Comes The Dark E-Book Sale!
That is correct, ladies and gents, Permuted Press has put Comes The Dark on sale for a limited time in ebook form. Pick your poison…or version (whichever makes more sense) and drop on by one of these friendly online establishments to pick up your copy today, on the cheap!
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 then 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 that come with the dark?
Permuted released “Into The Dark” in ebook format!
Things move quickly around here. It wasn’t too long ago that I was touting the re-release of Comes The Dark from Permuted Press. Suddenly, it’s time for the release of the second book, Into The Dark, in ebook format! As with the first book, the Dark Stories I originally created to be a part of the books are back in each individual release, added to the end of the main story. So the reader has the opportunity to delve deeper into the lives of the secondary characters introduced in each book in a short story format. Check it out…and if you don’t mind, leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or at Barnes and Noble if you have the time. Thanks!
Six weeks ago, the mysterious virus came out of nowhere and engulfed the world.
Jeff Blaine did his best to hold his family together and to protect them from the horrors scratching at their door, but in the end, they were ripped away from him like everything else that ever mattered.
Lost and alone, Jeff’s only option is to destroy as many of the monsters as he can. But when he discovers Megan, George, and Jason, three other survivors not interested in giving up just yet, he reluctantly accepts that there might still be a reason to fight and live to see another day.
Traveling through the blasted landscape of their new fallen world, the quartet discovers that the living dead aren’t the only danger with which they must cope. Even other survivors who promise safety and security from the hordes of ghouls roaming the wastelands will test loyalties and their faith in humankind.
Jeff and his small band of newfound friends must forge a semblance of life in the newly blighted world. And they will have only the light of their own humanity by which to navigate as everything around them descends into the dark.
Stay tuned for a full selection of links to all versions of the book, but for now here are the links for both the Kindle and Nook:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BWF8WHU/permutedpress-20
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/into-the-dark-patrick-dorazio/1100075804?ean=2940016358963
Review of C. Dulaney’s “Murphy’s Law (Roads Less Traveled Book 2)
Murphy’s Law, the sequel to Dulaney’s first book in the Roads Less Traveled trilogy, “The Plan” takes place after the winter at the end of the first year the world had to come to grips with Z-Day. The survivors of the first book are prepared to set out on their quest to find the prisoners who caused them so much grief and destroyed their home a few months back. Kasey and company are hungry for revenge.
The story shifts directions somewhat when the crew comes across a larger group of survivors who have staked their claim to a prison on the West Virginia-Ohio border. Things also change when it becomes clear that the zombies are transforming-at least some of them. Newer undead are moving faster and are more cunning than the slow moving zeds of the first book. A mutation, Kasey and company suspect, but they have no way of knowing why this challenge to them surviving has occurred. What they do know is that these fast movers will be creating all sorts of troubles for Kasey, Jake, Mia, Zack, and Nancy, the core group that made it out alive of the first book, along with the survivors at the prison. The two groups form an allegiance, despite a few troublesome members of the new community that aren’t particular fond of Kasey and her group.
Often, the second book in a trilogy doesn’t really have as much of a chance to stand out as much as the first or third book. Its job is to transition us to the final act in the saga-often it isn’t as intriguing as its counterparts. I do have to admit that Murphy’s Law was, for me, was a better book than the first in the trilogy. While I enjoyed “The Plan”, I think the author has gained a stronger voice here for her characters. My pet peeve about changing perspectives back and forth from first person to third person remains from the first novel, but it felt much smoother in this book-far less of a distraction. Perhaps it is because Kasey, as a character, has grown on me. There is more to her, as well as the friends surrounding her. Michael, the leader of the community at the prison, is also fairly well fleshed out as a new main character that is likable. The story also seems to move at a faster clip, or so it felt and the advent of the fast zombies has definitely given the story some new intriguing elements to contend with.
As far as issues I had with this story, they were somewhat limited and going into detail on the main one would perhaps present a spoiler. I guess the best way to put it without giving anything significant away is that I was somewhat surprised at the level of tolerance the people living in the prison had to a particularly deadly choice Kasey makes in the story. I doubt that I would have been as understanding as most of them were. That decision does drive the story forward, so it is necessary, but still left me frustrated with both her actions and their reactions.
The characters are a mixed bag. I stated that I wasn’t a big fan of Jake in the first book, though he goes through some interesting transitions in this book that make him grow on me a bit more. He’s still a bit annoying. Kasey is still a take charge leader who is both likeable and confounding at different times, while Mia seems to be present, but I don’t feel that she necessarily gets fleshed out any further in this book than she already was in the first novel. Nancy remains a background character who is solid and likable. In general, the group retains a family-like bond with one another that feels comfortable and natural to the story.
Muprhy’s Law is a solid entry into the zombie genre. Perhaps not ground-breaking in its delivery-there are now a mix of fast and slow zombies, but they retain most of their Romero-esque qualities, but it is exciting, filled with action and compelling characters. I look forward to what is in store for Kasey and company and the final act in this saga.
Murphy’s Law can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161868034X/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Ya wanna get “Comes The Dark” in just about any format?
Permuted Press has released Comes The Dark in pretty much every different format there is…kindle, nook, ibooks, paperback, audiobook, and so on. Instead of sharing all these different links, why don’t I let the publisher do it for me? Check out their post http://www.permutedpress.com/index.php?id=185 and pick up the version that works best for you!
And of course, stay tuned for more info on the rest of the trilogy, coming soon!
Review of P.A. Douglas’s “Killer Koala Bears From Another Dimension”
Killer Koala Bears From Another Dimension is a throwback to the days of classic monster movies. When teenagers Tim and Joana do a little experimenting with a few strange rocks in a farmer’s field, the results are far from what they expected.
Tim just wants to escape his small, backwoods town and go someplace, anyplace, else. Joana, along for the ride but not very thrilled with her goth boyfriend and his timewasting experiment, is just as surprised as he is when dimensional rifts start showing up around town and strange humanoid shapes step out, loaded for bear (pardon the pun) and armed to the teeth with spears and knives. But whatever illusions they have that this is all just some bad dream changes when everyone around them ends up getting gutted and dined upon by the fury interlopers from another dimension.
Yep, the author went there. I have to believe he sat down one night and thought about what creature on earth is probably the most cuddly, cute, and adorable and dared himself to turned them into human flesh craving lunatics. Next thing you know, he’ll be writing about zombie-Teletubbies or vampire puppies.
Don’t get me wrong. As outrageous the idea that the nemesis of the Tim, Joana, and Frank (another desperate survivor) being humanoid shaped, spear-wielding koala bears, the author does a good job of filling these ravenous creatures with plenty of menace. These bears have teeth. Sure, the whole concept seems a bit silly, and most of the characters in the book are a bit taken aback by the idea of giant fuzzy bears coming through dimensional rifts ready to maim everything in sight, but the story is a fun, interesting race against time for the survivors. All they can do is to try and figure out a way out of this hell scape filled with deadly ursine enemies before the whole town is massacred.
Overall the story goes down pretty smooth. I perhaps grew a little weary of Joana’s repeated interludes of idle lines of thought that seemed to distract from the story a bit, and the ending seemed to shift gears a little bit surprisingly with the final reveal, but nothing was too out of phase with the rest of this blood-saturated adventure into teddy bear nightmares.
This is a fun one. Goofy and gruesome at the same time…I doubt I’ll ever look at a koala bears the same again.
Killer Koala Bears From Another Dimension can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0987476556/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of David Dunwoody’s “The Harvest Cycle”
The Harvest Cycle is an Apocalyptic tale which takes place fifty years since the first harvesters appeared, boiling up from the sea to claim as many human lives as they possibly can for a far distant god who wishes to consume the dreams of mankind. The creatures-fast, silent monsters with claws that can slice through anything, including the skulls of its victims, have come many times since then, driving the remains of humanity into hiding far beneath the surface of the earth. Those that survive have chosen to either surgically remove the part of their brains that the harvesters are compelled to devour, or they decide to remain uncut retaining their ability to think creatively and to dream by those who have lost so much with the mutilation of their brains (and souls as well). In addition to the horrors of the harvesters, humanity must also avoid the ‘synths’ or robots that were once loyal servants to humanity that realized during the first harvest the endless nightmarish hell that awaits those humans in the afterlife whose brains are devoured by harvesters. They are on a mission of mercy to kill all of humanity to save them from this horrible fate.
The story begins when a group of dreamers, led by a hopeful visionary along with a woman who is psychically linked to the nightmare god who created the harvesters and craves humanity’s dreams, go on a quest with the hope of somehow destroying the harvesters. Pursued by a police officer named Jack DiVinci, one of the soulless survivors who has a secret that allows him to still be creative and dream, as well as a squad of robots on a search and destroy mission.
David Dunwoody’s latest novel mixes elements of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, Asimov’s robots (with the authors unique twist on the Laws of Robotics…or more specifically, the zeroth law that Asimov added last: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm), and a slight hint of noir with Jack DiVinci, a man who believes what he is doing is saving the human race, despite his own doubts on what it means to be saved.
This is one of the more unique visions of the apocalypse that I’ve ever read, with plenty of madness and mayhem to go around, plus plenty of gore and a high body count to boot. Dunwoody has this knack for making a story gruesome, horrifying, and yet totally accessible. He has no fear when it comes to pushing the reader’s buttons-not just with who he is willing to torture and maim, but with how the universe he creates works. It isn’t always pretty, and sometimes it feels like I was being beaten senseless by the brutality of what happens in this tale, but there is beauty here too-hope that humanity can somehow overcome its own vile failings and perhaps persevere against impossible odds.
I haven’t been disappointed by anything I’ve read by David Dunwoody as of yet, and The Harvest Cycle is no exception. This is potent tale that mixes supernatural horror and science fiction with a fluid grace that few authors can pull off with such skill.
The Harvest Cycle can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934861324/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
‘Beyond The Dark’ Cover Art!
It’s been a couple of hectic days for me with Permuted Press. I knew that things were coming along with Comes The Dark and was excited to see the links to several ways of purchasing the book-audio and ebook formats-show up yesterday. I also had seen some initial artwork for the revamped cover of Beyond The Dark a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn’t expecting it to be finalized just yet. Well, Jacob and Permuted Press have surprised me again. So you now have the chance to take a look at the cover art for the Permuted version of the third book in my trilogy. And I have to say that it is my favorite of the three new pieces of art. Perhaps that’s because I feel as if there is some deeper meaning to the picture-what the girl represents to me. I’ll leave that up in the air for now, but suffice it to say, it resonated with me from the moment I saw it. I hope that those who read the book understand why I’m saying all this.
So without further ado, here is the cover of the third book in the trilogy, Beyond The Dark. If you’d like to check out all three covers, and the original ones for the Library of the Living Dead versions, click on the ‘About Me’ page. As I’ve said before, I love the original artwork that Philip R. Rogers created-he worked closely with me to get it just right. I also love these new covers, which are totally different. I guess the fact that they’re totally different makes it very easy to love both-different reflections in the same mirror.
Well, at the beginning of the last paragraph, I said ‘without further ado’ but I sorta kept typing. So here is the new cover, in all its glory:
Links, links everywhere…for ebook versions of Comes The Dark
Well, I didn’t have to wait too long for this. I was just sharing the link to the audio version of Comes The Dark and now, already, there are links available for the ebook versions. Permuted Press just published this over on Facebook:
The long awaited Permuted reissue of Patrick D’Orazio‘s hit novel COMES THE DARK is now available in the Amazon Kindle and NOOK stores. The original edition has received over 50 four and five star reader reviews between Amazon and Goodreads. Permuted’s edition has been completely re-edited and includes bonus “Dark Tales.”
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BDBO28Q/permutedpress-20
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/comes-the-dark-patrick-dorazio/1102526101?ean=2940016251868
So we have it on both the Kindle and the Nook, which is downright spectacular!
Comes The Dark…getting ready to rock n’ roll!
Well, it’s been a great ride I’ve been on over the past few years. The Library of the Living Dead was very good to me when it gave me a shot as a new author. I think I was pretty good to them by producing a trilogy that sold a few copies here and there. Good enough that when the time to part ways with the Library was upon me, Jacob, the owner of Permuted Press, was very interested in re-releasing my novels.
It’s been an interesting journey, with a lot of twists and turns. Of course, many of them occurred before the first book was ever published, but there have been quite a few since then. Some ups and some downs, including a gaff with the kindle version of Comes The Dark occurred that required some quick thinking. But all’s well that ends well, and that situation ended well. But now my books are in someone else’s hands, and I’m pretty excited about what’s to come. I miss the Library, and I miss Doc, my old publisher, but it has gone by the wayside, and I doubt, sadly enough, that it will ever publish something new again.
Comes The Dark is being re-released with new edits and new content in paperback, ebook, and audible versions by Permuted press this month. The same will be the case with the two sequels, which are coming in March and April. Some things I have added that weren’t included in the original Dark Stories-some freshly written, some dug up from the crypt where I keep a lot of old, dusty things that just need a little bit of a cleaning up before they’re ready to go. Well…not everything should see the light of day from that old crypt, but this stuff I feel deserves to get a good looking over by someone other than me.
I have to admit, what I’m excited the most about the re-release of this trilogy is that they will be available in audio form. You see, for those of you who don’t know me personally, you may not understand why this is what gets me so excited. But if you do know me and my family, and know my son, Zack, you’ll understand why. I guess that makes me nervous for the book’s release in audio format as well-when your boy tells you that you’re his favorite author, but he hasn’t even read any of your stuff yet…well, that’s a lot to live up to.
I’ve been informed that the ebook version of Comes The Dark will be ready to go in the next few days. Once I have a link, I’ll be sharing it. The paper version of the book will hit roughly around 2/26/13, as will the audio version. The great news is that the link is already up for ordering the audio version of the book, and my guess is it will be the same link for the other versions as well-just click on the option you prefer. So if you have a desire to check out my first book on tape (heh, I’m old enough to remember when they were on tape!), click the cover art below and pre-order your copy. I’ll be posting again when the other versions are available as well, so stay tuned!
Review of Jessica Meig’s “The Becoming: Ground Zero”
The Becoming: Ground Zero is the sequel to The Becoming, which is an apocalyptic zombie novel set in the American south, and introduces us to Ethan, a Memphis cop, Cade, a former sniper for the Israeli military, and Brandt, a marine who was stationed at the CDC, where the initial viral outbreak occurred after an experiment goes wrong, before he managed to escape while the plague is tearing apart the city.
The first novel explores the relationship between these three characters and some other survivors as they cope with the virus, the loss of friends and family members, and the total devastation of the human race. By the end of that book they have settled into a house with a small group of other survivors and have somewhat accepted this new existence of hiding out and doing their best to stay alive.
The second book reintroduces us to these characters about a year later, living in the same house, when Avi, a girl who had been seeking them out after hearing about their successes in saving survivors in the area, comes to them with a request. She would like them to go to Atlanta and get to the CDC, where she believes there is information hidden about the Michaluk virus-the plague that has killed the majority of the human race-that may help craft a cure.
The group is resistant to going to ground zero-where the plague originated-especially Ethan and Brandt, who both have their reasons for not wanting to go on what amounts to a suicide mission. In many ways, making the trip makes little sense-they are safe, alive, and while plagued by zombies, they have been able to make due. But after some tortured debate, with Remy, one of the minor characters from the first book (who comes into her own in this story), adamant about going, they decide to make the trip, and set out from their hiding place and head east to Georgia.
The Becoming: Ground Zero continues to build up the characters we met in the first book as well as some of the lesser characters who came along toward the end of the first tale-Remy is one and Gray and his brother Theo are the others. The dynamics of the survivor’s relationships with one another play a major role here, with some of the same frustrations I had with the first book shining through-in particular with Ethan, who is the leader of this band but is the person who seems to let his emotions get the worst of him more than anyone else in the group.
