Hey, everyone! There's a blog tour starting today for The Undead Road by David Powers King (co-author of Woven) and I want to make sure you all know about it because it lookskiller.
This first book in a new YA zombie series is already getting rave reviews on Amazon. Readers are saying "His take on the rise of zombies is one of the most convincing I've ever
heard of, and his characters are engaging and believable." -Haley H.
D.R. Weaver says "If you like zombies, be sure to check this out!" and Jbentley7 says you have to read it "...even if you don't like zombies!" and everyone says it's hilarious. Seriously. Just go look at the reviews. Best part is, The Undead Road is independently published, so not only do you get what sounds like an awesome book, you get to put on your indie hipster hat and support a struggling, starving artist at the same time! Win/win, dudes. The links are all down below, but if you didn't notice, the ebook is on sale for .99 this week only and FREE on KindleUnlimited.
The Undead Road: My Zombie Summer: Part One by David Powers King Publisher: Dashboard Books / CreateSpace Ebook Release: January 2st, 2016 Paperback: January 26th, 2016 Cover by Steven Novak Edited by Reece Hanzon
Nothing brings the family together like a zombie apocalypse …
Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Barnes would rather watch a zombie movie than shoot a real one, but he has no choice if his family wants to survive the end of the world. Their plan? Drive across the infected United States to a cabin in the Colorado Rockies without a scratch, but their trip takes a complicated detour in the middle of Nebraska when they find Kaylynn, a girl who can handle a baseball bat better than Jeremy can hold a .45 Berretta. And when they stumble into a sanctuary, Jeremy soon learns that Kaylynn is stronger than she looks—a deadly secret lies inside her.
After the radio picks up a distress call from Kansas City about a possible cure, Jeremy’s parents go with a team to investigate. They never return. The only way to find their parents is for Jeremy and his sister Jewel to rely on a dangerous girl who might just turn on them at any moment.
"For me, zombie stories are never about the killing. They're about the survivors and how people deal with the apocalypse. To this undead end, David Powers King has come up with the most original spin on zombies I've ever read." - Michael Offutt, author of Slipstream and Oculus
Contest Details: Visit davidpowersking.com and leave a comment and/or tweet about The Undead Road (at least once) for a chance to win a free ebook. One out of every 10 comments and tweets is a winner! Use the phrase below to ensure the author will see your tweet. Thank you! Tweet this to enter: "Nothing brings the family together like a #zombie #apocalypse..." #scifi #horror amzn.to/1RT8xly .99 cent #kindle! @DavidPowersKing
Blog tour hosts: The undead fun starts today and there's a great line up of interviews, guest posts, reviews, and zombie love, so don't miss out!
About the Author: David Powers King was born in beautiful downtown Burbank, California where his love for film inspired him to be a writer. He is the co-author of the YA fantasy novel WOVEN, published by Scholastic. An avid fan of science fiction and fantasy, David also has a soft spot for zombies and the paranormal. He currently lives deep in the mountain West with his wife and three children. Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Randoms by David Liss Simon & Schuster Middle Grade/Sci-Fi 4/5 stars
WHEN'S THE NEXT ONE COMING?!?!
*achem*
Fair warning, dear reader; this is the beginning of a series. Believe me, you want to know that up front. Because if you were to finish this book before realizing there's going to be a sequel, you might scream and cry and wrap yourself up in your Mal Reynolds coat and curl into the fetal position while your heart breaks into a million tiny pieces, like that time when Spock sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise.
Star Trek: Wrath of Khan
Unless, of course, you're more familiar with the time Kirk did that. Then think about that one.
Star Trek: Into Darkness
And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. Randoms will help you cultivate that inner sci-fi geek that's waiting to be born. If you're not familiar with my reviews, you probably haven't heard of Amanda's Adventures in Science Fiction. In short, I love sci-fi shows and movies, but I have two big peeves with the way sci-fi is written that make it hard for me to find books I can actually enjoy. The Crystal Bridge by Charlie Pulsipher (5/5 stars!) started me off on this quest for good sci-fi last year and I've had some success in the genre to date. I tell you this so you know when I say that Randoms is stark-raving brilliant and utterly fantastic, you'll realize this is coming from an incredibly picky sci-fi reader. So here goes. Randoms is stark-raving brilliant and utterly fantastic.
12-year-old Zeke Reynolds has just discovered that Earth is not alone in the universe -and he's going to an off-planet school for a year with three other delegates to see if Earth qualifies to join the Confederation of United Planets.
So what makes this book so fantastic? A big reason is how David Liss plays this straight to the sci-fi geeks. The Confederation likes to drop hints to planets they hope to someday ally with and they've been feeding Earth details about the rest of the galaxy for decades through television shows. And Zeke -the proud son of an uber sci-fi geek- is realizing just how much his 'useless' sci-fi trivia is going to come in handy. Sci-Fi Peeve #1: Techno-gibber-jabber-jargon of all the advanced toys and gadgets authors will insist on describing in depth with their PhD-sized sci-fi brains. I sucked at science in high school. This all goes over my head.
Liss bypasses this peeve by relating or comparing most of the technology to television shows. I think every sci-fi show from Star Trek to Stargate to Babylon 5 was dropped in here. Even with the shows I wasn't familiar with, Liss was able to relate the specific uses of the tech within the show to give me a better upfront understanding of what it was. Sort of a hands-on learning experience with geek culture. But Liss doesn't just duplicate or steal ideas from already existing shows. He breaks them down, takes a seed of the idea, and extrapolates on that for his universe to really play up the idea that the Confederation has been only been dropping hints to Earth. He also creates plenty of original technology so it doesn't feel like he's just ripping off the existing sci-fi culture. Honestly, it's a super clever idea. Sci-Fi Peeve #2: Not enough dialogue and too much dull/jargon prose. This was an easy solve. It's told in first person from Zeke's perspective and he's an entertaining, sarcastic, and colorful character. Even the pages of prose burst so much with his character, it's just as fun for me as reading dialogue. I'm raving on about the brilliant sci-fi side, but the story would be nothing without the clever story line, the fantastic characters, and twists. Zeke deals with moral issues, self-confidence, and being ostracized by the other Earth delegates. What makes the story work so well, I think, is seeing what a huge sci-fi fan Zeke is and watching him geek out over every little thing. (Page 401. I am so. freaking. jealous.) I realize I'm geeking out quite a bit too, but I want to stress that you don't have to be a complete sci-fi geek to enjoy this. I promise. If you're just a little bit of a sci-fi geek, that's fine. Only seen the new Star Trek movies? Only watched Star Wars or a few episodes of Firefly? If you have even a passing interest in sci-fi, you'll love this. The story stands on it's own and all references are explained naturally so you don't feel like you're missing the punchline. Randoms is hilarious, clever, pulse-pounding, well-written, absolutely fantastic, and at almost 500 pages somehow still too short. I'm going to have a hard time being patient for the next one.
The only reasons this didn't get all 5 stars are for the continuous mentions of evolution (a genre staple) and because I'm not a huge fan of the 12-year-old romance. Other than that, this book was practically perfect in every way.
The Lead In This is a fantastic first step back into the Star Wars universe.
The Force Awakens lives and breathes in the tradition of the original trilogy. It honors the classics -story-wise, stylistically, even with its cinematography- while still infusing it with the influence of modern storytelling. Elements of both the old and new are merged in a kind of 'torch passing' ritual.
It is, above all else, a true extension of the Star Wars universe and a very fitting next chapter. (Bless you, JJ Abrams. If anyone dares call you JarJar, I will tase them.)
More on the Nostalgia vs. Ripoff argument down below
Star Wars for a New Generation Masterfully merges elements of both the old and new in a kind of 'passing the torch' Successfully
updates the universe in a fantastic tone for a new generation (Quips,
humor, Poe's snark, showing the Millenium Falcon as outdated WHILE
SHOWING IT'S STILL THE BEST) I
love the new cast of characters. They are funny and snarky and their
interaction is so much fun to watch. Not only that, these new characters are essentially an embodiment of our generation. Just look at them. The way they talk, the way they react, the way Finn fantastically FANBOYS and how he gets all up in Phama's face -that's us. That's our generation. You wouldn't see Han or Luke or Leia do that. But you could see yourself doing that, couldn't you?
The moment I realized "Yeah, this movie is for us" was in the beginning of the film, when Poe is forced to face Kylo Ren and there's that moment of silence of those two just staring each other down. I remember thinking it would be the perfect time for some snarky quip. And boy did Poe deliver.
I am very much looking forward to watching these characters grow and develop, especially in their own right. I loved that the original characters had such prominent roles in this film, but I will also be interested to see how our new characters fair on their own.
Stormtrooper as a character, as a PERSON ("I made a choice.") I LOVE THIS.
The lack of excessive
CGI was a heaven-send. I loved the feel and the look of the universe
again. It was so natural, so original, so beautifully freaking authentic
and STAR WARS IS ALIVE AND WELL, BABY!
The Extended Universe (novels) vs. the New Canon So I've only read a handful of novels in the EU to date, but even I was a bit miffed that they dismissed it all out of the canon in preparation for VII. After all, it was filled with over 30 years of expansion, development, mythos, and worldbuilding (universe-building?). WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!
I think I understand. There is so much story, so much expectation tied up in all the EU, I think they wanted to give themselves room to breathe. They wanted the freedom tocreate a new story, without the restrictions of an already firmly established universe.
Now, one could say this was a bad thing. On the other hand, would we really be satisfied with a simple book-to-movie adaptation of a story line that already exists as the next trilogy in the saga? Readers -and fans in general- aren't really known for their acceptance regarding movie adaptations. And somewhere, deep down in our little fangirl/boy hearts, wouldn't it feel just a little...anticlimactic? I mean, who wants to sit through a brand new Star Wars movie for the first time -and already know the story?
Again, I haven't read much of the EU -yet- but I know enough about it to see that they did pull inspiration from it,like having a Solo child turn to the Dark Side and evidentlythe Starkiller Base is a likely reincarnation of a weapon from a novel as well.
The way I see it, they didn't necessarily want to dismiss the EU entirelyout of the canon. There are obviously pieces and aspects of it they wanted to keep, but they wanted to tell their own story at the same time, so they seem to be creating a patchwork of new story and new characters while honoring the spirit of the EU at the same time.
I'm not only okay with this, I'm abso-bally-lutely excited about it! One of my favorite things about book-to-movie adaptations as both a reader and a writer is seeing howand how successfullythey decide to change elements of the story from novel to screenplay, and this is basically that on steroids. Watching these new movies and continuing my exploration in the EU will be like a massive fangirl scavenger hunt.
On Han and Leia Obviously, I have very strong feelings about whether or not Han and Leia would be a couple in VII. I've already received a few consolatory messages on this front because, let's face it, they weren't exactly together.
But I am okay with this.
Why? Because Han and Leia DID happen. My big fear was that Han and Leia would not have happened. Period. And that would be unacceptable, because it's so deeply ingrained not only in my head but in our culture. Han and Leia are one of the prime OTPs, everyone's favoritefictional couple (or at least in the Top 10).
And they DID happen. They were together, they were happy (even if they drove each other a little crazy), they had at least one child, they continued their fight to free the galaxy from the Empire's continued oppression side by side, they were parents together, and they probably would have lived happily ever after (with daring adventures and epic space battles, granted) if their son hadn't turned to the Dark Side.
Even though Han and Leia weren't technically 'together', they were still in love. They were still each other's one and only. There was even still hope, I think, that they would have found a way to be together again. And this all boils down to one very important thing:
HAN AND LEIA ARE STILL, AND WILL ALWAYS BE, A THING.
