Warmth

by Sumiko Saulson

"I hate the dead. They have no self-control" - Sera. She is ghula - one of the extremely long-lived though not immortal flesh eaters whose lives can end in only one way - in resurrection as a hungry, ambulatory corpse who will spend the short days of its unlife rotting, eating, and infecting as many as possible. Sera compares her life to a dark comedy - trapped with an unwanted pregnancy for the past 600 years, constantly afraid that the fetus will die and go zombie in-utero, always cold and constantly running a fever like every other ghoul on the planet. Luckily, two things in life sustain her: her joy in hunting and destroying the Dead, and the constant seeking of comfort in warmth.

With intro by Valjeanne Jeffers

Genres: Horror, Zombies

Unknown Binding

First published March 27, 2012

About the author

Sumiko Saulson (ze/hir) is a 2x Bram Stoker Nominated and Elgin Nominated poet, graphic novelist, zinemaker, and an award-winning author of Afrosurrealist and multicultural sci-fi and horror. Editor of the Black Magic Women, Scry of Lust, Scry of Lust 2, Black Celebration, and Wickedly Abled. Winner of the StokerCon Scholarship from Hell (2016), 2nd Place Carry the Light Awards (2016, 2017 and 2018) for short fiction, essays and blogging. Mixy Award (2017). BCC Voice Grand Prize Reframing the Other Essay Contest (2017), Afrosurrealist Writer Award (2018). Semifinalist: HorrorAddicts Next Great Horror Writer’s Contest, (2018). Horror Writers Association Diversity Grant (2020).

Member, Horror Writers Association.

AA in English from Berkeley City College. Staff writer, Search Magazine. Proofreader, Mocha Memoirs Press. Columnist (“Writing While Black”) for The San Francisco BayView. Host, Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District’s Erotic Storytelling Hour. Social Media Team, Horror Writers Association.

Novels: Solitude, The Moon Cried Blood, Warmth. Short fiction collections Things That Go Bump in My Head, The Void between Emotions, Spit and Pathos and Within Me Without Me

Short works in anthologies: Horror Addicts Guide to Cats (Horror Addicts Guide), Ashes and Coffee (Death’s Café), Enclosures (Tales from the Lake, Vol 3), Jacob’s Reunion (Forever Vacancy), Clockwork Valentine (Clockwork Wonderland) Sweetness (Beasts and Babes), Agrippa (Carry the Light, Vol 5), Character Flaws (Carry the Light, Vol 5), Under the Water (Horror Bites Next Great Horror Writer, Horror Addicts), Unheard Music in the Dank Underground (Tales from the Campfire), Shades of Domesticity (Horror Writers Association Poetry Showcase Volume VII), Asi’s Horror and Delight (Slay: Tales of the Vampire Noire)

Graphic novels: Agrippa, Dreamworlds, Living a Lie (illustrator), The Complete Mauskaveli.

An American author of African American and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. Native Californian, living in Oakland, California. Pronouns: ze/hir or they/them. Find hir on social media at sumikoska (Twitter, Facebook, Tik-Tok), sumikosaulson (Instagram), skavibe (Twitch) and www.SumikoSaulson.com

Reviews

[Sumiko Saulson]

I am not going to rate this, because I wrote it. I do hope you enjoy it, though.

[Tammy K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Unique take on Zombies, Vampires, and Ghouls, with each being a different expression of a parasite living in either the living or the dead human body. As long as the human is alive, they live like vampires-ghouls, however upon their bodies death the become zombies, mindless killing machines, driven by the virus need to find a new host.
Sounds like an all zombie read, right? But there is far more to this story then zombies!
Imagine living for hundreds of years. Imagine all the people you'd meet? All the enemies you'd make?
In this story, we meet Sera, a long lived Vampire-ghoul. Her best friend and exlover Faddy & his current husband Hugo. A ghoul couple Lizbet & Lazaro whom have gone insane over the years with anger & jealously of Sera. Liz is out to murder Sera, Laz has escaped & is running from Liz, Faddy's being investigate by the police for running a BDSM (bloodletting) ring ... And.... well, you'll have to read this yourself.
This is a tale of friendship, enemies, lovers and death.
Set in the modern time, this story bounces between morbidly disgusting, laugh-out-loud hilarious, with a large splash of campy and a dash of dark twisted erotica.
And Yes, there is enough zombie biting, killing, running, blood and other mayhem for the true zombie reading addict to enjoy.
While this book will go directly into my "favorites", it does need a little bit more Editing in the kindle layout, and has a few noticeable grammar flaws. BUT do not let that stop you from picking this up for a read, or you will miss out on a real gem.
I highly recommend this book to Adult readers of Horror, Zombies, and Dark Romance genres.