I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t admit that I liked the first novel better, but it is often unfair to judge a sequel harshly because, simply put, it has a lot to live up to-especially when it is the middle book of a trilogy. The author faces the challenge of crafting the ‘glue’ that makes the first book and third stick together instead of crafting a beginning and an end. It starts off where the prior chapter concludes and must typically end with a dramatic flourish that promises a much greater reveal in the final chapter. The audience must be kept interested while they know that the biggest shocks and surprises won’t be occurring in this books pages, more than likely. The Becoming: Ground Zero has its moments of adrenaline fueled excitement, but it also has its lulls where the character’s interpersonal relationships overshadow the big picture. Not a particularly major issue, as the author does a solid job of keeping the characters interesting, even if some of them are rather annoying. With that said, whatever state of complacency the reader may fall into, they will get snapped out of it in the last portion of this book, when some very significant action takes place and some surprising things are revealed. It definitely gives me ample reason to want to see how the story ends up in the final chapter of the trilogy.
Jessica Meigs has a talent for creating interesting characters. While I may not be overly fond of how some of her characters act and react all the time, they are definitely human, with human failings (that tend to drive you nuts as you read about them). The Becoming: Ground Zero does the job in bridging the gap between the first book and the last in this trilogy. While it lacks the energy and overall excitement of the first book, it left me anxious to find out what is to become of the surviving characters in the third book.
The Becoming: Ground Zero can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1618680382/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of R. Thomas Riley and John Grover’s “If God Doesn’t Show”
If God Doesn’t Show is a modern take on Cthulhu mythos by H.P. Lovecraft and the efforts of a cult to bring about his return. We are introduced to Thaddeus Archer, a secret service agent who is dealing with a wife who is struggling with mental illness and a teenage daughter who resents him for having her mother locked away in a mental institution. Things change when Casey, his daughter, is abducted by the same mysterious cult which desires the Old Ones return. Time passes and Thaddeus gets close but cannot find his daughter, and his obsession causes him to get demoted after several agents die in a bloody raid on the cult.
Then in an instant, everything changes, and the world shifts as the cult prepares to open the way for Cthulhu to return. But before he can come, the rift into the void brings with it shadows-dark creatures that makes puppets of the dead and sometimes even the living, with their only goal of destruction of humanity. But these creatures, or even the doomsday cult who accidentally let them into our dimension, are not the only forces at work trying to destroy humanity. Thaddeus will have to work not only with the few other survivors at his side who have escaped the initial onslaught of the shadows, but a man who has lived through many lives and has struggled with darkness and evil in every one of them if the former secret service agent wants to save his daughter and prevent the Old Ones from rising up from the mysterious island that now floats in the pacific ocean.
If God Doesn’t Show is an interesting take on the Cthulhu mythos, filled with action from start to finish and topped off with plenty of darkness and intrigue. What starts out as a personal tale of one man on a hunt to find his daughter abruptly changes into something far more earthshattering in a grand and dramatic fashion. We are introduced to Blount, the character who has been reincarnated time and time again, about halfway through the book. He is positioned as a possible savior of humanity, destined to struggle with all forms of evil in each of his lifetimes. When we are introduced to him, he is on a mission with a group of government operatives heading to the strange island in the pacific that has a dark, impossible city buried within its jungles.
The two main characters spent most of this tale rushing toward the same objective and the pacing is fast and intense. While I found myself rooting for Thaddeus, Blount is the far more interesting character, surrounded by the supernatural and flashing back to past lives filled with battles against darkness. Their separate treks are both filled with mystery and energy, though that energy dissipates somewhat toward the end of the story, with what I could best describe as an extended epilogue. Giving away more details would be providing spoilers, which I like to avoid, but I felt as if the story lost a bit of its momentum going into the home stretch.
The authors provide excellent details surrounding the mixture of Lovecraft and Christian elements, though there were some questions I had that were left unanswered about the cult and their choices of sacrifice, though those quibbles were fairly minor. Overall, this was a fun read-a nice spin on the Cthulhu mythos with a few twisty elements tossed in for good measure. Of the two main characters, Blount was by far the more intriguing and the brief flashbacks to his past lives were intriguing tidbits that I would have liked to have seen more of. Perhaps this story doesn’t call for a sequel, but it might be interesting visiting some of Blount’s past lives.
If God Doesn’t Show can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1618680560/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Tim Long’s “Among the Dead”
Among the Dead is the sequel of Tim Long’s zombie apocalypse novel Among the Living, which takes place in Seattle in the initial hours and days after patient zero is infected with an experimental cancer vaccine. The first book followed four separate story lines, telling the individual tales of Mike, a reporter, which is in first person, and a trio of other characters told in third person: Lester, a drug dealer, Kate, a budding serial killer who tortures and kills men in hotel rooms, and Grinder, the lead singer of a heavy metal band playing a gig in Seattle. Much of AtL takes place before and during each character’s realization that the zombie apocalypse is upon them. It provided the reader with insights into their normal, everyday lives before they kick into survival mode and witness firsthand how both their lives and the city is falling apart all around them. The zombies in this story are a mixture of fast and slow movers, with those initially infected retaining most of their normal physical abilities and then slowing down as they begin the process of rotting away.
The first book ended with the quartet coming together-their stories intersect as they are rescued and put into the football stadium by the military, along with the rest of the huddled masses who have managed to escape turning into the undead. Among the Dead, being the second book of a trilogy, serves up a different type of tale, with what amounts to a single day for the quartet-a day that each of them attempts to survive from moment to moment as the undead overwhelm the city around them and threaten to overwhelm the stadium as well. The characters are once again separate for the most part. They now know one another, but Kate tags along on a rescue mission with some soldiers while Mike interacts with Nelson, one of the soldiers who helped him survive in the first book. Lester, coming down off his permabuzz, is trying to cope with the loss of his girlfriend from the first book and perhaps sneak out and find a safe haven in the city so he can keep the party going. Grinder is MIA for part of the book, but reconnects with one of the other characters more than halfway through.
