The Boy Who Cried Zombie is a sampler from AiZ: Alice in Zombieland, which is out now. Pick it up on Amazon.
It all began with The Interview. This is the very first Zombie A.C.R.E.S. short story and it laid out the path for future stories. William Lohman, a recently deceased man, holds an interview that is seen by the entire world. In this interview, he tells of how the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, Roslun Global, has been conducting secret experiments meant to revive the dead, among other atrocities. Mr. Lohman is taken quite seriously seeing as how he is obviously one of these experiments, what with the decay and all.
This interview knocked over the first domino in a long series for Roslun Global, and the company’s greedy CEO Richard Roslun. Richard was not known for being subtle or calm, but he was known for getting results…at any cost.
Nine years has passed since that historic interview changed the world forever. People have learned to live with the idea of zombies, much the same way they learn to live with many modern diseases; it’s a terrible thing, but it doesn’t affect them. Until it does, that is.
Georgia ‘Gee’ Marie is a typical college student in the state of Washington. She enjoys reading and hanging out with her friends, smoking a little weed and going to work. Her life is pretty mundane, until she returns to see her father one day. Tough Love is the story of what this average college student finds when she returns to her father’s home that fateful day. Gee and her younger half-sister Alice, are about to begin the greatest trials of their lives. Not only will their will to survive be tested, but the bonds that hold them together as family and loved ones will be stressed to the max.
Gee and Alice are not the only ones to be greatly affected by the terrible actions of Richard Roslun. Sam Ashe and his fiancée, Heather Young, have just moved to a nice neighborhood in Seattle. Their new neighborhood is beautifully manicured, right down to the last tree lining the street. This area was chosen for its aesthetics, but also for its safety. According to several of Sam’s favorite zombie reporting sites, a very low number of incidents have been reported here.
This would be why Sam is caught off guard one night in The Boy Who Cried Zombie. After an intense gaming session, Sam sees what he believes to be a zombie. Thinking of his love, he heads off to save her from the inevitable zombie outbreak about to occur. Their path is not an easy one, and again, human emotions will be stretched to the limit. If you have ever been in love, and I mean true love, then Sam and Heather’s tale will grab you by the heartstrings and never let go.
My Review:
When Josh was looking for people to host his book tour for Alice in Zombieland: The Complete Saga, we figured I better check out this sampler before agreeing to do the tour. I am not a fan of zombies. I do not understand the fascination and frankly, find them kind of gross. Nevertheless, I downloaded The Boy Who Cried Zombie and read it in about a half hour. I was completely intrigued.
"The Interview" is the first short story included in this volume. In it, William Lohman, a former employee of Roslun Global gives a TV interview. It is clear that he is not well. His voice is rusty. He has a hole in his larynx. His skin is blackened and blotchy, receding along his eye sockets and other orifices. He has pus draining from cuts. He is a zombie, the living dead, yet sounds like a coherent living person. Gross, but his interview talking about the truth of what is going on at Roslun Global captures your attention. It's like another Area 51 cover up.
Move into "Tough Love." This excerpt introduces us to Gee. She becomes involved in the zombie breakout that occurs nine years after the aforementioned interview. She discovers her stepmother, Barbara, gnawing on her baby brother's body, as she has been turned into a zombie. She tries to save her little sister, Alice, from a similar fate, only she is too late. What is going to happen? Is she going to have to kill her younger sister? Will she be scratched or bitten herself? Alice is obviously a key to the story, hence the title of the full book.
Finally, we read "The Boy Who Cried Zombie." Sam has been fascinated by the prospect of zombies for years. He tracks them online and watches all the movies he can get his hands on, but thinks he may be safe in Seattle. Then one day he notices a zombie out his window. He rushes to save his fiancee, Heather, who thinks he is crazy. He convinces her and her best friend Tasha to leave with him, before they are also attacked. Unfortunately a zombie finds them...will they all escape unscathed?
The Boy Who Cried Zombie is designed to leave all of these questions burning in your mind, making you want to read more to find out the answers. It isn't overly graphic and gross, though I usually have a strong stomach. The sampler is well-written and serves its purpose in enticing you to go ahead and purchase the full version. Download a free copy of the sampler and see for yourself.
About the author:
"Writing has always been my passion in life. It has always been a hobby to me though. Thanks to some unfortunate luck in my life, I am now able to focus full time on my writing, and this is the result of the fruit of that labor." ~Joshua Cook
Joshua Cook was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, late in 1977. This where he spent most of his life. There have been short bursts throughout his life where he has spread his wild oats to other parts of the United States, though.
Briefly Josh lived in Arizona and a brief - dark - time in Indiana and Ohio. Finally he landed in Washington state. He now calls Seattle his home where he lives with his beautiful cocker spaniel - black lab mix, Sam Dogg.
This is where he created the growing fan favorite web site ZombieACRES.com, which spawned its first comic in October 2011. After many years of writing non-fiction, news, and various other articles, Josh decided to poke around in fiction - and is loving it.
Giveaway:
During Josh's blog tour for Alice in Zombieland, which runs from July 16-31, 2012, I will be hosting a giveaway. Every stop along the tour is giving away a free ebook copy of Alice in Zombieland. All of these winners will be entered into a contest to win a copy of the limited edition paperback, featuring the new Zombie A.C.R.E.S. comic series.
Enter the giveaway below:
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