Review of Katherine Hanna’s “Breakdown”
Breakdown is the story of Chris, a man who has lost everything in his life, as the world around him spins out of control. A worldwide pandemic has killed many and set civilization back several centuries as all we take for granted goes away seemingly overnight. After his wife and young daughter die from the plague, Chris sets out on a slow, arduous journey to return home to England, across the ocean from where he lived in New York. The story is not necessarily of that journey, but of the journey that takes place after he returns home to the remnants of his family-a brother who had no idea if he was alive or dead, an old mate who his relationship with was damaged long before the plague came about, and other new faces, including new people who attempt to help Chris heal. He has seen what the world has turned into during his travels-barbaric and wretched, and there are experiences he had that have shattered him emotionally. It will take a great deal of kindness and patience to allow Chris to come to grips with who he is and what he has become, and a dedicated and persistent person willing to take that journey with him.
This is a post apocalyptic novel, true enough, but not the type that I would typically pick up. I did so at the recommendation of a friend, and while this is different than what I am used to, I can’t say that I have any regrets reading it. The author is a solid storyteller, developing her characters in slow bits and pieces with reveals that are satisfying and plausible. The broken down world, as well as the broken down man that inhabits it, provide ample opportunity for her to give us just cause for Chris’s brooding state. He is troubled, but I didn’t get the urge to tell him to get over it-his losses, and sense of regret for what he believes he didn’t do are real, tangible, and identifiable. Chris is no different than any of us would be, or at least any of us would try to be, if we wanted to maintain some sense of humanity despite living in a inhuman, monstrous world.
I liked the setting where the things we take for granted-speaking to someone over the phone, being able to drive to see someone 70 miles away from where we live in about an hour or two becomes impossible, and everyone is closed off from those more than a mile or two away from them. Life is rough, and difficult, but in many ways much simpler for the folks that live in it. They do their chores, the grow food, they milk the cows, and on occasion they remember how easy they had it, and hope that the technology will return, and that the world will come together again. But they fear the world around them, still worried that the plague may revisit them, and trust very few outside of their own circle of close family and friends.
While I guess this book could be defined as a post apocalyptic romance novel, I would venture to say that it is more of a character study, with the relationship coming about naturally, slowly evolving as Chris learns more about himself and accepts who he is and what he has been forced to do ever since the world turned brutal and went dark in the early days of the plague, while he opens up and discovers things about those around him-how they too have suffered, and that he is not alone, no matter how much it feels that way.
For anyone who has looked at any of my reviews, they will know this is perhaps not my normal type of book that I review, but I have to say that this is a story definitely worth checking out for anyone who likes PA fiction with strongly drawn, compelling characters.
Breakdown can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Breakdown-Katherine-Amt-Hanna/dp/1461093791/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312750908&sr=1-1
Review of Meghan Ciana Doidge’s “After The Virus”
Quite a few post apocalyptic novels have attempted to inject love and romance into their pages. Some do it by cramming it into a high action, gore splattered story, while others let it flow more gradually into the mix, letting it germinate based on circumstances surrounding the characters-people pushed together and sharing the horrors that surround one another, so they come together to push back the nightmares. Meghan Ciana Doidge is one of the few storytellers who pushes the love story up front and center with After The Virus. There are a couple of other books I have read that have the relationship between two main characters stand as the key element, but this is the first that I would categorize as a true romance tale.