Denial of Han's death My worst fear was realized. The entire week leading up to this I had been trying not to think about the possibility that Han would die. Deep down, I knew it was going to happen. Deep down, I knew, but I was not prepared. I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I still wasn't convinced until the credits rolled that he wasn't going to pop back in somewhere. The dread settled when the base exploded, but the lightsaber, the fall? "He can survive that. They can make it work. They can still bring him back." There's still a spark of hope in me, born I'm certain of pure, stubborn, blessed denial. So I'm still coming to terms with it. I'm trying to look at it from a writer's viewpoint, rather than that of a fan, because I'm still too close.
The Force Awakens broke my heart.
And I still loved it.
Cons of Han's death The more I think about it, the more I'm of the opinion that they made this happen too soon. Don't get me wrong; I'm broken-hearted over this. I'm still not okay with. I'm still trying to come to terms with it. But I do believe it's a good move for the story.
The biggest reason I think this happened too fast is because of Rae. While she's kidnapped by Kylo Ren, he senses that she thinks of Han like the father she never knew. I love this irony. I also think that's a seriously strong feeling for Rae to have from just the short time she's known Han. The closest thing they had to a bonding moment was when they were flying the Falcon together and that felt more like Rae attempting to bond while Han thought of her as an upstart kid (and probably more than a little jealous that she could fly his ship better than him. Which, it must be admitted, was kind of fantastic.) So I feel like there wasn't really a decent opportunity for Rae to actually develop that kind of sentimentality toward Han.
Certainly not enough for her to be more affected by his death than Chewie. Because, seriously, when they got back to the Resistance base, Chewie walked right past Leia, and it was she and Rae who had the heart-breaking bonding moment over his death. Sorry, but Chewie should have gone straight to Leia. I don't feel like Rae had sufficient amount of time with any of the characters to make that confirmation of Han's death okay.
I originally saw this with a friend of mine (you all remember the Library Ninja?) and she pointed something crucial out. There was no down time in The Force Awakens. More specifically, there was no travel time. They jumped incredibly fast from planet to planet, system to system, and spent virtually no time in the living quarters or cooling their heels chatting or actually traveling. In the originals, a good amount of character interaction was developed in these moments of hyperspace travel. Think of Chewie and R2 playing virtual space chess. Of Obi-Wan tutoring Luke in the use of a lightsaber and Han bashing hokey religions. Of Han and Leia flirting while trying to repair the Falcon on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere.
There was none of this in VII.
The Force Awakens was a fast-paced, action-packed film that almost didn't give you time to catch your breath.I understand this is what people have come to expect from blockbuster films. This is part of the brilliant job the crew did on updating the series for today's general audiences.
I wonder if they did almost too brilliant of a job. I wonder if they played VII too much to general audiences -if they focused so much on making a film everyone could love- I wonder if they didn't play to the Star Wars audiences enough. The one true thing this film lacked -in my opinion- was the very much needed character interaction between Rae and Han. We were told they had a special attachment, but we weren't shown it.
I'm a writer. One of the first rules you learn, on the biggest rules there is, that is pounded into your skull by every writing teacher, writing book, critique buddy, and reviewer is SHOW, don't TELL.
"The little things? The little moments? They aren't little." -Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn
This was the egregious error The Force Awakens made and I think it was a direct result of the movie being so fast-paced -to play to general audiences, mind- that we didn't get just a few slower moments to step away from the escalating blockbuster action for some genuine and much-needed character interaction.
I think that general audiences aren't going to necessarily notice or care about this flaw. I think that general audiences aren't going to pick apart and analyze every millisecond of this film to see how it stands on its own and compares to the originals. I think that general audiences don't have the propensity to latch onto a film with such zeal and passion and fervor that it lasts for 40 years. I think that the Star Wars audience is smarter than your average cookie. I think the Star Wars audience is responsible for its enduring success. I know that the Star Wars audience is going to notice and is going to care about it. While I think The Force Awakens is a great movie and a fantastic new step for the Star Wars franchise, I think it pandered just a little too much to general audiences and I think this one error -because it is involved with such a crucial piece of the story- is going to hurt it with the Star Wars audience.
Now for the glimmer of hope: My understanding is that there are maybe a dozen deleted scenes for the film. I'm crossing my fingers that some of this will contain that essential interaction between Han and Rae and that all will be right with the world.
Villain Hating I've never hated a villain before. Usually, people have at least that one character that they just love to hate, that one villain they just want to strangle. I never have. For me, villains are just a natural part of the story. They're despicable and evil but they belong. Without them, there wouldn't be a story, and so I am very lenient toward and accepting of most villains.
I hate Kylo Ren.
I hate him so much. I want him to die a painful, miserable, guilt-stricken death, fully realizing the horrific atrocity he has committed. I have never before hated any character with the passion and intensity with which I hate him.
At the same time, I don't want Han Solo's son to be irredeemable. I don't want to hate Han Solo's son. Which just makes me hate Kylo Ren even more. Which makes me feel guilty, because of how much I love Han Solo, and because I see how much Han Solo loves his son. I see the torture and the struggle in Ben. I see the little boy that Han must have seen -trapped, tortured, lost. I want to pity him. I want to believe -like Leia- that there is still light in him. And at the same time, I know I will never, ever forgive him.
Curse you, Kylo Ren. CURSE YOU!
Nostalgia vs. Ripoff Everyone's seen the argument that's taken the Internet by storm. I'm in the nostalgia camp. I don't feel like this was a ripoff so much as a way of reconnecting us with the classic Star Wars we know and love, while at the same time setting us up with a new set of characters and journeys. I think it was a smart move, both for the storytelling and in business sense. It essentially assured success and at the same time did a beautiful job of passing off the torch from one generation to the next.
I also think they better give us something better in Episode VIII. Otherwise, there will be no redeeming it. The nostalgia trip only works in this film because it's been 32 years; it's a re-introduction, the ice-breaker after a very long break in a relationship. Now that they've done that, a retread of Empire would just be lazy, and I don't think they're stupid enough to do that.
You hear that, minds behind newest Star Wars?! I have faith in you. Do not take advantage of it.
What I Want To See In VIII First and most important of all, I want to see originality. I want a story that doesn't borrow so heavily from those we've seen before it. I want VIII to take us in a new direction. I do not want a repeat of V.
I want to see more time taken to really get to know the characters. For conversations. Give them a little travel time, because they are bouncing around an entire galaxy. Give me genuine connections with the characters, outside of the action and drama. Give me those important little moments.
Rey, Poe, and Finn are all fun and fantastic characters. I want to see good character development for them. I want enough time to be taken out of the action for them, for us to see what they're like and how they deal with things without the burst of adrenaline. I want to understand them better. I don't want plot holes. I want a good explanation for how Rey can already have control over the Force, which has already been established to take intensive training. I also don't want her to be a Skywalker. Please, please, please don't make Luke her father. Don't even make Luke her uncle. That's on the brink of unimaginative for this franchise.
Something new. Exciting. Daring. We've already talked about the nostalgia vs. ripoff, and I really hope that with VIII they push some boundaries and create their own elements to bring into the universe.
Final Verdict
This movie exceeded my expectations. I believed that Disney would pull off something amazing rather than ruin the franchise, but even I was beginning to have doubts -to dread- as to whether or not they could produce an amazing expansion of the Star Wars universe, rather than just an amazing film.
It wasn't perfect. It had flaws. There are some issues I have with character interaction (or lack thereof), storytelling gaps, and I'm sure everyone has a pet peeve or two about it. But the most important thing is this:
I came away from The Force Awakens with something I never thought possible-
A deeper love and a greater appreciationof the Star Wars universe and its characters. I am on such a Star Wars high, it's not even funny.
And that should be all you need to know right there.
