For
a debut anthology for this now well established publisher/editor/author, its
Amazing (yes, with a capital A!) to be able to bring all these wonderful
authors together, with such differing styles and then lay them out in such a
great order! Brilliant!
And THEN to add this line in the prologue "if you find an error, please
feel free to email the mistake" I think shows the strength, dignity,
courage and grounding this team has.... They still carry this on, several
series and anthologies later. Another Amazing quality!
Why am I just getting round to writing this review now, two years after it was
published and over a year (March 2012) since I bought and read it? Well, I
guess I forgot! I got so excited I just marched my way through all the other
anthologies, the Dead:
The Ugly Beginning series and now my favourite That
Ghoul Ava: Her First Adventures (Unabridged).
Love the little author bios before each story. The drawings are wonderfully
intricate and the tickertape news is inspired!
Doomsday Ramblings by Tonia Brown: The gentle undertones of barbed comments,
low expectation, love of a still over his wife and general disdain that this
author describes shows what is obviously a terribly sad marriage in a strangely
wonderful way.
Littered with humour you are lulled into the backwoods of
stupidity before Ms Brown slams you with blood, gore, alcohol and general eeew.
A Soldiers Lament by Patrick D'Orazio: Told in the first person, this army lad
is fed up with saving civvies rumps!
So much action occurs in such a small space
of time its hard to keep up, however, this worn out cynical solider manages to
ramble on for another few blocks and pages....it always ends up the same. Did
not grip me, but well written.
Childish Things by William Wood: As if a ZomPoc is not bad enough, you get
trapped inside a cartoon whale!
Or maybe you are the person who meets the
whale... which has eyebrows! Funny, but sad. Great idea for a little story.
Mere Symptoms of Living by Kris Ashton: What would happen if during the ZomPoc
you got locked in the bathroom.... Well now you are about to find out!
Smirk
inducing humour throughout, the inevitable ending but so well written I felt a
little tear in the corner of my eye.
All in your head by Stephanie Kincaid: If you spot a zombie on the way home are
you going bats?
Should you up your medication?
Write a reflection on the issue!
Or just go grab a bite to eat.... Some great humour mixed with the gore.
The Nightmare by William Lederman: Great story, hated the ending... what a
blinking waste of ink. Thought it was a cope out, sorry.
Run Through The Jungle by Tony Monchinski: So far the saddest tale, a great
group dynamic tale.
I felt a little shaken after this one, the constant sad
endings are a bit much to take after awhile.... What the heck am I saying this
is a ZomPoc anthology!!!
Does what it says on the cover!
Dredge by Nikki Sedlock: My absolute favourite story, because it's basically
what I day dream about, well this was pretty much my plan!
Im hoping for less
gore and more showers tho! Will definitely be looking this author up!
One Nation Undead by Mike Harrison: OMG what a start!! Talk about gripped.
Two
believable characters which could easily flesh out a whole novel, great
writing, fast but not furious, nothing in the emotion is lost.
The ending was,
well you will have to read it!
Eye in the Sky by John McCuaig: A personal favourite as set in my own country!
And unique in this anthology as set in the future. Loved the little
interspersed song titles, very clever.
Embedded by Andrew Black: First person writing, with some great explanations of
what is going on. Lots of different tortures going on in this little story,
hard to pinpoint which is the worst.
Baby Killer by Ron Harris: Brave subject, not enjoyable to read, had a hard
time with this one; but nothing wrong with the writing.
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