Click to download from Smashwords

Free ebook in epub format only

I will preface this review with the fact that this is the first of a great many seasons but the rest come at a price.  Ryan Casey has kindly bundled up his stories in different ways so if you enjoy this first one then you can save money in reading the rest of the tale.

Review to come in an hour ...

The Caldecott Chronicles by R G Bullet

Get it at Smashwords

Artist: Michael Grey

I read this when R G Bullet kindly offered it for free, on checking Smashwords today I discovered it now costs $2.99 (equivalent to £1.76 or €2.21).

This was the first story I read based in Victorian times with the tag zombie.  Interestingly zombie is never used in the book which makes sense because if anyone had ever come across the term it would have related to a very different voodoo thing.  The story is written very much in the style of a Victorian novel which may put some readers off, but believe me when I say that you do get used to it and it adds a verisimilitude to the whole experience.

Now here’s where it got a bit sticky. As soon as the blast went off, I could hear a collective moan. Noise at this level tends to aggravate and attract the local undead. 

The book is written in the form of a letter come diary and shows how the protagonist learns about the undead and what advice he can give to survive.  It also details his 'relationship' with a young woman who is, shall we say, not quite of his class.

An additional bonus to my mind is some great etchings which intersperse the tale of a lord and how he copes in his stately home with the mysterious uprising of the undead.

Intro

I have been enjoying myself since being given a Nook several months ago for my birthday (thanks again Mum) as it has meant I have discovered free ebooks, particularly stories about the end of the world.  I have been intrigued since my childhood about what would happen if a disaster hit.  Maybe it was growing up in the seventies, perhaps it was my lust for reading ... yes I was one of those who read the side of the cereal box!  In the four years before I left the North East of England, I had read every scifi book in the local library ... alphabetically ... Asimov to Wyndham.

In my fourth decade now, I have determined what I most look for in a story.  It has to have a plot, you know the old-fashioned kind with a beginning, middle and end.  Next, There have to be a couple of big 'IFs': If a world had different races (Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Men etc) and if there was an evil one taking over gradually and if a small person had a secret ring which was even more than the amazing thing it seemed to be ... what happens next?  This means of course that generally I was drawn to epic stories in genres usually dismissed by those who study literature.  Finally the characters have to be believable ... not real (although I know the Brownies would do my housework if only I left them milk at night and obviously trolls do live under bridges!) and they should develop as they learn about those second or third 'IFs', whether it is the end of the world or humans encountering a new world or a young orphan finding him or herself the hero at the crux of the battle to save their home.

Horror and Scifi (and latterly Fantasy which used to be classed as Scifi) were my 'trash' of choice.  I have read so many books I cannot recall titles, plots or authors at the same time.  But I remember many of the stories.  I have my favourite authors which have always changed.  In my teens it was Tolkein, Heinlein, John Saul, Stephen King and James Herbert.  Since then I have discovered that not all women write romances *grins* and have of course discovered a host of other authors.

This blog however, is not about these authors.  I have now read many of the free ebooks at Smashwords that are labelled as zombie, apocalyptic or dystopian and similar.  This then, is to be about those free ebooks I have read.  I will initially concentrate on those based in the UK but will branch out into the other locations of end of the world/humanity stories.  I will definitely include other countries, alien invasions and other planets as well as those of a supernatural origin and obviously eventually I will reach the point where I will cover those zombie tales situated in the USA.

Please do not write to me about my choice in this.  I am trying to look at the tales told that potentially reach a smaller audience due to not being set in North America.  Some of the free ebooks I have read based there are so good that they may show up sooner rather than later.