I Wanna Suck, I Wanna Lick

His ugly best friend just took home the hottest girl in the bar. This should have been a red flag.

TAIL by Joshua Scribner is a flash fiction piece which serves as a warning about one-night stands. This is also one of the very best stories by this author. I had no idea what Scribner would spring on his readers this time, and he managed to creep me out on several levels.

I'd love for Joshua Scribner to write more stories with this kind of suspense.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Ain't Got Time For What You Feel

Raped and left for dead, Linda was exiled from the Barrens. Somehow, she learned to survive in a world filled with the walking, hungry dead.

And now. . .Linda is coming home to settle up with the people of the Barrens.

Bullets will fly and there will be blood.

COLD VENGEANCE by Eric S. Brown is a flash fiction story taking place in a post-apocalyptic setting. The only safe place from the Snarlers is the Barrens, but the people inside aren't safe from the cruelty inflicted by the living. Linda, cast out and left for dead in her youth, discovered the Barrens is not the only holdout.

Told mostly through flashbacks, centering on Linda's survival and determination, she is about to complete her revenge plan, when she finds herself injured yet again...and trying to escape the undead. The story, despite the short length, is filled with suspense and action in equal measures.

I would love to read a full-length novel about Linda and the Barrens.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Waiting to Follow the Worms

When the first body appears drained of blood, Paul Walker automatically thinks the killer is a vampire. But vampires aren't real, or so he's been told by the local constabulary. But when he witnesses the murder of his sister by one of the vampires, he realizes the creatures are real; they're just different from what the books and movies have led him to believe. Now he only needs to convince the local police before the town is overrun. As he races back to town, though, he realizes he might be too late.

VAMPIRE WORMS by Neil Davies is another excellent creature feature in the Grave Marker series from Grinning Skull Press. The author balances the right amount of personal history with looming danger to present one of the most original and tragic vampire stories I've ever read.

If Davies ever felt inclined to write a sequel, I'd love to know what becomes of the survivors. I'd especially like to see a POV from the military, perhaps Lt. Colonel Draper. These monsters are just too damn gruesome to contain to one story.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Nothing Will Quite Be The Same

Alex and Steve leave home together to begin their courses but in less than a week Alex goes missing when some hunk called Tarquin steps onto the scene. Just when everything was going so well, suddenly it wasn't…

After completing their studies and passing yet more exams, the other Kilkorne chums, Rachel, Maisie and Fred prepare for college by going shopping, unaware that the screaming may be about to start all over again.

BRITISH ZOMBIE BREAKOUT, PART FOUR: LAST GASP by Peter Salisbury begins with a time jump. The teens are moving on with their lives, while Rachel continues to milk her celebrity status, even at the expense of her relationships with the others. With no explanation, Alex and Steve are taken into military custody, just in time to bear witness to a new outbreak.

I enjoyed this installment far more than the second and third stories. The events taking place on the army base are more in line with what zombie fans would expect from an undead threat to survival. The teens locked up in the tower offers a great perspective of the unfolding events. I'm hoping the author might consider continuing the series, especially since some of the characters were finally developing their personalities.

As always,
AstraDaemon

The Demon You Disrupted

British Zombie Breakout – Part Three: Zombies Go Global. The Minister's plots deepen, the virus goes AWOL, and Alex and Steve are on the run again. Where will zombies turn up next and can they be stopped from infecting the world? Will Rachel ever appear on TV or will Steve beat her to it?

BRITISH ZOMBIE BREAKOUT, PART THREE: ZOMBIES GO GLOBAL by Peter Salisbury continues with political intrigue and bio-terrorists. While there's no lack of suspense or action, the characters have never really been developed beyond their initial introductions in The Castle. Very little has ever been revealed about their lives prior to the Kilkorne outbreak, and their personalities are very basic, despite the chaos surrounding them. As such, I have been losing interest in the series.


I thought this would become a great YA fiction mini-series, but I think the second and third installments need an overhaul. There isn't much incentive to move on to the fourth and final story, unless the characters are given some serious depth.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Turns A Boy Into A Fightin' Man

British Zombie Breakout Part 2: Escape From Kilkorne. Zombies are still on the rampage, killing and infecting anyone in their path. A close-knit band of ten uninfected fugitives must prove they are clean by escaping the stricken village where they are trapped by the army. A quarantine cordon surrounds the whole area, with an entire army camp between the village and freedom.

What chance of survival do the fugitives have while zombies are still at large in the English countryside and when a corrupt politician and the Chief Scientist at the Breathedeep Biological Research Facility are intent on their capture, dead or alive? Who will prove to be the more ingenious, the authorities, the fugitives or the zombies?

BRITISH ZOMBIE BREAKOUT, PART TWO: ESCAPE FROM KILKORNE by Peter Salisbury is the second installment in his zombie mini-series. Steve, one of the students, proves yet again to be the most resourceful of the group. Not only is he responsible for saving the other kids in The Castle, but he's found a way to detect infection without a blood test, as well as avoiding anything contaminated.

The military continues to be manipulated by the politicians, and Steve's survivor group, which includes the adults, are struggling to stay ahead of the ongoing battle between the undead and the soldiers. While not much has been revealed about the exact nature of the zombies, there is reason to believe they are capable of predatory thinking.

The ending suggests the story will continue in a new direction with the third installment...

As always,
AstraDaemon

They've Got The Kingdom Locked Up

The authorities should have been more careful after the first zombie breakout infected half of England and disrupted lives right across the country. Unfortunately, either someone got careless, again, or the disease was far more virulent than anyone expected. The remote fishing village of Kilkorne with its picturesque castle and harbour was the last place to expect an attack, despite its proximity to the experimental facility where the disease was invented. Once the second outbreak had been officially announced by the Ministry, anyone resisting capture was to be shot as being infected with zombieism. Alternatively you could surrender and be kept in a quarantine camp, where last time the survival rate was zero.

Refusing to accept either option, five teenagers and five adults separately begin journeys from opposite sides of the village. They attempt to stay one step ahead of an insane horde of highly infectious, half dead creatures, the army's orders to shoot on sight, and the Ministry's instructions to burn down the village. Furthermore, the endeavour was not exactly helped by a suspected case of haunting.

BRITISH ZOMBIE BREAKOUT, PART ONE: THE CASTLE by Peter Salisbury is a strong start to a series that would definitely appeal to YA fiction readers. I love how the author immediately establishes that this is not the first zombie outbreak that the characters have had to deal with. However, the characters do not seem to fare much better, apparently having gotten too comfortable living somewhat normal lives again. Therefore, it's no surprise when their evacuate-by-boat plan falls through. The two groups of survivors, some adults and some students, then decide to make for the village's nearby castle.

The POV switches back and forth from the adults to the children, until the groups merge onto the same location, which kept the action flowing, but I would have liked a third POV from the soldiers who appear to be shooting anything on two legs.

Check back for reviews of each installment!

As always,
AstraDaemon