Tag Archives: zombies
Review – “Entombed” by Brian Keene
I’m a Brian Keene fan. No getting around it. As I remarked in a previous review – “His writing is like an ice-cold beer on a hot day – it goes down smooth and always satisfies.” He’s on my must have list – I’ll pre-order each new release on Amazon, I’ll comb the specialty stores for out of print anthologies, and I’ll shell out the dinero for each small press limited edition. (My only regret is that I missed out on the “lifetime subscriptions” he offered last year. Oh well, you can’t win them all…). So, when I heard his latest release “Entombed” would finally be available, but only as a limited edition from Camelot Books, I fired up ye olde Internet and placed my order (you can still snag a copy here). I’m happy to say copy #151 now has a home on my living room bookshelf. It was money well spent. Well spent indeed.
Review – “The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses” by Ty Drago
I’ve read an underground bunker full of zombie books in my day: some of them good – many of them dreadful. Many of them have blindly followed the path set down by George Romero in “Night of the Living Dead” – slow shambling zombies intent on eating brains – without even attempting to advance the genre. Many of them have been nothing more than poorly written scenes of blood and gore strung together by tenuous plotlines and cardboard thin characters. Nary a one of them has been for young adult readers. I’m happy to say, “The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses” is none of those things.
I challenge you to walk the aisles of your favorite bookstore today without tripping over the mountains of young adult Vampire books that have flooded the market. Good vampires, bad vampires, teenaged vampires, tragically misunderstood vampires – it’s all a bit much. What has been missing is a serious (and seriously good) young adult zombie novel to even the odds a bit. Ty Drago has delivered just that with “The Undertakers”.
Star Wars + Zombies = Coolness
I may very well have found the coolest movie posters on the face of the earth. Posters so ingenious, so original, so inspired, I almost can’t believe they’re real. These are the posters I’ve been waiting for almost my entire adult life. What are they? Simple – they are a fusion of two of my favorite things: “Star Wars” and zombies. The only problem is, now that I have them, my wife won’t let me hang them up in the house.
I’ve been a huge “Star Wars” fan for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of first grade include bringing “Star Wars” figures to school and having battles with my friends on the playground. As I grew older, I began to collect “Star Wars” posters. Original posters from the releases of each movie in each trilogy, international releases, alternate one-sheets, teaser posters – I even have an original “Revenge of the Jedi” poster (released before Lucas change ‘Revenge’ to ‘Return’). I thought I had the best “Star Wars” posters I could find. Then I heard about a series of Star Wars zombie posters from artist Matt Busch and that all changed.
American Idol, Season 10: Top 8 Results – “Thank you for whipping that out on us.”
Thursday night, sometime after 8:00PM, with the TiVo humming could only mean one thing – time for the America Idol elimination show. After last night’s jaunt through songs from the movies, the top 8 was slated to become the top 7. Were there any shocking results? Would we see the sixth consecutive girl eliminated from the competition? Would there be any professional wrestlers onstage? All those questions and more were answered in just over 60 minutes.
Before I dive into the show, I have to share a few random observations: Was Jennifer really wearing a dress that included curtain tiebacks as shoulder straps? Best sign in the audience – “Bring Back Pia”. Sign that most needed to be fact checked – “Steven is the Most Beautiful Man in the World”. Uh….no. The one thing that made tonight miles better than last night? No wil.i.am in the house.
Review – “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Seth Grahame-Smith
It should come as a surprise to no one that I like zombies. I’m a fan and have found one thing to true – everything goes better with zombies. Everything – even Jane Austen. That’s clear from the first line of “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” – “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” Classic.
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a big Jane Austen fan. With apologies to my high school English teacher, Mr. Blackwood, I have to say that I’ve never really had much desire to read Austen. In fact, I can’t remember having ever read “Pride and Prejudice” before. I’ve seen the movie
Two of my favorite things – Christmas and Zombies!
Just in time for the Holidays, one of my favorite new authors – Mira Grant – combines Zombies and Christmas to great effect. Reworking “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” for the post-uprising world, Mira gives her own unique twist to this classic holiday tale. Please visit Orbit Books where you can download either a jpeg or pdf version of the full story, and let them know what you think of it. Happy Holiday, and Happy Hunting!
“Twas the Night Before the Uprising” by Mira Grant
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The boards had been nailed ‘cross the windows with care
In hopes that the dead would pass by, unaware.
Review – “Feed” by Mira Grant
Just take a look at the name of my blog and you’ll see readily enough that I am a fan of zombie stories. To me, they are the true test of an author’s skill in the horror genre. I’ve read my fair share of them over the years – some good, some bad, and some VERY bad. I’m happy to say in this case, though, that “Feed” is one of the best that I have come across in a very long time.
Review – “The Sleep of the Gods” by James Sperl
“The Sleep of the Gods” is James Sperl’s debut novel. I came across it after doing a search for “apocalyptic fiction” in the Kindle store at Amazon. I had read most of the books that came back in the results, but “Sleep” was something new. It had good reviews, so I decided to try a free sample on my Kindle. This is the genius of the Kindle. I might have tried the book sight unseen – I might not have – but after reading the first chapter I was hooked.
Review – “The Walking Dead”
For those that don’t know, “The Walking Dead” is a long running comic series that is being adapted into a television show this fall by Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption”). Casting has come along quite nicely, and we are all in store for the first primetime zombie show that I can remember. It’s enough to warm even an undead heart. If you’ve read my other reviews, you know that I am a zombie fan. I’m also an avid comics reader, yet somehow I have managed to miss “The Walking Dead” for the past 5 years. Luckily for me, Image collected the first 48 issues together in one easy to read place – and I was able to jump right in and get caught up.
Review – “20th Century Ghosts” by Joe Hill
“20th Century Ghosts” is a collection of short stories by Joe Hill. For those unfamiliar with Joe Hill (as I was before picking up this book) – he is not only a promising young writer, he is also the son of Stephen King. I must confess that I did not know that going in. In hindsight, it’s hard not to see the family resemblance in the jacket photo. I had to ask myself after reading the book, though – was there a professional resemblance as well?
