Nathan L. YocumBesprekingen

*Book source ~ Many thanks to Curiosity Quills for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Simon Craig hears voices, but he’s not crazy. He’s an alcoholic, drug addict, smoker and sort of private detective, but definitely not crazy. The only voices he doesn’t hear are the ones of the dead. The dead don’t speak. When Detective Tanner comes to him for help in finding the daughter of a local crime boss Simon agrees. However, what should have been a routine and easy job for him soon turns into a nightmare of epic proportions changing Simon’s life in ways he never could have imagined.

Well-written with plenty of action this is a great psychic story. Simon Craig is one interesting dude and then to find out he’s not unique? Fantastic! Damsel is downright scary and tragic. The Benefactor is truly evil. I love how this story went from routine to shit with only a touch of Simon’s hand on Pauline. One little innocent thing and BAM! I loved how Simon’s psychic connection is described, but Damsel’s confused me a lot of the time. Very little is said about the Benefactor.

Set in 1952, I’m not sure this story would have been as good set in current times. People are more apt to believe in psychics nowadays and with the digital age it would have been a lot harder for the people in this story to get away the things they did. The ending was very interesting and I’m wondering if we’ll see more of Simon Craig. I certainly hope so. I would love to ride along with him again.

I had a good time with The Zona, recommended by Richard. Gritty, neo-western post-apocalyptic tale laced with religious zealotry. It features ‘'Preachers'’, young men who the church sends out into the ravaged southwest U.S. to kill people perceived as threats. Our main character "Lead", is a twenty-six year old Preacher who goes from dire circumstances to worse. He starts doubting the church and his role, and wonders whether the tales of a better place, called "New Pueblo" are true. His travels through the Zona introduce us to various bands of thieves, hallucinogen worshippers, victims of radiation, terrorized survivors, and so on, as well as to horrifying church practices and emissaries. One of the worst of the latter is heartless crusader Eliphaz, who has made it his mission to take down Lead. Capably written and cinematic, with an ending that felt just right.

Book Info: Genre: Post-apocalyptic
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: fans of dark post-apocalyptic fantasy
Trigger Warnings: religious persecution (by which I mean the persecution of people by religious dogmatics), torture, murder, killing, violence

My Thoughts: I decided to go ahead and read this book after reading Automatic Woman and liking the writing style. This is a very dark book, but a most engaging one. I was impressed by the author's ability with description; each scene was sharp and distinct in my inner eye. This would make an amazing movie.

A lot of this book is basically about man's inhumanity to man, about what happens when power-hungry dogmatics take control and continue to live by the old memories. The destruction of the peaceful people by religious nuts who remember how things used to be and use those old memories rather than learning if things have changed made me furious.

There's some interesting ideas put forward in this book. Like this one:
“Church and God ain't the same thing. From what I know, God's perfect. The Church makes mistakes... God's about order, Church is about power, as best as I can figure, to be against one is not to be against the other.”

Then also: “Good people will outlast the rule of the Church. No rule of law lasts for long, and there is nothing that can wholly destroy the good and evil that lives in man. It's ours to own for the duration of time and whatever exists beyond.”

A common problem with all Curiosity Quills publications is a problem with editing. I have yet to read a CQ book that is well edited, which is a shame because they put out some really excellent books and stories that some people will refuse to read due to the haphazard editing. In this book there was a lot of problem with homonyms, such as “shown” for “shone”, and missing and extra words. I would recommend CQ find some good freelance editors to supplement their editorial staff, which should improve their overall reputation. If you aren't bothered by editing errors, if you're willing to look beyond that and enjoy a really good story, you really can't go wrong with a CQ book, however. This one I would recommend to anyone interested in post-apocalyptic dark fantasy, especially as relating to how religious zealots can make things that much worse. I really enjoyed the book, but it was a downer. I need to find something light and cheerful to perk myself back up.

Disclosure: I picked this book up for free on Amazon. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: The Storms came, and with them disease and blight like mankind had never experienced. Most died, and those who didn't were quick to scramble for weapons, wealth, and control. Petty lords gave way to new societies, and from the ashes of old came the Reformed Arizona Theocracy, or simply put, the Zona. The laws are simple, all sins are punished swiftly and violently. The enforcers, otherwise known as Preachers, roam the lands hunting disgraced men and women. But what happens when Preachers stop killing? What happens when men of honor take a stand against their rulers?

