Permuted Press Kindle E-Book Sale!
Well it is Friday the 13th and while many folks consider that bad luck, I think it is a great day…and the start of a great weekend. Especially for fans of great apocalyptic fiction. Permuted Press, my publisher, has decided that this would be a great weekend to promote the heck out of virtually every one of the books they offer on Kindle by having a sale that runs through Sunday. So go on over to Amazon to check things out. Just click on the picture below and you’ll be sent to the list of books for sale, including all three books in my trilogy: Comes The Dark, Into The Dark, and Beyond The Dark. Plenty of other fantastic books can be found on sale, including plenty of ones that I’ve reviewed here. So here is your chance to pick them up for either 99 cents or $2.99 when they’re regularly around $7.99. So check it out, and as they say over at Permuted, Enjoy the Apocalypse!
Review of Rachel Aukes’ “100 Days in Deadland”
100 Days in Deadland introduces the reader to a young woman living in Des Moines, Iowa who is thrust into the start of the zombie apocalypse within the very first paragraph. The story starts out with a bang, with Cash (a nickname she is given early on in the story) getting attacked by a woman who has gotten infected in her office. She narrowly escapes the assault and flees with another co-worker as everyone around them goes mad-either with infection or panic. While the duo race from the office they realize that the entire world is rapidly being consumed by the living dead and there is little hope that they will find anyplace safe. Narrowly escaping from another harrowing assault on the highway, Cash manages to hook up with an over-the-road truck driver nicknamed Clutch, who reluctantly takes her out of the city to the farm in the Iowa countryside where he lives.
Despite her efforts to appeal to his sympathetic side, Clutch isn’t too interested in lending long term shelter to Cash, who he believes, like many city dwellers, has very few real survival skills. She is just another mouth he will have to feed and protect when his main focus should be doing his best to survive on his own. But Cash is determined to prove to Clutch that she can stand on her own two feet and deal with both the undead and every other hardship that comes her way.
100 Days in Deadland tells the story of Cash’s journey through the nine circles of hell and her efforts to keep her mind and her body intact, no matter how many nightmares this new world throws at her. The author makes it clear that this tale is her translation of the first poem in Dante’s Divine comedy, as seen through the eyes of a zombie apocalypse survivor. Though she details the story’s comparable elements in the forward and afterward, and entitles each section of the book with a new circle of hell, the story requires no experience of having read any of Dante’s works to appreciate what is happening to Cash on the book’s pages.
This is not the first zompoc tale that has referenced Dante’s Inferno. Kim Paffenroth wrote an even more closely aligned tale with the main character being Dante himself in “Valley of the Dead.” That story tells the tale of how Dante survived a zombie apocalypse in a remote area of Europe which in turn influenced his writing of his master work. Rachel Aukes takes very different approach, giving the reader a modern bent on her main character’s journey through hell.
This is a fast paced, fly by the seat of your pants type story, with plenty of action to go around for the avid zombie fan. Cash is a solid main character, and since this story is told in first person, we get to see the world through her eyes as it transforms around her and how it transforms her as well-from someone who has lived a sheltered life to someone bound and determined to build the much needed callouses on her body and soul that will allow her to survive while at the same time doing her best not forgetting what it means to be human.
The zombies here are fairly traditional, with the increasingly popular slant of having them faster the more recent their infection and dependent on the level of damage they’ve absorbed. The older undead are the more well-known slow and slouching variety. Despite the tie-in to Dante, the story here is fairly traditional zombie apocalypse centered stuff, with the human menace being more fearsome and terrifying than the undead. There were some intriguing and devious combat techniques used by the villains that I will not spoil by sharing, but thought was quite creative.
Cash is an underdog character who is admittedly weak and timid at first but comes to accept that the only way she won’t be a burden and will be able to survive and thrive in this new world is to adapt and grow tougher and wiser at the same time. She learns how to fight and defend herself from Clutch, who is ex-military, and improvises given the fact that she isn’t a burly warrior with a great deal of combat experience. She also teaches Clutch to have a reason to care for someone else after having resigned himself to a solitary existence filled with nothing more than staving off the living dead.
Overall, this is a solid and entertaining zombie apocalypse book. Though the author has written this as a variation of Dante’s Inferno, it is not dramatically different than many other zombie apocalypse tales in its delivery or overall storyline. Still, the characters are accessible and appealing, the action smooth, and the journey of Cash is worth taking with her, even if the ending is a bit abrupt. I am not one to complain about cliff hanger endings, or endings that sew everything else up nicely, but this ending left me a bit frustrated, puzzled over whether the author has plans on writing her versions of Dante’s Purgatory and Paradise next or if Cash’s story is finished. Regardless of this minor criticism, this is an entertaining zombie apocalypse read worth checking out.
100 Days in Deadland can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1470188058/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Bryan Way’s “Life After: The Arising”
Life After: The Arising tells the story of Jeff Grey and his experiences during the first few days of the zombie apocalypse. When the dead rise up his hometown suburb of Philadelphia, Jeff seems to be the only person prepared to do what it will take to survive.
Jeff is a college freshman who has returned home to visit his girlfriend who is performing in a high school band competition. He is a band geek himself as well as a zombie fanatic who has written several stories about the undead and knows about all about the ‘rules’ of dealing with the living dead. So when corpses start crawling out of a nearby cemetery during the band competition, he is able to react to the threat immediately. Taking charge, he leads a handful of terrified survivors, including his girlfriend Julia, into a building on campus while the rest of the people at the school are torn to pieces on the football field and in the stands.
Jeff becomes a somewhat reluctant leader when those he has saved look to him for guidance since he seems to know what he is doing. Jeff does indeed know a lot about zombies, but he isn’t some sort of survivalist, just a freshman college student who’s read a some books and watched a few movies about the undead. Fortunately for him, an old high school friend who is in the National Guard arrives on the scene a day or so later and takes on a leadership role to help keep the survivors alive.
The story takes place over a period of about ten days with the characters migrating to different hiding spots in their suburban environment in an effort to escape the constant barrage of corpses trying to hunt them down. The zombies are a mix of fast and slow moving based on how long they have been dead as well as how much damage they’ve suffered. The story is told in first person present tense, though thankfully not in a journal format, which has been a bit overused in the zompoc genre.
The action in the tale is solid, with the sequences surrounding the attacks by the undead moving at a fast clip. The gore is effective, though not over the top. The characters are, for the most part, solidly fleshed out. Of course, this is a story of one man’s journey above and beyond all else-this is Jeff’s tale, and it is through him that we allowed to understand the other characters and the world in which they must survive. As such, whether the reader enjoys this tale or not will likely hinge on what they think of Jeff and how he sees the world through his eyes…which see the world as a zombie obsessed fan who knows the drill when it comes to the undead and how to deal with them, or at least so he believes.
Though the pacing of this story is solid when there are zombies on the page, it is a not as even when there are only other humans interacting with Jeff. He spends a bit more time than necessary elaborating on his loving relationship with Julia. Though much of the arguments and discussions with other survivors are pertinent and critical to developing a better understanding of the other characters, there are occasions where things drag. An example is when several of the characters get into a debate about God and religion that felt unnecessary to the plot.
The dialog, for the most part, is snappy and moves things along. It wasn’t overly dramatic or overbearing and felt natural for the characters who were speaking it. A minor editing critique was the fact that in a lot of conversations in the book didn’t make it immediately apparent who was speaking what line. Tossing in a few more ‘I said’ or ‘Julia replied’ would solve that little issue.
Overall, Life After: The Arising is a solid freshman writing entry by Bryan Way. He shows a great deal of promise as a new voice in the zombie genre and I look forward to checking out the next installment in this saga.
