Any good Zombie books out there? - Page 15

ZombieEatsYou · 12-20-2010, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Dalliard

Why the hell would anyone READ a zombie BOOK?

I have seen just about every zombie and cannibal movie out there worth seeing, but never have I felt the urge to read about the undead.

Why not? What do you do when you've run out of movies? Books (by really good writers) are movies of the mind.

ZombieEatsYou · 01-15-2011, 07:29 PM

Finished "Apocalypse of the Dead" by Joe McKinney.

A series of hurricanes hit the Texas gulf coast flooding Houston and other towns. The center of US oil production, the disasters unleash a witch's brew of toxins that combine to infect people and turn them into ravenous maniacs. Though much like undead zombies, these infected are still alive.

In a state of panic, the government builds a wall to quarantine the entire coast, trapping infected and uninfected in a living hell. A desperate group of survivors break out of the quarantine zone in a stolen fishing boat and head east toward Florida. Of course, one on board is infected.

The infection quickly spreads across the country and our story follows several groups of protagonists as they travel cross country through the "apocalypse of the dead."

McKinney creates several stories here: a petty crook joins a group of nursing home survivors led by a retire US Marshall; an heir to a fortune, his broke college buddy and some porn stars head for Vegas; a ruthless quarantine zone pilot and a reporter out for a story accidentally land inside the zone and break out with a group of inmates; and a "family" of religious devotees head to the Dakotas led by a Jim Jones type leader.

The threads are generally well thought out and the dangers believable but there are some issues: ammo is well-nigh inexhaustible though we don't actually read about them finding any - it's just there and everybody has as much as they need. The quarantine pilot, Barnes, is a ruthless survivor who rules his group with an iron hand, but his reaction when meeting the "family" is totally out of character. Speaking of characters, why is it when there's a crisis and religion is involved, it's portrayed as the tool of evil people? It's getting stereotypical.

If I ever write a zombie apocalypse story, the antagonists are all going to be left wing, race-baiting, enviro-terrorists who get their marching orders from Bill Maher.

ADuphily · 01-15-2011, 08:02 PM

Highly recommend World War Z! It's so good I currently own the slightly beat up (take-with-me copy), 2 'good' copies and have recently bought the kindle version... Can't wait for the movie!

Also very enjoyable:

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
Feed by Mira Grant
Plague of the Dead (The Morning Star Strain) by ZA Recht

ZombieEatsYou · 02-11-2011, 08:45 PM

I'm baaaccckkk. And this time with a review of Ben Tripp's Rise Again.

Danielle "Danny" Adelman is the Sheriff of sleepy Forest Peak, CA. Danny is a woman with problems. A combat veteran of Iraq, Danny depends on whiskey and pills to chase away the haunted memories of an IED explosion that burned most of the flesh off her back and put her best friend into a coma. Wrapped up in her post traumatic stress, she is oblivious to the hurt she inflicts on her teenage sister, Kelly.

Fed up with Danny's self-absorption, Kelly pours out her pain into a letter to Danny before skipping town with the only object of Danny's love: her '68 Mustang. But before Danny can sober up enough to comprehend Kelly's disappearance, a screaming man drops dead while running up the mountain from the direction of LA. Before long, Forest Peak is filled with panicked refugees fleeing a disease released, it is said, by terrorists. This disease causes infected people to run screaming in terror - they run and scream until they drop dead in mid-stride.

And then the dead rise again.

What follows is a harrowing, action-packed story of Danny's escape from Forest Peak with a small band of survivors. Danny leads them on a dangerous search. A search for her sister and her soul. Caring little for others and even less of herself, Danny still has a overbearing sense of duty. Though she doesn't know many of the people with her well she fights desperately to ensure their survival. Danny flings herself into one harrowing situation after another before finding an obscure air base in the southern desert.

The base offers a level of relative safety, so, her duty fulfilled, Danny leaves them to search for her sister - alone.

While Danny is away, the comfort and safety of the group at the base disappears in a cloud of dust that accompanies a convoy of military vehicles.

Rise Again is truly excellent. It had me swiping at my 950 as a fevered pace to see what happened to Danny and the folks back at Boscombe Field. What set's Rise Again apart is the depth and complexity of the characters; they are not Rambos (though Danny has the bravery of the desperate and hopeless) but they all have a strength that comes forth brought out by the danger's they have to face.

Review of Rise Again copyright 2010 by ZombieEatsYou.

BoiseShan · 02-12-2011, 03:33 PM

I just finished Married with Zombies by Jenna Petersen and have started the second (I think there are three). Completely unoriginal--in fact, the protagonist explains that everything she knows about zombies she's learned from the movies--but goofy and fun. Good for an afternoon's light reading.

glindaharrison · 02-12-2011, 07:00 PM

This is a great thread! I am new to the board and a huge fan of zombie books! I am just finishing up Married with Zombies right now. Good stuff!

curtw · 02-13-2011, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZombieEatsYou

Finished "Apocalypse of the Dead" by Joe McKinney.

