hard Jeff tried, he could not spare his family from the horrors scratching at the door. Now, with his family gone, his life in ruins, the only thing left is raw anger and pain. As the world continues to sink into darkness, Jeff does as well. So he ventures out into the desolation with no better plan than to destroy as many of the monsters that stole his life away before they destroy him as well. But soon Jeff will discover other survivors unwilling to give up. They will force him to decide whether or not to give in to the venom that gnaws at his soul. Should he continue to fight to survive, or succumb to the things in the darkness?
Just click on the picture below and it will send you on over to Amazon so you can pick up a copy:
Patrick D'Orazio's Blog 