2.5/5

Ambientazione post-apocalittica, Arizona. Del vecchio mondo non resta più nulla se non cadaveri di auto e sacchetti di plastica (ma proprio una marea di sacchetti, sono ovunque), il nuovo mondo è governato dalla follia religiosa in cui i predicatori convertono sostanzialmente uccidendo il peccatore ma sono a loro volta giudicati dal corpo dei Crociati, ancora più cattivo e spietato.
Il romanzo segue il predicatore Lead e il suo incontro con Terence che gli farà mettere in dubbio tutti i valori in cui credeva.

Ora passiamo a cosa non funziona in questo romanzo.
Innanzitutto l'ambientazione post-apocalittica sa di già visto, è un misto tra il famosissimo [b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320606344s/6288.jpg|3355573] e altri romanzi post-apocalittici come [b:The Old Man and the Wasteland|11168429|The Old Man and the Wasteland|Nick Cole|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303332641s/11168429.jpg|16005697]; la componente religiosa ricorda invece [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz|Walter M. Miller Jr.|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329408540s/164154.jpg|250975].
La storia non è particolarmente coinvolgente, anche perchè Lead è un protagonista dalle poche decisioni.
Purtroppo quando si scrive in un genere così specifico come quello di sf post apocalittico bisogna tenere conto degli altri romanzi del genere per creare qualcosa di nuovo.

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2.5/5
Post-apocalyptic setting, Arizona. The world is changed and nothing remains of the past excepts car shells and plastic bags (a lot of plastic bags actually, they are everywhere). The new world is ruled by the religious madness and the preachers convert (more or less by killing) sinners; however they are judged by the Crusaders, a merciless force.
The novel follows the preacher Lead in his encounter with Terence that will bring doubts and lack of faith.

Now I have to explain what does not work (in my opinion).
Overall this post-apocalyptic setting is similar to the one presented in other novels like the uber-famous [b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320606344s/6288.jpg|3355573] or like [b:The Old Man and the Wasteland|11168429|The Old Man and the Wasteland|Nick Cole|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303332641s/11168429.jpg|16005697], while the religious component made me think about [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz|Walter M. Miller Jr.|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329408540s/164154.jpg|250975].
The plot is not entirely involving, especially because Lead is not quite a leader himself but he kind of follows more strong ideas/people.
Unfortunately a so specific science fiction genre like this one requires to take into consideration what was written before in order to build up something original, in this specific case this was not fulfilled.
½

Post-apocalyps religious thriller with some stark horror elements .. bit too much into the gore and detail for my taste, but cleverly written

The Zona is the story of Lead, a Preacher in what was once Arizona - before the storms that changed the world forever. Floods, tornadoes and plagues have resulted in the US being torn apart and remade by warring factions, and in Arizona the ruling class are the Preachers.

This is an intense post-apocalyptic book with vivid imagery and rough, tough characters - which aren't exactly likeable but either had me sympathising with their battles or appalled by their lack of humanity.

It did take me a while to work out exactly what was happening, and why, but once I had that down, I literally tore through this book - the story is controversial and grotesque, the world-building is amazing and the writing is captivating. As the histories of the main characters are gradually revealed, their actions and feelings are, in a way, justified and understandable - in particular I came to appreciate the suffering and conflicts of Lead as the story progressed.

The Zona is the type of book that is easily, if somewhat uncomfortably, consumed in one sitting. If you are looking for an intense read, with a unique story and some shocking revelations about how humans adapt, try The Zona - it's now one of my favourite post-apocalyptic reads of 2012!

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: The Storms came, and with them disease and blight like mankind had never experienced. Most died, and those who didn't were quick to scramble for weapons, wealth, and control. Petty lords gave way to new societies, and from the ashes of old came the Reformed Arizona Theocracy, or simply put, the Zona. The laws are simple, all sins are punished swiftly and violently. The enforcers, otherwise known as Preachers, roam the lands hunting disgraced men and women. But what happens when Preachers stop killing? What happens when men of honor take a stand against their rulers?

The Zona is the debut novel by award winning screenwriter Nathan L. Yocum. Cover art by Peter Schumann.

My Review: Lead is a Preacher in the service of the Reformed Theocracy of Arizona...The Zona...which means he seeks out those lost in sin and error and delivers them, either to Purgatory or to Heaven. No trial is needed, no expiation is offered, the Church has decreed them marked (the Mark of Cain) and so Lead (so nicknamed because he was in Lead Group Two during the Battle for Las Vegas, which ended in nuclear conflagration thanks to the Mormons attacking The Zona's foot army and the People's Republic of Northern California's air force, all supposed allies in the cleansing of sin from the face of the earth) may execute his duty with impunity and without stain on his soul.

He shoots them dead on the spot, or he takes them to the foulest prison imaginable, there to die. In God's name let it be done.

You will by now have perceived that this is not the world of 2012. It is a post-Apocalyptic world, one in which The Storms have ended technological civilization, and the survivors of the initial climate apocalypse next faced catastrophic pole shift, then myriad plagues. In the space of about thirty years, humanity's glittering edifice of civilization has utterly vanished. In its place are a few shattered remnants of humankind, struggling to eke out minimum survival and to make some tiny degree of sense out of this tragedy. Up rears the Church, using its time-tested lies and bullshit to harass and hector the shocked walking wounded into a herd, dedicated to the preservation and future wealth of...the Church. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

So Lead hunts down Preacher Terence, for reasons he doesn't know...he's never told why he's going after a mark, it would only confuse his purpose...and the unthinkable happens. Lead talks to Terence, Lead listens to Terence, and Lead, for the first time since his plague-victim mother dropped dead in the fugee camp and left him to starve or not as best he could, Lead thinks. Why, he thinks., Why, he wonders. Why, he asks, am I killing people to save them? Am I saving them, or damning myself? Is this what God wants of me? Terence, who traveled this road before Lead, answers, “It's what the Church wants, and the Church is not God.”

And there it is, the basis of heresy, and it lights a rocket in Lead's soul that propels the plot into its fast, furious, fiery hot trajectory as Lead and Terence form a little family, attempt to escape the Church and its hideous, hateful strictures, share their horrific pasts (each was, in his own way, part of the Cleansing at Las Vegas, and it left them both irredeemably scarred), and evade their Crusader pursuit team.

The journey to redemption is never easy. It takes its toll on the heartiest and healthiest of men. It leads Lead through the Purgatory he sent other men to, and it sends him, naked and frightened and covered in filth, on a pilgrimage through the desert seeking New Pueblo, a purported Land of Milk and Honey, where the Old Ways still exist.

The first paragraph of the book is what did it for me. I mean, completely hooked me like I was a marlin and it was the goddamned Old Man from that Hemingway farrago.

Lead woke with the sun peeling his eyelids back like the tips of God’s fingers. His vision shifted to focus on the haze of brown earth and the beige nothing of sand and grit. His wrists were bound together on the other side of a sandstone boulder, pulled to an excruciating limit, shoulders popped and throbbing. His beaten face felt like a mask worn off-center, swollen and repugnant. – Kindle Locations 12-14, Kindle Edition.

I like post-Apocalyptic literature, and this novel is some good-quality stuff for my fix. It's a lot like The Road meets A Canticle for Leibowitz to produce a bastard Earth Abides. Author Yocum has a lot to be proud of in this book, and its periodic infelicities of punctuation and occasional lapses into wrong-worditis are readily overlookable because, for heaven's sake, this story is SCARILY PLAUSIBLE. Like “where did this dude get the time machine” plausible. And it's written quite well. And it's paced to maximize excitement. And it's character-development arcs are beautifully calculated to give the minor characters depth and major characters motivation and not bring the bus to a juddering halt during the info-dumps.

Applause, applause, Mr. Yocum, and may you get a mini-series contract from Starz to develop this into a multi-episode successor to The Stand yesterday at the latest. I downloaded the Kindle freebie at about 11am and did not stop reading until I was done. That's how exciting I found this book.½

The Zona by Nathan Yocum is a striking, fierce, powerhouse of a book. Post-apocalyptic Arizona ("the Zona") is a beautifully described setting: bleak, depressing, oppressive and stark; the people who populate the Zona, likewise, are downtrodden, living a hardscrabble life. They call their era the "Broken Times," and that is the strong impression that the reader is left with -- the world is broken, and savage, and short on hope. As one of the characters says, "Peaceful men don’t live anymore. Good men don’t live any more. We’re just winding down the clock until the Earth finishes us all off with weather and viruses or we finish ourselves with our own viciousness.

Our guide through this harsh, Wild-West world is Lead (named after his military division, Lead Group Two). Lead is a Preacher, an enforcer for the Zona's iron-fisted Theocracy; his job is to unquestioningly stamp out dissention by hunting down those who the Church have marked as troublemakers. When a Preacher tracks down a Mark, he gives them the Church's choice of rope or blanket -- to be tied with rope, and taken back to the Church for punishment, or to be shot dead and covered with a blanket.

At the beginning of the book Lead comes across as an arrogant, hard, instrument of the Church. However, as a series of life-changing encounters unfold, we see that he has a conscience and (even more surprisingly), a capacity for hope and joy in living, despite the bleak circumstances of his existence. Consider this passage, as he is running for his life: "The winds shifted, the sands settled. Night had fallen and the stars stretched out to infinity, tracing their slow spiral through the moonless sky. Despite his many and varied travels, Lead had never seen the evening sky so radiant. It felt to him as though God were reaching out with hands that comforted and yet proved conclusively what a diminutive and insubstantial creature man is." Lead's metamorphosis is compelling, as is the strength and courage of the hard-working and oppressed ordinary citizens of the Zona. Though the author's vision of the future is bleak, there is also hope, and it is especially precious when held against the bleak environment.

I found the world of The Zona completely believable and engrossing. I also greatly enjoyed the characters that Lead encounters...even very secondary characters are vividly portrayed, and leave a strong impression. I just finished the story last night, but I have a feeling that The Zona will stick with me for a long time. Fingers crossed for more books based in this fascinating world.½

Editors Sassy Brit and C. C. Bye | 4 out of 5 Stars!
09/04/2012

There are no stories in this lot that do not deserve to be read; they are all of a worthy standard. I believe some needed tighter editing, which they didn’t get – possibly for ideals of free expression. Four stars. Ellie Hall, 1889 Labs
Steve Beai | 5 out of 5 Stars!
03/04/2012

[Excerpts of a review by Steve Beai] ...And then it hit me. That was precisely the point of Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road; to take the reader off guard... ... it all represented the essence of skillful storytelling and every participating author should be justly proud of their willingness to get behind those unfamiliar wheels and step on the gas. I had been run down, backed over, run down and backed over again and again, mangled and rearranged and left gently on the curb, whole and wholly entertained. [Full review: http://www.claytonbye.com/modules.php?name=BBio&op=show&pid=1] Steve Beai is a professional author and musician whose short-story, novel and non-fiction work has appeared in numerous publications and has been recognized by both HWA and MWA. He is currently in the studio with the Rory Lewis Band, laying down the drums for their upcoming third CD, Belize.
Kaye Trout | 5 out of 5 Stars!
19/02/2012

The editing by Sassy Brit and C.C. Bye is excellent, and the entire presentation is beautifully professional. If you like the short-story genre and want something unique and innovative, you might consider this read. My personal favorite was Malpas, a novella, by Marion Webb-De Sisto, an erotica beauty and beast.
T Lane | 4 out of 5 Stars!
02/02/2012

"I got started reading and really couldn't stop—wanting to read more or continue on to the next hair-raising story." _____ "Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road certainly did it for me. From the umber-creepy to the tragically bittersweet, this anthology has it all." _____ "I’m giving Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road a 4½ spider rating and recommending this anthology to any adult reader looking for something different. You can’t go wrong!" _____ T Lane" _____ The full review may be found at: http://bit.ly/HWQKW
Lisa Lane | 4 out of 5 Stars!
05/12/2011

"This anthology contains some of the creepiest and unusual stories I’ve read in a long time. While a few of the selections seemed out of place either by caliber or by genre, the best works in this anthology truly set the bar for greatness in speculative fiction. As a whole, I rate Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road at four stars and recommend it as a great addition to any speculative fiction library." Lisa's review may be read in full here: http://www.cerebralwriter.com/1/post/2011/12/book-review-writers-on-the-wrong-si...