Rise To Fall

On the recommendation of my friend who just adores b-movie horror shlock, I borrowed a couple of his books by this upcoming horror novelist Brian Keene. Haven't read any scary stuff lately (well, not the ones on news channels - everyday life is scary enough), so I went and gave it a shot. Finished it in 2 days. Easy.

First up is The Rising, an opening shot in ending the world as we know it, where scientific research diluted with hubris allows malevolent beings from the Void (where God all kept 'em) to cross into our world and start inhabiting and reanimating the dead. Yep, we got zombies all over the place, and once they get you, your body is just a new shell that another one of their kind takes over. Kind of like bodyjacking. And as it is, these ain't the usual run-of-the-mill zombies either. They have a purpose, and any living being can be repossessed (we still haven't seen zombie trees or roaches yet) and smart enough to learn from the memories of their hosts, and from their mistakes. And all because they want to get back at God. Gee, and we humans are complaining of our lives on this earth? Nyahahaha.

To maintain an interesting air, Keene keeps it personal, from the point of view of one Jim Thurmond, trying to rescue his son, and we don't get to see the world view (what would the situation be in Papua New Guinea? Or in offshore oil drilling rigs? Would you be safe in a nuclear submarine?). Thurmond goes on a hellish journey from West Virginia to Joisey, picking up a few survivors along the way, and ultimately encounter the leader of the evil Siqqusim, Ob. And when the book ends with a cliffhanger, I could imagine all those readers groaning at that time ... with the mixed views at Amazon, that was to be expected. But I suppose Brian doesn't care - it won him the Bram Stoker award for a debut novel. Take that, whiners.

And thus we have City of the Dead, the inevitable sequel, which allowed more moolah to line Brian's pockets. No word as yet if it will garner him another Stoker nomination, but it sure won't please those who expect some sort of sunny ending to the whole proceedings. Nope. Nu-uh.

Jim gets to save his son, but then they have to make a last stand in where else ... the Big Rotten Apple, baby! Holed up in a skyscraper that is supposed to withstand any future 9/11-type disasters (built by a wacko industrialist who's a cross between Donald Trump, Howard Hughes, and Hugh Hefner with a messiah complex), Jim gets to barely enjoy time again with his son and newfound friends when the zombies, led by Ob in a new body (think hard-abbed fashion model in badass black leather) and mouthing smartass lines, storm the building. That really sounds like a good movie to make (Tim Roth as Ob!). Too bad the humans forgot about their secret weapon - a sonic device that is used to disable birds, and reworked to enable it work on the undead.

So when I say "last stand" ... as my soul brother is wont to say ... "Patay lahat sila!!! Nyahahahaha!"

I hear they've optioned the movies, not to mention the video games. Not bad ... but I still get a rise more out of my Slades.