Book Blog: This Would Be Paradise by N.D. Iverson

Not quite "I want my hours back" but close. The title is from a poem or a song, I don't recognise it, but basically is the idea that if humans were as admirable as some of their accomplishments (e.g. flying in the air) the world would be paradise.

As a zombie apocalypse story, this was fairly ordinary. I could tick off each of the expected elements as I went along: Graduating college girls in New Orleans for Mardi Gras witness the beginnings of an epidemic; visit scary hospital; the dead rise; civilisation collapses; girls team up with gun-savvy Southerners; group encounters human marauders worse than zombies; viewpoint girl undergoes rapid Life Experience with gory bits. There was some clumsy grammar that would have benefited from better editing, including in the author bio, where you would expect a bit more care.

I did quite like the main character Bailey, and also the fact that she knows nothing about guns and manages to survive initially by her wits, despite only possessing a "would you like fries with that?" degree. As an Arts graduate who has heard that joke too many times for it to be funny, I can sympathise. Bailey and her friend are Canadians and there are some of those jokes in the book too. I wondered what a zombie book written by a Canadian would be like and now I know.

Moving along.....

Book Blog: RAN Apocalyptica Part One by Joshua Guess

For any recent readers; this is my book blog where I intend to chronicle everything I read this year. This is the book I was trying to tell myself not to get. It's not even a book yet; it's a serialised novel and I knew that before I started reading, so full knowledge, informed consent. This guy is just that good. After I read it, I added him on Facebook and sent him a message accusing him of reader torture. But it's good torture.

RAN is another female viewpoint zombie story, of which there are fewer than there should be, and this one is compelling. I don't know why Joshua is doing it this way as I'll happily buy his full-length books. He's that rare bird, a successful self-publishing Kindle author, and I'd like some of that to rub off. The title makes me think of an anime episode, but it's actually from the character's first name, Randie, which she shortens to Ran. I write it like this because that's what the cover looks like; the name in big letters with a black human outline standing in the A like James Bond.