Spotlight on...Swords of the Dead

Synopsis: A rogue fight club brawler and his band of misfit martial artists are hired by a beautiful mystery woman to destroy Ninja Zombies that have invaded her small town.

For a preview, click here!


Check out these reviews!

"Swords of the Dead is an action-packed zombie story. I think fans of the genre will find the author’s take on the topic to be very unique. At the same time, frequent doses of humor give Swords of the Dead a distinctive mirth I’ve not often seen in this genre."

-- Scott Harper Author of: Winter’s Rite, Well Wishes, Gauntlet, Predators or Prey?, Necromancer, Vindicated

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"Kaus brings a legendary twist to the Zombie genre.. ...a wild ride of quick-witted humor, fantastic weaponry and blood-spilling surprises from start to finish. A must read for any lover of Action-Horror!"

Gowrie Heather Hayden - Mixed Martial Artist, Stage Combat Weapons Specialist: Fantasy Women Battles, Warrior Showdown

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"Swords of the Dead is a great ride. It has sword-wielding zombies, martial arts, humor, razor-sharp dialogue and beautiful mystery woman. It takes the Zombie genre to the cutting edge."

-- Amber Dawn Lee, Producer, Writer, Actress and star of the upcoming film Lot Lizards

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"Author/screenwriter Danek S. Kaus has a way with words, a style that truly works for this comedy-zombie/horror genre. I was enticed from the beginning, as I am sure anybody who reads this novella will be."

-- Russ Emanuel, Award-Winning Producer, Director, of the upcoming feature film The Legends of Nethiah

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"Swords of the Dead is an action packed, exciting, and quite humorous zombie tale. What is more deadly then zombies? The answer Kaus provides is Ninja Zombies!"

-- Daniel Simmonds, The Rotting Zombie blog


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"What can I say that hasn't already been said? This is one of those rare books that is a must read and once you start, you won't be able to turn the pages fast enough! And the fact that it's soon to be a major motion picture? Be still my undead heart!

--Zombob, Zombob's Zombie News and Reviews blog

THINGS MADE BETTER WITH ZOMBIES

The name's Bond. James Bond.

LAST FREE AMAZON KINDLE ZOMBIE E-BOOKS OF 2012!

Synopsis: Breanne Murphy may seem like the average high school student, but she keeps her extreme intelligence hidden from most of her teachers. After an experiment that she is conducting with one of her teachers goes horribly wrong, Breanne is faced with a horde of zombie teenagers that still seem to have their intelligence. These zombie students are the people she knows and sees every day. She can’t bring herself to start killing her former peers. Her vast intelligence may be their only hope of being saved. Now she is in a race to cure her classmates before they can breakout and infect the world.

For a preview or to grab a copy, click here!

Synopsis: An average day. A demented prisoner in the drunk tank, who happens to be subject zero, is brought before a judge to have his case reviewed. He breaks away, the and violence soon spills outside of the courtroom.

White Ash on Bone follows groups of citizens who band together for survival as society breaks apart around them. This is not a story about living in a post-apocalyptic world that is already overrun by the undead. This is a story about trying to survive in the first days of the collapse.

For a preview or to grab a copy, click here!

Synopsis: Samuel Todd is a regular guy: ...Failed husband... ...Loving father... ...Dutiful worker... ...Aspiring rockstar. He had no idea if anyone would care, or take the time, to read his daily blog entries about his late night observations. But what started as an open monologue of his day-to-day life became a running journal of the firsthand account detailing the rising of the dead and the downfall and degradation of mankind...

For a preview or to grab a copy, click here!

Synopsis: In the wastelands of America silent predators stalk their victim. For a survivor in these ruins they must learn to run and hide. Except for one lone man who would rather be found. Armed to the teeth he finds it easier when people don't know his name. For one lone survivor, she will learn to become his voice.

For a preview or to snag a copy, click here!

Synopsis: Val was bitten by a zombie and now she’s scheduled for lethal injection. Breaking all the rules, Dean Walters snags vials of an experimental serum. But it can’t be tested until Val turns into a zombie: something authorities won’t allow. Her execution is scheduled to happen before transformation is complete, giving Dean only hours to break her out. 

When their helicopter crashes straight into the heart of Zombie Land, his rescue mission becomes a fight for survival…and giving up on Val is NOT an option.

For a preview or to get a copy, click here!

Synopsis: Reuters - Estimates say that nearly three thousand people nationwide, and fifteen thousand people worldwide have died of the H1N1 virus or Swine flu and nearly eighty thousand cases have been confirmed in hospitals and clinics across the United States and the world, the World Heath Organization reported. The influenza pandemic of 2010, while not nearly as prolific as the one that raged in 1918 still has citizens around the world in a near state of panic. 

New York Post (Headlines October 31st) - Beware! Children Carry Germs! - Halloween Canceled!

New York Times - (Headlines November 3rd) - Swine flu claims latest victim - Vice President surrounded by family and friends at the end. 

Boston Globe - (Headlines November 28th) - Swine Flu Vaccinations Coming!

Boston Herald - (Headlines December 6th) - Shots in Short Supply - Lines Long!

National Enquirer - (Headlines December 7th) - The Dead Walk!

There would be no more headlines. 

It started in a lab at the CDC (Center for Disease Control), virologists were so relieved to finally have an effective vaccination against the virulent swine flu. Pressure to come up with something had come from the highest office in the land. In an attempt at speed the virologists had made two mistakes, first they used a live virus and second they didn't properly test for side effects. Within days hundreds of thousands of vaccinations shipped across the US and the world. People lined up for the shots, like they were waiting in line for concert tickets. Fights broke out in drugstores as fearful throngs tried their best to get one of the limited shots. Within days the CDC knew something was wrong. Between 4 and 7 hours of receiving the shot roughly 95% succumbed to the active H1N1 virus in the vaccination. More unfortunate than the death of the infected was the added side effect of reanimation, it would be a decade before scientists were able to ascertain how that happened. The panic that followed couldn't be measured. Loved ones did what loved ones always do, they tried to comfort, their kids or their spouses or their siblings, but what came back was not human not even remotely. Those people that survived their first encounter with these monstrosities usually did not come through unscathed, if bitten they had fewer than 6 hours of humanity left, the clock was ticking. During the first few hysteria ridden days of The Coming as it has become known, many thought the virus was airborne, luckily that was not the case or nobody would have survived. It was a dark time in human history. One from which we may never be able to pull ourselves out of the ashes from.

For a preview or to get a copy, click here!

Synopsis: Kent stopped at an abandoned bar in the hopes of finding a bottle so that he could drink away the haunting nightmares of his brother's recent death. Not too much to ask for in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

But when he finds a young boy and his mother inside the bar, he'll discover that sometimes the ones we love are the hardest ones to kill.

For a preview or to get a copy, click here!

Synopsis: "This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies. 

For a preview or to get a copy, click here!

REVIEW: THE VERY HUNGRY ZOMBIE

There have been many parodies of classic children's books, but The Very Hungry Zombie, based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, is one of the funniest, cleverest, and most colorful I've seen.

However, if your child is young enough for The Very Hungry Caterpillar don't give him or her The Very Hungry Zombie. You should wait until around age 8 or so, when the child is old enough to get the joke.

Of course, for older kids, say between 20 and 80, this is an excellent idea for gift giving or for buying for yourself!

Everybody is interested in zombies these days, and everybody knows they eat brains. But if that was all they ever ate, that would be boring. So as you turn the pages of this book, you can count the other things the very hungry zombie eats on every day of the week, including fingers and other body parts, as well as different sorts of people, like clowns, rock stars and astronauts, which all affect his tummy in different ways. Brains are the dessert, of course!

The book even has the little holes to put your fingers as you count, just like the classic board book for little ones.

The illustrations here are more humorous than scary, and are charming in a dark sort of way, the bright colors being a brilliant choice for the subject matter. The pictures and the clever words will certainly make any zombie fan laugh!

This is a book that the reader will pick up and enjoy over and over again, and which will ensure many laughs. It may well become a family favorite. If you buy it for an older child or teenager, they may even pass it down to their children or teenagers one day.

Assuming, of course, that we don't end up as dinner!

~rhettaakamatsu/blogcritics.org

UPCOMING 'WALKING DEAD' T-SHIRTS

Available early 2013!

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER FOR THE MULBURY PROJECT

Synopsis: In the aftermath of an alien invasion, an orphan boy braves the disease-ridden landscape to help a young girl find her way home and hide from the ruthless corporation that is chasing her.

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Spotlight on...Kings of the Dead

Synopsis: When the H1N1 “Swine Flu” virus mutates it begins to not only kill those who have received the vaccination, but also bring on the unthinkable: the dead reanimate.

Cole Helman and his friends are not only survival experts, they’ve spent hours discussing and preparing for just this event and quickly head to the hills before the cities become clogged with looting and riots. But the group knows all too well that the living dead are just the beginning of their problems, and they’ll eventually have to deal with the worst qualities of the living—desperation, greed, selfishness, and cruelty—in this new post-apocalyptic world. And a chance encounter at a secret military installation may reveal a conspiracy bigger than any of them had imagined…

Straight out of the apocalypse comes the chronicle of one small group and their experiences with life and death, survival and loss. In a world of the living dead, is one man capable of maintaining not only his community, but his own sanity?

To read the preview or order a copy, click here!

WHEN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAPPENS, AVOID THESE THINGS

• Don't trust anyone... not even little girls
  This should be simple enough to figure out. In dire times, like zombie apocalypses, it's best not to trust anyone. This isn't even a new concept. Doesn't anyone remember the beginning of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake? Once again, another creepy little girl.
  
  
• Don't go to the city
  Just like with terrorists, people who want to hurt others are going to turn up where there's the largest amount of people. Plus, once someone in that city is bitten, it's only a matter of time before zombie cooties spread like wildfire around town. Ick.

• Never trust your partner with your wife
  This seems like common sense. If you've got a partner and you've got a wife... inevitably the two will start sleeping together. This may seem unrelated to zombies, but here's the thing: You need to have as many people on your side as possible. Having an awkward or angry riff between you and your buddy or your wife isn't going to help you survive.

• Don't use your gun unless you must, but when you do, shoot twice
  There are multiple layers to this rule. First, as you may know from watching The Walking Dead (if you're brave enough), zombies are attracted to sound. Unless you've got a silencer, your gun is going to make a lot of noise. Also, in a post-apocalyptic setting, it's only a matter of time before you run out of bullets. If you can escape without dwindling your stock, that's better. However, if you must use your gun, shoot 'em twice. Those zombies are tricky bastards.

• Don't wear fancy perfume
  Leave your Burberry Brit and Chanel No. 5 on your dresser back home. If you're ever swarmed by zombies the only way to escape might be to convince them that you, too, are a zombie. Smelling pretty may help you get lucky in the woods with your hubby's partner, but it's not going to fend off the zombies. Try to smell as awful as possible. Don't be afraid to wipe zombie blood on your clothing... just don't get it on you.

Most importantly...

• Don't forget your banjo
  Remember that scene in Zombieland when Woody Harrelson takes out a zombie with a banjo smack in the face? Yeah. Banjos are for more than just pickin' and grinnin'. (Though, that would certainly be nice, too. Once you're out of other entertainment options.)

Good luck out there! And remember: Zombies are faster than they seem.

~kaye/sheknows.com

I WOULD WATCH THIS FOR 3 HOURS

Spotlight on...The Zombie Archives: The Butterman Cometh

Synopsis: Mankind has just been knocked off his perch atop the food chain. The zombie apocalypse is here. But it didn't come alone. Sure, there are legions of hungry mouths, tearing hands, and soulless eyes, but the apocalypse brought a friend. A distant memory that terrified you as a child- remember that creepy cereal mascot in the one commercial with the kids and how he used to chase them around until they found conspicuously placed breakfast bowls in the middle of nowhere? Turns out that guy is really real. And this time, the kids don't get away. Nobody does.

For a preview or to order a copy, click here!

EVEN DICK & JANE ARE READY FOR THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!

The Best Zombie Fiction Releases of 2012

"If anything, the zombie releases of 2012 showed me just how limitless

the narrative potential is for the walking dead." – Paul Goat Allen

Zombie fiction has been riding high for a few years now. The releases in 2010 were so strong (Mira Grant’s Feed, The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer, Joan Frances Turner’s Dust, etc.), in quality and quantity, that I called it The Year of the Zombie. Last year was arguably just as strong – particularly for zombie novels written by female novelists and powered by unforgettable heroines. Sophie Littlefield’s Aftertime, Rhiannon Frater’s The First Days, Mira Grant’s Deadline, and Jessica Meigs’ The Becoming were all exceptional reads. 

And although I don’t think 2012 was collectively as strong for zombie fiction as the previous two years, I did see a fascinating diaspora of sorts. Yes, there were some excellent conventional zombie apocalypse thrillers released in 2012 – Littlefield’s Horizon; Grant’s Blackout; Kenemore’s Zombie, Illinois; etc. – but this year, I saw a marked increase in truly innovative zombie storylines, novels that explored and expanded the boundaries of zombie fiction.

Rhiannon Frater’s stellar The Last Bastion of the Living, set in a future where humankind was all but extinct, explored a very different kind of zombie. But the thing that struck me so powerfully about this read – aside from the bombshell plot twists – was its genre transcendent appeal. It’s vividly realized science fiction, visceral zombie fiction, visionary apocalyptic fiction, but, above all else, it’s a heartrending and – shockingly – hopeful romance. You will never read a novel quite like The Last Bastion of the Living. This was easily my favorite zombie read of 2012 – and one of my all-time favorite zombie reads.

J. R. Angelella’s debut novel Zombie was also noteworthy. Although there are no zombies in the story, this novel will be absolutely cherished by zombie fiction aficionados. In my review of Zombie back in June, I called it: “…a weird and wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age tale about a kid who is finds solace from his deeply troubled existence in his love of zombie movies. It’s simultaneously a bildungsroman à la Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, an homage to zombies in pop culture, and a twisted mystery all wrapped up into one utterly original – and darkly delightful – novel.”

By the Blood of Heroes by Joseph Nassise was an undeniably cool fusion of WWI alternate history, zombie fiction, and steampunk – and I included Paula Brandon’s The Wanderers on the list for the fascinating way she in which utilized zombies in a storyline that was predominantly aimed at fantasy and romance readers.

If anything, the zombie releases of 2012 showed me just how limitless the narrative potential is for the walking dead. I know so many mainstream fiction readers who utterly detest zombie fiction – although they have never read one zombie novel! There is an entrenched prejudice here that all zombie fiction novels will be like a George Romero gore fest – and that’s just patently ridiculous. The titles below run the gamut from horror to mainstream fiction to fantasy romance to science fiction.

Just like the undead characters in these novels, zombie fiction is exceedingly hard to eradicate. Although it certainly has its detractors, zombie fiction will be around long after they have passed away.  It’s continuously evolving – and although some significant series ended this year (Littlefield’s Aftertime, Grant’s Newsflesh, Frater’s As the World Dies, etc.), I’m hopeful that 2013 will bring exciting new zombie-powered storylines that will continue to reinvigorate and redefine the genre...

So, without further ado, here are my top zombie fiction releass of 2012!

1. The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater

2. By the Blood of Heroes by Joseph Nassise

3. Horizon by Sophie Littlefield

4. Blackout by Mira Grant

5. Zombie: A Novel by J. R. Angelella

6. Zombie, Illinois by Scott Kenemore

7. Siege by Rhiannon Frater

8. The Zero Dog War by Keith Melton

9. Plague Town by Dana Fredsti

10. The Becoming: Ground Zero by Jessica Meigs

11. The Wanderers by Paula Brandon

12. Survivors by Z. A. Recht

13. Tortured Spirits by Gregory Lamberson

Paul Goat Allen has been a full-time book reviewer specializing in genre fiction for the last two decades and has written thousands of reviews for companies like Publishers Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, and BarnesandNoble.com. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. You can follow him on Twitter at @paulgoatallen and get all the latest Barnes & Noble book news from @BNBuzz.

Spotlight on...Dead Bastards

Synopsis: A ballsy couple’s cozy lives are upended when the zombie apocalypse strikes Glasgow, and every day becomes a battle for survival as they team up with a band of misfits in hopes of starting civilization anew.

For a preview or to order a copy, click here!