The author also introduces some side characters that interact at one point or another with the main characters to a certain extent, even if it is as the undead in some cases. Some, like the bum LeBeau, are more interesting than others and added some good texture to the tale. The author spends a lot of the time with Kate, who I am guessing was a favorite of many readers of the first novel. Kate is in her element in the apocalypse, or so it seems, having the excuse to let the “other” out to play. The “other” is the dark part of her that takes over and craves murder and violence and makes her the serial killer she has become. The temptation to slaughter not only the undead, but other survivors and even the soldiers Kate is with is a constant reminder of dark nature for the audience.
Among the Dead, being the second book of a planned trilogy, is clearly the second act in a three act play. We move forward with the story with the presumption that you know what has come to pass for Mike and the others from the prior book. The author does make a solid attempt to let this book stand on its own in many ways, though we are, of course, left hanging somewhat by the ending, which lures us down the path to its completion when Among the Ashes is published and completes things. I would, however, not recommend picking this book up without reading AtL first.
This is a solid follow up by the author, though a different type of novel just for the fact that things move here rather quickly, and there is little room for subtlety given the circumstances the characters find themselves in. Death and mayhem are all around them from start to finish, and the death of the city is well under way. The reader is granted some new insights and some of the characters are transformed by the events of this book (Kate in particular), but Among the Dead is focused primarily on action more than character development.
Overall, this book does solid duty in keeping the reader aware of what is going on with each character. Though Grinder wasn’t my favorite of the quartet, I would have liked to have had him share more of the spotlight in the early part of this book. He felt almost like a secondary character this time around. As mentioned, Kate steps forward as more of a main character and is allowed to develop in much greater detail than the other three. Unfortunately, her inner monologue, at certain points, felt a bit repetitive with her thoughts on killing virtually everyone around her overwhelming almost everything else inside her head. Despite this, Kate remains fascinating, especially with some of the vulnerabilities we discover about her and the new depths that her darkness seems to be taking her as she lets the “other” run amuck.
Again, this is a solid sequel to Among the Living that keeps the adrenaline flowing and gives fans of Kate in particular something to really sink their teeth into. Tim Long definitely keeps you on the hook with Among the Dead, intrigued to find out how things end up for the survivors in the final book in the trilogy.
Among the Dead can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AXOR1HS/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Vincenzo Bilof’s “Nightmare of the Dead”
Nightmare of the Dead introduces us to a young woman who wakes up on a train during the civil war, her memory lost, but her sense of what she is capable of with a gun still intact. As a strange green mist appears in another one of the train cars and seeps into hers, she discovers that some sort of horrific transformation is taking place among the men that surround her. Not all are affected by the gas. At least one other boy-a soldier for the confederacy-does not transform into a creature that dead yet still living like the others, and neither does she. These creatures are violent, deadly monsters that lust for flesh and must be killed with a bullet through the head. For all intents and purposes, they are zombies, and their introduction comes as quite a shock to her.
While seeking to discover her identity as faint traces of her past seep into her mind, the woman is pursued by a group of outlaws who know about her past and have plans for her. At the same time, we are introduced to a mad scientist who is the creator of the toxic gas she was exposed to on the train. He has been employed by Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, in an effort to turn the tide of the war with his new invention, but the scientist’s main goal is to gain membership into a dark, underworld organization that is intrigued by what he has wrought. The story slowly reveals his relationship with the amnesiac woman and how she is valuable to both him and the “Nightmare Collective.”
Nightmare of the Dead is a zombie tale, though the zombies here are more mutations than anything-it does not appear that they infect you through their bites, but by the exposure to the gas, or other variations of the ingredients the scientist has mixed to cause the zombification.
The story has a different take on the zombie genre in some ways, and the undead play a very secondary role to the main characters and their quests to both understand more themselves and gain revenge upon one another for a very complicated past. I’ve read historical zombie tales-those of the old west included-but this one foregoes many of the traditional elements found in most and carves out its own path. Fans of the genre will get their fair share of zombie gore and action, and both the main character and villain are well developed, especially when the story dives deeper and deeper into their shared history, but don’t go in expecting a traditional tale of the apocalypse. Both the main characters are vile in different ways, but the author is able to give us at least a reason or two to feel sympathy not only for the obvious one of the two, but the other as well.
I think it only fair to share concerns that come to mind with any book I review, and with Nightmare of the Dead it came down to some overly descriptive verse and stiff dialog. This wasn’t something that was pervasive throughout, but came up enough to serve as a distraction. By no means did it wreck the story for me, but it did make some characters feel a bit more forced and awkward than others. The flow isn’t always natural with how they speak. Again, this served as more of a distraction than a major issue, but it was noticeable and I feel compelled to point it out.
Outside of this issue, the story is solid, enjoyable, and I liked discovering and learning about these characters. It is clear that a sequel must be forthcoming, and I look forward to checking that out as well.
Nightmare of the Dead can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1479129496/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Derek Goodman’s “The Reanimation of Edward Shuett”
The Reanimation of Edward Shuett is a zombie tale for folks who are looking something that injects something entirely new and different into the genre. Edward is an average guy from Wisconsin who wakes up one day in an abandoned WalMart dazed, dirty, and confused by the fact that he has maggots crawling out of rotten holes in his arm. He sees a couple of other people in the store who scare him. They are clearly not normal-shambling looking dead things that have no reason to still be upright. Despite his fears of them, they don’t seem very interested in him, and when a truck pulls up outside and a couple of men step out looking for some undead to capture, Edward begins to realize what he is…or at least what he used to be.
