Jaimie contented himself watching auras. The people who had arrived by car or truck were obvious. Their feet didn’t hurt. Many were bent from back pain. He surmised that at one time the refugees had tried to carry much more weight. What had once been considered necessary was now a heavy trinket, abandoned by the side of the road and soon forgotten. The Apocalypse did not tolerate nostalgia and survival living in the same dark, cramped room. Jaimie saw everyone’s skull that way.
No matter what dangers lurked in their bodies, their crown chakras were always busy trying to sort out each individual’s place in the world before their inevitable exit. He felt sorry for them. Such struggle cried out for pity. If he could speak, he’d tell them the truth of their existence. He wanted to relieve them of their heavy burdens, but there were too many and their needs were too great.
This review is from: This Plague of Days Season One (The Zombie Apocalypse Serial) (Kindle Edition)
I think this storyline is brilliant. It’s not your cliched, run-of-the-mill zombie apocalypse story. It’s character driven. It’s cerebral. It’s awesome. The first episode of This Plague of Days is the perfect balance of back story, anecdotes, and the events of the present crisis. Jaime, the main character, is fantastically written and surprisingly well thought out. His diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum (formerly known as Aspergers), combined with his synthesesia (seeing emotions as color-auras) is a fresh aspect to an otherwise well-known genre. Reading on, I admit I was nervous that the remaining episodes wouldn’t pack the same punch. I was wrong, they did.
Jaime is an infuriating character to withstand during such a terrifying predicament-which is why he’s awesome. You find yourself screaming at the page for him to speak up, to warn others to what he sees. And that’s when you realize just how invested in the characters you are. And his isn’t the only well-developed character. Chute often provides glimpses into the pasts of some of the others and it’s so well-written, you forget for a moment that the world is in turmoil…but just for a moment before you’re clobbered over the head again with suspense, tension, and terror.
In the end, all the immediate conflicts were resolved in a satisfying way, not rushed, not unrealistic. There’s plenty of ground to cover next season, and the last few lines will leave you guessing and impatiently waiting for Season Two of This Plague of Days.
Mrs. Bendham called from the back of the van. “The man who warned you the epidemic was coming — ”
“Uncle Cliff, Dad’s twin brother,” Anna said.
Jack glanced in her rear-view mirror. “Cliff told us to get ready when people were still laughing at those of us who took the pandemic seriously.”
“That’s nice. Though what kind of preparation can you do against the Sutr Virus except take your vitamins, live in an aquarium and hope for the best?” asked Mrs. Bendham.
“We were better off for longer because of my brother-in-law,” Jack answered.
“Until everything was taken away.” Anna said. Jack heard something new in her daughter’s voice. That wasn’t self-pity. Anna hated the old lady.
Good, Jack thought. Self-pity drains energy. Anger pays it out.
Mrs. Bendham seemed oblivious to Anna’s anger. “Where is he now? Do you think he got out of the way of it all?”
Revising Season 2 of This Plague of Days this evening. Here’s a bitter taste of Sutr-X. This is just before the Infected invade America.
Jack stomped on the brake and swerved to avoid a body in a narrow gap between abandoned cars. It had been a woman. Three large black birds tore into the gore of her open belly.
Jack blasted the van’s horn. The birds backed away a few feet, but did not fly. In their retreat, the birds revealed more horror.
The dead woman lay on her back, swollen and decomposing. The corpse was too close to avoid being seen. What was seen could not be unseen.
One eye protruded, swollen in its socket. The other eye was missing, lost to the vultures. The tongue, too, was fat and stuck out at an angle from the yawning maw. Then Jack spotted something worse…
Episode 4 is out now. Get each of episodes for 99 cents each or grab all of Season One for a discount of just $3.99.
An autistic boy and his family versus The Running Dead
An autistic boy and his family versus The Running Dead
When I worked in traditional publishing, author Anne Rice made vampires huge in popular culture. It seemed everyone was reading Interview with the Vampire (and then all her other books). Soon after, many agents and editors burned out on vampires. Vampires were done to death. The professionals were ready to put a stake through the heart of the phenomenon, so it must be so, right?
Foolish humans.
After the pros declared vampires were finished, the next wave came: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Twilight series, endless graphic novels, fan fic and True Blood.
If you live long enough, you begin to see patterns repeat. It happens in products and news cycles and franchises. Interesting things don’t go away. They get made anew.
The challenge in resurrecting any subject is to make it fresh: Cheerleader versus vampires in a world secretly packed with demons; vampires that sparkle in sunlight, more sex and whatever else it takes to make the old seem new.
Today I ran across an interesting blog entry. The author is tired of zombies. Good news! Zombies are still undead, too. Whether it’s new fans discovering old material in new forms (e.g. the World War Z movie), zombies as love interests, or my new serial (This Plague of Days), fresh takes abound for new fans and for those who think they’ve seen it all.
Innovation doesn’t stop with George Romero, or any other artist no matter how gifted.
If we’d stopped because the genre seemed to be running on fumes, we wouldn’t have 28 Days Later,Shaun of the Dead or The Walking Dead!
My zombie serial features a hero on the autism spectrum, eco-terrorists and more Latin phrases than Harry Potter has spells. It starts with one terrible virus (as if that wasn’t bad enough) that mutates into something more deadly.
What interests me most about dangerous situations is how they bring out truth.
I wrote it so, yeah, five stars from me. It’s like two books in one where two groups of interesting characters are on a collision course. The stakes? Human extinction and the lives of people we care about. But since I wrote it, I wouldn’t believe me, either. I guess if apocalyptic fiction with more Latin phrases than Harry Potter has spells intrigues you, you’ll have to read it to see for yourself. I hope you enjoy it.
This Plague of Days pits an autistic boy against a rising zombie horde. As the world we know comes apart, the infected become cannibals. Take elements of The Stand and
The Zombie Apocalypse serial is here. Get it week to week for a scary summer or get the whole season.
Cell, mix in World War Z and 28 Days Later with a terrorist plot and a strange boy with an obsession for Latin phrases and wham! It’s a zombie apocalypse you’re going to love.
An autistic boy and his family versus The Running Dead
An autistic boy + The Stand + 28 Days Later = This Plague of Days
This Plague of Days iskind of like two books in one. It begins with a world flu pandemic that makes civilization grind to a halt. Then the virus mutates to a form of human rabies that turns ordinary people into cannibals. As a terrorist organization works to spread the contagion, the new strain of the virus rises with the mayhem. In the heartland of an America falling apart, a boy on the autism spectrum discovers he has curious abilities in the midst of the chaos. A war is coming as forces for good and evil come together on a collision course.
I’m so excited to finally release season one. You can get the episodes week by week for 99 cents each or buy the full first season for just $3.99. (Take the discount!) If you enjoy the book, please do review it.
Thanks to Kit Foster of Kit Foster Design for his great work on this project (and there’s more to come for the print version.)
Thanks to the editorial team at Ex Parte Press. Many thanks for your suggestions as I built this huge story. Season Two arrives in September.
This Plague of Days 