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Post by dem bones on Oct 10, 2010 8:28:02 GMT
Kim Newman - Minutes Of Meeting: Junior assistant planner Frances Shiel is the only member of the Extreme Contingency Planning Group either capable or willing to face cabinet minister Sir Kenneth Stuart to explain why the best advice the committee have issued the public thus far is to "run away screaming." Sir Kenneth evidently believes he will still have to justify Government spending to the decent-hard-working-British-tax-payer no matter that the majority of same are even now stumbling along streets groaning "aaargh! brains!" Eventually the self-serving minister entirely loses it with the Frances, which is neither helpful or particularly advisable in the circumstances. Before this is over, the rest of you just might wish you'd watched a few more zombie movies". Lisa Morton - They're Coming To Get You: Online blog of DVD salesman Mark, aka thezombieking on account of his expertise in matters zombie movies. To prove it, he refers to the more extreme cases of walking decomposition as 'Templars' after their counterparts in Tombs Of The Blind Dead. At first he fails to see what the fuss is about: the returned dead are slow of wit and movement, easily taken down - even that "window licker" Henry next door put up a good fight. But once his bird Julie leaves him to take her chances outside London, and the streets are over-run until even to join queues for rations at St. Botolph's, Aldgate is to risk becoming rations for somebody else, his posts become increasingly desperate. By close of play, Mark weighs up his options, decides he's better off playing for the winning side. Tanith Lee's entry is my favourite of the personal stories. Very poignant. i can only agree and, following on from two blackly comic episodes makes it all the sadder. Tanith Lee - Letters From A Tower: " ... how could I cope if it did get sorted out, and 'civilisation' returned? You can bet it would be an even worse police state, everybody dragooned, and frightened to say or write what they thought. The governments would have us all where they want us, have always wanted us. A slave race. And resistance to be crushed for the Public Good - it was getting that way before." A long, long letter from Ruth an elderly, housebound widow barricaded inside the tenth floor tower block flat she shared with husband Ken, seventy, until the zombies got him while he was foraging for supplies at Elephant & Castle. At first Ruth addresses her therapeutic reminiscences to childhood friend Laura who she lost touch with long before the Zombie Apocalypse, but as the reality of her desperate plight sinks in, she realises that even were Laura still with us, it's unlikely she'd be in any fit state to appreciate her wittering, so she directs them toward Giselle, the friendly, impossibly cheerful nineteen year old who has been looking out for her. I'm sure you can guess how this one will end, but that doesn't make it any the less affecting when, having not seen her young friend for three days, Ruth hears the dull thumping on her door ... Mandy Slater - Emergency Service #1, #2 and #3: Meanwhile whoever has been gallantly manning the BMC News site has been keeping the civilian population - what's left of it - informed. "The Government Reports. No cause for alarm. The situation is under control." What with Osbourne's kill the poor cuts due in less than a fortnight, you can't fault Robinsons on their timing, can you? laterPaul McAuley - The Treatment: Alas, poor Prince Charles. Once he's been bitten by a policewoman even amputation can't prevent the spread of the infection but at least he's too out of it to realise that his faith in alt. medicines was completely misguided. Surrounded by flunkies to the last, his Royal Highness joins the undead. Dr. Alison McReady is among the team helicoptered in to try and come up with a miracle cure. Dr. McReady notes it all down in her journal which also includes passing references to the fire at Buckingham Palace, the massacre at the House of Parliament and the death of the PM. Mandy Slater - New Front Page #1 and #2/ Dead Link: With England now under martial law and the Great Festival cancelled, even the BMC finally acknowledge that there's a problem though the Government wish to reassure us that "we are winning the battle." Then the BMC's Internet Service Provider collapses ....
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Post by dem bones on Oct 11, 2010 7:14:39 GMT
Sarah Pinborough - Diary Entry #3: In her previous entry, Maddy wrote of how she returned home to find the bloodied remnants of her mum, dad and gran writhing toward her with only one thing on their dead minds. Her best friend George and his totally dishy elder brother Alex (sigh) are still fending for her, the Drakes, Joe and Sylvia but have had to move to a new hideout. With many of the army personnel infected, the city is now more dangerous than ever and George has aged dreadfully through what he's witnessed these past days and, before the inevitable happens and she abandons her new diary, Maddy will have seen far more horror than a thirteen year old should. Like the empty husks of her detested classmates, "the Barbies", setting about that handsome young teacher Mr. Eyre at the clock tower ...
Kim Newman - Pastor Pat At The 700 Club: Fundamentalist addresses ye faithful via the Christian Broadcasting Service. Of course it's all very sad what's happening in Great England, but they brought it upon themselves when they turned to Satan! God Bless the US of A!
Tim Lebbon - Zmbs: Exchange of text messages over Thursday June 6th and Friday 7th - the day the 'First Final Solution' is implemented - between wideboy Mike McLintock and his bit of posh Jane Lucille Dean. Him stranded in Kensington trying to get across the river, her acting as his eyes, using the Internet to guide him through the worst trouble spots. Given there are pockets of zombies running berserk all across the capital, he does remarkably well to get as far as he does. Unfortunately, Blackfriars Bridge is detonated shortly before he reaches it, and the only option is to walk across the corpses clogging the Thames .....
Peter Crowther - Newsflash: ..... which is when - as confirmed in a 'we interrupt this making of James Cameron's Avatar ii update' moment on Cleveland's News Channel 5 - the British Government explode a nuclear bomb over South London.
But 'The Death' is already taking a hold elsewhere.
Robert Hood - Wasting Matilda: Lynda Russo, a senior pilot with the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and nurse Barry Chandish are sent on what they first take to be some "bullshit performance evaluation exercise" only to learn it there's is a mission of the utmost seriousness. They've been sent to administer treatment to a boatload of refugees adrift off the Australian coast, except, on the evidence of the torn, half-eaten bodies they've left littering the deck, this lot are past medical assistance. Russo is ordered to fly back to base while a Navy gunboat does the necessary.
Three days later, a further transmission from Dr. Russo, now pinned down by a tree inside the cockpit of her mangled plane.
Along with Chandish and Dr. Kushwaha, she'd flown to the poor rural community of Gulargambone (pop. circa 580) which, according to the few sketchy reports, had been hit by some kind of catastrophe. An overturned ambulance on the runway gives them a clue as to what they're up against, and when they reach the Hospital ....
For those twisted souls out there who actually want mankind to win through, a small cause for optimism. Gnarled old drunk Al Bachmeier has made himself unpalatable to the zombies - and possibly achieved immunity from the Death - by exploiting their solitary taboo. They don't eat their own kind. Dr. Russo has cause to be thankful that he spared her some of his delicious barbecued steaks.
If i'd one slight concern for Zombie Apocalypse it was how the thing would hold together once the action shifted from London. seems i needn't have worried. Wasting Matilda is another horrible stand out!
Peter Crowther - Webcam Exchange: Honeybun speaking to Dr. Frankenstein via a web-cam aboard a flight to Akron. He's one of legion scientists working on an antidote for "the Death." Even should he succeed, it may be too late for Honeybun and her fellow passengers. Ravenous stowaways.
Pat Cadigan - We'll Take Manhattan: Honeybun's plane comes down in the Hudson River and a bunch of young New Yorkers film the aftermath from a rooftop. Several passengers clamour aboard the life-raft only to be set upon by the hungry dead. The zombies capsize it and tear the humans to pieces. Then they get to plucking the few scattered survivors from the wings and tail-fin of the sinking jet. Cameraman Tom uploads the video file as an mp4 ...
Private Jolene Lindbloom dowloads the video. Jolene has been separated from her detail after a bloody skirmish in a subway and is wondering whether she should try and make it back to base - assuming there's still a base to return to.
The same crew who witnessed the massacre on the Hudson film the execution of one of the infected on an adjacent rooftop. Inspired, Jolene liberates a video camera from a looted store and records what's going down at street level. One small pocket of survivors already have themselves so ruthlessly organised it's like the Zombie Apocalypse never happened. After a temporary blip, Capitalism is back alive and well on the streets of Manhattan. If this isn't enough to make Jolene give up the ghost, she soon finds herself called upon to machete the heads from four captured zombies and the guy who got bit taking them down. A news broadcast flashed onscreen at Times Square confirms that for her and anyone who has yet to evacuate the area, the war is truly over.
So long, Manhattan and Queens.
can't believe that if i survive the next hundred pages, i'll have read a Robinson through cover to cover. one, maybe two last pushes might do it.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 12, 2010 21:51:14 GMT
Peter Crowther - 'The Longest Distance Between Two Places' by Will Halloway: Cut to Cleveland and while his father Dr. Williams works on a vaccine for the virus, Jeffrey, fourteen toils over his topical horror story, Something Undead This Way Comes, between perves out of the window at his gorgeous neighbour Leaf Spaulding, who likes to parade about her room in just her underwear. Mrs. Williams recently perished aboard a plane when a passenger went foamy and bit a stewardess and her husband's closest colleagues are worried at how he's coping with bereavement. Things come to a head when zombies attack a charity walk. Leaf's parents are among the casualties and, when Mr. Spaulding returns home to infect his daughter, Dr. Williams successfully prevents Leaf from turning zombie. Bringing his corpse-wife home to experiment upon wasn't such a bad idea after all.
i must admit, my first thought was; "Too much title: i sure hope this ain't gonna be an exercise in Dark F**t*sy 'cause i'm not in the mood", but, while it's certainly convoluted, The Longest Distance moves at pace and even the - in the circumstances - upbeat ending didn't spoil my enjoyment.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 13, 2010 8:04:12 GMT
Mark Samuels - The Reign Of Santa Muerte: Transcript Of Last Broadcast By Radio Station 93.2, Mexico City, June 15. Much to the secret delight of the Government who've been looking to renovate it for decades, the squalid, crime-ridden, fiercely independent barrio bravo at Tepito suffers an outbreak of the zombie plague. The Minister of the Interior insists the Tepiteños must now be exterminated for the sake of the country. As the riot police move in, so a hard core of demonstrators ring-fence the community. The zombies, alerted by the noise, quit trying to get at the few surviving tenement dwellers and head for the barricades and the promise of a greater feast. Meanwhile rumours are in circulation that worshippers of Santa Muerte (essentially the female Grim Reaper) have been bringing their reanimated dead to Mass, praying to Our Lady of Death to return them their souls. Investigative journalist Carlos Villa penetrates the slums around the huge illegal market to find evidence of the cult. The Government terminate his broadcast when the live footage takes a turn for the horrific .... Pete Atkins - The Show Must Go On: Screenwriter Cliff Brightwell pitches ideas for an x-treme gore adventure movie Zombie Bitch Got Game and gross out TV reality show to initially enthusiastic but ultimately unreceptive staff at New Ridge Entertainment. Their boss just got back from Mexico and big changes are afoot ... Very E.C. with some wickedly funny touches, in particular Cliff's grasp of geography. Kim Newman - Zombie Novelty Tracks: Newman customises the lyrics to a handful of popular oldies - The Monkey's Theme, Rainy Days And Mondays, The Locomotion, etc. - to not exactly hilarious effect. Disposable, but i guess that's the point. Scott Edelman - Are We Not A New People: The President of the United States, James Moreby (name's familiar: where have we met him before?), addresses the citizens of the New America. His is a message of hope. The civil war which has engulfed the nation, indeed the world, these past months is all but over, and he urges the few remaining rebels to embrace the new people. Zombies in the White House - and just about every place else. Kim Newman - Epilogue: The Queen's Christmas Speech: You have to hand it to her Majesty, she always has the welfare of her subjects at heart. Whoever or whatever they may be. ****** OK, so if i was to be really harsh, i felt it wobbled slightly after the Pete Atkins story - Minutes Of Meeting aside, Kim Newman's contributions seem out of sympathy with all that's gone before. But that minor moan aside, i'd rate Zombie Apocalypse as perhaps the very finest Stephen Jones anthology to date.
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 13, 2010 8:39:26 GMT
Still struggling to get hold of a copy of this. If Smiths don't have one when I call in at lunchtime I'll have to resort to Amazon.
I really fancy the Mark Samuels' story. Zombies in Mexico City and the worshippers of Santa Muerte sounds doubly gruesome.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 13, 2010 8:51:07 GMT
Still struggling to get hold of a copy of this. If Smiths don't have one when I call in at lunchtime I'll have to resort to Amazon. David, unless you're other business at Smiths, you might like to save yourself a journey until closer to the weekend as the official publication date is tomorrow (14th). Mark's story is yet another horrible highlight of a collection that's crammed with 'em. looking forward to hearing what others make of it all.
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 13, 2010 9:03:59 GMT
Thanks for that info, Dem. No wonder I couldn't find it! After reading your write up of this anthology I am really looking forward to delving in it.
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 13, 2010 9:07:11 GMT
I've been on a little bit of a zombie ride myself recently, what with Romero's Children in Charles' Seventh Black Book of Horror, and now the energetic Johnny Mains has accepted another ( His Pale Blue Eyes) for an anthology he's doing for Obverse Books. Those damned zombies can get in your blood.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 13, 2010 9:38:37 GMT
I've been on a little bit of a zombie ride myself recently, what with Romero's Children in Charles' Seventh Black Book of Horror, and now the energetic Johnny Mains has accepted another ( His Pale Blue Eyes) for an anthology he's doing for Obverse Books. Those damned zombies can get in your blood. Edging towards my favorite story so far in 'The Seventh Black Book of Horror', David and its a very strong collection.
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Post by dem bones on Oct 13, 2010 9:47:46 GMT
I've been on a little bit of a zombie ride myself recently, what with Romero's Children in Charles' Seventh Black Book of Horror, and now the energetic Johnny Mains has accepted another ( His Pale Blue Eyes) for an anthology he's doing for Obverse Books. Those damned zombies can get in your blood. What with After Nightfall (i still think it was the inspiration for R. Chetwynd-Hayes's The Humgoo) and Out Of Corruption you must nearly have enough for a zombie collection of your own. The strangest thing, i was halfway through Zombie Apocalypse when 7th Black Book Of Horror arrived. So i set aside ZA to get stuck straight in on Charles' latest and when i got to Romero's Children i had to double-check which book i was on. Could be that the brain-eaters have got to me, but if it wasn't for the reference to the eternal youth wonder-drug, i reckon Romero's Children would sit just so between the Pat Cadigan and Pete Crowther stories. Craig's Spanish Suite from 6th Black Book wouldn't be out of place in there either.
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 15, 2010 14:36:22 GMT
Finally got it from Smiths - and at a mere £7.99 it's something of a bargain. After reading what you've had to say about it, dem, I'm looking forward to delving into it this weekend.
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Post by robertmammone on Nov 5, 2010 11:00:14 GMT
Still struggling to get hold of a copy of this. If Smiths don't have one when I call in at lunchtime I'll have to resort to Amazon. I really fancy the Mark Samuels' story. Zombies in Mexico City and the worshippers of Santa Muerte sounds doubly gruesome. That and the Tanith Lee story are the best in the book. All round, it's really quite good, though the 'comedy' ending lets the side down.
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Post by pulphack on Jan 4, 2011 7:29:55 GMT
i kind of agree with that, robert, although i suppose the logical absurdity of it is the only place to go.
having said that, this was the best new book of the year, for me. was it a multi-author novel well edited or a series of short stories themed and chronologically arranged? both, i guess, though i chose to read it as the former and straight through. the master stroke was to make all the narratives forst person, as this enabled the differences in style to become part of the arc rather than something that needed ironing out to keep a consistent third person tone (something the only other multi-author - rather than two or three person collaboration - novel i can think of failed to do. Seaton Point from Spare Change back in the late 90's had seven authors which the editor - also a writer - had to work hard to rein in).
messrs marshall smith, fowler, newman and lee i was familiar with (happy to like ms lee's tales as when the first mrs ph was thrusting her work on me 20 years or so back i just couldn't get on with it); the pitbull and lord p i'm ashamed to admit i've never read before, and the rest of the writers are totally new and unknown to me - but i will be looking out for them now.
could this be a way to break new writers and get them notice in the maistream? after all, there are many like me who are novel rather than short story lovers, and it does give a publisher more to sell than an anthology, which is not great in sales terms comparatively?
apart for the aforementioned Seaton Point, i can't think of any other multi author novels in modern times (though this may just be ignorance); the Detection Club did books like Ask A Policeman and The Floating Admiral, round robins where a writer would set a crime, and others would use their colleague's sleuths to solve it, but these were really more like collected shorts. similarly, the union jack used the cream of their blake writers to concoct serials, but i think these never appeared outside of the paper.
so is this a new innovation for the novel and a fine achievement for Stephen Jones? undoubtedly the latter, and i hope he gets a chance to use the format again.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 4, 2011 11:44:28 GMT
hi pulps. if you remember that rather drunken post-Zardoz excursion to the Wetherspoons pub, didn't Mr. Jones mention that he was considering a sequel? i agree with you - and Robert - that the ending was perhaps too throwaway, but it was bloody great fun getting there, as a multiple author novel it held together remarkably well, and, for me, it captured the mood of the times just so - one mini-masterstroke is MMS referencing the coalition government in the opening sequence, the riots have already begun, and whats a Royal Wedding (X 2) but a 'New Festival of Britain' by another name? Eerie, prescient stuff. wonder if they've got it right about the cancellation of the 2012 Olympics?
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Post by pulphack on Jan 5, 2011 19:04:31 GMT
absolutely - marvellous how cheap fiction and pop culture is more prescient than the serious stuff, isn't it... and the journey more than made up for the slight anti-climax, to be sure.
i do vaguely recall mr J going on about a follow up in the pub after zardoz, but can't recall if it was a zombie continuation or applying the format to another horror scenario. the latter, one would hope. i might be misremembering now you've said it, but i do recall Robinson were delighted with the sales, which were astonishly good for a UK paperback these days - even some names would struggle to sell a first printing that large so quickly.
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