There have been, by my reckoning, a handful of novels that are told from the viewpoint of the zombie. We’re even going to be seeing a movie with this slant in early 2013 with “Warm Bodies”. Some just dance lightly around the subject of trying to grasp what is going on inside the brain of a zombie, while others plunge in head first, making their whole focus about the life and times of the undead. I would have to say that TRoES is the first story I’ve read that caused me to not only identify with a particular zombie but caused me to feel sympathy and empathy for their plight. But of course, Edward Shuett isn’t your average, garden variety zombie.
Edward is definitely a zombie-of that there is no doubt. While the realization comes as a shock to him, there is another more striking realization for both him and the living, breathing humans that surround him. Unlike the rest of the undead, he can reason, speak, and is even starting regenerate the fifty years of damage he suffered as a mindless eating machine. His memories as a full blown flesh eater are vague-stuck within his dreams and nightmares. Sadly, he has no idea what has happened to his wife and daughter, and to him it seems like time stood still since he was originally bitten and transformed. But now he is stuck in a world of survivors who have lived with the threat of the undead for half a century.
Like the author even says within the tale, this is sort of a zombie Rip Van Winkle, with a man searching for his past while trying to adjust to the new world around him. While zombies are still a threat, the human race has conquered them for the most part-at least those who live within the city limits and not out in the wastelands. In another way, this book and likely any follow-ups the author creates, remind me of the classic Planet of the Apes movies, as strange as that may sound. A creature different than all the rest of its kind is to be feared for the danger it may or may not represent and there will always be those who want to destroy it for that reason alone.
The Reanimation of Edward Shuett certainly serves up a unique zombie tale, but one that retains what makes stories in this genre worth reading: solid characters put into tremendously difficult situations that feature monsters both human and inhuman. As is the case with the best of the genre, it is pretty clear that the human monsters are by far the worst. This story is heartfelt and touching, but retains that blood-drenched razor sharp edge that should keep most zombie fans satisfied.
The Reanimation of Edward Shuett can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1618680617/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Arthur Graham interviews me over on the Bizarro Press Blog
Arthur Graham, fellow author and editor for Tall Tales with Short Cocks Volume 2, for which I wrote a science fiction comedy story called “The Interstellar Quest for Snack Cakes”, took the time out to interview me about my story, about zombies, and about all sorts of strange things. Okay, I admit it-his questions weren’t all that strange, just my answers. But please check it out at: http://bizarropress.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/patrick-dorazio/
Review of John McCuaig’s “Escape From Dead City”
Escape From Dead City begins at a London hospital, where the story abruptly introduces us to an infection that turns its victims into the undead. We meet Pauline and Gordon, two doctors who are in a relationship with one another. When the military arrives at the hospital to deal with the onslaught of the undead after the two doctors have already dealt with one of the undead, it becomes readily apparent that they need to escape the hospital. Not soon after they realize that they better flee the city as well, because it’s clear that the trouble isn’t localized to their area, but is everywhere. The dead are rising up and overwhelming the living in uncountable numbers.
At the same time, Pauline’s sister, Margot, and her boyfriend Arthur are coming to the same conclusion from their apartment in the city. After communicating with one another, the two sisters agree to meet and get out before the whole city is overwhelmed by the undead. Arthur, who is a train engineer, convinces the other three to make their way to the train station, where he can get them all aboard one of the last trains out of the city. Little do they know that the military have commandeered the station and the specific train Arthur has in mind for their escape. Soon, the quartet discover that the train might grant them a form of escape from London, but will take them on a journey with both the military and scientists doing everything in their power to put an end to the plague that threatens to engulf the entire world.
Escape From Dead City doesn’t necessarily introduce its audience to anything new in the zombie genre. The undead are fairly traditional and the key characters include a scientist who is passionate about finding a cure and a military man who will do whatever it takes to maintain control over those under his supervision. What the tale does bring to the table that is somewhat unique is the rapid-fire pace with which it moves. The story takes place within the first 24 hours of infection. There is little time for the reader to pause and reflect as the two sisters and the rest of the cast of characters move from one challenging situation to the next at a breakneck pace.
The story offers up plenty of entertainment, gore, and action, though the characters are perhaps what I would call a bit lean. This just means that we aren’t given a tremendous amount of depth with them-there isn’t enough time for us to get to know them all too well. Not necessarily a major drawback, since the focus in this tale is on the action and a race against time. I did feel that Colonel Page, the hard-nosed commander of the squad of soldiers responsible for the safety of the scientists, was the most interesting and detailed character of the lot. He was rough but pragmatic, with limited time to deal with any BS that might interfere with him getting the job done. The dialog is a bit stiff at times, with some turns of phrase being used a bit repetitively (‘soldier man’ was one that felt a bit overused by several of the characters), but overall the pacing is smooth with very few disruptions to the flow of the tale. With a planned sequel, the author has the opportunity to delve deeper into each of the surviving characters, which will give me more reason to root for or against their survival as they race to both stay alive and find a cure for the plague that has been unleashed on the world.
Escape From Dead City can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Dead-City-John-McCuaig/dp/1479186058/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351917573&sr=1-1&keywords=escape+from+dead+city
The cover of the Permuted Press version of “Into The Dark” revealed!
I showed the cover of the Permuted Press version of Comes the Dark a while back and now that the second book cover has been released, it is time for the big reveal. This one is a bit different, though it sticks with a similar theme as with the first with a similar background. Definitely different than the original version from Philip R. Rogers, with both being excellent depictions of the main character and the theme of the novel. Into The Dark will be released in March of 2013, with additional content-over 24,000 words in the expanded story. So here it is, without further ado.
Zombies Gone Wild is now available for the Kindle! Soon in paperback!
I’m proud to announce that Zombie’s Gone Wild, an anthology of wild and crazy zombie tales, including “What’s Eating You?” which is my twisted and disturbing saga of zombie comedy, is included within its pages. It hit the Kindle today, and will be available in paperback soon. Stay tuned-I’ll definitely keep everyone posted on that front. Just click on the cover below to be taken to where you can purchase this masterpiece of modern zombie horror and comedy.
Death is not the end…
“Zombies Gone Wild!” is a chilling collection of twenty-six stories from established authors as well as up-and-coming writers in the genre, with an opening poem from everyone’s favorite zombie. This anthology includes tales where the undead stand as a symbol of unification for a desperate world, where friends really are what you make them, and where new beginnings aren’t always a good thing.
The end is only the beginning…
Bizarre, humorous, and terrifying, “Zombies Gone Wild!” will satiate your hunger for zombie goodness.
Review of Tonia Brown’s “Skin Trade”
Skin Trade takes place in the imagined old west where the dead have risen and made much of the country has been left uninhabitable, while the United States remains little more than a sliver of land along the east coast that is zombie-free. Beyond that are the Borderlands, where the government promises new growth and a life for those willing to risk it, though the fear of revenants keeps most people living in squalor out east rather than taking the risk. Beyond the Borderlands are the lands where revenants roam free. That is also where the trappers ply their trade, but it isn’t animals their after.
Samantha, a girl who has escaped a wretched life in a brothel down south, has made it to the borderlands where she has disguised herself as a boy so she can go to a workhouse with other boys desperate to find a way to make a living. There she is recruited by a trapper who needs apprentices to learn his trade. Sam realizes that there is great danger in going west, but knows this may be her best chance to put the past behind her and learn a trade that could set her free. But little does she know about all the dark secrets of the skin trade, though she’ll soon find out.
Skin Trade is quite an intriguing entry into the zombie pantheon of literature, with the undead see as animals to be slaughtered and skinned for the valuable leather they can offer up. They are dangerous and to be feared, but it is the men who ply this trade who represent the real darkness in this story. Sam is a tough, scrappy young lady who has escaped one horrible life to be potentially thrust right into another, but her adventures are fascinating ones, where she discovers a great deal about herself and her fellow man.
Tonia Brown knows how to craft a story, and her fertile imagination does not disappoint, whether it has to do with the undead or steampunk…or both. She is one of the most creative authors out there working her magic on traditional zombie lore, intermingling romance, adventure, horror, and intrigue with ease. Skin Trade is no exception. Her characters are vivid, fun, and compelling, her stories always entertaining. Definitely give this one a whirl if you are a fan of zombie lit-it’s a bit different than the traditional apocalyptic tale, and well worth checking out.
Skin Trade can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Skin-Trade-ebook/dp/B007PCVFDC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1349637677&sr=8-4&keywords=skin+trade
Review of “Loose Ends” by Jay Wilburn
Loose Ends by Jay Wilburn is a bit different style zombie apocalypse tale for several reasons, the main being the characters that inhabit this particular world. We are introduced to our main character, Mutt, a fifteen year old boy who also happens to be mute. He is hiding from a zombie pounding on the door of the panic room he has been in for a couple of days when the story starts. The compound he’s lived in for most of the time since the dead rose up (about a decade) appears to be several buildings that have been connected and has been the dwelling place for a decent sized group of people. Over the years, it has suffered attacks from zombies and humans alike, but the tenants have always persevered. Not this time. The only survivors are Mutt and the three men he works with in the kitchens: Chef, Short Order, and Doc. Naturally, just like with Mutt, these are nicknames, but the reader isn’t provided real names of the characters until we are well into the story. After cooking a few last meals and competing with one another to see who can outdo the others in taste and extravagance, they decide that it is time to hit the road, and find a new home.
The wide world is a dangerous, depraved place, with not only the biker types that assaulted them (along with the undead) this last time out there, but numerous other tribes of survivors that range from the deadly to the demented. Mainly what our team of travelers finds at first is the undead. They set out with their modified truck filled with supplies with the hopes of discovering a new and safe home-but they go in the direction that some of the men know and remember, and might not be their safest bet. We get to know the characters better on their journey of attempting to one up one another in their cooking of meals they scrounge out in the wild. Details are revealed about each of them, including their real names and their past. Mutt too reveals more about himself and the brief childhood he had before it was torn apart by the undead. Some of what is revealed seems almost better off remaining buried, with tragedies from the past that are hard to deal with, even after ten years of living with the undead.
Loose Ends definitely takes a different approach to introducing and revealing its characters. These men are tightly bonded to one another, and the fact that Mutt is unable to speak allows their stories to be told with little interference from him, though it all through his eyes, including some very disturbing things. While these three men are friends who protect and take care of Mutt (Doc especially, who Mutt is apprenticed to) they also have conflicts that stem from the fact that they are out of the safe and neutral environment of the compound and back out on the road traveling through the places where they are given the chance to revisit their pasts.
This book is not just a character study, it is a zombie apocalypse actioner, with plenty of scenes filled with harrowing attacks and attempted assaults of the small crew of survivors. I am a fan of fully developed characters and human conflict that arises in apocalyptic tales-revealing the truth that is forced to come to the surface because of the harsh realities that surround the people trying to survive-and this tale definitely delivers that. But I also love action and the horror that comes from the unrelenting nature of the undead, and Loose Ends delivers in that respect as well.
As far as the negatives with this story, as there are with every tale, it was my reaction to the beginning and something that happens not too far in that I had issue with. I have a pet peeve about perspectives, and committing to the perspective chosen. The author tells this story in first person, through Mutt’s eyes, and true to that, we never see anything from someone else. But the author decides to bend the rules a bit and allows Mutt to imagine, in great detail, what is going on somewhere else. Imagining what is going on isn’t a big deal, unless it reads like a very detailed and factual part of the story. It felt forced here, but thankfully it is only a brief part of the story. It does, however, happen very early on, which made me a bit fearful that it would crop up on a regular basis. Thankfully this is not the case, and after another very minor dip into doing this again, the author leaves this behind and lets Mutts true perspective lead the way.
Overall, the storytelling here is solid. Mutt lacks a voice but his ability to see what is going on around him and relate it to the reader adds a distinct flavor to the tale. He both fears and relies on the men he is traveling with, in particular Doc, who he shares several harrowing adventures with and yet distrusts in many ways. Mutt is not passive-he is an active participant in choosing his own destiny, which makes the story all the more satisfying.
Loose Ends tells the story of three men and a boy who all have issues from their past and have different levels of desire to confront these issues under the guise of searching for a new place to call home. Some want to lay them to rest while others appear to be more interest in ripping open old wounds and remembering the darkness. It is an interesting journey that I’m glad I tagged along for.
Loose Ends can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Loose-Ends-Zombie-Novel-ebook/dp/B008ISXOYU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1348935151&sr=8-3&keywords=jay+wilburn
Review of Sue Edge’s “Dead Tropics”
Dead Tropics starts out on a typical morning in Cairns, Australia, except for the fact that several miners have been reported with cases of encephalitis and are being sent to local hospital. They had been given consent to mine in the area of the Cape Tribulation Rain Forest, to the north of Cairns. Lori Nelson is a nurse and mother of three who has to report to her job at the hospital after dropping her kids off for the day.
We soon discover that whatever infection these miners suffered from is something that has been likely buried in this previously untouched rainforest and it brings the dead back to life. Suddenly the world is turned upside down as Lori must join forces with several other members of the hospital staff to fight their way out of the ever increasing circle of danger and death that engulfs the hospital and the downtown area of the city. Within a few brief hours of infection, the miners have died, risen up, and infected everyone around them. Lori’s small crew race ahead of the growing outbreak and try to safely collect those they can save, including Lori’s kids and her sister’s family as well, with the hopes of escaping the city before it’s too late.
This is a zombie tale that definitely speeds along at a rapid pace. Many undead stories that focus on the outbreak itself try to keep the energy level up throughout the story but tend to slow the tempo down at one point or another. Such is not the case here, where the energy level remains high throughout, with barely any time for the reader to breath. Of course, the somewhat unique angle played here is that Lori is a mother, and a fairly normal one at that. She isn’t a superhero or has any special skills outside of the fact that she is a nurse, which does come in handy when an attempt is made to stop infection from spreading from a bite suffered by a loved one. Other than that, the only thing that Lori seems to possess out of the ordinary is a stubborn determination to protect her family and to be a leader who takes charge of every situation they confront. All in all, she is a realistic character that does her best, failing and succeeding in making good choices along the way, like most of us would do under the same circumstances.
It appears that an editing error pointed out by some other reviewers has been taken care of in this electronic version of the book. The only glitch in the story that I noticed was the death and repeat death of a minor character within a couple of pages fairly early in the story. The character is so minor he doesn’t even have a name, just a designation: B2. Even with this, the writing is crisp and keeps things moving along, with little in the way of editing complaints to nag about.
There is a bit of romance in this story, though it doesn’t necessarily distract from the story as it can in some zompoc tales. Lori’s blossoming relationship with Mike is front and center at a few select points in the story, but it remains subtle and in the background the rest of the time as they race from one danger to the next. The important thing, in my mind, is that it didn’t feel forced or overdone. Instead, it was a done with a deft hand and made sense based on the intensity of the experiences the characters were coping with.
As I always try to do, I point out issues that I have with a story. Overall, Dead Tropics is a solid work with a voice not often heard in zombie fiction: that of a mother protecting her family. I did take issue with the fact that while the spread of the virus from the hospital seems to be a uniform process of it going street by street, and inch by inch, it jumps well past its outer range at one point to create a convenient situation for the main character, forcing her to deal with ‘taking care’ of a couple of infected people she knows and who are very important to another key character. The area where this takes place is otherwise still clear of infection-so much so that the next door neighbors seem oblivious to anything impending doom. It is possible and I’m sure there would be an explanation, but it still seemed like a convenient plot development. Still it, like the dual deaths of the insignificant character I mentioned earlier, are minor things, but worth pointing out.
While Dead Tropics is a fairly traditional zombie tale, with Romero type zombies and plenty of gore, mayhem, and bloody action, what makes it really stand out is its main character. There certainly have been other female leads in this genre, but not many (or any that I can think of at the moment) whose focus was on protecting her young children and doing everything she could to keep them alive. There have been those who have lost their children and those who are not the main focus of the tale, but this story zeroes in on her particular experiences and does a good job with it. The author gives us a strong, appealing character with emotional depth and passion without sacrificing anything that the gore hounds and action fans want, which makes this a fun, solid zombie apocalypse read.
Dead Tropics can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Tropics-Sue-Edge/dp/1618680366/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343572750&sr=1-1&keywords=dead+tropics
Patrick D'Orazio's Blog 