[Wayne's · Rating 4 out of 5]

An original take on the idea of Vampires and Zombies, linking the two in an interesting and engaging manner.

[Risa Larrisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ There was soooo much that I loved about this read! It’s gritty, grungy, tastefully bloody, there are living cannibal zombies who some like to refer themselves as vampires, there’s gore, shock and, horror. This is a zombie story told completely different than any other zombie story I’ve ever read or seen. It’s like True Blood mixed with TWD sprinkled with a little Shiki (vampire anime). In other words it’s the right kind of all over the place.
Is it wrong that I fell in love with psycho-villain “Lizbet”? 🤔 I mean I didn’t like what she was doing, you know kidnapping children and all, but her antics her so crazy that it was somewhat comical … in a dark, twisted sort of way 😉.
Sera, our protagonist/hero/not at all a hero (🖤 those) is the definition of a BADASS! I mean you’d have to be right if you’ve lived through several hundred centuries right?
Although there seemed to be a lot going on, it wasn’t overwhelming. I think the author did a really good job at pacing and placing. Meaning she took her time with telling the story but placed the action in the right places where you didn’t feel like the story was lagging or as though you got lost in a scene. Speaking of scenery she did a lot of jumping back and forth between showing and telling which I appreciated.

The only thing keep omg me from a 5⭐️ review is the amount of unnecessary detail and some unnecessary characters. Actually the unnecessary details came with the unnecessary characters 😂 but besides all that, I actually enjoyed it! 🖤🖤🖤

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

**Update: Should have mentioned somewhere in my review that there are multiple misspellings and typos throughout the book. But then again this was self-published, so that's to be expected.**

This is one of the most ridiculous, over-the-top, campy vampire/zombie horror books I've ever read. Vampires turn into zombies when they die, and they only way to kill the zombies is to cut off their head. The gore and body horror was pretty fun to read. There is also a lot of shit and fart humor.

Sera was pregnant at the time she got turned into a vampire, so she's been pregnant for a really long time. In all that time she's had to worry about her baby tearing her open and crawling out of her stomach. I knew this would trigger my tokophobia, which is why I put off reading it and then took almost three months to finish it.

In the middle it turns into kind of a thriller, and then towards the end it gets a bit science fiction when a doctor uncovers the reason why vampires are able to live for so long and how they should best have human meat cooked (vampires eat human jerky, lmao). I'm glad I read this fun, ridiculous trash of a book, but I definitely will not be rereading it any time soon.

[Anne (Angel Anne Reviews) Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to thank author Sumiko Saulson for the opportunity to read her novel, I won my copy as a first read giveaway on goodreads.

What a differnt and unique way of blending to well explored characters in todays market... those of the zombies and vampires. Creating a new type of character for us a readers to grip onto. I have to admit that I'm still not sure if I can quite wrap my mind around the new blend of characters yet. But please remember that this is ONLY MY point of view. (I will read this one again)

The characters are themselves very well described for you to follow, I did enjoy the character of Sera who is a vampire/ghoul... she is an immortal (well not really, but some what) who is long lived. A flesh eater that, but with a catch! Her life can only only ends one way... Nope I'm not going to tell you the way, you're going to have to snatch up a copy yourself to find out. But I'll give you a clue, it's kinda real creapy. Ughhh, well to me it is. *shivers*

There is a complex crazy mix of characters throughout the book, you'll have to keep track of who they are, because your going to find a best friend who happens to be a ex-lover, qhouls who have gone somewhat wacko/insane over time. One who happens to be extemely angry, and is out to kill.
Police and investigations, friendship along with enemies, then also lovers and death are all thrown into the mix of the storyline/plot.

A story that is filled with alot of darkness that will leave you shaking your head when your finished. But shaking it beacause of the amount of craziness that has just gone on within the story you have just finished.
A few chuckles came while reading, which is always a good thing when there is so much darkness. (my opinion)

But all in all, WARMTH is a book that I would recommend to others as one of difference, when you as a reader are looking for a read off your normal path of reading. It truly does have a combination of Dark Romance mixed with ALOT of Zombies and Horror so that it will intice many to say, "Hmmmm this looks differnt and interesting"
Come on I dare you to take the leap, as you climb inside this novel..

I as a reader will look forward to the next in the series, to see where it goes.

Recommend: 18 and up
Rating: 4/5 angel stars
Angel Anne Reviews

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[Valjeanne Jeffers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging characters and wonderful plot! Loved it!!!