I have been a bad Blogger. I haven’t posted in weeks!
Apologies to the multitudes clamoring to hear me opine on things big and small.
I do have one person to blame – at least for the past three days of not posting: Max Brooks.
Yes, Max Brooks, son of Mel “Its good to be king” Brooks. (High Anxiety is still one of the funniest movies ever made – but I digress)
I don’t think it’s just because I’m sleep deprived (again, his fault), but I am of the mind that Max Brooks is one of the best authors on the planet. He follows the first FUNDAMENTAL rule of good fiction (science fiction or otherwise): he creates a world with it’s own rules and laws, and then peoples it and has those people live in that world realistically according to the rules and laws. Soon after posting my own little treatise on combating the legions of the undead, a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of two works.
The great: The Zombie Survival Guide
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/zombiesurvivalguide/
and the truly excellent: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/worldwarz/
I read The Zombie Survival Guide in two days.
I read the first 200 pages of World War Z Last night. Max Brooks has the ability to create characters in a quick, limited time and they really jump off the page and you feel for them. He’s able to create emotional attachement in just a few pages. Not to mention, depictions of the Battle of Yonkers is outstanding. Huzzah!
Highly recommended for anyone who has:
1) Ever been entertained by a zombie movie
2) More importantly: ever been entertained by good, believable fiction
My hats off to you, Mr. Brooks. I hope Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/) does two things:
1) gets World War Z right (by that I mean treating it seriously – it’s an allegory for a great many things in our modern world)
2) Pays you a LOT of money
Please read these books. Halloween is around the corner. They are riveting. The first is quite funny. The second is gripping, serious fiction.
But don’t blame me if you fall behind in your blogging…
