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The Undead Pool
Superheroes battle the living dead in this hilarious spoof on the comic book universe!
The Undead Pool is a humorous and demented origin story of former mercenary Mace Murdock, who after being subjected to an experiment from the evil clown Zarathustra that leaves him with accelerated healing powers and the hunger for human brains, adopts the alter ego The Undead Pool. Armed with his new abilities and a twisted sense of humor, he joins forces with superheroes Stable, Psychotic Menacing Schoolgirl and Tigernaut to battle Zarathustra and his zombie clown army. The comedy never ends in this science fiction and horror parody of every superhero and supervillain that comic book enthusiasts love and hate.
The Undead Pool is a humorous and demented origin story of former mercenary Mace Murdock, who after being subjected to an experiment from the evil clown Zarathustra that leaves him with accelerated healing powers and the hunger for human brains, adopts the alter ego The Undead Pool. Armed with his new abilities and a twisted sense of humor, he joins forces with superheroes Stable, Psychotic Menacing Schoolgirl and Tigernaut to battle Zarathustra and his zombie clown army. The comedy never ends in this science fiction and horror parody of every superhero and supervillain that comic book enthusiasts love and hate.
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About the author
Derek Ailes
18 books40 followersYou can download a free Kindle eBook from Derek Ailes here: http://eepurl.com/bh_qH9
Derek Ailes is a demented post-apocalyptic science fiction and horror author serving his readers one plateful of horrific terror after another. He is the mastermind behind several horror anthologies including Musings From A Demented Mind and Catfurnado, Zombies and One Killer Doll. He recently ventured into the vast superhero universe with his first comedy/horror novel The Undead Pool.
Derek openly admits that he is a nerd. He reads comic books and graphic novels along with watching every DC and Marvel television series, cartoon, and movie. His favorite series are Deadpool, X-men, The Avengers, Superman, Batman, Flash and The Justice League.
Derek resides in the small town of South Haven, Indiana where he cranks out one horrific tale after another. His neighbors both fear and respect him, because they don't know what horror madness he will unleash upon them. He spends his weekends hanging out with horror icons and promoting his work. He is currently working on his latest horror masterpiece.
Derek Ailes is a demented post-apocalyptic science fiction and horror author serving his readers one plateful of horrific terror after another. He is the mastermind behind several horror anthologies including Musings From A Demented Mind and Catfurnado, Zombies and One Killer Doll. He recently ventured into the vast superhero universe with his first comedy/horror novel The Undead Pool.
Derek openly admits that he is a nerd. He reads comic books and graphic novels along with watching every DC and Marvel television series, cartoon, and movie. His favorite series are Deadpool, X-men, The Avengers, Superman, Batman, Flash and The Justice League.
Derek resides in the small town of South Haven, Indiana where he cranks out one horrific tale after another. His neighbors both fear and respect him, because they don't know what horror madness he will unleash upon them. He spends his weekends hanging out with horror icons and promoting his work. He is currently working on his latest horror masterpiece.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 7, 2017
"The Undead Pool" by Ailes is a parody of probably every superhero comic book action hero (particularly the Marvel universe), zombie movie, and modern pop culture reference, lobbed at the reader with the intensed frequency of a 6-year-old boy without his ADHD medication. Mace is a zombified superhero with the maturity to match the aforementioned 6-year-old, and he says and does some funny stuff, but ultimately it got old for this older female reader. As Mace told one of the characters in the book, "The television and movie references will keep coming; I have a lot of pages to fill." Typically Mace is aware that he is a character in a book; he speaks aside to the reader, and even addresses the author to blackmail him in furthering the story.
In truth, I read through the first four chapters, which was about 40% of the book, before I put it down as "not for me." And, in truth, there were some things that put a smile on my face, particularly the parody of Professor X, and the bisected demise of Fluffy the cat when the dome comes down over the United States. But ultimately, the humor was too juvenile for me to want to continue reading further. Kudos to the author, however, for a wicked sense of humor!
In truth, I read through the first four chapters, which was about 40% of the book, before I put it down as "not for me." And, in truth, there were some things that put a smile on my face, particularly the parody of Professor X, and the bisected demise of Fluffy the cat when the dome comes down over the United States. But ultimately, the humor was too juvenile for me to want to continue reading further. Kudos to the author, however, for a wicked sense of humor!
October 20, 2017
This book is bad. This book is very bad! I mean, tongue-in-cheek I can understand and enjoy. This author stuck his tongue up his butt and kept it there for the whole book! Aaaghhh!
Why did I even bother to read it? My son is a Deadpool fan. When I saw this book listed in the Goodreads giveaways I thought that he might enjoy it, so I bought it for him for his birthday. Then I found out that since I bought a physical copy of the book, I could get a Kindle version for free. Great! I'll get it, read it, and then I can talk about it with him. Oh, my God, what a mistake!
If you really, truly are a masochist go ahead and read it. You're warned.
Why did I even bother to read it? My son is a Deadpool fan. When I saw this book listed in the Goodreads giveaways I thought that he might enjoy it, so I bought it for him for his birthday. Then I found out that since I bought a physical copy of the book, I could get a Kindle version for free. Great! I'll get it, read it, and then I can talk about it with him. Oh, my God, what a mistake!
If you really, truly are a masochist go ahead and read it. You're warned.
December 27, 2016
I received this book for free. I got what I paid for. This book is basically the Seltzer and Friedberg parody of the Deadpool movie. I have up about an eighth of the way through the book when it became evident that the film was basically going through the movie and paraphrasing it with minor "parody" changes in names.
I don't like to leave entirely negative reviews, but I simply found nothing clever in this book.
I don't like to leave entirely negative reviews, but I simply found nothing clever in this book.
August 9, 2019
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.0 of 5
Oh, dear.
I really thought that this was going to be some sort of zombie/apocalypse book but no. This is fan-fiction. This is fan fiction posing as a parody. This is someone taking their favorite comic and/or movie, Deadpool, and putting their own twist on it. It's got pretty much the same humor, possibly exactly the same humor, but without the wit, charm, or personality of the original.
Seriously ... trying to be funny and clever but simply being a poor-man's-version of a original just doesn't cut it for me.
So why two stars instead of one? Because there's a second story in this slim book, called The Undead Pool Origins: Tigernaut, which wasn't as bad as the longer, titular story. Since I am only familiar with Deadpool through the films, I don't know if this story is completely made up by author, or if it's a rip-off of the comic-book character's origins. However, it didn't rely on quite so many bad puns and didn't seem to include quite so many pop culture references. (Yikes! Those pop culture references!)
This guy wrote a book and published it and got a bunch of people to read it (there's a sucker born every minute after all). Kudos to him. Now it's our job to let the rest of you know that you don't have to be a sucker, too!
Looking for a good book? Yeah, me too.
I received a free download of this book with no promises to read or review it.
Oh, dear.
I really thought that this was going to be some sort of zombie/apocalypse book but no. This is fan-fiction. This is fan fiction posing as a parody. This is someone taking their favorite comic and/or movie, Deadpool, and putting their own twist on it. It's got pretty much the same humor, possibly exactly the same humor, but without the wit, charm, or personality of the original.
Seriously ... trying to be funny and clever but simply being a poor-man's-version of a original just doesn't cut it for me.
So why two stars instead of one? Because there's a second story in this slim book, called The Undead Pool Origins: Tigernaut, which wasn't as bad as the longer, titular story. Since I am only familiar with Deadpool through the films, I don't know if this story is completely made up by author, or if it's a rip-off of the comic-book character's origins. However, it didn't rely on quite so many bad puns and didn't seem to include quite so many pop culture references. (Yikes! Those pop culture references!)
This guy wrote a book and published it and got a bunch of people to read it (there's a sucker born every minute after all). Kudos to him. Now it's our job to let the rest of you know that you don't have to be a sucker, too!
Looking for a good book? Yeah, me too.
I received a free download of this book with no promises to read or review it.
November 30, 2017
Disclaimer: I won this book from Goodreads.
The book is funny. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had seen the movie or read the comics it is parodying first. (That was my fault. I have the movie on DVD, I just haven't had time to watch it.) The story contains humor, thriller and science fiction elements.
The book is funny. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had seen the movie or read the comics it is parodying first. (That was my fault. I have the movie on DVD, I just haven't had time to watch it.) The story contains humor, thriller and science fiction elements.
November 20, 2018
A parody of several super hero science fiction reads. Good for a fun read.
February 28, 2017
Totally weird and totally funny
A humorous take on the Marvel hero. This character is "undead", strange and kick ass. A tale that is annoyingly funny. Kill the zombie baddies and hunt down the evil clown doctor who created him . Fight lots of weirdo baddies along the way with even weirdo allies.
A humorous take on the Marvel hero. This character is "undead", strange and kick ass. A tale that is annoyingly funny. Kill the zombie baddies and hunt down the evil clown doctor who created him . Fight lots of weirdo baddies along the way with even weirdo allies.
February 14, 2017
one wild adventure, one you must read to believe.
January 8, 2017
A Undead Success
The junior partner of the Ailes Brother of Terror has hit a home run. He has taken the worlds of science fiction and wound them all together into "The Undead Pool". The satire and madness have a way of worming this story into the very core of your being. All I can say to paraphrase the movie "Private Parts," Why do you read these books because I want to see what happens next.
The junior partner of the Ailes Brother of Terror has hit a home run. He has taken the worlds of science fiction and wound them all together into "The Undead Pool". The satire and madness have a way of worming this story into the very core of your being. All I can say to paraphrase the movie "Private Parts," Why do you read these books because I want to see what happens next.
October 29, 2016
This was an extremely funny and entertaining read. As someone who grew up reading comics, this was funny as he'll. The writing mixed origin stories together, came up with outrageous superheroes with obscene superpowers, and ridiculous world shattering events mixed in with some of the situations happening in real life. I caught myself on several occasions laughing out loud.
January 24, 2017
Absolutely Hilarious!!! What an unsuspecting hilarious novella. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the unusual way the author talked to the reader. I can't get the character called Crump out of my brain. In fact, there are many segments of the book that will stick with me for quite a while. I'm still laughing. Well done Mr. Ailes.
September 10, 2016
Hilarious.
As a spoof of a spoof of a hero film this works really well. The Undead Pool is a little insane and a lot funny. I enjoyed the antics, the destruction and the all out randomness of it all.
Well done Mr Ailes, I await book two with bated breath!
As a spoof of a spoof of a hero film this works really well. The Undead Pool is a little insane and a lot funny. I enjoyed the antics, the destruction and the all out randomness of it all.
Well done Mr Ailes, I await book two with bated breath!
March 27, 2017
This is a review of the audiobook.
Run time 3 hrs and 43 mins Narrated by Eric Bryan Moore
Derek Ailes‘ The Undead Pool: A Superhero Origin Story, is less a zombie story and more a superhero parody.
The story begins by mirroring the storyline of the Deadpool movie and was my first clue this story may not be what I was expecting. It jumps right into an action scene, introducing us to the main character Mace Murdock and within moments, as the narrative jumps from the story into my face, I recognize the same style that was done in the movie and understand a little better where things are going.
The story is funny and had me laughing right from the get-go, in fact, I felt the kind of nonsense the author was having fun with is the same kind of humor that fans of my own The Zee Brothers series would enjoy. As the story continued though, I found myself wondering about parody laws and just how close one can get to the source material without stepping over the line.
What did I like about this story?
For the most part, the story is fun and funny with constant action. If you like Deadpool or comics in general, you’ll like The UnDead Pool. It is filled with parodies of different characters from all sorts of pop culture. While it starts as and mostly follows the narrative of the Deadpool Movie(along with some other X-Men storylines here and there), it ends having become a mash-up of pop culture references from comics, movies, TV and whatever else the extensive nerd knowledge of Mr. Ailes brought to the table.
Fans of all things geekdom and nerdom will enjoy the frequent nods to their favorite pop culture icons.
What didn’t I like about this story?
At the same time that the story is funny and humorous, for me, the constant nonsense and parody grew stale. I was familiar with a lot of the storylines that were directly parodied or hinted at and it left me wanting something fresh and new. In part, this could be my expectations, as I was expecting more zombie action and less superhero parody action.
Conclusion: (Aka: Would I listen to more by this author?)
I would listen to more by this author, but it would have to be original content only, not a parody. The author has a great fun style and I would love to hear what he can do with a creation all of his own, but I unfortunately would not listen to any more in this series. It’s just not for me.
I give this 5 out of 10 stars.
Run time 3 hrs and 43 mins Narrated by Eric Bryan Moore
Derek Ailes‘ The Undead Pool: A Superhero Origin Story, is less a zombie story and more a superhero parody.
The story begins by mirroring the storyline of the Deadpool movie and was my first clue this story may not be what I was expecting. It jumps right into an action scene, introducing us to the main character Mace Murdock and within moments, as the narrative jumps from the story into my face, I recognize the same style that was done in the movie and understand a little better where things are going.
The story is funny and had me laughing right from the get-go, in fact, I felt the kind of nonsense the author was having fun with is the same kind of humor that fans of my own The Zee Brothers series would enjoy. As the story continued though, I found myself wondering about parody laws and just how close one can get to the source material without stepping over the line.
What did I like about this story?
For the most part, the story is fun and funny with constant action. If you like Deadpool or comics in general, you’ll like The UnDead Pool. It is filled with parodies of different characters from all sorts of pop culture. While it starts as and mostly follows the narrative of the Deadpool Movie(along with some other X-Men storylines here and there), it ends having become a mash-up of pop culture references from comics, movies, TV and whatever else the extensive nerd knowledge of Mr. Ailes brought to the table.
Fans of all things geekdom and nerdom will enjoy the frequent nods to their favorite pop culture icons.
What didn’t I like about this story?
At the same time that the story is funny and humorous, for me, the constant nonsense and parody grew stale. I was familiar with a lot of the storylines that were directly parodied or hinted at and it left me wanting something fresh and new. In part, this could be my expectations, as I was expecting more zombie action and less superhero parody action.
Conclusion: (Aka: Would I listen to more by this author?)
I would listen to more by this author, but it would have to be original content only, not a parody. The author has a great fun style and I would love to hear what he can do with a creation all of his own, but I unfortunately would not listen to any more in this series. It’s just not for me.
I give this 5 out of 10 stars.
April 3, 2017
Well, I'm giving this more a 1.5 star rating. Let's be honest, I didn't like this book. I was expecting something a little...different. Not a rehash of "Deadpool" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". There's just....not enough originality in here for me. And all of the pop-culture references. Sure, I enjoyed some of them. Especially the wrestling ones (I'm a wrestling fan after all). BUT, there's just TOO FREAKING MANY to really get me to enjoy this read. It was far too...cluttered. Another thing that I had an issue with was with the spacing. It looked like the paragraphs were too far indented on my Kindle, and there were some weird gaps in the middle of a sentence. Now, I'm sure that there are going to be some people who would enjoy this read, but this wasn't for me. But it very well may be just the right fit for you; if you enjoy gore-drenched parodies and the type of humor that a character like Deadpool (and subsequently, Undead Pool) provides.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews