Kiss Me, Judas by Will Christopher Baer

Paperback: 330 pages
Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (June 20, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596921862
ISBN-13: 978-1596921863
Age Level: Adult
Book Series: Phineas Poe: Kiss Me, Judas, Penny Dreadful, Hell's Half-Acre

Reader's Annotation: After being released from a psychiatric institution, Phineas Poe, an ex-cop, awakens on a bed of ice after a steamy night with a woman that he might very well have left with his heart as well as his kidney.


Synopsis: After being released from a psychiatric institution, Phineas meets a woman who charges for her services of love. As it turns out, money wasn't the only Jude, the surrealy beautiful woman takes from Phineas. After a stay in the hospital, and a run in with his old buddies from his cop days, Phineas sets off to do either of two things: get revenge or find the woman who stole his kidney and his heart. In this dark, thriller, the reader who loves noir, edgy writing, and quality dark humor, Baer delivers a wild ride that sucks you in and reminds you of your days hanging out with Palanuick or Tarantino. I think this book is not to be missed, so long as you have the stomach for the violence, sex, drugs, and an occasional kidney surgery.

Notes: Detailed sex, drugs, and violence make up the core of this book. Parental discretion is a must. If the bizarre is your taste, but in the style of pulp noir splashed and decorated with the drug induced haze of writers such as Hunter Thompson and Chuck Palahnuik, then you have found your next read! You will love it! Others: good luck. Ha Ha.

Extras:

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem

By: By Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith

Publish Date: 2009

ISBN: 1594743347

Page #: 320 pages

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Fiction, Horror

Age Level: Adult, Older Teen

Series Titles: n/a

Subjects: Zombies, Regency Romance, Classics, Satire

Reader's Annotation: Jane Austen's beloved classic Pride and Prejudice now has zombies! After coming out of copyright, Graham-Smith brilliantly adds his own twist by transforming this literary classic with a few choice words here and there (and what a difference)!

 

Synopsis & Review: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins the literary transformation of the famous first line of one of the worlds most beloved works of fiction of all time. But if you are like me and so many others, you wouldn’t read Austen to save your life. Unless of course, your life was being threatened by Zombies! I adore a great deal of classics, but in the case of Austen I was particularly inclined to stay away. Now, with open arms, I am taking in my Austen as I never thought I could. Seth Grahame-Smith delivers a hilarious mash-up of Austen romance, Austen dresses, & Austen manners, and now Austen style zombies. (Note the zombie woman who wastes such a fine wedding gown while praying on brains. ‘Tis a shame.) Readers with a taste for Austen, a taste for zombies, or any variation of the two will revel in the satiric re-telling that aptly plays on the original heroine (Elizabeth Bennet) by keeping her as the spirited and determined central character she always was, but now she carries a Katana and martial arts training! Ms. Bennet, who holds a singular talent to slice and dice the demon dead that has been unleashed upon English countryside. Enter Mr. Darcy an arrogant zombie fighter who is drawn to Ms. Bennet and her skill to kill. Their love affaire de couer takes them through all the woes and wins of the original work but turns them into a cutting edge dance with “unmentionables” (a more Austen-esque term then undead I think) at the core. For those of you who abhor romance this is the romance for you. And for those of you who abhor violence, well, dare I say: this is the horror story for you! On a personal Level, I could not recommend a book more! IN fact, this is a Darcy that I can really sink my teeth into! Or shall I say in spirit, I am in want of more! It must be noted that Grahame-Smith does an excellent job at seamless transitions from Austen to zombie moments. Fans of Austen will get a kick out of it! 

Notes: Obviously violence should be taken into parental consideration for younger readers, however comedy and romance tempers the real threat of offensive material (I often laughed at loud). A great choice for reluctant readers of classical literature.

Not surprisingly, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is already being optioned for a movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1374989/

Stars: 5

Extras: Seth Grahame-Smith: A "polite" Q & A

How did the book come about?
SETH GRAHAME-SMITH: I'm an aspiring screenwriter living in L.A. At the moment, I'm executive producing a pilot for MTV that I wrote which is a sort of updatedWonder Years-meets-Superbad. But I also wrote a book called How to Survive a Horror Movie and another called Pardon My President, which was letters of apology from George Bush to all the people that he had wronged. My editor at Quirk had wanted to do a mash-up of some type for a long time. He had all these lists of public domain titles and lists of modern literary devices. The robot phenomenon. The vampire phenomenon. And zombies. And we arrived at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because, when you take a look at the original book, it's almost as if, subconsciously, Jane Austen is laying out the perfect groundwork for an ultraviolent bone-crushing zombie massacre to take place. For instance, there's a regiment of soldiers camped out near the Bennett household. In the book, they're just there for characters to flirt with. But it's not that big a leap to say, Okay, they're there because the countryside has been overrun with what they call the "unmentionable menace."

The what, now?

SETH GRAHAME-SMITH:"The unmentionable menace." They call zombies "unmentionables" because it's a very polite society and the word "zombie" is kind of like a curse word. These aristocrats are trying to get on with their lives as best they can, despite the fact that the country is being devoured around them. They still have their balls and their teas and their manners. It was terrific fun to write, in the style of Jane Austen, describing horrific deaths and entire villages being slaughtered and burned to the ground.

Source: http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/02/monster-mash-up.html

BOOK TEASER BY THE UNLIBRARIAN: YEA, THAT'S ME. AND YEA, I MADE ANOTHER ONE...

The Host, By Stephenie Meyer

By: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little Brown
Publish Date: 2007
ISBN: 0316068047
Page #: 624
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Science-Fiction

Age Level: Adult
Series Titles: No sequel has yet to be published, alhtough Meyer has said she intends to release it as a trilogy.
Subjects: Romance

Reader's Annotation: Earth has been taken over by an alien race of parasite's called Souls who implant themselves in their hosts. A small group of human's fight back but are faced with a runaway host who has taken over the body of one of their own.

Synopsis: The famed author of the Twilight Series introduces herself to the adult market with her first novel. Like twilight it revolves around a grand quartet of love and temptation, death and life. For Melanie Stryder, the world is an evil, apocalyptic place taken over by something unthinkable. To her, her boyfriend Jared, and her younger brother Jaime, life is only about survival. But when she suspects that another of her family may be alive, she leaves Jared and Jaime to find her. She never makes it having instead been captured by the Souls and used as a host. When the host is placed inside her the Soul called Wanderer is astounded to find that Melanie's voice not silenced. She see her memories and images of Jared and Jaime. Instead of taking the normal path a Soul takes on Earth (living a violence free, happy pseudo-life) she sets out to see if they are still alive. But when she finds them, she quickly realizes that they want her dead, not knowing that inside her Melanie still lives.

Notes: Although directed to adults, the story line is generally harmless. Small amounts of sex and violence do exist, but for the most part it echoes the feel of Twilight's innocent nature even with war, beatings, love, and loss. Ok, for teens.

Stars: 4

Extras: Official Book Trailer from Little Brown here: The Host's Website http://thehostnovel.com/

(I think mine is better, laugh out loud.)

Author Website http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/thehost.html

Extra's: Book Trailer (Made by Courtney)

Zombie Honeymoon (Film), Directed By David Grebroe

• Director: David Gebroe
  
• Writer: David Gebroe
• Producers: David Gebroe, Bret Harrison, Christina Reilly, Josh Blumenfeld, Larry Fessenden
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Showtime Ent.
• DVD Release Date: February 14, 2006
• Run Time: 83 minutes

Reader's Annotation: Madly in love, Danny and Denise get married and head off into the sunset to the beachy honeymoon. But after being attacked by a Zombie their honeymoon turns into a nightmare. How far will Denise go to stand by her new undead Husband?

Synopsis: Denise and Danny have the perfect love. They get married and head off to a perfect honeymoon on the beach. Out of nowhere a zombie rises out of the ocean and attacks Danny, only to drop "dead" minutes after. Free of the threat it soon becomes clear that Danny is dying! Denise rushes him into the ER where he flatlines and dies. Denise devastated by her sudden and unexplainable loss is stunned when minutes after being dead, Danny opens his eyes and is back in her arms. They head home feeling blessed with a second chance at young love. But not soon after she begins to see changes in her true love. Will she be able to deal with the truth that Danny is permanently changed? What's more can either of them survive it?

Notes: Despite it apparent lack of rating, neither being categorized as teen or adult, director Greboe delivers what is the most un-offensive horror movie ever made. One part romance, the other Zombie-Comedy, this B-Movie Indie flick is what teens and adults alike will have to admit is a pre-curser to the Twilight Phenomenon.  Dedicated to his sister's late husband who passed away in a surfing accident weeks after they were married, this movie is a heartbreaking yet funny twist on the traditional zombie genre. It is a diamond in the rough, and not to be missed. 

Warning: Light sexual acts (they are newlyweds after all) and horror scenes are in the film (although mostly funny), but upon parental approval, I think this is the least offensive "non-rated" film that both parents and older teens will get a kick out of!

Extras: http://www.zombiehoneymoon.com/

A Second Honeymoon? I can hope! Even though the trend of making zombie films is getting more tired than pretty much any other sub-genre in the history of horror, it still doesn’t dampen my desire to see some of the ones that sound like they may either do something different or, at the very least, be a good time. Zombie Honeymoon (review) was a decent example of the latter, so news on a possible sequel piqued my interest.

“I’ve been in talks with the lead actress, Tracy Coogan, about reprising her role of Denise, and we’re excited about the prospect of working together again,” director David Gebroe told Fangoria in a recent interview. ”I just need financing, and we’re ready to go. I always figured I wouldn’t bother working on a sequel unless the first one was successful enough to warrant it. Well, Zombie Honeymoon definitely was, so there’s certainly an audience for a follow-up.”

