The Book of the Dead

[Addy]

This will be starting on Wednesday in case anyone else wants to join. So far it's Addy, Adamus, and Terry. I was thinking we could do a story a day since it's an anthology. What do u guys think?

[Terry]

I think we could manage a story a day, so sounds good to me.

[Randy]

I wish it was available on the Kindle. I read it when it first came out and have fond memories of it.

[Addy]

That's awesome Rand. That means we're in for a treat!

[~ Lei ~ Reading Is An Adventure ~]

Randy wrote: "I wish it was available on the Kindle. I read it when it first came out and have fond memories of it."

(view spoiler)[Mess Hall! (hide spoiler)]

I can't join in but this was a great anthology! I just found it - I've gotten rid of most of my dtb, but I still have this all battered and spiney-creased and yellowed pages.

[Randy]

I remember being so angry that it took them 3 years to come out with the second book. :)

Now you can hardly turn around without seeing another zombie or apocalypse book.

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

Lol yea your rite Randy. The zombie thing is a huge fase now. Books tv shows movies everything. But yea I think since we're doing a few buddy reads we can do a story a day which should be good since we're gonna start others soon too.

[Addy]

Looks like the first story is called Blossom. I figure we can read it wednesday then discuss the following day and do that for every story thereafter. Yay!

[Kenneth]

I read this one last year and there are a handful of fun ones in the collection. Can I lurk and join in after each story?

[Addy]

Sure:)

[Terry]

Crazy start with story #1 already! I did enjoy the introduction by Skipp and Spector, too.

[Addy]

Oh yeah, me too! (view spoiler)[the eating of the manhood was bizarre and put a not so pleasant picture in my mind. Kudos for that! Lol. (hide spoiler)] Cant wait to read laymon's story next.

[Terry]

Yeah, that part went right off the deep end - definitely made me wince! (view spoiler)[ I thought it was interesting the idea that the girl still had some memories of her life even when she was a zombie. I always imagine that all humanity would be gone from the monsters at that point. (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

(view spoiler)[Interesting thought Terry. I guess I never really thought about it. I assume that she was still transitioning and thus still held onto some memories. (hide spoiler)]

[Kenneth]

Addy wrote: "Oh yeah, me too! [spoilers removed] Cant wait to read laymon's story next."

Ahh the dangers of a one night stand in the zombie apocalypse.

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

Yea I like the book so far it's really good. The first story was pretty good. Definitely interesting. You can tell this book is going to be really interesting from everyone having different opinions of the topic.

[Addy]

I haven't finished Mess Hall yet but it's just like from his book Blood Games when the girls reenact it. Kinda cool!

[Terry]

You can sure tell its Laymon who wrote that one

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

Yea so far o think that Mess Hall is my favorite short story from Laymon so far! It's so cool how Blood Games got it down yea they missed some really good parts, but I'm glad they didn't give away the whole story because reading it was awesome! Every time I read Laymon I never get bored & just always wish he was still alive writing

[Addy]

Masterton's story was weird. Not sure if I liked it. It was like the undead recruiting walking door to door.

[Kenneth]

Addy wrote: "Masterton's story was weird. Not sure if I liked it. It was like the undead recruiting walking door to door."

I wasn't a big fan of it either and Stephen King's was just ok. But I really enjoyed Laymon's and Philip Nutman's.

[Terry]

If you're talking about the third story, I didn't like it at first either, but it's kinda growing on me now.

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

Ramsey Campbell's story was the third one I think. Didn't really like that one too much. Stephen Kings is after that I didn't get a chance to read that yet I'm gonna in a little bit.

[Terry]

I thought the Stephen King story wasn't bad, (view spoiler)[ maybe a little over the top with everything that supposedly happened, but I enjoyed otherwise. I particularly liked the part where Maddie's husband Jack came back. I thought that part painted a pretty nasty picture of a body returning from the sea. (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

I read the next story, Wet Work, and I'm not sure I followed it completely. (view spoiler)[ Were the soldiers who started the story really zombies themselves killing normal people? That was what I kinda got at the end, but wasn't sure. (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

Didn't really like king's story either. Too long.

[Addy]

The main story with Maddie was good, but he kinda lost me when he got political and started with the story about the astronauts.

[Kenneth]

I agree. Not King's strongest.

[Terry]

Finished A Sad Last Love yesterday. Didn't like it as much (view spoiler)[ to me, the idea of zombies having sex is just goofy! (hide spoiler)]

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

I gotta read sad last love I just finished Wet Work (view spoiler)[ I liked it I mean it was kinda like the normal apocalyptic aftermath, but it had something else to it. I liked how they kinda explained about the White House assassins & then there was another group it seemed they were fighting, not only the zombies. I mean I guess it's that normal zombie stuff, but I guess your always going to have that in a zombie book. (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

The next story, Bodies and Heads, sure is a weird one! (view spoiler)[ I guess that the zombies were turning into some kind of weird monsters with no heads? Strange... (hide spoiler)]

[Terry]

Adamus wrote: "I gotta read sad last love I just finished Wet Work [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Yeah, the way those guys commented at the end of Wet Work, the idea that those soldiers were actually organized zombies themselves going after normal people certainly makes it different. (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

Just finished Wet Work. It was ok. I'm not too impressed with like the last two or so. Hopefully they get better. On to the next one.

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

Yea I was hoping they were going to be more intense, but it is interesting to see what people will write about a certain subject matter even if it's not a good read

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

Yea the Stand is long lol I wanna tackle it one day tho

[Addy]

I liked A Sad Lost Love. Finally, a story I couldn't put down while I was tryin to wash the dishes lol. (view spoiler)[it definitely ended in a very raw, disturbing way because zombies having sex is a bit bizarre. But they were only human...dispicable humans at that! Thank goodness for Bobby Mack (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

Yes I agree with you there Terry. Bodies and Heads was a weird one!

[Addy]

(view spoiler)[I just didn't get the zombies. It seemed like they would rip off their heads and another one would grow? And then the little boy seemed to have a head growing out of his genitals. Just a strange take I guess. (hide spoiler)]

[Adamus (Like Adonis, but with a M)]

I'm reading Bodies & Heads now

[Terry]

I finished Choices yesterday, and The Good Parts today - polar opposites for me. I enjoyed Choices the most of any of the stories so far, and The Good Parts the least. In Choices, (view spoiler)[ I liked the way it was told as journal entries, although it was a little confusing at first in the order it was told. I thought the story seemed the most potentially real. (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

I'm a little behind on this but hope to catch up by tomorrow. I have the week off so hopefully I can get back into the reading groove:)

[Terry]

No problem, Addy. I'm working on finishing up The Long Walk and The Fog, so it will be a day or two before I read the next myself.

[Addy]

As much as I'm liking Choices, I'm also hating it...lol.

On other news, wud you guys be interested in reading anything from Nick Sharman? You can look through his books as I'd be willing to read any of them. I've got Childmare and am almost done with Surrogate which I thought was pretty great! Or if u all want to read something else let me know. I plan on getting quite a bit of reading done so I'm up for some new reads.

[Terry]

Sure, Addy. I don't have any by Sharman, so I'll have to order. Is Childmare the one you'd like to do?

[Addy]

Sure! I just ordered it a few weeks ago on Abe books. It came from the UK and took forever to get to me. The cover is of a kid wielding a machete with blood on it. Won't be showing that one around...lol but it looks good.

[Terry]

I'll try to track it down and let you when I get it.

[Kenneth]

I thought that the Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned was excellent and then the quality tapered off for the next few. Bodies and Heads was atrocious. Choices was a chore to get through. The Good Parts and Less Than Zombie were only slightly better. But Like Pavlov's Dog started what turned out to be a grand finish for the book with a flurry of great stories to end it. Lansdale's tale actually had me laughing out loud through it.

[Addy]

Ok Terry. Sounds good!

I finally finished Choices and I agree Ken, it was kind of a chore to finish. For me it was way too long and it kept losing my interest. The best parts for me was prob when it ended, as it started to hint on a way to beat the zombies. (view spoiler)[ Eating the zombies was a unique idea and the fact that maybe eating them was preventing whoever ate to rise from the dead. In a way, that's the best revenge! (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

Ok. The Good Parts was just dumb...lol. Glad it was short.

[Terry]

Less than Zombie is another one that is not very good.