Even better than the book contents is rationality of the cost--it looks Amazon has all of Mr. McKinney's works' Kindle editions priced 20-25% less than dead-tree versions!

ZombieEatsYou · 02-16-2011, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADuphily

Highly recommend World War Z! It's so good I currently own the slightly beat up (take-with-me copy), 2 'good' copies and have recently bought the kindle version... Can't wait for the movie!

Also very enjoyable:

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
Feed by Mira Grant
Plague of the Dead (The Morning Star Strain) by ZA Recht

Picked up "Feed." About 50 pages in but not really impressed. The post-ZA time-frame is interesting and original but the plot about a family of bloggers so far is pretty boring.

MrPLD · 02-16-2011, 05:34 AM

I am so going to have to hide this thread from my wife - if she catches onto it she'll have a fit, because she's in the middle of writing a Zombie book right now (romantic slant with the dark twists of course).

I'm going to pick up a few from this list just so I can rehearse myself and make a comparison

ZombieEatsYou · 02-16-2011, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrPLD

I am so going to have to hide this thread from my wife - if she catches onto it she'll have a fit, because she's in the middle of writing a Zombie book right now (romantic slant with the dark twists of course).

I'm going to pick up a few from this list just so I can rehearse myself and make a comparison

Why hide it? Does she think she's the only one writing a zombie book?

MrPLD · 02-16-2011, 07:49 PM

Aaah, you know what writers can be like... they get into a bit of a panic and worry that someone else will beat them to the release. It's irrational but that's the nature of the game ( to be fair, I'm like that with my software and electronics releases

).

DiapDealer · 02-16-2011, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZombieEatsYou

Picked up "Feed." About 50 pages in but not really impressed. The post-ZA time-frame is interesting and original but the plot about a family of bloggers so far is pretty boring.

Yeah, it's kind of a cool book, but it's a little long, and regardless of the zombies in it.... it's just not a zombie book.

lrsam · 02-20-2011, 09:44 AM

This came through on my Nookbook feed from B&N: Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? by Max Brallier. It's an adult "choose your own adventure" type book. I downloaded a sample from B&N and the choices at the end of each chapter are interactive links. I haven't read it, but I like the idea of an interactive adventure on an ereader.

ZombieEatsYou · 02-21-2011, 07:50 PM

I used to read those when I was a kid. Hope they're a bit more adult now.

Freeshadow · 02-21-2011, 08:30 PM

just suggest a "quickchat to epub feature" for MR and you#are served with endless reading material OT

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01-15-2011, 07:29 PM	#212
ZombieEatsYou Groupie Posts: 176 Karma: 1001283 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Barricaded on the 2nd floor Device: Kindle Fire HD 7" & 8.9"/Sony PRS 950/Entourage eDGe/Acer A500	Finished "Apocalypse of the Dead" by Joe McKinney. A series of hurricanes hit the Texas gulf coast flooding Houston and other towns. The center of US oil production, the disasters unleash a witch's brew of toxins that combine to infect people and turn them into ravenous maniacs. Though much like undead zombies, these infected are still alive. In a state of panic, the government builds a wall to quarantine the entire coast, trapping infected and uninfected in a living hell. A desperate group of survivors break out of the quarantine zone in a stolen fishing boat and head east toward Florida. Of course, one on board is infected. The infection quickly spreads across the country and our story follows several groups of protagonists as they travel cross country through the "apocalypse of the dead." McKinney creates several stories here: a petty crook joins a group of nursing home survivors led by a retire US Marshall; an heir to a fortune, his broke college buddy and some porn stars head for Vegas; a ruthless quarantine zone pilot and a reporter out for a story accidentally land inside the zone and break out with a group of inmates; and a "family" of religious devotees head to the Dakotas led by a Jim Jones type leader. The threads are generally well thought out and the dangers believable but there are some issues: ammo is well-nigh inexhaustible though we don't actually read about them finding any - it's just there and everybody has as much as they need. The quarantine pilot, Barnes, is a ruthless survivor who rules his group with an iron hand, but his reaction when meeting the "family" is totally out of character. Speaking of characters, why is it when there's a crisis and religion is involved, it's portrayed as the tool of evil people? It's getting stereotypical. If I ever write a zombie apocalypse story, the antagonists are all going to be left wing, race-baiting, enviro-terrorists who get their marching orders from Bill Maher.

01-15-2011, 08:02 PM	#213
ADuphily Coffee Lover Posts: 24 Karma: 119922 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle 3	Highly recommend World War Z! It's so good I currently own the slightly beat up (take-with-me copy), 2 'good' copies and have recently bought the kindle version... Can't wait for the movie! Also very enjoyable: The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks Feed by Mira Grant Plague of the Dead (The Morning Star Strain) by ZA Recht

02-11-2011, 08:45 PM	#214
ZombieEatsYou Groupie Posts: 176 Karma: 1001283 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Barricaded on the 2nd floor Device: Kindle Fire HD 7" & 8.9"/Sony PRS 950/Entourage eDGe/Acer A500	I'm baaaccckkk. And this time with a review of Ben Tripp's Rise Again. Danielle "Danny" Adelman is the Sheriff of sleepy Forest Peak, CA. Danny is a woman with problems. A combat veteran of Iraq, Danny depends on whiskey and pills to chase away the haunted memories of an IED explosion that burned most of the flesh off her back and put her best friend into a coma. Wrapped up in her post traumatic stress, she is oblivious to the hurt she inflicts on her teenage sister, Kelly. Fed up with Danny's self-absorption, Kelly pours out her pain into a letter to Danny before skipping town with the only object of Danny's love: her '68 Mustang. But before Danny can sober up enough to comprehend Kelly's disappearance, a screaming man drops dead while running up the mountain from the direction of LA. Before long, Forest Peak is filled with panicked refugees fleeing a disease released, it is said, by terrorists. This disease causes infected people to run screaming in terror - they run and scream until they drop dead in mid-stride. And then the dead rise again. What follows is a harrowing, action-packed story of Danny's escape from Forest Peak with a small band of survivors. Danny leads them on a dangerous search. A search for her sister and her soul. Caring little for others and even less of herself, Danny still has a overbearing sense of duty. Though she doesn't know many of the people with her well she fights desperately to ensure their survival. Danny flings herself into one harrowing situation after another before finding an obscure air base in the southern desert. The base offers a level of relative safety, so, her duty fulfilled, Danny leaves them to search for her sister - alone. While Danny is away, the comfort and safety of the group at the base disappears in a cloud of dust that accompanies a convoy of military vehicles. Rise Again is truly excellent. It had me swiping at my 950 as a fevered pace to see what happened to Danny and the folks back at Boscombe Field. What set's Rise Again apart is the depth and complexity of the characters; they are not Rambos (though Danny has the bravery of the desperate and hopeless) but they all have a strength that comes forth brought out by the danger's they have to face. Review of Rise Again copyright 2010 by ZombieEatsYou.

02-12-2011, 03:33 PM	#215
BoiseShan Connoisseur Posts: 89 Karma: 14598 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle	I just finished Married with Zombies by Jenna Petersen and have started the second (I think there are three). Completely unoriginal--in fact, the protagonist explains that everything she knows about zombies she's learned from the movies--but goofy and fun. Good for an afternoon's light reading.

02-12-2011, 07:00 PM	#216
glindaharrison eBook Evangelist Posts: 13 Karma: 46 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northwest Indiana Device: Kindles 1,3 & 4 wSO, Literati, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Nook Classic	This is a great thread! I am new to the board and a huge fan of zombie books! I am just finishing up Married with Zombies right now. Good stuff!

02-16-2011, 05:34 AM	#219
MrPLD Author's pet-geek Posts: 933 Karma: 1040670 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: North Queensland, Australia Device: Kindle 3 Wifi, Onyx Boox M96	I am so going to have to hide this thread from my wife - if she catches onto it she'll have a fit, because she's in the middle of writing a Zombie book right now (romantic slant with the dark twists of course). I'm going to pick up a few from this list just so I can rehearse myself and make a comparison

02-16-2011, 07:49 PM	#221
MrPLD Author's pet-geek Posts: 933 Karma: 1040670 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: North Queensland, Australia Device: Kindle 3 Wifi, Onyx Boox M96	Aaah, you know what writers can be like... they get into a bit of a panic and worry that someone else will beat them to the release. It's irrational but that's the nature of the game ( to be fair, I'm like that with my software and electronics releases ).

02-20-2011, 09:44 AM	#223
lrsam Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: Toshiba Mini with Nook PC App	This came through on my Nookbook feed from B&N: Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? by Max Brallier. It's an adult "choose your own adventure" type book. I downloaded a sample from B&N and the choices at the end of each chapter are interactive links. I haven't read it, but I like the idea of an interactive adventure on an ereader.

02-21-2011, 07:50 PM	#224
ZombieEatsYou Groupie Posts: 176 Karma: 1001283 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Barricaded on the 2nd floor Device: Kindle Fire HD 7" & 8.9"/Sony PRS 950/Entourage eDGe/Acer A500	I used to read those when I was a kid. Hope they're a bit more adult now.

02-21-2011, 08:30 PM	#225
Freeshadow temp. out of service Posts: 2,815 Karma: 24285242 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Duisburg (DE) Device: PB 623	just suggest a "quickchat to epub feature" for MR and you#are served with endless reading material OT