Joshua Guess

Living With the Dead by Joshua Guess is a serialized story told in the format of blog posts. It was written in "real time," one blog per day, for a year. I bought and read the entire year (Living With the Dead: Year One #1-12), Kindle version. I greatly enjoyed the story, and stayed up late several nights to read it. The first person daily blog format made it more immediate and accessible to me than a standard book format. It was like reading someone's diary, and felt raw, unpolished and show more real -- a bit like the Blair Witch Project.

It starts with Josh (just a normal, somewhat nerdy American who likes gaming, movies and science fiction) innocently posting something along the lines of "wow, weird flu going around" and shows his gradually building concern that the flu is either masking or causing a zombie outbreak. Josh knows he's read too many horror books & movies, and people make fun of him for his concerns, but he goes out and stocks up on supplies, boards up his house, and prepares himself for the zombies as much as he can.

The blog posts follow him through one year, which includes his preparations, the arrival of the zombies, him gathering up his friends and family, the compound they build to keep the zombies at bay and themselves safe, and the fights they have to protect themselves, their food and their possessions from the zombies & other, less peace-loving, survivors. The descriptions of each day involve a great amount of detail of the work that would be required just to survive in such a situation, as well as much philosophizing about the sanctity and meaning of life. Josh has some sympathies for the zombies, who he considers people like him who just got sick. He has to make some tough decisions, which cause him to consider the nature of good and evil -- and all the shades in between.

I felt greatly involved in the lives of Josh and his friends/family, and was sorry when the book ended. It was a good, thought-provoking ride through a scary world that felt all to real and believable. show less

The way Kell had gone about observing the ways of the zombies- how they act and react- coupled with his strength of observation and overall smarts is appealing in many ways. Some will like how he was the top scientist studying the virus before it got out, how he wants to right that wrong. Others will be drawn to his resourcefulness, his lone wolf mentality even when surrounded by those people he wants to keep safe.

And I like the zombie virus in this. The way it keeps adapting really ramps up show more the danger factor.

You like zombies, you'll like this series. Gotta say it again though, this would make a top-rung z flick. show less

I didn't review the book the first time I read it, because I read it for my online radio show, Journal Jabber, and I didn't want to give my own opinion on the book in a review until later. I didn't want to influence anyone with my own written opinion. We were doing a show on zombie books, and this one caught my attention. Not sure why... The cover wasn't gory, the zombies weren't all beat to hell and nasty looking, and it wasn't an overly clever title. But maybe that's WHY it caught my show more attention. That is was simple. Straight to the point. It was a zombie book. Nothing more. Nothing less. And that is what you get. A zombie story.

Not with as many shambling dead and head crushing as you would imagine, but it focuses a lot on a community of survivors. How they lived, what they faced. And not all bad vibes and nasty juju are coming from the brain-starved reanimated. The tension comes from within. From people just being people. We bond together when we need to survive, but we have this nasty habit of trying to tear ourselves apart for no good reason... simply because we think we can and that our own opinions and thoughts mean and count more than other people's. I loved this take on the zombie world. We see zombie's rip arms off all the time. We see axes cleave furrows in squishy bodies, but we rarely see what WE would do should that ever happen.

This book is written blog style from a guy named Josh, with occasional posts from Courtney, and Tree. As an editor by trade, there were several things that screamed at me, "NO!!! This is ALL telling and no showing... There are grammatical errors everywhere!!" But ya know what? It freaking works. It's a blog. This guy is living in a life where he is worried about dying every day. I like that fact he wasn't worried about reciting conversations word for word or trying to entertain. It was very lifelike in some ways. In other ways, I feel like it was just a bit forced. *SPOILERS AHEAD* A few of these things would be this:
1. I don't know about you, but if my significant other was screaming at me in an emergency, I would NOT be worried about finishing up the last part of my blog and giving any kind of sign off for it. If there were zombies coming at my home or people I cared about, I would be dropping that laptop/cell phone and booking it to where ever I needed to be. I understand the reasoning for it - it amped up the tension a bit, but it lost the touch of reality for me in certain parts.
2. and this kinda sorta ties into my previous post - if he is out and about on missions, he is not going to have his little sign offs - just not gonna happen. But the other thing that made me a bit "eh" on his cell phone posts was his lack of text speak. I know this may sound strange, but hear me out. If you are writing an entire blog post from your cell phone in the midst of danger, I would think that writing something like "We R here" or "U R what U eat" (neither, I will add are really in the book) would be more realistic for him to write on his cell than spelling everything out. He's obviously not overly concerned with people reading this later in the future where, hopefully, grammar holds more importance in everyday communication. He's worried about getting his messages out there... FROM A CELL PHONE... :)

Did either of these points kill the story for me? Nope. The one part that made me laugh out loud was the naming of the more evolved zombies. I kept getting the munchies every time I read about it. For those of you who have read the book, you will know what I mean. :) I will be starting book two tomorrow, and I am happy to see there are 6 books in the series now, so I will have some zombie enjoyment for quite some time. show less

Thoroughly enjoyed "The Passenger" by James Cook! There are actually two stories in one within this book; one follows Ethan and his squad of soldiers from Ft. Bragg as they patrol the wasteland - seeking out and eliminating zombies, the other is told through the eyes of a male zombie, dead and roaming for two years, after his brain suddenly regains consciousness within a deteriorating walking corpse.

Survivors of the Apocalypse have established forts across the frontier, growing their own show more food and taking advantage of the sun for power. Zombies are few and far in between and seldom pose a threat throughout the area. Each camp had established a leadership, developed and trained a militia and built defensive perimeters to protect the inhabitants from attacks by the undead. They are trying to make a life for themselves, trade routes were opened between the camps and designated, well-stocked rest areas established to accommodate those who are taking the risk to travel between these locations. A sheriff and deputies also travel on horseback through this wasteland to ensure the safety of these camps and their inhabitants.

It isn't long before the patrol of soldiers is ambushed by armed marauders on horseback. The soldiers have known about these groups, who were attacking these small settlements, killing or enslaving the inhabitants and then taking all the supplies for themselves. Eventually, the sheriff and deputies are captured after one of these firefights by the military soldiers who suspect them to be marauders - they're soon cleared when Ft. Bragg vouches for them. There is a major concern when a string of three settlements along the group of outposts goes "dark" and can't be reached. The two groups join forces and head out to investigate.

Meanwhile, a horde of zombies, comprised of thousands of decomposing bodies - one of which has a brain that came back to life, roam through the wasteland seeking food. Mr. live brain learns that he is unable to control or impact any of the "auto-pilot" signals directing his body; he's a prisoner or "passenger" along for the ride. The horde has travelled long distances and growing in size - becoming an unstoppable force. They are moving with a purpose and periodically get rewarded with fresh bodies to feast upon. Are they organized with a leader at the helm? What's driving them across the frontier? Eventually, Mr. live brain and the infantry sergeant meet and experience a rare moment of communication!

This is a difficult book to put down and will keep readers on the edge. Highly recommended! I've also read Mr. Cooks "Surviving the Dead" series and enjoyed them immensely! Great work all the way around!

John Podlaski, author
Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel show less