Dan’s Comments (group member since Aug 16, 2012)

Dan’s comments from the Apocalypse Whenever Rebooted group.

@Holly, Its tough to find a good zombie story. I recently read "Day by day Armageddon" by JL Bourne. It was just okay.

If you like zombies and superheros mixed together you should check out the Ex-Hero Series by Peter Cline. He is a great author and I really enjoyed the entire series.
I've not read anything of his that I can't fully recommend. He has a short story that is just zombies called "The Junkie Quatrain" that would give you a taste of his style.

I've been reading 77 Days in September and it has some interesting moral/ethical topics that I found interesting. They are small parts of the book so I wouldn't consider them as "spoilers".

This book is about an EMP attack on the United States and a man's (Kyle) trek from Texas to Montana so he can get back to his family.

To assist him in his cross country walk he has a crudely fashioned cart to carry his supplies. He ended up getting some food poisoning and spends a couple days near death trying to recover. During this illness someone takes his cart. When he recovers enough to start walking again he realizes the cart is gone and gives chase.

He is convinced that he cannot succeed or survive without the cart and he must get it back. Kyle finally finds the man that has taken it walking on the interstate. He sneaks up and behind the cover of a semi-truck he fires a warning shot from his rifle.

The man with the cart is surprised and at first acts all innocent and apologetic but soon turns the tables by pulling out his own guns and firing directly at Kyle.

Now Kyle becomes scared for his life and tells the man he can have the cart if he'll just let him live. The man just laughs at him and continues to pursue Kyle.

Now to the point, What was Kyle thinking? He thought he could just waltz in there with his gun and take it back without having to use his gun. If he is was just going to end up begging for his life he should've not gone after the cart in the first place.

What would you do in the same situation?

Michael wrote: "I've not read enough of King to comment but I've heard him criticised for his endings. I did read The Dark Tower series and was left cold at the end of that. Although I liked the Stand.

What's yo..."

The Dark Tower series didn't look that interesting to me.

Favorite would be The Stand. I thought The Long Walk was very good. I can see how the ending could be a bit unsatisfying but not sure how I would've ended it. I like The Cell probably because it has a similar feel as The Stand but not as long. Under the Dome was also enjoyable. I like his short stories too.

Michael wrote: "What do you think about his endings?"

Any particular endings in mind?

I would think that the ending of any fictional book would be tough to write. King endings are definitely not Disney but I like that he isn't scared to have tragic or sad endings. I also like that he is willing to kill off main characters. Life is messy that way and good people die more often then those that deserve it.

Michael wrote: "Hi all,

I hope this group is still active.

I love The Road, it's one of my favourite books. So bleak. I thought the way Cormac McCarthy showed the main character filtering the world for his son ..."

I think that relationship between the father and son is what is so brilliant in this book. It is a labor of love and I would hate to ever be in that situation with one of my children.

I've never looked at 1984 like that but you're spot on. What a great power hope is.

Once again Stephen King is proving to me why he is one of the greatest authors of our time. Books like The Stand, Cell, and Under the Dome put you right in the middle of them. They are page-turners that you can't put down and look forward to reading.
I just started The Long Walk and only King could make a book about 100 young men walking along a road entertaining and captivating.

"The Forest of Hands and Teeth" has to be about the worst book I have ever read. The beginning is sound: a secure village in the woods surrounded by a fence to keep the zombies out. But the characters are terrible especially Mary, the protagonist. I can truly say that I hated her. If young women are as selfish, immature, naïve, and ignorant as her they deserve to be eaten by zombies.

After all the suggestions and opinions I received, thanks for not letting me down "goodreaders", I've started The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Just finished Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse. Not the most entertaining book out there but definitely filled with useful survival info.

Simon wrote: "Got to concur... The Road for me too.

Also, got to say, both my friend and I agreed it was spooky having read the book how the film looked exactly how we pictured the book in our heads as we read..."

The "trap door in the kitchen" scene was much more scary/intense in my imagination than the movie.

I dare.

No doubt there are some talented British writers, especially "old school" apocalypse, but IMO you can't top Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, Justin Cronin, Richard Matheson, Pat Frank, Larry Niven, Robert R. McCammon etc. Need I go on?

Simon wrote: "Rawles would have scored higher but was too preachy."

I'm not too impressed with James Wesley Rawles story telling abilities. In Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse he definitely gives a lot of useful information but very little plot or character development.

Sonia wrote: "It's missing, Oryx and Crake"

Agreed, as well as the follow up The Year of the Flood.

Simon wrote: "My Top 10 TEOTWAKI Books:

10 - Patriots (Rawles)
9 - The Children of Men (James)
8 -
7 - The Chrysalids (Wyndham)
6 - Wrinkle in the Skin (Christopher)
5 - Survivors (Nation)
4 - The Road (McCart..."

Thanks for the list. I've not heard of about half of those. Always great to have new books. You may want to add them to the group bookshelf.

I'm weighing the merits of two book series'. The first is The Forest of Hands and Teeth and the second is Life As We Knew It. I'm going to eventually read them both, any suggestions on which I should start with first?

Randal wrote: "In fairness to Brin, I think his primary objective in writing The Postman was to pontificate about various political and social hobby horses, and his (usually pretty good imo) characterisation and ..."

I agree with your assessment, but still think Brin could've aged his character more. IMO more believable that an 41 yo is still strong enough to do what he did than a 18 yo to be as educated as he was.

Just started Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse and it is definitely geared towards "conservative" minds. Which makes me wonder, do "liberals" not believe that the government could collapse due to poor fiscal management and policies?

I just finished The Postman and enjoyed it. The protagonist (in his mid 30's) was an 18 year old college sophomore when the doom war occured and caused the collapse of civilization. I found it very unbelievable that he is as educated and well-read as he is. Maybe I'm not getting a wide enough selection of young adults but I don't know any 18 year olds that are at his level.

This is generally what an EMP would probably look like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5-Rf...

Rosanna wrote: "I followed that up with "World War Z- The Beginning of the End"..which I also liked.
I wish I could find a EMP apocalypse that didn't feel so politicized and lacking in creativity.
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Is WWZ- The Beginning of the end a prequel?

I assume the EMP you're talking about is "One Second After