Matthew J. Costello’s VACATION is an interesting spin on the traditional zombie story. In the aftermath of devastating food shortages around the world, groups of humans become predatory, cannibalistic creatures. Elsewhere, life goes on after a fashion. After a near-death experience, an NYPD cop takes his family on a much needed vacation to an idyllic compound paradise where they’re free to roam in the open air and swim and play and live life like they used to. Of course, things don’t go according to plan…

“In the near future after a global crisis causes crops to fail and species to disappear…  something even more deadly happens. Groups of humans around the world suddenly become predators, feeding off their own kind. These “Can Heads” grow to such a threat that fences, gated compounds, and SWAT-style police protection become absolutely necessary in order to live.

After one Can Head attack leaves NYPD cop Jack Murphy wounded, Jack takes his wife and kids on a much-needed vacation. Far up north, to a camp where families can still swim and take boats out on a lake, and pretend that the world isn’t going to hell. 

But the Can Heads are never far away, and nothing is quite what it seems in Paterville…”

I had a lot of fun reading VACATION. A fairly standard zombie set-up is given a new lease of life in unusual settings.

I said: “Costello takes a typical family and throws them headfirst into a situation that’s anything but. What would you do to protect those you love at the end of the world? A thrilling, fast-paced story of priorities, secrets, and survival.” And I’d be interested to hear your thoughts…

Recommended reading – Vacation is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

ZOMBIE WRITING

So you want to write about zombies? is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

I love the concept of parallel sequels, and on this occasion McKinnon tells a story which starts at the same point as his previous novel DOMAIN OF THE DEAD, then shoots off in a completely different direction. And it’s all the better for it.

“The world is dead, devoured by a plague of reanimated corpses.

Cahz and his squad of veteran soldiers are tasked with flying into abandoned cities and retrieving zombies for scientific study. Deep in infected territory, hundreds of miles from their support vessel, the ever present dangers weigh heavily on Cahz’s mind as he shepherds his team to make quick, clean extractions.

Then the unbelievable happens. After years of encountering nothing but the undead, the team discovers a handful of disheveled survivors in a fortified warehouse with dwindling supplies.

Surrounded by hordes of ravenous corpses, Cahz is faced with the terrible responsibility of determining the five passengers who will escape in the helicopter. While those left stranded must continue to fight off the infected and starvation long enough to be rescued.”

Some astonishing cover art there too from the ever reliable Craig Paton. Click here for a reminder of Craig’s brilliant work from the AUTUMN website www.lastoftheliving.net.

I enjoyed this book a huge amount, and relished the glee with which McKinnon leads us and his survivors through the dead world. As I said at the time: “Believable characters trapped in a nightmare scenario—REMAINS OF THE DEAD is a breathless, high-octane zombie thriller. [McKinnon has] written another great book here…”

Recommended reading – Remains of the Dead is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

Okay, I’m several months late with this one, and most self-respecting zombie fans will already know about it or own it, but I’d like to recommend Jonathan Maberry’s DEAD OF NIGHT.

“A prison doctor injects a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave.  But all drugs have unforeseen side-effects.  Before he could be buried, the killer wakes up.  Hungry.  Infected.  Contagious.  This is the way the world ends.  Not with a bang… but a bite.”

Great stuff as usual from Maberry. This is a fast-paced, by the numbers zombie story, written with confidence and style by a man who knows a thing or two about the living dead. I have a fascination with what goes on inside a zombie’s brain: do they remember anything? Are they trapped and helpless? Are they as evil as we frequently assume them to be, or are they victims too? One of the highlights of Dead of Night for me was the way Maberry handles this question, presenting a terrifying disconnection between the reanimated corpses and the conscience which once controlled them.

I said: “Dead of Night stands drooped head and lurching shoulders above most zombie novels. The nightmare increases exponentially – from minor outbreak to major crisis with unstoppable speed, building to a heart-stopping climax you won’t be able to put down.”

Highly recommended reading!

* On the subject of blurbs – I’ve committed to enough to last me about six months, and I’m steadily working my way through them. Please don’t send any more my way, because there’s just no way I’ll be able to read them for the foreseeable future. Sorry to be a pain. Thanks for understanding!

Recommended reading – Maberry’s Dead of Night is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

And those same Survivors have now gone and done something pretty incredible: they’ve released their own anthology, and a damn fine read it is too! Thirteen very different visions of the end of the world, with one thing in common – they’re all told from the perspective of the last man/woman left standing: the sole survivor.

Sincere congratulations to everyone involved in this project. If you want to read more about the book, click here. Or why not click here and join Moody’s Survivors –  you’d be hard-pushed to find a nicer group of crazy, funny, thoughtful, dedicated zombie and horror-addicts!

Soul Survivors – Hometown Tales (Volume One) is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

By the way, here’s an interesting fact for you: Glen Mazzara, lead writer for season two, wrote the original version of the script for the HATER movie. Hope to have some news on that project for you soon…

The Walking Dead season 2 is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

What would you ask George Romero? is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

It’s been a busy day today. I’m working flat out on AUTUMN: AFTERMATH right now, but I took time out this afternoon to speak to Ian Berriman from SFX magazine. Ian interviewed me for their forthcoming zombie special (on sale in September). I’ll tell you more about that nearer the time. I think you’ll like what they’ve got planned…

And in other news, the postman delivered issue #5 of SCREAM magazine (with some great features including interviews with Doug Bradley – Pin Head from Hellraiser, and Frank Henenlotter – director of Basket Case, Frankenhooker and various other cult movies I loved watching on VHS back in the day).

And finally, this morning I was asked to blurb the final volume in a hugely popular trilogy of zombie novels. It’s a book many of us thought might never see the light of day, and one I know many of you are looking forward to. Can’t wait to get into that!

Please check out the Babel Clash blog, and come back here tomorrow when another free AUTUMN short will be going online.

5 reasons why zombies (still) scare the heck out of me is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

The book at the top of my pile last week was ONE by Conrad Williams.

“This is the United Kingdom, but it’s no country you know. No place you ever want to see, even in the shuttered madness of your worst dreams. But you survived. One man.”

ONE blew me away. Beautifully written (I am supremely jealous of Williams’ descriptive skills), it’s the story of Richard Jane, a diver working on a rig in the North Sea. As Jane and his colleagues rise to the surface, dead fish and bodies sink the other way – the first indication that something terrible has happened. By the time he makes it back to dry land several days later, it’s clear that the world he remembers is gone forever. The land around him is scarred beyond recognition, every living person dead. The rain burns like acid, and the sky is a constantly swirling mass of browns and reds. Bewildered and terrified, Jane has no option but to walk virtually the entire length of the devastated country back to London, back to his son.

Jane’s journey is vividly described, and although the world through which he travels is filled with the dead and unending destruction, it’s all conveyed in such a way as to never feel gratuitous. His quest to find his son – convinced that he’s somehow survived when many millions of others have died – reaches its conclusion at the end of the first part of the novel. We then jump forward in time ten years and follow Jane through the ruins of London as he and several hundred others attempt to evade capture by the Skinners – grotesque creatures which arrived with ‘the event’ and which inhabit the bodies of the living and the dead. When word reaches the survivors of a huge raft being constructed off the coast of Kent, a desperate last exodus from London begins.

I don’t want to say too much more about the book, other than if you have even a passing interest in post-apocalyptic fiction (and as you’re on my website, that’s probably a safe bet), you should read it. It ticked all my boxes, and far surpassed my expectations. Superb.

Oh, and if you’re in the UK and you’re interested in visiting locations which inspire people to write apocalyptic fiction, you should go to Dungeness. It’s a remarkable place which totally captivated me when I visited last summer – truly like nowhere else in England. The perfect setting for the final scenes in Williams’ excellent book.

Recommended reading #3 – ONE by Conrad Williams is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series

What’s the definition of good summer holiday reading? Escapism? Humour? A collision of two disparate but well loved genres in a story about a convention full of science-fiction geeks being devoured by bloodthirsty zombies controlled by an alien intelligence?

I’d heard about Night of the Living Trekkies (by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall) at a convention, strangely enough, and I was intrigued. I’m not a huge fan of the idea of mash-up books – it often seems like a lazy way of making a quick buck (although there are exceptions, of course). Even though this book is an original story rather than a mangled classic, I approached it with trepidation. Could zombies and Star Trek be successfully combined? The answer… just about.

I think I pretty much summed up the plot in my first paragraph. It’s simple and uncomplicated, and that’s okay. The by-the-numbers zombie action at the heart of the book is really secondary to the characters and setting. To get the most out of NOTLT, you need at least a working knowledge of Star Trek because it’s crammed with references and in-jokes. Characters, locations, and dialogue are filled with nods to Trek with even the chapters being named after episodes. It’s actually done extremely well, as is Anderson and Stall’s handling of that most deep-rooted of science-fiction rivalries – the conflict between Star Trek and Star Wars fans.

This is a very short recommendation, but there’s not a lot more I can say about the book. It does what it sets out to do, and it does it well. If your definition of good summer holiday reading is like mine, and you’re a fan of zombies, Star Trek, Star Wars or all three, then you’ll undoubtably get a kick out of Night of the Living Trekkies. Oh, and it also has one of the best book trailers I’ve ever seen…

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Recommended reading #2 – Night of the Living Trekkies is a post from: David Moody - author of HATER, DOG BLOOD and the AUTUMN series