Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback: a review

Zombie Acopalypse! Fightback created by Stephen Jones

Paperback: 528 pages and Kindle 512 pages

Publisher: Robinson (4 Oct 2012)

ISBN-13: 978-1780334653

ASIN: B008O58DUM

Digested by the unholy revenant Geoff Nelder

Bah, I hate this book. WTF do these greenies know. Hiding behind bullets and on islands. Think water will stop us? Just a sec while I cough up – what? That’s a bit of rib in the bloody mucous. No matter, got spare. This mishmash patchwork accounts from the yet-to-be-dead / undead tell only half the frigging story. S’only their opinion, right? Like the neat handwriting and the drawings of Rod-odd Ostler. I could do that, before. So what if Lisa tittle-tattle Tuttle with her oh-so-neat cool handwriting on her little Scottish island (like the survivors fighting off the other-virus infected in ARIA: Left Luggage) teams up with Neil Gammon-tasty Gaiman, and Pat hides-in-her-jumper? (the undead are allowed dire jokes); Pete crowds in there too, the Crowther but even Guy soldier-what-a-laff Adams, and Jo beats-em-with-her-stick and new books Fletcher won’t stop us.

That Stephen Jones – he’s one of us, he just doesn’t know it. Or maybe he does. That ack page at the back has page numbers. Well, I don’t do numbers any more – we don’t need ‘em, but for those that do, they’ll not find page numbers in the book. Unless they’re in invisible ink – the bas   d.

A musty read for all wraiths and the undead. I and my fellow revenants recommend Zombie Acopalypse! Fight Back to all zombies. We have to arm ourselves with the enemy’s thoughts. Need to go. I’ll use this book. A grisly manual for what to do, not to do, when the goodies think they’re winning. Yeah. Going for world dom. After food, food, food, fool.

On Amazon here

Bec pens a review of Hot Air

Writer, Bec Zugar, read the ebook version of Hot Air, and wrote this awesome review.

http://www.beczugor.com/1/post/2010/12/hot-air-by-geoff-nelder-a-review.html

The City & The City

The City & The City

ISBN: 978-0-330-49310-9

China Miéville

Reviewed by Geoff Nelder

I could see, then unsee, why this is science fiction and yet not.

This book arrived on my shelves enveloped in controversy. It had just been awarded two science fiction awards, nominated for more, and yet journalists were asking if it was really science fiction or just a crime novel with added dimensions. If I thought it was akin to when Margaret Atwood is in denial of her obvious-to-most science fiction writing, then I’d be wrong: China insists that everything he writes is science fiction and that any discussion of such niceties is ‘silly’. But it isn’t silly when he wins awards set aside for science fiction works.

Reading the blurb, I was both pleased and gutted. Pleased anyway because I relish China’s love of the art of writing. I am not one who thinks the author should be invisible and there are phrases China uses that makes me stop and admire his skill. Pleased also because of the premise: two cities occupy the same physical space and yet the occupants of one city ‘cannot’ see those of the other; nor their buildings and vehicles. I was gutted because it seemed to me this is a story where parallel universes meet at a city-size intersection, and I wanted to write such a story. The two cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma, have different architecture, language and social mores yet share knowledge of the rest of the world. So they all know who Tom Hanks is, and can travel to the same Britain, Canada and the US.  The notion of parallel universes and a possible intersection is certainly a concept within the bounds of Quantum Physics and hence science fiction. For an undeclared reason it is illegal for the citizens of either city to see each other. It appears that if this happens they commit a breach of protocol and a particularly powerful body called Breach punishes them. This becomes complicated because how can someone drive along a road that is in both cities but has to unsee vehicles and buildings belonging to the other city? Accidents happen and Breach swoops. To me there are many contradictions in this aspect of the plot – it is too easy for naughty children to throw stones at windows of either or both cities, committing Breach all over the place. CCTV is referred to but the logical consequences aren’t. That is: how can anyone view a photograph of the city without noticing cars, people and buildings from the other city?

But wait. First let’s praise where it is due.

Mostly, this is an extraordinarily well-crafted crime story with three main characters – police from the two cities – who are alive and credible. You can tell who is talking from their speech patterns and mannerisms, faultless. Love the idea that a policeman from one city is needed to help solve a murder that takes place in the other. The victim is crucial to unravelling the mystery of the two cities and it seems there are groups eager to keep the secret. China does a terrifically moving job of making the two detectives distrust then come to admire each other, in their own way. Brilliant. Generally, an author has his work cut out to describe one unique city so that the reader believes they are there, but here two cities are created in the same spot. Excellent and original. I would have liked more flesh on the character of the protagonist, Borlu. We are told he has two women, who don’t know each other but we feel more for his assistant. There are times when he should be scared stiff yet isn’t. When his Breach officer is shot, he should have been worried that the other Breach would suspect him but he seems to be unaware. I like his character though I think I made up more than was revealed in the novel.

