It's like The Real World meets The Walking Dead.

    If this combination intrigues you, you should definitely check out this novel. If it sends you screaming in the other direction, then you should not. Keep Your Crowbar Handy attempts to do something different with the zombie genre and for more than half the book is a subversion of your typical post-apocalyptic tale.

    Our protagonists manage to be impossibly lucky and have the right combination of people to not only survive the initial outbreak but know a Doomsday prepper who was rich as well as paranoid enough to build a house-sized fallout shelter. In terms of the zombie apocalypse, it is the equivalent of winning the lottery five times in a row. Except, of course, our protagonists are all twenty-somethings with a couple of middle-aged adults shoved together with nowhere to go and a slow dawning realization no one is going to rescue them. As George Romero's movies show, the biggest danger in this sort of situation isn't zombies but your fellow survivors.

    I was back and forth on the book for much of the first half until I realized just what S.P. Durnin was doing. It's a story which works on a slow burn and has a nice element of satire to it. Our protagonists are beautiful, young, hedonistic folk who would be right at home on MTV or Friends with the small exception most are unusually badass. I'll get more into this but this is what lends the book its unique feel.

    The book takes place in a sort of exaggerated zombie-slaying video-game or humorous action movie universe where everyone is sexy and tough but acts like the kind of person you'd meet at the mall. Even one-chapter characters like Tracy are entertaining this way.

    Our protagonist, Jake, is a laid back hipster who just happens to be an ex-SAS soldier, anime geek, editor, fabulous lover, and all-round nice guy. He's accompanied by Kat and Laurel who are two badass women without his special training but equally laid-back take on the apocalypse.

    One has a sword.

    And no, it's not a polygamy situation--a pity, too, since I actually think it'd make sense in this situation. Last man on Earth and all that. Keep Your Crowbar Handy is the sort of book where it's less important that the end of the world is happening outside than events have forced a bunch of people together in a tiny space they can't leave. At least for the first half of the book. Boredom and abrasive personalities are the biggest dangers for the majority of the book rather than cannibal corpses.

   I can't say this is remotely realistic as you'd think one of this group would start to wonder if their family was horrifically killed (and one is). However, it fits with the book's metaphor, which is the zombie-apocalypse is pretty much your twenties. You're forced to with impossible situations and a large scary world but as long as you're in your apartment, you're relatively safe. That is, of course, until the food runs out and you need to go into the Big Bad WorldTM to keep the lights on.

    I liked the metaphor in Shaun of the Dead and this is a more glamorized American take on it. Our protagonists are even taken care of by their metaphorical parents, carrying their asses when they're too busy focused on enjoying themselves. I will say the author went overboard making Jake a sort of living god of idealized Generation Y manhood and spent too much time focusing on who was sleeping with who over the flesh-eating monsters outside. However, it's hard to fault the author too much because I liked the characters and their romances.

    Those more interested in apocalyptic action and zombie-slaying also only half to wait for the latter half of the book to get their fill. While the first half is mostly action-less with a single extended chase scene, the second is wall-to-wall undead murder. Kat, Jake, and Laurel earn their monster hunter credentials three times over during this section and I'm quite pleased with it.

    Keep Your Crowbar Handy is a quirky-quirky book and I enjoyed reading it. I loved the characters, too, and recognize all of their are true-to-life in their personalities. They're sexy as hell too. Hell, I married a girl like Kat (also named Kat weirdly enough). The humor in the book is great and there are large segments where I became invested in the personal struggles of our heroes.

    A lot of people have attempted to do the same zombie apocalypse over and over again. A bunch of survivors, trapped together, desperate, and then slowly picked off one by one until the survivors bleakly move on. Keep Your CrowbarHandy is not that book. It's a book which a girl with a Hello Kitty tattoo and sword slays a bunch of zombies while debating tossing her boyfriend's ex into the horde of undead outside. Which is great.

7.5/10

    Batman: Arkham Origins and its first major DLC have something in common. They're derivative of much better stories and an attempt to cash-in on them. My review of Origins here talks about how it had potential but ultimately failed to live up to it. Here, I was looking forward to the DLC but found myself disappointed by it for other reasons.

    The premise of Cold, Cold Heart is more-or-less identical to the classic Batman: The Animated Series episode, "Heart of Ice." Ferris Boyle is being given the a Humanitarian of the Year award when Mister Freeze breaks in with a gang of thugs to kidnap him. We discover that Ferris Boyle is not really that much of a humanitarian and Mister Freeze is more sympathetic than his robotic suit might attest.

    Cold, Cold Heart screws up this premise in every conceivable way.

The visuals are impressive in this DLC, so there's that. This is damning with faint praise, though.

    The first problem is, of course, it's a straight retelling of an already-famous show's most famous episode. There's no surprises or twists here for even a causal Batman fan. The second problem is it's a BAD retelling as it adds a bunch of things in which undermine the episode's fundamental message.

    How?

    Well, Mister Freeze kills about a dozen people upon his entrance to Wayne Manor, callously freezing or blowing them up. Even if you assume it's harmless freezing, there's still the people who died in the initial explosion. It's hard to care about the message about Mister Freeze being misunderstood when he slaughters a dinner party on his way in.

    I was willing to forgive this element so long as the gameplay was fun but it's not. Cold, Cold Heart is basically the same as the rest of Origins, except in the main game you might enter a room with six guys holding machine guns. In Cold, Cold Heart, you enter said room only there's like sixteen. This doesn't ratchet up the tension but slows things down. It's what I like to call "Fake Difficulty" and it's something which coats most of the missions here.

Penguin's presence in the DLC is solely there to pad it out but, unlike most of the padding, it's quite enjoyable.

    There's some decent elements to the story. The opening at Wayne Manor is well-designed with our short glimpse of us giving us a sense of the immensity of the family legacy. I also liked the depiction of Penguin's club. The Penguin's presence in the DLC is an unnecessary complication but I liked how it showed Oswald Cobblepot's seething resentment of Bruce Wayne. Really, I think a better DLC might have been made of his revenge plot.

    All of this, of course, leads up to the final fight against Mister Freeze. Sadly, this where this DLC disappoints the worst as it's just a retread of the original one against Mister Freeze in Batman: Arkham City. That was a great Boss Fight, don't get me wrong, but it feels somewhat insulting just to throw it into this game.

    About the only thing I liked in Cold, Cold Heart's gameplay was fighting the cryogenic weapons-wielding enemies. The fact they can zap their own guys was greatly entertaining. If this had longer-term consequences than just halting them for awhile, I might have enjoyed it more. It would have added a valuable strategy element to gameplay--but it's just a quirky addition to the combat.

Bruce Wayne letting the mask slip just a bit.

     There's a segment at the start, too, where you are forced to fight as Bruce Wayne rather than Batman. Deprived of your body armor and gadgets, Bruce Wayne has to deal with a number of thugs at a drastically reduced capacity. While I think it's improper for Bruce Wayne to ever fight thugs personally due to his secret identity, given they were threatening Alfred I think it was appropriate there. I liked this section of the game and wish it was longer.

    In conclusion, there's two words to describe Cold, Cold Heart. Derivative and Padded. It doesn't do anything horrible and it's still based on Arkham Asylum's excellent combat system as well as Batman but it's not really all that fun.  Play it if you're really-really bored.

6/10

    I confess, I never expected to see an R-rated DC comics cartoon in my lifetime. Now, I'm sure they don't rate Assault on Arkham"R" specifically but instead has a PG-13 one. Which is ridiculous because heads explode plus sex, violence, and swearing. There's a substantial number of bodies dropped during this movie with cannibalism, decapitations, and being impaled in the face with a grappling hook as just some of the way people die.

    PG-13, my Utility Belt!

    Really, about the only reason I can assume this movie was rated PG-13 is because the characters are all animated so watching the severed head of one rolling across the ground counts less. There's also not that much blood despite the fact there's enough. Arguing about something as subjective as the ratings system, though, is pointless. I just want viewers to know this is the mature side of the DC Animated Universe first.

    Assault on Arkham is an hour-and-a-half-long movie based on the Batman: Arkham Asylum video game franchise. This is kind of misleading since the Arkham franchise isn't all that distinct from the mainstream DC Universe with rare exceptions. Aside from a few character designs, this could be any of the animated movies that takes place in their own "pocket universes." That isn't a complaint, however, as it's still a very well done version of these characters.

A great collection of villains.

    Interestingly, this movie isn't based on the adventure of Batman despite being set in the Batman: Arkham Asylum universe. No, instead, this is more a Suicide Squad movie. Which is curious since they didn't exist in the Arkham Asylum universe until fairly recently.

    What is the Suicide Squad? Well, my dear reader, it is a collection of DC comics supervillains assembled together by the government to go on missions too dangerous to send actual soldiers. Furthermore, if you refuse to cooperate, they detonate a bomb in your head.

    Both elements are demonstrated repeatedly during this rather ruthless movie as our villain protagonists are killed rather summarily throughout the movie. This is a dark movie and because our protagonists are "evil" it doesn't spare a moment of remorse for any of them. I was actually offended a few times because a few of the characters killed were quite likable as well as ones I'd grown up with.

    Oh well, it's just in this continuity.

Harley is awesome, as always.

    The premise is, as stated, the government (represented by Amanda Waller) assembling a task force to eliminate the Riddler after he's acquired a great deal of information he shouldn't. The Riddler has been captured by Batman, however, and is imprisoned in Arkham Asylum.

    Rather than request a prison transfer through the legal system, she's instead decided to send a black ops team to break into the place. For once, Arkham Asylum isn't treated as the cardboard prison we know it to be and is as guarded as a Super Max for the Super Insane should be.

    The characters assembled for this suicide mission are Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, Killer Frost, KGBeast, Black Spider, and King Shark. Quite a few of these characters will not be making it out of this mission alive but all of them get to demonstrate their personalities, skill sets, and abilities with the exception of one (who I won't spoil gets the ax early). The Joker ends up playing an unnecessary role in the story but, really, given it's his home turf and his role in Harley Quinn's life--I shouldn't be surprised he makes an appearance.

Again, Harley is awesome. There's other people but she's my favorite.

    The standout performances are Neal McDonough's Deadshot, Hynden Walch's Harley Quinn, (of course) Kevin Conroy's Batman, and Jennifer Hale's Killer Frost. Jennifer Hale actually doesn't get that much to do but I find her voice hits all the sweet spots and have since Knights of the Old Republic.

    I like Deadshot's characterization the most here because he's treated as the only sane man in a gang of lunatics as well as an eeriely calm professional. Harley Quinn is a hoot as always with Hynden Walch stepping into Tara Strong's big shoes quite well. While nothing exceptional, Troy Baker does an uncanny impersonation of Mark Hamill's Joker. If I questioned any characterization, it would be Amanda Waller's as she's portrayed as quite a bit more evil in this film than normal.

    In conclusion, I heartily recommend adult DC comics fans check this one out. It's brutal, dark, sexy, and hilarious even if it's nothing exceptional in terms of plot. I wouldn't let the kiddies see it, though.

8/10

    Arthas.

    The Lich King of Azeroth.

    It's difficult to really convey the story of Arthas to anyone who hasn't played Warcraft III: Realm of Chaos and its expansion The Frozen Throne. I may eventually get to reviewing those real-time strategy games someday because they remain the apex of storytelling in their genre. Which, admittedly, means it's them against Command and Conquer plus Starcraft but I digress.

    For those who didn't play the game, it was a wonderful "Fall from Grace" story as Arthas attempts to save the Kingdom of Lordaeron from a zombie apocalypse. Well, undead apocalypse. Arthas went to increasing extremes throughout the book, doubling down on his bad decisions, until he ended up losing his soul to the accursed sword Frostmourne.

    Arthas' story was very similar to what a lot of fans expected from the Star Wars Prequels. Arthas as the good but flawed knight who ends up selling his soul to the proverbial forces of darkness in exchange for power. In his attempts to save everyone, he becomes the very thing he despises. Oh so tragic. Arthas also had elements of Michael Moorcock's Elric with his magic sword that appears to be less evil than the monster it slays.

    Christie Golden has the unenviable task of expanding the story of Azeroth's most iconic villain. How do you improve on a story which was told well in another medium? A simple repetition of the story would not be satisfying while changing things runs the risk of removing what fans liked.

    With the defeat of Arthas not yet having been detailed by the time of the book's publication, a lot of fans were also looking for some way Arthas might get his comeuppance too. Christie Golden succeeds by making it a story about Arthas the man versus Arthas the monster.

    Arthas: Rise of the Lich King is a character study of a flawed and weak man who still had many admirable qualities. Arthas was born to a lineage of heroes in the wake of the extra-dimensional orc invasions. Everything was expected of Arthas and he did his best to deal with these monumental expectations, even when it would have been better for him not to be so perfect.

    Arthas was a man who would not bend and thus simply broke.

    Surprisingly, despite the fact I'm not often a big fan of this, the love triangle was my favorite part of the book. My favorite World of Warcraft character, Jaina Proudmoore, falls in love with the person Arthas pretends to be and is ultimately betrayed when she gets a peek at the weakness inside.

    It was a powerful moment because it's something which doesn't need wizards, witches, or undead but all-too-human fear. I also like the addition of Kael'thas to their relationship as we see another character like Arthas, used to getting everything he want and surprised when he doesn't. By the end, poor Jaina has been put through the ringer emotionally and her suffering has only begun as later books show.

     The book has many memorable moments, including how Arthas acquired his signature horse and meetings with other signature characters who would shape the setting. None of these scenes are used as an opportunity for a cameo but are exploited to give insight into Arthas' thinking process. He's a man smothered by his lack of choice and, arguably, this prevented him from ever developing the ability to make good ones.

    No wonder he chose the "freedom" of evil.

     The ending of the novel is excellent because it deconstructs excuses for evil. Arthas has many reasons for why he did the things he did: Frostmourne, Ner'zul, Mal'Ganis, Uther, his father, and even Jaina. People who loved him want to believe he could be redeemed and that his previous goodness outweighs what he'd become. That he's not at fault for what he's done. The book provides an answer and lets Arthas take responsibility for the first time in his life in a great but terrible way. 

    In conclusion, Arthas: Rise of the Lich King is a great "Start of Darkness" story which gets us into the head of the Lich King and shows us why he's the dangerous monster he is. What makes him so terrifying, though, isn't that he's a remorseless evil psychopath. It's that he chose being one over being a hero because it was easier.

10/10

    This is a World of Warcraft courtroom drama.

    It's played entirely serious.

    Now, either this is awesome and hilarious at once or it's suspension of disbelief breaking. I lean more toward the former than the latter. Does it make sense that Baine Bloodhoof and Tyrande Whisperwind have either the training or formal speech patterns of a trial lawyer? No. Does it make sense that Azeroth has any of the legal traditions of a modern Western trial? I dunno, does it make sense Gnomes can build rocket-trains? No, but we love them anyway. Lastly, is it fun?

    Yes, very much so.

    Which is bizarre because this is about an unrepentant war criminal. High fantasy things like keeping the Red Dragon Aspect Alexstrasza as a slave to breed mounts, mana-bombing Theramore, and blowing up dissident orcs are treated with all the gravity of their equivalents in real-life. War Crimes isn't a parody, being a straight example of the genre, but it might qualify as satire. Fictional characters in an absurd (but awesome) fantasy world taking conduct in war more seriously than Earthlings today seem to be doing.

    The premise is Garrosh Hellscream, much-disliked leader of the Horde, has been captured by Thrall (I will never call him Go'el) and Varian Wrynn.  This is, of course, references events which happened in-game. I always feel kind of bad for the player characters involved in these sorts of in-universe climatic battles because they almost never get even referenced. You'd think they'd get a mention now and then like, "The Heroes of Azeroth" assisted them or something.

    Oh well.

    Garrosh committed many crimes during his tenure of Warchief from elevating the orcs above the other races, destroying island nation of Theramore, and worse. Both sides want him executed but Varian believed that having tried and found guilty would have a greater effect. They, thus, turn to the Celestials of Pandaria to serve as neutral judges. This is an astoundingly bad idea as Sylvanas points out since all-loving gods are unlikely to deliver a verdict motivated by political expediency.

    This book is almost devoid of action and, instead, focuses on characterization. We get Jaina dealing with her continuing PTSD (albeit, a more violent form than in real-life), Anduin trying to understand the monstrous activities of Garrosh so he can offer him solace as a priest, and Vereesa Windrunner's simmering desire for revenge against her husband's killer. We also have a nice little bit of characterization from Sylvanas who has been see-sawing between good and evil for awhile now. I especially liked the take of the book on her, which is that Sylvanas is kinda-sorta evil but really mostly insane now.

    Some might see it as a cop-out that Sylvanas is mentally ill but I think Christie Golden does an excellent job of illustrating just how twisted her thinking has become. I won't spoil the ending but her redemption seems further away than ever. How does redeem someone who has come to the conclusion it is better to be a monster? Even if the transformation is against your will? I think that's an appropriate question to ask as part of what makes Sylvanas so interesting is she's not just misunderstood but filled with spite and hatred from her eyes down to her toes. Whether she can recover from her current state or not is anyone's guess but I'd love to see a Windrunner novel from the author.

    I'm kind of iffy on some of the characterization. Jaina Proudmoore's sudden turn toward warmonger never quite sat right with me because while the destruction of your homeland would set ANYONE on a roaring rampage of revenge, the fact is that she's survived it twice before. Jaina was neck-deep in the zombie genocide of Lordaeron and the destruction of Dalaran in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Jaina Proudmoore was never naive but a hardened piece of steel willing to do anything for peace. She's closer to Princess Leia meets Rick Grimes than the character presented here, I think.

    Then again, clearly people should be listening to my fanboy interpretations over the who has helped develop this character better than anyone.

    Hehe.

    Still, mostly this book does very well in establishing why the Horde and the Alliance has such problems reconciling. Thrall stands by his decision to appoint Garrosh as Warchief because he's showing he accepts responsibility for his choices. He has a very Orcish attitude that you don't wring your hands about the past but move forward. To the Alliance in the audience, however, he may come off as self-justifying. Cultural differences are a serious hurdle for both sides to overcome. Garrosh, himself, may feel all manner of horrible feelings about his actions but he is so much of a proud warrior to ever admit it. He'd rather go down in history as a hated villain than a broken man.

    I regret this book never got into the head of Garrosh Hellscream. I would have been glad to have a point of view which finally gave us just what the hell he was thinking half-the-time. I suppose that would defeat the purpose of the book, however, which is to analyze how a monster's actions may be interpreted by others. Still, I hope we get a resolution in book form. This is too complicated a character to be resolved with a simple raid boss fight.

    In conclusion, I recommend War Crimes. If you can get over the somewhat surreal use of kings, queens, and warlords as lawyers in a Hague-style situation then it has a lot to go for it. Others may find Jaina Proudmoore's characterization or others to be grating. I trust Christie Golden, however, and am looking forward to the sequel.

8.5

Hey readers,  

An extra-special treat for you today! S.P. Durnin, author of Keep Your Crowbar Handy, has decided to sit down for an interview with us. A devoted fan of the post-apocalyptic genre, I was very eager to get his insights into the book and his process.

Keep Your Crowbar Handy (reviewed here) is the story of Jake, Laurel, and Kat--three badass survivors of a zombie apocalypse which manage to find an underground shelter from the horrors outside. Coming to terms with their feelings for one another, they lead a larger band of survivors to try and make it to a safe zone across the country. What happens, though, when jealousy and other personal problems become more important to you than the horrors coming to eat you?


I hope the United Federation of Charles' readers will enjoy reading his insights as much as I have. Okay, let's get started! 

1. First of all, what separates Keep Your Crowbar Handy from all the other zombie novels out there?

Well, the reader has to understand that zombies are the boogeymen of the current era and, if fate is kind, that won't change anytime soon. They inspire feelings of abject horror in many people who'd prefer never to have been confronted by the concept of a mobile, hungry, decaying corps, and make us itch for heroes to confront them.

That's what I attempted to do with book one of the Crowbar Chronicles. Bring heroes, albeit reluctant ones, to life.

I've taken great pains to use nothing but real locations, spec-speak, survival tips, and whatnot -even going so far as to research the most popular brand of blue hair-dye, for god's sake-,  but I've added some elements to the mix that aren't "the norm" when it comes to the zombie/post-apocalyptic genre. Those elements being: a dash of sci-fi/adventure, a bucket-full of over-the-top humor, and a whole-heaping helping of sexual tension.

Examples:

1---I'm of the opinion that -as opposed to keeping with good old, everyday, hum-drum, reality- a good book, one that sucks me in and makes me crave more of the story, has a drop of the fantastic within its pages.

That could be anything from (but not limited to) the outbreak of a radioactive plague that turns people into highly-evolved. oversexed mutants, the Vampire Lords coming back from the 48th Dimension to save humankind from an invasion of murderous, super-intelligent parakeets, or a character learning their slightly-nerdy girlfriend by day. is actually a genetically altered, cyber armor-clad superhero who fights off alien invasions by night.

Pushing the boundaries of imagination encourages growth and progress. Consider any smartphone for instance. Thirty years ago? That was Star Trek.

2---I've had long conversations with other practitioners in the Martial Arts, including a good number who actively practice Ninjutsu. As silly as it sounds, ninja actually do exist and -yes- some of them are female. And quite deadly, I've found. I'm not in any way ashamed to admit that I still have some of the bruises. While I've studied Kung Fu for a number of years,  I'd be more than a bit hesitant to -ever again- try what skills I have even in practice bouts against a few of those ladies.

They're just plain scary.

3---The humor or "giggle-bits", as my Beta (reader) Corps dubs them.

I worked those in to balance out the "Oh-shit, Oh-shit, We're-all-going-to-die!!!" elements of the series. Remember the original Evil Dead 2, with Bruce Campbell? Demons escaping the underworld, severed body parts flying willy-nilly, and one-liners not only from the primary focus of the movie, but from the supporting cast as well?

That's a good time, baby.

2. How would you describe your protagonists Jake, Kat, and Laurel to potential readers?

Okay, I'll do Laurel first. (...No pun intended.)

If we think about it for a minute, most of us have known a really attractive girl/woman with self-image issues. Now before the hate mail starts flooding in, don't take my words out of context. I'm not in any way bashing them, or making light of their feelings. Only stating a fact.

That's Laurel. She's got "all the right junk, in all the right places" as the song goes, but -at least when first introduced- isn't interested in pursuing any type of relationship. She's jaded after been burned once before (badly), so she wants to concentrate on running her business and on her music. She's independent, a little repressed, borderline antisocial, and engages in a lot of hobbies (knitting, hitting Ren-fairs, hiking, playing guitar,) to fill a void in her life she doesn't want to admit having, even to herself.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Kat. In all truth, the phrase "free spirit" doesn't even begin to describe her.

She's a clubber, loves self-defense like it's her job, is into every kind of music from classic punk rock (The Good Stuff) to techno (not so much), and offers no apologies for who she's made herself into. She's confident, knows what she wants -mostly- and just how to get it, and is pretty much fearless to a degree. The fact she acts like a bubble-head to protect herself emotionally (and has a deeply abiding love for all things Hello Kitty) rounds out her personality, and provides her with a snappy little bit of "snark" as well, which is just plain fun to write.

Now we come to Jake.

The best description I can give him is: self-defacing Anime fan and ex-combat journalist turned ghost-writer. Here's a fellow who's been shot, shot at, beat up, blown up, and stabbed in the back (in the most literal sense of the word), who's not exactly happy-go-lucky, but tries to make the best of the mess his life's become. His "ride" he got via mail-order (unassembled in a box), his best friend is far more suave than he ever hopes to be, and his conscience is always piping up with (sometimes questionable) unwanted opinions which cause him to space out at inopportune moments.

Drop individuals like that into the Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse, and then you can sit back to enjoy the cringe-worthy high-jinks.

3. The romantic relationships and sexual tension between your leads plays as much role in your story as the zombie attack. How did that come about?

I've taken some flack over the relationship factors/sexual situations in Keep Your Crowbar Handy, but to that I pose this question: What good is living, if you have nothing to live FOR? So yeah. I put some provocative stuff in there.

Happily and unashamedly.

That's because (speaking by way of painful and sphincter-tightening life experience) I've found if you survive facing the violent end of your existence on this little ball of rock hurtling through the universe at 67,000 mph (or thirty kilometers per second), you are going to feel a pronounced urge to take time out and appreciate the touch of another human being who cares for you. That could be your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, or 'friend-with-benefits', what have you. Your libido is going to temporarily ramp up into overdrive. Perhaps not that very minute, but shortly -once you realize you've narrowly dodged an untimely audience with the Grim Reaper- you'll have a few "R-rated" urges.

I'm not just "whistling Dixie" here.

After speaking with those who's lives tend to be far more dangerous by degrees than your average person's -police officers, firefighters, along with some of the brave men and women currently in the Armed Forces (Who Deserve Our Admiration and Respect for putting their bodies in harms way to protect our cake-eating, civilian asses), I can tell you it's not just me. This is a common reaction and has noting to do with being a "Play-ah" or a "Ho".

It's primal.

It's your back-brain screaming "Holy shit! I'm still alive!!" in your ear.

4. Jake is a former SAS operative, laid­-back geek, military editor, All ­Round Nice Guy, and fabulous lover. How did he come about in your head?
 
Let me tackle these in order.

I created Jake by putting someone who's a mix of awkward charm and currently unstylish values together with just a smidgen of grit. While he's seen parts of the world most of us only fantasize about -which is why he's able to hold his own (perhaps not willingly, but still)  when the situation calls for some "rough-and-tumble"- Jake has the heart of a dork. Thankfully, when he spent time as a civilian consultant for a regiment of Britain's Special Air Service, he received a little combat training, but he's not G.I. Joe and he knows it.

The "laid-back" vibe readers will get isn't simple indifference on his part -which they'll learn as the story progresses-, but psychological fatigue. His family is gone, his friends are all dead (with the exceptions of his aging neighbor Gertrude Jennings, his landlord George Foster, and one Allen Ryker: auto mechanic, skydiving enthusiast and unrepentant "man-ho"), and he's -for lack of a better term- weary. He's alone. Stuck in emotional inertia and tired of The Game. Jake just want's to be left to hang out with Allen, write, consume some Guinness and Jameson Irish Whiskey on the weekends, and enjoy what time he feels he has left.

"All-around nice guy" has become a insult in modern society, the reason for which I honestly can't understand to save my life. Jake's beliefs and actions stem from how he was raised, prior to his father's passing. He has strong opinions towards mental defectives who abuse children, any crap-sucking, bottom-feeders who hit or rape women, and bigoted zealots who blow up buildings (thereby killing thousands of innocent people) for religious reasons. He acknowledges the world is a cruel, screwed-up place, and he's just one guy who's slightly above average in the fist-to-cuffs department, but there is just some shit he just won't put up with. Even if it is the Apocalypse. "Fabulous lover" is perhaps an overstated description in Jake's case.

Give me a moment here to explain why.

After I took a long-long look at supposed romantically-based relationships in today's world, I found many of them to be utterly lacking of anything even remotely resembling real affection. I hate to say it, but if you're hoping to miraculously find "The One" in a club or a bar? Yeah, good luck with the safari. That animal (much of the time) doesn't exist there any more than say... unicorns do. The term "meat-market" has been bandied around to describe those places for longer than I've been alive, so it's lost a lot of shock value, but it's still an accurate term.

I wanted to create a character that understands the human drive to "Go forth and multiply!", maybe even felt the urge pull strongly at him upon occasion (with the aid of a boat-hook), but really only wants to find his "One" if he can. Jake's never been successful in relationships for some pretty tragic reasons, however. So, when he manages to really connect with someone on both mental and emotional levels, he's understandably going to exhibit some amorous enthusiasm while in private settings.
 
5. What experiences from your own life did you draw from to create Keep Your Crowbar Handy?

Crap. I dread questions like that.

Not not because I lack source material, but because the answer makes me sound like a lunatic who's been marked for death by one deity or another. I'll come across with a few things that I can discuss without having to worry about late-night visits from law enforcement though.

1---At twenty-three, I had a knee replacement, thanks to a very close encounter with a four-hundred pound wild boar in South Texas. The surgeon who performed the procedure can kiss my butt, because he informed me after the fact I'd have a pronounced limp for the rest of my natural life.

Didn't happen.

Once I learned how to walk again, I rehabbed my knee by learning (and then teaching) beginner snowboarding after relocating to Montana, and I'm still at one-hundred percent today. (My right knee is now noticeably stronger than my left, to my physical therapists surprise.) Being mauled by that stupid swine convinced me a zombie apocalypse is the only reason I'd ever go back to that area of the country, and I realized the same idea could be applied to the misfit survivors in Keep Your Crowbar Handy.

**Note** That event is likely why I have a slow-smoker grill  (one that looks like a horizontal, black barrel with a smoke stack on the end), and have developed an affinity for pulled pork sammiches.

2---Years ago, I caught a bullet in the back. Lucky for me (can't you just feel the sarcasm?) it rebounded off my third rib, fractured it, spun upwards, and lodged into the underside of my scapula where it remains to this day. It aches when it's cold outside, but no other issues so far.

**Note** I'll tell you this for free: Anybody who tries to say "Gettin' shot ain't nothin" is either an idiot trying to impress someone, or a goddamn liar.

It hurts like hell. I have no desire to ever again experience that level of pain.

Seriously. Ever. In life.

3---Most folks over twenty have been in a relationship that's ended badly (anyone who hasn't should count their blessings), but only a few have actually put said event into a novel, revealing play-by-play information about the way it all unfolded .

I did.

**Note** A word of caution here, just in case you make the poor choice of ending it while out for dinner with your soon-to-be Ex: Merlot stains absolutely do not come out of a tan shirt. Neither does mustard, as it turns out...

Don't judge. It could have gone worse.

6. Will you describe your two female leads to the women in your audience and what you like about them?

Oh boy. This might very well go over like a fart in a spacesuit, but I'm not willing to just make something up here to cover my literary style so here we go.

To get an accurate picture of Laurel St.Clair  in your minds eye, think "hot-tempered, red-headed bombshell". Wavy hair, green eyes, a dusting of freckles, and the woman has some lung-power under that hand-knitted sweater, to be sure. This is my fault. Being an Irishman, I have a genetic predisposition for buxom gingers of the female persuasion with a little attitude.

Kat doesn't resemble Laurel in the slightest. She's of Japanese/Native American decent, and is athletically slim in kick-ass, Kung Fu movie heroine kind of way. But she has a wicked smile. Oh. Yeah. She dyes her hair "Smurfy-blue". This might encourage the reader think she's a little immature, but she really just enjoys playing the vapid vixen. Kat's intellect is rather frightening. While the two ladies are virtually polar opposites -both in looks and personalities, they undeniably share one definitive quality.

Neither could be considered "The Waif."

Nearly everyone has run across such a character in real life, which in modern times is more than a little surprising. Many men still find the "Help! Save me (insert random male here), you big, strong man, you!!" personality to be attractive, but I for one do not. While still single, way back when a tough, little dragon named Lockheed prowled the hallowed halls of Xavier Mansion, I quickly realized that I had zero desire to spend my life with someone of that mindset.

After putting a lot of thought into surviving a zombie apocalypse (shocking, I know), I realized quickly that -as in real life- that I'd want an equal. A companion. A partner. Someone who could take care of herself -or me if the occasion demanded it- in dangerous situations, and not just a pretty face I'd spend a large chunk of my time saving. Sure enough, one day when I least expected it, such a long-awaited woman found me.

After luck of that sort, how could I not put the same strength, the same force of personality, the same qualities I myself revere, into many of the female characters I pull from my melon? Not doing so would cheapen everything I find attractive about the fairer sex, and my Better Half as well.

7. Our heroes start a good bit better off than most zombie protagonists with a house-sized bomb shelter. Do you think that offers an alternative dynamic to most zombie stories? Do you think more stories should change up the formula like that?

I think these people would've had little chance at survival, if it weren't for "proper previous planning" on the part of one very abrasive and foresighted individual.

Yeah, I know. This busts the norm too. Usually, it's the main character who's got a safe packed full of assorted firearms and blocks of C-4 tucked away in his basement, for just such an occasion. That privilege is reserved for another member of the group within the pages of Keep Your Crowbar Handy though. It allows me to spread the Apocalyptic skill set around, so I don't end up writing about a super-capable "Bond-like" uber-character while neglecting others.

Now, should more novels start that way?

Honestly, I can't settle on a definitive answer to that. I suppose it depends on the type of story its creator is attempting to tell. If it's just the lone survivor, then no. In that case, you might end up with a rewrite of I Am Legend.  If the author is going for a more diverse feel however, puling in multiple characters who have specific abilities, that would compensate for the weaknesses of others? I that case it would make sense to have some kind of temporary hideaway or haven. I've seen tons of novels that are about characters trying to get to such a final destination, but few profiling any seeking escape from a ready-made locale.
 
8. Who is your favorite character after the leads?

While I'm sure lots of readers will yell "Foster!" in a calliope of violence-titillated voices, one of my favorites is Rae.

Maybe it's pesky external genitalia influencing my thought process, but her whole  "looks like a sexy-librarian, but can maintenance a Humvee and put an M4 carbine together from its component parts" works for me.

Rae's not perfect though. She's blunt, intolerant of other people's shortcomings, and has an inflated opinion when it comes to her own intelligence.  Yes, she has multiple Bachelor degrees (correspondence courses are wonderful things) and in real-life would closely resemble Jill Wagner, but that by no means makes her perfect. Regardless of how physically and  intellectually appealing she may seem, Rae has virtually no people skills to speak of. That makes coming up with her dialogue a real hoot, let me tell you.

9. What's the most interesting reaction you've gotten to your story so far?

I've received a good number of what you'd call "e-threats" from people who've read the first novel in my odd little "zombieverse"TM , become heavily invested in the characters, and are screaming for more. When one actually threatened to come to my home and (quote/unquote) "whip my ass" if I didn't come across with the next novel soon, I knew I'd done something right.

(To be honest, it's so far beyond flattering to know you've created a story that means so much to so many. I don't know how to express my feelings about it . Little compares, that's for sure.)

10. What can we expect from you in the future?

Oh, there's a lot more on the way in the story of Jake, Kat, Laurel, and the rest of their merry companions. Keep Your Crowbar Handy is only the beginning.

Anyone who's read the Permuted Press release of Book One in knows the survivors have one hell of a journey still ahead of them, and (sorry to tell you this people) absolutely no one is safe. This particular tale is back-dropped against the Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse, which means "Folks is gonna get ate"! I've already turned Book Two (Rotting to the Core) over for the editorial birthing process, and I'm currently hip-deep in the third (working title: Assuming Room Temperature) so events within the story are about to speed up in a big way.

The dead aren't going anywhere, and our survivors are still desperately trying not to kill each-other over various, annoying personality quirks. Then to top it all off -as if flesh-eating ghouls weren't bad enough-, there are some really unpleasant people roaming around the rubble of mankind's now-wrecked civilization.

As to what's next, after the Crowbar Chronicles are complete?

A while back the muse hit me hard enough to knock me to my damn knees, so I know where this particular apocalypse it headed. I'm outlining two -possibly three- novels set in the same universe, but the survivors in the Keep Your Crowbar Handy series won't a part of them. Though people enjoy spending time with the crew of the Screamin' Mimi, I've always said the story of these characters will be a finite one. No loose ends, no "lost years", no "The Further Tales Of-" books, nada. That's because normal people only have so much fight in them before they're to weary to continue the struggle.

Besides, another adventure has already begun bouncing around in my mind like a white-hot hedgehog and, judging from the way it's set my cortex simmering, the dead will be staggering on for a very long time to come.

Now this looks interesting.

One Stop Apocalypse Shop Kickstarter

I've donated to approximately two Kickstarters before in my lifetime. One was a charity for an Exalted developer and the other was for the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter. I've always been fascinated by the potential of these things to make movies, however, and was waiting for a project to "jump out at me" after the Veronica Mars one. I'm intrigued by the premise of this one as I like the idea of someone doing "Clerks meets Buffy." Permuted Press is also a high-end indie publisher which has published some really good stuff in the past (John Dies at the End, Ex-Heroes, Time of Death: Induction) so I'd like to see it succeed.

Really, I'm more interested in the fact a favorite indie publisher of mine is getting into low-budget filmmaking.

I hope that works out for them.

What do other people think?

    What does one do when one survives an assassination attempt by your leader, one who has proven willing to do anything to accumulate power and may use your species as cannon fodder in genocidal wars against other races?

    Apparently, the answer is sit around and talk a lot.

    This is perhaps unfair but this is a strange sort of novel that goes in an unexpected direction after its explosive beginning. There's no lack of action in the book. It's one of the bloodiest World of Warcraft novels ever, though still PG-13 in terms of content, but the obvious hook never materializes. Instead of desiring revenge against the person, Garrosh, who tried to kill--Vol'jin spends much of the novel feeling that his old life is over.

    This is perhaps a more realistic reaction than most to having the head of state in a fantasy setting try to kill you. In real life, if the President of the United States tried to have you killed, most people wouldn't start thinking about how they might take him out instead. Still, it's an unexpected reaction from one of Warcraft's many signature heroes.

    The premise of Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde is the titular character, Vol'Jin survives the aforementioned assassination attempt by Warchief Garrosh. Garrosh has determined Vol'jin is a potential threat, a fact which Vol'jin grudgingly admits was true.

    Rescued by the peaceful Panderan race, basically Chinese panda-people (if the name wasn't clue enough), Vol'jin takes up residence in a monastery and tries to figure out what he's going to do now that he's an enemy of the state. He can't return to the Horde and his people, the Darkspear Trolls, are too weak to oppose Garrosh on their own.

    Rather than try to figure a way out of this conundrum, Vol'jin decides he'd prefer to simply begin his life anew in the peaceful land of the Panderan. He's encouraged in this pursuit by a similarly wounded Alliance soldier named Tyrathan. Tyrathan has his own reasons for not wanting to return to his old life and believes he might find peace in adopting a new identity. Neither of them get their wish as Panderia is soon invaded by the Zandalar Empire. The Zandalar are aided in this by the Mogu, Chinese lion-people with dark occult powers.

    On a basic level, I think the book spent way too much time ruminating about looking to your past life versus looking to the future. Michael A. Stackpole is a great author and I loved his Star Wars novels but I get the sense he believes he's saying something really profound but I'm just not feeling it.

    It was hard to buy that Vol'jin would be so demoralized by his near-death experience given the constant battles he's had to endure up until this point. One doesn't become a leader of a group like the Horde without an iron will and a strong sense of self.

    Oddly, I prefer the supporting cast in the book to Vol'jin himself. Chen the Brewmaster, Li Li, and Tyrathan are all interesting and nuanced characters. The Panderians are a lovable race and there were times I just wanted to climb into the book and hug them all. Michael Stackpole does an excellent job establishing their culture too, giving a real sense of a living world. I could have used more Li Li, though, because I absolutely adore her character.

     The villains are kind of iffy as their motivations boil down to: we're a bunch of racist imperialists who want to take over Panderan because we want their stuff. Which, to be honest, is hard to argue with because that was the motivation for a lot of empires throughout history. There's also a nice parallel with Garrosh as the heroes all recognize something familiar about the Zandalar and Mogu's motivations with their own cultures.

    In conclusion, this is a good book and I enjoyed it but all the naval-gazing detracted from the fun factor for me. I will say that Panderia was a fun place to be, the development of Tyrathan, and insights into Troll culture were welcome, though. I also thought the action in the book was extremely well-handled and had a very martial-arts film sort of feel.

7/10

    It's interesting that the Warcraft movie has finished filming but, despite my attempts to find out information, it's passed almost completely under the radar of the circles I run in. This could either be good or bad.

    The concept art is gorgeous but that's not, necessarily, a big deal as the original Dungeons and Dragons movie has good concept art. The movie has been delayed until 2016 due to Star Wars Episode VII being released in 2015 but that gives them plenty of time to work on post-production. The fact they think they'd be competing with Star Wars, however mildly, may be optimistic of them but it might be a sign they have faith in their product.

    The premise of the movie is based on the original Warcraft game rather than Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3, or the World of Warcraft. This is troubling because Warcraft didn't exactly have the most nuanced or complex plot. The plot can, literally, be summarized as: A bunch of orcs invade a fantasy kingdom from another dimension via magic portal and wreck stuff.


    The Warcraft Expanded Universe books The Last Guardian, Beyond the Dark Portal, Rise of the Horde, and Tides of Darkness show that this time period can be expanded upon. Indeed, those are some of my favorite Warcraft books. Still, my interest in the series began with Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, which is when the orcs ceased to evil invaders but became just another species trying to survive.

    There's some hints that this is going to be more like the books than the games, however. One of the major characters announced, Durotan, is a complex individual who sets the stage for the Horde making its transformation from hostile invaders into tense allies for the Alliance. Note: I'm probably going to stoned by fans for claiming the two ever become allies.


    The presence of Vikings' Travis Fimmel is also a good sign as I quite like his acting in the titular show. Clancy Brown has been in an amazing number of movies ranging from the absolute garbage to the best of geek culture but always brings his A-game so I'm glad he's going to be present too. I'm going to assume he's playing an orc since he's  fairly large guy and has the right for it.

    The casting of Ben Foster as Medivh is younger than I would have expected with the character but I can't say his description of the character is terribly inspiring:

    "The character in Warcraft that I play is named Medivh. He's a mage, which is essentially a sorcerer," Foster revealed. "He came up in a time protecting an area, and the way he protected this area was through magic. As peace returned to this land he took a break. He hung up his staff, so to speak, or let his guns get dusty. We meet him as his friends are returning asking for his help in a battle."


    Someone should probably tell Ben that he shouldn't start his character description by saying he's a wizard three times over. Then again, the character of Medivh has a rather shocking story arc within the books so maybe he's trying to avoid spoilers. This may be giving them too much credit but the character is a favorite of mine so I'm inclined to be generous.

    I don't have any real commentary on the director, Duncan Jones, but there's been no signs that he's a particularly bad one. One area I'm concerned about with this movie is the small mention of female characters so far. There's Garona the Orc for those who want to see them play a prominent role but it's not until Warcraft 3 that women start taking a big role in the franchise. I was hoping they'd change that.

    I am intrigued by the fact Chris Metzen, Warcraft godfather, has stated the orcs and humans will have roughly equal screen time. Furthermore, that this is a conflict between two tribes with their own heroes rather than just a straight-up conflict between good and evil. That gives me hope the movie will manage to rise, somewhat, over the accusations it's a Lord of the Rings clone. I do hope some of the latter's audience go to it, though, since I'd like to see them get to Warcraft 3's story.


    The presence of Daniel Wu in the cast is interesting and something which makes me hope the cast for the Alliance won't all be lily-white. I'm a big supporter of diversity in fantasy films and there's no reason to make all of the Alliance peoples to be Anglo-Saxon Europeans. He could be playing an orc, however. There's just no way to tell. There's no other major announced non-Caucasians, so I'm not going to be bank on that.

    So, at this point, I'm cautiously optimistic but don't know if this is going to be a sleeper success or a perfectly serviceable but unexceptional fantasy movie. Either is possible but I'm, of course, hoping for the former.

    Grave Peril is, really, where the Dresden Files started to find their footing.

    This isn't to say the previous volumes were bad but much of the series' trademarks start appearing here. We get the introduction to a number of important characters, the layout for the series' overarching plot, the beginning of a major plotline which will occupy the books for many volumes, and plenty of information on the series' mythology. There are also several shake-ups with the existing cast and status quo.

    The premise of Grave Peril is Harry Dresden and his longtime associate, Michael Carpenter, successfully hunt down a ghost before becoming involved in a plot involving a much-more powerful creature stalking a young seer. They receive help from a White Court vampire, basically an incubus, named Thomas who is unusually friendly to the duo. Harry's on-again, off-again girlfriend Susan Rodriguez also comes to the town. This, before all of the above converge at a party thrown by a group of murderous vampires out to destroy Harry.

    If this sounds like a convoluted plot, it is. This is not a book with a single coherent narrative but multiple ones which all reach a climax. This is both a strength and weakness of the book because it's hard to keep track of everything which is going on. Later books would have a stronger central narrative while not sacrificing the mystery which is inherent to the series' appeal. While everything does tie together, it does so in such a loose manner that I doubt Jim Butcher would have done this book the same way if he'd had the chance to rewrite it.

    The real appeal is that it move Harry Dresden away from the "case of the week" format which, while appealing, was nothing really special in the Urban Fantasy genre. After this point, there's a central guiding narrative which, while mysterious, drives the plot forward. The Red Court, previously just a background element of the series, moves to prominence as enemies of the White Council and Harry in particular.

    The new characters introduced in this book are also ones which start fleshing out Harry's world. Michael Carpenter, the Knight of the Cross, is a rare case of a positive Christian warrior in urban fantasy fiction. The majority of individuals with strong religious convictions are often depicted as fanatics or lunatics in these sorts of books, so it's nice to have one who is motivated by his faith to do good.

    The fact Harry remains agnostic or, at least, irreligious means the two of them have some interesting conversations while maintaining a level of respect. Thomas the "Good" Incubus is a character who doesn't get fleshed out too much here but the very fact he's helping monster hunters for, seemingly, benevolent reasons makes the world more complex. If monsters can be good people then the world has gotten a lot more grey.

    I also loved the characters of Charity Carpenter, Lea, and Susan Rodriguez in this book. The previous bookw had a heavy noir tone which restricted women to somewhat questionable gender roles despite the subversion from Murphy. Introducing a larger and more varied role for women in the books (as well as making the central villain here one) helps make this a better book overall. Later fans of the series may note that a lot of the series' future plot twists are set up here and fans will often find themselves re-reading this one for clues.

    There's a lot of hilarious moments in this book like Harry Dresden going as a cheap Dracula knock-off to a vampire Halloween party, Lea's attempts to "protect" Harry by turning him into a dog, and poor Harry realizing that it is NOT wise to bait a dragon. The drama is strong, too, with several events happening which change the status quo forever. Bianca and Kravos aren't very well fleshed-out villains but serve their purpose amiably in the story.

    In conclusion, Grave Peril is the first really good Dresden Files book. I am tempted to encourage fans to start there if they really want to get a sense of what the book is leading up to. This is where the series began and it only gets better from here.

9/10
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    Blood Red is a really good novel. It's not without it's flaws but I'm going to say that for a premise which might have been very-very derivative, it does something new with the material. It also does something which is rare enough in horror fiction that it deserves credit. Specifically, it creates a heroine you can both believe in and like.

    One of the most common accusations levied against horror fiction is that it is a gendered genre. In this post-Buffy world, great strides have been made to correct the imbalance between male and female protagonists. However, there's still a lingering sense male authors can't write female protagonist worth crap.

    Rachel is almost unique in horror fiction, let alone zombie-related horror fiction, in being a great female character without being overly sexualized. Rachel reminds me of Claire Redfield, except she has the sense to wear pants during a zombie apocalypse. She's motivated by sensible goals, has appropriate emotional reactions to events, shows considerable leadership potential, and even manages to remain believable as a teenaged girl.

    Jason Bovberg is not limited to just Rachel in excellent female characters, either. The cast is unusually gender-imbalanced to women and almost all of them show exceptional cleverness, fortitude, and will. One character does breakdown but it's momentary and appropriate given the circumstances. As feminist horror goes, one could do far worse than this.

    Another thing to note is that Blood Red is a zombie novel and it isn't. The monsters are zombies but not of the stereotypical George Romero kind. They're creepy alien-light possessed beings which it's almost a spoiler to reveal are zombies in the end.

    The Red Light is almost certainly Stephen King inspired (or perhaps H.P. Lovecraft's Colour From Outer Space) due to its inexplicable yet eerie nature. Jason Boverg understands the unknown is the scariest thing possible and it's obvious all of the explanations given by characters in the book are pulled out of their ass. We don't know the who, what, when, where, or why of the creatures and that is effective.

     One thing I loved about the Red Light creatures (I hesitate to call them zombies) is the author takes special care to detail the unnatural way they move. The Uncanny Valley effect states that things which are just "off" from being human like mannequins are more terrifying than creatures which are obviously not. The unnatural gait, twists, and shakes of the Red Light creatures gave me chills.

    So bravo, Jason.

    The book is not without its bumps, though these are relatively minor. The book's climax doesn't quite reach the explosive level I thought it would. It ended on an emotional note but I think it could have been more cathartic. I was also confused about the final fate of a character Rachel injects with a syringe (it makes sense in context) at the end. I get they died but was unsure if I'd missed a larger context.

    In conclusion, I unreservedly recommend Blood Red to fans of both zombie as well as horror fiction. It's not a stereotypical zombie book and that deserves a lot of praise. The fact it also has a awesome female heroine and excellent female-heavy supporting cast makes it rare in a sea of testosterone-filled scary works. I hope to read similar works from the author in the future.

10/10

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    Ghost stories are something I've always felt were a double-edged sword. After all, while they can produce some truly scary situations, there's always the implicit understanding that an afterlife of sorts exists. This can dilute the horror somewhat. I am not alone in this view even if my wife thinks ghosts are the most scary thing.

    Perhaps because they might exist.

    Breanna Bright tackles this dichotomy head on by addressing the fact ghosts are, at once, something people would desperately love to exist (being a chance to continue to meet with one's loved ones indefinitely) and something which shakes the worldview of the person who encounters them. If nothing else, you've probably got something wrong with how the universe's rules work. There's also the fact she reveals there more things than ghosts in the realm of the dead.

    Lovecraftian things.

    The interesting thing about In the End is that it's not a typical horror novel by any stretch of the imagination. I tried describing it to a friend as Garden State meets Paranormal Activity. Which is about the weirdest possible combination I can think of along save My Little Pony and Call of Cthulhu.

    The premise is Thursday and Alice are a pair of twenty-something collectible card-game loving geeks who are deliriously in love. Alice would be a Manic Pixie Dreamgirl if not for the fact she subverts the conditions for such by having her own motivations and being the primary star of the book. Thursday is an amateur director who is, more precisely, a cameraman at a local television station. These two have decided to live together in lieu of getting married and choose to buy a creepy old house.

    There's something there, as often is the case in creepy old houses.

    Breanna Bright manages to avoid much of the usual cliche of, "why would you stay in a house you know to have a ghost or monster in it?" by providing a valid reason for doing so. To say why would be spoiling but boils down to the protagonists needing to be there for the sake of a loved one. This primal emotion can excuse a lot of decisions and while some of them are questionable, none of them are stupid (which I appreciated).

    The book also deserves kudos for including a gay couple in the books. The fact I didn't realize either party was gay at first but waited until both men's characterization was established avoided quite a few of the cliches authors have been known to fall prey to. The two men are two cool ghost hunters who just happen to be gay, which is the best kind of representation. The fact they're very likable also helps the story along tremendously. I'm reminded of the comic book store owners from The Lost Boys for their closest media equivalents.

    Alice is the best character out of a book which is composed of a very small cast but, of which, all are interesting and humorous. The quirky fun geek girl is a stereotype which often gets a lot of flak but that's because they're too often written as the fantasies of men. Alice is her own character and someone I like a great deal. I will say, sometimes the other characters come off as a little snobbish regarding her hobbies, though. Alice collects stuffed animals and has a massive collection of Disney movies she watches religiously. This is taken by some of the characters as a sign of her immaturity.

    My wife would disagree. Strongly.

     While it plays a small role in the setting, I enjoyed the novel's take on spirituality as well. Much like Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, the author's cosmology is a mysterious and very personalized thing. Much of death is said to be customized by the viewers' own experiences and expectations. There are also implied to be many things both powerful, alien, evil or otherwise beyond. I wouldn't mind seeing the author tackle some other subjects sometime.

    In the End isn't perfect. One of the many fun characters in the book turns into something of a Deus Ex Machina, the previously ill-defined and terrifying monster is revealed to a existing (albeit not often used) monster, and the ending is more pat than it should have been. Death is the great equalizer as a character in the book says, aping Terry Pratchett's Death, but there's also no take backs.

    Still, I'm going to give it a 10 out of 10. While the leads are occasionally so cute you want to punch them in the face (thank you, Amy from Gone Girl), they were so vividly realized I could believe they were real. I would also like to be friends with them.

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Hey folks,

We have another special treat for our fans today with Jason Bovberg, author of Blood Red (reviewed here).

Blood Red is the story of a young woman trapped in her Colorado hometown after a mass death, forced to survive against circumstances she can't understand. A mysterious red light is re-animating the dead and she needs to find out who, if any, among her loved ones are left alive.


1. So what sets apart Blood Red from other horror and zombie novels?

5.  What do you think is the key to writing a strong female character in the horror genre? And what are the challenges when you're a male writer?
But a surprising influence on Blood Red is cinematic. Matt Reeves’ Cloverfield is a film about an alien invasion told in real-time. I wanted to do the same thing for this novel: an urgent, you-are-there, present-tense narrative. Also in that vein, Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, which is sort of a real-time exercise focusing on one family’s experience of the “end of the world.” You might call Blood Red the equivalent of a “found footage” film, focusing on one girl’s moment-by-moment experience. Let’s just pretend Rachel is carrying a video camera.

    Autumn Moon is one of the best werewolf novels I've ever read and is a cut above the vast majority of horror fiction I've been forced to subject myself to this year (with rare gems like some of the ones I've reviewed on my blog this year). Words cannot express the number of books I've picked up which purport to be something new in monster fiction only to be a complete joke. Either they're poorly written, underdeveloped, and uninteresting or they're not nearly as original as they claim.

    This book doesn't do something new with werewolves. Instead, it attempts to do something very old. Basically, it takes the concept of people turning into wolves and having them be terrifying. Treating the monsters as, well, monstrous shouldn't be something surprising but in this age of deconstructionalist fantasy, it's nice to see the creatures allowed to have (pun intended) bite.

    Autumn Moon opens with a remake of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. For those of you unfamiliar with the classic story, it is about a small town with the tradition of stoning to death a resident every year. The tradition here is similar and no less lethal, sacrificing one of the town's new adults to the werewolves who live nearby. The werewolves give the sacrifices a chance to outrun them but, of course, they never do.

   As President Snow says, "Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it's contained." The werewolves who rule the town of Tanneheuk, Montana allow the people a little hope. They hope their children won't be picked, they hope their children can outrun the wolves, and they even hope some of their kind might be turned themselves. This hope prevents them from rising up en masse, keeping them imprisoned under the reign of the tyrannical "Elders."

   Author Slade Grayson takes a rather Stephen King-esque approach to the entire affair. There's never any secret that werewolves are the parties responsible for the town's yearly murder. This allows the author to actually develop the characters of the werewolves who, while evil, are perfectly rounded individuals otherwise. In a bit of chilling realism, the werewolves of Tanneheuk kill humans not because they need to or even like it but for the same reasons the humans of the town give up their children to be slaughtered: tradition.

   We get to see the main characters of the novel develop and live their ordinary lives. There's the town's new Reverend, the pot-smoking underachieving Deputy, the Sheriff who is trying to convince himself this is all right, and a family of grifters whose misdeed go from funny to horrifying as events escalate. I'm especially fond of the characters Fern and Amber who are surprisingly developed females in the story with both sympathetic and unsympathetic qualities.

   The character of Reverend Drake embodies the author's deft hand at creating nuanced characters who can act in unexpected directions. An alcoholic adulterer, Reverend Drake isn't the sort of fellow you would want leading your church. However, we sympathize with his character when he struggles with his many demons are behind him when he reacts with outrage to the town's evil practices.

   Then Slade Grayson shows us how this can easily turn awful as these sympathetic qualities can get twisted into fundamentalist demagoguery. Reverend Drake isn't a great man but he's a great character and I have to applaud his creator for not being afraid to make our "chief" protagonist unlikeable. All of the characters in Autumn Moon have good, bad, and (under the right circumstances) evil qualities. Watching them choose which to indulge makes the novel swerve left when you think it's going right and I rarely get that sense from a novel.

     The strength of this novel is in its characterization. David Lynch's Twin Peaks was built around not the mystery of Laura Palmer's death but the interconnected web of weirdness and quiet desperation afflicting the town. This is the same way here and it is a stronger novel for its similarities to David Lynch's work. My only regret is that it seems future volumes of the series won't be set in the town of Tanneheuk since the community is the heart of the story rather than the personal journey of Reverend Drake.

    The cast is a diverse collection of heroes, villains, anti-heroes, and flawed individuals stuck in a bad situation. Slade Grayson is not afraid to kill off characters unexpected and in interesting ways. Characters you think will play the role of heroes end up playing the role of villains while those you think are scum rise to the occasion.

    The book's plot goes in unexpected directions and that's good. Admittedly, again, I wish he hadn't been quite so brutal to the characters since I could have read many stories with these characters. Others will appreciate the finality with which the author treats the plot. I am surprised this book will be a series but hope that future volumes will continue to have such a quirky ensemble cast rather than become focused on a single central character. Otherwise, I feel the series would lose much of its mystique and enjoyability.

   A small warning, there is some strong sexual content in this book. This includes a hilarious scene which might as well be out of American Pie given its ludicrous nature (involving oral sex and a visit from one's mother at the same time). There is also an attempted rape, which may be a trigger for some readers. Incest subtext exists between two of the grifters (who probably aren't related) and two of the werewolves (which becomes text later). Consider yourself warned, fair readers.

   In conclusion, Autumn Moon is a great werewolf novel and a pretty good novel overall. The ending is kind of a little off because it chooses to end right at the climax when an extended epilogue would have been better. Otherwise, I have no complaints.

9/10

Buy at Amazon.com

    I recently had to replace my laptop due to an accident with one of the keys and a fortuitous replacement policy which allowed me to upgrade. I'd never had a good enough computer to become a serious MMO player so I thought I'd give World of Warcraft a try now that I had a up-to-date one. I'd always been a quote-unquote lore fan but I'd never gotten much chance to play the game where most of the setting was shown off.

    The Starter Edition is Blizzard's generous offer to individuals who haven't had a chance to play around in the world for very long. It allows you to create any character race or class in the game (save Death Knight) and play for as long as you want. The Starter Edition replaces the previous Ten-Day trial pack.

My character, Level Sixteen. I've decided he'll eventually become a Death Knight.

    The only downside is you will be unable to advance past level twenty, accumulate much in the way of gold, create or join Guilds, and engage in some minor social interactions. The majority of these restrictions are designed to prevent third-party marketers from taking advantage of this free system rather than to punishing players.

    Really, playing from Level 1 to 20 in World of Warcraft was equivalent to a free console game. I got a over twenty-five hours of gameplay in before reaching the maximum level I could with the Starter Edition. If that isn't equal to Skyrim or Dragon Age then it is far better than a lot of games I've played. I appreciate Blizzard's confidence in their games that they think players will want to continue after this point.

    It certainly worked with me.

    For those who have never played World of Warcraft before, now is a good enough time as any to describe how it plays. The game, as befitting something started ten years ago, has elements which some players will find quaint. The majority of the game's storyline is told with text and only rarely are there in-universe cinematics.

The Deadmines were quite fun. Fast and furious fantasy action.

    Much of the game will be familiar to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of role-playing games both because it's such an inspiration to later games and its obvious Dungeons and Dragons roots. I chose to play a Human Alliance Hunter and quickly grew attached to my pet, a wolf I named Saladin.

    If you've played Dungeons and Dragons, you more or less have a sense of how the game works. It's real-time turn-based combat with lots of special abilities, search for better equipment and weapons, plus exploration. I chose to solo throughout my first run, mostly because I don't know too many other players and enjoyed the game just fine on my own.

   WOW's tone is, for the most part, light and airy. There's a substantial amount of humor in all of the quests I've been involved in from being required to slay a massive pig eating a farm's crops, to Kobolds speaking in broken English, to re-enacting an episode of NCIS with murderous hobos. The game doesn't take itself too seriously and, as a result, is more effective as a relaxing pastime.


    In some ways, the humor level actually detracts from the immersion of the game, however. It's funny to have a character named Horatio Laine (a parody of CSI: Miami's Horatio Caine down to the sunglasses and cheesy-one liners) investigate a murder in-game.

     It becomes somewhat less so to have him be a key figure in the, otherwise serious, peasant uprising affecting the land of Westfall. By the end of that region's main questline, I was stunned to note he'd appeared more times than any other character in the game up until that point.

     Much of WOW's gameplay is built around "fetch quests" where you go kill X number of monsters and bring back proof of their deaths, get ingrediants for characters by doing the same, and retrieving items they may have lost. At the first twenty levels, this doesn't become so repetitive I wanted to stop but it does form the bulk of the gameplay.

Sadly, there's no sign of my favorite in-universe character, Jaina Proudmoore, yet.

     The Dungeon-Finder feature was something I found to be immensely useful. This allowed me to find a group to go kill monsters in the dungeons of Azeroth whenever I wanted. While there weren't always ones immediately available, long-term play meant that one would eventually appear. This saved me the cost of trying to arrange a bunch of friends to get together at once to go kill things.

     Another key feature of the game is the never-ending quest for slightly-better-than-you-have-now equipment. You will constantly be updating your equipment with newer and better material, some of which will look ridiculous, in the hope of improving your stats. Comparing and contrasting this stuff is addictive--explaining much of WOW's appeal as there's a never-ending supply of loot with different advantages.

     There's plenty of other features to the game like Player versus Player combat, Crafting, Pet Training, and so on I didn't get a chance to try out yet. I suspect these features will be more interesting to advanced players as opposed to those who just want to game. I didn't have nearly enough gold to participate in the in-universe auction system. I'm glad those features are there, however. The Griffon-travel system also allows a limited amount of Fast Travel, somewhat slower than in console games but prettier, which I enjoyed doing just for its own sake.

Seeing the Valley of Heroes was a real stunning moment for me, especially as you get closer.

     One thing I got a sense of with the Starter Edition is the world is massive. Larger than I ever expected it to be with even the starting area being a huge source of adventures. Thoroughly exploring Azeroth will take months and I think it'll be well-worth the investment. However, I see no reason why not get your feet wet with the Starter Edition first.

    After all, it's free and that's always the right price.

10/10

    Growing up in the absolute Northern-most part of Kentucky, I can still safely say I grew up in the South.

    Speaking as a Southerner, something Northerners need to understand is the South is inherently creepy. It is a place filled with wilderness which is always just over the hill from civilization and always seems to be ready to retake what's been stolen from it. The people are insular, gossipy, and full of secrets.

    Child abuse, incest, murder, substance addiction, alcoholism, and worse exist under a thin veneer of respectability which never quite successfully hides the dark side. True Detective managed to capture an authentic Southern feeling while True Blood did a decent job of introducing many to the more Gothic elements to our homeland. Compared to, say, England, the American South isn't very old but it does feel very decayed.

    Now, if you think I'm exaggerating these elements, I recommend you go drive through a Southern town in the middle of the night and take a good long look at your surroundings. If you really want to risk your life, I suggest you go to a gas station in the middle of the night and just watch the various oddballs who come in.

    Sundowners manages to capture the feel of the American South's horror elements very well.

    The premise is Coil Stevens is a New York City artist coming home to his family house, another peculiarly Southern tradition, to help with his sister after she suffers a psychotic breakdown. Cassie has Sundowners syndrome, according to her doctors, which means she's normal for much of the day but has violent episodes when night falls.

    Coil is not a happy man as he was more or less driven out of town due to unwholesome rumors which emerged about him from sources unknown. His relationship with his family is similarly strained. He and his sister were not close, his father died not long after disowning him, and his only living relationship is his spinster Aunt who insists on trying to reconcile him to the town he fled running. There's the small town romance, too, but Coil feels a peculiar sense of dread everywhere. The town doesn't want him here and he doesn't want to be here.

    To make matters worse, the town is suffering a peculiar upswing in violent crime. More and more people are going crazy in bizarre and horrifying ways at night. Sundowners syndrome is spreading, though it's never been as creepy or horrifying as this. Tonia Brown has a peculiar gift for showing regular minds going insane in a nasty, brutish, and gory way. Not much violence happens in Sundowners but, what does, is effective.

    While not an actual story set in the Cthulhu Mythos, the novel has numerous elements Lovecraft fans will find intriguing. The hidden secrets, the horrible family history, and the nightmarish creatures which can't really be put in any real categories are all present. While I don't begrudge the author for her originality, she could have stuck a reference or two to Shub-Niggurath and found herself a whole new audience.

    Sundowners manages to be a above-average horror novel with a likeable cast and very atmospheric depiction of Southern life. Its mood is authentic and nicely accentuates the horror when it happens. I also can relate to people who are stuck with family they wouldn't have necessarily chose if they'd been given the option of someone else.

     I'd have given this book a nine out of ten if not for the fact that the ending didn't feel authentic to the characters as written (at least, in my humble opinion). One of the characters is revealed to have done something unforgivable to another and said character brushes it off. Indeed, they act as if it doesn't matter despite the horrific consequences both mentally as well as emotionally it resulted.

    I have siblings I love.

    If forgiveness ever came, it would be years after the fact.

    If ever.
   
    Otherwise, I will say Sundowners is an otherwise good piece of horror fiction. Something of an abridged Stephen King novel worth an afternoon's read. It's definitely light reading which, while scary, is nothing which will tax you too hard. Still, I wish the author had kept the emotional roller coaster going until the end. In real-life, sadly, some things just can't be mended. I'm glad I read it, though.

8/10

Buy at Amazon.com

    World of Warcraft is, without a doubt, a massive setting. One of the largest in the history of the world one might argue and up there with role-playing game worlds like the Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance for sheer massive amounts of stuff printed about it. This can be daunting for new readers as they struggle to understand just who are all these people.

    Paragons is a collection of short stories, previously published on Blizzard's website and in other sources, which give insight into all of the faction leaders of Azeroth. The first three-quarters of the book is composed of character pieces. They give you an insight into the history of the characters, what they believe, and how they intend to go about getting it. Only a few of these stories really have plots, per say, and the majority are more like meditations about how the characters see the world.

    In short, this is probably not the sort of book for the newcomer to Azeroth. If you have no idea who Genn Greymane is, why he's building a wall around his country, why there's a bunch of zombies attacking said wall years later, and why he's suddenly a werewolf--this book will be confusing more often than not. On the other hand, if you're a die-hard World of Warcraft fanboy, this anthology has some real gems.

    This book is pure fanservice. It's written for fans by fans and is filled with all manner of tidbits designed to tantalize those who unironically say, "I play World of Warcraft for the story." Despite this, some of the short stories are quite good. While all of them do a good job of demonstrating who the characters are, some do a better job of it than others.

    So, if you are a die-hard WOW-child, then buy this book. Otherwise, it's probably not worth your money. The rest of my review will talk about the various short stories from the perspective of someone who knows who these characters are. So, if you don't, now's a time to bow out of this review.

    My favorite of the stories is Heart of War which is one of the stories which really doesn't have a plot per say. It's about Garrosh Hellscream, future ruler of the Horde (and war criminal), thinking about why he doesn't have the respect of the current ruler. Garrosh is painted as a man who has always been an outsider and weakling who, suddenly, finds himself as neither. We also get a sense of the origins of racism, or his racism, at least. Garrosh hates feeling weak so he makes himself feel strong by putting down others. It's the origins of a monster without needing a kind of "trigger" event.

    I liked it a lot.

    Edge of Night and Fire and Iron come just underneath Heart of War for stories which tickle my fancy. Edge of Night is a portrayal of Sylvanas Windrunner, basically a Vampire Elf Queen, who's tragic fall-from-grace has been chronicled on for over a decade. In a very real way, Edge of Night ends the story of Sylvanas Windrunner as it says whether or not she's capable of being redeemed. A lot of fans would disagree with what the short-story argues but it shows the price of revenge in-full. Fire and Iron depicts a Game of Thrones-style political thriller set amongst the dwarves, which is better than it sounds.

    My least favorite short stories are Blood Of Our Fathers and Lord of his Pack. Lord of His Pack, at least, has King Greymane shown as a flawed character with plenty of bigotries he needed to overcome. Blood Of Our Fathers annoyed me because it was one long love letter to Varian Wrynn. I like the character of Varian and have since the World of Warcraft comic but Blizzard seems determined to change him from a flawed but interesting figure into some sort of messiah.

    Which is annoying because we already had a messianic leader for humanity and that was Jaina Proudmoore. Speaking of Jaina, she plays a supporting role in the story and seeing such an important part of the game's lore reduced to be Varian's cheerleader really irritated me.

    The last quarter of the book is taken up by Blood of the Highborne, which is a story about how the High Elves became the Blood Elves. The story is quite well-written but kind of leaves on an open-ended note given a lot of the events get followed up in the game proper. The fact the elves are willing to start torturing an angel-like figure for holy magic also goes to show there's something seriously wrong with those people. I don't buy for a second they're redeemed by the Draenei and believe they need to watched carefully.

    In short, this anthology is great for serious lore junkies and fans of the game. Pass for everyone else.

8/10

Hey folks,

    It's interview time again and we've got a special guest, today, from the new master of werewolves. As depicted here, I found Autumn Moon to be one of the freshest werewolf novels I've read in years. The only thing I've found like it is Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter and those two are like night versus day in their depiction of our furry friends.

    Autumn Moon is the story of the isolated town of Tanneheuk, Montana, which holds a dark secret: it is secretly run by werewolves that hold a yearly hunt of the local humans. This is all revealed in the first chapter so don't think I'm spoiling anything. A Reverend caught in a sex scandal is "exiled" to the town by his church and left to slowly unravel the mystery of what's really going on. Add in a unique cast of misfits, grifters, potheads, and overachievers--and you have quite a group for the inevitable conflict between the hunters and their prey.

    But which is which?


    Let's begin our interview and find out what he has to say about his book!

1. So Slade, what is it that makes Autumn Moon unique amongst horror novels?

I don't think of Autumn Moon as a horror novel. To me, it's more of a suspense thriller. But the fact that the central plot revolves around werewolves... I guess that automatically pushes it into the horror category. To answer your question: I think the violence and horror aspect is done very tastefully. There's no gore, and some of the more violent scenes take place “off camera.”

2. The werewolf, despite being one of the most famous monsters of all time, has been losing ground to the vampire and zombie lately. What made you choose them as your book's monster?

The werewolf has always been my favorite, but as you said, it's not as popular as vampires or zombies. It grew out of my frustration as a reader, as I'd constantly search for a good werewolf novel, and instead find shelves of vampire or zombie novels. Plus, although I think there's been some great werewolf movies, there really hasn't been that many great werewolf novels. I wanted to rectify that (which probably sounds incredibly pompous and arrogant).

3. Could you tell us a little about your protagonist, Reverend Drake? What makes him an interesting lead?

He's interesting because readers find him so damn unlikeable. I don't dislike him because I know why he makes the bad choices he does. He represses a side of himself that he's afraid to let loose. He makes mistakes, but hell, he's only human. By the end of the book, I think he changes into who he should have been all along, but by then, I think readers have made up their mind about him and it's too late to change anyone's opinion. I don't know... Maybe he makes poor choices, but I think he pays for every mistake he makes.

4. What about your supporting protagonists, what will fans like about them?

Hopefully, readers get a well-rounded look at everyone. Sometimes you root for someone, and sometimes you don't. Sometimes the heroes let you down, and sometimes the villains do something heroic. I try to show different sides of all the characters, and even the despicable ones have a moment to shine.

5. How did you come up with the town of Tanneheuk, Montana? Does the town have any fictional or non-fictional inspirations?

It's just one of those perfect little towns on the surface, like Mayberry, but deep down you know there's something wrong going on. Andy's taking bribes, Floyd the barber is watching child porn, and you know Barney is really into some sick shit with Thelma Lou.

My inspiration for the town was borne out of some of Shirley Jackson's stories. Not just “The Lottery,” but some of her other work, as well. The whole “What's beneath the seemingly calm surface” theme of many of her stories.

6. What makes your particular werewolves terrifying?

The werewolves aren't in touch with their humanity. They're not humans who are cursed and become monsters. They're something different, and see themselves as a step up from human. Which means they really don't have empathy for the humans in the town. The humans are more like their pets than anything else.

7. How would you describe your book's theme?

To me, it's more about what damage can be caused by an outsider entering a closed community than it is a werewolf story. The underlying theme is, What price are we willing to pay for peace or freedom? And ultimately, does a person's conviction make them right, or just dangerous?

8. Who would you say is your favorite character?

I never have a favorite character because I generally love all of them...even the really bad ones. But... David was probably my favorite to write in Autumn Moon because of some of the snarky things he said. I laughed when I wrote some of his dialogue, and laughed again during a recent re-read of the book. He was definitely fun to write for.

9. What's been your favorite fan response so far?

Someone wrote a review on Amazon and described the book as “like Stephen King at his best, but without all the weird stylistic tics.” That description made me laugh out loud, but also gave me that glowing feeling in my chest (which may have been heartburn, but I like to think it was pride).

10. What can we expect from you in the future, writing wise?

The sequel, I am the Night, is due out next September from Permuted Press. I have some ideas on carrying the story further, but I want to wait and see how the reaction is to Autumn Moon its sequel. And I suppose it depends if Permuted wants me to write more in the series.

Besides that, I have a crime novel that's in need of a rewrite, and a superhero novel that's half finished, so I intend to get back to those soon. Once they're completed, I'll begin the slow, tortuous process of submitting them and waiting, waiting, waiting...

Thank you for your time, Slade! It's been a blast.

    The Breadwinner Trilogy is a self-published trilogy of novels which is getting reprinted up by Permuted Press. It's an interesting phenomenon of the indie scene that, increasingly, publishers are picking up proven successes on the self-published market than take a chance on a new series. Here, I'll be reviewing the original version of the second novel sans edits.

    The second book starts with Samson, Veronica, and Ben sailing away from their doomed hometown in order to find a new location. Deciding to take refuge in a luxurious high-rise apartment complex, the trio come across another group of survivors and merge their two groups.

    Anyone want to guess there will be trouble?

    Haven does have one large problem at the start and that is the fact it jumps right into the action, which normally wouldn't be the case but I'd forgotten who was who from the previous volume. I had to get out my copy of The Breadwinner in order to figure out what was going on since Haven resumes immediately thereafter.

    Once I managed to get past this stumbling block, though, I applaud Stevie for showing some real courage in throwing wrenches into the story. People talking about The Walking Dead being courageous in killing off characters but Stevie is up there with the comic. When one such death occurred, I was immediately hooked back into the story again.

    The majority of the book, like the previous volume of the series, chronicles the adventures of the previous band of survivors. Led by the mysterious and dangerous Michelle, they attempt to live out the apocalypse in their apartment before deciding to try the Dawn of the Dead thing. Take over a shopping mall? What could go wrong!

    I really bonded with the character of Michelle and she swiftly became my favorite character in the series. Unfortunately, halfway through, I mentioned this to Stevie Kopas on a website she frequents only to get sniggering from her. You'll find out what I mean later. I must say I'm kind of disappointed but the twist was, nevertheless, shocking.

    Then again, I've often liked characters like that.

    In conclusion, Haven is a good continuation to the characters' journey of the previous books with a couple of surprise twists. Some of which are truly shocking. The book suffers because Samson was, hands down, the most interesting character in the series and moving away from him is problematic. Likewise, I felt annoyed at the twist with Michelle. Otherwise, it's a fairly straight zombie adventure which succeeds on its merits as a typical example of the genre with the aforementioned surprises livening things up.

    Buy it when it's re-released in Spring 2015.

7/10

Buy at Amazon.com 

    I like Richard A. Knaak's writing. This is something which often puts me at odds with myself because the two of us approach World of Warcraft very well. For one, he's a professional writer for it and I'm just a disenchanted fanboy. His WOW writings tend to be good vs. evil, I prefer moral ambiguity. He likes the Night Elves as noble, decent, good guys. I prefer them as wild savages which look down on lesser races. He likes Malfurion, I like Illidan.

    Now, after Wolfheart, I can say that I prefer Varian Wrynn as a flawed barbarian hero who is (in some ways) the worst thing to happen to the Alliance in years. While the author seems to prefer him as the messianic deliverer of humanity from darkness. It's ironic, though, since this book actually shows my viewpoint at the start but changes him into the latter. This is problematic because I was quite happy with him being the above enormous jerk and find him less interesting now that he's gotten over his problems.

    The premise is the Alliance is holding a summit at the Night Elf capital in order to debate the acceptance of the Worgen (werewolves) into the Alliance. This is controversial, though not for the reasons you'd expect. No one really seems to mind the idea of werewolves joining their faction, they are more angry over the fact they're from the nation of Gilneas. Gilneas was a member state in the Old Alliance but left it after the Second War. This is viewed as treason by many in the Alliance despite the fact they did it in peace-time.

    The thing is, the only person who seems to object to Gilneas joining is Stormwind and that's apparently enough to sink the entire deal despite the Alliance being composed of a dozen other member races. We also have a subplot about how King Varian is the chosen of the Wolf God of Azeroth, Goldrin, as opposed to one of the entire race of werewolves nearby. He's, furthermore, blessed by the goddess of the Night Elves Elune.

    ...

    Uh-huh.

    The funny thing is, I *LIKE* Varian. I enjoyed him in the World of Warcraft comics and most of his appearances in the game. I just don't care, much, for him being somehow the most important person in the Alliance let alone Azeroth. He might be Aragorn but Aragorn was a supporting character. Here, the focus is Varian and Stormwind's importance at the expense of many other characters. I'm doubly annoyed here because Varian as the savior of humanity intrudes on Jaina Proudmoore being such (which she was established as being in Warcraft 3).
   
    Despite this, I think there's much to like about Wolfheart. I enjoyed the mystery plot about who was murdering Highborne Night Elves despite the fact I figured out who was responsible early on. I also liked the new character of Jarod, who seemed like he brought some new attention to the Night Elves.My favorite part of the book is probably the subplot about the Horde invading Ashenvale. We get a real sense of the banality of evil watching how Garrosh manipulates patriotism and racism to abuse people who look different from them (ironic, too, given they're orcs).

    I will say he seemed to recover from an early trauma in the book too quickly and, frankly, think that plot could have been jettisoned. My favorite part of the book was the Horde invasion of Ashenvale and their attempt to take its resources-rich territory from the Alliance. It's rare the Alliance gets to fight the Horde in a full-scale war and this scene worked well. The characterization in the book was good, too. In truth, the only part I really object to is the attempt to sell me on Varian as such a great leader and important figure--which I just flat-out do not buy. Either before the events of the book or after.

    In conclusion, if you're not troubled by setting up the King of Stormwind to be the most important figure in the Alliance then this book will probably be very enjoyable. If you're looking for a stand-alone novel, this probably won't work either as it depends a great deal on knowledge of World of Warcraft's setting. Still, it's not a bad novel and I have nothing but praise for Richard Knaak's writing ability.

7/10