The Best Writers You're Not Reading!

I'm a bit on a book kick right now...mostly because my cable is was still being hooked up at our new place which has turned me to my books again. So I've decided to give a shout out to two authors who I feel have not gotten a lot of credit out in the writing world. And both of these writers are old friends of mine. I suppose you can consider this post a favor to a friend of sorts but honestly, I would not bother writing a post praising something I didn't like...unless its another attempt to tear into Exorcist: The Beginning. Regardless, they are both extremely talented writers and I feel deserve a shout out on our pithy little Internet soap box. So without further ado, here are two writers I truly feel are worth checking out.

Christine Morgan
Cured Meat found in The World is Dead Anthology and The Barrow Maid found in History is Dead Anthology
Christine's two zombie stories are stellar and I was lucky enough to be a beta reader for both stories. WHY she picked me is a bit of a mystery since my "superior" grammar and spelling is a tell tale sign that I am really not a writer. I think its because I am an avid zombie fan and she was just giving me a bone (No pun intended). And while both stories are about zombies they are completely different from each other .Cured Meat is a story told through a zombie's perspective and The Barrow Maid is a Nordic historical tale. The Barrow Maid is well researched as a historical piece and well...two words...Viking Zombies!! Its fun, action packed and gives you what you want; zombies swinging swords, kicking ass, and taking names. My particular favorite though is Cured Meat. It's an extremely unique story and Christine voices the zombie both in a human yet extremely creepy manner. Both are wonderful reads. The Anthologies have many other fantastic stories in them as well so I assure you they are worth picking up! But personally, Christine's are my favorite. You can find both anthologies on Amazon. And if you want to read more of Christine's work (she also writes fantasy, horror, and children's books!) check out her websites http://christine-morgan.net/ and http://www.sabledrake.com/.


Rob St. Martin
The Truthseekers Series
While this isn't strictly horror, Rob's Truthseekers books do have some elements of horror in them (vampires, zombies, magic, and some gruesome murders). So far he has two out and is working on a third...he BETTER be working on a third or I will go up to Canada and strangle it out of him. Truthseekers is a young adult series that I became addicted to at the age of thirty-three. The series follows a girl name Ashley, who moves to a small town named Blackriver after her parents are brutally murdered. Her adventures are told in a series of short stories that begin to revel strange conspiracies that involved her family and will soon involve her. Yes, I made that sound very vague but there is so much to the story and such a rich world created that I don't want to give anything away. The reason I became addicted to his series is because he never talks down to his audience, making his work intelligent and accessible to both teens and adults. Don't let the young adult label fool you, this is a great story, a interesting world, and some quirky characters.
You can pick up Truthseekers: Welcome to Blackriver and and Truthseekers: Birthright on Amazon. You can also order them from http://www.sabledrake.com/books.htm . And to find more on Rob's work you can go to his website: http://talyesin.com/

Enjoy!!

Jane Austin Does Dead Folk

Rawr rawr rawr! Rawr. *munch munch* Rawr.

I finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies some time ago, and decided, compliments of an irritating person I know, to post my review here. This is a person who routinely proves herself a moron; she read part of this book and panned it, and since she irritates the FUCK out of me I decided to post my opinions of the story. I feel slightly more qualified to do so since A. I like zombies, B. I love Jane Austin, and C. I actually read the entire fucking book.

First off, I enjoy Jane Austin; I read the original version of this tale of my own volition several years ago. This is still that book, but with some scenes changed and some new ones added. Mostly of people "politely vomiting into their hands" and brain chomping.

It was fucking aces.

We are here to dance and to whup ass. And our dance cards have all been filled!

This is still a comedy of manners, as is the original story; if you hate Jane Austin you will not like this book. I personally find the hair-pullingly stringent rules for manners hilarious in conjunction with dealing with the undead; it's impolite to show ankle, but what about when you're beheading the flesh-chomping menace at a country assembly? Enter the Bennet sisters, ass-kickers extraordinaire and sisters in need of rich husbands.

There is still the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy (I know, isn't that an awesomely horrible first name? No wonder he went by Mr. the whole story.) with some hilarious changes. Mr. Darcy actually proposes to Elizabeth Bennet twice; she refuses him the first time because he basically says "Hey, I know your family is awful and horrible, but despite the fact that I'm a better person that all of you, let's get hitched!" Not surprisingly Miss Bennet tells Fitz where to put it. However, in this version she says no by roundhouse kicking him into the fire place mantel, chipping the marble as well as Mr. Darcy's skull. It was AWESOME. It's even funnier when I picture the cast from the 1995 BBC miniseries; Jennifer Ehle kicking the crap out of Colin Firth will make me laugh, every time!

Another hilarious bit is a take on the novel's classic battle of wills between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine de Burgh; this time there are ninjas involved. And the eating of a heart, but not by a zombie. I enjoyed both equally!

True love and ass-kicking: all any woman wants in life.

Eventually Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy find happiness and are united; the more despicable characters in the book definitely get theirs, which is EXCELLENT as they escape mostly unscathed in the original. Mr. Wickham, your basic pig, runs off with Lydia, Elizabeth's sister, in both versions. In this version however, he is caught by Mr. Darcy, forced to marry Lydia, and then has every bone in his body broken, rendering him a bed-ridden invalid for the rest of his life. As he's a prick I was very happy to see him get his comeuppance. Incidentally, in the picture above the zombies are attacking cauliflower; they think they are brains, and it easy to use the veggie as bait. But you have to admit, those moldering relics from hell look cute as the dickens eating those starch loads!

Over all, I loved this book. It's funny, still has the romance of the original, and is illustrated, as I have demonstrated above. For me, Regency England mixed with martial arts and the walking dead is an irresistible combination; it's so silly it borders on DaDaism, and God above knows that I am a walking receptacle of the silly.

Yes, before you ask, I AM going to read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters when it comes out.

New Book Bliss

I just got my copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in the mail yesterday. I am five chapters in, and I think I scared the people walking past me in the Safeway parking lot; my roommate was buying breakfast and I was reading about how narrowly Mr. Darcy avoided getting his throat cut for slighting Elizabeth Bennet. And laughing. Loudly.




This book was written by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith, and is available from Amazon; based on what I've read (and the pictures I've seen, yes it's ILLUSTRATED!), you're going to want this.

Hilariously, I also own and have read the original Pride and Prejudice. And I love it; I'm a sucker for romances, particularly of the regency period. I think the story is alternately sweet and sad, and I like to imagine Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy hardcore getting their collective freaks on. In my version of events, bondage is involved. I would never have dreamed that adding zombies could make it even better.

I must go. I have reading to do.