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Shayne's Supernaturals #7
Zombies! A Love Story
When vegan, organic food-loving Suz returns to her hometown amid the red rocks of Arizona, everything has changed. Her mother has morphed from a wilting wallflower into a gun wielding sharpshooter. The Frankenfood corporation she most loves to hate has built a processing plant on the edge of town. And her nerdy high school sweetheart has come home a card carrying hunk, making her plan to let him down easy a little harder to carry out. But the biggest change Bloody Gulch faces doesn’t happen until the middle of her first night home, when something starts clawing at her window.
78 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 29, 2013
14 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Shayne
258 books2,577 followersI live in the teeny, tiny town of Taylor, NY, (Alliteration Alert!) though my mailing address is Cincinnatus, my telephone exchange is Truxton and I pay taxes and vote in Cuyler. All of these are at least in the same rural county in the southern hills of New York State; Cortland County. There are more cattle than people here. The nearest “big” cities are Syracuse and Binghamton and they are an hour away, in different directions, and not really all that big by most standards, though they both seem humongous to me. I look out my window to see rolling, green, thickly forested hills, wildflower laden meadows and wide open blue, blue skies. My road is barely paved. The nearest neighboring place is a 700 acre dairy farm.
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 5, 2013
While I wouldn't classify this as my most favorite Maggie Shayne book, I would say that it was enjoyable to read. It was a overall good story and people who love zombie stories will no doubt love this short story. Reading this makes you think about a lot of things in the world today that you just never know what the ramifications might be in "altering" genetic codes of things.
November 3, 2013
very good and a lot of fun.. small town story..with a possible could happen twist..hopefully this will be book 1 of more to come. will make me think twice before having that bag of potato chips..
December 5, 2013
I am a big fan of Maggie Shayne and have been for years but when I first saw the title I wasn't sure how zombies and a love story would go together. It is a wonderfully written short story and the ending leaves the opening for more books to follow if she so desires. And a handsome buff genius geek as the hero doesn't hurt at all. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it and will definitely be looking at my chips more closely after reading this story. Way to go Maggie. I loved it.
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December 29, 2013Zombies, A Love Story by Maggie Shayne
I loved this story but I wish it had been longer. I haven't jumped on the Zombie bandwagon but if they were all like this I would.
I really liked the characters and the way they solved the problem was great.
I loved this story but I wish it had been longer. I haven't jumped on the Zombie bandwagon but if they were all like this I would.
I really liked the characters and the way they solved the problem was great.
October 20, 2013
C'mon, it's that time of the year!! eek
October 31, 2013
Great short story. A few editorial issues in the Kobo edition. I thought it was really good, would like to see more!
October 21, 2014
Fun read. Perfect for this time of year.
January 3, 2026
Fun short
I really like Maggie Shayne's writing and have been enjoying these short stories. This zombie one was fun and I loved the characters and the storyline.
I really like Maggie Shayne's writing and have been enjoying these short stories. This zombie one was fun and I loved the characters and the storyline.
November 14, 2013
This is a VERY short story about Suzy and Chuck, childhood friends and high-school sweethearts from the same small time in Bloody Gulch, Arizona. They are all grown up now and both happen to be home when their friends and neighbors turn into zombies after eating genetically enhanced potato chips. They end up killing all the zombies in town, and torch the potato field where the enhanced potatoes are being grown. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen in time to stop the potatoes from pollinating. So, the zombie problem wasn't contained after all. That's where the story ends. You don't know how the world survives this Zombie Apocalypse. I hope that Ms. Shayne is going to write a sequel to this one. While good, it leaves you hanging. And it reads like a regular fiction short story, there is no romance (just an FYI).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2013
It was just ok. The idea of how the zombies came about wasn't particularly unique, and the lead characters were just alright. I was annoyed that Suz would have her head turned away from what she initially said were pretty strong beliefs simply because her ex/boyfriend had great abs.
Other authors have done the not -their-usual-genre zombie novella so much better - John Green springs to mind.
Other authors have done the not -their-usual-genre zombie novella so much better - John Green springs to mind.
November 25, 2013
I love Zombies!! So when I saw that my favorite author wrote a zombie story I was excited. I am a series reader so once in awhile I like to throw in a stand alone while I am waiting for the next in a series or to break up all the series I read. This was the perfect short story to do that for me. I thought the pace of it was great and I loved the detail Maggie put into it. The concept of how the zombies came about was different but made sense to me. The only reason I gave it 4 1/2 stars instead of 5 was that it was to short for me and I would have loved for it to keep going :)
April 27, 2014
Are you a fan of old zombie movies? The Walking Dead?
If you are this novella is a must read! Join the population of Bloody Gulch as they try to survive an outbreak that turns into a full- blown zombie apocalypse. The blood and gore will keep you turning pages until the very end. The zombies are great, but like the title says at its heart this is a love story! Will Suzy & Chuck survive the zombie apocalypse long enough to realize they love they share? Guess you will have to read it and find out!!
If you are this novella is a must read! Join the population of Bloody Gulch as they try to survive an outbreak that turns into a full- blown zombie apocalypse. The blood and gore will keep you turning pages until the very end. The zombies are great, but like the title says at its heart this is a love story! Will Suzy & Chuck survive the zombie apocalypse long enough to realize they love they share? Guess you will have to read it and find out!!
March 7, 2016
Soso
I usually love books by Maggie Shayne but this one was not as good as the other's I've read and I have read .many. I even thought someone else wrote it. Sorry Maggy I love your books but I am honest and this one I did not Love.
I usually love books by Maggie Shayne but this one was not as good as the other's I've read and I have read .many. I even thought someone else wrote it. Sorry Maggy I love your books but I am honest and this one I did not Love.
July 26, 2016
Super fun and unique, Maggie delivers another fun tale with Zombies! A love story.
-Full review coming very soon...
-Full review coming very soon...
January 7, 2014
Zombies aren't my thing, but this was a quick, fun read. I could totally see this being an episode if Twilight Zone! ;)
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February 2, 2014Zombies!
This was a very good story. I liked the GMO's being responsible for this small-town zombie apocolypse. Very scary yet gets the brain thinking...
This was a very good story. I liked the GMO's being responsible for this small-town zombie apocolypse. Very scary yet gets the brain thinking...
October 25, 2014
Entertaining novella from Maggie Shayne.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews