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Lost DMB Files #26
Twitch and Die!:
If Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino had a book baby! "Forget emergency landing procedures. When reading Twitch and Die! all one can do is hold on for dear life." "If there was a top to be over, Twitch and Die! removed it completely with both terrible and electrifying results. I couldn't turn away." Reading entire novel in one sitting can result in fever, irrational bladder syndrome, and an insatiable urge to "Mess with Texas." Product Description Two populist Texan folk-heros, Chancho Villarreal and James Starr, embark on a mission of political endorsement, but what they find is a hill country rife with fear and rumor. A so-called Angel of Death is executing individuals infected by a terrible plague, and the company mining town at the epicenter has gone dark. It's up to Chancho and his worst enemy to navigate a world of shifting allegiances while uncovering the truth about a plague and its infected who refuse to die quietly. "Disguised as double-fisted pulp fiction, the Lost DMB Files resurrect a forgotten history. The life's work of author David Mark Brown, mysteriously disappeared in the 1930's, has only recently taken on new life surrounding the controversy that these "lost files" are more than mere fiction. Let the reader decide for her or himself." ~ Professor Jim Buckner Note from the Editor The Truth in History Society (THS), commonly known as lost file conspiracists, have beat their drum for nearly a dozen years. I, like most, ignored them. Unlike most, I was kidnapped. While initially ticked off by this, not getting exploded (another story altogether) ultimately balanced the scales. Since then I have rigorously set about curating and editing all known Lost DMB Files while maintaining as scientific of an approach to these pulpy stories as possible. Now I count myself among the zealous believers in their authenticity, not simply as pulp fiction, but as journalistic tales preserving historic fact. My promise to the reader is to seek out these Lost DMB files and present them to you unabridged and unaltered from their original intent for as long as I am able. I also vow to do my best to allow you to draw your own conclusions as to their historical value and contemporary commentary. (I'll refrain from my preachy tendencies as best I can!) Finally, be forewarned. Becoming lost in these "lost files" and the world they reconstruct is difficult to resist. May what once was lost be found. Professor Jim "Buck" Buckner All Currently Known Lost DMB Files (including assumed gaps) Reefer Ranger (#9) Del Rio Con Amor (#14) Fistful of Reefer (#17) The Austin Job (#18) Hell's Womb (#22) Get Doc Quick (#24) McCutchen's Bones (#25) Twitch and Die! (#26) Paraplegic Zombie Slayer (#35) Fourth Horseman (#43)
- GenresHorror
244 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2012
1 person is currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
David Mark Brown
50 books58 followersRaised in Central Texas, David Mark Brown learned to ride horses at a young age. Then learned to hate them after a disastrous attempt to impress a girlfriend. He was five.
Turning instead to a life of poetry and prose he eventually migrated north to the University of Montana (the Berkeley of the Rockies) and became the Redneck Granola.
Falling in love a chainsaw wielding mountain woman forced him to reconsider his chosen career path--Hemingway on a sailboat. Instead he illuminated the path of life to college students as a spiritual guide for over a dozen years while his wife (now a pharmacist) squirreled away enough acorns for David to embrace the sultry world of commercial fiction.
After legally snatching a little Vietnamese boy and creating another son via more natural means, the happy family settled in Idaho. David still rides horses, but only in black and never for fun.
Pull up a chair at www.thegreenporch.com, and I'll pour you some sweet tea.
Turning instead to a life of poetry and prose he eventually migrated north to the University of Montana (the Berkeley of the Rockies) and became the Redneck Granola.
Falling in love a chainsaw wielding mountain woman forced him to reconsider his chosen career path--Hemingway on a sailboat. Instead he illuminated the path of life to college students as a spiritual guide for over a dozen years while his wife (now a pharmacist) squirreled away enough acorns for David to embrace the sultry world of commercial fiction.
After legally snatching a little Vietnamese boy and creating another son via more natural means, the happy family settled in Idaho. David still rides horses, but only in black and never for fun.
Pull up a chair at www.thegreenporch.com, and I'll pour you some sweet tea.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 16, 2012
Dark goings-on are afoot in David Mark Brown’s alternate-history Texas. Actually a lot of them are going on *under*foot because the twitcher outbreak that’s the focus of this story takes place in a mining community. If you’re claustrophobic, you might find some of the underground scenes tricky — best seek medical advice before reading this novel.
Several different forces are at work here in this novel, each with their own agenda, with alliances and betrayals enough to keep you on your toes, but not enough to confuse you. The various parties are sucked into the outbreak of a strange disease in a mining town. Supposedly dead people look suspiciously similar to the ‘twitchers’ who have infested the town (or possibly liberated it, depending on your point of view).
I read an earlier book in the series: A Fistful of Reefer. I thoroughly enjoyed that book with its wide-open vistas and possibilities. Twitch and Die! has more of a close-up feel. The characters are dark and brooding; there’s a little less sense of wild adventure and more hopelessness. Dark it might be, but the author still has plenty of scenes of humor, exuberance and even romance, without them feeling tacked on.
This is a fully standalone novel, and yet I enjoy the big picture in the background: big ideas and long-running plot- and character-development. There are many more stores in this series, and one is bundled with this book: McCutchen’s Bones, which is a novella from the perspective of the Texas Ranger character, or ex-ranger by the time of the story. It’s a good tale in its own right and illustrates how the author is adept at taking his setting and his principal characters and using them to write very different tales.
Several different forces are at work here in this novel, each with their own agenda, with alliances and betrayals enough to keep you on your toes, but not enough to confuse you. The various parties are sucked into the outbreak of a strange disease in a mining town. Supposedly dead people look suspiciously similar to the ‘twitchers’ who have infested the town (or possibly liberated it, depending on your point of view).
I read an earlier book in the series: A Fistful of Reefer. I thoroughly enjoyed that book with its wide-open vistas and possibilities. Twitch and Die! has more of a close-up feel. The characters are dark and brooding; there’s a little less sense of wild adventure and more hopelessness. Dark it might be, but the author still has plenty of scenes of humor, exuberance and even romance, without them feeling tacked on.
This is a fully standalone novel, and yet I enjoy the big picture in the background: big ideas and long-running plot- and character-development. There are many more stores in this series, and one is bundled with this book: McCutchen’s Bones, which is a novella from the perspective of the Texas Ranger character, or ex-ranger by the time of the story. It’s a good tale in its own right and illustrates how the author is adept at taking his setting and his principal characters and using them to write very different tales.
July 17, 2012
The Lost DMB Files series has really been a pleasant surprise, as I am not generally a big fan of westerns nor zombie stories, and frankly I thought it would be an awkward combination. However, I found the pulpy feel and the alt history angle ultimately put the series in a genre by itself. I was hooked from the first volume I read (McCutchen's Bones), and Twitch and Die is a heartening example of a series that keeps getting better.
Brown draws some interesting characters, and pulls some terse but realistic dialogue out of them. I was also impressed with how he handles dialects, which can be just awful if done badly. And the attention to detail is first-rate, descriptive, but never tedious.
Whoever described this book as "if Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino had a book baby!" nailed it, although I'd probably throw George Romero in there for good measure. It's intelligently written (as any truly good Western must be), but with the campy gore of a good zombie story. The characters are at once larger than life, and yet all too human. The zombies are impeccably mindless and implacable. The tension is nearly continuous and punctuated with some pretty graphic violence. It's a thrill ride, plain and simple.
Brown draws some interesting characters, and pulls some terse but realistic dialogue out of them. I was also impressed with how he handles dialects, which can be just awful if done badly. And the attention to detail is first-rate, descriptive, but never tedious.
Whoever described this book as "if Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino had a book baby!" nailed it, although I'd probably throw George Romero in there for good measure. It's intelligently written (as any truly good Western must be), but with the campy gore of a good zombie story. The characters are at once larger than life, and yet all too human. The zombies are impeccably mindless and implacable. The tension is nearly continuous and punctuated with some pretty graphic violence. It's a thrill ride, plain and simple.
May 19, 2012
Full disclosure - I was a beta reader for David and received no compensation other than a free PDF of the final version.
"Twitch ad Die!" is the latest installment in David Mark Brown’s "Lost DMB Files" series of novels. It builds on the two previous novels bringing back the main characters and throwing them once again into the line of fire. I also had the pleasure of beta reading the first two: "Fistful of Reefer" and "The Austin Job" and I recommend both of these prior stories as well. While each is a stand alone novel, they are a quick read and it is a joy to watch the characters develop in David's hands across each story.
"Twitch and Die!" centers around a dead mining town, the abandoned homes of the rich perched on an overlooking hill, and the murky depths of the mines beneath. Northern Texas in the early 20th century provides enough civilization and unsettled wilderness across which David splashes the blood of the living, and as the name would imply, the dead reanimated by a mysterious plague nicknamed "Twitch." Chancho, the motorcycle Mexican, accompanied by the stunning Chloe O'Brien and his fellow Texas State Senator James Starr are called upon to investigate the source of the mysterious disease and find a way to stop it if they can. Their journey inevitably leads them to the horrible truth of the disease and the dark purpose for which it was created. Along the way, Chancho faces his old nemesis Ranger McCutchen and continues to struggle with his feelings toward Chloe.
Death, dispair, greedy corporations, evil company goons, politics, old demons, and double crosses provide enough interesting detail to prevent David's work from slipping into a dull and predictable hack and slash monster novel. This particular story’s nearly post-apocalyptic setting struck a chord with me through the vivid descriptions David has created. His character development continues to be strong amidst a good story.
I enjoyed David's "Twitch and Die!" and eagerly look forward to the next book in the series.
"Twitch ad Die!" is the latest installment in David Mark Brown’s "Lost DMB Files" series of novels. It builds on the two previous novels bringing back the main characters and throwing them once again into the line of fire. I also had the pleasure of beta reading the first two: "Fistful of Reefer" and "The Austin Job" and I recommend both of these prior stories as well. While each is a stand alone novel, they are a quick read and it is a joy to watch the characters develop in David's hands across each story.
"Twitch and Die!" centers around a dead mining town, the abandoned homes of the rich perched on an overlooking hill, and the murky depths of the mines beneath. Northern Texas in the early 20th century provides enough civilization and unsettled wilderness across which David splashes the blood of the living, and as the name would imply, the dead reanimated by a mysterious plague nicknamed "Twitch." Chancho, the motorcycle Mexican, accompanied by the stunning Chloe O'Brien and his fellow Texas State Senator James Starr are called upon to investigate the source of the mysterious disease and find a way to stop it if they can. Their journey inevitably leads them to the horrible truth of the disease and the dark purpose for which it was created. Along the way, Chancho faces his old nemesis Ranger McCutchen and continues to struggle with his feelings toward Chloe.
Death, dispair, greedy corporations, evil company goons, politics, old demons, and double crosses provide enough interesting detail to prevent David's work from slipping into a dull and predictable hack and slash monster novel. This particular story’s nearly post-apocalyptic setting struck a chord with me through the vivid descriptions David has created. His character development continues to be strong amidst a good story.
I enjoyed David's "Twitch and Die!" and eagerly look forward to the next book in the series.
April 17, 2012
As the author, I'm really excited about this third novel length Lost DMB File (in combination with six shorts and a novella). This marks the beginning of the final phase of my Texicas alternate history universe. By December of this year the first near future novel (DMB Files) within the same timeline will be available. And all these wonderful "lost" files will bring to life the forgotten history of the Texicas universe as artifacts within the new thriller series.
But, the Lost DMB Files are much more than artifacts within another series of stories! Twitch and Die! is pulse-pounding weird-western pulp stealing a page from grindhouse flicks (toned down for broader consumption). Enjoy the show! (coming June 1st, 2012)
But, the Lost DMB Files are much more than artifacts within another series of stories! Twitch and Die! is pulse-pounding weird-western pulp stealing a page from grindhouse flicks (toned down for broader consumption). Enjoy the show! (coming June 1st, 2012)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews