Afraid

Afraid
By Jack Kilborn

Synopsis: A secret military unit of genetically altered superhuman killing machines is unexpectedly dropped in the quiet town (ironically named) Safe Haven in Wisconsin. They have chips in their brains that set them on one mission: torture, terrorize, and kill everyone. A small group of unlikely heroes tries to survive the nightmare and get out of town. The only problem, other than the superhuman killers, is that the government has quarantined the small peninsula town, blocking off the only road in and out of town.

My Opinion: So I picked this one up at the used book store for 3 bucks. I figured it was worth a shot since all the accolades on it said it was “relentless” and that it “never lets up.” I finished it in 3 days, “relentless” was a serious understatement! Within the first couple of pages there is a helicopter crash and from that point on it just never lets off the gas. It is gruesome and gory and deranged and seriously suspenseful. There were parts where my heart was pounding out of my chest. I could seriously see this being made into a great movie. The small band of survivors show hope for those who demonstrate what we consider admirable traits: love, courage, and intelligence. A widowed single mother must survive to protect her young son, a fireman with no combat training steps into the line of fire to protect others, and an old Vietnam vet, turned local cop, demonstrates that sometimes brains can outweigh bronze. Certainly Kilborn is not attempting to write a book that changes the world. Although there are elements of redemption and good triumphing over evil, this book is without a doubt a straightforward scare-the-hell-out-of-you horror novel that will leave your heart racing and your mind imagining very bad people in your house.

FYI: Jack Kilborn is the (very awesome) pseudonym for author J.A. Konrath. He uses Kilborn for his horror novels and another pseudonym, Joe Kimball, when writing futuristic science fiction.

Afraid at amazon.com

Other books I’ve reviewed by Jack Kilborn:
Endurance

Read and Learn Bible

Read and Learn Bible
By The American Bible Society
Illustrated by Duendes Del Sur

Synopsis: This is a series of Bible stories, put in canonical order, that uses the CEV paraphrased translation and has color illustrations on each page. It contains most major stories from Creation and the Fall, to Noah, Moses, David, Daniel and Esther, to Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, and even a brief explanation of Revelation and a lot of stuff in-between (over 500 pages worth of stuff!). It also contains a parents section in the back which helps apply the Bible stories to things like serving and loving others, sharing the good news, trusting God and several other topics.

My Opinion: OK, so this books is a little odd for this blog, and I haven’t read it yet, but I still wanted to let people know about it. We just got this to read with our kids (they are one, two and three) during our little devotional time we do at night. It has lots of great illustrations and is translated into something that is understandable and appropriate for young kids. It also has helps for parents in the back which are always good. It gives some tips on how to apply the Bible stories and teach things like sharing and loving others and trusting God. We have been trying to teach our kids Bible stories on our own and sometimes it is hard to come up with something they understand and isn’t too scary or confusing for them. Now we have the help of the American Bible Society. Thanks American Bible Society! Anyway, if you have young kids, or if you know someone with young kids, this would make a great gift and teaching aid to help them start to get acquainted with the God of the Bible.

FYI: The CEV translation is the only Bible to win the Plain English Society Crystal Award for crystal clear English.

Read and Learn Bible at amazon.com

I Am Legend

I Am Legend
By Richard Matheson

Synopsis: Tells the story of a solitary man trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Robert Neville has remained alive, and human, in spite of the fact that a terrible virus has infected the rest of humanity, turning them into blood-thirsty vampires. Neville fights loneliness, desires to end his life, starvation, and the nightly attacks on his fortified home. When a woman appears out of nowhere everything changes for Neville.

My Opinion: Ok, so if you have seen the movie you are probably thinking “why would anyone read that book?” Well let me tell you first why I read it and then what I thought of it. I had read several statements by very famous horror writers saying that Matheson’s I Am Legend was an inspiration to them to write horror fiction, not the least of these authors being Stephen King. Also I found out that the book was written in the 50s so I knew it couldn’t be exactly like the movie. So based on that I decided to read it, and I was really glad I did. Let me say this, this book is not the same story as the movie. I don’t know why the movie even has the same title since that is about the only thing they have in common. I don’t want to say what is different about the story lines because I don’t want to give anything away, but this book is horror, not the hopeful encouraging story from the movie. Matheson does a great job of capturing what I would guess was the mind of someone who has been alone for a long time and lost everything he loved. He scares you with the monstrous vampires but also with the enclosing loneliness and hopelessness of Neville’s situation. This was a really great book, given a bad reputation by a terrible movie that sadly carried the same but nothing more.

FYI: The Last Man on Earth was a movie made in the 60s based on I Am Legend which starred Vincent Price and actually was co-scripted by Matheson himself. It was largely influential on George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

I Am Legend at amazon.com

The Book Shelf: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Synopsis: Essentially this is a retelling of the Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice, set in an alternate reality where zombies roam around England. Smith intertwines his words with much of the original story still intact. Much of the basic plot and character traits remain the same, but as the subtitle explains it now contains “ultra-violent zombie mayhem.”Elizabeth and her sisters have been trained to defend themselves from the undead, and as her love grows for Mr. Darcy she must overcome his aunt’s assassin ninja’s, her dear friend’s decent into zombification, and her desire to kill the man who has shown disrespect to her family.

My Opinion: Well, my wife is a huge Jane Austen fan, and I am a huge zombie fan, so it seemed to me that this book would be the bridge between our two worlds. Sadly, she would not give it a go, finding the cover itself too distasteful to even attempt to read the book. I can understand that. I did read it though and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The flow between Smith’s words and Austen’s words are nearly flawless (at least to an untrained guy like myself) and the story is both humorous and interesting. What better suits the strong and independent Elizabeth Bennett than possessing the skills to destroy the undead? The gimmick could easily wear thin but the story is good enough that it rises above the gimmick and becomes quite entertaining on it’s own merit. It has some great woodcut style art in it which are also pretty great.

FYI: According to wikipedia, Natalie Portmann is producing an upcoming film adaptation of the book.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at amazon.com

Other books I’ve reviewed by Seth Grahame-Smith:
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

The Book Shelf: Columbine

Columbine
Dave Cullen

Synopsis: This is a non-fiction account of the Massacre at Columbine High School back in 1999. Much of the content discusses the lives and mindsets of the two killers. It also discusses the actual event, the media coverage, the myths surrounding the event, and the aftermath and impact on American youth culture.

My Opinion: I was a sophomore in high school when the Columbine shootings took place so I think it affected me more than it may have otherwise. I remember hearing things about trench coats and Marilyn Manson, about Christian martyrs and the dangerous repercussions of bullying. I remember bomb threats and metal detectors at school, so I would say that the events discussed in this book were relatively important to me. Mr. Cullen does an excellent job cracking open a story that was terribly mistreated in the media. He exposes several very erroneous headlines that came out of the event, and he tries to understand why it happened. Who were these guys and why did they do this? Surprisingly it is not very hard to track down information on the killers with them having posted about it on their website, writing journals about it, and shooting video footage right up to the morning of the massacre. What did the police do with this information? What did the media do with it? What did the church do with it? Mr. Cullen talks about all that stuff, and the reality of it all may be very difficult to take. I know it was for me.

FYI: 2009 winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Fact Crime

Columbine at amazon.com

The Book Shelf

This blog is supposed to discuss books that I am reading from now forward but I wanted to highlight a few books I have already read. This will serve to:

• Maybe encourage people to read some books that I really enjoyed
• Give my two cents on books that have been important and/or entertaining for me
• Create content between my current readings (I read pretty slowly)

So just as an FYI: if it says “The Book Shelf” it means I read it in the past.

Slights

Slights
By Kaaron Warren
Synopsis: Stevie (a woman) almost dies and is temporarily taken to the afterlife which consists of people she has slighted taking revenge on her through torture. She wants to know if other people experience the same upon their deaths so she murders people and asks what they see as they are dying.

My Opinion: Saying that I “liked” the book would make me uncomfortable because it is seriously twisted and dark, but I will certainly say i couldn’t put it down. It is written from the perspective of Stevie, the main character, and the author does a great job of almost making you empathize with Stevie. I really liked the style of the prose. Very short objective type sentences if that makes sense. It was easy to read and very interesting but not for the weak of heart or stomach, because it is certainly gory in detail and demented in plot.

FYI: It takes place in Australia I believe so some of the colloquialisms are unfamiliar to an untraveled American like myself, oh yeah, and the seasons are backward.

Slights at amazon.com

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
By Seth Grahame-Smith

Synopsis: The author is given a collection of Abraham Lincoln’s journals and letters which contain a look into his secret life as a vampire hunter. The life of Abraham Lincoln is retold with this new information and we see for the first time how vampires played a role in slavery, the Civil War, the death of many of Abraham’s loved ones, Abraham’s assassination, and the shaping of one of the most important people in American history.

My Opinion: I like Seth Grahame-Smith and he did not disappoint me with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It was funny, but it was also surprisingly engrossing. The humor of the concept could have easily worn thin, but the book is interesting and suspenseful and at times I caught myself taking it WAY too seriously. You will be surprised how much you actually learn about Abraham Lincoln’s life in this book. I liked it a lot.

FYI: Seth used The Lincoln Log as a major source for historical information about Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter at amazon.com

Other books I’ve reviewed by Seth Grahame-Smith:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pariah

Pariah
By Bob Fingerman

Synopsis: A zombie novel set in NYC. Basically this group of survivors is holed-up in this apartment building. They are just kind of bored and waiting to starve to death until they see this girl walking down the street and the zombies all back away from her.

My Opinion: I enjoyed Pariah. There is no real zombie fighting or real threat (other than starvation) until the last part of the book. In spite of this it really wasn’t boring. I picked it up because it had received accolades from David Wellington (author of Monster Island), Max Brooks (author of World War Z) and Robert Kirkman (author of The Walking Dead). Definitely has blood and guts and the typical parallelism between zombies and modern society so, at least for me, it was what I would have expected in a zombie novel.

FYI: According to Dictionary.com Pariah is an outcast, someone who is avoided or despised, or more specifically a member of a low caste in India

Pariah at amazon.com