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Living with the Dead #4
The Wild Country
In the latter half of the second year after The Fall, mankind is beginning to grow once again. The survivors in Frankfort, Kentucky have battled the undead, thrown off attacks from human oppressors, and finally managed to achieve something like peace.
Keeping the tenuous alliances and friendships with other distant settlements strong has become vitally important. Though many colonies of living people have been created from the ashes of civilization, the land between is deadly.
In this volume, travel along dangerous roads to new locations, meet others who have made their stand against the end of the world. See an America destroyed by chaos, but populated with a people defiant in the face of the end of all they knew.
Keeping the tenuous alliances and friendships with other distant settlements strong has become vitally important. Though many colonies of living people have been created from the ashes of civilization, the land between is deadly.
In this volume, travel along dangerous roads to new locations, meet others who have made their stand against the end of the world. See an America destroyed by chaos, but populated with a people defiant in the face of the end of all they knew.
284 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 19, 2013
22 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Guess
50 books364 followersJoshua Guess (who goes by Josh most of the time, but Joshua professionally because his mom insists) is originally from southern Illinois, but moved to central Kentucky at an early age.
Always a storyteller, his interest in creating began with art. He loved to draw and come up with stories about his pictures.
Then he discovered comic books and novels, and things...took a turn.
Devouring everything from superboy to Stephen King, Josh started to gain a greater interest in writing, making it a hobby during high school and achieving distinguished marks in his portfolio.
Then, life got in the way. College and the struggle to start a life of his own away from home took up most of his time. His love of telling stories took a back seat to the needs of daily life for many years, with the occasional foray into working on one project or another.
In late 2009, Josh buckled down and started work on an idea for a fantasy novel that had been stuck in his head since those halcyon days back in high school. Struggling to find a voice, Josh realized months later after many false starts that he needed to stretch his brain a little, strengthen his writing muscles. So he began another project that had been simmering in the back of his mind, a continuing serialized zombie story, told in the form of a daily blog.
Living With the Dead has given him a measure of success, but more important has imparted new skills at wordsmithing and the drive to complete. 'Bound to Silence', his debut novel, has been released and is available now, as are many collections and versions of Living With the Dead.
Once that tipping point was reached, there was no choice for him but to keep on writing. Much more of Josh's work will be released in the coming months.
I hate writing in the third person about myself. I live an average life and work a full time job. I have three cats, two dogs, two ferrets, and a wife that I'm so in love with it hurts. My goal is to some day have enough success to write full time, and to manage a level of long term financial security that I don't have to worry about money. It's my dream to make a good living doing what I love--telling stories. I hope you enjoy my work. That's why I do it.
Always a storyteller, his interest in creating began with art. He loved to draw and come up with stories about his pictures.
Then he discovered comic books and novels, and things...took a turn.
Devouring everything from superboy to Stephen King, Josh started to gain a greater interest in writing, making it a hobby during high school and achieving distinguished marks in his portfolio.
Then, life got in the way. College and the struggle to start a life of his own away from home took up most of his time. His love of telling stories took a back seat to the needs of daily life for many years, with the occasional foray into working on one project or another.
In late 2009, Josh buckled down and started work on an idea for a fantasy novel that had been stuck in his head since those halcyon days back in high school. Struggling to find a voice, Josh realized months later after many false starts that he needed to stretch his brain a little, strengthen his writing muscles. So he began another project that had been simmering in the back of his mind, a continuing serialized zombie story, told in the form of a daily blog.
Living With the Dead has given him a measure of success, but more important has imparted new skills at wordsmithing and the drive to complete. 'Bound to Silence', his debut novel, has been released and is available now, as are many collections and versions of Living With the Dead.
Once that tipping point was reached, there was no choice for him but to keep on writing. Much more of Josh's work will be released in the coming months.
I hate writing in the third person about myself. I live an average life and work a full time job. I have three cats, two dogs, two ferrets, and a wife that I'm so in love with it hurts. My goal is to some day have enough success to write full time, and to manage a level of long term financial security that I don't have to worry about money. It's my dream to make a good living doing what I love--telling stories. I hope you enjoy my work. That's why I do it.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 12, 2013
I read a lot of post-apocalyptic books, and generally find little variation in the stories themselves. Sure, the details are different- from the precipitating events to the daily struggles- but for the most part they're all about what it takes to survive the downfall of society.
