Carl Alves's Blog, page 18
February 9, 2018
Horns by Joe Hill
Horns has a really interesting premise, and when I started reading it, I was thinking that this was going to be a great novel. Unfortunately, the novel came up short in its execution, and left me disappointed. The premise, as I mentioned, is a really neat one. Ig Perrish is suffering in the aftermath of the brutal rape and murder of his girlfriend, Merrin. Although never arrested, he remains the prime suspect of her murder. Even his parents don’t believe him. On the one year anniversary of Merrin’s death, he develops horns on his head. He also has some super powers. People feel compelled to tell him and act upon their worst hidden secrets. He can also do things like influence the behavior of people and perfectly mimic voices.
There were two big things that make this novel unravel. The first is that every person that Ig comes across is a horrible nasty person with terrible hidden desires. Call me an optimist, but I don’t believe must people are awful, despicable people. The only person who is half way redeemable is Ig’s brother, Terry, but even he has a seriously wicked deed in his past. These types of characters and repeals got repetitive and dull after a while. The other thing is that there were so many long captions of flashbacks that it sucked any kind of momentum out of the story. I think flashback can be effective in limited doses, but this novel has like fifty pages at a time of flashback and it just killed the reading of the story. I also felt at times that Hill fell in love with his own prose and got away from trying to tell a good story. I’ve enjoyed some of his work in the past, but this novel fell short of the mark.
There were two big things that make this novel unravel. The first is that every person that Ig comes across is a horrible nasty person with terrible hidden desires. Call me an optimist, but I don’t believe must people are awful, despicable people. The only person who is half way redeemable is Ig’s brother, Terry, but even he has a seriously wicked deed in his past. These types of characters and repeals got repetitive and dull after a while. The other thing is that there were so many long captions of flashbacks that it sucked any kind of momentum out of the story. I think flashback can be effective in limited doses, but this novel has like fifty pages at a time of flashback and it just killed the reading of the story. I also felt at times that Hill fell in love with his own prose and got away from trying to tell a good story. I’ve enjoyed some of his work in the past, but this novel fell short of the mark.
February 7, 2018
The Creeps by John Connolly
After seeing all of the positive review for The Creeps, I have to ask myself just what am I missing. I didn’t get this novel at all. I didn’t find any aspect of remotely funny at all. Perhaps I’m not the target audience. The only horror humorist that I enjoy reading is Jeff Strand and John Connolly pales in comparison.
The novel is set in a town in England that serves as a portal to every possible demon and supernatural creature in the multiverse. The town contains thieving dwarves, demons who for some unknown reason can exist among people without anyone noticing, bumbling idiot cops, bumbling idiot scientists, and a boy Samuel Johnson, who seems completely dull and ordinary, and is one of the least interesting protagonists that I’ve read in a while. Samuel Johnson previously thwarted a demonic invasion, and apparently must do it again, except he doesn’t really do much at all.
The bottom line is that this novel just didn’t do anything for me at all. I didn’t find any appeal to it in the plot, the characters, the writing. There was never even a point where I cracked a smile, let alone chuckle. I would strongly recommend not reading it, but hey, you just might be the target audience for this novel.
The novel is set in a town in England that serves as a portal to every possible demon and supernatural creature in the multiverse. The town contains thieving dwarves, demons who for some unknown reason can exist among people without anyone noticing, bumbling idiot cops, bumbling idiot scientists, and a boy Samuel Johnson, who seems completely dull and ordinary, and is one of the least interesting protagonists that I’ve read in a while. Samuel Johnson previously thwarted a demonic invasion, and apparently must do it again, except he doesn’t really do much at all.
The bottom line is that this novel just didn’t do anything for me at all. I didn’t find any appeal to it in the plot, the characters, the writing. There was never even a point where I cracked a smile, let alone chuckle. I would strongly recommend not reading it, but hey, you just might be the target audience for this novel.
