Archive for the ‘News’ Category

World War Z (zed or zee?)

Posted: June 18, 2013 in Film reviews, News
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World War ZI’ve just realised that I haven’t posted a review of one of my favourite books – World War Z. This isn’t just one of my favourite zombie books, but actually one of my favourite books.

I must post my book review 🙂

So, as you can probably guess, I have been beside myself waiting for this new movie to come out. Last year I was scouring the internet for trailers and the trailer really grabs you and make you want to watch the film. Here’s the official trailer –

Now this year there has been more information out about the film and it appears that it doesn’t really follow the book that well. The reviews have also started to come out now and they seem a bit mixed, although I’d say they are probably more towards positive rather than negative.

I’m terrible – if I’ve read the book and liked the book then I’m usually disappointed with the film. I love the World War Z trailers and I love the way the zombies are seen racing along like cockroaches. I really hope I like the film too.

I was all set for going and watching it on opening night here in the UK but just realised to due to other commitments I won’t be able to go and see it until next week. Can I hold out that long???

Book review – Ragnorak Rising: the Reckoning by D.A. Roberts

Posted: March 21, 2013 in News
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Ragnrak Rising: the ReckoningAll I can say is wow!

I read the first book a little while ago and my review is here – Ragnorak Rising: the Awakening

I read book one on a recommendation and actually enjoyed it. I’d found it  a bit stilted at the start and thought it had a bit of an obsession with describing guns and ammo, bt there was none of that in this book.

It starts right where the other book left off. Wylie is at the dock with his dog, Odin. He’s surrounded by zombies left over  from the explosion at the end of the last book. He needs to find his way back to the jail and to his family.

Of course his journey isn’t easy and like the first book he meets up with some interesting characters along the way. SOme good and some very bad…

His journey back to the jail is only part of the story though. There is another group in the city, the Freemen, and they don;t want to share. A large part of the book is around the fight with these guys. It’s a little more ‘Mad Max’ with these guys but it works really well. There’s also a few Rambo-syle moment with Wylie. He’s a really good character and grows even more in this book. His relationship with Spec-4 still really works, and stays on that professional/friend level.

I liked the addition of the new characters in this book. They do give this book a different edge to the last book as there are more military personnel in it. I like the fact that strong women characters are still built into the storyline as nothing out of the ordinary. I did find all the extra characters a little confusing though and did get some of them mixed up.  I wasn’t too sure about Wylie’s wife either as he stock position in the book seemed to be not being pleased as he was off on another mission but passively accepting it. Actually that worked well towards the end of the book when she stepped up – don;t worry I’m not going to give you any spoilers!

This time the book ended at a better point. Not the huge cliffhanger that the first one ended on, but still left me thinking there’s more legs in this series.

I think there’s a new one out in the summer – so keep your eyes posted!!

Walking Dead Teasers

Posted: March 13, 2013 in News
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OMG – only 3 episode left? What’s that all about?

Also it drives me mad when you see promos and sneaky peeks online and then when you try to play the video, it’s not available in the UK…

Well, I’ve done a bit of searching and come up with these!

Cool eh?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt like the last couple of episodes have been ‘fillers’ and have been waiting for the action to start. This looks like it should kick off.

Is Andrea going to kill the Governor? Even Milton seems to be waking up how unhinged the guy with the black eye-patch is!

Book review – Area 187 – Almost Hell by Eric Lowther

Posted: March 10, 2013 in Book reviews, News
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Area 187Let’s get started on this. It’s a good meaty book. It’s not a book that’s been split up into three parts to drag it on. When you get to the end, you feel satisfied, like you’ve eaten a good meal and not just the starter…

It’s a very interesting take on the zombie genre. It’s not the usual postapocalyptic world. Well, not on the outside anyway.

I’ll try to not give away any spoilers here… There has been an accident at a secret US government facility in West Virginia and a several test subjects have been released/escaped with a necrotic virus. The government Homeland Security department closed down the whole area, which becomes Area 187. People are trapped there, some chosing to stay, but Homeland maintains quarantine and denies there existence.

The story really isn’t your standard ‘the world has been destroyed by the zombies’ sort of book. Only the people in Area 187 are really affected by the virus and its effects. Some journalists outside, and inside, the USA are trying to break open Area 187 and force Homeland to admit to forcing living US citizens to be trapped there.

There are some interesting and different characters in this book. Some of written exceptionally well, and you really do not like them at their entrance into the story, but they develop so well that you really wouldn’t want them to die at the hands of Homeland or the zombies. Some good relationships are developed too. It’s also not a ‘happy ending’ book and bad things happen to good people. I like some of the new concepts too such as diggers.

I’ll admit that I found the first chapter a bit confusing and hard going. I’d seen reviews to say how good the book was but  by the ned of the first chapter I really wasn’t convinced. By the end of chapter 2 thought I was completely on for the ride…

Like I said at the start, it was pretty meaty. It kept me reading. In fact I struggled to put it down. And, the sign of a good book – I felt a bit lost when I’d finished it.

I will be checking out this author again as the story was original and the characters really well written and developed.

BBC’s In the Flesh – how good does this look?

Posted: February 28, 2013 in News
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I’ve just been doing a few searches to try and see what I can find out about BBC3’s new zombie drama – In the Flesh.

Here’s a trailer for it –

Looks good doesn’t it?

Basically it tells the story of zombie teenager Kieren Walker  and his reintegration back into both the local community and the heart of his family.

After his death four years ago, his friends and family thought they’d never see Kieren again. But then, shortly after his funeral, thousands of the dead were re-animated; and now, after months of re-habilitation and medication, the zombies are gradually being returned to their homes.

There’s a whole load of zombie resentment going on. Well who wouldn’t resent them after the bloody battles that ensued after the rising of the dead? Kieren is also getting flashbacks about what he did in his untreated state.

It’s a three-part drama and it looks like it start on Sunday, March 17 at 10pm.

I love the Government information film – Keep Calm and Avoid the Dead. It’s just how it would be done. THink about all those cheesy government information films we get about drinking too much, or not doing enough exercise. Here it is – In the Flesh – Avoid the Dead

Here’s the BBC3 page for it –In the Flesh

I can’t wait – what about you?

Walking Dead teasers…

Posted: February 4, 2013 in News
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The countdown to the Walking Dead is getting closer and closer and it seems like leaks about what the new episodes with brings are really starting to spread. Some sound pretty good, but to be honest some that I’ve seen are just the same shots from the end of the last episode!

Anyway, here are the ones that I’ve found so far – sorry if some of you have already seen these, but I’m in the UK and we don’t get these on our telly!

Here’s the promo for the Suicide King

I love this ad – maybe because it has Darryl in it –

How about this clever little site? Upload a piccie of yourself and it will turn you into a walker – The Walking Dead Yourself

There are some fab spoilers here.

What do you think will happen?

Who’s going to be the shock death for the second half of the season?

How will the war go?

Don’t forget, you can follow Quirky Zombie on Facebook too!

Book review of Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Posted: January 29, 2013 in Book reviews, News
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Warm BodiesThis book was on my Kindle wish list for about a year. Why you ask? Well, I liked the blurb for the storyline and though it might be a quirky take on the usual zombie storyline, but it was the bit in the blurb about it being a ‘zombie Twilight’. I don’t like Twilight…

I realised that the film of the book was coming out this year, so I thought I’d better get my skates on. Here’s the trailer for the film –

The world is now overrun with zombies and ‘R’ is one of those zombies. The zombies are a pretty mindless bunch, but ‘R’ knows he was once human and had a name but he can’t remember what it was. He knows it began with an ‘R’. The zombies just mill around all day in the airport hoard, occasionally riding the escalators when they come on or herding off to feed on the remaining humans. They follow a sort of parody of their old living lives, even creating zombie family units with the zombie children.

On one of these raids, ‘R’  eats a male human called Perry and instantly starts to get flashes of his life, including his girlfriend Julie, who us also about to be eaten. Instead of eating her, ‘R’ masks her with zombie blood and saves here, taking her back to the airport.

At the airport their relationship starts to develop, with Julia starting to trust ‘R’ and ‘R’ becoming more human-like with words and thought. It is a sort of black comedy Romeo and Juliet story. I don’t want to go into the storyline anymore in case it creates some spoilers or people.

I’ve got to admit, the thought od reading a book with a zombie as a romantic hero just seemed kind of wrong, but believe me, this story and the characters really work. I even loved the other zombies! Go with the flow and you’ll be pulled into this postapocalyptic world so easily. You won’t want to leave…

Are you prepared for a zombie attack? Well, Britain is!

Posted: January 24, 2013 in News
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zombie apocalypseI was idly looking around the web today and couldn’t believe that I’d missed this story on the Telegraph. Actually I can, as it was Boxing day so I was probably eating chocolates and watching trash TV.

Anyway, a Freedom of Information request was put in and the British government responded. This is the full article here.

Apparently if we were to be invaded by hoards of zombies, “civil servants would co-ordinate the military’s efforts to return England to its pre-attack glory”. It would be the Cabinet Office that had to deal with the aftermath if attacks from the undead and not the MoD. Well, most zombie books I’ve read always have the army coming to rescue survivors, not a bunch of civil servants. Quite a strange though that some pen-pushers would be the zombie attack force coordinators!

Similar FoD requests have been put into local councils.

For example, Leicester doesn’t sound like it has any preparations for a zombie apocalypse – you can read an article about it here from the BBC.

Then again, Bristol sounds a lot more clued up the possibility of being over run by zombies. The guardian reported details here.

A similar request was put to Nottingham council and they came back with the following response – here. Personally I would have thought Nottingham council may have been a bit more aware of the potential of attacks from hoards of the undead as Zombie Hood has been in film production for a couple of years and has seen lots of extras playing zombies around the city.

Anyway, how are you zombie apocalypse plans progressing??

Welcome to Quirky Zombie

Posted: January 17, 2013 in News
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Well, I’m obsessed with zombies. What about you?

I often blog about zombies on the Quirky Purple blog and list new zombie related items from the online shop, but I decided it was starting to take over and I thought I would start a new blog. This one is dedicated to all things zombie.

I’ll add in some book reviews of the recent books I’ve read. I might even add in some general post-apocalyptic novels as well as the main zombie genre.

I’ll post up new items that I’ve designed and have for sale, plus other quirky zombie things that I like.

So watch this space!