This story surrounds the two main characters, Rhiannon and Will, as they live their separate lives after the apocalypse…if you can call it living-especially for Rhiannon, who begins the story captured and put into what amounts to a baby mill. Over 99% of the world’s population has died, and the barbaric pockets of survivors are lead by men who need as many healthy women to breed as possible. But Rhiannon is special. She is an actress and a world class beauty that has caught the eye of the local boss, who wants her all to himself. She escapes, but throughout the rest of the story is pursued by the boss’s men, who are intent on bringing her back to him. Will, on the other hand, is a man who has chosen to live his life alone, in a small, remote town where he dutifully takes to the task of cleaning out the dead bodies and restocking the stores and and maintaining the hotel. But Will just wants to be left alone, which creates friction when other survivors come across his little Shangri La who are looking for a place to stay. He eludes danger with them, and on one of his trips to find more supplies, comes across a mute nine year old girl he dubs Snickers (that was what she was eating when he finds her) and though she is skittish, brings her back to his place to live with him. Rhiannon, who manages to escape her captors, stumbles across Will’s town and finds herself reluctantly feeling that this new place could be home. Of course, due to the character’s actions and the other desperate survivors that surround them, things do not go at all well for them. Will and Rhiannon are thrust into the wider world, with other survivors, desperate for heroes, latching on to Will. Rhiannon gets captured again, and Will realizes that he has a greater responsibility in the world than he had hoped or wanted, but will accept, if it will allow him to save the woman he is falling in love with.
The story flows very well and I liked the characters the author developed. Snickers and the dog B.B. allow Will and Rhiannon to focus their efforts on something more than their awkward, fumbling steps toward the realization that they belong together, and draw them closer throughout the story. Some would call this a zombie story, but more to the point, it is an apocalyptic love tale with a smattering of infected creatures that perhaps resemble zombies, though they are a side point altogether. As the author states clearly, this is a story that pays homage to other author’s tales, including one of my favorite books of all time, The Stand. It is about people living, loving, and struggling after the world has crumbled; trying to put the pieces back together and start again, which requires reluctant heroes and leaders, and symbols of hope that can stand against the devastation that not only a virus can do, but what men can do to one another.
The areas of concern I had with this story were a couple of main distractions that I think took away slightly from the tale. First and foremost, the use of pronouns when it came to stating who was speaking and thinking were confusing. One character would be speaking or would be in action one paragraph, and the next would start out with “he” or “she” and would be referring to an entirely different character. This was consistent throughout the story, and while it is something I got used to and started to expect, it disrupted the story when I had to figure things out more than once. The other issue I had was with the nicknames given to various characters. I totally understand and appreciate them for characters that pass by in a story and become nothing more than minor details, but when they become key characters, and when their real names are learned, those nicknames need to evaporate, or at least used less liberally-it caused confusion, and in some cases didn’t make much sense. Especially when it is really only one person who creates the nickname and doesn’t necessarily speak it out loud, but just as a device to remember them, but in no time, everyone else is using it as well. This works when a few characters call Will “Tex”, but not so much when a character is dubbed “Stupid” early on in the tale, but even when his real name is provided that dismissive moniker is used up until the very end of the story.
Rest assured, these issues were not deterrence for me in reading or completing this book. It is a solid tale, with well fleshed out characters and a story that has a place in the PA pantheon as unique because it is a true love story. I know this is the author’s first book, and my gripes are minor issues that are a sideline to her ability to tell a tale. I look forward to checking out more of her work as it is released.
After The Virus can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/After-the-Virus-ebook/dp/B0053HT0FG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312059772&sr=8-1
Review of Steven Konkoly’s “The Jakarta Pandemic”
Alex Fletcher is a marine who left active duty eight years ago and is now a pharmaceutical rep with a bit of paranoia about the latest impending pandemic flu assault. The year is 2013, and he has vivid memories of the pandemic of ’08 and the less noteworthy panic that occurred in ’12 after a swine flu outbreak. Since he works for a pharma company that provides one of the leading flu treatments, it is essentially his job to pay attention to all the reports on how bad this new outbreak is likely to be. That plus the fact that he spends much of his time with doctors who deal with infectious diseases on a regular basis, he is hunkering down for what amounts to the viral equivalent of World War III.