Life After: The Arising can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615851827/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of P.A. Douglas’s “The Old One”
The Old One takes place in the sleepy little town of Top Sail Beach on an island off the coast of North Carolina. Like most little towns, it has its share of secrets and skeletons in the closet. Unfortunately, one particular bit of darkness from its past has chosen to rise up out of the sea to wreak unholy havoc on the little burg.
We are first introduced to one elderly resident of the town who is out fishing one night while lamenting the passing of his wife when he gets a nibble on his line and either falls into the ocean or perhaps is yanked in and nearly drowns. Miraculously saved by his neighbor who was passing by the pier his small boat was tied to, he awakens the next day not quite himself. Something evil is inside him and it isn’t satisfied with possessing just him-it wants much more.
The Old One is a Lovecraft inspired tale that mixes Cthulhu mythology with a new take on the living dead, with interesting results. The main character is Max, a transplant to Topsail Beach who has become content living in the isolated little community despite knowing he’ll never be considered a local by many of the residents. He lives with Hanna, his wife, and has a job as a mechanic at one of the local shops. Shortly after we are introduced to Max his world is turned upside down when he and Hanna are attacked by his neighbors who are maimed and appear to be dead. As unbelievable as that seems, it isn’t the worst of it. When he is forced to destroy one of his attackers, vile squid-like creatures burst forth from the ghoul’s stomach and begin the hunt for new flesh to latch on to.
This story is a whirlwind of blood, guts, and nightmarish creatures that get worse at every turn. At first, Max can’t comprehend what is happening, but as the night wears on and the lashing storm that has engulfed the island grows stronger, more hints as to what is really happening reveal themselves. There is something far worse at work here than a plague of foul leaches turning humans into cannibalistic puppets. Because there is something those creatures call mother and it has also risen from the dark depths of the ocean, a true horror to behold.
The Old One is fun and interesting take on the Cthulhu mythos-sort of a side-story to the mythology about a single dark and almost forgotten god whose true purpose is cloaked in mystery. The author’s enthusiasm for Lovecraftian horror shines through on each page and while this story is not perfect, his exuberance makes up for the fact that it felt like there were a few gaps in the story, or more specifically, the back story. The yearning to learn more about what came before and what causes the Old One to rise up from the sea remains in me well after reading this tale, but perhaps is how it is meant to be. The story could use another pass to clean up some of the typos left behind, but overall the writing is sharp and Mr. Douglas continues to impress with the creativity in each of his new tales. Despite the length of this book, it has the feel of a short story that reads like a surprising slap across the face that leaves you a bit stunned and disconcerted about what just happened…which isn’t a bad thing when it comes to horror.
The Old One can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3LZY44/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Richard Johnson’s “Dead Drunk”
Dead Drunk provides the reader with a different take on surviving the zombie apocalypse. Often times the moral of the story when it comes to apocalyptic fiction is that the screw ups tend to get their comeuppance. Someone might have some dumb luck and avoid getting slaughtered right away, but for the most part, if you are a coward, an imbecile, or a callous, crass, self-absorbed fool you either wise up right away, transform into some sort of crony to the chief bad guy, or die in a very gruesome and often satisfying way, presuming that the author has made you despise said person throughout the tale.
In Dead Drunk we are introduced to Charlie and his band of misfit friends. Most of them are thirty-something slackers who are horny, drunk, drug addled party boys focused on little more than where they can get their next buzz. Some of us remember guys like these from college-or at least our first year of college, before many of them flunked out. Of course, Charlie does have some friends who are responsible adults who like to have fun every now and then, and that is where our story begins. One of Charlie’s more responsible buddies is getting married and that is an excuse for a rager of a bachelor party. Things get wild, of course, but it isn’t until the next day, when everyone is nursing their hangovers that the real party begins.
An infection has spread through Chicago, where the story takes place, and suddenly people are chomping on one another, spreading whatever infection has caused them to crave human flesh and go completely nutso. Charlie and his friends hunker down in his rundown apartment, trying to figure out how to survive with minimal food but a whole lot of booze.
This story is a mix of traditional zombie survival and crazy party-boy lunacy, with a rogues gallery of characters that most of us would find hard to like, except perhaps if you are in that period of life where getting drunk, trying to get some action, and being permanently buzzed supersedes all else. Certainly, the author does a commendable job of showing hints of maturity among the group and slivers of humanity amongst them. Charlie shows signs of becoming a better man and Big Rob, one of his best friends, for all his oafishness, is probably the best person of the lot. It helped prevent me from rooting for the demise of all of them from the beginning.
Of course, this is an amusing book, not meant to be taken too seriously. I didn’t go in expecting there to be an emotional attachment to any of the characters, though a few were formed and there were a few touching moments buried in a sea of booze, bongs, and boners that reside within its pages. The writing is solid and the humor rude. So if you are someone who easily offended or doesn’t appreciate the humor of movies like The Hangover, this probably isn’t for you. But if you enjoy low-brow comedy mixed in with your zombie gore on occasion, give this one a shot.
Dead Drunk can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C6AGNM6/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Gregory Solis’ “Rise and Walk: Pathogen”
Rise and Walk: Pathogen is Gregory Solis’s sequel to his 2007 debut novel, Rise and Walk. The sequel has been a long time coming and I would be lying if I said I remembered all of the details from the original novel Mr. Solis put out six and a half years ago. Thankfully, a refresher of my review of the first book and jumping right into this new tale brought me up to speed. In Rise and Walk we are introduced to Tony and Mason, two members of a paint ball team who have arrived in the mountains for a tournament. Not so far away, parts of a strange meteor have landed, causing a pathogen to infect the living, turning them into the undead. As things go south and the dead begin devouring the living wholesale, the two men join up with two young women who work at the local general store at the lake where the tournament is supposed to take place. Together, they flee into the mountains and must cope with the onslaught of the undead while also dealing with the even more dangerous living.
The original novel, as I had described it in my review, was entertaining zombie fare, though the author’s writing was a bit rough, as is often the case with a debut novel. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the material and the story was fun, if perhaps lacking in emotional depth. This was a simple adventure novel for the zombie enthusiast to enjoy, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The book was fun-a quick and easy read. I say all this not to disparage this original story, but more as a way to point out the differences between it and this new book. Rise and Walk: Pathogen is a distinctly different novel from the first. Not the story itself. It starts off where the last book ended, and follows our four survivors on day two of their efforts to avoid getting devoured. Mason wants to return to Berkley, where he and Tony are from, to make sure his family is safe, while Tony is more inclined to help Nikki and her quest to find her own parents in the small town of Whisper where this story takes place. Where things differ between the two books, by my estimation, is in the character development and the polish the author shows in his writing. The tension and dialog between the characters feels more real, this story has a broader scope (with a villain that is both far more menacing and yet far more subtle than in the first book), and the author caused me to care about what happens to these people. Even his secondary characters are far more intriguing, especially Margaret, whose story is quite touching. There are a few typos here and there, but nothing too noticeable. Overall, this is a far more well-crafted effort.
It has been a long time coming since Mr. Solis wrote his debut novel, but the sequel was worth the wait and was a very pleasant surprise. My hope is that the third book in the saga takes a few years less than the six to get published, because I am definitely looking forward to what I presume is the climax of this zombie saga.
Rise and Walk: Pathogen can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D1WXA2O/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Gareth Wood’s “Age of the Dead”
Age of the Dead is the sequel to Gareth Wood’s Rise, which was released by Permuted Press last year, but was originally created in a serial blog format several years back. The first story tells the tale of Brian and his experiences during the weeks and months following the rise of the undead. It provides us with his efforts to survive with his sister and the woman he meets who eventually becomes his wife. It ends with him the leader of a scavenging team sent out from Cold Lake, where the military has created a safe haven for most of the survivors in Western Canada. Age of the Dead continues where Rise left off, with Brian and his crew going on missions to either retrieve much needed supplies out in the wastelands or to find more survivors.