So how to follow up the massive slaughter that ended the first film? Gebroe’s being tight-lipped about it but did say that the concept is ”fresh and unpredictable enough over the course of a second installment.”

Gebroe’s working on other projects as well, including one that may be produced by An American Werewolf in London director John Landis if all goes according to plan. No more details were available for that one either, but we’ll keep our ears open...

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: The Movie?

NEWS ABOUT BOOKS

(NOTE: THIS IS NOT A BOOK REVIEW)

P&P&Z THE MOVIE?

As if I wasn't already beside myself excited about the novel which will release in April, I hear now the book of our dreams is going to be the film of our dreams. Thanks to Megan for the Book tip and to Vlad for the film tip.

Article Source

"Jane Austen is rolling around, decayed and foul, in her grave. I am sure by now you have heard about the novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which Seth Grahame-Green has 'tweaked' from the original Pride and Prejudice romance novel by interspersing scenes of terse, reserved protestations of love and propriety with zombie carnage. Genius, you say? Yes. Total genius. But now, studios are in a bidding war over who gets to make this into a movie. Now that Jane Austin is public domain, her work is up for grabs (hear that, people?) and studio execs with no original thoughts can mush her work into anything they think will make money. What's next for studios, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights where Catherine returns as a Japanese ghost to haunt and terrorise Heathcliff? Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre where Mr Rochester keeps something worse than his wife in the attic? George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss with human sacrifice?
Er, you better read on...
“It quickly became obvious that Jane [Austen] had laid down the blueprint for a zombie novel,” said Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author and comedic genius Grahame-Smith to The UK's Sunday Times. “Why else in the original should a regiment arrive on Lizzie Bennet’s doorstep when they should have been off fighting Napoleon? It was to protect the family from an invasion of brain-eaters, obviously.”
Zombie slayers, kung fu, and Fitzwilliam Darcy as a ninja, cannibal hordes from London sweeping the moors putting a damper on croquet games and garden teas - it just doesn't get better than that."

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story, By Christopher Moore

(Adult Book ONLY...Unless your parents say it's ok!) 

Bloodsucking Fiends 

By: Christopher Moore

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
• Publishing Date: March 2008
• Age Level: Adult
• ISBN: 1416558497

Series Titles: Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story

You Suck! A Love Story

Reader's Annotation: LOVE BITES! No seriously, it really does bite. 

Synopsis: Attention! I am about to review a title that is one of my favorite romps of all time. It's funny as hell, and no it's not YA, but if you can stomach a little crass, tongue in cheek, dig in! This the red velvet cake of vampire satires.

Jody, is in her mid 20's with a series of bad relationships under her belt when she hit's satan's lottery and is turned into a newborn gorgeous vampire. The vamp who made her leaves a fat bundle of cash with her and with that she sets off into her new life. Or un-life in this case. But she needs someone who can do her bidding in the daylight. Enter C. Thomas Flood. No, you are not reading it wrong. It's hysterical. And as accurate a literary name as you could get for this young boy who left Incontinence, Indiana to come to San Francisco to be the next Jack Kerouac (personally, with a name like that he might one to stick to dollar a page erotica, but at any rate...) While working a night job at a supermarket, Jody vamps her way into his life, and turns it upside down and inside out.

From turkey bowling in the supermarket, to raunchy un-dead love-making; From failed date-o-holic to rockin' hot vamp, Bloodsucking Fiends is a ride that will have you flying through the pages at a preternatural pace!

Notes & Warning: Terribly lewd & Hysterically bad launguage ensues; References to drugs and the drinking of blood follows; Undead & living, outright sexual gambols prickle their way through the book. SO don't say I didn't warn you...

Now, if you can handle THAT, which I believe you can (because you are smart enough to read into the implications of Moore's insanely funny, bizarre, & sometimes freaky style), then you will be in for a big treat. Bloodsucking Fiends is and always will be one of my favorite books ever.


Extras: 

Quote from Bloodsucking Fiends

"This is horrible."

"What is it?" Tommy insisted.

"I just realized-I'm always going to be a pudgette. I have jeans I'll never get into. I am always going to need to loose five pounds."

"So what, every woman I've ever known thought she needed to loose five pounds."

"But they have a chance, they have hope. I'm doomed."

"You could go on a liquid diet," Tommy said.

"Very funny." She pinched her hip to confirm her observations. "Five pounds. If only he'd waited another week to attack. I was on a yogurt and grapefruit diet. I would have made it. I'd be thin forever." She realized she was obsessing and turned to Tommy. "How's your neck by the way?"

READ BLOODSUCKING FIENDS ON GOOGLE BOOKS FOR FREE HERE!