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The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story
Honor. Justice. Brains.
Perched on the border between civilized ghoulkind and the chaos of the barbaric slickskins, the zombie sheriff must rescue his kidnapped friends from the dastardly McFarland and his notorious gang of outlaws. He assembles a posse of the most talented zombies around, including Mungo, a zombie chef interested in locally sourced ingredients, Bub, a barber whose enormous strength somewhat makes up for his complete lack of intelligence, and Dr. Callahan, a would-be pacifist who reattaches misplaced limbs with gusto.
As the posse tracks McFarland, they soon realize that they themselves are being pursued. The ever-courteous Abernathy Jones, as quick with his business cards as he is with his deadly cane, is out to settle an old score from the sheriff’s pre-zombie past, though exactly what he wants is anyone’s guess.
Even more troubling, the sheriff begins to hear rumors that the true reason for his friends’ abduction is to provide test subjects for the sadistic experiments of the mysterious Dr. Gimmler-Heichman.
The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story is the absurd, tongue-through-cheek tale of reanimated cowboys, undying love, and the lengths to which one zombie will go for justice. And for brains.
Perched on the border between civilized ghoulkind and the chaos of the barbaric slickskins, the zombie sheriff must rescue his kidnapped friends from the dastardly McFarland and his notorious gang of outlaws. He assembles a posse of the most talented zombies around, including Mungo, a zombie chef interested in locally sourced ingredients, Bub, a barber whose enormous strength somewhat makes up for his complete lack of intelligence, and Dr. Callahan, a would-be pacifist who reattaches misplaced limbs with gusto.
As the posse tracks McFarland, they soon realize that they themselves are being pursued. The ever-courteous Abernathy Jones, as quick with his business cards as he is with his deadly cane, is out to settle an old score from the sheriff’s pre-zombie past, though exactly what he wants is anyone’s guess.
Even more troubling, the sheriff begins to hear rumors that the true reason for his friends’ abduction is to provide test subjects for the sadistic experiments of the mysterious Dr. Gimmler-Heichman.
The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story is the absurd, tongue-through-cheek tale of reanimated cowboys, undying love, and the lengths to which one zombie will go for justice. And for brains.
283 pages, Paperback
First published February 20, 2015
4 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Brian South
1 book7 followersBrian South grew up in Ohio, moved to Indiana, and finally settled in Illinois. He'll go wherever a good story takes him, be it the next state over, the comic book store, the humor section, or even the wild world of zombie fiction. He holds a BA in English from the University of Notre Dame, where he won the Richard T. Sullivan Award for fiction writing, as well as a Masters in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University. He lives in the Chicago area with his three sons, Finnegan, Sawyer, and Oliver.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 6, 2015
LOL! I truly enjoyed this book. Zombies and humans living side-by-side, each trying to eradicate the other. This tale is told from an Old West perspective but with some modern day sensibilities thrown in. It's hilarious! My favorite part is listening to the zombies have these very intelligent conversations. They speak Zombese. It's great!
October 12, 2015
mr. south is a cool beans
January 24, 2016
This book had me hooked and laughing from the very beginning. The world the Brian South has created is that of zombies, referred to as ‘ghouls’ by uninfected humans, while they are called, ‘slickskins’ by the ghouls.
The story takes place in Arizona, where we find the protagonist, a ghoul with no name that everyone refers to as the sheriff. He doesn’t remember his own name, but the tin star on his vest tells him who he was, or is. He’s after a slickskin named, MacFarland, who is a known killer of ghouls.
Along the way, the sheriff meets a group of fellow ghouls known as ‘Chester’s Brigade’, a zombie vigilante squad that has been formed to take their fight to the slickskins, whom they see as the aggressive species.
I haven’t laughed so much while reading a book since “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. The humor is thick with references to pop culture, ‘slickskin’ pop culture, that is, and the characters are very well and gruesomely described.
To add to the sheriff’s problems, a slickskin by the name of Abernathy Jones tracks him. They were friends in the sheriff’s former life. The sheriff finds another nemesis in the likes of the ‘evil’ Dr. Gimmler-Heichman, a man that has devised a ‘cure’ for ghoulishness.
I couldn’t stop smiling while I read this, even while limbs and heads went flying and the blood and gore flowed like rainwater. South’s got a talent for humor in the most gruesome of situations, and I sure hope that a sequel is coming soon. 5 of 5 stars from me.
The story takes place in Arizona, where we find the protagonist, a ghoul with no name that everyone refers to as the sheriff. He doesn’t remember his own name, but the tin star on his vest tells him who he was, or is. He’s after a slickskin named, MacFarland, who is a known killer of ghouls.
Along the way, the sheriff meets a group of fellow ghouls known as ‘Chester’s Brigade’, a zombie vigilante squad that has been formed to take their fight to the slickskins, whom they see as the aggressive species.
I haven’t laughed so much while reading a book since “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. The humor is thick with references to pop culture, ‘slickskin’ pop culture, that is, and the characters are very well and gruesomely described.
To add to the sheriff’s problems, a slickskin by the name of Abernathy Jones tracks him. They were friends in the sheriff’s former life. The sheriff finds another nemesis in the likes of the ‘evil’ Dr. Gimmler-Heichman, a man that has devised a ‘cure’ for ghoulishness.
I couldn’t stop smiling while I read this, even while limbs and heads went flying and the blood and gore flowed like rainwater. South’s got a talent for humor in the most gruesome of situations, and I sure hope that a sequel is coming soon. 5 of 5 stars from me.
March 7, 2016
My original THE ZOMBIE SHERIFF TAKES TUCSON audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
For the most part, in the genre of Zombies, they are supposed to be single-minded, brain and flesh seekers and eaters. Mostly anyway! Brian South creates a new world where the zombies are actually the victims of a gang of bounty hunting outlaws who hunt zombies for their leader to experiment on. Add in the old west, a famous (now a zombie) lawman, and a town of ghouls. The Sheriff gathers the most skillful “zombie” town residents together and they go after Chester’s Brigade and McFarland – humans who hunt and kill zombies for sport and money. Jezebel, a female zombie who is being held prisoner for the experiments by the humans captures the heart of the sheriff who is driven to find her and rescue her.
South does an excellent job of building up each character both main and not as they all play an important role. Vivid in his descriptions one cannot help but be sucked into the tale and see what is developing with each page. South draws the reader in with his ability to tell a story with vivid rich imagery. By the time you finish the book it is as if you have actually met and rode with the characters.
The plot is that of an old western – save the girl and the town while ridding the world of the bad guys. That’s it though! There’s no question of saving the world or beating back hordes of zombies to survive. These zombies don’t really bother slick-skins except to serve them up as delicacies!
This is a wonderful tale of zombies – light, fun and witty. Taking the theme of the old spaghetti westerns – sheriff vs the bad guys, rescues the damsel and the town – and mixing it with the zombie genre one has a delightful tale that captures the imagination and tickles the funny bone. Imagine zombies on horses! How do they ride them without eating them? Lots of willpower and even then it’s not always doable.
This book was enjoyable for several reasons – a new approach on zombies, the zombies being personified giving one a glimpse into who they once were and are now, how easily it is for humans to attack and kill things they do not understand, and that there is even love among the walking dead!
If you are looking for a horror filled, flesh ripping zombie book – this is not it. South does not explain how the zombies came to be or why there is even a town of them left to lurk in or the lack of Native American Indians. He does however explain how zombies understand one another – the language of zombies is zombie-eese.
The narrator, Rich Miller, was good as he kept the book flowing with an easy tone. His pronunciation was solid and his voices were ok. Not many men can do female voices well.
There were no issues with production.
A must read!!!!
Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.
For the most part, in the genre of Zombies, they are supposed to be single-minded, brain and flesh seekers and eaters. Mostly anyway! Brian South creates a new world where the zombies are actually the victims of a gang of bounty hunting outlaws who hunt zombies for their leader to experiment on. Add in the old west, a famous (now a zombie) lawman, and a town of ghouls. The Sheriff gathers the most skillful “zombie” town residents together and they go after Chester’s Brigade and McFarland – humans who hunt and kill zombies for sport and money. Jezebel, a female zombie who is being held prisoner for the experiments by the humans captures the heart of the sheriff who is driven to find her and rescue her.
South does an excellent job of building up each character both main and not as they all play an important role. Vivid in his descriptions one cannot help but be sucked into the tale and see what is developing with each page. South draws the reader in with his ability to tell a story with vivid rich imagery. By the time you finish the book it is as if you have actually met and rode with the characters.
The plot is that of an old western – save the girl and the town while ridding the world of the bad guys. That’s it though! There’s no question of saving the world or beating back hordes of zombies to survive. These zombies don’t really bother slick-skins except to serve them up as delicacies!
This is a wonderful tale of zombies – light, fun and witty. Taking the theme of the old spaghetti westerns – sheriff vs the bad guys, rescues the damsel and the town – and mixing it with the zombie genre one has a delightful tale that captures the imagination and tickles the funny bone. Imagine zombies on horses! How do they ride them without eating them? Lots of willpower and even then it’s not always doable.
This book was enjoyable for several reasons – a new approach on zombies, the zombies being personified giving one a glimpse into who they once were and are now, how easily it is for humans to attack and kill things they do not understand, and that there is even love among the walking dead!
If you are looking for a horror filled, flesh ripping zombie book – this is not it. South does not explain how the zombies came to be or why there is even a town of them left to lurk in or the lack of Native American Indians. He does however explain how zombies understand one another – the language of zombies is zombie-eese.
The narrator, Rich Miller, was good as he kept the book flowing with an easy tone. His pronunciation was solid and his voices were ok. Not many men can do female voices well.
There were no issues with production.
A must read!!!!
Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews