Hello my Apoca-Dearies! Welcome to the new Apocalypse Whenever newsletter format.
As this is something new and therefore still in the testing phase (well, isn't everything, always? :-P), please let me know if you have any problems. If all goes well and it isn't too much of a pain to maintain, we'll continue with this method. Not only will the visuals be different, but this new format will make it easier for me to introduce some other changes over the coming months. I hope you like them! Now, let's get onto the guts of this thing, shall we?
September Giveaways
Y'all are so spoiled. Have I told you that before? TOTALLY SPOILED, but here's the important part... not rotten. :-) Giveaways are stil going strong and we've got some goodies going right now. As usual we are starting 4 new ones at the beginning of the month, and leaving the "old" ones up for wo days dto give you a last chance to get in on them.
Authors: if you are interested in a giveaway, here is the signup page for 2015, and for 2016.
"Statisticity" by Yaron Glazer
"Logan is having a rough day. He hasn’t slept in weeks, his crew is near mutiny, and his latest project is predicting a massive attack of some sort right here in Shanghai. And all before his morning congee.
The year is 2084. Shanghai is a decaying husk of its former self, an empty city staffed by Party members and an army of scavengers recycling the infrastructure to keep things running. Most of the population now lives inside Zhongguo, a virtual replica of the real world (...).
Logan operates a goldfarm between these two worlds, a shelter for refugees who survive by providing unauthorized Zhongguo services to a select clientele. But his fragile sanctuary has been teetering for months, and a new arrival may soon tip them all over the edge."
(5 ebooks. NOTE: enhanced ebooks with cool interactive options)
"Alice in No-Man's Land" by James Knapp
"Alice Walshe has led a very charmed life, until now.
Twenty years after a pandemic crippled the country things are finally back on track and her father, a major player at real estate giant Cerulean Holdings, has made billions renewing the pockets of urban decay that were left behind. As his protégé she has accompanied him to one such area named Ypsilanti Bloc, a particularly valuable site due to its proximity to a major thriving city. When their airship is attacked by Ypsilanti's biggest militia, however, Alice and her brother Cody only barely escape and end up as the sole survivors of the crash.
Alice emerges from the drop ship to find herself trapped in the very Bloc that her father was meant to re-purpose - a ruined city that militias, gangs, and even cannibals now call home. She is discovered by a pair of teens who have tracked the wreck hoping to scavenge anything useful, and with few options open to her she employs their help to find her brother and get home. Things grow more complicated, however, when she realizes that the attack may not have been random, and that Cerulean’s renewal project may not be as benign as she had been brought up to believe. "
(5, winners choice of format! U.S./Canada for paperbacks)
"Attack of the Flying Zombie Rats" by Kat de Falla
"Summer vacation is almost here! Pea O'Neil is stoked to try out the new local BMX track which is finally open — he and his friends can ride all summer long!
But when Pea tries a back flip, he unwittingly opens a portal to another dimension and hordes of flying mutant zombie rats are unleashed upon the city. With the help of an otherworldly talking cat sent to help prevent the demise of humankind, Pea and his friends must hunt down the hungry mutants and send them back before the portal closes.
But when the zombie rats attack a neighbor man, the boys have to enlist the help of a graveyard looney and the city's stray cats. With time running out, Pea and his gang track the monsters to the city's sewer system. But in (...) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it’s eat…or get eaten."
(12 ebooks, 3 signed paperback (US/Canada) plus zombie swag!)
"Waves of Reprisal" by Malcolm Little
"Hanyma, a spirited young woman from the remote village of Kepler, is at a crossroads in her life. She wants to explore the unfamiliar, wide-open country outside her croft. But rumblings of dark, inexorable forces terrorizing the sparsely-populated continent dampen her aspirations.
That was before devastation gripped her. Now, driven by a wandering quest for vengeance, the headstrong survivalist struggles to combat a band of vicious marauders while simultaneously trying to comprehend all the strange phenomena discovered amidst ruins of technologically-advanced precursors.
Before long, Hanyma is thrust into circumstances beyond her ability to control, and she must team with an unlikely ally from a far-gone past who is determined to complete a mission of global importance. Whether that mission succeeds or not may well depend on the callow wayfarer from Kepler. Can Hanyma put aside her bloodlust when the fate of humanity beckons? Will it matter when pitted against the crushing weight of a powerful, inscrutable enemy?"
(5 ebooks)
Last chance! August Giveaways
Here's your last chance to get in on the August giveaways, which will be closed a couple of days, and winners will be announced.
"Apocalypse Wow" by Ben Mariner
"Jack Winters was an ordinary man. He had a steady job in a record store and plenty of time and friends to go out with. His life was just fine by him. Until he met Caitlen. Then his world took a drastic turn for the worse. After one date, the world had ended and Caitlen disappeared. And to top things off, he'd slept through the whole thing. Now he has no choice but to set off across a post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of the woman he loves. Unfortunately for him, blood-thirsty zombies, pirates, and guardian angels aren't the only things waiting for Jack along the way."
(3 ebooks and 2 signed paperbacks - U.S.)
"Global Domination for Beginners" by Will Once
A James Bond spoof in which the hero is the supervillain...
"Isn’t it annoying when your plans for world domination are thwarted at the last moment by an impossibly good looking secret agent in a dinner jacket?
What if the secret agent fails? If you do manage to take over the world, would you be able to keep control?
And just what would you do with the world if you were in charge?"
(10 ebooks)
"Valkyrie: The Road" by Tony Bowman
"Valkyrie is two-hundred thousand pounds of armor plate, a rolling fortress travelling the road from Chicago to New Orleans in a post-apocalyptic future. Trading goods between vampire controlled Chicago and a New Orleans dominated by Vodou, the human crew of Valkyrie face werewolves, ghouls, and cannibals in the ruins of the Midwest.
Hidden beneath the steel deck of the trailer is Valkyrie's true purpose: a desperate underground railroad ferrying the innocent to freedom.
The crew of Valkyrie have a plan.
But, the rulers of Chicago have a plan as well: a powerful vampire has been added to the crew..."
(2 e, 2 paper, US, UK, Canada, Australia.)
"Draco: Darkfall" by Kadin Seton
"Adventure, survival, weapons, loyalty and romance… They came from an unknown location within the distant constellation Draco. The strange soldiers had been sent to the third planet with orders to eradicate the indigenous population while leaving its valuable infrastructure intact, paving the way for mass colonization.
Allie and her brilliant friend Nathan McCaffrey were barely teenagers when they sought refuge with Sector Three. Under the tough leadership of nineteen-year-old Henry Reynolds, the group learned to leverage their strengths. Underestimating the young humans from Sector could prove to be a fatal mistake."
(3 ebooks, 2 signed paper, international)
The Junk Drawer: For all those miscellaneous lovelies that have to go somewhere.
Gertie Reads
Telling my captive audience what I've been reading, just in case you give a crap...
I just finished reading "The In-Betweener" by Ann Christy. This is essentially zombies via nanotech. The nano angle gives the zombie aspect an air of believabilty, assuming you're already buying the nanotech concept. The main character Emily undergoes nano therapy for brain cancer - at a later point when the nanos have done their work and exited her body, but millions of other people have nanites in their bodies, the nanotech gets hacked. Result: zombies, more or less. I think you'd like this one.
3 part series, already complete. Book 1 is 191 pages. Amazon Smile link.
Reminder: Amazon Smile is just like regular Amazon, only Amazon donates a portion of each purchase to a charity of your choice, no cost to you.
"The Last Orphans" by N.W. Harris is a little harder to nail down - it's young adult, but it's pretty damn dark. I think this one will still with me, as it is pretty memorable. As much as I read a lot of grim material, I'm a big softy, and there is a lot of death and suffering in this book, and the material is pretty adult in some places. The story? One day all of the animals turn on the adults, and kill them in gruesome ways, leaving behind teenagers and children to fend for themselves (apparently the author decided it was okay for the "good guys" to not do anything about all of the infants and toddlers trapped in their homes). I have mixed feelings but overall think it was an entertaining book. I think some of you would enjoy this one, read the blurb and reviews and make your own call.
2 parts so far. Book 1 is 274 pages. CURRENTLY FREE
Some new and recently reinvigorated discussions...
"Who designs your covers?" (<< that's a link)
Some discussion about and lists of book cover designers.
"New books written by AW members" (<< that's a link)
Are you an author? Published something in the last couple of months? Let us know!
Got any favorite book covers? Before you visit that thread, I'll make sure you know how to...
This is the spot to learn how to put photos in comments, and to test it out. It's EASY, I swear, so if you don't already know how to do this, now is the time.
This is the spot to learn how to put photos in comments, and to test it out. It's EASY, I swear, so if you don't already know how to do this, now is the time.
A funny video (from a couple of years ago) you may have missed....
The AW Book Club
In January and February we are doing another Big Read- we'll be reading and discussing Stephen King's "The Stand"! The book will be chunked into 150ish page sections per week, stay tuned for more later this year.
August - Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
Wastelands is an anthology of post-apocalyptic stories, featuring works by a number of authors you will certainly have heard of, as well as some with whom you may or may not be familiar: Cory Doctorow, George R.R. Martin, Carol Emshwiller,Octavia E. Butler, Stephen King, M. Rickert, Paolo Bacigalupi, Catherine Wells and plenty more.
As expected with anthologies, there reactions to the stories varied greatly.
A few reactions....
Mixed like/meh: "The End of the Whole Mess" by Stephen King
Love/hate: "The People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi)
Liked by most: "Artie’s Angels" by Catherine Wells, "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" by George R. R. Martin, Speech Sounds" by Octavia E. Butler.
September — 100 Days in Deadland
Written by Rachel Aukes. Discussion of the book opens September 1st, but in the meantime we have some pre-book discussion questions open.
"The world ended on a Thursday.
In one day, the world succumbed to a pestilence that decimated the living. In its place rose a new species: vicious, gruesome, wandering monsters with an insatiable hunger for the living. There is no government, no shelter.
Still in her twenties, Cash has watched her friends die, only to walk again. An office worker with few survival skills, she joins up with Clutch, a grizzled Army veteran with PTSD. Together, they flee the city and struggle through the nine circles of hell, with nothing but Clutch’s military experience and Cash’s determination to live. As they fight to survive in the zombie inferno, they quickly discover that nowhere is safe from the undead… or the living.
This is the beginning after the end."
Polling for October, November, and December
This seemed like a good time to catch up on some books that are popular in PA/dystopian, well-rated, or considered "modern classics". Did you know that we have never read The Road as a group? Here's our chance to select a few books for the rest of the year. After we read The Stand we will be starting anew with nominations provided by members of the group.
BONUS reads: Books written by members of our group
In our typical club discussions, authors aren't allowed to nominate their own books. However, every so often we do a bonus read to give authors a chance to suggest their book as a club selection. You may suggest your own book, or that of a fellow AW member who is active in the group. For example, Hugh Howey is in the group, but already has a big following and isn't active in the group - whereas a member like Don Chase (author of After the Storm) is a current member who would benefit from more readers and reviews.
FREEBIES
As always, 4 stars and above. These may also be available on Nook.
Until the End of the World (Until the End of the World, Book 1)
by Sarah Lyons Fleming
Link: http://amzn.com/B00DX73ZPY
The Way of the Black Beast - A Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy (The Malja Chronicles Book 1)
by Stuart Jaffe
Link: http://amzn.com/B005NRXT6W
As They Rise (The Eva Series Book 1)
by J. M. Wilde
Link: http://amzn.com/B00WA3YV1Y
1/2986
by Annelie Wendeberg
Link: http://amzn.com/B00NS53SX0
Waning Moon (The Chronicles of Lily Carmichael trilogy Book 1)
by PJ Sharon
Link: http://amzn.com/B009GW3GTK
Life is a Beautiful Thing: (Book One) (Cyberpunk Science Fiction Series)
by Harmon Cooper et al.
Link: http://amzn.com/B00W0NPWR6
Forager (Forager - A Dystopian Trilogy Book 1)
by Peter R Stone
Link: http://amzn.com/B00GUB9DGA
That's all folks.
I hope you enjoyed the newsletter — if you have any questions, just send me a message!
Apocalyptically yours,
Gertie