When I listed my recent musical acquisitions, I neglected to mention another album (the vinyl kind) that I picked up last year in November that was nearly as satisfying as the Icicle Works album find: Bowie's Scary Monsters.

Scary Monsters is an even older album than Icicle Works (1980 vs 1984), but this record isn't 1980 vintage vinyl. It's a brand new new pressing on heavy-duty vinyl. And it didn't cost $10 (including shipping). Since I bought it from Amazon shipping was free, but the album itself was around $20.

Scary Monsters, David Bowie

There aren't a ton of songs on Scary Monsters that saw radio play back in the day, but it does have three songs that old geezers like me should be very familiar with: Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), Ashes to Ashes, and Fashion. Among the many cassettes in my trunks of treasure is a Scary Monsters cassette (and a bunch of other Bowie cassettes) that haven't been touched in years.

Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) is, by far, my favorite song on the album. I don't know that it's a great Bowie song, but it holds a special place in my heart. And when I think about the song, it brings back memories of listening to this album as I walked home from a record store...somewhere, with my ancient non-Walkman cassette player hooked to my belt (absurdly huge by real Walkman standards), and orange-padded headphones perched upon my head. It was in California. Somewhere. Maybe Covina. Maybe Mira Mesa. I'm just not sure. I have a similar memory of acquiring Led Zeppelin IV.

My super-sweet Sentra lease ended a few months ago, so I had to go car shopping. I saw a Nissan Kicks on the lot, which looked kinda like a slightly smaller-scale Rogue¹, and I thought it would be a fun upgrade from the Sentra.

The Kicks is pretty much the same size as a Sentra, with a slightly different shape, but the back seat seems much smaller than the Sentra's. And the Kick's mileage, which is supposed to be roughly equivalent to the Sentra, has been a few miles per gallon less than the Sentra's mileage (32.5 compared to 35.5 on average). But the Kick's stereo is way better than the old Sentra's (although a new Sentra's stereo probably would have been exactly the same) and the interior (even in the lowest-end model) is pretty sweet. It reminds me more of a Mini Cooper's interior style.

The Kicks cost a few thousand more than the Sentra, so I probably should have just gone with another Sentra since I really had no complaints with the Sentra I leased last time. I guess my inner-Veruca Salt (not the band - the film character) won out and I just had to have something new.

I got it in black, of course. I had a bunch of photos of the interior (including my sweet Batman car-seat cover), but I can;t find them.

I've mentioned my cubicle decor here a few times since I started decorating it with comic books, so I'm going to do it again. When I first started going insane with the cubicle, I had just one huge wall to crap up. I probably had no more stuff on the walls then (or maybe even less stuff) than I do now, but it was a more public display of by complete dweebish-ness.

For a trip down memory lane, I mentioned it in these posts:
March 2016
July 2016
December 2016
January 2017
July 2017
November 2018

There have probably been other mentions, but these are the ones I can find (the Badbartopia search engine, powered by Google, needs an upgrade - it's on the list).

I've also recently brought a few toys in (sadly, these are new acquisitions and not just stuff I already owned) and I've crapped up the cube even more than before.

The current comic being displayed (for the past few weeks) is Innovation Comics's Quantum Leap. Innovation was a great publisher from the 80s-90s. They did a ton of book and TV adaptations (probably a few movies, too). They even did the first two Terry Pratchett Discworld novels (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic). Those will make an appearance on the wall one of these days.

There have been a few other additions to the cube, too. These currently include a few toys, a framked sketch from a ComicCon years ago, an American flag ('Merica!), the new Flight of the Conchords poster, and some of my favoriter Star Wars calendar pages.

Prior to Quantum Leap being on the wall, I also had several other series (more than I'm showing here - sometimes I don't get around to taking a photo). These included Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazaam (Mike Kunkel awesomeness), Thieves &Kings (Mark Oakley awesomeness), Umbrella Academy Vol 1 (the Netflix adaptation had just started), and the Marvel adaptation of The Wonderful Wizrd of Oz (very well done - Marvel also adapted the subsequent Oz books very well).

My cubicle was once the most crapped-up mess in the area², but I have a new co-worker who may have exceeded the crap-per foot ratio of my cubicle. So at least my I look less hobo-ish by comparison now.

