The Rotting Zombie Review of Rotter Apocalypse

This week The Rotting Zombie posted a review of Rotter Apocalypse, the final book in my Rotter World trilogy, giving the book nine out of ten rotting zombie heads and calling it "another great zombie story." The review notes:

There is a lot of zombie fighting action, the undead described in as much detail as always giving you a visualisation of their condition and the sheer amount of them. Lots of ghouls get dispatched in many ways (death by bull my favourite!) but there also a whole host of humans falling victim to them in different exciting ways such as one poor soldier who is trapped while hiding under a truck, zombies in mass are always more awesome than lone ones and on that front Apocalypse delivers.

The quality of the writing is as good as it has ever been, still riding high on where it got to by the end of World, Baker contains the tradition of short snappy chapters that make Apocalypse so easy to read in short sessions and keep you coming back for just one more chapter. By book three you have come to know some of these characters, this doesn't stop Baker from being as ruthless with their lives as he always has been, by the end key characters are no more, a lot not even getting heroic deaths. This all leads up to a tightly wound up ending that was maybe slightly too optimistic but bizarrely not one that many zombie novels I have read go down.

You can read the entire review here, as well as The Rotting Zombie's reviews of Rotter World and Rotter Nation. 

Reviews of Rotter Nation and Yeitso

I returned from vacation on Tuesday to find two reviews waiting for me.

The first was a review of Rotter Nation from The Rotting Zombie. The reviewer gave Rotter Nation a rating of 9 out of ten rotting zombie heads and stated: "I loved Rotter Nation, it was a huge step up from Rotter World." I was really pleased when he said that my bad guys (i.e. Price and his rape gang) "make the governor of The Walking Dead fame seem like a saint." You can read the full review here.

The second was an Amazon review of Yeitso that gave the book five stars and said, in part: "Expect giant monsters & human prey. You can also expect good writing & a good story. The origin of the monster is just believable enough to allow suspension of disbelief."

What a good way to start off coming back to work. 

Gothic Moms' Review of The Vampire Hunters

Recently, Tiffany Moorman of Gothic Moms Paranormal Book Review posted a review of The Vampire Hunters in which she called the novel "A Fangtastic read for traditional vampires everywhere, regardless of gender. Action packed with fight scenes so vividly detailed readers will feel as though they are right there taking part in the action. Filled with blood, gore, thrills and chills to make every horror lover smile." Read the entire review here.

First Bad Review

Despite what my critics say, I am not naive or egotistical enough to think that everyone will love my writing.  Everyone's tastes vary.  Recently I got my first bad review (that I know of).  Since I've posted all my good ones, I think it's only fair that I post those that are not so complimentary. 

The review is of "Last Flight of the Bismarck"from Machina Mortis: Steampunk'd Tales of Terror.  The reviewer, Bufton's Blog, said:

"The first story, ‘Last Flight of the Bismarck’ by Scott Baker, didn’t really do it for me. In many ways, despite the inclusion of a zombie menace, this was the closest to a pure steampunk tale (whatever that is) in the collection, but I was left feeling distinctly underwhelmed. Again, I not sure if I was expecting something else, but it seemed like Baker had thrown in half a dozen steampunk standards, added a liberal dash of the undead, and unleashed the resulting concotion onto the page. Whilst it was hardly a bad tale, it failed to hit my buttons in any meaningful way."

The Fort Myers Downtowner's Review of Rotter World

In the run-up to ZombiCon 2012, The Fort Myers Downtowner, the city's local newspaper, ran several reviews of those authors who were to attend the event.  Below is their review of Rotter World, which they gave 4.5 out of 5 brains.

"In a refreshingly unique take on both genres, Rotter World cleverly combines zombies and vampires in this 'quest' adventure that's sure to keep your page-turning hand locked and loaded.  Eight months have passed since vampire released the Revanant Virus on mankind, nearly wiping out both species.  Mike Robson, part of a small band of humans and vampires, discovers their only hope of survival lies in obtaining a vaccine located in a secure underground facility five hundred miles away.  Mike and his group struggle through post-apocalyptic ruins infested with blood-thirsty zombies and brutal gangs of ruthless survivors, all while tip-toeing through uneasy tensions from the razor-thin truce between humans and vampires.  A heart-pumping gore-fest, Rotter World is a killer ride, and a stomach-churning page turner that any adventure-lover would die for."

HorrorTalk Review of Rotter World

HorrorTalk posted a review of Rotter World this afternoon, giving it three out of five stars and saying: "..Rotter World is packed with conflict.  Rotter World is also packed with action. From the opening pages of the attack on the warehouse, something is always happening. It could be rumbles with the undead, man versus vampire, man versus man, or just some arguing, tempers are high in this book. While the characters themselves are rather stereotypical to the point that they all kind of blend together, it's more than made up with the fights and brawls found throughout. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but think that it would be a pretty good popcorn film."  Please check out the entire review here.

Buy Zombie's Review of Rotter World

Buy Zombie posted an excellent review of Rotter World this afternoon.  I cited some excerpts below:

Permuted Press has been known to crank out quality zombie fiction, with classics such as ‘Day by Day Armageddon’, ‘Domain of the Dead’, ‘Eden’, ‘Empire’, ‘Dying to Live’, ‘Plague of the Dead’, ‘Down the Road’, ‘Ex-Heroes’, ‘The Infection’ and ‘Kings of the Dead’. With those heavy hitting zombie classics niched in Permuted Press’ belt, it must be pretty intimidating for the next generation of Permuted Press authors to pass along the torch, to maintain the Press’ reputation as one of the best publishers of zombie fiction. Rotter World keeps up the pace and delivers a great story that is reminiscent of some of the zombie classics, bringing out some original concepts and a different spin on the genre. 

This book has a great plot and the vampire element gives it an original spin on the zombie story. There is a lot of action, blood and gore and also, great conflicts. Maybe one or two of the conflicts seemed a little contrived, but overall, they were some pretty good action scenes. Also, not very zombie novels can give me an ‘Oh Crap!’ moment, this is mainly due to the fact that I’ve read a whack-load of zombie fiction and have read a lot of pretty twisted stuff. But, Rotter World, near the end of the book, gave me a good ‘Oh Crap!’ moment and the author gets bonus points for that.

Overall: Rotter World stands out as one hell of a zombie novel and with a little time, it will catch on and become a popular read among fans. I think somewhere down the road, people might regard Rotter World as a Permuted Press classic and I would probably be one of the people testifying to that. This story has a great plot, good characters, strong re-read value and an excellent, unique slant on the genre. 

You can read the entire review here.

Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance's Review of Rotter World

Jennifer Bielman of Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance posted an awesome review of Rotter World, giving it 4.5 stars and stating: "It's as simple as this, Rotter World is the best zombie book I have read by far."  You can check out the entire review here.

Doubleshot Reviews' Review of Rotter World

Doubleshot Reviews posted a review of Rotter World in which it called the novel "a unique and welcome mix of zombies, vampires, humans and their fight for survival.  Rotter World is a definite recommend."  You can check out the entire review here. 

Tomes of Darkness Review of Rotter World

On 6 July Patrick D'Orazio's Tomes of Darkness posted a review of Rotter World, calling it a "creative new twist on the traditional zombie tale...."  You can check out the entire review here.

My First Foreign Review of Rotter World

Daniel Henriksen from Denmark reached out to me on Facebook the other day to let me know that the Danish website Trauma Magazine reviewed Rotter World and gave it three out of five stars.  If you speak Danish, you can read the entire review here.  If not, I included a partial translation below (courtesy of Google Translate). 

"It is a perilous quest that not everyone survives, and the goal will surprise you with its horror and in the complex takes place beginning of the end, when the complications between human and vampire challenged and internal strife and intrigue arises .. for there is much hatred buried between the two species and it is hard to keep buried. Simultaneously, several of them have ulterior motives with the excursion. It will be a very hectic end.

"Rotter World does not do anything violent fuss. It tries not to be iconic and trendsetting, but live quite sensible in its own universe. It is historically well established and exciting and hard-boiled and squashy for effect and quite erotic for a book in this genre. It is obvious that it lives its life in the events of Site R, because this is where the book really develops. There is much implied in the friction between man and vampire. I would however like to see even more history, because I feel anger and powerlessness in the cynical actions, but it is against the act itself and not the person it hits. I'd like more insight into the protagonists or more focus on each of them so they become more vivid in the book. The same goes for vampires, because there are many references to them, but relatively few scenes with their vampires. I do not think they come in character, but seems more like supporting roles in the plot. Zombies are very clear and detailed, and their deaths equally, there is the book very brutal and visual.

"Rotter World is one of the few books that could actually be beneficial to be longer - a historical first part and an action-packed second part - and it's not call to ask a book to be longer."

Bricks of the Dead's Review of Rotter World

Bricks of the Dead recently posted a review of Rotter World, giving it four out five Lego zombie heads and saying: "Scott M. Baker’s Rotter World is an excellent crossover and definitely exceeded my expectations. This book throws vampires into the mix as tense allies against the flesh-eating bad guys we all know and love. If you are looking for a well-written supernatural action-adventure blockbuster, I’d say Rotter World is the book for you."

You can read the entire review here. 

A Hopping Good Review of Rotter World

Suzie of Bunnysreview.com agreed to review Rotter World in place of the original blogger on the tour who had to cancel due to technical difficulties with her computer.  But she only agreed to read it if I included photos of my own rabbits to accompany the review.  Suzie (and thankfully her rabbits) enjoyed Rotter World, stating: "If you have read any of the Resident Evil books or watched the movies you will love this book.  The only thing different is that this book has a lot more details.  If you love blood and guts then this is the book for you."

 You can read the full review (and see more photos of my rabbits) here.

Two Awesome Reviews of Rotter World

I was really fortunate today to get home and find that two excellent reviews of Rotter World had been posted online.

The first is by Peter Schwotzer of Famous Monsters of Filmland. Peter writes: What sets this book apart from the usual zombie/vampire trope that is being published today is Scott’s ability to breathe real life into his characters, human and vampire alike. Even minor characters that you barely get to know before they are killed are fully realized and life-like. That is what I like most about Scott’s fiction, his innate ability to write characters that I come to care about. Make no mistake, this book is brutally violent and frightening, with enough gore to appease even the most fanatical gore hound.  The world has ended, it has been overrun by flesh eating zombies, you have to have violence and gore. But it never seemed that Scott used the gore and violence unnecessarily, it always seemed to me to fit in the story arc beautifully.

You can read the entire Famous Monsters of Filmland review here.

The second review is from Wickedly Bookish which writes:  Rotter World is a stomach churning, heart-pumping, zombie killing extravaganza.  A true feast for the zombie in you....  Rotter World is very much a book that spares no detail when it comes to graphic gore. 

You can read the entire Wickedly Bookish review here. 

BLOG TOUR: DAY SIX

Today's scheduled blog tour stop had to be canceled because of technical difficulties.  However, if you haven't already, please check out the reviews of Rotter World on All Things Writing, my guest blog on Rea's Reading and Reviews, and the interviews on Wonderland Review and Wickedly Bookish.

BLOG TOUR: DAY TWO

Today I drop by Wonderland Reviews where I am interviewed about Rotter World and my experiences as an author.  In addition, they've also posted an excellent review of the novel, giving it a 3.5 rating.  The reviewer noted that I "definitely didn't skimp on the gore" and added: "If you are in the mood for some kick butt action scenes full of gore and blood as bodies are ripped apart and zombies are plowed through, and somehow people manage to find a way to fall in love, then this is the book for you."  (I consider that high praise).

The interview and entire review can be read here.

BLOG TOUR: DAY ONE

Today is the start of my week-long blog tour.  The first stop is All Things Writing which posted an epic review of Rotter World.  This review is a double first for me.  Not only is it the first time a reviewer has issued a warning to heart patients and pregnant mothers to use caution when reading my work, it's also the first time anyone has publicly commented on my sex scenes.  You can check out the review here.  And, if you comment on the posting, you'll be eligible for their giveaway.

Be sure to drop by All Things Writing for their other reviews and guest blogs.

Shattered Ravings, Living Dead Media Reviews of Rotter World

On 1 May, Matthew Scott Baker (no relation - we just share an epic name) of Shattered Ravings posted a review of Rotter World that called the novel "brutally brilliant, a masterpiece of rib-shattering, intestine-tearing magnitude" and rated it alongside J.L. Bourne's Day by Day Armageddon and Max Brooks' World War Z. 

On 30 April, Living Dead Media also posted a review of Rotter World.  They called it "an excellent horror novel" and "an amazing story with a weird and wonderful set of ideas." 

Please check out both websites and the reviews.

Virtual Book Tour for Rotter World

From 13-20 May 2012 I'll be doing a virtual book tour in which selected blogs will either review or promote Rotter World, interview me, or allow me to guest blog.  Copies of the book will be given away at each stop along the tour. More details will be provided as they become available. 

Below is a schedule of the tour and the blog sites I will be on.

13 May:  All Things Writing (book review)

14 May:  Wonderland Reviews (interview)

15 May:  Ramblings of an Amateur Author (excerpt and synopsis)

16 May:  Rea's Reading and Reviews (guest blog)

17 May:  Wickedly Bookish (interview)

18 May:  Good Choice Reading (book review)

19 May:  I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read! (excerpt and synopsis)

20 May:  Tea and Book (excerpt and synopsis)

Many thanks to Permuted Press and Innovative Online Book Tour for arranging this.

Review of Hissers

Title:  Hissers

 

Author:  Ryan C. Thomas

Publisher:  Permuted Press

Date: 2011

Pages: 241

Blurb: 

In the small town of Castor, it’s the last weekend of summer break.  In just two days four teenage friends will begin their high school careers. Dating, who to sit with at the lunch table, and what to wear seem to be the most important decisions facing them. But as Conner, Seth, Amanita, and Nicole venture to the most popular end-of-summer high school party in town, they soon discover there are even more important decisions to be made. Life and death decisions. Namely, how to outrun the massive wave of muted undead that have suddenly crashed the party. It’s The Breakfast Club meets Resident Evil as the teens of Castor fight to stay alive. 

It is the last Saturday of summer.  From their dilapidated clubhouse on the hill overlooking Castor, Connor and Seth are arguing about whether they should stay inside and play video games or accompany Amanita and Nicole, who dropped by to visit, to the huge pre-school party taking place in town.  The night is shattered by an airliner that roars over their clubhouse and crashes into town.  The four teenagers race to the crash scene to see if they can help, arriving in time to watch the first responders be set upon and torn apart by ferocious mutations emerging from the burning wreckage.  They barely escape these initial attacks and retreat to the relative safety of their neighborhoods, only to watch in despair as the entire town is rapidly overrun by these creatures.  Family, friends, and neighbors die en masse around them, and every avenue of escape is blocked by wrecked cars, trapping them in the devastated town.  As they fight to survive, Connor and the others soon discover that the military has decided to sterilize Castor to contain the outbreak. 

However, the ticking clock to complete annihilation is the least of their concerns, for something is roaming the streets of Castor far more monstrous than the hissers.

I read Hissers while on vacation and couldn’t put it down, for several reasons. First, it’s a good, fast-paced read. The action begins on page forty and doesn’t let up for the next two hundred pages, providing enough blood and intensity to satisfy even the most die-hard zombie enthusiast.  

In addition, Ryan takes the time to develop his main characters. The heroes/heroines are not two-dimensional figures who merely react to their situation, but are protagonists who are easy to identify with (Connor, the popular jock; Seth, the fat and nerdy outcast; Amanita, who uses her body to get the attention from boys she doesn’t get from her parents; and Nicole, the smart one who just wants to be like the other students). Even more important, they think and behave like teenagers, which is something other authors have tried to do but failed, making the characters seem too much like adults to be credible.  Sure, these kids grow up rapidly as their town crumbles around them, but in their lighter moments they still think like high schoolers, for example when Connor and Seth constantly compare the carnage around them to the first-person shooters they play.   

However, where Hissers truly stands out is in Ryan’s willingness to take a chance and breathe new life into the living dead (pun intended). Hissers could easily have been just another novel about average people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse, accept that Ryan reimaged his creatures.  The hissers are faster and more vicious than the most nightmarish zombie, have the ability to hunt in packs, and are biomedical mutations that absorb and regenerate any spare body parts they come into contact with. The result is that Ryan has created an entirely new and terrifying monster, one that captures the imagination. 

Hissers is a must-read for anyone who loves balls-to-the-wall action and hordes of gut-munching/limb-tearing monsters. I give this book four and a half out of five rotting zombie heads.