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Plague City
Control. Everyone wants it. Some believe they have it. For Mayor Henry Coal, in a city ravaged by the Plague, his biggest problem is keeping it.
“Plague City” is a sci-fi/horror novelette roughly 50 pages in length. First in a series, the story follows Henry Coal, mayor of a city decimated by a world-wide virus who must decide how far he is willing to go to protect what he values most, and destroy that which threatens to take it away.
****
WARNING: This story contains foul language and violent scenes. Some readers may find this content offensive.
“Plague City” is a sci-fi/horror novelette roughly 50 pages in length. First in a series, the story follows Henry Coal, mayor of a city decimated by a world-wide virus who must decide how far he is willing to go to protect what he values most, and destroy that which threatens to take it away.
****
WARNING: This story contains foul language and violent scenes. Some readers may find this content offensive.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
54 pages, Paperback
First published January 27, 2013
2 people are currently reading
261 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Milson
8 books6 followersMatthew Milson is the author of several works, including George's Light, Plague City, and Poor Percival Stories. His first novel, Young Arcan and the Garden of Loc, was published in 2007 by Avari Press.
Matthew was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He currently lives in Orlando, Florida where he spends most of his time dreaming up ideas for stories, and sometimes actually writing them. Matthew appreciates feedback and reviews, and loves to hear from readers!
Matthew was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He currently lives in Orlando, Florida where he spends most of his time dreaming up ideas for stories, and sometimes actually writing them. Matthew appreciates feedback and reviews, and loves to hear from readers!
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 30, 2015
I obtained a copy of Plague City through a LibraryThing giveaway. This review contains mild spoilers.
Plague City is set in a world beset by a lethal plague, with the city presented as one of the last holdouts of humanity. We’re unsure if the city is alone in this, as there is no communication with the rest of the world, and no one could leave through the city wall even if they wanted to — the belief among the populace is that it’s all that keeps the plague out.
Mayor Coal knows better, however. He knows that the plague is already within the city, with them. He hates it. He detests it on a personal level, and strikes out against it with a vicious ferocity bordering on the monomaniacal, committing atrocities in the process.
Sound Familiar?
The setup is highly reminiscent of both Hugh Howey’s Wool and Tess Williams’s Ember, without being overly derivative of either. Milson brings his own twists to the story that set it apart from either. The novelette is a quick one-sitting read so we don’t meet too many other characters, but they’re able to establish the conflicts.
Mayor on the brink
The following is a little spoilery.
The story is really Coal’s to carry, and we follow him as he grows more desperate and less rational, burning his bridges and betraying old friends in his zeal to strike at a foe that cannot be defeated. His behavior is jarring, but it makes sense by the end of the story.
What I enjoyed most in the story are the evocative details that Milson drops throughout; the courier system, the importance of scarves among a populace terrified of illness, the mostly-empty buildings of an era gone by. He evokes the atmosphere of a haunted and dying city ably.
The Plague
There was only one sour note, and without giving anything away, it was the nature of the plague itself. It’s an island of fantasy in an otherwise more-or-less realistic story. Not that you can’t include the fantastic within the mundane and have it work, here it seems almost as though this little patch of fantasy was stapled on haphazardly, without ties to the rest of the story beyond its effects.
This is part I, so perhaps its nature will be better integrated into the setting in future installments, but this is the story, and it’s all I have to judge it by.
Despite that small irritant Plague City was a fun read, and I can recommend it to those who like character-driven post-apocalyptic fiction.
Plague City is set in a world beset by a lethal plague, with the city presented as one of the last holdouts of humanity. We’re unsure if the city is alone in this, as there is no communication with the rest of the world, and no one could leave through the city wall even if they wanted to — the belief among the populace is that it’s all that keeps the plague out.
Mayor Coal knows better, however. He knows that the plague is already within the city, with them. He hates it. He detests it on a personal level, and strikes out against it with a vicious ferocity bordering on the monomaniacal, committing atrocities in the process.
Sound Familiar?
The setup is highly reminiscent of both Hugh Howey’s Wool and Tess Williams’s Ember, without being overly derivative of either. Milson brings his own twists to the story that set it apart from either. The novelette is a quick one-sitting read so we don’t meet too many other characters, but they’re able to establish the conflicts.
