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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
BRRRAAAAIINNNNNNNSSSS,
By David W Barbee (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Zombies and Shit (Paperback)
Ah, zombies. Like vampires before them, they are marching into that stale oblivion that we know as the mainstream. It's a shame really, especially if you were already a fan when the zombie boom hit. Thanks to that boom there are no shortage of books, movies, TV shows, and pop references to the shambling dead. This is both a good and bad thing. Back when zombies were rare, we appreciated them more. Now you have to slog through a lot of plain stuff that just uses the zombie formulas that are now classic. All so you can find a zombie story of ANY kind that does something truly different and interesting.I say all this because Carlton Mellick's Zombies and Stuff is one of the zombie stories you SHOULD pay attention to. It's got a strong plot, unique characters, and a setting that provides a nice twist to the zombie apocalypse. It's set long after the zombie outbreak, and humanity has survived by relocating to an overcrowded island where there is a strict caste system. The people in the Copper Quadrant are surrounded by poverty, disease, and crime. The people in the Platinum Quadrant are ridiculously wealthy and get their kicks watching the reality show Zombie Survival. On this show, twenty citizens from Copper are drugged, kidnapped, and abandoned on the zombie-infested mainland to see who can be the last man standing. The contestants include punks, prostitutes, cyborg mercenaries, a genetically engineered predator, and the T-2000 (with some average joes mixed in for a good body count). Only one of them will be allowed to escape the city and win the contest, so they not only have to beware the zombies, but also each other. Each character has a back story that lets you see who these people are, sometimes right before they're killed and eaten by zombies. This provides a lot of action and some cool fight scenes, whether it's between contestants or against zombies. But this book doesn't just have demented characters competing against one another in a brutal landscape, it's also got plenty of the undead. And that's what we're here for, right? Well I'm happy to say that Mellick delivers. The zombies here are drippy-fleshed ghouls who cry out for "Braaains!" They puke radioactive slime that will infect you. They prefer to consume brains and nerve tissue before eating regular flesh. They're similar to the zombies of "Return of the Living Dead," but with little extras like plants taking root in the decayed crevices of their bodies, or car parts melded awkwardly to their flesh. Each one-on-one encounter with the zombies is memorable because Mellick makes the dead just as freakish as the living. His talent lies in making ideas that normally wouldn't/shouldn't work into things that are brilliant and cool. The T-2000 is a prime example of this. I won't spoil who/what he is, but it's a ridiculous idea that wouldn't work for anyone else but CM3. And it turned out to be my favorite part of the book. It'll be your favorite, too. I guarantee it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best CM3 book ever!,
By Sam Reeve (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Zombies and Shit (Paperback)
I love my bizarro, and I love my zombies. I also love cheesy horror movies. Damn, this book has all of those elements and it doesn't get better than that.There are some very unique zombies in this book, and although the idea of people being on a gameshow isn't totally original, Mellick's characters make it stand out amongst ANY zombie tale. It's a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat almost the whole time and you get to explore all the backgrounds of the characters. This is also a great 'laugh-out-loud' book. There are so many amazingly cheesy and funny lines, it's AWESOME. A+ for this book. Zombie and bizarro fans alike will get a kick out of this book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews) 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Favorite Zombie Novel,
By Troy Chambers - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Zombies and Shit (Paperback)
Zombies have a tendency to show up in a lot in Bizarro novels, but usually not as a main theme. They generally just tend to be there, because everything can have some zombies in it and get a more awesome. I am a firm believe in the awesome power of Zombies.Carlton Mellick III's newest novel 'Zombies and Sh:t' is just about zombies- though very much in Mellick's style. He's not the type to write us one of those 'mashup novels' of zombies and classic lit, or a dumb soap opera that happens to have people getting eaten by zombies, nope- what we get with Carlton Mellick's 'Zombies and Sh:t' is something a LOT more entertaining than that. Thank god. It's 'Battle Royale' style: an array of really friggin' weird citizens from the post-zombie-apocalypse lower caste are kidnapped and dropped off in the middle of the Zombie wasteland, given a weapon, and told their only way out is on the helicopter deep into the zombie infested town. They are being filmed in reality TV show style for the amusement of the rich. The catch? There's only one spot available on the helicopter. Not only do they have to fight off the zombies, they also have to fight EACH OTHER if they want to escape and survive. Mellick's talent for gifting us with an assembly of weirdos to populate his books is at its highest in 'Zombies and Sh:t'. I don't want to give much away about them- part of the fun of the book is following these people through and discovering more about their, uhh... 'quirks'. You'll have to read it see what I mean. Easily my favorite part of this book though is the nature of the zombies themselves. These guys aren't just filler, they're not a big horde of cardboard cutout zombies. These are 'Return of the Living Dead' style zombies ('Braains!!'), that have started to mesh with the environment. One of the first zombies we see has melded with some plants and his head is a flower pot. It's awesome. It really, really is. I also wanted to say that I usually prefer my zombies on the screen. I'm a zombie movie guy, and not usually a fan of zombies in books. This book works with zombies in it though- and Mellick's writing style makes it feel as if we're watching this as a Zombie movie instead of reading a book. 'Zombies and Sh:t' has broad appeal- zombies fans, pick it up. Bizarro fans, pick it up. Horror fans (that don't hate zombies), pick it up. Punks that liked 'Return of the Living Dead', pick it up. This is NOT a book to miss. Highly recommended. 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
CEREBROS!!!!!!,
By David W Barbee - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Zombies and Shit (Paperback)
Ah, zombies. Like vampires before them, they are marching into that stale oblivion that we know as the mainstream. It's a shame really, especially if you were already a fan when the zombie boom hit. Thanks to that boom there are no shortage of books, movies, TV shows, and pop references to the shambling dead. This is both a good and bad thing. Back when zombies were rare, we appreciated them more. Now you have to slog through a lot of plain stuff that just uses the zombie formulas that are now classic. All so you can find a zombie story of ANY kind that does something truly different and interesting.I say all this because Carlton Mellick's Zombies and Stuff is one of the zombie stories you SHOULD pay attention to. It's got a strong plot, unique characters, and a setting that provides a nice twist to the zombie apocalypse. It's set long after the zombie outbreak, and humanity has survived by relocating to an overcrowded island where there is a strict caste system. The people in the Copper Quadrant are surrounded by poverty, disease, and crime. The people in the Platinum Quadrant are ridiculously wealthy and get their kicks watching the reality show Zombie Survival. On this show, twenty citizens from Copper are drugged, kidnapped, and abandoned on the zombie-infested mainland to see who can be the last man standing. The contestants include punks, prostitutes, cyborg mercenaries, a genetically engineered predator, and the T-2000 (with some average joes mixed in for a good body count). Only one of them will be allowed to escape the city and win the contest, so they not only have to beware the zombies, but also each other. Each character has a back story that lets you see who these people are, sometimes right before they're killed and eaten by zombies. This provides a lot of action and some cool fight scenes, whether it's between contestants or against zombies. But this book doesn't just have demented characters competing against one another in a brutal landscape, it's also got plenty of the undead. And that's what we're here for, right? Well I'm happy to say that Mellick delivers. The zombies here are drippy-fleshed ghouls who cry out for "Braaains!" They puke radioactive slime that will infect you. They prefer to consume brains and nerve tissue before eating regular flesh. They're similar to the zombies of "Return of the Living Dead," but with little extras like plants taking root in the decayed crevices of their bodies, or car parts melded awkwardly to their flesh. Each one-on-one encounter with the zombies is memorable because Mellick makes the dead just as freakish as the living. His talent lies in making ideas that normally wouldn't/shouldn't work into things that are brilliant and cool. The T-2000 is a prime example of this. I won't spoil who/what he is, but it's a ridiculous idea that wouldn't work for anyone else but CM3. And it turned out to be my favorite part of the book. It'll be your favorite, too. I guarantee it. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is pure awesome,
By Jason Wuchenich "Wookie" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Zombies and Shit (Paperback)
I LOVED this book. I can't ever recall having more fun reading a book. That's the key word - fun. At first, I thought it was going to be a train wreck. Having 20+ characters in a Battle Royale-esque style of literature sounds almost impossible to accomplish successfully. But holy crap, this kicked the teeth out of anything I expected. Backstories of all 20 contestants are seamlessly placed throughout carefully constructed chapters that detail the characters objectives. Finding out how everyone got to the situation they started in was as entertaining as the zombie gameshow itself. Oops... Yea, it's a gameshow - like The Running Man with zombies. And if you're a zombie movie nut, you'll be able to spot the individual inspirations from select zombie movies. Again, this is an awesomely fun read. One I don't want to disclose anything more about. Get this, and have fun!
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