Sunday, July 31, 2011

A Review of Killing Trail, and More

Travis Erwin gives a good mention to Killing Trail over on his blog. I'm glad the book is being so well received. Thanks, Travis.

I recently read a pretty good book myself. It was called Night of the Living Trekkies, and was written by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall. Since this is somewhat of a "gimmick" book, I was afraid it would be awful. But I love Star Trek so I decided to give it a try. It was actually very well done and I enjoyed it very much. I'm very pleased to have been wrong about it.

The book's premise is a zombie outbreak at a Star Trek convention. The key to this kind of thing is good writing and this certainly qualifies. And clearly the authors knew their subjects, both Star Trek and Zombies, and Star Wars to boot. Lots of nice touches, like using episode titles for the chapter titles, and having the dialogue at places reflect the shows.

Kudos to the authors

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12 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations, Charles!
And I've had that Star Trek book on my reading list for a while now.

SzélsőFa said...

Congratulations for the good review!

I read your short description of the Star Trek/Zombies combination fiction. You mention that there are lots of enjoyable references and that the writer is familiar with these themes. I have seen a couple of (like 4-5) zombie movies, but know nothing about S.T.
I was wondering whether this, or similar books, that is, books with tonnes of references were enjoyable to outsiders like myself? I, for that matter, would never want to read a book with such a title, but I am not a fan. Would this be the clue? That such books are read by fans only?
:)

Deka Black said...

Szelsofa: i don't think so. From the words of Charles (Hi!) i get the idea that is a good book, and entertaining. AND if you like star trek is a bonus.

But that's only my opinion, of course.

Randy Johnson said...

I too have been eying the Living Trekkies. Another I've been thinking of is Shatnerquake. Have you seen that one.

The premise is that a reality bomb set off at a convention brings to life all versions of Shatner: Kirk T. J. Hooker, Priceline Shatner, Denny Crane, the dude from S**t My Dad Says, and on, all with one thing in mind, kill the original.

It looks like fun if, as you say, the writing is equal to the goofy idea.

the walking man said...

So uhhhh Charles read The Idiot (Dostoyevsky) or War and Peace yet?

C'mon man give a guy a break on recommends I am still working on Archangel, then Travis book and I am not sure but I know there is more stuff on the K.

BernardL said...

That is a creative idea and must have been a lot of fun for the authors to write.

laughingwolf said...

grats on continued success/sales of 'killing trail', charles :)

Charles Gramlich said...

Alex, thanks. It's worth reading, and is a quick read.

Szelsofa, I don't know. I think a non fan could probably read it and enjoy it at some level, but fans are likely to get a LOT more out of it.

Mark, I've read "The Idiot," not War and Peace. If you're a Trek fan I'm sure you'd enjoy this. If not, you could probably skip this recommendation.

Bernardl, I know, I was thinking that too. Why didn't I come up with that idea?

Laughingwolf, thanks, man.

Chris said...

Killing Trail is next up on my Nook, if I can ever pry it out of my wife's hands.

Lisa said...

hello charles, isn't it nice to be surprised with a good book. i can't really remember the last time that has happened to me.

pattinase (abbott) said...

It does sound like fun and the first series especially would be great to satirize. I think it was basically a satire-and then the rest got serious. Congrats on the review, Charles.

Charles Gramlich said...

Chris, I have a Kindle but am strongly thinking of getting a nook too. I hope you enjoy.

Oceangirl, it happens less than I'd like it to for sure.

Patti, I think the original series played all sides of the coin, parody, satire, serious drama, and so on.