Both books were written in first person, with the first book being done in journal format. Everything is told from Brian’s perspective with all the limitations and advantages that format yields. The author changed things up a bit with Age of the Dead, and while the story is told in first person once again from Brian’s perspective, it is no longer in journal format. There is dialog and there isn’t that sense of premonition you get from a journal where the author hints at the action to come at the beginning of every journal entry. A journal is like reading a newspaper article about something that happened the day before, whereas the new format the author uses in his second book puts the reader right into the action.
The writing here is smooth and the story flows well, though there really isn’t any specific direction the author seems to be taking with the story. I had mentioned in my review of Rise that the book could have cut off earlier-when Brian and company find their way to the safety of Cold Lake, but carried on with his first missions doing salvage. This story, much like the last part of the previous book, carries on with that theme. The action is more intense and there is a willingness here to let some of the characters die, which was a change from the first book. The adventures Brian and company have were enjoyable to read about, but I was often left wondering where things were headed. There are hints toward the end of the book that the story might get more focused in the third installment, which shows good promise.
Overall, the quality of this installment is good and the writing format is more satisfying than the first book. There is more emotional heft to Brian here-the stakes are higher than before. At the same time, I would like to see the story take a more specific direction. The missions Brian takes on with his crew could go on indefinitely. But as I already alluded to, there are indications that the third book will have a more specific direction and a more defined objective in mind. I look forward to seeing what the author does with this tale going forward.
Age of the Dead can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1618680501/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Tim Curran’s “Cannibal Corpse, M/C”
Tim Curran’s Cannibal Corpse, M/C is a wild ride into a post-apocalyptic wasteland with John Slaughter, Pittsburgh Chapter President of the Devil’s Disciples, leading the way. He is the last of the free members of his motorcycle club, one of the 1%ers that commits everything they have and everything they will ever be to the patch they wear on their sleeve and what it represents. The world has ended, or so it seems, and the dead have risen from the grave. Strange rains filled with mysterious red worms have infected much of the population, turning them into something that resembles zombies, though this crop of the undead are pretty unique. They crave human flesh, but they continue to have some semblance of the minds they once had. They are evil, semi-demonic puppets that not only devour but gleefully torture the living. The western half of the U.S. is a wasteland of the dead now, with what remains of the country under government control a sliver of what it once was. The dead rule, along with the barbaric living militias like the Red Hand and the mutants that were created after nukes were dropped to stem the tide of the dead. Into this wasteland heads John, who has too many people chasing him and too much desire for the freedom of the open road to remain in civilized territories. At least until members of the military catch up with him and put him on a mission he can’t refuse. They’ll free some members of his club that are in prison to ride with him into the wastelands where they need to save a biologist who may have a cure for the plague that has caused the rain of worms to fall.
Cannibal Corpse, M/C is definitely not your typical apocalyptic zombie tale. The author seems to know quite a bit about biking culture and John’s rough demeanor and loyalty to his friends kept this one entertaining from start to finish. John is almost fearless, almost ruthless, almost like his club’s name would hint at: a disciple of the devil. He kills without remorse, he is brutal, and he is vicious, but there are hints of his humanity as well that sneak through during this story that made him an interesting character and someone who you can find just palatable enough to root for when he is dealing with the hell on earth that surrounds him. While the story starts out as more or less an adventure tale that takes place on the open road, it becomes something more dark and sinister with every page. I didn’t expect the twists and turns that came about, especially in the second half of the story, but found them intriguing nonetheless.
Where things bogged down for me with this saga was in the hyperbole the author uses to describe things, especially in the latter half of the book. Not only is the gore in Technicolor 3D, which is in and of itself not a bad thing (in fact, for the gore hounds out there it is probably a big plus), but many of the details of the story are over described in lurid detail, distracting from the narrative in some ways. I don’t consider this to be a major issue with the story, because it still read fast and easy and I was compelled to finish this intriguing story, it just felt like the descriptions went further than necessary in several instances.