Alex is paranoid, and under regular circumstances might be considered somewhat of a flake. He suffers from post traumatic stress after his time in Iraq, and his house is set up with all the fixin’s to prepare him for a long hold out against the flu with food, water, his own power supplies, and plenty of guns and ammo. His plan is simple: isolate himself and his family from everyone else and they will make it through the flu outbreak just fine, even as the world crumbles around them. Yep, Alex would be probably a bit wacky if it wasn’t for the fact that he is absolutely right about what is about to go down.
And despite Alex’s unheeded warnings to his neighbors to isolate themselves, stock up on food and water, things do go bad rather quickly for them, with food not getting delivered to grocery stores, hospitals getting filled up with flu patients, sickness running rampant and a danger of the power grid going out since less and less people are monitoring and maintaining it. Essentially, Alex has predicted a crash of catastrophic proportions, and that is exactly what happens. And with it, the natives get restless and turn their ire toward the most prepared member of their community. Alex has good intentions, but refuses to be sucked into communal expectations that he play ball and share all his food and every last flu treatment he held on to before quitting his pharmaceutical job. On top of that, scavengers have moved into Alex’s upscale suburban neighborhood in a desperate attempt to find food and shelter as riots and overall madness have driven them out of the bigger cities, and they are even more dangerous than the neighbors.
The Jakarta Pandemic is a well laid out story of one man’s quest to keep his family safe during a devastating assault on their existence. I read a lot of apocalyptic fiction, and while this doesn’t quite tip over into the realm of apocalyptic, it gives us a hefty dose of how the apocalypse could realistically occur in our world. It does share some similarities with some of the other stories I read in that genre in that it shows how desperate people can become, and how hard the choices are when your family is at stake and so is your survival. Alex reminds me of one of those guys on message boards who talks about how they’re prepared for the end of the world, whether it be by natural disaster, plague, or even zombies.
The action sequences are compelling in this book, though I wish there was more of them, and more drawn out tension between the main character and the people who confront him. A lot of the tale is spent with the build up to the pandemic and the slow, boring days Alex and his family spend cloistered inside their home. We are given only one perspective-Alex’s, and only find out what is happening to the outside world through his observations of the news on TV and via the internet. It does help provide a sort of closed off perspective, because we as readers know nothing more than Alex does from minute to minute about what is happening in the wider world or even outside his house as they get buried deeper and deeper into the Maine winter. Still, I did feel that parts of the story dragged and did wish for more of a psychological thriller showcasing more people like Todd, Alex’s on edge neighbor, and the man Alex dubs “Manson”. I felt like the scenes where Alex was dealing with them crackled with energy and craved more of that in this story.
The bottom line is that this was a well thought out, entertaining story, though I was left wanting more interaction between Alex and his key rivals. It is my understanding that this story was recently re-edited, so the typographical issues prior reviewers on Amazon brought up didn’t deflect from the story too much for me. The only real issue I had was when the author slips into present tense on occasion, which was a distraction when the rest of the time he sticks with the traditional past tense. Otherwise, the story kept my interest and was an enjoyable read about an intriguing subject that had a bitter and frightening dose of realism to it.
You can get The Jakarta Pandemic here: http://www.amazon.com/Jakarta-Pandemic-Steven-Konkoly/dp/1456309501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309311567&sr=1-1
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
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
Review of R.A. Evan’s “Asylum Lake”
Asylum Lake is the debut novel of author R.A. Evans, and tells the tale of Brady, an ex-reporter heading home to Michigan from Chicago after suffering through a personal tragedy. His parent’s old Lake House that he is returning to holds some dark memories for him, especially since both his parents have passed away since he was last there, but nothing prepares him for the strange and eerie occurrences that happen upon his arrival. There is an old abandoned mental institution on the opposite side of the lake that holds even darker memories for many people in the town he lives in, including the many patients who met their tragic end there years before.
