A little something to help the wait (Warning: you will have to actually read!!)

[Big_Bubbaloola]

Apologies if this has been posted before:

http://www.brokentype.com/monster/000263.html

This is for the story 'Monster Island'. The sequels 'Monster Nation' and 'Monster Planet are available on the same webbie.

It's not a bad read, very much riffing on the ideas from 'World War Z' (which i'm currently reading, and it is well worth picking up along with 'The Zombie Survival Guide, both by Max Brooks)

Enjoy!

[Graf Irrationale Zahl]

Nice idea, thought about the same a few days ago. Most of you probably read the Survival Guide, here are a few Zed-books I read in the past months! (1-5 stars, 5 is best)

Monster Nation, by David Wellington:
story:*** sometimes written out of zombie perspective which is fun, zeds are kind of magic creatures which is strange
literary quality: *** I'm not a native speaker (read all in English), but for a zombie novel it was quite good
gore: *** I liked the part where one wakes up as a zombie and notices, that zombie-sheep are eating his arms

World War Z, by Max Brooks:
story: **** a zombie world war with lots of characters and many different places, brooks likes (except the zombies) realism, nice apocalyptic atmosphere
literary quality: *** good for a zombie novel, he uses lots of acronyms and technical language
gore: *** can’t remember a special part, but Zack gets splattered

Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks:
“story”: ***** I just loved that book, except that I still believe, that a shotgun is a good bet
literary quality: **** seen as a guide it is made like one
gore: * except the stories in the end there is no gore

Plague of the Dead, by Z.A. Recht:
story: **** a bit of CIA/FBI agent meets army/soldier story vs. zombies, zeds are infected, until they die they can run, then they turn into shamblers
literary quality: **-*** the scenery is nice, but the characters lack a bit of emotions like fear or desperation
gore:*** I like the part where an army ambushes the zombies and corpses fill a river until the zedscan cross it

Autumn, by David Moody:
story: ** virus (?) kills most of the people and after a while some of them start reanimating, idea is nice but sometimes the story is a bit boring
literary quality: * the nice atmosphere often gets killed by all these repetitions
gore: *** was good, a bit disgusting sometimes

Twighlight of the Dead, by Travis Adkins:
story: ** zombie meets military ninjas, the main idea is great (last city in U.S. with living people in it) but the end is really really fantasy (zombies with helmets and metal claws), a bit odd I would say
literary quality: **-*** was ok, pictures are nice
gore: *** cant remember a special part, but I think it was good

and for the movie fans ...
The Book of the Dead, by Jamie Russel:
“the complete history of zombie cinema” – didn’t have the time to read it, but it looks great, loads of movies (from 192x-2007), pictures, background information – great *****

[tp500]

Autumn is sick man, but yea I guess it is more of a dramatic zombie story then a gory one. I LOVED that book, I think the characters acted very realistically and they felt like real people that you see everyday.

[Big_Bubbaloola]

Autumn ...... thanks for the heads up, i'll track it down.

[tp500]

Autumn is very good, you might have to learn some british words though. Independent author though, good shit.

[Big_Bubbaloola]

*adopts haughty accent* Excuse me I am British you know! What did you think I was? Colonial??? The nerve man ....... the very nerve!

[Graf Irrationale Zahl]

If you are interested in Autumn check out http://www.theinfected.co.uk/ , www.djmoody.co.uk (http://www.djmoody.co.uk) or www.infectedbooks.co.uk (http://www.infectedbooks.co.uk) , Autumn is a series, but I just read the first one.

[Magicprime]

Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks:
"story": ***** I just loved that book, except that I still believe, that a shotgun is a good bet

It's not that the shotgun is a bad weapon - its just a niche weapon. What Brooks steadily mentions is distance. You don't want to be in an up close fight with a Zed Head unless you have to be. With survival in mind you don't want your main weapon to be a shotgun because your power slopes off sharply as range increases. In a group of survivors there should at least be one shotgun but the majority of weapons should be semi-auto rifles, like an M-14.

[tp500]

Yes the 5th Autumn is due pretty damn soon and those Brits and us Canadians are making a movie of it! Let me tell you, if they fuck that movie up in the least bit like they will have every Autumn fan wanting the producer's blood!

[Graf Irrationale Zahl]

It's not that the shotgun is a bad weapon - its just a niche weapon.

I agree with his reasoning about distance, but the shoty has some big advantages, too. In some countries (f.e. Germany, France) it is not very easy to find semi-automatic rifles but guns that serve the purpose of hunting (and are therefor easier to access). For someone who's aim is a mess it's also more practical to use.
I guess it's like in L4D, shotguns will be first choice in close combat (like city-scenarios) and sniper rifles in more rural areas (which I hope we will soon see some screenshots).

and those Brits and us Canadians are making a movie of it
Yeah, I read that ... let's see what they are making out of it ;).