Quincy Simpson's Blog

Title:


Sometimes We Ran 2: Community






Series:


Sometimes We Ran





Author:



Stephen Drivick






Genre:


Zombies;





Publisher:


Stephen Drivick





Release Date:


January 10, 2014





Format:


EBOOK





Pages:


204

The author continues to pull me into the story. I like how this and the previous story pushed you to the next one, but it wasn't exactly a hard cliffhanger.

The nature of Clair and John's relationship was made clear here. That's cool and expected, but in light of the realities of the zombie apocalypse, I still wonder if there might be a later spark when this current community collapses, it seems as though it doesn't have the personnel to be a solid and longlasting community..

The red eyes continue to get smarter, although we don't really learn anything new about them. I look forward to seeing how they evolve further.

In the back of my mind is that bite on the arm of Clair in Book 1, will it ever have any issues? Especially in light of her present status...

At any rate, the community looks like it probably is not the strongest, so there will probably be a book 3...and I can't wait to read it.

Spoilers are all up in here so if you don’t want to know, then you don’t need to read.

Ok. so I like the TV show and thought I would just read the comics. so Rick wakes up after a coma and things are relatively calm. He falls down and calls for the nurse, but no one comes. He falls down, waits a bit, and then finally decides to go asking around. What the hell is going on?

Well he finds, I think the cafeteria and decides to open it up to see what’s up. And he sees a ton of zombies all up in there, and when they see him they see the dinner bell chiming and head on over. Rick realizes that he better get up out of there and takes a run. But one zombie gets to him and they struggle

Then they fall down the stairs. luckily the zombies neck breaks, but Rick is all right. rick needed to learn rule number one of a zombie story which is, if the door is shut, don’t open it. Well Rick still don’t know what is going on, but he does what we all do when mess is going on. We head home, he shows up and sees what looks like the grass overrun. In fact it looks like a war zone.

Well Rick head in his home, see nothing, and then leaves and heads on out. While he walking around a little kid hits him in the back of the head with a shovel. And that is how we are introduced to little Duane and his Daddy Morgan. Rick ain’t having a great day. he wakes up from a coma and hits the ground. He gotta have wobbly legs. And then he gets in a fight with a zombie that ends up with them falling down the stairs. And now he gets knocked out cold by a little kid with a shovel.

So they carry Rick into the house they staying in. And Rick wakes up. Duane has mistaken Rick for a zombie. Which makes sense in that that is all they seen for a while. So now this little bit seems to be a device to let Rick, and us, know what happened to cause all this mess. Turns out there was a zombie apocalypse and everyone herded up into large cities where they could be “protected.” Yeah right. So Rick reasons that his wife Lori and his son Carl done headed to Lori’s parents house in Atlanta to be “protected.”

Yeah, there is a very contagious disease going around, let’s go to Atlanta. Well rick is going to go and Morgan seems to agree that Lori and Carl and probably safe being protected by the authorities. But before Rick goes he takes Morgan and Duane to the police station where he grabs a few guns and allows Morgan to grab a few. He then gives Morgan a car and he takes one of them to Atlanta.

so now we leave With Rick on the Way to Atlanta and Morgan and Duane on the way back to the house they staying in.

It’s about time, I thought to myself as I drove on that highway on the way to Atlanta Georgia for the big spiritual awakening conference. I could hardly contain my enthusiasm as I thought about Bishop Carlton Short and the other powerful preachers of the Gospel.

I needed a word, no I needed to see God’s working with my eyes and feel it with my hands. It had been twenty years since I had been on vacation from preaching and now I longed for the opportunity to be recharged.

As I drove I saw an elderly woman in a car stopped on the side of the road. She was trying to muscle the spare tire out of the trunk in a way that demonstrated that she was never going to get it out.

I looked at my watch and saw that there was no way that I could stop, help her, and still make it to the opening festivities. I thought for a moment about speeding up and passing by, but as a preacher, I had been trained to help others who were in need.

I pulled the car over a jolt hit me as the woman smiled with a seemingly sinister sneer. “Thank you young man, if you can help me I will give you whatever you a wish.” She said.

That sounded odd. I laughed, “What are you a genie?”

“Not a genie, but I can give you one wish.”

I picked up the tire and began putting it on the car. She said, “You look dressed like you are on the way somewhere, maybe you wish that you could be going somewhere else. Maybe Las Vegas, sin city is always a great place to go.”

“No, I am on the way to a spiritual conference, you see, I am a pastor.” I said while I looked back at her.

The woman smiled, “Oh, I just gave a wish to a pastor the other day, he wanted a bigger church. Can I do that for you?”

I smiled politely for it seemed like this woman was totally off her rocker. I then jokingly said, “I just want to see my Master’s work and actions up close, let me see that.”

I then finished putting the last nut on the car to hold the wheel in place. “I would shake your hand but it is a bit messy, I hope you have an uneventful trip.”

“Your wish will be granted.”

“Yeah…OK…God bless.”

I thought about my wish desiring to see the Master work. I encouraged myself with the idea that perhaps my work that day to help that woman was the work of God.

I jumped in the car and saw that I would only miss a little bit of the conference if I hurry. I was driving a little faster than I should have. As the sun set on the horizon there was a hard left turn on the road.

I couldn’tmake it. I hit a tree head on and took my flight to the hereafter.

I opened my eyes and saw a being that looked to be about 9 feet tall. His body was proportioned not like basketball players, but like a football player. His eyes were deep crimson and his face while handsome had the look of pure evil.

“You said you wanted to see your Master at work.” The being said.

“Y…Yes…” I said.

Then the being grabbed me and flung me. I flew into a pit of flames where my voice arose with a multitude of others that was weeping and yelling.

My first book in the Spirit Hunters series is up and available. The Spirit Hunters are an ancient brotherhood of fighters who rid the world of darkness while standing for the light. Our hero, Lester Savage, is a pastor in Nashville Tennessee. Follow his travels in this series of short stories.

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Goodreads Book Giveaway







The Rules



by Quincy Simpson

Giveaway ends February 25, 2013.

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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

So I was over on the Apex Book Company Blog where Jennifer Fusco gave 10 things you can do to keep your favorite author writing. I think that Fusco hit on a lot of valuable ideas. Because of that I thought I would riff on a few ideas in this post. So here are a few things readers can do to help their favorite authors.

1) Purchase the Author’s works. Come on, at $0.99 or $2.99 or even 7.99 you probably can afford it. Certainly there are places you can get the book for free (yeah I mean illegal copyright infringing sites), but you are a fan right? Why would you deprive your author of a small token of your appreciation?

2) Leave a review on Amazon, GoodReads, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and everywhere else. You can write once and post everywhere. You love the author’s books, why not show it. A lot of people go to these places to find good books to read. In addition, you might go head on and add the author’s books to a list on Amazon.



3) Tell your friends about the book through phone, social networking, email, and dare I say it, even face to face. When someone tells me about a great book, I am much more inclined to check it out.

4) Follow the author in Twitter, friend them and like them in Facebook, and do whatever else you do in the social networking space.

5) Interact with the author through Twitter, this tool is amazing and in many cases authors are willing to respond online. There is something exciting about tweeting to authors about their characters, plots, and stories. Take advantage of it.

6) Regularly visit the Author’s website and make comments. Sign up for their newsletter. Yes act like a fan.

The publishing game is about building a fan base, you are already a fan, so go head on and let everybody know you are a fan. Become an evangelist and you will aid the propagation of not only books and publishing in general, but your favorite author in particular.

What do you think? Did I miss something? What else should we do for our favorite authors?

Eli wrote an interesting blog post on Christine Nolfi’s blog where Eli gave reasons why he preferred physical books over kindle/nook books. Hey, I can’t argue with anyone’s preference, but I must say that in most cases I prefer the kindle e-book over the physical books. Let me look at the reasons given for Eli’s preference of physical books:

“1. The smell and feel of a book can’t be digitally recreated.”

Hey What can I say, that is correct. You won’t be able to smell the books, but you also won’t have to worry about the smell of mildew from a book that has gotten wet. You don’t have to worry about where you are going to put all of those books. It is true that you can’t smell and feel them, but you don’t have to house them because of this physicality either.

“2. You can’t share your Kindle with your friends.”

Well that is partially true, you can loan them the book if you want. And you could loan them your kindle. And hey, for 2.99 and lower, maybe they can buy their own copy of the book.



“3. I read a book to get away from the computer screen.”

I know what Eli is talking about here as far as a computer screen is concerned. But hey, when I check out my kindle, it sure looks close to a book to me. We simply disagree here. I mean that Kindle screen is beautiful to me. That E-Ink simply blew me away.

“4. Used book stores are a huge part of my life.”

I gotta admit, I do love to go into a used book store. I hate to see them go by the wayside. I will miss them…

“5. With a book I know where I am.”

I simply disagree here. I mean while you are feeling the book you are calculating the percentage of the book that is left in your head to say “almost done.” In contrast, the Kindle gives you the exact percentage. I think the mathematical calculation that Eli is decrying actually happens with the physical book. It is just that he is so used to doing it that he doesn’t notice that is what he is doing. Only his calculation is an estimate. But the Kindle tells you exactly where you are. The calculation you do in your head, the Kindle does for you.

Why I Love My Kindle

You Carry A Library With You, Not A Book.

I carry a virtual bookshelf with my Kindle. In addition, I can even keep more books in the cloud and download them via Wi-Fi or 3G whenever I get ready. Take one hardback with you and you take up more space and have much less reading. Now it is true that I only read one book at a time (especially if you have to lug around the book), but I do dip into other books from time to time.

If you are a book lover like me, then you remember the days of carrying around an armful of books. Now I carry around a small sleek device that fits just about anywhere.

In addition, I have two large bookcases that are packed and stacked in ways that make it difficult to access the books. Hey but the books that I have already transferred over to my Kindle (well purchased again) are accessible right when I want them.

I read a whole hell of a lot more. Every free moment becomes a time to read. the kindle fits nicely in my pocket, and if I don’t read on the kindle, then the kindle reader on my smart phone will suffice.

Some Issues With My Kindle

Now I’m not gonna lie to you, it ain’t all peachy. I do have some issues:

1) Notetaking in the book is a lot more difficult (Although not impossible). I miss easy notetaking. I used to write in the margins and my kindle takes too long to add notes, so I sometimes take a pad with me, but often I just skip the notes.

2) Jumping around in the book seems to be a bit more complex, but I am sure that I will get the hang of it. It seems that the e-readers are best for “start at the beginning and end at the end” kind of reading.

3) Everything aint’ on the Kindle yet – Come on publishers what are you thinking, get your books on there.

4) Lose Your Kindle and you have lost everything (well kinda). If your stuff is in the cloud then when you get your new Kindle you can transfer everyting there. However, anything else (like the tons of PDFs I have on mine) will not be there. So be careful folks.

5) Organizing my kindle books is a big time pain, they need to do something about that one.

5) No power no books. This is a rough one. If you run down your battery, then you have no books. But hey power is everwhere, at least right now. If one of those Dystopian scenarios come to pass and we lose power, then I guess I will be in a world of hurt, but right now, E-Books are kicking physical books tail!

At the end of the day, I understand folks desire to hold on to their books. I just can’t wait to get all of my books on my kindle.