Asylum Lake not only tells Brady’s tale, but another that takes place nearly forty years earlier along with yet another that dips even further into the past, all of them intertwined and revealed in bits and pieces as they tell of the hauntings and murders that have been a part of the town surrounding the lake’s fabric for years. This is not only a ghost story, but also a story that contains gruesome and dark elements of possession and revenge. The characters are easy to get comfortable with, and the plot is amply twisty, revealing things piecemeal so you can’t get too far ahead of yourself by presuming you know what is happening, especially as it goes backwards in time and then jumps back to the present repeatedly. It was a fun read, though my main complaint with it probably is that it felt like it should have been longer, and the ‘reveals’ could have been stretched out even more pages than they were. Don’t get me wrong. The author set the stage, created a wonderfully creepy setting, and gave it and those who inhabited it a righteously tragic saga. I just felt like the stage could have been used even more. The asylum itself wasn’t explored and the details about it not revealed enough for my tastes, though I realize the author will be coming out with a follow up book that explains more of the mysteries involved with the asylum and the people who met their tragic end there. In a way, my criticism is a compliment, because the author did a good job with what he’d created, and left me curious to find out more. So I think that means he will have a customer when the next book is released.
Asylum Lake can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Asylum-Lake-ebook/dp/B004DUN1TK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304555104&sr=8-1
Cover and Table of Contents for a new anthology coming soon! Zombidays
Another anthology one of my short stories will be in has a cover and the Table of Contents to show off, so I wanted to share them here with you.
The Anthology is entitled: Zombidays, Festivities of The Flesheaters. Each story is shaped around a different holiday, done up Zombie style. My story is entitled “What a Fool Believes” and is about, you guessed it, April Fool’s Day.
More details to come when this bad boy is ready for release. For now, check out the cover and the TOC, which includes holidays celebrated around the world!
Table of Contents
Richard Marsden – “Revolucion de los Muertos” – Day of the Dead
Stephanie Kincaid – “Zombie’s First Christmas” – Christmas
B. M. Kezar – “Inhuman Resources” – Thanksgiving & Black Friday
Tonia Brown – “Caveat Emptor” – Father’s Day
Nic Brown – “A Grave St. Patrick’s Day” – St Patrick’s Day
Deborah Walker – “Burn Bright and Bide” – Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night
Bryan Hall – “Reduce, Reuse, Reanimate” – Earth Day
Patrick D ‘ Orazio – “What a Fool Believes” – April Fools’ Day
Lee Pletzers – “He iwi tahi tatso” – Waitangi Day
Carey Burns – “Time To Eat” – 4th of July/Independence Day
Derek J. Goodman – “If a Tree Falls in a Forest” – Arbor Day
Stacey Longo – “Zombie Mama” – Mother’s Day
Keith Gouveia – “Dead Souls” – Valentine’s Day
Rob Rosen – “Kill Phil” – Groundhog Day
Christin Haws – “Land of the Voting Dead” – Election Day
Morris L. Crisp – “Bush Country” – Inauguratiion Day
Michael C. Lea – “Best Day Ever” – New Year’s Day
William Wood – “Lest We Forget” – Veterans Day
Review of David Dunwoody’s “Empire’s End”
I read David Dunwoody’s Empire nearly three years ago, and it has stuck with me as one of the standouts in zombie fiction because of its unique approach to the genre. Dave wrote a book filled with an element that seems to make perfect sense although no one that I am aware of has utilized it before or since. The Grim Reaper, Death, decides to take a stand against the undead, tired and angered by their defiance to the natural order of things. It is his job to transport those from this life into the next, and the undead resist that. So in Empire, death relinquished his responsibilities and became something not quite human, but not quite immortal. With his scythe, he laid waste to the undead. At the same time, he saved a little girl named Lily, who made him feel something human, something he’d never felt before: love.
Empire’s End continues the story of Death’s journey, along with that of Vorhees, the cop that was one of the last survivors out of Jefferson Harbor, Louisiana, a town in the badlands of the United States. Essentially, outside of the “Great Cities” to the north, which hide behind massive walls, the rest of the country is the badlands. A century has passed since the plague that released the zombie plague upon mankind swept the world. Before that, there were sources of power on this planet that allowed the dead to rise. They could not infect the living, just devour them, at least until the United States Government decided to tamper with this supernatural power. It was turned into a virus that could infect others and the rest, as they say, is history.