You need to have a good imagination to appreciate The City & The City and to keep having one to the end. It isn’t a light read even though it is fast paced. I’d like to say that I walk about my own city (Chester) wondering if I am in another parallel city but hadn’t noticed before. Yes, we all go through life half blind to architectural niches in a too-familiar town, but it isn’t the same. The inhabitants of both cities in TC&TC have been indoctrinated from birth to unsee the other and know they have been. This is hard to take on – it lacks credibility in a modern society with TV and international travel even with a tough Breach enforcement.

If having two different cities occupying the same geographical space isn’t hard enough there may be another, Orciny, which was there before the two started. There is a hint that an alien force created the conditions for Beszel and Ul Qoma to develop separately and unseeing from the ancient original. If anyone discovers the truth there could be disastrous consequences – in my imagination and with Quantum Mechanics in mind, I thought perhaps the true knowledge of each other might snuff out one or both. Rather like a Schrödinger Cat experiment. Because of Breach and indoctrination, such thoughts are outlawed, but there are factions. Great geopolitics here, with groups wanting unification, others demanding either Beszel or Ul Qoma as the true city.

Before I say why the ending disappointed me, I have to praise the writing. Breach are specially trained security – they are expressionless, reinforced to make them different to the normal police of either city. “Their faces were without anything approaching expressions. They looked like people-shaped clay in the moments before God breathed out.”

Phrases I wished I’d written: “Silence went through the room, leaving itself behind.” “…was addressed to me, prisoner, condemned, consultant.” The juxtaposition of opposites there very well done, and when you read it in context, apt.

Maybe it is because I jumped to the parallel QM conclusion too early and eagerly waited for such an exposition, I was becoming anxious near the end. By half way I’d written it differently – I’d have had the messing with the seeing / unseeing of and by the citizens of each city create a sudden coming to a mathematical point, an elimination of one or both. In the end, nothing so exciting (for me) happened. It kind of fizzled out as if China didn’t know how to finish the novel – an outrageous point of view I know, and improbable. Right from the start, the QM aspects kept the book firmly as Science Fiction. Then, in the last few pages we find that it was all a con. No parallel dimensions, no QM, Breach and the indoctrination is all that keeps the two cities going. What? That to me is far too contrived. I cannot believe a dual system kept in place by force and culture like that. Fair enough, Apartheid kind of did, but in an obvious way, not with unseeing and all the contradictions that throws up. I am disappointed at the end, but I would struggle to say the novel isn’t Science Fiction. In many ways it is with the original concepts, alt history, and possibilities.

The City & The City is a great crime story for readers with intelligence and admiration of lateral thinking. Maybe it is worthy of the Clarke Award, but I hope it isn’t a sign that future Science Fiction will follow suit. Not that I want all my SF reading to have aliens and rockets, but I don’t want to watch a film of Raiders of the Lost Ark to end with a ‘sorry there was never an Ark in the first place’ either.

Review of And Now the Nightmare Begins

And Now the Nightmare Begins: The Horror Zine

Volume One – to purchase click away here for US readers and here for UK.

An anthology of horror stories edited by Jeani Rector

Reviewed by Geoff Nelder

Paperback: 260 pages

Publisher: Bearmanor Fiction (Dec 2009)

Language English

ISBN-10: 1593933568

ISBN-13: 978-1593933562

Jeani Rector edits and started a monthly online zine of horror featuring fiction, articles, images and poetry many years ago and the current website is at http://www.thehorrorzine.com Twenty of the finest stories and twenty-one poems have been collated into an anthology published in December 2009. I leave a review of poetry to those who understand the good and the bad of it.

This collection is a patchwork quilt of horror, with a mix of writing styles and plots to please all aficionados of the genre. For me, some are merely very good while a handful are outstanding.

Folks Don’t Always Come Out of Ratwitch Cave The Same by Lawrence Barker

Maybe it was the sadist in me but as a geography teacher I loved to take groups of teenagers into an abandoned slate mine near the Welsh town of Blaunau Ffestiniog and creep them out. I needed to do no more than walk them in a mile, divert them into a side adit then get them to turn their lights out. Some screamed, others laughed. The laughers probably turned into readers of horror. This story by Lawrence Barker took me back to that cave, added more rats, a witch and, writing with stylish sensual Show, threw in a hellish emotion roaring through the protagonist, Hargus, as he fought his demons with murderous results. I like long titles but this one lacked the subtlety of the narrative and was too much of a spoiler in my opinion.

I’m Coming To Get You by Jason D. Brawn

Simon watches a 60s film on TV, The Devil’s Shadow, but the ending isn’t as he expected resulting in him experiencing the horror of his family being hacked. Or does it? There is a way out, but will he accept it? The premise of pacts with the devil isn’t new but the treatment is unique. The writing could be tighter with the occasional dangling participles, but the mood of the piece is cleverly scary.

The Dead Wall by David Byron

The early mention of unprotected sex betrayed the likely consequence. However, the ghastly nature and revelation of that consequence unsettled me all the way to a compelling finale.

The Hands by Ramsay Campbell

I always relish reading the master of fantasy, and pleasurably recall hearing his FantasyCon readings in the UK. It is the archetypal corridor horror where the reader feels ill following the protagonist through the realistic grim interior of a dilapidated building, initially following someone in, then desperately seeking a way out. One of the reasons Campbell is a multiple-award winning writer is the way he masters description. For example he doesn’t Tell us it’s raining he Shows us with a signpost dripping like a nose. Every time I read The Hands I find nooks I’d missed earlier, yet I am surprised at the lack of the use of smell and taste. However, Campbell says he uses each story to try new things and plenty of full sensory Show is used in his stories in the quarter of a century since The Hands was first published.

The Real-Time Boogey Man by Chris Castle

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Chris Castle is also a poet: this story has that kind of fluidity. Listen – ‘There was a moment when his smile was lit too brightly and she had to close her eyes and when she opened them again, he had faded from view.’ This, when Martha finds a ghostly friend who is to Halloween her evil father to hell. She is remarkably composed yet with an eerie air, obliging the reader to read on.

The Pass by Simon Clark

This must be a good story because I squirmed in my desire for the wrong ending. The hogs, or were they, coming to kill the community, felt real and dangerous, but then the alternative threw up pathos equally stomach churning.

Venus by Connor de Bruler

I suppose a young writer is allowed to let exuberance for the art trample the mature niceties of point of view adherence, dangling participles, and such. The many sections doesn’t allow readers to engage as much as they should. Nevertheless, in spite of the predictable outcome, the story has colour and setting descriptions that took me there. I look forward to reading more of Connor de Bruler’s work.

The Silent Hours by Trevor Denyer

A cunning ghost story from the point of view of a young lad thrown into the care of his grandparents (one of whom is not alive) while his parents recover from a car crash. My only criticism is that it finishes too soon.

The Rattling Man by Alan Draven

There are many Halloween stories, and this has too much Tell in my opinion. However, it is different, one for collectors, maintaining its tension and challenging the reader with the identity of the villain until the last sentence. 

What The Dead Are For by Terry Grimwood

I collect in limbo stories and though this starts oh so religious, I was caught out and enraptured. I have the feeling Terry didn’t know how to end it but the story is worth the read anyway.

The Man With The Crocodile Eyes by Kyle Hemmings

Written with the eye of a poet though in my opinion it could have ended three paragraphs earlier.  Marvellous wordcraft -  example: a reason Carly says no to a joint is how could she explain the ‘never ending dance of giggles’ to her parents?

My Mother’s Knives by Christina Hoag

Mary Grace is disillusioned turning her from a latent sociopath to bloody butchery. Not to be read if you live in an apartment, hotel, block of flats, a shared house, anywhere except an isolated cottage. Even then… Yes, scary – rather obvious – but well written.

The Dream Catcher by David W. Landrum

Victims speaking from their grave giving away their murderer always makes for an interesting and macabre plot, especially when elaborated with Native American lore. Too much Tell spoilt it a little for me, but the moodiness is captured well.

The Demon Smiles by Rick McQuiston

I would have engaged more with this night-exploring-an-empty-factory tale if it didn’t head hop so much. Having said that it is spooky with an unpredictable ending.

Outside Her Bedroom Window by Brian Medof

I feel for Linda, trying to slip into escapist sleep yet disturbed and perturbed by unnatural sounds. Conflict, resolution – or is it? A worthy read.

On One Condition by B. A. Sans

An inheritance to dream of, but the dream turns to a nightmare but with a fiendishly unusual endgame. Well-written – a keeper.

For Rachel (With special thanks to Ed Gorman) by Brian J. Smith

In my top three in this collection. Great use of all the senses and one of the few employing colour. Action combined with sustained tension, and it isn’t quite finished. Well done.

Halloween Lights by Anna Taborska

The plot isn’t new but the writing of it is unique and intriguing. Written as if Anna wore a camera on her shoulder, the reader is there all the way. Exquisite.

Delete Contact? by E. J. Tett

Clever pacing and avoiding the obvious ending added to the pleasure of reading this gem. Poignant for me with my inability to delete my departed father from  my contacts.

Ghost of Roses by Debra Young

When Kyle’s soul mate lover died his mind plays tricks making him unapproachable to concerned friends. But this is no soppy story, it is superbly written, evidenced by clever sensual Show especially in the use of sense of smell and in colour. Thank you, Debra! Also in the metaphors: guilt, an iceberg in his soul, vast, slow, and deeply buried…

In my top three in this anthology.

The Bus Station by Jeani Rector

A humdinger of a ghost-or-is-it tale. A young man kills, but nothing is simple as people, or their bodies, come and go. By the end it becomes clear –mostly. The narrative is engaging along with an expert employment of pace. A terrific read.

Cockroaches by Jeani Rector

It seemed to me that cockroaches deserved my respect for being able to outlive humans, and all mammals, in the event of a global catastrophe such as nuclear war. Luckily, I don’t live in a number 17 as do the unfortunate characters in this story. Capturing the exuberance of youth, Jeani Rector masterfully crafts this story so that it is more than just a horror tale,

Lutz Barz reviews Exit, Pursued by a Bee

Lutz Barz is the Australian owner of rspublishing, a source of good science fiction. He possesses a lateral thinking way of writing and after reading Exit, Pursued by a Bee has etched this zany review. It contains typos and warts and somehow it doesn’t matter because it is the product of a coruscating mind, whose fingers are slower than synapses. Hence his review is like no other.

The review location is Open Salon, a kind of news blog for all sorts. Similar to Newsvine. And who do I see there? Brian Porter! Another DDP author who somehow is wherever I e-travel. Good to see you there too, Brian.

Lutz Barz (what a great name – it screams science fiction) publishes science fiction and fantasy at http://rspublishing.com.au/

Maggie Ball’s review

Magdalena Ball’s Review of Exit, Pursued by a Bee by Geoff Nelder

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/11/11/190226.php

extract
“Nelder shakes our entire notion of what ‘present’ means, and in so doing, also what death and life mean. Characters die but sometimes they don’t really. If we aren’t moving forward, then maybe even the notion of change is an illusion. The most interesting thing about Exit, Pursued by a Bee , is not the myriad unanswered questions it raises about the spheres, or whether Kallandra was meant to be with Claude or Derek, or even whether Kallandra saves the world or not.

By undermining, in the most quantum of ways, the way we perceive the notion of time, it raises the whole question about what life is and who we are. In the end, the one thing we’re left with is a kind of constant throughout the novel: Kallandra’s tactile sensations. When time is no longer the backbone of our lives, and everything we perceive about ourselves disappears, those sensations remain.

Nelder has created a novel that will both satisfy readers at a deep level, and at the same time raise unsettling questions about the very fabric of who we are. “

I’m blown away,
http://geoffnelder.com/exitbee.htm

In spite of spending half her life in hospital out and in patients, travelling there and back and in pain at home, M Kenyon Charboneaux, tutor and writer of horror stories in the USA, took time out to read my Exit, Pursued by a Bee. I am overwhelmed by her review here >> http://geoffnelder.com/kenyon.htm

I am also grateful to an energetic and highly intelligent forum member, who audaciously calls herself ~bintarab (note the tilde), who meticulously nitcombed the text of Exit, Pursued by a Bee recently and passed onto me a list of errors. Some of them were subjective alternative comma usages and capitalization of military ranks, but much was correcting my awful French. Not that Exit is bilingual but I wrote the occasional mon cherie, as spoken by Claude, a French Canadian astronaut, and ~bintarab corrected it to ma cherie. (not sure how to do the accent in here – when I tried a few minutes ago I lost all this text and found myself playing a Lara Croft type game!. The upshot is that I was able to correct a galley proof of Exit, Pursued by a Bee for DDP to create a full-blown trade paperback version instead of the experimental but readable version at Lulu.com. Thanks ~bint!

All this euphoria was grounded this morning with the incoming real life post. I had a rejection for Auditory Crescendo today from Interzone.
Form rejection of the worst kind, IMHO. No explanation, no signature so I don’t know who read it. In the envelope – MY envelope with MY stamp – were adverts for the publishers other mags, the form reject, and another advert and urging for all submitters to buy and read Interzone. No wonder they don’t like responding by email and have only a tiny window for email subs: they use our envelopes and stamps to post their adverts to us. I wouldn’t mind so much but as I said in my query letter, I’ve subscribed to Interzone since it started.

I know for a fact that they are not deluged with submissions and even if they were I’m sure most submitters would prefer to wait another week and have a few words such as, pace too slow in the middle, characters 2D, already received alien abduction story this year, had too many man bites vampire tales…

I know that some editors fear a reprisal in the way of a prolonged discourse but I bet that rarely happens.

At Escape Velocity we always give a couple of sentences feedback with rejections and as a former leche oops, lecturer, I always find something positive to say. After all it takes at least 20 mins to read and consider a short story. It only takes another one minute to write a response, unless I get carried away and do a full crit

I’ve sent it to Asimov’s. Wish it luck.