Zombies! discussion

Hey all, I am pretty brand new here and need some suggestions. I love the initial outbreak aspect of zombies. The plague has just started and is spreading. I love reading about it, seeing it in film. Everything. I remember reading some good fan-fic over at homepageofthedead.com but what I'm looking for is suggestions of books that cover this and are good reads. Much help would be much appreciated.
Thanks all

Hey Patric! What kind of books are you interested in reading? There are so many different sub-genres! Or are you just looking for good zombie books (at initial outbreak) in general?

Try the thread Let’s play Name that Zombie (Book or Movie) Plague zombies
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

It's still a work in progress but it's growing all the time. (Thanks netanella)

What different subgenres are there? I was unaware. My newness is showing.

Oh my there are all kinds of zombie books.

The most common I find are ones that I call "Man on a mission". Those have their main characters off to find/save their family. Most of those have white male lead characters but sometimes they have a slight twist.

You'll also find

Zombie titles which focus on the survival aspects of the Z. Apocalypse

Zombie titles which focus on the life of the zombie.

There are the different kinds of zombies, slow, fast walkers, the ones that can think, the ones that have memories, the ones that have emotions, the ones that can be cured and so on.

There are the different ways the zombies are made
You asked about plague (virus) zombies.
But there are more ways that zombies are created like EMP, demons and ancient evil, aliens, nuclear weapons/accident, Witch doctors voodoo and magic.

There is an ever growing group of paranormal Romance books that happen to have zombies, Young Adult zombie books, zombie comic books, even Zombie Erotica. You can find more and more reality Tv shows based on the idea of a zombie apocalypse.
Zombies are back, stronger than ever in all genres.

Hi Patric! I'm new too. I've found it very helpful to read reviews of books I loved and books I hated, find the reviewers I agreed with the most in either category, and then use their ratings and reviews on other books they've read to choose new books for myself. For example if a reviewer said "I loved this book because of the romantic triangle between the two humans and the hot zombie" - well no offense to them - but I'm probably going to hate what they like and like what they hate. It is taking a lot of snooping and reading but so far my hit rate is much better than before I started reading here. I'm figuring out which people - some have rated or reviewed thousands of books - have taste that is most similar to my own. I have to be very particular because I don't have much time to read, it's audiobooks for me, and most cost around $20.00

I agree Thia. I used to watch Siskel and Ebert. I never cared whether they gave a movie a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Instead, I listened to what they said about the movie. That was usually the best guide to whether I might like it.

If I ever heard them say a movie was "a slice of life", I would avoid it like the plague.

What a coincidence Randy. I have a "to be read r's shelf". Wonder who "r" could be ;)

Good thing I don't give everything a 5 rating. :)

PS: Be aware that Tammy and I often give books opposite ratings!

Randy wrote: "Good thing I don't give everything a 5 rating. :)

PS: Be aware that Tammy and I often give books opposite ratings!"

Yes, it's true.

I can never guess what Randy will rate a book.
I'm usually pretty good guessing what Tammy K will give it.
Good team Tammy!

It can also help to download a selection of free books that look interesting. We have a whole thread devoted to exactly that! Usually the books posted are only free for a day, but I've found a LOT of great books from that thread, and it's let me figure out a little better what my interests are. And if it's not really my thing - then all I've lost is a bit of time :)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

@ Tammy and randy- a little off topic but you're both prolific reviewers so id like to get your thoughts on appropriate author communication - if an author sees that a reader has the authors book in his or her "to read" shelf and the author wishes to offer that book or ebook to the reader for free- is it improper to message that reader? Would that come off as stalking lol?

if an author sees that a reader has the authors book in his or her "to read" shelf and the author wishes to offer that book or ebook to the reader for free- is it improper to message that reader? Would that come off as stalking lol?

I'm on the fence about it. For one thing, if it's in my "to read" shelf, I already have a copy of the book. I only add things to GoodReads that I own. It's basically my "collection" tool for the Kindle.

I've been a little upset a few times when an author sent me a private message. Other times I've been flattered. It depended on the author and the book.

I think a better approach would be to send a "friend" request, with an additional message that says you saw they added your book to their shelves. I've preferred that over the direct PM. Knowing that an author is ACTIVE on GoodReads sometimes give me additional motivation to read the book and give a review. I just have so many unread books on my shelf, I can't keep up.

And offering me a free book doesn't entice me, because I prefer to get them from Amazon, so they'll be well behaved in the Cloud, where I store all my Kindle books.

@randy thanks that is an insightful perspective. The thought came to me after I did the goodreads giveaway in sept. 600 people signed up and while I only gave away ten books, I thought we'll hell I'd certainly giveaway 600 e copies if those readers were interested. Based on your thoughts I don't think ill pm offers. Being fairly active on goodreads I receive friend requests but I don't assume those requests are n interest in my novels but an interest in my opinions in posts. i dont usually offer my books because I'm here to interact not be a salesman. Thanks again for the thoughts on the subject.

Raymond wrote: "@ Tammy and randy- a little off topic but you're both prolific reviewers so id like to get your thoughts on appropriate author communication - if an author sees that a reader has the authors book ..."

Just like Randy, most of the books on my 'to read' list, I already own (unless I have them on my wish list).
I do not mind contact from an author asking/encouraging me to read their book.
I own close to 4,000 kindle books and around that in epub formatted books.
I LOVE reading. I like reviewing. I don't always review the books that I've read. Writing reviews can be a lot of work.
It depends heavily on my life activities if I write up a review.
But IF I get a nudge, and the author is willing to accept my review regardless of the rating I give it, then I'll gladly push the book up in my reading schedule and write a review.
(Again this is for books that I already have on my to read list)
Unlike Randy, I'd rather that an author either contact me in a goodreads email or comment on the section of my review of the title to make that request.
I want my goodreads friends to be people I interact with on more than one book.

Thanks Tammy - I firmly believe that once a book is in the hands of the reader an author needs to accept that reader's rating or review regardless of result. Best selling author Vince Flynn has his kirkus reviews posted for his early novels- the reviews are terrible but he put them out there and obviously readers don't all feel he same way. Any press is good press lol

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread....

@patric - I thought Brian keene did a nice job of remaining focused on the zombie aspect in The Rising. David Wellington started at the other end with Zombie Island where we are a few years out. Although not straight out zombies exactly, I also think king's Cell stayed focused on the zombie aspect through out

Hey sorry I haven't posted, midterms got the better of me. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try a few of them out and maybe see how I make out. I am actually reading through the new Day by Day Armageddon book. After I'm done with this I'll get to work on some of those suggestions.