Despite this minor gripe, this was a fun, entertaining apocalyptic tale. If you like your zombies traditional, this one probably is probably going to be hard to swallow, but it is worth checking out even for the zombie “purists” out there, because Slaughter is a fascinating and entertaining anti-hero and a one bad mutha.
Cannibal Corpse, M/C can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1618680587/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Michael S. Gardner’s “Betrayal”
Betrayal is one of those quick getaways that doesn’t require a lot of time but packs a nice little punch. A novella that is a very easy read, this is a zombie tale that perhaps might not give you as much time to get emotionally invested in the characters as a full blown novel, but it’s more than just a tidbit you get from a short story that might elicit a smirk or a gasp of revulsion, but not much else.
The story is pretty simple. A group of survivors have built walls around a farm to keep the undead at bay and a few select members of the group go out via helicopter to collect whatever supplies they can gather on a weekly basis-into a city that is filled with zombies and less and less supplies each trip they take. The author adds the twist that people are dying-not just from whatever turns people into the undead, but from a variety of regular ailments that are much more difficult to deal with the lack of modern medicine at everyone’s finger tips. So the desperation of the survivors is even greater.
A supply run goes wrong, as have others before, and this time a couple of marines are left behind when the helicopter pilot, an unrepentant self-absorbed jerk, decides that they are taking too long to get back to the meeting place where he set down. Despite his urge to take off and abandon the camp, he returns and goes on another mission later, where he discovers the cost of his betrayal.
Betrayal is a quick, brutal trip to hell-a rip-the-band aid-off type of story that I would say goes down smooth because it is such an easy read, but the ride is a bit bumpier than that-with a few twists put into play for those who like to mix things up with their undead.
Betrayal can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0BVS1C/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Michael S. Gardner’s “Downfall”
Downfall starts out fast and rarely lets its foot up off the gas pedal throughout. There is plenty of action, blood, guts, and mayhem to keep the zombie fan’s adrenaline pumping. The story introduces us to Matt, the main character, and Cole, his best friend, who have managed to make it through the first few weeks of the zombie apocalypse with a small group of other survivors, including Cole’s girlfriend, in a suburban area of Virginia.
We are also introduced to a wide variety of undead. There is danger not just from the shambling, slow rotters that surround them, but from mutations that cause them to elicit attributes that range from speed, greater predatory instincts, to having unnatural strength and size. Included in this mix are undead dubbed titans. Rarely seen, but virtually unstoppable giants, they hint at an ongoing cycle of mutations among the undead.
Matt and Cole are making due as best they can out in the wastelands, saving who they can while realizing that survival means that they sometimes have to be ruthless, not only with the undead but even with the bitten that have yet to die and turn. Naturally, there are human predators as well who pose a threat to others who wish to survive. The world, as it has always been, is filled with dangers both inhuman and human alike.
Among the survivors they come across is a scientist who claims to know where there is a safe haven-a research facility turned military base down in North Carolina. Though skeptical, the survivors continue to work at protecting themselves out in the wilds while the lure of this promised sanctuary weighs on each of them, especially as the loss of life piles up.
The relationship between Matt and Cole drives this story. While they have suffered at points they seem to be enjoying the apocalypse with their penchant for weapons and weed going hand in hand. We often see characters that are endlessly distraught or seem to be near-superheroes in the face of a zombie onslaught. Rarely have I read a story where the characters seem to be more like the fans of zombie fiction, or least how many of us who are fans of the genre picture ourselves. There is a bit of a devilish delight in being able to let loose and lash out at the world at large with no moral repercussions. Don’t get me wrong, the boys aren’t impervious to the despair this new world causes them and the tough decisions it forces them to make, but they seem to appreciate finding new ways to kill the creatures that destroyed their lives. In a world getting flushed down the toilet, they’ve found a way to gain some enjoyment on the trip down.
