James Marshall (2) (1973–)

Aside from the weirdly sweet rela­tion­ship, ZVFFA is an often grue­some (oh, hell, even the rela­tion­ship is grue­some) satire of los­ing your way in the uni­verse and try­ing to fight your way back, as well as a highly enjoy­able take on con­sumerism and the social con­tract. Mar­shall keeps the antics lively, but there is a seri­ous mes­sage at the core. It’s a bit­ter pill; luck­ily, it’s enveloped in mad­cap super­nat­ural hijinks. It’s a mind­job of a novel, show more and I’m eager for more.

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NVPFZ is weird. Quirky. Chaotic. Borderline nonsensical. It's also extremely loveable, if you can get past the sometimes-unbearable precociousness of Guy Boy Man's narrative voice. He's a pretty unlikable hero: petty, manic, narcissistic; at one point he uses disabled children to protect himself from a horde of troubled zombie teens. He plays the tough guy, complete with hardboiled quips, yet cannot properly handle a gun in a firefight. Yet James Marshall's book wouldn't work without it; the show more voice is precisely why the book maintains any sort of narrative thrust. Guy Boy Man never stops talking, creating a story that's almost ideal for this ADD generation. He's also one of the most unreliable of unreliable narrators I've come across; just how much is real and how much is the fevered imagination of a deranged adolescent mind. Guy Boy Man is a prototypical disenfranchised teenager, raging against everything and anything, and warping his view of the world on a minute-by-minute basis to make it better conform to his nebulous ideology.

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I found this book at Worldcon / MidAmericon II. For publicity, various publishers were giving out books. I picked up ZVFFA this book because it bothered me. The title - Zombies Versus Fairy Featuring Albinos sounded like something that shouldn't be. It was way over the top but the book stayed in my hand. There was a sign saying 3 books a piece and there were maybe 10 books out. Before making my final decision, I checked out who the publisher of ZVFFA and noticed it was from ChiZine show more Publications so I was happy as I associate them with good things.

When I brought it back to the hotel my husband gave me The Look. I have more books than time to read, so why free book zombie book let alone one with a green-haired fairy? I told him I would read a few pages of ZVFFA and would probably just bring it back to the table.

I was peeved by a sentence on the first page but got over myself and read on. I ended up liking the book more and more. I packed it and read bits of it when I could as I came back from my vacation to work being in the phase of EVERYONE'S HAIR IS ON FIRE!

Getting back to the book - James Marshall is an excellent writer and I love all the ordinary but powerful details he includes such as the discarded stuff animal. Marshall has scary insight into the business world. His characters are interesting. It is an odd book but I cannot think of anything bad to say about it. I had fun reading ZVFFA and I really hope to read the next installment soon.

(And those other free books - funny how they too are from ChiZine Publications.) show less

Please note: I first read this almost exactly a year ago. This was a re-read in preparation for reading the sequel.

Book Info: Genre: YA Fantasy/Horror Satire
Reading Level: YA (probably 16 on up due to language and sexual content)
Trigger warnings: In the course of battling zombie teens, there is a school shooting. This book is also extremely non-PC, so if you're easily offended, you might want to skip it.

My Thoughts: I just love a silly book, and the description of this one led me to show more believe this would be high up there on the silliness scale. Oana’s explanation as to why there were no hs or js in their names cracked me up. Actually, quite a lot of it cracked me up. James Marshall manages to provide a book that is wonderfully grammatic yet full of extra-long, run-on sentences. One of my favorite aspects of it was Guy Boy Man’s constant explanation as to what he really means whenever a sentence could be taken more than one way. The descriptions are hilarious. Guy Boy Man is one of the very few people who see that there are so many zombies – apparently most people don’t even notice that the people surrounding them are undead.

A sequel is in the works: Zombies versus Fairy featuring Albinos, which is scheduled for release later this year. You know I’ll be watching and waiting for it. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a good laugh.

Disclosure: I received a free eGalley from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: In a world where Zombies control banks and governments, only one young man sees the way things are and emerges from the Chaos and destruction: Guy Boy Man. While he tries to end human suffering worldwide and in his high school, Guy Boy Man meets a cute Pink-Haired girl named Baby Doll15 who has a Unicorn that follows her everywhere. An Epic Romance begins, but forces Beyond Their Control are intent on keeping the young couple apart. One of those Forces may - or may not be! - Guy Boy Man's closest friend, a handsome African-American Ninja named Sweetie Honey; another could be four Exotically Beautiful, genetically engineered and behaviorally modified Eastern European Girls; yet another, the principal of their High School ...not to mention an impending standardized test known as the Zombie Acceptance Test! Will Guy Boy Man find a way to be with Baby Doll15 in a World Where Everyone Is Doomed to become either zombies or zombie food? show less