Much of Empire’s End takes place within one of the cities inside the walls that keep the undead out. Lily and Vorhees both are there now, and trying to adapt to a life of civility, or whatever approximates civility in this new world where the populous is convinced they are safe from the dangers beyond their gates. But while the undead are indeed not inside the walls, a group of traveling performers that have embraced the idea of an existence after life that is far more intoxicating, are building an army of the undead whose intent is to come north for a great feast of those hidden behind those walls.
Death, who has taken on the human name of Adam, is searching for Lily while he is being pursued by an undead vessel known as the Omega. I call it a vessel because this creature is filled with the vengeful spirits of many who Death has taken over the countless centuries where he fulfilled his duties. After having given up his mantle of responsibility, he has become vulnerable, and those who he sent to hell crave revenge.
Empire’s End is more than just a solid sequel to an excellent zombie novel; it surpasses its predecessor with a deeper look into a world filled with dark magic and vivid characters, both living and dead. Dunwoody somehow manages to make Death a sympathetic character and his zombies are some of the scariest around.
As an added bonus, at the end of the book the reader gets “Grinning Samuel” and “AfterDead”, two additional stories that explain the origin of the undead plague. I had read Grinning Samuel before, but AfterDead was new to me, and a very intriguing story that gives the reader a genuine understanding of how this all came about.
You can find Empire’s End here: http://www.amazon.com/Empires-End-ebook/dp/B004W9BXJW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1303068127&sr=1-4
Review of Daniel H. Wilson’s “Robopocalypse”
Robopocalypse tells the story of the war between mankind and robots fought in the near future, when a super-intelligent AI goes live and realizes that humanity has served its purpose and is no longer needed in the big scheme of things, and as such is a threat to the rest of creation. The story is told in flashback, with the war already being won by humanity when we read the briefing at the beginning of the book. The story is narrated by Cormac “Bright Boy” Wallace, one of the humans at the final victory of the human race against the AI that tried to do humanity in. The story unfolds in brief vignettes, leading us from the point where Archos, the AI, goes live, takes control of various robots that are a part of our every day lives, and then declares all out war against us. Steven Spielberg will be making a movie of the book in 2013.
This was a fun, easy read that seems like the ideal fit for a Spielberg big budget action movie, and I mean that both in the best and worst ways. Despite being the story of a war-likely the most important war that humanity has ever faced, the cast of characters is extremely limited. Other reviewers have commented that this story reminds them of World War Z from Max Brooks and I see the similarities. That book interviews dozens of survivors of the war against zombies as they tell their tales of the war from start to finish. Robopocalypse shares in that we are given a recounting of the robot war, though the scope here is much more narrow, with perhaps only a handful of characters stepping into the spotlight. In fact, there are some amazing coincidences that keep the cast smaller than it could have been, with a hero of the war in Oklahoma being the father of another major hero of the war who is in Afghanistan. A senator that is a key character just so happens to be the mother of yet another hero in the story. So this story is one that has a very narrow, limited perspective on this particular war. I would have loved to seen a book that was willing to take more of the war and more of the people who experienced it. In addition, I thought there was a lost opportunity when Archos, the diabolical AI we are introduced to at the beginning of the story seems to disappear, for the most part, until the very end of the tale. It was the most intriguing and fun character of them all, a worthy and interesting villain that is woefully underutilized here.
Still, this was a fun, rock ’em, sock ’em tale of humans doing battle with robots that was a quick, easy read. No new ground was broken here, even though the author is a robotics expert. His knowledge added to the quality of the tale, but he challenged none of my expectations when it comes to robots. Instead, this story reminded me of the back story to the Terminator (super military AI wakes up and decides to destroy the human race) or The Matrix (humanity is enslaved by the same machines who they had treated like slaves). Nothing too taxing mentally, but still an entertaining tale.
Robopocalypse can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Robopocalypse-Novel-Daniel-H-Wilson/dp/0385533853/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302919659&sr=1-1
Review of Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall’s “Night of the Living Trekkies”
I won Night of the Living Trekkies through a website and held on to it for a couple of months before deciding to take a stab at it. My first recollection of the book, before I received it, was the book trailer I saw on the internet. It struck me more as a movie trailer than one for a book, and I was joking with my friends that I wanted to go see the movie and not bother with the book because it was so well done. But after checking the book out, I have to admit, it was a lot of fun and I’m glad I gave it a chance. For the purposes of full disclosure, I am both a sci-fi and a zombie geek (with leanings toward the zombie side of things), and while I haven’t been to any sci-fi conventions, I’ve been to a few horror conventions over the past year, which has given me an appreciation to the dedication some fans have to their favorite characters, movies, and TV series. So that experience has probably shaped my appreciation for this book, though I think any fan of either Trek or of the zombie genre will enjoy this send up, whether casual or dedicated.
The basic plot centers around Jim, an Afghanistan war vet who comes back home in Houston shattered and unwilling to take on any responsibilities more crucial than that of being a bell hop in a mediocre hotel due to the guilt he feels at watching some of his fellow soldiers die. He is a “reformed” trekkie, or trekker, as it were, and now has to deal with Gulf Con, a Star Trek convention that has landed at his hotel, which is conveniently called the Botany Bay. His sister and over a thousand fans of Trek will be in attendance, but so will a ton of zombies, who crash the party after a alien virus escapes the confines of the Johnson Spaceflight Center bunker where it has been housed since it touched down via some meteors that hitched a ride on a downed NASA space probe.
I wouldn’t call this one a parody, because the characters may be dressed up as different Trek characters for the convention, but they are not the characters themselves. Instead, this is an opportunity for the authors to express a love for Star Trek, zombies, and even Star Wars. I was able to pick up on most of the references, though perhaps I may have missed one here or there in the mix. Regardless, this was a fun and funny book that gave its characters enough depth and realism to make me appreciate them while not disrupting the comedic overtones of the story based on the idea of a convention for one sort of imaginary creation being overrun by another imaginary creation. The adventure is fast paced and Jim is forced to once again embrace his inner nerd, along with embracing the suck of the situation he finds himself in with a small group of surviving convention goers. The zombies have some interesting, alien twists to them, but overall, the book pays reverence to its benefactors: Rodenberry, Romero, and even Lucas, with ample references to what each man created and appreciation for them as well.
For a easy and fun read, this one was hard to beat. There was some high drama on the pages at certain points, and overall, that aspect of the story was well done, but again, none of it distracts from the comedy value of this engaging zombie-Trek send up.
Night of the Living Trekkies can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Night-Living-Trekkies-Quirk-Fiction/dp/1594744637/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302357196&sr=8-1
Review of “From Beyond The Mist” by Elizabeth LaFond
I am not a huge poetry aficionado, but on occasion I will check out poetry from a few different sources out there that are related to my interests. From Beyond the Mist is from the Library of Horror, but most of the poems written here are not of traditional horror, at least not of the supernatural, though there are a few poems of that bent. Much of what the author provides us with is tastes of reality, seen through the eyes of someone who has experienced despair in their existence. A poem of something as simple as a leaf growing green and vibrant, only to die in time with no one left interested in the beauty that was once there and others that speak of the death of a loved one, the grief of leaving someone behind, and much more. Tales of abuse, anger, dreams, nightmares…there is much here that dips into the darkness of the soul. As I said, some of this is of a supernatural, or horror bent, with a substantial sprinkling of tales of angels, both those from above and those that have fallen, but I think all of us who have dealt with tragedy and hardships will find at least a few different poems here that will touch you personally.
In some spots, I tried to discern the deeper meanings of certain poems, while with others the meaning seemed more clear to me. I believe there is layers to every one of these tales and each reader has to determine for themselves what meaning they can take from them. While there is sadness and grim, harsh realities spoken of here, there is also light, and a hope that sparkles through on many pages. If you are looking for something that speaks of the darker side of reality, and also of the dreams that we try to hide from, check out this book of poems.
You can find From Beyond The Mist here: http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Beyond-Mist-Elizabeth-LaFond/dp/1460937465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301972541&sr=8-1
Review of William Todd Rose’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Infective People”
William Todd Rose is an author who has created several different zombie stories, some of which are available through his website and are intriguing tales of the apocalypse. I had the opportunity to acquire this book from the author at a horror convention last fall, before it was picked up by Permuted Press. For the purpose of full disclosure, the new, Permuted version of the book will have extensive additions compared to the original, which is what I read, as I have discovered through different online outlets. So keep that in mind with this review.
The book itself is relatively short, weighing in at less than 200 pages, but that size serves the story well. I would say the tale is more accurately described as two novellas rather than one novel, with it going back and forth, chapter by chapter, between the two tales. One story is of Bosley Coughlin, a trippy, psychedelic dude who is the narrator of his own tale. Bosley has seen the future…has actually seen quite a bit, because he has passed through the Eye of Aeons after becoming dimensionally unstable. He has seen our future of desolation and despair, where food wars have ripped humanity apart, along with a rise of the undead. He speaks of trying to stop this apocalypse and more specifically, stopping the spread of infection, which has seven telltale signs…The other story is of Ocean, a fourteen year old girl living through the apocalypse. She is desperate, starving, and all alone as her story begins, but soon she is taken in by a group of survivors who seem to be the answer to all her prayers. Bosley is in this story as well, if only because he sees things through Ocean’s eyes as he travels through the dimensions. Bosley wants to save Ocean, but what can he do as a dimensionally unstable being from the past?
Early on in the story I thought Bosley was a bit too trippy for his own good. A dude who was buying too deeply into his own BS, as it were. But as time went on and the two stories running parallel to each other synced up with one another, he seemed less and less trippy and more and more rational-the only rational person around. As a story that has something to do with zombies, there are really very little of them in this tale, but that is not a problem for this fan of zombie fiction, because the pre-apocalyptic world of Bosley and post-apocalyptic world of Ocean are intriguing places to be, and as with all the best zombie stories, the living characters are compelling, interesting, and keep you intrigued from start to finish.
I will be interested to see how Mr. Rose tweaks the final product he is handing off to Permuted Press. Clearly, they saw that this story was very unique and wild ride. I just wonder how much more wild it will get with the new text added.
I would normally provide a link for where you can get the book I’ve reviewed, but the old version has been pulled in anticipation of the new version that Permuted will be releasing. I’m not sure when it will be out, but I am looking forward to checking it out when it does become available.
Review of Craig DiLouie’s “The Infection”
The Infection starts out with a brief prologue that introduces the reader to the Screaming that initiates the apocalypse. About 20% of the population starts to scream uncontrollably and then collapse, going into a coma that lasts three days. At the end of that three days, those people who fell down wake up, and their only desire is to spread the infection to everyone else by biting and attacking them. The reader is thrust into the story a few weeks after the initial assault and we are introduced to a group of survivors roaming through Pittsburgh in a Bradley fighting vehicle. The crew of three is led by Sarge, who shares the task of leadership of the civilian survivor crew with Anne, a mysterious woman with a major hatred of the infected. Wendy, a police officer, Paul, a minister, Ethan, a math teacher, and Todd, a geeky high school student, are the other members of this brigade of survivors.
The story relates their current experiences of attempting to find shelter, avoid exposure to the infected, and seeking out other survivors, while flashing back to their initial introductions to the infection, lost family members, and the horrific memories each of them has had. DiLouie does a bang up job of revealing, by inches, what we need to know about each of the players in this story. In time, they settle at a hospital, clearing it room by room, and realize there are more than just the zombie-like infected that have been introduced into this new, horrible world. As they flee the hospital, they discover an even wider assortment of alien creatures-from wormlike to giant demons that hint at something far more sinister than just a virus or plague at work. The group makes their way to a huge encampment of survivors, which reminded me of a vast, wild-west setting filled with both hope and despair as everyone tries to make due and pretend things are normal in a world turned upside down. But the needs of the mishmash of government agencies still in existence will send our survivors back out onto the road, where they must once again come to grips with the horror their world has become.
After reading Tooth and Nail, I knew that Craig DiLouie had a real talent for creating compelling, real, and fascinating characters, but he ups the ante here, with each survivor in the group being given an in depth look that allows the reader to fully appreciate the pain and agony each one of them has gone through to get to survive to this point, and why they have a willingness to stick with one another through the hell their existence has become. This is an apocalyptic novel, but I can’t say that it falls exactly into the realm of a zombie novel; instead, it is a hybrid that provides plenty of brand new terrors to mess with your head. Alien creatures with little to no real explanation make this story unique, though this did remind me of other works I have read prior to this, such as The Mist, from Stephen King. I am positive a sequel is in the works and perhaps that will reveal some answers about the creatures that have invaded this world, but there appear to be no explanations on these pages, only a bit of conjecture on the part of one of the characters. I am not sure if I am griping about this-not knowing what is actually going on-because the characters themselves don’t know anything either. They are just trying to survive, and in some cases, kill as many of these abominations as they possibly can. Another minor quibble I have is something I have grown used to over the course of this novel and DiLouie’s previous one-the fact that the author moves into present tense on occasion, which feels a bit jarring when it occurs. It offers up an urgency, a sense of “now” to the story, but it also serves as a minor reading distraction in my humble opinion.
Those very minor quibbles aside, this is an excellent book of the apocalypse, creative and wild from the start; from how the infection occurs to the results it yields, and the characters that inhabit its pages are just about as compelling as any I have ever seen.
The Infection can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Infection-Craig-DiLouie/dp/1934861650/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300070883&sr=8-1
Review of Keith Luethke’s “A Zombie Apocalypse”
A Zombie Apocalypse is a pretty simple, straight forward novella written in journal form. Rachel Cormac spends half the story hiding away from the undead and the second half as a zombie, after having injected herself with a “cure” some scientist handed to her before dying from a zombie bite. Instead of curing her, it turns her into a new form of zombie that can still read and write (but can’t speak), looks pale and ghostly, doesn’t rot, but otherwise has the same cravings as the other zombies it surrounds itself with.
The idea of writing a story from the undead perspective is not a new one, though many folks haven’t seen it done too much. Typically because most zombies are brain dead monsters without much to offer as far as insight into their affliction. The author has created a new tactic, a psuedo-intelligent zombie that has the urge to feast on flesh but has some reasoning abilities still remaining, making them both more crafty and also guilt ridden for what they are doing.
As a standard zombie story, this one is entertaining enough, though the editing problems were a distraction. It became clear that the author needed to inspect his work with a human eye and not just spell check due to the replaced words here and there, which were repetitive. While it did distract, I knew what the author was getting at, which allowed me to look past that. The basic story has the main character trying to get back to her sister and her niece in Ohio, both before and after she is bitten, and details her experiences with the people, both living and dead, that she meets along the way. I would have preferred a sharper, more defined “new” zombie with this creation the author made. She is still driven by her hunger, and while she seems a smart hunter, her humanity never seems to get in the way of a good feast, so the deliberation or interesting debate on if she is more human than monster really never takes place in this tale. Still, I see that there is a sequel on the Kindle, and I felt that this was enjoyable enough, and priced right, for me to pick that one up as well. I have to admit, I am curious where the road takes Rachel.
A Zombie Apocalypse can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/A-Zombie-Apocalypse-ebook/dp/B003WEA0H4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1298882344&sr=1-1
Patrick D'Orazio's Blog 