January 14, 2018
Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary) by Jeff Strand
If somebody comes up to you and offers you $20K to dig up a grave and retrieve a key from the corpse, it would be a wise idea to turn down the assignment. However, Andrew Mayhem, a married father of two small children, is anything but wise. He can’t hold down a job and makes some seriously bad decisions. Despite that, he has some endearing qualities, and when push comes to shove, he’ll do whatever he has to, to keep his children safe. When Andrew and his friend take the assignment, the corpse turns out to be alive and wielding a gun. Things only get worse from there as Andrew comes across Ghoulish Delights, which fronts as a production company for hire for people wanting to star in short horror movies. It becomes very apparent to Andrew that Ghoulish Delights is a front for something far more serious.
This is the first novel I’ve read from Jeff Strand that is geared to adults. He’s great at young adult novels, and as it turns out, he’s pretty good at writing more mature themes. The protagonist is a very flawed character, and at first I wasn’t entirely fond of him, but as the book wore on, I grew more fond of him, particularly late in the novel when he had to save his children from serious harm. It’s something that any parent can relate to. My biggest quibble with the novel was that there were a couple of scenes that were a bit unrealistic and it became hard to suspend disbelief. What worked really well was how things just kept getting worse and worse for Andrew, and he had to show some serious mettle and resourcefulness to get out of them. This novel highlighted one of the things I really enjoy about Strand’s writing—his ability to put the screws to his characters and put them in some difficult situations, and just when you think it can’t get any worse for them, they do. This was an enjoyable novel, and I look forward to reading the second in the series.
This is the first novel I’ve read from Jeff Strand that is geared to adults. He’s great at young adult novels, and as it turns out, he’s pretty good at writing more mature themes. The protagonist is a very flawed character, and at first I wasn’t entirely fond of him, but as the book wore on, I grew more fond of him, particularly late in the novel when he had to save his children from serious harm. It’s something that any parent can relate to. My biggest quibble with the novel was that there were a couple of scenes that were a bit unrealistic and it became hard to suspend disbelief. What worked really well was how things just kept getting worse and worse for Andrew, and he had to show some serious mettle and resourcefulness to get out of them. This novel highlighted one of the things I really enjoy about Strand’s writing—his ability to put the screws to his characters and put them in some difficult situations, and just when you think it can’t get any worse for them, they do. This was an enjoyable novel, and I look forward to reading the second in the series.
January 7, 2018
Shadowfall by James Clemens
Shadowfall is a mixed bag of an epic fantasy novel that doesn’t quite live up to the hype bestowed upon it by some of the impressive blurbs on the front and back cover of the novel. The basic concept of the story is that gods have settled over the lands of Myrillia. When one of these gods is killed, fallen knight Tylar de Noche is thrust into the middle of it, when the dying god inserts her essence into Tylar. Hunted down, he is determined to find out just what is going on. Meanwhile, an insurgent group of knights called The Fiery Cross are part of an overarching conspiracy working against Tylar.
Although there was some entertainment value in reading the novel, it was heavily flawed. For one thing, the whole part of having to harvest the gods’ bodily fluids was just silly. Right from the jump, it took me out of the novel, and I had a hard time taking it seriously. The novel bent over backwards to make a big deal of inserting twists and big reveals, but they telegraphed them from a mile away, and when the reveal finally happened, it wasn’t very surprising or pack much punch.
The writing itself was fairly mediocre. There was nothing technically wrong, but it also didn’t captivate me. There were some interesting plot points and some intrigue in the novel, but the problem was every time my interest rose, something brought me right out of it. The ending was climactic but I don’t find myself wanting to dive into the next book in the series.
Although there was some entertainment value in reading the novel, it was heavily flawed. For one thing, the whole part of having to harvest the gods’ bodily fluids was just silly. Right from the jump, it took me out of the novel, and I had a hard time taking it seriously. The novel bent over backwards to make a big deal of inserting twists and big reveals, but they telegraphed them from a mile away, and when the reveal finally happened, it wasn’t very surprising or pack much punch.
