“Border Crossing” by V.M. Zito (Hodder)

A short story intro to the world of The Return Man

Corporal Noah Brodeur’s job is a lonely one. In the aftermath of the outbreak, from his remote Canadian border station, Brodeur must guard the Slinky: a formidable wall protecting his countrymen from the Evacuated States and the ravenous creatures that roam there.

All is quiet until the day a stranger emerges from the safe side of the forest. He says he is on a classified mission for the CIA. He says his name is Special Agent Kenneth Wu. He demands that Brodeur break rank and allow him across the border into danger.

But when everything is at stake, can appearances be trusted? And on the edge of civilisation, who is more dangerous, the living… or the dead?

Border Crossing is set before the events of The Return Man. Instead of focusing on Henry Marco, the star of the novel, this short story is about a Canadian border guard, Brodeur, and tells us the story of Kheng Wu’s infiltration into the Evacuated States. The story’s pretty short, so there’s not a great deal of time to offer a ton of world-building or character development. But, as an introduction to the world, this works rather well.

Giveaway: THE RETURN MAN by V.M. Zito (Hodder)

To celebrate the UK mass-market paperback release of V.M. Zito’s excellent post-apocalyptic zombie tale, Hodder has been running a number of giveaways. Including this one! I read the novel last year – and really enjoyed it – so to whet your appetite, here’s the synopsis:

The outbreak tore the US in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness, known by survivors as the Evacuated States. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace.

Now Homeland Security wants Marco for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again. But in the wastelands of America, you never know who — or what — is watching you.

In order to be in with a chance of winning one of FIVE copies of the novel, all you have to do is either…

… leave a comment with some form of contact info (Twitter handle, anti-spam-style email address, etc.)

… email me at the address at the very bottom of the page

This will be a relatively short giveaway, so I’ll be leaving this open for one week – until midnight, Thursday 15th November. This giveaway is UK ONLY. I’ll announce the winners, who will be picked at random, on here (in the comment thread and also in a new post, probably) shortly thereafter.

Sorry about that readers from elsewhere, but I’ll see what I can do about a worldwide or regional giveaway in the near future.

An Interview with V.M. ZITO

I’m a relatively new convert to the zombie-apocalypse genre, but I’ve found some really great new novels that are either doing something new or just very well. V.M Zito’s The Return Man, I thought, does both. It is also one of the surprise finds from last year. Read on for more about The Return Man, illicit childhood horror-reading, J.D. Salinger, Spider-Man and more.

Top Picks for April 2012

Like pretty much every month this year, there are a great number of interesting and exciting titles released. Nobody has time to read them all, however, so one has to make the hard choices as to what to read. With that in mind, here are my (much-delayed) selections for my most-anticipated six novels published this April.

“The Return Man” by V.M. Zito (Orbit/Hodder)

A great zombie apocalypse tale with an interesting twist

The outbreak tore the US in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness, known by survivors as the Evacuated States. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace.

Now Homeland Security wants Marco for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again. But in the wastelands of America, you never know who — or what — is watching you.

This novel caught my eye a while ago, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting it ever since. I’ve not read much zombie fiction, because I’ve always had an uninformed prejudice against it, believing it might be rather limited as a genre. After reading Chuck Wendig’s Double Dead, watching The Walking Dead and reading The Return Man, however, I am certainly re-evaluating that position. This novel is engaging, tense, gripping and very well written. I was hooked from the get-go.

Catching Up With the Book Haul

It’s been a loooong time since I did one of these, but because the past few weeks have been amazing for books, I thought I’d use this opportunity for a quick round-up of what you can expect to appear on the blog in the next few weeks and months – some of these have arrived quite early, so I’ll hold back on them until closer to their publication dates.

This is not exhaustive (some very exciting books came in the mail after I took the photo below), so there is actually going to be even more awesome stuff up here as well. This post also doesn’t talk about the comics and graphic novels that will feature on the blog, but I’ll do a separate post for those.

Week in Review (Mar.19-23)

I’m afraid I wasn’t paying too much attention to what was going on around the internets this week, and spent a lot more time away from my computer (some would say this is a blessing…). I did, however, catch a couple of interesting articles:

A Dribble of Ink: “So Long, New York Times Review of Books (With Apologies to Dad)” by Myke Cole [Article]

Myke visits Aidan’s Dribble of Ink to talk about blogs and their value. The flatterer even included a mention of Civilian Reader. There are some very endearing comments about his dad, too.

Mark Lawrence’s Blog: “Turning the Tables #6: Jane Johnson” [Interview]

Ok, this was actually last week, but I missed it somehow, so thought I’d share it again here. Mark interviews his editor. In case anyone’s interested, Mark also interviewed me a while back, which was a rather surreal experience.

Ranting Dragon: “Geekery Grab Bag #1: ALL THE THINGS, or: Let’s Kickstart This Sucker!” by Garrett [Article]

This was a fun article that took a look at a number of interesting “geekery” around the ’net. It includes Chuck Wendig, C.E. Murphy, Kickstarter and more. Check it out.

 Orbit Books: “The Origin of the (Undead) Species” by V.M. Zito [Article]

“I wonder if Charles Darwin was a zombie fan.”

I’m currently reading Zito’s novel, The Return Man, at the moment (I should finish it in about an hour, actually), and thought this was a fun little article about zombies as a species: “while biologists haggle over birds, many zombie fans are divided over what constitutes a ‘real’ zombie. Is the zombie slow or fast? Alive or dead? Mute or able to talk your ear off, right before it bites your ear off?”

Los Angeles Times: What The Hunger Games really means” by Steven Zeitchik [Article]

“Where some see support for the Occupy Wall Street Movement, others see a warning about Big Government. Or a religious message, or ...”

The novel and movie have become, Zeitchik writer, that “rare piece of Hollywood entertainment: a canvas onto which disparate and even opposing ideologies are enthusiastically projected.”

I’ve neither read the novel nor seen the movie, but I have bought the book for my Kindle. I doubt I’ll get a chance to read it before I see it, but I do intend to read the trilogy at some point in the near future. Especially since I seem to have a taste for certain YA titles. [Thief’s Covenant and Fair Coin, in case you’re wondering.]

My Awful Reviews: “Thoughts on Scott” by Sam Sykes [Article]

In which author Sam Sykes ponders about Scott Lynch. It’s a short ode to one of Sykes’s favourite authors, and I’m sure many people can appreciate that Mr Lynch is, indeed, the bee’s knees when it comes to fantasy. He’s the author who rekindled my love for the genre back in 2008, and I’ve not looked back since. Sykes writes with his trademark wit, too, so it’s a fun read.

“Like most predators, Scott Lynch came into my life at a very opportune moment…”

***

The blog’s been semi-busy this week, with a few reviews: Kill Hill  by Dan Abnett, Kingdoms of Dust by Amanda Downum, Garro: Oath of Moment by James Swallow, and also a guest review by Shevaun for Brandon Sanderson’s The Final Empire. There have been a few non-review posts, too, but most notable are the interview with debut novelist Aiden Harte and a piece about why zombies need brains – which had contributions from Sam Sykes, Myke Cole, Justin Landon and Bastard Books.

This last article has given me an idea for an on-going series of posts, which will fall under the banner of “I Ask You”, in which I’ll seek out comments from around the literary community (authors, bloggers, publishers, etc.) on any topic that happens to grab my fancy at some point. I’ll try for a couple each month, maybe. If you’re interested, the next topic will be:

“I Ask You: Does the Sword make the (Wo)Man?”

***

Update: I forgot to mention this fantastic site/Tumblr thing, too, for some reason: T-Rex Trying… [It’s a topic I think about a lot, myself, so was delighted when Alyssa informed me of its existence!]

Upcoming: “THE RETURN MAN” by V.M. Zito

A new trailer for the upcoming novel by V.M. Zito, The Return Man, has now made its way onto the internet. Because I’m very much looking forward to reading the novel, I decided to share it:

The Return Man is published by Orbit in the US (April 1st) and Hodder in the UK (March 29th).

Here’s the synopsis for the novel:

The outbreak tore the US in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness, known by survivors as the Evacuated States. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace.

Now Homeland Security wants Marco for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again.

But in the wastelands of America, you never know who – or what – is watching you.