Don't be a zombie - review that book!

 

 Yes, it's the thing we all love and/or hate to get - reviews.

Why care? Well, they help other readers decide; they help with ranking on Amazon.

I'm grateful for the good ones that readers so far have given to GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie...

Of course, I know there are lots more people who read the book, who said they liked it, and haven't gotten around to doing their reviews, so a gentle reminder! (If you're not a zombie, please do yes do review it!. haaa!)

** Here are the links to review at:  Goodreads --- Amazon.com --- Amazon UK  ---- B & N  (See? Easy! And thank you!) **

(* Download the prologue and chapter 1)

Okay.... so, what are the readers saying?  Some tid-bits:

"..I really enjoyed this story by Ms. Verstraete because it is so different from so many other zombie stories which look at a more serious form of the disease...dead people walking around trying to eat the living and the living trying to kill the walking dead. No...in this story we see a teenager living with a disease that is not fully understood and also trying to be just a teenager..." - Denise on Goodreads and Amazon (5 stars!)

"...GIRL Z is a different type of zombie apocalypse story, especially recommended for fans of the genre!" - Midwest Book Review. * Read the rest - Fantasy/SciFi Shelf, Small Press Bookwatch   (Book also included in the Cengage Learning-Gale interactive CD-ROM series “Book Review Index” )

"I found this book to be very interesting and well written. It kept my interest until the very last page...   I enjoyed how it showed what Becca was feeling and thinking. You could really tell how she was feeling about being a zombie and how it was changing her on the inside and outside." - Emily, age 16, at LitPicks - 5 stars

  " ...If you've read as many zombie books as I have (I believe I'm up to about 60 now) you may be getting that "been there, done that" feeling. I can guarantee that you will NOT have those feelings with this book. If you're looking for a fresh, fun, and fast-paced New zombie book, download, Girl Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie! I firmly believe you will not be sorry you did so..."  - Reader Joline on Amazon

  

"GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie brings teenaged angst to an entirely new level when 16-year-old Becca is infected with a zombie virus and becomes one of the living dead...
   "Still sentient and able to control the whole flesh-eating cravings, Becca struggles to find her place in a world where some of the dead eat the living while others try to fit into their old lives, only to be met by hostility and fear from former friends and family.
    "Written from Becca's point of view, we get a narrow and very realistic view of this chaotic new world from a self-absorbed teenager's tunnel vision. A very fun and readable introduction to a new series!"  --Dana Fredsti, author of Plague Town & Plague Nation, sword fighter, and actress in Army of Darkness.

“...You can actually look at this story as a parable about the teenage condition. An orderly life is upended by forces and urges that are difficult to control. People you trust can turn on you, and sometimes you feel like you’re going to die. Yep, that’s being a teenager.
  “...Verstraete, whose background runs from journalism to designing one-twelfth scale dollhouse rooms, has come up with a clever way of telling her story from a zombie point of view without sinking to the “Hungry…eat…BRAIINNSSS!” level.... With Girl Z, Verstraete has shuffled to the head of the zombie-lit horde...” – Terrance Mc Arthur, Kings River Life Magazine, www.kingsriverlife.com

"....The story is well written and the timing throughout the story is just right.  As a fan of anything ZOMBIE related, I can truly say that this novel is a much needed “Breath of fresh air”! - Dina B. Reed, "zombie" actress,  One Last Sunset

Two Sentence Tuesday: Zombie Style and The Walking Dead... no thanks to Psy

If you haven't heard the name Gangnam Style by now, you've been living in a cave.

And if you've heard the song and seen the "horsey" dance 50 million times by now, I'd say it's time to change it to something more useful. Hey, how about Zombie Style?

My two sentences today:  Live, fight or die. Live life Zombie Style.

Simply put: it's survival.

Isn't that what most zombie books are really about?

You may say you hate or have no interest in reading zombie fiction, but... ask the thousands  (millions?) watching The Walking Dead on TV and despite the horror, gore, and grotesquely fascinating zombies they have created, it's the fight for survival, that human element that keeps everyone hooked and coming back for more.

The people, the characters, that's what keeps us so fascinated, and isn't that what makes us delve into a book or movie? It's their fight for survival, their struggles, their triumphs....

That struggle, too, is what made writing GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie so much fun. I mean, it's not everyday you turn into a zombie, right? And live (un-live?) to tell about it? (Coming this summer!)

** Your take?

* Who's your favorite zombie character? Got a favorite zombie book or movie?

Two Sentence Tuesday Zombie Style! Girl Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie 1

One of the blogs I read has a fun feature, "Two Sentence Tuesday," and since I want to begin sharing lines from my upcoming book, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie, this seemed a perfect way to do that.

Up until the book's release sometime this summer, I plan to start sharing quotes to let you see what is coming.

So for a start, here are the first - very first - lines from the prologue in GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie by C.A. Verstraete....

