2 Book Lovers Reviews
N:
Thanks for the recommendation, "Raising Stony Mayhall", looks like a good story; definantly a different concept. I have put it on my wish list.
Just to let you know, I will be involved in a blog tour featuring "Red Dust", it will be on my blog on Monday, April 28th, please come and check my review then.
And FYI don't call me sir, it's Greg, I'm not that old yet. Thanks, Greg.
Comment from N:
Nice write up, sir! I'm glad you added "Red Dust" to the zombie western genre, as it's always nice to see props to indie authors.
For unconventional zombie fiction, I would recommend you try "Raising Stony Mayhall" by Darryl Gregory - I really enjoyed this story of a living dead boy who's raised in secret in mid-Western America, and follows his tale from the 60's forward. Pretty cool stuff.
April 6th, 2014
This week I was contacted by a Goodreads author and she really got me into a “Zombie” frame of mind. So I thought that I might go through some of my favorite “Zombie” books and series, and also take a look ahead at some books that I’m looking forward to that fall into the Zombie genre. All of these of course are in no particular order, just how I came across them on my book shelves (both physical and mental).
I’ll start my list off with the author who started me down this path, Bailey Simms. As soon as I saw her description for Dead in Bed, I knew I had to give it a shot, sex starved Zombies; that should keep the people over at sexaholics anonymous so busy. I will have to get to it very soon.
First of all there are your traditional, in your face, man eating (whoops sorry…person eating) Zombies; the ones that need a bullet to the head or a “double tap”. Some of my personal favorites include:
Plague of the Dead, by Z.A. Recht. This story follows a group of soldiers and civilians as they battle the virus from the depths of the African jungle to the Heartland of America. It really gets into the conflicts between the survivors as the apocalypse rages on around them.
J.L. Bourne’s Day By Day Armageddon / Origin to Exile, it follows one man as he battles to save himself and his newfound “friends”, not only from the Zombies, but also a government that has given up on its citizens. The “Big Picture” view from the individual perspective.
Necrophobia and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot do an excellent job of following this style, you can take a look at my reviews (Necrophobia) (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot). I really have to find some time for the sequels in all of these series.
Then there are the authors who use the Zombie Apocalypse as a backdrop for the real story.
Tracey Ward has done an excellent job of this with her Survival Series, it is actually a YA Romance set ten years after the outbreak. She uses the Zombies to create a dystopian future where she can reset all of societies’ rules. I have read the first two in the series, Writing on the Wall and Backs Against the Wall. I’m anixiously awaiting Tearing Down the Wall, due out June of this year.
Another series with a strong female, where the Zombies are the backdrop for the real story is the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant. This one too is set in the future, following the outbreak. Although the “living” have adapted better. It is a political conspiracy / suspense set around coexisting / living along side the Zombies. This is one of those series that will make you curse, “What the bleep…she can’t do that to me!”
Then, of course, there is the Hater Series by David Moody. This was one of my favourites of 2013. In this series we don’t have your traditional “Zombies”, but society goes to hell just the same. It is the story of an incompetent civil servant and his struggles to save his daughter while the world collapses around him. It has one of the best POVs that I have ever read. I don’t think that I have ever read such a dark, depressing series in my life. I loved it! My favourite line isn’t even from the story itself, but from "about the author", “He lives in Britain with his wife and a houseful of daughters, which may explain his preoccupation with Armageddon.” You have to love an author who can write such darkness and still has a sense of humour (I hope that was meant to be funny?).
Now who would ever think to write a Zombie Western? Jason Brant, that’s who. Gehenna was one of the best Zombie books I’ve read so far this year. It’s the first in the West of Hell series, where the hero, outlaw Mad Dog McCall, must escape the zombie hoard in a one horse town, with the help of Karen, a prostitute from the local saloon. I’m looking forward to the next two in the series.
You would think that one Zombie Western would be enough…but no. Ben Dixon and Sam Campbell have a collection of short stories set in 1846, with a Zombie plague raising about, Red Dust,I’m looking forward to it.
I have to give a special thanks and mention to Richard Johnson's Dead Drunk (and yes I checked…that is his real name). What does he do with the Zombie Apocolypse? He has the characters drink themselves into a drunkin' stupor (thank you, Rob Ford). It’s never going to be studied in an English Lit course, but sometimes the entertainment factor just can’t be ignored.
Well that’s my Zombie list, I hope you can find something for you. I’m sure that I missed some great Zombie books. Hey, have you got a recommendation? Let me know, I’m always looking for a good zombie book. Now my work for the weekend is done and I’ve got a salad waiting for me (fruit can be a salad, right…and grapes are fruit…wine, it’s made from grapes…so wine is salad right). Cheers, enjoy!