I read a version of this tale a couple of years ago, after the author’s first draft was completed. He did modify it somewhat, with some new and interesting elements. As this is his first novel, he also did some polishing to the tale that gives his characters some added emotional heft. The fun Matt and Cole have in crafting plans to keep their people safe and to gather supplies in a dangerous, dead world remains, while the depth of their emotions has grown. Still, it avoids getting bogged down in the melancholia that can often plague apocalyptic tales. The pacing is solid, and while the story tends to meander a bit, with minimal direction for the characters to take, the action remains fast and furious, with a lot of entertaining splatter and action for the zombie fan to sink their teeth into.
Downfall can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CS94UL6/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Review of Vincenzo Bilof’s Necropolis Now: Zombie Ascension Book 1
Necropolis Now: Zombie Ascension Book One starts out introducing us to Bob, a mercenary for hire who is looking for a serial killer named Traverse, a former Special Forces operative. Traverse is wanted alive despite the gruesome crimes he’s committed over many years of being on the run. When he finds Traverse, the madman speaks of a gate being open that will cause the end of the world. Captured, he is committed to an insane asylum in Detroit.
Three years later, Bob is called upon again, this time with two of his best mercenaries-Miles and Vega- in tow. He has to capture Traverse again, pulling him out of the same insane asylum he was put in for his crimes. The only problem: Detroit is in the throws of a brutal riot, with the city tearing itself apart piece by piece. It is fast becoming clear that this is not your normal riot because the rioters are eating one another.
The story follows Bob’s mission, but also introduces the reader to several other citizens of Detroit who are coming to grips with the situation they’ve found themselves in, including a lawyer, his drug-addled brother, a gang banger, an ex-cop pornographer and his former girlfriend, and a porn starlet currently residing in the same insane asylum as Traverse because she has a penchant for cannibalism.
While Necropolis Now: Zombie Ascension does share similarities with many other tales focused on the initial hours and days that the dead rise, with plenty of panic, gore, and horrific frights, it is how the dead rise and the characters that inhabit this story that make it unique. Detroit has a reputation for being a rough city and it makes for a gritty urban setting for this story. The ensemble cast is headed up by Vega, the female mercenary, Traverse, an insane prophet and murderous madman, and Griggs, the ex-cop who wants to keep on making porn movies while the world unravels around him. This is a very interesting story with Traverse and Mina meeting up at the asylum on the day the undead rise taking center stage. Mina is Griggs former girlfriend and star of his porn movies, at least until she ate the last actor she worked with. Traverse has plans for Mina, and knows that she is more than just another run of the mill psychopath.
The pacing is fast and the action steady in this tale, while the characters are a mixed bag of oddities. They definitely kept me guessing from start to finish, with some of the deaths being rather surprising, and their actions even being more surprising. It’s hard to argue about realism when the characters are so strange and different than the norm.
There is a bigger picture here. The rise of the dead is not through the traditional means readers of zombie fiction are used to, and it is clear by the title that the author intends to reveal all that is kept secret in this book over the course of a likely trilogy.
The author took on a sizable cast of characters and did an admirable job of allowing the reader to see the world through many of their eyes. The characters of Traverse, Vega, and Griggs were intriguing to me. Some of the other characters, such as the lawyer and junkie who were brothers, didn’t resonate. The author makes a game effort to give their story emotional heft, but their story felt hollow to me. And while I didn’t necessarily like most of the characters in this book, I don’t consider that a negative. They kept me intrigued, even if I wasn’t necessarily rooting for any of them. Some of them grew on me in small amounts, and it will be interesting to see how the characters that remain at the end of the book grow and transform through the rest of this series.
Overall, Necropolis Now: Zombie Ascension Book One, has way too long of a title, but is a very interesting contribution to the zombie genre. This isn’t your workaday saga about average people trying to make due in a world gone mad, but is about a bunch of mad people living in the eye of the undead storm. Mr. Bilof has me intrigued enough that I feel compelled to check out the next book in this series when it becomes available.
Necropolis Now: Zombie Ascension Book One can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098747653X/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Beyond The Dark is available in all formats!