A virus. A freaking virus.

I'd been sick before, you know, measles, mumps—kid stuff—but not really sick.

Never like this.

*  Love to hear your feedback - and share your favorite two lines from a favorite book or your own work.

Zombie Reading Challenge 2013 at BookChickCity

For this first Monday post, I'm sure my fellow Z girls will want to join me in the 2013 Zombie Reading Challenge over at BookChickCity.

I joined last year, and was amazed at the number of zombie books out there! It's like a Z horde that keeps coming and coming and coming...

As I was writing my own zombie book, GIRL Z: MY Life as a Teenage Zombie, I didn't start reading any Z books until I was finished and began shopping the book early last year. I didn't want to get "tainted" by anyone else's ideas. But once I began reading--wow! I now have 55  books listed on my  Zombie shelf at Goodreads - and I've barely scratched the surface, nor read most of them. And I keep adding more...

Two (of the many) I enjoyed so far were:

The book that blew me away? I loved the textures in DEAD OF NIGHT by Jonathan Maberry.

Also enjoyable, with a unique Western twist and different take on zombie infection, was WANTED: DEAD OR UNDEAD by Angela Scott.

** Got any of your own favorite zombie reads? Please share!

Meet the Girl Zombie Authors!

Meet the Girl Zombie Authors:

Thought we'd kick out the new blog with a little intro about us. Be sure to check out our pages and come back for all kinds of zombie and horror fun! Yes, fun... heh-heh-heh! We'll be talking books, movies, and whatever strikes our collective fancies, so stay tuned...

I'm Chris Verstraete, author of the upcoming YA novel, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie (coming in 2013 from Intrigue Publishing), and a recent zombie convert.

     

Well, maybe not that recent.... I've been a big horror fan all my life. I mean, what can be better than a good scare, right? I came onto the zombie fiction writing scene a few years ago, though I'd seen some movies before that (good and mostly bad.) But like everyone else, I saw The Walking Dead and was hooked, even if some of the creatures are well, okay. admit it--kind of gross. But it's the story that hooks you.

  I've done some short horror and played with a touch of humor in a previous zombie-related short story, THE KILLER VALENTINE BALL. But thinking about a new twist on zombies led me to  ponder, what if a  young girl is scratched, but only partly transforms? What would happen? And given my penchant for odd humor, I had to make it funny (humor being subjective, of course.) Hence, GIRL Z was born... can't wait to see what you think!
         ** See website for synopsis, ebooks and short book trailer.



Meet co-blogger Karina Fabian: 

I'm Karina Fabian, and I write mostly fantasy and science fiction, though I have delved into horror and written a devotional.  I've got eclectic interests, and invite you to check out my website, http://fabianspace.com, pick a genre and explore.  Many of my stories are humorous and satirical, so when Kim Richards of Damnation Books asked for some zombie stories, that's the angle I took.


The Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator stories are as much an irreverent look at our near future as they are about zombies.  In them, we've managed the zombie contagion, making them less an apocalypse and more a pest control issue.  Neeta Lyffe is an exterminator in California with an unusual specialization--zombies.  With chainsaws, laser swords, napalm grenades and cleaning chemicals, she'll handle your undead issues.  Now, if only she was as good handling her living issues!  You can learn more at http://zombiedeathextreme.com.



Meet co-blogger Pembroke Sinclair:

 I'm Pembroke Sinclair and when I first started writing, my goal was to be classified as a sci fi/fantasy writer.  But as I honed my skills and found my writing style, I found that I enjoyed writing in several different genres.  Now, I write an eclectic mix of fiction ranging from Westerns to horror to sci fi to fantasy.

The first story I had published was based on one of my spouse's guiding adventures.  After that, things just fell into place.  I've had several short stories published in several different places, and I have two novels, with a third on they way, and I recently signed a contract for my fourth.  One of my short stories, Sohei, was even voted as a "Best of 2008" story by the Cynic Online. 

I've written several books including, LIFE AFTER THE UNDEAD and DEATH TO THE UNDEAD. 

* See details at my blog. * Check out the LIFE AFTER THE UNDEAD book trailer.


Meet co-blogger Sabrina James Riley:

I am Sabrina James Riley; Mother, horrible cook, worse athlete, English freak, lover of sushi, and author. My first novel was The Loki Variation, a story about a different kind of zombie outbreak, and how people who start off as strangers become as close as a family in order to make it.

My short zombie story, Wesley, is a pretty rare perspective on the change from human to zombie, and the cycle that starts an epidemic, with maybe a hint of humor. It's being featured in the highly-anticipated horror comic anthology, Skin Crawling Comics, coordinated by Rachel Pandich.

I have a fascination with zombies, and while I like the classic, slow-moving Romero zombies, I love the fast, rage-filled, superhuman 28 Days Later zombies. I live in Florida with my zombie-loving husband, my two daughters, and a few too many pets.