false 17 164 164 true 5738477 read 0 true 4510717 currently-reading 0 true 4510716 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78126836 to: Domain (Hardcover) by James Herbert
First published back in 1984, James Herbert’s novel ‘Domain’ formed the third and final full length novel to his classic ‘rats’ trilogy (although a graphic novel entitled ‘The City’ was later released in 1993 which followed on with the storyline).

Incorporating a formula that should have guaranteed to produce nothing short of a classic splatterpunk novel from the godfather of the subgenre; not only was Herbert laying down the long-awaited third part to his hugely successful ‘Rats’ series, but he was also once again visiting the post-apocalyptic setting that was so well realised within his 1975 novel ‘The Fog’ (and then later again in his 1996 novel ’48).

The tale begins with the unleashing of five nuclear weapons upon the busy streets of England’s capital city of London. With the city now reduced to rubble and the highly toxic fallout dust still in the air, a small group of survivors have found refuge in one of the many underground government bunkers that are dotted around the city.

Steven Culver, a helicopter pilot before the long-dreaded nuclear conflict, is one of the few lucky survivors to be within the protective underground walls of the bunker. Outside of government personnel and telecommunication maintenance workers, Culver is one of the only civilians to find himself within the bunker’s confines, after helping Alex Dealey (a government official whose job it is to inspect the bunkers).

Upon locating the secret entrance to the underground bunker, Culver and Dealey encounter a horde of giant black rats lurking in London’s underground subway. Culver manages to help the temporarily blinded Dealey into the safety of the secret bunker, whilst also rescuing the sole survivor of the recent rat’s massacre, a young female by the name of Kate Garner.

Inside the bunker, the survivors wait out the following weeks, until finally, now that the radioactive fallout dusk would have dissipated somewhat, an exploratory team is sent out of the bunker and into the deserted streets above. What they are greeted by is a world that has been torn apart. The streets that confront them are little more than rubble, littered with the rotting corpses of the dead. The only signs of life are from roaming rabid animals or the dying remnants of people suffering from exposure to the radioactive after effects of the nuclear fallout.

However, lurking in the shadows, with the knowledge that humanity has now been brought to its knees, the giant black rats are ready to take their revenge on those that have oppressed their lives for so long. The black rats are hungry for human flesh once again...

From the very first pages, Herbert throws the reader head first into the chaotic and terrifying final moments before London is hit by a devastating nuclear attack. Herbert switches viewpoint a number of times, showing these final moments through a host of different characters eyes, until we finally settle upon the characters of Culver and Dealey. These intense first pages hit the reader like a sledgehammer, setting down the whole apocalyptic scenario with an unrelenting barrage of devastation.

Herbert maintains the pace, unleashing the first of many rat attacks that are equal in scale to those found in the previous two novels. Carnage continues until our principal characters have made it into the relative safety of the underground bunker, where the novel sadly begins to lose its thrust. When the exploratory team first look upon the ravaged streets of London, Herbert paints a haunting post-apocalyptic picture that screams with an eerie and tense atmosphere. However, with this over, the ensuing flooding of the bunker simply drags on, with page after page of supposedly desperate action that ultimately begins to become dull and monotonous. The rat attacks, although each one is utterly savage, somehow begin to become almost as repetitive as the constant ‘flooding’ scenes. Surprising as it sounds, the novel finds itself at this stage seriously slipping towards becoming a tedious read.

With the numbers of survivors cut down to an easy to handle grouping, Herbert now takes the tale to the ravaged streets of London which successfully injects a much needed shot of adrenaline into the storyline. Although the threat of the rats is still quite present, Herbert plays more with the post-apocalyptic scenario to bring a new threat to the small survivors; in the way of a marauding gang of survivors, happy to take what they want without any retribution.

The pace once again picks up here, with Herbert stepping on the throttle until the final scenes are acted out within another governmental secret bunker.

One surprising inclusion to the novel is the small short stories that show the final days for a number of unrelated survivors. These miniature tragic tales are snippets of pure post-apocalyptic fiction that are sure to please any fan of the subgenre. One such story details the final days of a loner, who in his very own personal underground shelter, comes to an ironic death. Laced with black comedy, this short tale remains one of the surprising highlights of the book.

Although action packed from early on, Herbert seems to have lost his nerve for the gut wrenching nasty moments that were so predominant in his earlier work. The carnage is still there, but of a more watered-down fashion.

The love interest between Culver and Garner is also too wooden and predictable. Although Herbert avoided the inclusion of his usual pointlessly graphic sex scene, the relationship between the two characters is still too cliqued and downright cheesey.

The final section of the books plays out like a cross between Gregory A Douglas’ 1980 novel ‘The Nest’ and the final sequences from James Cameron’s 1986 blockbuster ‘Aliens’. However, Herbert keeps up the pace, delivering a final set of chapters that are sure to keep each and every reader perched on the edge of their seat.

All in all, the novel was set to be another splatterpunk masterpiece from the godfather of the subgenre. However, somewhere down the line, Herbert seems to have lost track of the passion for this work and instead has produced a weaker final installation into the ‘Rats’ trilogy. This said, ‘Domain’ does still deliver a number of impactful scenes and ultimately concludes well.

The book runs for a total of 421 pages and was originally published by New English Library. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77367282 to: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (Paperback) by Ben H. Winters
Following on from the instant cult success of the tongue-in-cheek adaptation of Jane Austin’s classic novel with ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ (with adaptations by Seth Grahame-Smith), came Philadelphia-based publishing house, Quirk Classics’ second such literary adaptation, this time with ‘Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters’.

Utilising this newly fangled concept of carving up a classic piece of literature to make way for a more B-Movie-esque style of writing, Quirk editorial director Jason Rekulak struck absolute gold, with an eager audience ready to lap up the next Quirk instalment into this imaginative new genre.

‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ was received incredibly well right from the start of its initial release. However, it became apparent to the publishers that the fanbase for these surreal re-workings wanted a higher percentage of new (monster laden) text. Whereby ‘Zombies’ incorporated a mere fifteen percent of new text, ‘Sea Monsters’ ladled in a massive forty odd percent of fishy frolics into the mix.

For those who don’t already know the classic story by Jane Austin, here it is in a nutshell:

The whole story sets off with the unfortunate death of a Mr. Dashwood, whereby he leaves the entirety of the family estate to his only son and child from his first wife, John Dashwood. John is convinced by his greedy wife Fanny to rid their newly acquired property of its current occupants - his three half-sisters (Elinor, Marianne and Margaret) as well as his recently widowed step-mother. The Dashwood women soon take up residence with Mrs Dashwood’s wealthy and eccentric cousin Sir John Middleton. Whist adjusting themselves to their new lifestyles, the two sisters, Elinor and Marianne, find themselves experiencing both joyful romance and utter heartbreak. Love and lasting happiness is eventually achieved for both sisters after they each find equilibrium between the two contrasting characteristics that are so predominant between the two sisters; Elinor guided by her sense (logic) and Marianne who in turn is guided by her sensibility (emotion).

With this overall storyline already in place, all of the basic elements and characters are kept completely intact with Ben H. Winter’s mashed-up reworking. However, the surreal inclusion of his ‘aquatic imaginings’ of often Lovecraftian proportions to the entirety of the storyline, brings a whole new angle (and dare I say ‘life’) to the tale.

Instead of simply being too long in his years, Colonel Brandon is now not only a gentleman of fine wealth and good manners, but now he has been inflicted with a mass of tentacles that adorn his otherwise human face (as well as other regions). Throughout the novel Winters plays with the original text of the tale in similar such ways, as well as introducing his sea monster attacks during the moments when the character’s emotions are at breaking point. This doubled-up approach of mirroring the emotional peril with a B-movie monster attack at each point in the tale, delivers a thoroughly entertaining but doubly surreal element to the book. On so many occasions, Winters valiantly tackles the character’s altogether important dialogue with a gigantic aquatic attack at exactly the same moment. Hats off to the man, for each and every time he juggles these two dramatic elements with nothing short of an imaginative and truly inspired flare.

The novel as a whole runs smoothly throughout, with the light-hearted alterations never taking themselves too seriously. As the tale builds towards its traumatic finale, the inclusion of the ‘Captain Barbossa’ style pirate ‘Dreadbeard’, is brilliantly comical. With so much emotional turmoil crashing down on the characters, Winters throws in a litany of sea monster mayhem in these final chapters, bringing the aquatic menace to gigantic proportions.

The cunning change of setting from London to the underwater city of Sub-Marine Station Beta, created a whole new opportunity for Winters to weave in his chaotic deep sea devilry. Whilst Elinor and Marianne are suffering their individual emotional heartbreaks all those leagues under the sea, Margaret in turn is dealing with a much darker Lovcraftian-esque affair.

All in all this imaginative reworking has managed to successfully inject some satirical b-movie mayhem to a previously untouched classic. Ok, so the whole concept behind these re-workings will certainly not be to everyone’s taste. But Quirk Classics have really found themselves a niche market to exploit, that as long as it never takes any of what it is doing too seriously (which is highly unlikely), then it has a rich new ground to sow many seeds of sheer imagination.

‘Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters’ is a brilliant way to spend a number of hours chuckling at imagination run riot. The re-working’s not designed to be ripped apart, nor indeed analysed for its overall impact on the emotional ordeals of Elinor and Marianne. Instead, it’s exactly what the title proclaims. Nothing more and nothing less. And I for one bore a huge grin throughout each and every one of the 340 tentacle infested pages.

The book also contains fourteen black and white illustrations interspersed throughout the novel, usually of the more dramatic (and therefore sea monster heavy) moments. A ‘Reader’s Discussion Guide’ is also included at the end of the book that includes ten purely tongue-in-cheek questions that could be used as discussion points on the novel’s content. There is also a quick excerpt from ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ over the last four pages of the book.

The final icing on the cake is the excellent cover artwork painted by Lars Leetaru that appears on the front of the book. This one painting truly captures the essence of what the Quirk re-workings are all about. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77103157 to: The Festering (Paperback) by Guy N. Smith
First published back in 1989, ‘The Festering’ found itself following on from a huge line of deliciously pulp horror novels by this master of the genre, each with similarly over-the-top themes to truly sabotage any literature morals the reader may still have.

The novel begins in medieval times within the small village of Garth (more of a forgotten hamlet of tumbledown hovels than a village in reality), where a man known as Tabor returns to the village grounds after travelling south in search of fortune. Upon arriving, the village people see that Tabor’s flesh is covered with a mass of festering sores that ooze with a foul stench of decay.

Two days later and with autumn now upon the village people, a Witchfinder draws into the village to perform his annual cleansing of the village. Tabor is subsequently hung by the village’s people under the direction of the Witchfinder and his cancerous corpse is subsequently buried deep within a pit that was dug to hide this festering plague for all time.

The tale now jumps to the present day, where Mike and Holly Mannion have recently moved to a quaint tumbledown cottage known as ‘Garth Cottage’. The couple soon discover that their newly purchased cottage, due to its somewhat isolated setting, is barely covered by the regular water supply. Learning this, they decide that they need a water-well drilling behind their property, before it can become properly habitable. A team of local contractors under the management of a Frank Bennion are brought in and begin drilling into the ground.

With the drilling underway in search of an underground water supply, a foul stench soon begins to emanate from deep within the earth. The foul stench lingers on, so the Mannion’s decide to call in Bill Kemp from the Environmental Health Department to test the water supply. The initial results bring back a positive test for Salmonella and a host of other worryingly unidentified bugs.

Soon enough the local contractors begin to develop festering rashes with open sores that continuously ooze pus. Tommy Eaton is the first to become infected and as the cancerous rash develops, so a deep seated evil slowly consumes him. With his mind now totally succumbed to this festering evil that has ravaged his body, Tommy pays a visit to his girlfriend, Penny, so that she too can succumb to this all consuming and ancient evil.

Whilst this is going on, Mike Mannion is called away from Garth Cottage on business, leaving his wife Holly in the cottage with Bennion’s contractors still working on the water-well. The local plumber Nick Paton starts plumbing in the new water supply, although with the water likely to still be contaminated, it will be undrinkable for some time to come. Holly’s affections turn to the plumber, but amidst this developing affair, the ogrish contractor Jim Fitzpatrick also begins to make lustful advances on her. However, a pus filled boil is now developing on Fitzpatrick’s lip, and it is only a matter of time before the festering evil consumes him, ending his life and very likely those who find themselves close to him.

All of those employed to work on the Mannion’s water-well are now developing strange boils that develop into a contagious rash which ultimately leads to a horrifically painful death. During this period the victim’s mental state turns much darker and more sadistic, whereby anyone close to the contagious individual is likely to fall victim to their lust fuelled savagings.

With Holly now developing a nasty looking boil at the base of her spine, which may well now have been transmitted to her husband, the dark evil that has been left festering deep under the grounds of the Garth Cottage seems to be spreading fast. The question is what is the extent of the evil that has been released from deep underground and more importantly, how can it be stopped?

From the very outset, Smith sets down a dark air that screams of the contagious evil that dominates the storyline. The first glimpses of this festering plague are depicted with such a morbid desire to appal. Smith develops on the dark and corrupt atmosphere that overhangs the entire storyline, allowing for the unnerving qualities of the ever-present atmosphere to flourish like the cancerous boils described so vividly throughout the text.

With both of the Mannion’s participating in their own lust fuelled affairs behind one another’s back, the reader feels somewhat set away from the tale, without having an ‘untainted’ point of reference in which to truly latch on to. This only further helps to develop on the general tone of despairing corruption that Smith has so painstakingly set down from the outset, never really setting a base in which the reader can feel secure from.

The characterisation throughout the tale is well developed in each and every case, even in those characters who find themselves falling victim to the festering plague early on.

The pace of the storyline is a gradual one that builds up with tension throughout the tale. Barely a page goes by without some further tragedy befalling the Mannion’s and their laborious task of making their new home habitable. Combing this unrelenting misery with the constant ominous threat that overhangs the characters, results in the reader clawing at each page with a need to uncover more of this evil is lurking throughout.

All in all, Smith has managed to produce a novel that breaths a constant air of putrid terror, even within the more mundane points of the book. The tension is constantly mounting, until the full extent of the horrific evil that awaits the reader is finally unveiled. As the pace quickens, so does Smith’s desire to deliver more grotesque and gut wrenching depictions of the flesh devouring plague. The novel crescendos with a litany of horrific events that Smith ties in, until the tale finally concludes to a well delivered ending.

The storyline throughout the tale is unashamedly and outrageously over-the-top, even for that of a pulp horror novel. In this story alone, Smith proves that he truly sets the bar from which other pulp horror authors should be judged by. The novel is nothing short of a triumph to pulp horror nastiness.

The tale runs for a total of 191 pages and was first published through Arrow Books. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75806671 to: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Paperback) by Max Brooks
First published back in 2006 and following on from the huge cult success of the ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’, Max Brooks once again delves into the elaborate depths of his survivalist knowledge to unleash another complex analysis of a world threatened by the undead.

Expanding on the principle idea of a fabricated history of zombie attacks that was first utilised in the second half of ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’, Brooks this time invents a world where the reanimation of corpses via the Solanum virus has escalated to further extremities than those previously documented in the survival guide.

The sequential storyline of book is constructed by the use of numerous (fictional) oral interviews with various members of society (army officers, teenage computer nerds, security guards, preachers etc) whose stories, when laid out end to end, form a haunting picture of the collapse and close annihilation of humankind. Each one of these interviews is predominately that of the story told by that particular survivor of the events they saw.

Brooks breaks the book down into chapters that adequately form the basis of the novel’s stuctured storyline. From a short introduction whereby Brooks sets down the premise in which the book is to be taken, the following chapter headings give a clear early on indication of how the book is to progress:

(1) Warnings (2) Blame (3) The Great Panic (4) Turning The Tide (5) Home Front USA (6) Around The World, And Above (7) Total War (8) Good-Byes

The pace of the book begins relatively slow, allowing the reader to become accustomed to the unusual set out and the surreal feel of the format that has been adopted by Brooks. As the zombie attacks begin to take on a more severe nature, so the pace of the book snowballs. Brooks lays down a judgemental analysis (or a bleak prediction?) of the governments response to this rising epidemic. Brooks zero’s in with a (somewhat exaggerated for effect) breakdown on humanities automatic response to the developing crisis.

Governmental bodies attempt to cover-up the truth behind the mass slaughter, stating that cases of rabies are responsible, to limit an all out panic. Opportunist entrepreneurs leap at the chance to make some easy money in the panic, distributing an anti-rabies drug in the full knowledge that the outbreak has nothing to do with rabies. Approaching governmental elections are still given priority of thought during these dramatic times of the great panic. Humanities years of perfecting the art of warfare is instantly made moribund against this new enemy, that in one swift motion, re-defines all previous threats, turning strategies on their head and rendering the vast majority of modern weaponry useless. Office workers are now finding their previous skills and abilities useless, further turning the modern-day class structure hierarchy on its head. All around the world, every culture, every nation and every individual, responds to the outbreak in their own unique way. This is exactly what Brooks captures in ‘World War Z’.

Thoroughly immersing himself in the prospect of such an apocalyptic scenario, Brooks details psychological aspects of this catastrophic turn of events that shows a depth of thinking that has previously never been incorporated into the concept of a zombie epidemic. The creation of ‘quislings’ is one such notion. These are psychologically effected individuals who, after mentally falling apart at the collapse of humanity whilst faced with the hordes of flesh eating undead, begin to believe they are in fact one of these reanimated corpses. They become so convinced, that all of their actions and reactions to fellow survivors mimic those of the undead. Although these are 100% living people, they form an additional threat to all other survivors.

Brooks’s humorous reference to ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ mid way through the novel, mentioning the previous book’s importance but limitations, not only plays a small homage to the book, but also gives a further depth into this fictional ‘reality’ that he is so determinedly setting down.

The novel’s projection is bleak throughout, interspersed with moments of heroic deeds and passages of inspirational defiance in the face of the zombie hordes. Although the final outcome is known to the reader from the very outset of the book, this does not ruin the play of the book, or the build up towards the eventual victory. Brooks’s chapter on ‘Total War’ is perhaps the most powerful and awe inspiring vision on an all out response to humanities clawing back from the brink of total extinction. In this one chapter, Brooks takes the analysis of the undead enemy to its furthest reaches, for the first time really detailing what humanity would truly be up against.

All in all, ‘World War Z’ is an astonishingly detailed and well researched book, taking into account a whole world of cultures and lifestyles, in order to show their response to this apocalyptic threat. This is a survivalist’s and zombie enthusiast’s wet-dream, with so much detail and psychological analysis that at times you feel dwarfed with the sheer unrelenting reality of the whole concept.

The book runs for a total of 342 pages and was first published by Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74423708 to: The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection From the Living Dead (Paperback) by Max Brooks
First published back in 2003, New York based Max Brooks released his debut ‘novel’ (if indeed you can class it as such), entitles ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’. This unique, original and wholly insightful homage to the zombie subgenre created massive waves of appreciation, firstly amongst the hardcore zombie fans and later across an entire spectrum of readers. The book was to become a staple read for the many fans of the undead around the world.

The book’s meticulous eye for detail on each and every aspect of the guide lures the reader in time and time again into a believable zombie reality. Beginning with a thorough physiology of the reanimated undead, Brooks dissects the common understanding of what makes a ‘zombie’ and lays down a entirely believable case for the existence of this time old enemy. Brooks not once shies away from portraying account after account of undead ‘facts’, totally submerging the reader into the premise that this is indeed an entirely real scenario.

Brooks details the scientific principals of the virus that lies behind the reanimation of corpses. The virus, which was dubbed ‘Solanum’ by a D Jan Vanderhaven in 1913, is elaborately examined by Brooks, detailing a carefully fabricated back history as well as an analysis of the virus in comparison to that of a voodoo zombie. Surprisingly Brooks disassociates ‘his’ zombie from the Romero-style modern day zombie by fire having no bearing towards the undead (other than the use of fire to kill or dispose of the zombies). This goes against the popular notion of zombie having an inherent fear of fire that was initially set down by Romero when he first established this new breed of zombies in his film ‘Night of the Living Dead’.

Next Brooks dives straight in with the veritable pros and cons of different weaponry that could be employed against these flesh-eating walking corpses. Weighing up a whole range of weapons, Brooks gives a unique view point on each, analysing them entirely from the practical stance of their usage against zombies.

The book next goes on to examine potential defensive positions and more importantly how best to secure a location. Brooks breaks down the different locations, weighing up their merits against the drawbacks. The idea of demolishing the stairway in an ordinary household, allowing for a good defensive position on the second floor of the house is a stroke of well thought out zombie survival genius.

A full chapter detailing the best survival techniques for being on the run is next up. An array of different terrain types are discussed for he first time, bring the elements of the environment fully into the equation of your survival. Like with the passages on weaponry, Brooks is writing from the point of view of being in the US so many of the vehicles types discussed are US vehicles. However, teh discussions points and principles brought up in each case for and against each one can clearly be transposed on to vehicles from all continents.

Brooks heats up the pace of the ‘survival guide’ with his next chapter delivering the best principles behind going on the attack against the undead. The author’s thorough approach is maintained throughout this chapter, staying away from the temptation to go over-board with the ‘attacking zombies’ ideas.

The final chapter on survival techniques is one on living in an undead world. This post-apocalyptically set chapter delivers a well thought out analysis on how humanity could survive with entirely thought provoking points raised throughout. Brooks’s constant level-headed analysis never strays from the ‘factual’ face of the book.

As way of further corroborating the notion of the living-dead being more than just a fictional phenomenon, Brook’s final section of the book details a whole fictional list of documented zombie encounters together with a overview of each including the author’s thoughts on the supposed truth behind many of them. Spanning from 60,000 BC in Katanda, Central Africa, all of the way to 2002in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Brooks fabricates an entire history for Solanum and its recorded effects on the human population.

The book concludes with an appendix in the form of an ‘Outbreak Journal’ for the reader to record any potential signs of zombie outbreaks within. This clever little addition on further airs the notion of a ‘real life’ threat in the undead.

The book as a whole is utterly unique, with so much time and effort gone in to the analysis of each and every situation of a zombie outbreak. The book comes across as entirely believable on so many occasions, without a whisper of the satirical tongue-in-cheek nature that is lurking behind it.

Even with its technical delivery throughout, Brooks manages to successfully set down a thoroughly enjoyable read that actively engages the reader into the survival frame of mind from the outset. Although the book is written in a point-by-point fashion, the chapters still run in a fashion that is best suited to be read in a normal cover-to-cover way. This is an absolute must for all fans of zombie or indeed post-apocalyptic literature.

The book runs for a total of 254 pages. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2719530-daniel-russell Dreadlocksmile made a comment on Daniel Russell's profile:

I want to visit Samhane.... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73896060 to: After Twilight: Walking with the Dead (Paperback) by Travis Adkins
First published in 2008, Travis Adkins’s post-apocalyptic zombie novel #After Twilight: Walking with the Dead’ formed the sequel to his 2004 zombie extravaganza ‘Twilight of the Dead’. Now with a small but relatively dedicated fanbase ready to lap up this quietly anticipated sequel, Adkins has the chance to take the ‘Twilight’ novels on to further and hopefully more unexplored grounds.

The book begins with a short four page introduction from the self proclaimed bizarro author, Andre Duza. Duza is already well accustomed to the post-apocalyptic zombie subgenre, having a number of published titles under his own belt within this hugely popular field. Straight after Duza’s flattering although slightly surreal introduction is another new two page map of the Eastpointe grounds. This gives the reader the opportunity to easily get to grips with the enclosure and the various principal locations within its walls.

The novel begins in Eastpointe where questions are beginning to be asked as to why the Black Beret’s had not yet returned from their mission to collect the supposed anti-virus that the mysterious new arrival, Dr Aaron Dane, was to escort them to. The facility, now being run exclusively by Odd Fellows members, has been quietly monitoring the airwaves, listening to the different surviving communities that are broadcasting around the country. The Odd Fellows decide to withhold this information from their community as well as not announcing their existence to the other surviving communities. The only exception they make to this is with Vaughn Winters who they need to keep the others away from the trading paths of these other communities.

Meanwhile, Leon Wolfe (now fully recovered from the zombie bite thanks to the anti-virus) and Courtney Colvin are still trapped on the roof of a block of apartments, with the undead surrounding the premises at ground level (as per the ending of ‘Twilight of the Dead’). Whilst Colvin rests after her tiring ordeal from confronting and killing Dr Dane, Wolfe explores the lower levels and rooms of the building. Upon making an apartment safe from the threat of any wandering zombies, Wolfe brings Colvin down into the safety of the apartment to rest up some more.

However, their fellow Black Beret, Vaughn Winters (previously somewhat of a ‘hard rock’ star) has found himself remarkably still alive after suffering some very serious wounds at the hands of Dr Dane and his ‘modified’ zombies. Winters awakens on top of a cold steel table with his previously slashed throat now crudely held together with industrial strength staples. Winters manages to escape from the Atlantic Princess which saw the slaughter of so many of his fellow comrades. Upon leaving the vessel with only a fireman axe as protection, Winters emerges on to solid land where hordes of the undead are surrounding the apartment block where unbeknown to him Colvin and Wolfe are held up inside.

Winters slaughters a huge number of the undead in a frenzy of adrenaline fuelled aggression, until utterly weakened by his efforts, he drags his exhausted body off in the direction of Eastpointe. Keeping up with the painful pace of Winters, are literally thousands of the undead, each and every one of them craving for his flesh.

When Winters finally arrives at the gates of Eastpointe with an army of zombies in tow, he collapses and is dragged in to the complex by the facilities law enforcement officers Marshal Tyrell Young and his deputy Creyton. The gates are shut and the alarm disabled as the zombies slowly pile up against Eastpointe’s protective fencing.

Upon waking from their much needed slumber, Wolfe and Colvin are able to finally leave the apartment complex where they thought they would die within from the zombie siege and they make their way back to Eastpointe within one of the two abandoned Humvees from outside.

Upon arriving back at the relative secure sanctuary of Eastpointe, Wolfe finds himself confronted by his one time comrade Vaughn Winters. After taking exception to the secretive oppression of the Odd Fellows member s that are running the complex, the ex-Black Beret finally loses his mind and begins a murderous rampage in an effort to kill every citizen of Eastpointe.

With the Fourth of July celebrations in full swing, a crazed Black Beret on a mission to kill everyone and hordes of the undead on the very doorstep of Eastpointe; Tyrell, Creyton, Leon and Courtney are soon to become up against their biggest and most terrifying challenge yet...

With ‘After Twilight: Walking with the Dead’, Adkins continues from exactly where the first novel concluded with its uber-frustrating cliff hanger. Adkins inserts a number of subtle reminders of where the last novel finished up so as to help the reader recall the events that preceded the sequel.

The remarkable survival of Vaughn Winters, is somewhat hazily glossed over, with no real explanations given. Was Winters was also subjected to the anti-virus which kept him alive after he was inflicted with such sever and potentially life threatening wounds? This question is frustratingly never answered? But throughout the novel (especially after Winters goes on his maniacal rampage) the reader is constantly questioning what happened to the Black Beret whilst he was unconscious and at the hands of the sadist Dr Aaron Dane. Alas, Adkins never reveals if there is indeed something more to Winter’s survival and subsequent killing spree.

Adkins inserts a subtle little homage to all the zombie enthusiasts with almost a word for word rendition of the WGON broadcast from Dawn of the Dead stating “Any dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them! It gets up and kills! The people it kills, get up and kill”.

The majority of the novel seems to flow along with very little in the way of a solid storyline seeming to be present. Adkins flutters backwards to the pre-apocalyptic life of Vaughn Winters, where he was an up and coming ‘hard rock star’. This does help to flesh out these newly acquired principle role for the character a little more, however the back story does seem to take up too much of the novel. The inclusion of six of the pages from Winters’s lyric notebook is however utterly cringe worthy if nothing else. Adkins should certainly steer clear of such lyrical efforts in future, for want of avoiding the levels of cheese that was scribbled within this ‘lyrical notebook’.

Although the first half of the novel seems to simply run its course without any real direction towards the principal storyline becoming apparent, Adkins does still manage to maintain a thoroughly enjoyable read that just flows with a great ease.

Courtney Colvin takes somewhat of a back seat within this sequel, instead giving over the principal character role equally to both Leon Wolfe and Tyrell Young (as well as the changing role of Vaughn Winters). Although they come across as quite clichéd cardboard cut-out characters throughout, Adkins successfully substitutes the need for more realistic characters by instead injecting a thick array of interweaving subplots that seems to replace the need for the character depth.

Adkins certainly picks up the pace of the novel once Vaughn’s back history has been covered and his subsequent escape from the Atlantic Princess is underway. From here on, the novel builds up with its heart-racing action, delivering a number of scenes of zombie carnage. The grande final of the novel is not only dramatic and pure edge of the seat material; but it also delivers numerous miniature finales, that barrage the reader with an all round epic concluding few chapters.

With ‘After Twilight: Walking with the Dead’, it feels like you have read two novels. Not due to the length of the novel (which is of a normal novel length), but due to the nature and pace of the storyline that seems to be broken into two distinctive sections. The first section is a slower more meandering story, with little to no zombie action. The second section is a monstrously paced action filled storyline crammed to the rafters with zombie carnage and blood spill. The veritable tsunami of a ending leaves the reader gasping for air; already setting up the score for the following instalment ‘Twilight of the Dead: Exodus’.

The novel runs for a total of 267 pages and is published by the zombie/post-apocalyptic obsessed Permuted Press. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47629343 to: Twilight of the Dead (Paperback) by Travis Adkins
First released through Permuted Press back in 2004, Travis Adkins' second novel ‘Twilight Of The Dead’ quickly became widely talked about within the post-apocalyptic zombie community. The special edition re-release published on the 1st October 2006 runs for a total of 269 pages and includes new and much more impressive cover art by Noel Hill. This new re-release also includes an additional 78 pages delivering three bonus short stories of important moments in the lives of the ‘Twilight of the Dead’ survivors. A further additional three page introduction has also been thrown in by the author of the widely acclaimed "Autumn" zombie series David Moody.

From the start, the reader is thrown straight in to a somewhat standard post-apocalyptic scenario, where we follow the survivor Courtney Colvin, as she struggles to remain alive within this frightening and desperate new world where survival should never be taken for granted. With the principal character now clearly identified and the scene now set with zombie action a-go-go, the storyline suddenly reflects back on earlier events that had taken place. This sudden back-tracking allows Adkins to explore the character of Courtney in a much greater depth, encouraging the reader to identify with Colvin more from the glimpses of a more mundane and far more realistic lifestyle pre-apocalypse.

Now five years on from the initial outbreak, Colvin’s new life is within the fortified and thoroughly secure town of Eastpointe has once again return to a relatively mundane existence. Eastpointe has it all. As close to a return to normal civilization as appears possible whilst the undead still roam the landscape beyond the perimeters of the town.

Equipped with specialised clothing and permitted to carry firearms, Colvin is one of the few individuals who takes frequent trips outside of their enclosure to collect further supplies. Colvin, along with the other remaining ‘Black Berets’ are fully trained in all aspects of combat against the flesh-eating hordes of the undead.

With her life now following such a painstakingly uneventful path, void of any change of course, Courtney’s only touch of any true emotion are during her daring raids outside the perimeter of Eastpointe or the recurring haunting nightmare that still plague her each night. Leon Wolfe, a fellow Black Beret, has been carrying on with an almost entirely emotionless relationship with Colvin, which only furthers the depressive spiral of her emotional state.

This all changes with the surprising arrival of a new and previously unknown survivor at Eastpointe’s gates. To the community’s astonishment this scientist, Dr Aaron Dane, has just walked up to the gates with zombies aplenty amidst, claims to know the location of an antidote for the zombie plague, which he insists is in fact one-hundred percent legitimate. Colvin and a handful of fellow Black Berets are soon sent out by the community leaders to retrieve this alleged antidote. But there appears to be more to this whole scenario than first meets the eye.

The storyline never lets up on its fast and tension building pace, with new plot developments emerging throughout this rollercoaster-of a-ride novel. The tale eventually builds to an even more dramatic conclusion that leaves the novel on a nail-biting cliff hanger for the next book ‘After Twilight: Walking With The Dead’ that was later published in 2008.

The novel uses a character driven storyline through the eyes of our principal character, pumping out a tale full of action packed pages, with little to no room for working with any aspect of setting an atmosphere down. The pace certainly helps to keep the reader thoroughly enthralled with Colvin’s desperate new life, however an emotion that was meant to be felt for any of the characters is left lacking by the missed opportunity to work on any real characterization. With this said, the reader still remains perched on the edge of their seat from start to finish, as the dramatic events that happen around the character Courtney Colvin are brought to a climatic crescendo.

The use of 'modified' zombies sporting full body armour, bayonets extending from the zombie's arms and a set of razor sharp teeth to boot, takes the undead threat on to a whole new level, with terrfiying rammifcations for the survivors. The idea of souping up zombies was later echoed in other zombie fiction such as the likes of David Wellington's classic 'Monster' trilogy, with the zombie's arms this time sharpend down to form deadly spikes for spearing their victims with.

The novel shows an obvious lack of medical or biological knowledge from the author as well as a vivid but entirely far-fetched imagination with regards to humanities response to such a massive and life threatening epidemic. Suspending all notion of disbelief is essential for the readers full enjoyment of this novel. However, this is not too difficult with such an overtly over-the-top action filled zombie novel.

All in all, ‘Twilight of the Dead’ is nothing short of literary-candy for zombie enthusiasts who are sure to lap up this monstrously far fetched addition to the now hugely popular subgenre. Adkins utilises brief moments of graphically gritty zombie-splatter to keep to the overall adult appeal of the novel. With barely a page going by without some elaborate or essential element to the storyline being thrown in, the book is certainly a page turner from the very start to the triumphant cliff-hanger of an ending.

There are without a doubt much more involved and well written zombie novels out there. However, what ‘Twilight of the Dead’ does offer is a gripping tale of non-stop action that closely follows the tried and tested (yet still incredibly addictive) formula for a post-apocalyptic success. For sheer enjoyment factor alone, this novel is sure not to disappoint.

The book also contains a map of the Eastpointe refuge, a pre-epidemic radio broadcast transcript, excerpts from Army Research Laboratory files, a final outfitting schematic of the Black Beret's, excerpts on fighting techniques from the Black Beret's training manual, as well as a page from the NASA files hinting towards the beginning of the plague from a mission to Venus, amongst other such insightful manuscripts and documents. The special edition re-release runs for a total of 284 pages and was published through the zombie enthusiastic and apocalyptically dedicated Permuted Press. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73239169 to: Eat Them Alive (Paperback) by PIERCE NACE
Back when pulp horror was at its all time peak, the gloriously entitled ‘Eat Them Alive’ was unleashed into the now overflowing world of pulp horror novels. First published in the US by Manor Books Inc and then soon after released in the UK through (you guessed it) New English Library, this monstrous blot on the literary world was to therefore sport two separate editions, each with its own so utterly unashamed ‘pulp horror’ piece of cover artwork. The author, Pierce Nace, is other than from this novel, otherwise unknown; although there is a good chance that the name is potentially a pseudonym that has never been admitted to.

The novel begins with the introduction of the principal character of Dyke Mellis; a man consumed with hate for four of his old friends. This hate has been smouldering away for the past eleven years of his mundane existence. Dyke no longer feels he is a complete man, after he was made a eunuch by these four individuals (Pete Stuart, Zeb Hillburn, Kane Garrister and Ryan Gaut) after he tried and failed in stealing a considerable amount of money from all of them. His body is now a tapestry of scars reminding him of the pain and suffering they caused when they tortured him and left him for dead.

Now eleven years later, Dyke is on his boat just off the shores of the small island of Malpelo, when a massive earthquake hits. A tidal wave engulfs the island, whilst huge cavernous cracks appear in the landscape. Almost immediately after the destruction has subsided, giant man-sized mantises swarm out from these gaping splits in the earth. The ravenous giant insects soon take to slaughtering and consuming each and every one of the natives that inhabit the small piece of land. Dyke watches all of this happening from the relative safety of his boat and begins to formulate a plan.

Dyke succeeds in capturing the largest of the beasts, which he takes off the island, hoping he can gradually build up a state of trust with the beast so that he can be its master. He names this special mantis ‘Slayer’ and paints its head bright red to further distinguish it from the other mantises. Dyke has a plan in mind. A plan to take a small army of these bloodthirsty and monstrous insects over to the mainland so that he can enact the cruellest, most horrendous revenge he can think of on the four men who savaged him all those years ago. Dyke wants to see each one of them eaten alive!

After coating his entire body in a concoction that he discovers repels the mantises, so that he won’t be eaten by any of them, Dyke trains his new pet ‘Slayer’ to trust him and slowly over the following months builds up a friendship with this particular beast.

Soon enough the time has come when Dyke is ready to take Slayer and a further twenty carefully selected giant mantises to the mainland where he will track down the four men he plans to kill. His revenge on these four is all he cares about in the entire world. But man was never meant to attempt to tame such savage and ruthless beasts as these prehistoric insects....

Nace has managed to come up with possibly the wildest and most far fetched storyline that has ever existed. This is pulp horror at its absolute peak. A hate fuelled man who commands a small army of giant mantises, is out for revenge on four men who cut off his manhood. This is sheer pulp horror genius...

From the moment the mantises first grace the pages, the blood spill and sheer carnage is almost unrelenting until the novel crashes to its final ending. No exaggeration, this is splatter piled on splatter piled on splatter. Nace barely comes up for a breath before more bone crunching, head splitting, brain eating and blood drinking ensues once again.

Nace’s writing style is amateurish to say the least, throwing together a litany of clumsy and awkward sentences that seem to carrying on forever. The tale is so over-packed with splatter, that it appears to be repeating the same old carnage again and again.

However preposterous the concept of the novel is, Nace takes the storyline to even further degrees when the lead character of Dyke Mellis develops what appears to be some sort of mental connection with his lead mantis - Slayer. This badly developed and utterly ridiculous addition to the tale was clearly done because the author couldn’t think of a good way to get around the communication boundaries between Dyke and his mantis ‘friend’ Slayer. However laughable the storyline is, this laziness simply creates a head-in-hands moment of cringing for the reader.

Later on, our good friend Slayer decides to take a nice big juicy bite out of Dyke’s leg, chomping away one entire calf. If only the human body healed the way Nace seems to think it does. If it did, we’d be almost indestructible. A tourniquet and a bandage later and Dyke is running around once again, minus one entire calf!

Dyke finally begins his revenge, surprisingly starting off with his most hated of the four men; the ringleader of his brutal assault all those years ago – Pete Stuart. You would have thought that Nace would have saved Stuart for last, but no, he is the first to be dispatched in the all too familiar display of graphic carnage.

The storyline then follows Dyke as he enacts almost exactly the same revenge on each of the remaining three men and their families, until his mission in life is finally complete. By the third and forth such slaughter, the repetitiveness of this is beginning to get a little boring. However, Nace keeps ramming in page upon page of blood spill to keep the gore-fest running at full pelt.

The conclusion (with its minor twist laced with a healthy slab of irony) is as dramatic as the rest of the novel has been. The novel ends in the way it has been throughout; with gallons more blood spill and mass mutilation depicted in all its graphic detail.

For the unashamed pulpiness of the novel, I was so tempted to give the novel a high overall rating. Not to mention calling the main killer mantis ‘Slayer’ – you can almost hear ‘Angel of Death’ playing away in the background of each scene of mass carnage. But there are way too many aspects that stand against the novel. Nace’s writing style for one is far too amateurish to keep a good flow to the storyline going. Lack of variation makes the endless carnage become tiresome – perhaps the worst sin possible for a pulp horror novel. The storyline is too flat and singular, with little to no secondary elements to the tale developing along the storyline. But the final nail is put in the coffin by the repeated laziness of the author with various aspects of the story that have led Nace to come up with the most ridiculous cop-outs in the history of horror novels (and that really is quite some claim).

All in all, ‘Eat Them Alive’ is what it is. It’s pulp horror taken to its pulpy extremes. It’s both the epitome and the peak of the genre. It’s fast paced and packed with splatter almost from cover to cover. There’s no escaping it, this is a novel of enjoyment for those who really should know better. It’s got so many faults, but that’s almost what makes it so the much greater. I can’t rate it highly because that in itself would be an injustice on the books nature. It still remains the most ridiculous and wildly over-the-top pulp horror novel that there ever was. You’ll either love it or hate it. But I urge each and every one of you to read a copy. I promise you won’t regret it...

The novel runs for a total of 158 carnage filled pages. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72795282 to: Beware! (Paperback) by Richard Laymon
First published back in 1985, Richard Laymon’s supernatural stalker novel ‘Beware!’ was released at one of the high points (productively speaking) in this horror author’s long and impressive writing career.

Set in the small town of Oasis, the tale follows the principal character of Lacey Allen, a young reporter for the local newspaper the Oasis Tribune. Allen is one of the first on the scene after a number of strange supernatural happenings take place at the local supermarket owned by Elsie Hoffman.

When the strange midnight vandalism continues, Elsie loans a friend’s German Shepherd to keep watch over the premises at night. The next morning the dog is found slaughtered on the shop floor. The dog’s owner, Red Peterson, returns to the Hoffman Market the following night with his shotgun in the hope of catching the intruder. However, close to the shop’s closing time, Lacey calls in at the store to find both Red Peterson and Elsie Hoffman murdered and horrifically mutilated.

When Lacey Allen turns to flee, she is knocked unconscious and subsequently raped by an unseen assailant. Lacey awakens a while later and after alerting the authorities to the murders, returns to her home. Only she is not alone. Without knowing, she has also taken home the psychotic serial killer who had only just raped her that very night. This man has a unique ability to get away with such horrifically violent crimes. This is because he is invisible to the human eye.

Elsewhere the private detective, Matt Dukane, is acting out a rescue mission for a young girl who has been brain-washed by a powerful and deadly cult, who take part in blood rituals, human sacrifices and mass orgies.

When Lacey Allen escapes from her invisible tormentor’s grasp, she flees to the nearby city of Tucson where she meets the reasonably successful fiction writer Scott Bradley. When the invisible killer catches up with Lacey, Bradley calls up his old friend Matt Dukane to help them out. But the roots of the invisible killer’s unique ability run all the way to Laveda – the leader of the murderous cult Dukane had just narrowly escaped from.

But what is the real identity of this invisible killer and why is he going to such lengths to track drown Lacey Allen? And how does it all connect to this powerful cult that it appears will stop at nothing to get their hands on the invisible killer. All these answers are waiting to be told by one person...if only he could be seen.

Laymon starts off the novel jumping straight into the mysterious occurrences at the Hoffman Market that reveal a much more threatening undertone. The storyline quickly jumps to Dukane’s action packed rescue mission, throwing the reader back and forth from one distinct storyline to another. As the novel progresses, so the foggy air of confusion begins to clear. This is when Laymon decides to crank up the pace of the novel with numerous outbursts of graphically depicted sexual assaults and blood-drenched mutilation.

The further down the path the reader is led into this already wildly outlandish tale, the more ludicrous and utterly over-the-top it becomes.

Laymon valiantly attempts to reinvent the notion of an invisible man with his own disturbing take on the classic sci-fi idea. However, no amount of monstrous rape and savage murder escapes the all too comical feel to the tale.

The character of Matt Dukane is clichéd to the hilt, coming off as another Sean Doyle style of gritty hero. Dukane does however inject an enjoyable level of cheesy heroic violence to the storyline with Dukane that is desperately needed to escape from the almost laughable premise of the invisible man.

When the cult return once more to the storyline, this time in a desperate attempt to capture the invisible man themselves, the pace is once again turned up another notch. Now Laymon goes all out with page after page of non-stop action, mixed with moments of nail biting tension.

The storyline thunders towards an all out western style finale, where Laymon builds up a veritable feast of suspense filled final few chapters. Here, with everything set to conclude the story in a dramatic way, Laymon seems to stumble somewhat, throwing down an altogether weak and badly thought out ending. The final few pages seem puzzling and slightly incoherent, until the very last page or two, where Laymon puts down the final twist that ties together those painfully scattered concluding pages.

Although the novel is crammed full of enough over-the-top action and blood spill to keep most pulp horror enthusiasts happy, the storyline as a whole comes across as too disjointed and weak. The invisible man angle was a brave idea to take on board for a novel of this adult style of writing, but alas, Laymon’s invisible man doesn’t manage to really produce the scare factor he wanted for the tale.

This is certainly one of the weaker of Laymon’s novels, although it does include some triumphantly nasty moments from Laymon’s disturbingly inspired mind.

The novel runs for a total of 279 pages. ]]>