Tuesday, April 7, 2015

When There is No More Room in Hell, The Zombie Fiction Will Walk The Earth

Hey blog readers, it's time for some ZOMBIES.

Do you like zombies? Can't get enough of The Walking Dead? Need more zombies in your life? Well here are some ways to fill your life with the undead until Season 6 starts up in October 2015.


The Black Tide Rising Series, by John Ringo - 5/5 stars

This four-part series was written by John Ringo, who is usually a military science-fiction author. One of those military sci-fi authors whose world-building immerses you so deeply into the world of his novels that you always get pissed off when the series ends because, damnit, you just don't want to stop reading it. This series is the story of the Smith family, a family of doomsday preppers who get themselves out to the Atlantic after a zombie-apocalypse breaks out. After some time at sea, they decide it's time to start saving the world. Between Captain Steve Smith, an Aussie ex-special forces officer, his wife and two daughters, they start saving the world, one boat at a time, then one island at a time, looking for survivors and fighting zombies for supplies. My favorite part of this series, though, is one of Steve's daughters, Faith Marie Smith, aka She-wolf. This 13-year old turns into the world's premier expert on zombie killing, and she is AWESOME. Seriously, Michonne has got nothing on She-wolf. Pick up the first book in this series, Under a Graveyard Sky, and get ready for an awesome, well-written, sometimes funny, always badass zombie adventure.


The Ex-Heroes Series, by Peter Clines - 5/5 stars

Zombie fighting is awesome. You know it, I know it, and Peter Clines, author of Ex-Heroes knows it. But he decided to take zombie fighting, and crank it up to eleven by writing a series of books that has SUPER-HEROES FIGHTING ZOMBIES!!!! Yes, ladies and gentlemans, you read that correctly, but I'll repeat it again because it's that awesome: SUPER-HEROES FIGHTING ZOMBIES!!!! I seriously geek out every time I think about it. An awesome concept does not a great novel make, but Peter Clines delivers with excellent world-building, inredible characters, and a great story in each entry into the series. Some classic zombie tropes and some classic super-hero tropes (especially super-hero show-downs), but they are always applied in original ways, and there are some incredibly creative differences thrown in. Go buy Ex-Heroes and get ready to geek out and have a blast as you experience what one critic called "Marvel's The Avengers meets AMC's The Walking Dead" .



Some notes on the above series: Both of these series have a ton of geeky references, including D&D, The Matrix, Aliens, and many more. Perhaps both authors assume SFF fans will be a majority when it comes to Zombie Apocalypse Survivors? In addition, neither one uses the most annoying Zombie trope ever, (sorry Mr. Kirkman) "Call them anything but Zombies". An interesting thing is that both authors have completely different styles (and different ideologies) but both make their series work incredibly well. I would highly recommend either of these series to anyone who enjoys a good Z-A throwdown.

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