Obviously, I enjoy these types of stories, or else I wouldn't keep reading them. But, aside from a few examples I can think of, I don't get too invested in the stories because they're usually over in a few hundred pages. I think that's why I'm digging this series- it goes beyond the immediate aftermath and paints a more complete picture of the long-term consequences, both physical and mental. I care about these characters, their struggles and their victories, however large or small. I like that the good guys aren't always good and the bad guys aren't always bad. There are a lot of shades of gray, and that's just...human.
I imagine that writing a series like this is a huge undertaking, and it's not perfect, but to me it has been more profound and immersive than the everyday zombie fare.
Obviously, I enjoy these types of stories, or else I wouldn't keep reading them. But, aside from a few examples I can think of, I don't get too invested in the stories because they're usually over in a few hundred pages. I think that's why I'm digging this series- it goes beyond the immediate aftermath and paints a more complete picture of the long-term consequences, both physical and mental. I care about these characters, their struggles and their victories, however large or small. I like that the good guys aren't always good and the bad guys aren't always bad. There are a lot of shades of gray, and that's just...human.
I imagine that writing a series like this is a huge undertaking, and it's not perfect, but to me it has been more profound and immersive than the everyday zombie fare.
October 10, 2014
Loved it, burned through series
Stumbled accross this blog style story of zombie survival and was hooked!
This account has it all! Zombies, survival, fights, questioning of morality.
I suppose what makes this series stand out is
1) the zombies evolve (so not for hard core zombie traditionalists)
2) the descriptions of the adaptations the survivors have to make to be safe and to eat
3)the personalized feel of all posters (self doubt, disagreements with eachother over structure of the compound, dealing with outsiders, learning to fight)
4) several groups that are well described including the mauraders, and bad guys in later books
These are just some of the things I really. It is a really immersive story, on occasion you want to rush to the compound/Haven and help them survive the next problem. The characters are just normal people in crazy circumstances, attempting to do the right thing and occasionaly failing miserably. But they persevere, and I keep reading.
Stumbled accross this blog style story of zombie survival and was hooked!
This account has it all! Zombies, survival, fights, questioning of morality.
I suppose what makes this series stand out is
1) the zombies evolve (so not for hard core zombie traditionalists)
2) the descriptions of the adaptations the survivors have to make to be safe and to eat
3)the personalized feel of all posters (self doubt, disagreements with eachother over structure of the compound, dealing with outsiders, learning to fight)
4) several groups that are well described including the mauraders, and bad guys in later books
These are just some of the things I really. It is a really immersive story, on occasion you want to rush to the compound/Haven and help them survive the next problem. The characters are just normal people in crazy circumstances, attempting to do the right thing and occasionaly failing miserably. But they persevere, and I keep reading.
September 13, 2013
So I was so into this series that this is the 1st book I actually paid money for! (the first 3 came as a free deal!)But I was so involved with the author, the story and the characters that I just couldn't not continue to read!
The story just gets better portraying the last of the human race as survivors, surviving the best they can for good and bad! The heros aren't always heroic and the villains aren't always nasty! Great writing in a genre that has become a little bit stale!
And yes.....I have paid for the entire series now!
The story just gets better portraying the last of the human race as survivors, surviving the best they can for good and bad! The heros aren't always heroic and the villains aren't always nasty! Great writing in a genre that has become a little bit stale!
And yes.....I have paid for the entire series now!
August 16, 2015
It was okay. Similarly to the second book, I feel like this one dragged too much. I still want to read the next one, but I don't necessarily feel all that motivated. I guess this book could've been better, I almost gave it a two.
June 15, 2017
Love all the books in the series so far, i just can't get enough of it, and i can't wait for the next book. :D
It's really existing and I just love that the book was made as a blog styled.
It's really existing and I just love that the book was made as a blog styled.
October 12, 2015
Was Treesong a member of the council that was thrown out?
Read
February 26, 2018Wild
Josh and friends went through so much in this episode. So many were lost but there were a lot of gains too. It seems their home is safe, for now. I can't wait to read the next one.
Josh and friends went through so much in this episode. So many were lost but there were a lot of gains too. It seems their home is safe, for now. I can't wait to read the next one.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews