Bag Men: 2069

by Silas Jackson, J.R. Traas

Forty years ago, the world as we know it was destroyed by hordes of the undead. Decades later, the threat isn't gone. It has evolved.
In 2069, the Bag Men work to make Sacramento, California, the safest place on earth.
In the first installment of the Bag Men series by Silas Jackson and J.R. Traas, the Sacramento Bureau of Public Health is facing a new danger inside the walls of their city. BPH agents are something between doctors and soldiers. And they have one job: keep the public safe in this new world, where the undead look and act like the rest of us, where zombies can blend in with the crowd.
To protect us from an enemy we can't see until it's too late, we've given the Bag Men unlimited power to decide who lives and who dies. This christmas, the house is not silent. Something is stirring.

Genres: Zombies

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 2015

Reviews

[Amy Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undead rising!

I love a good undead or zombie story and this one is something new and interesting. The Bag Men are agents who decide who lives and who dies. There were likeable and unlikeable characters, which gives the story more depth then just being dead. It's not a typical zombie story, and you can't always tell who is a zombie and who isn't. This is a novella and more episodic, so I'm sure there are more to come and I can't wait. It's a gritty, action packed story and for those who love zombies, I highly recommend it.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the first part, we get Bag Man Steve’s take on the apocalypse, apparently written by Jackson. In the second part, apparently written by Traas, we follow the Army Scout, his partner, and Bag Man Morris. I hate to say this, but one writer (Traas) is noticeably better than the other (Jackson). Bag Man Steve is reduced to a walking lump of exposition for a goodly portion of the book. His girlfriend Abigail asks for an explanation of the virus “as if I don’t know anything.” Who does that in real life? And in a book, you know what comes after that is going to be painfully stilted and boring. This wasn’t even necessary, since the author started off with a prologue that was an explanation of the virus. (Also, who finds talking nitty-gritty details of a virus to be foreplay?)

Steve of course has lots of classic books (why always the classics? Why not graphic novels, cookbooks, zombie fiction–anything other than the stereotypical ‘classics’). He has the gorgeous sexy girlfriend, etc. (I’m getting a few Mary Sue vibes here.)

One of the things the sanctuary does in order to make sure the virus doesn’t get in is by doing monthly “vettings”. Given that apparently this virus can cause an outbreak in no time flat, why only monthly? I mean, I get that it takes manpower and all that, but once monthly should be completely ineffective. Worse still, apparently if you don’t show up you won’t get someone knocking on your door until at least two vettings have passed without you showing up. In that amount of time the whole place should be overrun.

Part two, written by Traas, was in general much better and more fun to read. The main character is Troy, an Army Scout. He goes out with his partner and a Bag Man named Morris. Morris is a complete dick with a god complex; how the hell did he end up as a Bag Man? Or perhaps more importantly, why is there even a designation for ‘Bag Man’ when it seems like Bag Men are just glorified Army Scouts who don’t have to answer for their actions? At any rate, Troy is an interesting character and he kept my attention throughout the story.

I still have a few minor issues. Obviously these people know what the word ‘zombie’ means, but supposedly most people don’t know to go for the head. Hey, we’ve all known that ever since vampire movies started to come out in volume, which means a looong time ago. Also, why is it that bad guys can never just be threatening or just be insane–why must they always confirm their bad guy status by threatening to rape any ladies present?

There were some good parts in Traas’s story, but they got overwhelmed by setting issues and the poor quality of narrative in Jackson’s part.


Original review on my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2016/07/r...

[Brian Switzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's 2069 and in Sacremento combination doctors/police officers/federal agents called bag men are working to make the small community the safest place in America. The zombie virus has evolved- zombies are no longer the stumbling, groaning, creatures that nearly ended man's time on Earth. Now they fit in, looking, acting, and talking just like you and I. Right up until they kill. It's the Bag men's job to find them, put them down, and destroy their bodies.

At a time when it's not uncommon for a zombie tale to full ten books in a series, Silas Jackson's Bag Men is a welcome novella, telling its story in a scant seventy-three pages. It's gripping from the start, and Jackson does a good job of establishing well-rounded characters and a well-written and fast paced narrative. The plot surprises a couple of times, leading you right up to where you think it's going to go and then zagging away in another direction.

[Anastaciaknits · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a shorter novella about a new world where the zombies act just like humans like you or me, until they decide to eat your brains. It's a shorter work, and took me much longer to read then it should have based upon the length.

The book has some back and forth between the past and the present (most of the time this didn't make much sense to me as far as further the plot was concerned), but then at the end, everything got tied together with a nice little twist, with a bit of an opening in case the author decides to turn this into a series.

There's a lot of characters for such a short story, which made things a bit confusing at times, which is one reason for the three star review, but it's well edited and the pacing is good.

Received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for my review!