What’s this, the U.S. government becoming increasingly centralized and abandoning citizens living on the fringes of society??? Okay, I could so easily turn this into something heavy and political, but, to quote They Might Be Giants, “don’t, don’t, don’t let’s start.” Let’s keep this simple and superficial, shall we?
EMPIRE is a zombie novel. Wait — it’s a good one! It’s set in a future America, where a synthetic virus and some cosmic accident share responsibility for the rise of a flesh-hungry population out to destroy humanity. After the President falls victim to the sickness, the Senate takes over as the country’s ruling body and seeks to reign in the remaining healthy population by centralizing it somewhere in the Heartland (I’d love to learn more about the Senate’s plan, but maybe in EMPIRE II?).
A small group of humans find themselves in a heavily infested Louisiana outpost, fighting for their lives. Do they make it? You’ll have to read to find out!
I really enjoyed the guilty pleasure of reading this super-fun zombie novel. I’d been kind of out-of-touch with the horror community until recently, and it’s fun to see what the new guys are up to. EMPIRE introduced old skool creeps like Sawbones and Eviscerato, which are totally fun amalgamations of childhood nightmares and they work well with the story. I don’t want to give too much away because it’s such a quick, fun read — you owe it to the kid in you to grab a copy and read it by flashlight under the covers or something! (And, just maybe, the adult in you will ponder the symbolism and political statements that may or may not be intentionally there.)
Great job, Dave! I am looking forward to EMPIRE II!
You can get EMPIRE here: http://empirenovel.blogspot.com/
