Wednesday, June 25, 2014

REVIEW + Giveaway: The Zombie Axiom (In the Time of the Dead #1) by David Monette



The Zombie Axiom
In the Time of the Dead
Book I
David Monette
Genre: Horror/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Severed Press
Date of Publication: April 11, 2014
Cover Artist: David Monette

Book Description:

A handful of survivors claw out a life amid the ruins of the world, all the while fighting the zombie hordes.

In Northern New York State, three uncommon allies lead one of these bands in this epic struggle as they learn both the strengths and weaknesses of their enemies… and of themselves.

Pushed to their limits and holed up on a remote lake island, life has taken on a new normality. That is until winter arrives and all hell will freeze over. For it is then that the open waters of the lake, the only barrier against the unrelenting dead, will freeze. And the monsters will come. By the thousands…


Available on Amazon 

REVIEW

WOW! What a totally different take on the zombie genre. Meteorites, a necromancer, and the undead make for an awesome story, one like I have never read before! David definitely knows how to tell a story. It was well thought out and had lots of real people that you could get to know. He did a great job of telling the reader about the back story of each main character before they actually all met up together. The whole concept of the island and the survival story was like watching a movie play out on the big screen. Again, I really enjoyed this new take on the undead. 

The survivors find one place that the zombie hoard can’t get and wage war against the necromancer and his band of the undead. Until winter, the water was once protection from the hoard, then it became the bridge for the zombie to attack the survivors. After losing a lot to the undead, their savior came in the form of fighter jets which they had no idea who or where they were from.  I can’t wait to read the next one and find out who these mysterious saviors were and who else out there had survived this zombie uprising. 

I loved this book and David’s storytelling! 5 HOOTS for The Zombie Axiom!

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Excerpt 

The sudden blare of the digital clock shocked Virgil awake like a stinging slap. Eyes wild with fear, his right hand shot under his pillow and emerged gripping a loaded 9MM pistol. Sitting, gasping, the giant of a man cast about, searching for the ghosts that haunted his sleeping mind. But the weapon withheld its promise of violence when all that he could detect were motes of dust drifting in lazy swirls through the morning light of his bedroom. The gun slipped from his hand.    
 “Nothing, nothing… nothing. Nothing’s there. Nothing,” he whispered to himself as his chin sank to his chest and his long brown hair slopped down to hide the blunt contours of his face. With his eyes squeezed shut he vigorously rubbed his temples and, like a man freshly pulled from the sea, deeply inhaled the stale air of his trailer.  
At length he pulled his heavily muscled frame upright and shut off the clock alarm. He threw on a pair of shorts and a folded T-shirt from the chair where he had set them aside the night before and wandered from his room and down a narrow hallway to the living room. Stifling a yawn, he maneuvered through an impressive collection of weightlifting equipment until he arrived in the kitchen, where he listlessly consumed a bowl of cold cereal while gazing at the pathetic patch of grass that comprised the front yard outside his home.  
And he tried not to think.
It didn’t work. Never did. His thoughts kept drifting back to the dark corners where the foul things lay... things he’d done, things he’d seen, things he… had….
He flipped the now empty plastic bowl into the sink with a snort of frustration and turned on his television for the noise, something to drive away the images, the memories.  
Didn’t work. Never did. So he did the one thing that always seemed to work. Walking over to his gym equipment, he hefted a forty-five pound weight and slammed it onto an Olympic weight bar that was perched on the uprights of a flat bench. Exhaustion would do the trick. Always did. 
Two hours later, sweating in the heat of his home, Virgil stepped into the bright morning and squinted at the glare of a day that was promising only heat. Slipping on his dark sunglasses, he surveyed the scene around his house. It was a depressing sight for the most part. His dilapidated trailer was one among many such residences that were crammed on a strip of land that no one else would choose to inhabit other than those desperate enough for a home that was cheap. Situated as it was down a steep hill at the end of a dead-end street and with the river only two feet from flooding the entire area, which it regularly did, it was a wonder that the city hadn’t yet closed the place down.  
Noticing nothing out of place, no one watching, no one waiting for him to offer them a target when he turned his back, he locked both doors to his home and crunched across the gravel yard to his dust-coated Range Rover, which was already running, having been remotely started several minutes before. After one more surreptitious check of his surroundings, he unlocked the door to the vehicle and slipped into the air-conditioned interior. The cool air washed over him, drying the sweat from his skin. He closed his eyes, breathed deep. In this cocoon of processed air, of quietly murmuring vibration, he opened his eyes to see a fly making its ponderous way across the field of glass that was his windshield. It was of the large, hairy, slow variety… near the end of its life, but still crawling along like a ball at the end of its push. He sat transfixed, puzzled by its relentless march, its progression toward… something only it knew… or nothing at all. 


About the Author

David Monette functions as an author and illustrator from his home in Northern New York State. His highly detailed fantasy and science fiction artwork has appeared on many books, magazines, board games, and collectible cards. While receiving his MFA in illustration, his instructors reviewed his written work and strongly suggested that he combine his writing ability with his talent as an illustrator to chart his own path.  Hence, “The Zombie Axiom” was born, a compelling, terrifying story sprinkled with amazing black and white illustrations from start to finish.


Giveaway

5 Signed, limited release, first edition copies with the original cover of The Zombie Axiom

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1 comments:

Nina said...

I love books with zombies in it! Big fan here! :) Walking Dead is one of my favourite series. Number one in the top five. :) This book sounds great! Def. checking it out.