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Cobble
The Dead have risen. Humanity teeters on the edge of extinction. Only one remote island called Cobble remains as the last holdout of civilization and hope until a military unit fleeing the mainland arrives on the islanders' doorstep, demanding to be allowed to stay. Amongst them is a man whose dreams span the length of time itself and who may hold the key to the human race's salvation. But they are not the islands' only visitors. A dark, demonic creature intent on finishing its work of destroying God's world reawakens the island's dead once more fanning the fires of distrust and hatred as the islanders and the military unit seek to find a way to settle out their differences and work together.
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First published October 1, 2005
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Eric S. Brown
275 books116 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 5, 2010
Cobble takes you to the last place on earth where humans reside. The dead have wiped everyone else out and the last stand is about to occur.
Cobble is populated by people who took care to wipe out the undead that popped up there when the plague hit. They have lived in relative safety ever since. Now a small group of military personnel have landed on the island along with a doctor who is still trying to cure the plague. They need the resources the island have and won't take no for an answer. An uneasy truce is struck between the islanders and the military to attempt to live in and work in harmony.
Enter into the story the idea of an epic battle between good and evil. It was a plague, but it was a plague started by a being of ancient evil who has wanted the downfall of mankind its entire existence. Amongst the military is his arch nemesis, who is only now starting to realize who he is and what he must do. The final battle shall be waged on Cobble as the dead are once again reanimated and these two foes will finally meet in combat to decide the fate of humanity.
All in all, a really strong idea for a zombie novel. An epic clash of the titans as it were. The desire to wipe out humanity vs. the desire to save it in the end. It is a concept that demands a grand stage. One like "The Rising" and "City of the Dead" provided. The "void" is even mentioned here, as some of the newer zombies the "demon" in the story has now created on Cobble are faster and more intelligent this time around. Unlike in those two books I mentioned above, humanity has a savior in the guise of a human who will champion it in the end.
The idea behind Cobble certainly is big. This isn't just about a group of survivors, it is about THE group of survivors. The last of humanity. Good vs. Evil with the prize of all humanity disapearing off the face of the earth or for a new beginning for the few who remain.
So unfortunately this story came off, to me at least, as rather lacking in depth of detail of what I believe should have been the two main characters. I am not saying that all the others should have taken a back seat, but both our "demon" and "angel" are given a lack of any depth. Humanity's hero doesn't even realize who he is and what he must do until near the very end. The final results of a battle that has been something that both sides knew was to come...this EPIC showdown...well, it ends up being not so epic. I am not a person who likes to ruin a review by giving out spoilers if I can so I won't here. Lets just say if you are expecting something incredibly powerful, you will probably be pretty disappointed. I guess it could be argued that there is some beauty in the simplicity of the story is completed, how the two finally clash. As in: you expect this fire and brim stone, lighting from the heavens type battle but it is something so human, so basic, that ends it all.
As for the positives with this book, the authors have a strong writing style and I enjoyed some of the character development. Mostly of the Terry character, who seemed pretty real and approachable. Some of the others were a little less fleshed out, but overall it was a cohesive story line. It just needed some more pages, more details as it relates to such a big vision.
This book was entertaining enough for three stars. I am always up for a zombie story and I certain did enjoy how the authors put together what I would call the "simpler" aspects of this tale: a story about people trying to survive on an island with some military interlopers trying to come in and take over. If they had stuck to that plot line alone OR had expanded the story with more development of our "evil" and "good" arch-nemesis' it would have gotten a higher rating from me. I still feel that both authors writing skills are of a good quality and I would not hesitate to try out something else that either have written.
Cobble is populated by people who took care to wipe out the undead that popped up there when the plague hit. They have lived in relative safety ever since. Now a small group of military personnel have landed on the island along with a doctor who is still trying to cure the plague. They need the resources the island have and won't take no for an answer. An uneasy truce is struck between the islanders and the military to attempt to live in and work in harmony.
Enter into the story the idea of an epic battle between good and evil. It was a plague, but it was a plague started by a being of ancient evil who has wanted the downfall of mankind its entire existence. Amongst the military is his arch nemesis, who is only now starting to realize who he is and what he must do. The final battle shall be waged on Cobble as the dead are once again reanimated and these two foes will finally meet in combat to decide the fate of humanity.
All in all, a really strong idea for a zombie novel. An epic clash of the titans as it were. The desire to wipe out humanity vs. the desire to save it in the end. It is a concept that demands a grand stage. One like "The Rising" and "City of the Dead" provided. The "void" is even mentioned here, as some of the newer zombies the "demon" in the story has now created on Cobble are faster and more intelligent this time around. Unlike in those two books I mentioned above, humanity has a savior in the guise of a human who will champion it in the end.
The idea behind Cobble certainly is big. This isn't just about a group of survivors, it is about THE group of survivors. The last of humanity. Good vs. Evil with the prize of all humanity disapearing off the face of the earth or for a new beginning for the few who remain.
So unfortunately this story came off, to me at least, as rather lacking in depth of detail of what I believe should have been the two main characters. I am not saying that all the others should have taken a back seat, but both our "demon" and "angel" are given a lack of any depth. Humanity's hero doesn't even realize who he is and what he must do until near the very end. The final results of a battle that has been something that both sides knew was to come...this EPIC showdown...well, it ends up being not so epic. I am not a person who likes to ruin a review by giving out spoilers if I can so I won't here. Lets just say if you are expecting something incredibly powerful, you will probably be pretty disappointed. I guess it could be argued that there is some beauty in the simplicity of the story is completed, how the two finally clash. As in: you expect this fire and brim stone, lighting from the heavens type battle but it is something so human, so basic, that ends it all.
As for the positives with this book, the authors have a strong writing style and I enjoyed some of the character development. Mostly of the Terry character, who seemed pretty real and approachable. Some of the others were a little less fleshed out, but overall it was a cohesive story line. It just needed some more pages, more details as it relates to such a big vision.
This book was entertaining enough for three stars. I am always up for a zombie story and I certain did enjoy how the authors put together what I would call the "simpler" aspects of this tale: a story about people trying to survive on an island with some military interlopers trying to come in and take over. If they had stuck to that plot line alone OR had expanded the story with more development of our "evil" and "good" arch-nemesis' it would have gotten a higher rating from me. I still feel that both authors writing skills are of a good quality and I would not hesitate to try out something else that either have written.
February 9, 2011
Eric S. Brown and Susanne Brydenbaugh, Cobble (Mundania Press, 2005)
Eric S. Brown is, arguably, the most prolific horror writer of the past decade. Never heard of him, you say? This despite eight novels and about two hundred short stories (a number of which have been pressed into eight short story collections) in the past decade? Well, it's not entirely unexpected. He tends to publish either on micropresses (Coscom, Mundania) or through vanity outlets (CreateSpace). In this case, as most, he had a co-author, and in this case that was Susanne Brydenbaugh, another short-fiction specialist (Brown talks in his afterword about whether he was really a writer, since he didn't have a novel under his belt, this being the main reason he undertook the project). The two of them put their heads together, and what they came up with was... this. And once you've read it, you will likely understand a whole lot better why you haven't heard of Eric S. Brown.
It's almost too easy to attack micropress releases for spelling and grammatical errors, but my god, I can't help it here. Assuming any proofreading on this was done at all (and one assumes someone must have at least glanced over it, either the authors or someone at Mundania), those who did it were beyond incompetent. Have yourself a merry little Christmas trying to figure out what some of these sentences were even supposed to mean. I've read some awful vanity-published material, but Cobble takes incoherence to new heights:
“ Drake let the silence stretch on. What he had learned about the creature that
Amy had begun calling “the Dark Man” was part intuition, like a dream handed down from a dream or collective memory from ancestor to ancestor...”
(90)
[Yes, the paragraph break is in the text.]
“Terry grunted non-commitably as Amy joined him at the table.” (16)
Even better, once they get about halfway through this (108-page) novel, things begin to fall apart. Not for the characters, but for the authors. Plot threads die. Characters get mixed up, not that it matters given that there is no character development whatsoever. And the climax is so confusing you'll have to think about it for days before coming up with a workable hypothesis... but you will have no desire whatsoever to think about it for even five minutes.
While looking for a way to wrap this up, I wandered over to Mundania Press' website, and then over to the press blog. I found myself very amused by some of what I read there, and I wonder if some of it isn't a direct response to having published Cobble half a decade ago in the execrable state it's in. Skyla Dawn Cameron writes in the post “Reasons for Rejections”, in the MP blog on 20 Dec 2010:
“Your cover letter shouldn't have grammar errors and spelling mistakes. I know typos happen and I'm fairly forgiving of them, but if your cover letter shows you don't know how to use a semicolon, I'm not even going to open the manuscript to glance through. And when I get to the manuscript and find serious misspellings and errors in the opening paragraph? Reject.
Yes, every publisher (by which I mean legit ones--let's not even get into the others) has editors on staff to work with you on your manuscript, and no book goes out without at least three rounds of edits, but it's not their job to teach you even a medium level grasp of the English language, let alone a basic one. It's not the editor's job to hold your hand. They will point out weaknesses, flaws, and help you polish the book, but they shouldn't have to teach you how to properly use punctuation.”
If that policy had been in place in 2005, I wouldn't currently be holding Cobble in my hands—a novel which embodies not only those two paragraphs to the letter, but most of the rest of that post, as well. Awful from first word to last. ½
Eric S. Brown is, arguably, the most prolific horror writer of the past decade. Never heard of him, you say? This despite eight novels and about two hundred short stories (a number of which have been pressed into eight short story collections) in the past decade? Well, it's not entirely unexpected. He tends to publish either on micropresses (Coscom, Mundania) or through vanity outlets (CreateSpace). In this case, as most, he had a co-author, and in this case that was Susanne Brydenbaugh, another short-fiction specialist (Brown talks in his afterword about whether he was really a writer, since he didn't have a novel under his belt, this being the main reason he undertook the project). The two of them put their heads together, and what they came up with was... this. And once you've read it, you will likely understand a whole lot better why you haven't heard of Eric S. Brown.
It's almost too easy to attack micropress releases for spelling and grammatical errors, but my god, I can't help it here. Assuming any proofreading on this was done at all (and one assumes someone must have at least glanced over it, either the authors or someone at Mundania), those who did it were beyond incompetent. Have yourself a merry little Christmas trying to figure out what some of these sentences were even supposed to mean. I've read some awful vanity-published material, but Cobble takes incoherence to new heights:
“ Drake let the silence stretch on. What he had learned about the creature that
Amy had begun calling “the Dark Man” was part intuition, like a dream handed down from a dream or collective memory from ancestor to ancestor...”
(90)
[Yes, the paragraph break is in the text.]
“Terry grunted non-commitably as Amy joined him at the table.” (16)
Even better, once they get about halfway through this (108-page) novel, things begin to fall apart. Not for the characters, but for the authors. Plot threads die. Characters get mixed up, not that it matters given that there is no character development whatsoever. And the climax is so confusing you'll have to think about it for days before coming up with a workable hypothesis... but you will have no desire whatsoever to think about it for even five minutes.
While looking for a way to wrap this up, I wandered over to Mundania Press' website, and then over to the press blog. I found myself very amused by some of what I read there, and I wonder if some of it isn't a direct response to having published Cobble half a decade ago in the execrable state it's in. Skyla Dawn Cameron writes in the post “Reasons for Rejections”, in the MP blog on 20 Dec 2010:
“Your cover letter shouldn't have grammar errors and spelling mistakes. I know typos happen and I'm fairly forgiving of them, but if your cover letter shows you don't know how to use a semicolon, I'm not even going to open the manuscript to glance through. And when I get to the manuscript and find serious misspellings and errors in the opening paragraph? Reject.
Yes, every publisher (by which I mean legit ones--let's not even get into the others) has editors on staff to work with you on your manuscript, and no book goes out without at least three rounds of edits, but it's not their job to teach you even a medium level grasp of the English language, let alone a basic one. It's not the editor's job to hold your hand. They will point out weaknesses, flaws, and help you polish the book, but they shouldn't have to teach you how to properly use punctuation.”
If that policy had been in place in 2005, I wouldn't currently be holding Cobble in my hands—a novel which embodies not only those two paragraphs to the letter, but most of the rest of that post, as well. Awful from first word to last. ½
February 26, 2009
First published back in 2005 by Mundania Press LLC, `Cobble' is a post-apocalyptic zombie novel that was jointly written by Eric S. Brown and Susanne Brydenbaugh. Although the novel is Brown's first full length novel, the tale is still a mere 108 pages in length.
The storyline starts off straight in the action with the zombie epidemic already leaving humanity teetering on the brink of extinction. The tale paints a brutal picture of survival as the reader is quickly shown the reality of the situation on the small island of Cobble. Individual's ideas on how best to tackle the problem of supporting a community differ throughout the island, causing aggression and hostile feelings amongst the island dwellers.
The main characters are introduced within the first twenty pages, but unfortunately the characterization is never really developed upon from here, leaving each one seemingly one-dimensional.
New dramatic events soon affect the island with new arrivals and a tricky moral decision to make. From here the plot seems to thicken out somewhat, with separate sub plots weaving through the tale nicely. Alas, these subplots are never really given any proper direction within the tale and eventually fall from the storyline almost completely.
With new events occurring all the time now on the island, the authors decide to throw in a whole new danger. Like in David Wellington's `Monster' trilogy or Brian Keene's zombie novels, we know see the emergence of a leading figure for the undead army. A battle between the living and the dead soon takes place with a dramatic supernatural finale. Unfortunately this grand finale is a little cumbersome and seems to loose itself rather quickly. After a couple of re-reads I still couldn't properly follow the thread of what actually happened, but got to the outcome nonetheless.
The downbeat ending does deliver the classic glimmer of hope for the remaining survivors, giving the novel a satisfying ending.
I found `Cobble' to be a clumsy read, with many spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. With the lack of chapters, the book is a bit too text solid at times. It is broken into two parts along with an Epilogue at the end, but this still seems a little too bulky, for such a short novel.
The tale never really sets down any sort of atmosphere and lacked spending the time to build up the characters for the reader to really picture in their minds eye. With the characters never really given any life to their personalities and as such the reader cannot sympathise or relate to any of them as the tale unfolds.
The separate subplots, although individually interesting, certainly needed to be more actively involved with the running storyline rather than left to simply fall away.
All in all, I would say that `Cobble' is an interesting approach to the post-apocalyptic zombie genre, but needs a lot of re-working. The plot is too loose throughout and the storyline is clumsy and too compact.
The book also includes a two page introduction by Mark McLaughlin (author of `Slime After Slime' and `Pickman's Hotel'). There are also author bios for Eric and Susanne and a bonus four page zombie short story by Eric entitled `And The Dead Shall Rise'.
The storyline starts off straight in the action with the zombie epidemic already leaving humanity teetering on the brink of extinction. The tale paints a brutal picture of survival as the reader is quickly shown the reality of the situation on the small island of Cobble. Individual's ideas on how best to tackle the problem of supporting a community differ throughout the island, causing aggression and hostile feelings amongst the island dwellers.
The main characters are introduced within the first twenty pages, but unfortunately the characterization is never really developed upon from here, leaving each one seemingly one-dimensional.
New dramatic events soon affect the island with new arrivals and a tricky moral decision to make. From here the plot seems to thicken out somewhat, with separate sub plots weaving through the tale nicely. Alas, these subplots are never really given any proper direction within the tale and eventually fall from the storyline almost completely.
With new events occurring all the time now on the island, the authors decide to throw in a whole new danger. Like in David Wellington's `Monster' trilogy or Brian Keene's zombie novels, we know see the emergence of a leading figure for the undead army. A battle between the living and the dead soon takes place with a dramatic supernatural finale. Unfortunately this grand finale is a little cumbersome and seems to loose itself rather quickly. After a couple of re-reads I still couldn't properly follow the thread of what actually happened, but got to the outcome nonetheless.
The downbeat ending does deliver the classic glimmer of hope for the remaining survivors, giving the novel a satisfying ending.
I found `Cobble' to be a clumsy read, with many spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. With the lack of chapters, the book is a bit too text solid at times. It is broken into two parts along with an Epilogue at the end, but this still seems a little too bulky, for such a short novel.
The tale never really sets down any sort of atmosphere and lacked spending the time to build up the characters for the reader to really picture in their minds eye. With the characters never really given any life to their personalities and as such the reader cannot sympathise or relate to any of them as the tale unfolds.
The separate subplots, although individually interesting, certainly needed to be more actively involved with the running storyline rather than left to simply fall away.
All in all, I would say that `Cobble' is an interesting approach to the post-apocalyptic zombie genre, but needs a lot of re-working. The plot is too loose throughout and the storyline is clumsy and too compact.
The book also includes a two page introduction by Mark McLaughlin (author of `Slime After Slime' and `Pickman's Hotel'). There are also author bios for Eric and Susanne and a bonus four page zombie short story by Eric entitled `And The Dead Shall Rise'.
November 21, 2008
Cobble by Eric S. Brown is a short and fast reading book with a great premise. The story takes place on an island named Cobble where the residents were able fight off the initial infestation of zombies and now live a relatively isolated and safe life. Then a Special Forces unit lands on the island and from that point on things go down hill fast.
As good as the premise of the books is Cobble suffers from trying to stuff an epic story into 108 pages. Throughout the book it seemed like the author was rushing you along. In some parts of the book the character POV changes between each paragraph, that's just poor structure that can lead to the reader confusing who's POV we are reading. In the end, this could have been a much better read if there was more detail across the board. It's not a good sign, when at the end of the book, you still feel like you don't know the characters.
Cobble is not a total loss, the premise is really good. I give it thumbs up for some Bub like action. The zombies were different and scary. The author's writing styles is pretty good, which makes the book more enjoyable. There is definitely enough action to keep you interested.
Cobble was a cool idea that ended up lacking the detail needed to pull off such an ambitious, epic story. It is far too short and at times the story seems glazed over. I cannot recommend this book to anyone who does not like smart zombies. Zombie fans may want to check this out, just be aware of short length and rushed story.
As good as the premise of the books is Cobble suffers from trying to stuff an epic story into 108 pages. Throughout the book it seemed like the author was rushing you along. In some parts of the book the character POV changes between each paragraph, that's just poor structure that can lead to the reader confusing who's POV we are reading. In the end, this could have been a much better read if there was more detail across the board. It's not a good sign, when at the end of the book, you still feel like you don't know the characters.
Cobble is not a total loss, the premise is really good. I give it thumbs up for some Bub like action. The zombies were different and scary. The author's writing styles is pretty good, which makes the book more enjoyable. There is definitely enough action to keep you interested.
Cobble was a cool idea that ended up lacking the detail needed to pull off such an ambitious, epic story. It is far too short and at times the story seems glazed over. I cannot recommend this book to anyone who does not like smart zombies. Zombie fans may want to check this out, just be aware of short length and rushed story.
March 16, 2013
A zombie book with a twist. A stupid twist, that had little explanation other than and an ending that made no freaking sense.
And how is it that one character, who was bit and could feel himself dying, turns up in the afterword married with children?
This was written by two people who I don't think knew exactly what the other was doing.
And how is it that one character, who was bit and could feel himself dying, turns up in the afterword married with children?
This was written by two people who I don't think knew exactly what the other was doing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews