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10 Minutes from Home #1-8
10 Minutes From Home: The Complete Novel
When a viral outbreak hits Toronto, Denny Collins and his best friend Thom Washington find themselves trapped over 100 km from Denny’s home in a town called Pontypool, where his wife and daughter remain. As the streets teem with violence they must find safety, before finding a way out of the deadly metropolis.
"Bill Howard's 10 Minutes from Home might start out like a standard apocalyptic zombie novel, with scenes that could be taken straight out of a Romero script, but it slowly unfolds into a well narrated love story about one of the most harrowing experiences a couple might have to face. Bonus for those of you located in Ontario: there are plenty of references to genre hot spots, such as the town of Pontypool and Toronto's Bloor Cinema."
- Jessa Sobczuk – Rue Morgue Magazine
“Heartbreaking and soulful, 10 Minutes from Home is one gut-wrenching read I will not forget. This is one meta-cool book!"
- John Palisano, author of NERVES
“A purely cinematic, heart-pounding and thrilling story.”
– Susan Curran, Director of Marketing, Anchor Bay Canada
"Bill Howard's 10 Minutes from Home might start out like a standard apocalyptic zombie novel, with scenes that could be taken straight out of a Romero script, but it slowly unfolds into a well narrated love story about one of the most harrowing experiences a couple might have to face. Bonus for those of you located in Ontario: there are plenty of references to genre hot spots, such as the town of Pontypool and Toronto's Bloor Cinema."
- Jessa Sobczuk – Rue Morgue Magazine
“Heartbreaking and soulful, 10 Minutes from Home is one gut-wrenching read I will not forget. This is one meta-cool book!"
- John Palisano, author of NERVES
“A purely cinematic, heart-pounding and thrilling story.”
– Susan Curran, Director of Marketing, Anchor Bay Canada
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 27, 2012
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 14, 2013
I read the first three episodes of this on my Kindle. Won't go back for the rest.
Do the zombies die when their brains are damaged or not? Howard couldn't seem to make up his mind. That alone was enough to get this one a low rating.
The writing itself was pretty good, with characters that weren't simply cardboard cutouts, which brought it up a bit.
But, dude, you need to make up your mind.
Do the zombies die when their brains are damaged or not? Howard couldn't seem to make up his mind. That alone was enough to get this one a low rating.
The writing itself was pretty good, with characters that weren't simply cardboard cutouts, which brought it up a bit.
But, dude, you need to make up your mind.
September 18, 2012
I loved this book, a great survival story with many twists and turns. If you love AMC's The Walking Dead TV Series, you will love this book!
September 18, 2012
I wrote it, so I think it is pretty good. I hope you do too!
August 6, 2016
I really enjoyed this story and the twist on the zombies. Unlike most of our zombies these days, Bill Howard's zombies were not slow moving cripples. They had speed and strength that was a much scarier concept. There is no outrunning these guys. And there was a little something else that was different about them. At times you would believe that they actually had some thought process left. Some of them anyway. But it’s hard to say. It was written in a way that was very sketchy, likely to keep you guessing.
The only thing I didn't care for was that every other chapter was a recap of each persons life prior to the apocalypse. Maybe it was just me, but I wanted the gore and the fight to get home. Not a "days gone by" recap. So admittedly, I skimmed those pages. It didn't feel like so much of a love story, even with the side story of how they met and got married. But that was fine because there was still plenty of gore.
In this story the military was still a presence in the world so they weren't completely alone. Though the way the military was handling it, they may have preferred to be. They had scientist working on the problem and they had already identified the start of it, which a lot of stories don't give you. People panicked when a new strain of the flu hit, and they were in such a hurry to get the vaccines out to the people that they skipped a few steps in the testing process. Unfortunately, the biggest concern for getting the shots were children and elderly, being the most susceptible to the flu.
The ending was a definite shock. I hadn’t expected that at all. But I want to warn you, at the very end, it looks like the story is over and it is starting to cover other books by this author. There is a small portion before that, that you need to make sure you read. I almost missed it myself thinking it was just other books. It’s actually a report from a military officer and says a lot about the ending, so make sure you keep an eye out for it.
The editing was well done. Not too many grammar problems. The only thing I did have a problem with in the writing style, was the paragraph's were way too long. Some went on for pages before it broke off into another paragraph, making it difficult to find your place if you looked away and it felt too on-going at times. Grammar is a big issue for me, so I rate each book on a 1 - 10 scale (1 being the least amount of errors, 10 being, "wtf are they talking about?") I give this one a 3.
This story was a definite page turner. Over-all a very satisfying read.
*****SPOILER*****
There was a very exciting scene that I wanted to share.
A few members of the group had just escaped an apartment building and started to run off. They had left behind a family and a few others that didn't think they would do to well trying to make a run for it and had decided to stay where they were. They had only come across a few of the zombies inside so they figured they had a good chance. When they realized one of their members were not still running with them they turned back to see what she was staring at. When they looked up they saw dozens of the zombies jumping from balcony to balcony like spider monkey's clamoring to get inside the building. It was described with such amazing detail that you could see it your head and it scared the crap out of me. I loved it...
The only thing I didn't care for was that every other chapter was a recap of each persons life prior to the apocalypse. Maybe it was just me, but I wanted the gore and the fight to get home. Not a "days gone by" recap. So admittedly, I skimmed those pages. It didn't feel like so much of a love story, even with the side story of how they met and got married. But that was fine because there was still plenty of gore.
In this story the military was still a presence in the world so they weren't completely alone. Though the way the military was handling it, they may have preferred to be. They had scientist working on the problem and they had already identified the start of it, which a lot of stories don't give you. People panicked when a new strain of the flu hit, and they were in such a hurry to get the vaccines out to the people that they skipped a few steps in the testing process. Unfortunately, the biggest concern for getting the shots were children and elderly, being the most susceptible to the flu.
The ending was a definite shock. I hadn’t expected that at all. But I want to warn you, at the very end, it looks like the story is over and it is starting to cover other books by this author. There is a small portion before that, that you need to make sure you read. I almost missed it myself thinking it was just other books. It’s actually a report from a military officer and says a lot about the ending, so make sure you keep an eye out for it.
The editing was well done. Not too many grammar problems. The only thing I did have a problem with in the writing style, was the paragraph's were way too long. Some went on for pages before it broke off into another paragraph, making it difficult to find your place if you looked away and it felt too on-going at times. Grammar is a big issue for me, so I rate each book on a 1 - 10 scale (1 being the least amount of errors, 10 being, "wtf are they talking about?") I give this one a 3.
This story was a definite page turner. Over-all a very satisfying read.
*****SPOILER*****
There was a very exciting scene that I wanted to share.
A few members of the group had just escaped an apartment building and started to run off. They had left behind a family and a few others that didn't think they would do to well trying to make a run for it and had decided to stay where they were. They had only come across a few of the zombies inside so they figured they had a good chance. When they realized one of their members were not still running with them they turned back to see what she was staring at. When they looked up they saw dozens of the zombies jumping from balcony to balcony like spider monkey's clamoring to get inside the building. It was described with such amazing detail that you could see it your head and it scared the crap out of me. I loved it...
January 18, 2015
I found this series interesting, but I read through it so quick, I was annoyed to have to keep switching and downloading the next one. I got 1-4 free. All together it's a good Zombie series, I just wish there was a little more meat to it. I enjoyed the parts of getting to know each character with their own chapters. I doubt I'll spend money on the rest though. I feel like they are too short for the price individually.
September 18, 2013
Love this story.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews