Latex Records

Oddly, I stumbled across this by mistake. I was bored and it being that October is slowly approaching, I was simply looking for some no-think horror entertainment, as most zombie fiction tends to be, and was just going to pick up the next paperback of Resident Evil which I’ve recently began reading. They can be entertaining even though the characters are weak and the plots even weaker. However, for some strange reason I couldn’t find a single one in the local book store. So I was browsing for any zombie fiction. I’ve spent years reading vampires as my tradition but I’ve recently turned to zombies thanks to the rise of some much better produced films like the remakes of the George A. Romero films and the new ones which portray the “zombies” as very human but infected with a ‘rage’ virus like the 28 series which I find all to disturbing because of its somewhat realism.

Anyway, I found DBDA by chance but was VERY excited when I began to read it. It looked interesting because scanning the book I saw that it is written like a personal journal of someone experiencing the zombie apocalypse. This book is up there with the only really good book I’ve ever read prior to this on the topic, though I’ve read a handful of authors and lots of short stories, which is World War Z by Max Brooks. Max totally changed the genre with his release of the Zombie Survival Guide and then again with World War Z, a collection of stories relating the effects of the rise of the undead on a global scale. I feel Mr. Bourne has again changed as he takes this very personal approach from his main character who, like the author, has military experience which sets him apart in the story. It makes sense that someone like him would survive while the rest of us lazy bastards with little or no arms training would likely go down quickly.

I specifically like the combination of slightly technical aspects which give life to the story but do not bog the reader down with things they don’t comprehend. He keeps it simple but makes it realistically seem that the author of the journal would speak like that. Also, I absolutely love that he FINALLY has kept the reader on edge for every encounter realizing that you can’t just go blasting every zombie in the head that you encounter or the sound would likely attract hundreds more so one must be ingenuitive and use intelligence and common sense and whatever skills and objects at your disposal to survive. Planning is also important and one can only stay put for so long. Bourne really makes this more realistically viewed than most anyone in the genre and I believe that it also creates an air of tension which the hack, slash, run-over, and blast stories lack! Bourne has done one EXCELLENT job and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND him to anyone who is a fan of Max Brooks or some of the better produced movies in the genre. I will be waiting, rather impatiently I must admit, for any and all future installments. We must have patience with the author as he is on active duty in the military and thus might not have as much time to write but I’m sure every day of his real world experience also adds to the life and realism of the next book. I can’t wait!!!

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This is the third book in the Incarnations of Immortality series by the famous author of the Xanth series. In this series, the “immortals” are actually humans who take a temporay office and are immortal only for the term of that office. The first book focused on Death (Thanatos), the second on Time (Chronos) and the third is about Fate (Clotho, Lachesis, & Atropos). These are actually three individuals who share the immortal body of Fate in which they operate very much like the neo-pagan goddess aspects of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Each immortal as their own unique attributes and “powers”. Fate utilizes the “threads” in many ways and is very closely tied to the symbology of the spider. Oddly, I guess it’s personally fitting that I’ve waited this long to read this one since that symbol has taken on some strong personal associations in recent years. I began this series when I was a teen in High School in the 80′s. This book actually came out my graduation year of 1986. I was a very avid fan of Piers during Junior and High School and I guess after graduation I lost touch as life took many turns and took me out of the state, away from family and friends, and into the military for a short term. After this I got more into Horror than Sci-Fi and Fantasy and then into Theology and Philosophy so I’m only now coming back to Fantasy with the exceptions of popular writings such as the Harry Potter series and a few other exceptions which I’ve read for both personal enjoyment as well as to find interesting books for my young son. However, having returned to the writings of Piers Anthony, or as we once called him, Pier-Xanthony, I can see why I enjoyed him so much even at a younger age. His writing and his personal approach to story telling is still something that is very close to me. He is an excellent writing and has written stories for all ages. He is also a master of combining Science-Fiction and Fantasy so smoothly and elegantly that the transition is barely noticable until after he’s taken you there. It is something once considered impossible by earlier writers and Piers is definitely the master.

In this installment, Niobe, our main character, becomes Fate after some dabbling by Satan, the incarnation of Evil, who is attempting to thwart some possible difficulties in his own future. However, this affects Niobe personally and causes her to become Clotho and later Lachesis in an attempt to overcome Satan’s mischief and rescue her own family. Everything Piers writes is a fun and unpredictable ride into a realm of fantasy that will make you feel as if you are witnessing these events on some personal level. There are many layers to his writing form the simple amusement to symbolic analogy and even some morally thought provoking occurences. I now want to go back and restart this series and finish it! I have read so many books by Piers that the only reason I ever quit was because he became the only author I was reading for years as he was putting them out so quickly and I was so captivated by every one of them that I eventually felt I had to expand and read something/anything else just to read something different. I could easily get trapped into another several years of Piers Anthony once started!!!

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