05-07-2010, 05:43 AM | #136 |
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It stops at a bit of a cliffhanger I felt, but I wrote a bit of feedback for Ian and he was quite honest that the second release will only be provoked by positive feedback, if you liked it drop him an email.
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05-07-2010, 01:51 PM | #137 |
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Will do!
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05-19-2010, 06:15 PM | #138 |
My True Self
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How scary is a zombie?
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05-20-2010, 03:34 PM | #139 |
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I always liked that line...
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05-20-2010, 06:40 PM | #140 |
My True Self
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I think that I remember that line but I don't think that I understood it when I was a kid.
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05-22-2010, 12:31 AM | #141 |
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I'm reading PLAY DEAD, which is a pretty interesting YA zombie book.
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05-22-2010, 03:46 PM | #142 |
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Hands-down favorite series for me is the Bob The Zombie novels by Joshua Calkins-Treworgy. Book 1 is MOTOR CITY SHAMBLER and Book 2 is FORWARD, SHAMBLE!. They're available anywhere ebooks are sold, and they are GREAT.
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05-24-2010, 01:04 PM | #143 |
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Sorry, I've never met a good zombie. . .
And I suspect they'd be rather boring anyway.
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05-25-2010, 02:15 PM | #144 |
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New at Smashwords - The Dead Walk Diaries: Night.
Joe Young, $7.99 "The world changed forever in one night, the first night of the zombie epidemic. A countless number of people were killed only to rise again as the walking dead. This collection of diaries are the first-hand accounts from people that witnessed what happened. Gathered from journals, reports, notes, and video recordings–It paints a vivid picture of the horror, atrocities, and chaos that occurred." I read the free first 10% and put it in my cart for future consideration. I got two stories and part of a third. Each tells of the start of Z-Day from different points of view. First was a young girl in a car with her parents descibing what she sees in her diary. Second was a group of stoner rockers more concerned with jamming and drinking then then taking the whole "survival" thing too seriously. The third is a group of boarders filming their stunts and then capturing short "videos" snippetts of the start of the zombie apocalyspe and the kid's growing awareness. The first two end on cliffhangers so I don't know if the story comes back around or not. Also don't know if adult points of view show up in later tales. Standard Romero zombies, blood and gore aplenty in the sample. |
05-28-2010, 02:30 AM | #145 |
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Books about zombies:
Dead Sea - Keene, Brian The Dead-Tossed Waves Ryan, Carrie Generation Dead - Waters, Daniel Monster Island |
07-05-2010, 08:27 AM | #146 |
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The Zombies of Lake Woebegotton by Harrison Geillor
http://www.amazon.com/Zombies-Lake-W.../dp/1597801968 Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the zombies are above average. |
07-05-2010, 10:38 AM | #147 |
neilmarr
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Zombie books ain't my bag. But this one from fellow MobileRead member Jan Strnad really grabbed me ... the humble review that follow explains why:
RISEN Jan Strnad The Creeping Reality of a Maestro of the Macabre There must be almost as many ways to define ‘creepy’ as there are demons in a legion. Is Jan Strnad’s Risen hair-raising? The back of my neck felt like there was an ants’ jamboree in full swing. Does it scare the living daylights out of you? I was too pussy to turn out the lights. Does it make you suspicious about the cake the neighbours just brought round? Tell you the truth; I even secretly poured the tea my wife just made into a plant pot in case it was laced with rat poison. And it seems to me that aspidistra is wilting. But in describing Risen as ‘creepy’ I’d have something else in mind entirely. Like others of my disreputable breed – the ‘editorial analyst’ – I’d be talking about its simmering style, its perfectly calculated pace, the steady and painstaking establishment of vivid scenes and strong characters, the small-town reality that so naturally suspends any disbelief ... and how, only having carefully and nefariously lulled you into a sense of security, does Jan Strnad hold his breath, rise to his tiptoes, and quietly creep up behind you to plant his unearthly nightmares. When I’d rubbed away the goose flesh, I realised and could fully appreciate and admire just what expert, ‘creepy’ authoring I’d just experienced. The little town of Anderson, as real as your own neighbourhood, the characters at the diner, in the street, on the farms, so undeniably flesh-and-blood you wouldn’t be surprised if they popped by to borrow a cup of sugar, are so skilfully made familiar that when Anderson turns into an outpost of hell and its inhabitants into blood-lusting monsters from the pit, it’s all as utterly believable as if Strnad had introduced an outbreak of measles into his storyline rather than a plague of the undead. This triumph over rationality and scepticism prompted me re-evaluate a decision I’d made forty years ago to turn my back on the ‘horror’ genre with its cardboard spooks, zombies and vampires. My own wee publishing house won’t even consider submissions that skip into the fright fantastic. Maybe we should think again with scribes like Strnad around. Perhaps we’d do well to remember the 1956 movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and the panic that followed the all-too-real CBS radio adaptation of HG Wells’ War of the Worlds read on Halloween night 1938 by Orson Welles. Time to forget Ed Wood’s 1959 Plan Nine From Outer Space and the B-movie-style pulp novels that rode on the back of the YA appetite for fast-food zombies and vampires and that took hold of the slushpile end of the books market. Much more than King and Rice ever did (reading them is put down to ‘research’), Strnad has reminded me that a story is a story, that fiction is fiction, and that all we read and savour is as real as it is unreal if presented by a creeping master of his craft. Knowing its genre – the pigeon hole into which every novel is wickedly forced – I opened this book reluctantly. A generous 400+ pages later, I closed it even more reluctantly, and in a cold sweat. The pages had turned almost supernaturally. There had been no point at which to comfortably stop and draw breath. This is such a rare gem of a chiller, not because you can wind up believing the horror could happen in your home town, but because there are times when you can’t help feeling it already has! I’m a ‘convert’. And if you read Jan Strnad’s Risen – which I highly recommend you do (well before midnight) – you’ll know that claim is a lot creepier than it sounds. Neil Marr. Ed. BeWrite Books Risen. Jan Strnad ISBN: 978-1-4523-2048-9 (Smashwords Edition) www.smashwords.com : $4.95 (all popular ebook formats) Amazon Kindle version, $4.95: Coming soon to other online ebook retail outlets. Jan Strnad's website: http://www.atombrain.com Highly recommended, fans of the living dead. Cheers. Neil |
07-05-2010, 10:48 AM | #148 |
Pulps and dime novels...
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According to the Smashwords Top 100 list, the single-most downloaded title on all of Smashwords.com is a short story by Tom Lichtenberg, entitled "Zombie Nights." It has been downloaded more times than the Smashwords Style Guide.
Zombies don't do much for me, so I can't say whether or not the story is any good... but I'm sure Tom would appreciate anyone who wants to check out his stuff. - M. |
07-05-2010, 11:48 AM | #149 |
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Thanks for the kind words, Neil!
The big problem I face with Risen is that the characters aren't "zombies" in the traditional sense. No shambling, no brain-eating. They are "risen" but whole and hearty, just soulless. Someone described it as a supernatural Body Snatchers and it is more in that vein, more Stephen King than Brian Keene. So, the people who don't like zombies but would like Risen, don't buy it, and those who go in expecting zombies are disappointed! That's why I put up the 50% sample and the free short stories, to try to adjust expectations. Thanks again for the great review! |
07-05-2010, 01:05 PM | #150 |
neilmarr
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*The Invasion of the Body Snatchers* did, of course, spring to mind during my read, Jan. And you neatly got over the *Night of the Living Dead* and Michael Jackson cliche by making the single yellow-mellow-custard-eyed, flesh dripping introduction to the first zombie a dream scene. Your creatures are undeniably and oh-so-disturbingly real ... but with all the heart and soul of hell's puppets. I think zombie fans would love this sublimely subtle piece of work just as much as did I (no great zombie fan [last week]) ... for the very reason that it's so darned horrifyingly real that it could be happening when you're not looking -- LIKE RIGHT NOW! Hoots. Neil
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