Permuted Press has completed the release process for Beyond The Dark with paper, ebook, and audio versions all now available. This finishes off the new version of the trilogy, and as I mentioned when the ebook version was released, this version of Beyond The Dark has the Dark Stories that were included in the original ebook trilogy release, plus some new additions, including a short story originally seen in “Eyewitness: Zombie”, an anthology produced by May December Publications. This is a tale of a National Guardsman told in first person which takes place in the early days of battle to fight the undead plague. There is also a brief appearance by two of the characters that appear in the trilogy toward the end of the story and hints at their future plans. A brand new Dark story makes its debut in this novel. Lydia, one of the characters introduced in Into The Dark was one of the few key secondary characters who didn’t get the flashback treatment. One of the reviewers of the original Dark Stories was disappointed she didn’t get the same treatment as everyone else did. I agreed, and since I always knew what Lydia’s history, I was able to craft her story for the release of this book in short order. I have a great fondness of Lydia and I hope that you enjoy the tale of her first exposure to having her world turned upside down by the undead plague. When people ask me what my favorite book of the trilogy is, its sort of like being asked to to choose between your children. I sort of feel awkward answering that question. But, since I have always thought of the trilogy as one saga, I do feel that Beyond The Dark does comprise the parts of the tale that are the most compelling, the ones that wrung the most emotions out of me in writing it. It is also the book that gets the highest praise-a lot of ‘he saved the best for last’. There is more stories to be told in this world and I plan on revisiting it, but the Dark Trilogy stands on its own, and Beyond The Dark is my favorite part of the trilogy. There, I said it. I still love Comes The Dark and Into The Dark, but this is the piece of the puzzle I’m most proud of…and I hope you enjoy it. Just click on the cover and you’ll be taken to a page that lets you choose which version of the book you want. Thanks!
Beyond the Dark now available in ebook format!
Permuted Press has released the final chapter in the Dark trilogy, Beyond The Dark, in ebook format. Soon to be followed by audio book and paper formats, this completes the updated and revised version of the trilogy, with Dark Stories included-two of which even those folks who read all the Dark Stories I had to share in the previous electronic version have missed out on. One of which is a story told in first person, called “A Soldier’s Lament” which is tied into the world of Jeff and company-with a couple of characters from the books showing up. This particular story, which also appears in “Eyewitness Zombie” from May December Publications, an anthology of first person accounts of the apocalypse, is a bit different, and is definitely one I’m proud to have in this tome. The other story was written specifically for this book, and tells the back story of Lydia, one of the key secondary characters introduced in Into The Dark. In many ways, it is my favorite, because Lydia is a character who has grown to mean more to me in the past couple of years-she has elements of my late mother and sister in her, and she is a strong character who I love dearly.
And while everyone will assume something about the new cover of this third book…as in, the girl on it is a zombie, I will say this: don’t be so sure. You’ll have to read the story to find out more. 😉
So please, check it out, and stay tuned for further updates for the paperback and audio formats of the book, coming soon.
Here is the press release from Permuted Press:
The 3rd and final book in Patrick D’Orazio‘s Dark Trilogy, BEYOND THE DARK, is out now in eBook!
“Grabs you by the ears and does not let go. We’ve heard the phrase save the best for last … well, that is exactly what happened with this trilogy.”
—Heather Headshot Faville, Doubleshot Reviews
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amzn.com/dp/B00CELKAR6/permutedpress-20
NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beyond-the-dark-patrick-dorazio/1100076429?ean=2940016404011
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/307399
Into The Dark now available in all formats!
Things keep moving along quickly with Permuted Press and the Dark Trilogy. Their latest wonderful move? Releasing Into The Dark in all formats. So you can get this re-released version, with all the additional Dark Stories, in ebook, paperback, and audio versions. Just click on the cover below and you can go to Permuted’s website, where you can pick your poison. So check it out in all its glory:
Six weeks ago a mysterious virus came out of nowhere and engulfed the world.
Jeff Blaine did his best to hold his family together and 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.
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!
‘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!
Patrick D'Orazio's Blog 