Mayor on the brink
The following is a little spoilery.
The story is really Coal’s to carry, and we follow him as he grows more desperate and less rational, burning his bridges and betraying old friends in his zeal to strike at a foe that cannot be defeated. His behavior is jarring, but it makes sense by the end of the story.
What I enjoyed most in the story are the evocative details that Milson drops throughout; the courier system, the importance of scarves among a populace terrified of illness, the mostly-empty buildings of an era gone by. He evokes the atmosphere of a haunted and dying city ably.
The Plague
There was only one sour note, and without giving anything away, it was the nature of the plague itself. It’s an island of fantasy in an otherwise more-or-less realistic story. Not that you can’t include the fantastic within the mundane and have it work, here it seems almost as though this little patch of fantasy was stapled on haphazardly, without ties to the rest of the story beyond its effects.
This is part I, so perhaps its nature will be better integrated into the setting in future installments, but this is the story, and it’s all I have to judge it by.
Despite that small irritant Plague City was a fun read, and I can recommend it to those who like character-driven post-apocalyptic fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2013
As is usual, I received this book for free. LibraryThing was nice enough to hand out electronic copies of this to all who asked.
You can no doubt guess from the title that this tiny book (40 pages) is a post-apocalyptic tale set in a time when the rest of the world has gone to waste leaving one city as the last bastion of humanity.
From a storyline perspective, it's a reasonable attempt. The whole thing lies along the usual lines with such stories. You have the powerful and the not-so powerful and their constant conflict. The author does have an interesting take on the situation but the story is much too short and underdeveloped. It is also at times rather clumsily worded for a published novel.
Like so many novels of this type, there resides here the kernel of a reasonable, if not overly familiar, story. This could be worked out into a proper novel but doing so would require considerably more time and care to do properly. So to put it in a nutshell, too brief, too error-prone and just generally underdeveloped.
You can no doubt guess from the title that this tiny book (40 pages) is a post-apocalyptic tale set in a time when the rest of the world has gone to waste leaving one city as the last bastion of humanity.
From a storyline perspective, it's a reasonable attempt. The whole thing lies along the usual lines with such stories. You have the powerful and the not-so powerful and their constant conflict. The author does have an interesting take on the situation but the story is much too short and underdeveloped. It is also at times rather clumsily worded for a published novel.
Like so many novels of this type, there resides here the kernel of a reasonable, if not overly familiar, story. This could be worked out into a proper novel but doing so would require considerably more time and care to do properly. So to put it in a nutshell, too brief, too error-prone and just generally underdeveloped.
March 14, 2013
I won an ebook of this from a giveaway from another website.
Wow, this story surprised me in a good way.
Henry Coal, the mayor of an unnamed city, is responsible of bombings in the city to fight against the Plague but lies about his involvement and instead places the blame elsewhere. The only other person that knows is Mama Ruth, who runs a soup kitchen, as she assists in these "Purging"s.
The conversation between Ruth and Henry concerning the purgings was interesting and I wished there was more background provided on how they knew each other.
Reading the story was basically watching Henry descend into madness, as he loses all care for anyone else but his wife and later his Plague infested body chases after his wife in order to kill her. And I think my jaw literally dropped when Eve, his wife, decided to shot herself instead of Henry because she loved him that much. I was shocked. The ending was just as surprising as well.
Wow, this story surprised me in a good way.
Henry Coal, the mayor of an unnamed city, is responsible of bombings in the city to fight against the Plague but lies about his involvement and instead places the blame elsewhere. The only other person that knows is Mama Ruth, who runs a soup kitchen, as she assists in these "Purging"s.
The conversation between Ruth and Henry concerning the purgings was interesting and I wished there was more background provided on how they knew each other.
Reading the story was basically watching Henry descend into madness, as he loses all care for anyone else but his wife and later his Plague infested body chases after his wife in order to kill her. And I think my jaw literally dropped when Eve, his wife, decided to shot herself instead of Henry because she loved him that much. I was shocked. The ending was just as surprising as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2013
Matthew Milson’s post-apocalyptic short thriller, Plague City, sets place in a walled off city. The walls are meant to protect the city from the plague that has made it’s way through the country. The main character is the mayor of the city and it’s his job to protect the city from the plague. Organizing purges against the city where he finds the plague has reared it’s ugly head, the mayor is on the constant look out for the infected.
With the plague becoming airborne, the mayor knows it’s only a matter of time before everyone becomes infected. What will the mayor do to protect his wife from the plague, and what becomes of the town?
Rating: 8.0/10.0
Review: I rated this an 8 because it’s fast paced story line. It could have been a bit longer, explaining how the plague came into existence but maybe that’s what part II will be about! I’ll recommend this book to any fan of the apocalyptic genre.
With the plague becoming airborne, the mayor knows it’s only a matter of time before everyone becomes infected. What will the mayor do to protect his wife from the plague, and what becomes of the town?
Rating: 8.0/10.0
Review: I rated this an 8 because it’s fast paced story line. It could have been a bit longer, explaining how the plague came into existence but maybe that’s what part II will be about! I’ll recommend this book to any fan of the apocalyptic genre.
April 6, 2013
I really liked this story. It was fast paced and interesting. Occasionally, the wording got confusing, like maybe the later drafts could have used a few more read-throughs before moving on to the final draft.
The story is fairly obvious by the title. It's about one city, ruled by a few different people, who have different agendas and ideas about how to handle the plague which is slowly destroying they're beloved city. It has a really cool ending and it's a great length. Just long enough that you get to know the characters, but not so long that you get bored or can't read it all in one sitting. I recommend it for fans of 28 Days Later (movie) or dystopian series like Divergent (it reminded me of this book because of the whole one city aspect).
The story is fairly obvious by the title. It's about one city, ruled by a few different people, who have different agendas and ideas about how to handle the plague which is slowly destroying they're beloved city. It has a really cool ending and it's a great length. Just long enough that you get to know the characters, but not so long that you get bored or can't read it all in one sitting. I recommend it for fans of 28 Days Later (movie) or dystopian series like Divergent (it reminded me of this book because of the whole one city aspect).
March 15, 2013
In this creepy short story Henry Coal is the mayor of a town stricken with a plague. He will do anything to save himself and his wife, even if that means killing other citizens.
I would be totally freaked out if I lived in this city, with people walking around sick. This story does show you nobody is above sickness.
I received this ebook thru a giveaway on library thing for an honest review. I enjoyed the story but wished it was a little bit longer. The author did do a good job in getting your attention from the start.
I would be totally freaked out if I lived in this city, with people walking around sick. This story does show you nobody is above sickness.
I received this ebook thru a giveaway on library thing for an honest review. I enjoyed the story but wished it was a little bit longer. The author did do a good job in getting your attention from the start.
April 11, 2013
Henry is the mayor of a town trying to keep a deadly plague from taking over the city. And he will use whatever means he needs to in order to protect himself and his wife from the disease.
A very short read, with a fast pace and a lot of moral questions to think about. Not to mention a surprise ending.
A very short read, with a fast pace and a lot of moral questions to think about. Not to mention a surprise ending.
May 31, 2013
I was given this book for a honest review: This book was really good. For such a short book (45 pages), it had a lot of punch!! The story was well written and kept me reading until it was done. I know, short book.....but I was reading while cooking dinner and paused only long enough to eat before diving back in to finish. Can't wait to see what part 2 is like.
July 29, 2014
*I won a free copy of this on LibraryThing in exchange for an unbiased review*
I liked this story. It was short and a good part one of a promising story. I loved Mama Ruthless and the things that this Plague does to your body is interesting. I will have to see where it goes.
I liked this story. It was short and a good part one of a promising story. I loved Mama Ruthless and the things that this Plague does to your body is interesting. I will have to see where it goes.
April 17, 2015
This story has a lot of promise. It was a good beginning to a cool concept, and the characters were very engaging. I'll have to read some more of this to see how much I like it, but the author's style was smooth and comfortable to read.
May 13, 2013
I got this one on Amazon and really enjoyed it.
July 4, 2013
An interesting little novelette. Well-written with characters that seem realistic, and has a real feel for the city and it's citizens. I quite enjoyed that and look forward to reading more.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews