More like Zombie Fallout

[Saturnfx]

So, finished book 6 of Zombie fallout.

Initially I wasn't going to read it.
I just got off Stephen Knight's fantastic set (the gathering dead series). Serious, some decent humor, but was anything but a comedy series..very military, very good, but was more of a view on military specops than any engaging char dev.
From that I went to D.J. Molles The remaining..which was brutal and I don't think the guy even cracked a smile once in two books...all business there.

So, when I opened book one and got a earful(eyefull) of a peephole licking zombie, I shut the book for a couple weeks, finally out of sheer boredom I gave it a chance..and I was totally converted into his writing style...

Now that I am done the series (although I don't believe the series is done as there are too many cliffhangers and unanswered questions) I am sort of hooked on that level of character development, personality, and even humor.

So...what is a similar feeling for a good z-book. Short of reading the other titles by Tufo (I will one day read his other stuff, indian hill and whatnot, but on the zed kick for now), what would be classified in the same general feel as those books?

I heard something about a couple hitchhiking girls?

Oh, and I read the Chesser books...it was neither here nor there for me...was alright, but the "bad guys" were a bit too Dr. Evil bad for me...and he interjected his political ideology a bit too much for my liking...also his conspiracy theories were a bit simple (I am active in a conspiracy forum..the skeptic, but still. He could have done more research if he was going for that..also, his characters all seemed a bit grumpy moreso than anything else).

Oh, I also read the staplemark stuff, WWZ, etc. Looking for a good, amusing, bit scary, and humorous series while I sit outside of Tufo's house and pull a "misery" on him to finish the series

[Kevin]

They're are a lot of great zombie novels out there to try out, and certainly a smorgasbord of styles and takes on the genre.

I've been a zombie book reviewer for awhile and I have read a crapload of zombie fiction, like you can't even imagine. I've seen a lot of bad ones, but there are some out there that are very good.
Characters are probably the key element to good zombie fiction and another thing is trying to give the entire book a whole new feel, such as finding a way to come up with a plot different from everything else out there. Too many people are trying to write zombie stories based around their own survivalist-vision of how they would respond to the Z-poc, and because of this the market is being flooded with all these sub-par stories.
Once in awhile you'll find a book that was written because the author had an original idea, and not a book soley written just to brush the author's survivalist ego. I've read a lot of zombie books that basically sounded like the author was yelling into my ear: "Hey! I'm perfect, and this is how I'm going to turn into Chuck Norris when the zombies come along". Okay, that's a big dramatic, but you get the deal.

A few great zombie books would be the Eden series by Tony Monchinski. What makes the series excellent is that most of the characters are rough around the edges, and they are certainly not saints. The dialogue is clever and it's a good overall series with a plot that's very hard to predict.
Iain McKinnon's Domain of the Dead and Remains of the Dead are excellent zombie books that are very well written. Again, the stories are great because the characters are far from perfect and they are a little gruff, but not too much that it overshadows their personalities.
The Return Man by V. M. Zito is another excellent novel. The main character seems a bit Chuck Norris-esque at times (moreso considering that this man was a doctor in the previous life) but the overall story and character development is very good. The writing is also top-notch.
Rot and Ruin is another solid series by Jonathan Maberry and it has some stellar character growth and plotline. It's a slow burn but it really delivers a great story and you give a damn about the characters.
If you like something that is way "out-there", I would advise David Wellington's infamous Monster Island trilogy if you like a bit of fantasy mixed in with your zombies. This series jump-started my love for the genre because it was fun to read.
If you want a great book that is well-written and displays great characters, I would go with Richard Cochran's Waiting to Die, a great zombie novel.
There are a few more but sometimes they are good to discover first-hand.
Also, I'm nearly finished Zombie Fallout and it is a lot of fun to read.

[Ricky]

Saturnfx wrote: "So, finished book 6 of Zombie fallout.

Initially I wasn't going to read it.
I just got off Stephen Knight's fantastic set (the gathering dead series). Serious, some decent humor, but was anything..."

I wrote a little story called Chemical Z, which I tried to inject some humour into, but one person's humour is another's disgust or disappointment. I also had to tone down a lot of the cursing. Being scottish, I often use the F-word in place of a comma.

It's set in an old tenement building in Scotland where the zombie outbreak starts. There are a few other characters in this journal-type story: the girlfriend and...well, best not tell the full story, eh?

I'm currently waiting for the follow up novel to be finalised.

It's just a suggestion (curse this 8inch android keyboard)

Ricky Kay.

[Kristin (Blood,Sweat and Books)]

You could try David Moody's Autumn series or Joe McKinney's Dead series.

Have you tried The Hollow's series by Amanda Hocking. It's only two books atm but still very good.