Fire Birds

by Shane Gregory

For weeks, the town’s museum director has fought the undead and has believed that he was Clayfield’s sole survivor. But when odd things begin to happen, it becomes clear that other healthy people are around. A friend shows up unexpectedly full of trouble and secrets, and they are not alone. Another group of survivors brings even more secrets and conflict.

And then there’s Bruce, the new guy in Clayfield. Bruce likes the zombie apocalypse just fine. He gets to be the person he could not be before the outbreak. He is in Clayfield looking for fun, but his brand of fun could destroy the town.

Enemies must tolerate each other out of necessity, and friendships are tested. One person in the group of survivors knows something that the others do not: The rumors are true; something bad is definitely coming to Clayfield, and there could be no way to stop it and nowhere to hide.

“Shane Gregory has an engaging writing style that draws you in, comfortably, until you can't back out of the scary, driving climax.” - Briar Lee Mitchell, author of Apparitions

Genres: Zombies, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction

340 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2013

Reviews

[Shana Festa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our main character, let's call him Mr. X for the sake of the review, begins shortly after book 2 leaves off. Mr. X is alone, having lost Jen early on (thank god...I still think she was a whiny bitch) and now Sara. In his efforts to clear out Clayfield, he comes across a disturbing amount of decapitated heads and a collection of yellow cars. And then, by sheer luck, he finds Sara, returned from Biloxi to find him. But Sara isn't alone...she's got a new boyfriend (WTF?! Apparently two months in an apocalypse is longer than real time) and another couple with her. So, we've got ourselves quite the love triangle. Grant, Sara's new beau, is a loose cannon. His immaturity and failure to accept losing Sara to Mr. X causes a chain of events that lead to the death of some of their own.

Mr. X goes from a one man show to quite the collection of wackos. I don't know what it is about Shane Gregory, but he has a knack for writing women that I hate from a visceral level. Sara, once an innocent, likable character, transformed into quite the skank while on sabbatical from Mr. X.

No King of Clayfield book would be complete without a major psycho, and Bruce Lee delivers on a grand scale. His Bipolar personality had me laughing, then cringing, then laughing again. What's a little cos-play among crazies, right? Caring less about people and more about Star Trek memorabilia, I thought to myself "Man, Mr. X should blow that mother-effer up with his little toys."

I enjoyed the double entendre of the title "Fire Birds". Whether intentional or purely accidental, it worked for me. It's always fun to find little Easter eggs. I also really appreciated that Shane brought back a character we had seen early on. And, surprisingly enough, I actually LIKE Cheryl! Hopefully she doesn't go into full skank mode and tear that first impression from me.

To sum things up, I was excited to get my hands on Fire Birds. It had been a good chunk of time since reading the first two installments, but I didn't need any refreshers. Shane has written some really unique tidbits into his version of the apocalypse that make The King of Clayfield stand out among others in the genre. His work evokes a strong opinion in me and invites me into it's pages in such a way that I feel a connection to it's characters. I adore it's originality and will definitely stalk him for more. Five stars to Fire Birds from The Bookie Monster. In hindsight, I wonder if I had read the books in order (I read book two before book one) if I would have awarded them five stars as well. I get it now. Shane Gregory's books have earned their place in my heart and obviously, my blog.

Want to read my full review? Visit www.bookie-monster.com

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Urg!! 3.5/5 rounded down. This basically took all my complaints about the first two books and ran with them. My main concern to this point is that much of the plot is driven by stupidity. In general, the main character acts first and thinks later. This works great if you're primarily dealing with zombies, but not so great if you're dealing with people, which is more of the focus in this one. There's a lot of our museum director losing his temper and raging at the various people that happen to be around him, which is rarely the smartest reaction. I liked the ending well enough, but hated most of the plot twists that it took to get us there.

Serious Spoiler Mode: Oh my god. 1. Thanks for proving that Sara was in fact filler, by treating her like filler. She's the nice empty spot that goes between Jen and Cheryl. This is SO Death of the Hypotenuse. You've basically made the point that MC probably didn't really know Sara at all, and then had her horrifically killed, which leads to point 2. The Plot Reaper: Fortunately Sara's death is so foul that the group is forced to chase her killer, which leads to only one death, Oh right, Andrew, the only thing that's really standing between our MC and permanently joining the group that has that really nice set up at the airport. Sigh. 3. If MC had been acting not like a raging wild ape, the moment he spotted Brian's car, he should have clamped his mouth down, and maybe quietly invited Cheryl to join him later, instead he shouts and burns his bridges as well as he can around Sommerville. Idiot. 4. Speaking of dumb moves, the most egregious was the whole Julio burial. You have a shovel, put it though his brain, please. Christine will never know, and therefore will not be traumatized by either his desecration or his eventual reanimation, and therefore she will not subsequently trash your house, forcing Sara to go on her wild quest. Just blah.

And what I did like. I like that the zombies are dying out. Yay for science making a logical stop in for once. They're clearly rotting, how could they be eternally preserved? I'm always wierded out when we're ten years after the fact and there seems to be no end to zombies in sight. Speaking of, I was really entertained about how blase all the characters have become about zombies, not so much carelessness, but just that they're no longer the primary threat and are generally easily managed. Also, yay, for finding out about Blaine. Anyone else think that Blaine is the author? Their names rhyme, they both live on a farm with a wife, two kids, and chickens...which means he totally turned himself into a zombie. LOL


One small, non-spoiler complaint, the editing, which has been amazing to this point was a bit shabbier than the previous books. I spotted a "taught" for "taut," and a sentence that had a s-v agreement issue that left it not making any sense. Since these had previously been very solid grammatically, I have to say I was disappointed.

I'm still glad I read the series, but I wish the last entry had been stronger.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't read the previous books in a while, but it didn't really matter that much. While I did enjoy reading this book, it was severely lacking in zombie action (if that's the point of the series). It was almost entirely focused on survivor interactions - good and bad - among the apocalypse survivors. There were some darkly humorous episodes and a couple of surprises so it was worth reading for me to complete the series, but I can't say that I am longing for more.

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turned out to be a very good story. Good characters with plenty of life left in them for additional novels. I hope he continues writing. I'll look for more from him.

[Vikas Jadon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Book

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been downright enthralled with these KING OF CLAYFIELD novels. In a genre that's crowded, to say the least, what we have here in these fast paced novels is memorable stuff and a worthy addition to the better body of zombie survival/horror fiction. FIRE BIRDS, the third and final (?)installment in this series finds our hero, No Name Museum curator, once more trying to figure out how to survive in his post-apocalyptic hometown of Clayfield, KY. At the opening of FIRE BIRDS, he is alone and it's eating at him. However, for good or ill, that loneliness doesn't last. What follows are a series of brutal misadventures and miscommunications that leave him and his fellow survivors one step ahead of joining the ranks of the living dead.

The characters, their motives, and how they interact with one another are very well realized in all three novels, but Shane Gregory outdoes himself with this concluding volume. Zombies, psychopaths, church girls gone bad and a particularly clingy frat boy who calls everyone, "bro," make for a memorable read in the land of the living dead. We're talking actin and adventure, life and death struggles, and cosplay gone so very wrong, it has to be experienced.

It is my fervent hope that Gregory will return the readers to Clayfield, KY sometime soon, so that we may see how the intrepid Museum curator has fared.

[Deanndra Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third and last installment in the King of Clayfield series, and it didn't disappoint. I'd been waiting for this book, and I devoured it pretty quickly.

As a reader, it met or exceeded my expectations. Once again, the story was told in a way that completely engaged me, and I couldn't stop until I'd finished it. I'm not into spoilers, but I have to say that the one character I wanted to know more about, I lost. I wasn't too happy about that. But it all worked out in the end, and I was satisfied with the ending. Well, almost. I was sad to see the series come to a close. If Mr. Gregory has any inclination to continue it, I'll keep buying them if he'll keep writing them.

As a writer, I was pleased with the continuity, the character development, and the pacing. I was somewhat dismayed, however, that from the hands of a professional editor I found more errors than in the previous two books. None of them detracted from the story, but it was a little surprising. It was still a quality read, however, and I was very happy with it overall.

I'm hoping Mr. Gregory does some other genre work in the near future. I'd be curious, and very happy, to see what he could come up with. And if you haven't read this series, get started.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm finished with this one and I loved every bit of it! PLEASE tell me there is more after this one!! I usually don't read sequels, ever, but his zombie books are the best I've ever read in this genre, and I don't want them to end! I've read the first two, started this one, and I didn't want it to end. Nearing the end I was shocked and sad, but I'll stop because I don't want to give anything away....It's THAT good!

[Thia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part three in a series - you must read the first two before this one. I just like this author and characters. It's a little slower than the books I usually like but if you are a zombie lover this one is worth your time. It's a very accurate portrayal of what you think would happen in small town USA after the zombie apocalypse. Solid story, characters, and narrator.

[Ellen Mandly]

5 stars -- I sure burned through this series! Turns out this is a trilogy, so I'm done with the saga of Clayfield - I loved it! Great post-apocalyptic series! I'll definitely be reading more Shane Gregory in the future - Two thumbs up!!

[Sonia Rudolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series!!!