The writing itself was fairly mediocre. There was nothing technically wrong, but it also didn’t captivate me. There were some interesting plot points and some intrigue in the novel, but the problem was every time my interest rose, something brought me right out of it. The ending was climactic but I don’t find myself wanting to dive into the next book in the series.
January 4, 2018
Movie Review: Jumanji
I didn’t have particularly high expectations when I went to see Jumanji. I was expecting to watch a fun, mindless movie but what I got was so much more than that. I never saw the original Robin Williams version, so all I knew about the movie was what I had seen in the previews. Four kids have detention and find an old video game. When they turn it on, they get transported into the game where they occupy the avatars of the characters in the game. They have to complete the goal of the game and have three lives in which to do so, otherwise they die in real life.
I found this movie to be absolutely hilarious. The casting in the movie and the performances by the actors were top notch. What I really enjoyed about the acting was how they were playing roles that were so much different than their normal personas. Dwayne Johnson was a nerdy, hypochondriac. Jack Black was a self-absorbed teen girl. Kevin Hart was a macho football player. They stretched from their usual roles and shone in the process.
There were so many funny parts in the movie. I especially enjoyed when Kevin Hart, whose character’s weakness was cake, eats it and then explodes from eating cake. The interplay between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart was excellent. There was great action and a logical plot. I even liked the message that was conveyed in this movie—it’s not the superficial aspects of our lives that are important, but it’s friendship and caring for others that’s important. I was surprised to find that I liked this movie much more than Star Wars The Last Jedi. This is a movie worth watching.
I found this movie to be absolutely hilarious. The casting in the movie and the performances by the actors were top notch. What I really enjoyed about the acting was how they were playing roles that were so much different than their normal personas. Dwayne Johnson was a nerdy, hypochondriac. Jack Black was a self-absorbed teen girl. Kevin Hart was a macho football player. They stretched from their usual roles and shone in the process.
There were so many funny parts in the movie. I especially enjoyed when Kevin Hart, whose character’s weakness was cake, eats it and then explodes from eating cake. The interplay between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart was excellent. There was great action and a logical plot. I even liked the message that was conveyed in this movie—it’s not the superficial aspects of our lives that are important, but it’s friendship and caring for others that’s important. I was surprised to find that I liked this movie much more than Star Wars The Last Jedi. This is a movie worth watching.
December 31, 2017
Movie Review: Star Wars The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been a critical success, but hasn’t been quite as warmly received by the legions of devoted Star Wars fans. In the movie, the rebel alliance is on its heels as the First Order is breathing down their necks. Meanwhile, Rey is recruiting Luke Skywalker because he is the galaxy’s only hope (a bit of a throwback to A New Hope, the first Star Wars movie). Meanwhile, Kylo Ren is still going through his conflicts and anger management issues, and Luke is the reluctant hero, not wanting to get back into the fray.
This movie was a bit of a mixed bag. Although, on the whole, I enjoyed the movie, it didn’t measure up to the better Star Wars movies like Empire Strikes Back, but it’s better than the ones at the bottom of the food chain, like Attack of the Clones. Part of the reason is that other than Poe, who reminds me a lot of Han Solo, the newer characters aren’t as likeable as the older ones. Kylo Ren isn’t credible as a master of the force since he is completely incapable of controlling his emotions and throws a temper tantrum every few scenes. Rey is a vanilla character, and Finn is both a poor character and a poor actor. The newest character, Rose, isn’t remotely compelling either. I also wasn’t crazy about the ending . It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. On the plus side, the overall plot was strong. There were great effects and visuals. There was also the return of Luke Skywalker. This new series is big on nostalgia, and that is where the movies tend to shine, because the old characters are so much better than the newer characters.
I think the final entry in the trilogy is going to be much better than this movie. I have faith that JJ Abrams will deliver. He did a great job with The Force Awakens, and he is one of the best directors of this era. So, even if you didn’t love this movie, don’t fret about the remainder of the series.
This movie was a bit of a mixed bag. Although, on the whole, I enjoyed the movie, it didn’t measure up to the better Star Wars movies like Empire Strikes Back, but it’s better than the ones at the bottom of the food chain, like Attack of the Clones. Part of the reason is that other than Poe, who reminds me a lot of Han Solo, the newer characters aren’t as likeable as the older ones. Kylo Ren isn’t credible as a master of the force since he is completely incapable of controlling his emotions and throws a temper tantrum every few scenes. Rey is a vanilla character, and Finn is both a poor character and a poor actor. The newest character, Rose, isn’t remotely compelling either. I also wasn’t crazy about the ending . It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. On the plus side, the overall plot was strong. There were great effects and visuals. There was also the return of Luke Skywalker. This new series is big on nostalgia, and that is where the movies tend to shine, because the old characters are so much better than the newer characters.
I think the final entry in the trilogy is going to be much better than this movie. I have faith that JJ Abrams will deliver. He did a great job with The Force Awakens, and he is one of the best directors of this era. So, even if you didn’t love this movie, don’t fret about the remainder of the series.
December 24, 2017
Bumper Crop by Joe Lansdale
Bumper Crop was a bit of a mixed bag. There were some stories that I really enjoyed, and some that were complete duds that I wanted to get past quickly, hoping that the next story would be better. In general and in this short story collection, Lansdale has a very easy going and pleasing style. I think he leans on a first person narrative a bit more than he should to my liking. Because of this easy going style, this collection was a breeze to get through. Mostly, the problem was that some of the stories were just out there, and I didn’t get.
My favorite story in the collection was the final one. Lansdale put to good use his extensive martial arts background in crafting a tightly written tale about a kickboxer going through hard times living in a tropical locale after he inadvertently killed a competitor in a kick boxing match. The villain in this story is a Muay Thai fighter, who is a complete and utter bastard, and treats his girlfriend absolutely horribly. He lures the story’s hero into a battle to the death—a fight that is completely unsanctioned with no witnesses other than the girlfriend. To add to the epicness of this confrontation, a massive tropical storm is about to hit the island. This had a great setup and a great climax.
My favorite story in the collection was the final one. Lansdale put to good use his extensive martial arts background in crafting a tightly written tale about a kickboxer going through hard times living in a tropical locale after he inadvertently killed a competitor in a kick boxing match. The villain in this story is a Muay Thai fighter, who is a complete and utter bastard, and treats his girlfriend absolutely horribly. He lures the story’s hero into a battle to the death—a fight that is completely unsanctioned with no witnesses other than the girlfriend. To add to the epicness of this confrontation, a massive tropical storm is about to hit the island. This had a great setup and a great climax.
December 18, 2017
10 Questions with Jeff Strand
1. How did it come about that a group of high school students are adapting The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever and do you see the irony in that?
It really was as simple as me getting an e-mail from the writer/director, Gianluca Spezze, asking permission to make the movie. (He'd already written the script!) It wasn't technically a school project, but it was done under the guidance of their Advanced Video Production teacher, Pavel Vogler.
It's high school kids making a movie about of a book about high school kids making a movie...but I think it's more "meta" than "ironic." What appealed to them about the project is that, as high school filmmakers, they could relate to the subject matter!
2. Who was the greatest competitor in the history of the television show Survivor and why?
I'm going to eliminate Boston Rob because he's too obvious of an answer. So I'll say Kim, the winner of Survivor: One World. Not only did she dominate in all aspects of the game, but she did it while frequently having to clean up strategic messes caused by people in her alliance. If they ever do Survivor: The Players Who Don't Necessarily Have The Most Dynamic Personalities But Are Best At The Game, I think she'd win.
3. If you could choose between being a New York Times #1 Bestseller or getting an Oscar for a screenplay that you wrote, which would you choose?
Since I consider myself a novelist and not a screenwriter, I feel like "New York Times #1 Bestseller" should be the easy answer. That said, I dunno...an Oscar would be pretty sweet. Way more people are #1 bestsellers than have screenwriting Oscars. I'm going to go with #1 bestseller, but it was a very difficult hypothetical decision.
4. With it being far easier to make a movie today than it has been in the past, do you feel that the lowering of this barrier of entry has watered down the overall quality of movies, or has it opened up quality movies that would not have been made otherwise?
Both! I'd guess that if you were insane enough to try to watch every horror flick that came out, you'd find that the percentage of bad movies has gone up. But the number of GOOD movies out there is higher than ever before. And it's easier to filter out the bad stuff; when I first became a horror fan, I often had no information about a movie beyond what was on the VHS box. At events like the Nightmares Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio and the Nevermore Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, you can watch new micro-budget movies for three days straight with an amazingly high hit-to-miss ratio.
5. How is it that you could write a novel entitled The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever without any zombies being in the novel?
Because "kids making a zombie movie are forced to use their knowledge of the undead when the REAL zombies arrive!" is too obvious of a premise. (And, yes, my then-agent did say, "So, then real zombies show up, right?") There was never a point where I considered turning it into a legitimate zombie novel. It's a wacky comedy about kids making a movie!
6. Why have you decided to hang it up as the Master of Ceremonies for the Stoker Award banquet?
StokerCon 2018 will be my tenth time as emcee, which seems like a good stopping point. I can't do this forever! I was really happy with how the ninth one went, and I'd rather step down while the job is still fun, instead of waiting until I start walking off the stage muttering, "Boy, was THAT a dud year!" I'm looking forward to enjoying the Bram Stoker Awards banquet as a civilian.
7. How has it been working on various movie projects with your wife, Lynne Hansen?
With her adaptation of my not-yet-published novella Cold Dead Hands, the lines of power are clear: the book is mine, the movie is hers. I'm not really working on it with her; I'm basically just smiling and nodding while she makes all of the decisions. On her film Chomp, where I'm credited as Associate Producer, I did lots and lots of manual labor. She's the boss.
8. Out of all of the authors you have had an opportunity to meet, who left you the most awestruck?
My first horror convention was one awestruck moment after another, but if I had to pick a single instance, it would probably be many years later when Peter Straub came up to me and said that he was fascinated by the idea that I wrote horror/comedy.
I had an after-the-fact awestruck moment not that long ago when I was walking down the hallway at a convention, and Jack Ketchum (who I've talked to many times) was going the other way, and we just did a quick "Hi, how's it going?" as we passed each other. And it later hit me that I can do a casual "Hi" with Jack Frickin' Ketchum (!!!) without soiling myself in amazement.
9. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
I can't narrow it down to one. I can narrow it down to two, if necessary: Douglas Adams and Dave Barry. That leaves out a few people, but I think readers of my work would not be surprised by either of those influences.
10. If you could create a Mount Rushmore of the four greatest humor writers who ever lived, who would you choose?
Douglas Adams, Dave Barry, Mark Twain, and P.G. Wodehouse.
It really was as simple as me getting an e-mail from the writer/director, Gianluca Spezze, asking permission to make the movie. (He'd already written the script!) It wasn't technically a school project, but it was done under the guidance of their Advanced Video Production teacher, Pavel Vogler.
It's high school kids making a movie about of a book about high school kids making a movie...but I think it's more "meta" than "ironic." What appealed to them about the project is that, as high school filmmakers, they could relate to the subject matter!
2. Who was the greatest competitor in the history of the television show Survivor and why?
I'm going to eliminate Boston Rob because he's too obvious of an answer. So I'll say Kim, the winner of Survivor: One World. Not only did she dominate in all aspects of the game, but she did it while frequently having to clean up strategic messes caused by people in her alliance. If they ever do Survivor: The Players Who Don't Necessarily Have The Most Dynamic Personalities But Are Best At The Game, I think she'd win.
3. If you could choose between being a New York Times #1 Bestseller or getting an Oscar for a screenplay that you wrote, which would you choose?
Since I consider myself a novelist and not a screenwriter, I feel like "New York Times #1 Bestseller" should be the easy answer. That said, I dunno...an Oscar would be pretty sweet. Way more people are #1 bestsellers than have screenwriting Oscars. I'm going to go with #1 bestseller, but it was a very difficult hypothetical decision.
4. With it being far easier to make a movie today than it has been in the past, do you feel that the lowering of this barrier of entry has watered down the overall quality of movies, or has it opened up quality movies that would not have been made otherwise?
Both! I'd guess that if you were insane enough to try to watch every horror flick that came out, you'd find that the percentage of bad movies has gone up. But the number of GOOD movies out there is higher than ever before. And it's easier to filter out the bad stuff; when I first became a horror fan, I often had no information about a movie beyond what was on the VHS box. At events like the Nightmares Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio and the Nevermore Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, you can watch new micro-budget movies for three days straight with an amazingly high hit-to-miss ratio.
5. How is it that you could write a novel entitled The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever without any zombies being in the novel?
Because "kids making a zombie movie are forced to use their knowledge of the undead when the REAL zombies arrive!" is too obvious of a premise. (And, yes, my then-agent did say, "So, then real zombies show up, right?") There was never a point where I considered turning it into a legitimate zombie novel. It's a wacky comedy about kids making a movie!
6. Why have you decided to hang it up as the Master of Ceremonies for the Stoker Award banquet?
StokerCon 2018 will be my tenth time as emcee, which seems like a good stopping point. I can't do this forever! I was really happy with how the ninth one went, and I'd rather step down while the job is still fun, instead of waiting until I start walking off the stage muttering, "Boy, was THAT a dud year!" I'm looking forward to enjoying the Bram Stoker Awards banquet as a civilian.
7. How has it been working on various movie projects with your wife, Lynne Hansen?
With her adaptation of my not-yet-published novella Cold Dead Hands, the lines of power are clear: the book is mine, the movie is hers. I'm not really working on it with her; I'm basically just smiling and nodding while she makes all of the decisions. On her film Chomp, where I'm credited as Associate Producer, I did lots and lots of manual labor. She's the boss.
8. Out of all of the authors you have had an opportunity to meet, who left you the most awestruck?
My first horror convention was one awestruck moment after another, but if I had to pick a single instance, it would probably be many years later when Peter Straub came up to me and said that he was fascinated by the idea that I wrote horror/comedy.
I had an after-the-fact awestruck moment not that long ago when I was walking down the hallway at a convention, and Jack Ketchum (who I've talked to many times) was going the other way, and we just did a quick "Hi, how's it going?" as we passed each other. And it later hit me that I can do a casual "Hi" with Jack Frickin' Ketchum (!!!) without soiling myself in amazement.
9. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
I can't narrow it down to one. I can narrow it down to two, if necessary: Douglas Adams and Dave Barry. That leaves out a few people, but I think readers of my work would not be surprised by either of those influences.
10. If you could create a Mount Rushmore of the four greatest humor writers who ever lived, who would you choose?
Douglas Adams, Dave Barry, Mark Twain, and P.G. Wodehouse.
December 10, 2017
Movie Review: Justice League
This was a much maligned movie, and although I don’t think it was a great movie by any stretch, it probably wasn’t as bad as reviews might suggest. By this point, the first entry into the Justice League series can be considered a flop. I think the biggest reasons for this are twofold: Batman vs. Superman was a complete and utter disaster of epic proportions. The second is that unless you’re a hardcore DC comic fan, you’ve probably never heard of the villain in this movie, Steppenwolf. Wait isn’t that a seventies rock band? DC just can never seem to get their act together.
That’s not to say the movie was all bad. The plot, for the most part, was sensible. There was good action and good special effects. For me, the biggest failure of the movie is the casting of the two main characters. Ben Affleck is not just a lousy actor and the worst Batman actor ever, but he seemed completely disinterested in this role. His performance was so uninspired. He seemed to be going through the motions and collecting a paycheck. As bad as Affleck is, Henry Cavill is even worse as Superman. Where did they find this guy? He is such a dud. He has absolutely nothing going for him. On the other hand, I really liked the casting for Wonder Woman and Aqua Man. Flash was dreadful—not just the actor but the way they portrayed him. He came off as this whining, sniveling weasel. I think his character was meant to bring comic relief, but there was nothing that he did or said that was funny. It may sound like I’m being overly critical, but it wasn’t that terrible. Honestly. Anyway, I’m not going to recommend this movie, but you could do worse in the DC franchise.
That’s not to say the movie was all bad. The plot, for the most part, was sensible. There was good action and good special effects. For me, the biggest failure of the movie is the casting of the two main characters. Ben Affleck is not just a lousy actor and the worst Batman actor ever, but he seemed completely disinterested in this role. His performance was so uninspired. He seemed to be going through the motions and collecting a paycheck. As bad as Affleck is, Henry Cavill is even worse as Superman. Where did they find this guy? He is such a dud. He has absolutely nothing going for him. On the other hand, I really liked the casting for Wonder Woman and Aqua Man. Flash was dreadful—not just the actor but the way they portrayed him. He came off as this whining, sniveling weasel. I think his character was meant to bring comic relief, but there was nothing that he did or said that was funny. It may sound like I’m being overly critical, but it wasn’t that terrible. Honestly. Anyway, I’m not going to recommend this movie, but you could do worse in the DC franchise.
December 6, 2017
The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever by Jeff Strand
Despite its title, The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever doesn’t have a single zombie. Not one, lonely, solitaire zombie. You would think a novel that has zombie in its title and yet doesn’t even have one itty-bitty zombie wouldn’t be any good, but you would be wrong. Instead, this young adult novel is filled with the comical musings of Jeff Strand, and if there’s anything better than zombies, it would be Strand’s fiction, which has me rolling from beginning to end.
Besides humor, the one thing that Strand is exceptionally skilled at is getting characters in seemingly innocuous situations and turning the situation into something really terrible for the characters. And just when you think this bad situation can’t get worse, Strand makes it worse. And just when you’re certain there is no way that the author can find a way to make it worse for them, the evil genius somehow manages to make the character’s situation even worse. You get a lot of that sort of thing in this novel. My only conclusion is that Strand really, really hates his characters.
This novel is a quick read. I finished it in about three sittings, which is refreshing given the length of some of the novels in today’s marketplace. The pace is just where it should be, and the characters are well fleshed out. The entire time I read the story, I kept thinking there’s no way these kids are going to pull off the task of making this awesomely epic zombie movie. I won’t spoil if it worked out for the Justin and his two friends, but the journey was well worth it. If you haven’t read Strand’s fiction before, The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever is a good place to start.
Besides humor, the one thing that Strand is exceptionally skilled at is getting characters in seemingly innocuous situations and turning the situation into something really terrible for the characters. And just when you think this bad situation can’t get worse, Strand makes it worse. And just when you’re certain there is no way that the author can find a way to make it worse for them, the evil genius somehow manages to make the character’s situation even worse. You get a lot of that sort of thing in this novel. My only conclusion is that Strand really, really hates his characters.
This novel is a quick read. I finished it in about three sittings, which is refreshing given the length of some of the novels in today’s marketplace. The pace is just where it should be, and the characters are well fleshed out. The entire time I read the story, I kept thinking there’s no way these kids are going to pull off the task of making this awesomely epic zombie movie. I won’t spoil if it worked out for the Justin and his two friends, but the journey was well worth it. If you haven’t read Strand’s fiction before, The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever is a good place to start.