I actually broke out the old sketch pad a few months ago and doodled another Disney Princess. It turned out to look only a little like the princess I was trying to create, Anna from Frozen, but the things I got wrong (the football shaped head and the super-wide mouth) were kind of weird, so I'm not real sorry I screwed them up.

I also incorporated Jack-Jack into my Incredibles family doodle. I used a Jack-Jack doodle that I'd already drawn and just photo-chopped it into the family doodle, so it's probably not worth mentioning it. But that's never stopped me before.

I was planning to mention the Meg & Dia concert I went to this week before the fog of old age makes me forget how great it was, but I don't think I have it in me. There has probably been too much blathering for any sane person to consume at once already. Soon, though. Probably.



¹ We purchased a vehicle we expected to be piling miles on, a Nissan Rogue. It's coming in well under mileage, so it probably should have also been leased since we're not planning to play the old car game anymore.
² When I say "crapped-up," I'm referring to covered wall space. Otherwise, it's actually really clean.



Got something to say? Say it. (no responses).

Here's yet another topic I've been woefully bad about commenting on: music I've added to my collection over the past several months.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a CD that came out about five months ago (in April 2019). I had somehow not heard one word about this CD, despite loving the band that recorded the music on this CD dearly. I guess this is likely due to the sad state of music retailers - which for me is pretty much Target, Walmart, and occasionally Best Buy, none of which really cater to non-top 40 music fans. I don't count Amazon because I can't physically look through the music there - even though they were the only retailer that brought this CD to my attention when they guessed that I was a fan of the band (they get a lot of suggested products wrong, but occasionally get one right).

I'm sure I would have noticed this album, had it been on the shelf at a brick-and-mortar establishment. Another medium I don't spend much time on is the radio. If I was still listening to the radio, there's also a chance I would have heard about it sooner.

Maybe one of these days I'll blather about the Licorice Pizza record shop in Montclair. Or the Wherehouse stores that used to be all over the place. Or their lesser mall-equivalents in malls everywhere, Sam Goody. Ah, the things kids these days will never really appreciate...



The Cranberries, In The End

My favorite thing about this CD (the one I got from Amazon, anyway) is that it comes in a little hardback book. I don't know if other music retailers also sell it in a little book or if this is just a limited thing on Amazon, but I'd suggest getting the one on Amazon if the alternative is a jewel case. The book's cover has 4 kids representing each of the band members (who, I suspect, are children of the band members - but I could be wrong about that) in a junkyard, which is awesome. The interior of the book tells the story of the album's creation, has the lyrics for each of the songs, a page with what appears to be school photos of each of the band members, and a group photo with the kids from the cover and the surviving three band members. So much awesome.

It's sad that this will be the last time we'll hear Delores O'Riordan's lovely Irish lilt singing new Cranberries songs. Also sad is that the songs were final-demo versions and could have maybe used a little fine-tuning before being recorded for the final album. But that doesn't mean they're not great. The singing is beautiful, and the songs are worthy additions to the Cranberries catalog.

The album's title song couldn't be more representative of The Cranberries signature sound.

I'm super-bummed that this will be the final Cranberries album. But speaking of The Cranberries, I also picked up another Cranberries album a few months ago that I've also loved dearly. It was full (with three exceptions) of beautiful, haunting, acoustic (and orchestra-backed) versions of classic Cranberries songs. The three new songs are great, too.

Zombie, the Cranberries song that everyone knows, has a slowed-down tempo with acoustic and orchestra-backed instrumentals. It's amazing. As are the other songs. And the CD liner notes have a bunch of great photos, made even more special by the fact that this was the last album Delores's released before her untimely death.

There's another alternate version of Zombie, that was also released after Delores O'Riordan's untimely death in January 2019, by a band called Bad Wolves. Delores was supposed to provide vocals for the heavier-metal version of the song, but died the day before she was to record them. The Delores-free version of the song is still interesting, just not as amazing as it could have been.

I haven't only picked up The Cranberries music, though. I also added a 35 year-old album (yup, the vinyl kind) to ye aulde music collection. I've been trying to find this particular album on CD for years and never could. The closest I came was a greatest hits album on CD that was missing many of the songs of this album.

I still have this album on cassette in a trunk full of treasures. So when I found the vinyl-version online (it was a weird rabbit hole that started on Amazon and ended on discogs.com), I knew I had to get it. Even better, the record cost under $10, including shipping.

The sound quality of the record is amazing (my record player has a built in USB-ripping function so I ripped it so I could listen to the songs on my phone with my headphones). There's a little of the crackle and hiss that's present on all records in the ripped tracks, but it just adds character to the songs.

My favorite song of the album, Out of Season, was actually on the greatest hits album, but only a couple of the other tracks from this album were. And they all deserved to be counted as greatest hits. This is a great album.

I mentioned Dia Frampton's latest album, Bruises, a few months ago. In that rant, I also mentioned a Meg & Dia CD I had also purchased on Amazon, Something Real (not to be confused with The Cranberries's Something Else). Since then, I've also purchased Dia's first solo album (the physical version, this time), Red.

When Red was released, I bought a few of the songs on Amazon (eventually buying them all individually). I had some digital music credits from Amazon, so I figured I'd just get the album that way. But I'm old and I like things I can hold in my hand, so I eventually bought the CD a few months ago. And it's so much more satisfying than the digital files. And it also included CD liner notes full of Dia-licious photos.

There's a ton of great music on this CD, but my favorite song has always been The Broken Ones. Sweet, sad, and too relatable.

And speaking of Dia and her lovely sister Meg, I'll be seeing them in concert in just a little over a week when they come to San Diego. I'm stoked. I still need to pick up their new album, HappySad .I'm planning to get it at the show.

My favorite cover of any Police song is Juliana Hatfield's version of Every breath You Take. This was apparently supposed to be a bonus track on Beautiful Creature, but it's not on the CD I own. So all I have is this bootleg that I've had for years. The ragged bassline is epic.

So what, you ask, does any of that have to do with this CD? Well, I figured since I loved Juliana's Every breath You Take cover, I'd love the covers of Olivia Newton John's catalog just as much. But...I didn't even recognize several of the songs, so that was a little disappointing. Sadly, this album is more karaoke than re-imagining, but it's still a nice addition to my music collection because Juliana's voice is amazing. Sadly, there was no jewel case or CD liner notes, so you get a cardboard CD case and...well, that's it.

Physical is a fun song, even if it is pretty much the same as the original.

I also recently saw the news that Juliana is releasing an album covering The Police. I guarantee you that I'll recognize every one of those songs.

Earlier this year, I picked up a CD released in 2006 that was from one of my favorite bands, The Lemonheads, that I'd somehow missed completely (see my complaints above). Good 'ol Amazon finally brought it to my attention. I'd heard that Evan Dando had gone through some serious drug issues, but after reading a little more about it, I was surprised at all the drama there'd been. Drugs are bad, m'kay.

There were some interesting credits in the CD liner notes - three of which were to his wife at the time (now his ex-wife), english model, Elizabeth Moses. And the CD tray photo is a photo of Elizabeth Moses. I think drugs were the wedge that came between them, sadly. Ol' Evan was surely smitten in 2006.

My all-time favorite Lemonheads song is The Outdoor Type from Car, Button, Cloth. But the songs on The Lemonheads (a completely different band with the same lead singer, Evan Dando) are a lot less folksy-sounding than the Lemonheads I love and sound a lot more like the Hate You Friends-era Lemonheads. Not really my jam, but still...good.

The song on The Lemonheads that's closest thing to The Lemonheads songs I love is probably Baby's Home.

I had a chance to go see The Lemonheads when they toured San Diego in May, but I didn't make it.

Late last year, I was ordering a book from the Barnes and Noble web site and I needed to spend about five dollars more to get free shipping. So I poked around the web site and found a Green Day CD that I didn't already have, Insomniac. I was familiar with a few of the songs, so I added it to the cart. It has the classics Geek Stink breath, Brain Stew, Jaded, and Walking Contradiction, but the rest of the CS is pretty forgettable in my old man opinion. It's not terrible, but I prefer the later Green Day stuff (this album is from 1995).

The real treat in getting the CD is the fold-out mini-poster. It's pretty sweet. All the CD art is really great - there's even art on the CD itself. I love it when a CD comes with surprises. Too many CDs now are just a single page cover and a nondescript CD - no effort at all. Cue the old man rant, "Back in my day..."

The best song on the album, in my opinion, is definitely Brain Stew. Classic Green Day.

And lastly, an album that's not exactly a music album, but is an album by the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand - so there is a good share of music to be found. But there's also a lot of comical reminiscing and a plethora amusing stories, El Guapo.
Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords Live in London

I've loved the Flight of the Conchords since I saw them on HBO and then accidentally bought the Season One soundtrack from Amazon many years ago. Season 2 was a little less great (I still bought the second season on DVD, but I didn't bother with the soundtrack). So when I saw the Live in London CD on the rack at Target, I added it to the cart and anticipated a 2-CD bonanza of awesomeness.

There are a bunch of new songs and a few of the classics - all performed live - with lots of stories and commentary by Bret and Jermaine. And like the Season One soundtrack, there's a poster inside the CD case, so that's great. It joined the Season One poster in the Cubicle of Despair.

And here's one of the funny anecdotes, Complimentary Muffin. Lots of silliness. Not quite Pythonesque, but silly.

Man, this lame blathering took a long time to complete. I started a few weeks ago. I should be ashamed...



Got something to say? Say it. (no responses).

It's been a few months since I've bothered sharing anything (with my future-self, if we're being honest here). I've read a stack of books (and a small stack of virtual books) over the past few months, and I've been seriously lax in commenting on any of them. And now, being so far behind in my book-blathering, I'll probably just ignore all the passages that I wanted to share from each of them and just write up a short blurb that explains why I think they're worth your time to read. I'm a terrible disappointment (to myself, since nobody else reads this drivel), and this may signal the death knell of Badbartopia if even I can't be bothered to spend time on my own web site.

But before that bell tolls, here's a post about one of my favorite topics: books. And, to be honest, also one of my least favorite topics: eBooks.

Sept 1, 2019 update - I was out looking on Google for an almost-forgotten Mad magazine spoof of Quantum Leap (Quandry Heap) that I'd seen semi-recently in the garage amongst the piles of stuff I'd kept from childhood (I have Innovation Comics' Quantum Leap books hanging in the cubicle at work right now) and found the Beauty & The Feast Cracked magazine spoof I'd mentioned a while ago - and also saw a photo of a stack of un-reviewed books I'd read way back in 2011. And it was even taller than the current stack, so I'm nothing if not consistent. I suspect that many of those very worthy books from that 2011 photo never received a well-deserved mention in this backwater corner of the cyber-universe.

Apparently my Amazon reviews are good enough that authors are still finding me, despite my recent lack of book reviews. I've reviewed a bunch of non-book stuff recently, but sadly, no books - they take real effort, while a CD or pair of headphones just takes a few minutes to praise (or not, depending on my experience). Maciek Sasinowski read my review of the George RR Martin's Westeros "prequel" to the Game of Thrones novels, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and figured his book would be right up my alley. And he wasn't totally wrong.

Heir of Ra (Blood of Ra Book One), Maciek Sasinowski

I don't claim a single genre as my favorite (though I'd guess that around eighty percent of the many books I've acquired fall into the Sci-Fi/Fantasy camp). You can see that the stack of read-and-un-reviewed books above contains a little bit of several different genres - non-fiction / essays, mystery / suspense / conspiracies, legal thrillers, historical fiction, and sci-fi / fantasy. I'd say Heir of Ra falls somewhere between Fantasy and Historical fiction. And it also falls squarely into another category: young-adult fiction.

The book's primary protagonist is a sixteen year-old girl who is very much like a younger, less-wealthy, Lara Croft (of the Tomb Raider game and movie franchise) named Alyssa. Alyssa's dad is a distracted archeologist (so now we also have an Indiana Jones, National Treasure, or maybe The Mummy vibe going) and her mom, another archeologist, died mysteriously when Alyssa was young. Alyssa is good at just about everything, exceptionally attractive, very intelligent, and just a wee bit rebellious.

"A dig in Masada," she said after a while. "A misunderstanding with the local authorities required a quick getaway." She chuckled. "I crashed our truck. Kade - my dad - and I spent two weeks in a detention facility before the U.S. consulate finally bailed us out. When we got home, he insisted on tactical driving lessons for me. He wasn't satisfied until I could do a four-wheel drift and J-turn on a dime... blindfolded."

In addition to tactical-driving, free-climbing, base-jumping, and leading a team of archaeology students, she's also apparently a kickboxer and an exceptional chess player.

Alyssa stood up. "A computer did beat me at chess once," she said, "but it was no match for me at kickboxing." Paul stared at her for a moment then laughed. "I believe I'm detecting a pattern here. Should I be worried?" "You should be safe - as long as you don't jam on me," she said. "But I may go ninja on your phone if it rings in the middle of the night."

Alyssa also digs 80's tunes, which I fully appreciate.

A-ha's Hunting High and Low blared from her earbuds

The dialogue/writing style of the book is unmistakably oriented to teen readers. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, it's just a thing. I've never read the Percy Jackson series (my kids have), but I've seen the films. And I'm guessing the novels read an awful lot like Heir of Ra. Which is a great thing, if you're a fan of those young adult novels. Here's a scene that's about as far from the supernatural elements of the book as possible, and doesn't even involve any kids. And I thing the target audience is pretty clear.

"Let me get this straight," he said, his voice strained. "We had our best London asset pitted against three kids." Tasha Mendeva regarded him in silence and swallowed. She forced her head up, meeting his glare. "Yet somehow, those pathetic nerds not only got away with the item from the site -" he took a deep breath - " but they sent our well-paid man to the hospital."

And then there was this. I don't know if this is teen slang or something that the author picked up from that 80s computer documentary, The Net.

"Probably a software flab"

Speaking of the supernatural elements of the book, there's plenty of that. We have Egyptian Gods (or do we?), Atlantis, cursed tombs, and also non-supernatural elements that add to the action: conspiracy theories, international espionage, possible alien technology...all kids of fun stuff. Much of the story takes place thousands of years ago.

I turn to him, straining to focus. His ageless eyes mirror the pain in my heart. His lined face speaks of hard life and labor. My breathing slows and my words now come in a whisper, yet each word strikes his ancient heart like a dagger. "The blame lies with you as it does with him. Was it not you who counseled peace between our people? They deserved death for killing our flesh and blood decades ago, yet you spoke of peace. They do not know the meaning of that word!"

He studies me with a distant stare. When he opens his mouth, his voice is trembling and quiet. "I have failed you, Horus, my grandson. I have failed to protect you and your kindred blood. The night we fled our home, I vowed to keep you and all whom you shall love safe from harm. Yet I failed you." His voice cracks as he remembers the night that will forever be engrained in our memories. "But my greatest failure is that I did not succeed in freeing you of your anguish - and hatred." He pauses, taking a deep, pained breath. "For that night I also vowed never to kill again or wage war."

The memories awaken once more in my head in agonizing detail. Once again, I am haunted by the bleeding faces of the men as they died, their screams piercing through the night air. I stare into the distance, wrestling the memories from my mind. I am Horus, son of Isis and Osiris. A welcome numbness spreads through my body. I shall know no fear.

Sadly, the book does contain a smattering of profanity. Including at least one F-bomb. So there's that to be aware of. If it wasn't a book intended for a younger audience, it might not have seemed so conspicuous. At least the writing is free of grammatical errors, is well-edited, and moves at a good pace. The story does seem to drag a little bit in some of the early way-back-flashbacks, but as you become more aware of what you're reading about, the pace of the story becomes even and really enjoyable.

I was tempted to take the lazy way out and just summarize parts of the plot, but I don't want to ruin the book for other readers, so I'll just say that Heir of Ra is an interesting combo of Egyptian mythology meets archeology-adventure meets The Matrix (didn't see that one coming, did you - The Matrix is a reference to the book's ending. Or maybe it's a Percy Jackson ending - if I'd read any of those novels, I might know). Either way, The Matrix II...er, Daughter of Ra (book 2) should be really interesting.

Oh, and one last comment - the "about the author" smiley-laced blurb was written by the author's teenage daughter (who, I'm guessing, was a major influence on the character of Alyssa). It's a lot of fun.

About the Author From the Point of View of his 15-year-old Daughter (that's me! :) Some say that M. Sasinowski writes until 4 am... fueled by a single cup of decaf coffee. Others say this Polish-born American hyper-nerd absorbs energy from late-night TV space shows. No matter the truth... he's my dad. He will never be cool. He loves archaeology, Star Wars/Trek, martial arts (especially women who kick butt), and impromptu father/daughter (that's me! :) science debates or music jam-sessions. He's kind of smart, I suppose (he has a physics PhD, and an MD, or whatever) and likes to build computers for fun. His teenage daughter (that's me! :) is occasionally a handful to deal with and also served as the inspiration for the main character in his debut young adult novel Heir of Ra. You may recognize him from his glorious hair or his tendency to do the "vacuum cleaner" dance to embarrass his daughter (that's me... :(. If you ever see this man, approach with care and greet him in a language he understands, like in Klingon or, better yet, in Wookie. Guurrghghgh!

Hilarious.

A couple of months before I started Heir of Ra, I finished a few eBooks in one of my favorite book genres: post-apocalyptic survival stories.

I mentioned one of the books in this series about a year and a half ago, American Exodus. It was an enjoyable post-apocalyptic survival adventure so I had high expectations for the rest of the series.

Catalyst 1 Downward Cycle, J.K. Franks

Downward Cycle is a more detailed origin of the post-apocalyptic events of American Exodus and like American Exodus, Downward Cycle is also set in the southeastern United states. The events of this book closely mirror many of the events of American Exodus, but also provides a lot of the details that were missing from American Exodus and a whole different cast of characters. As with most eBooks I've read, there's no shortage of typographical errors, but if you can get past the errors, you're in for a well-executed post-apocalyptic adventure. Also in line with American Exodus, there's no shortage of profanity, so it's not a book I'd recommend for younger readers.

Downward Cycle starts out during the solar storm of 1859 - a storm that didn't have quite the same impact then as a solar storm of the same magnitude would now have. With almost no electronic devices in existence yet, most people didn't even notice anything was amiss other than a curious occurrence of the aurora borealis (in areas that don't see this light show normally) as the charged atomic particles slammed against all of Earth's the atmosphere, not just the poles.

The lights he had seen up north were pale compared to what he saw now. The brilliant ribbons of color shimmered and danced with highlights of bright pinks, reds, and vivid blues, before settling into a green which paraded out over the Gulf of Mexico like a ballet of light

The primary protagonist of Downward Cycle is, in my opinion, much more likeable than the car salesman from American Exodus. So that helped with my investment in the story.

Scott's mind began to race; the power was probably out due to a massive solar flare. Wasn't that one of the doomsday scenarios? He remembered reading several novels about a terrorist EMP blast leaving the world in perpetual darkness.

Grabbing the EDC bag out of the trunk, he headed back inside, beginning to feel like the man in the old Omega Man movie, wondering if he would be one of the last men left alive, wandering the planet in search of other survivors. Glancing up at the two bicycles on the wall, he thought that if he had to wander, it would probably be on two wheels.

As with all these stories, the bad guys band together and do their best to steal and kill their way across the countryside. To be honest, the events of this story aren't a whole lot different from One Second After by William Forstchen, but that doesn't make me like them any less. The pandemic angle and government conspiracy theory (which is shaping up to not just be a conspiracy in book two) are interesting detours from the collapse of the power grid/survival in a world full of fried electronics nd almost no electrical power generation.

Mobile County was home to over four hundred thousand people, with nearly twenty percent of those living below the poverty level. Ron said the city had been dealing with a growing gang presence, the ranks of which had now increased with the thousands of newly released prisoners. In the days after the CME, they appeared to be in a feeding frenzy. The addicts could no longer get drugs from dealers, so they were looting drugstores for prescription meds as well as from houses, hospitals. Food, drugs, fuel, ammo and even sex were the new commodities with any value. Fires raged around the city, and armed gangs patrolled the roads looking for hapless travelers. The law quickly had become irrelevant and now was non-existent. Those officers who were not killed or injured in the early hours of the crises simply had no more ammo or working patrol cars. They also had no place to put anyone arrested. Chaos and anarchy had become the rulers of this once proud southern port city.

The events of Catalyst book one lead right into book two, Kingdoms of Sorrow, which I quickly read after finishing Downward Cycle.

Catalyst 2 Kingdoms of Sorrow, J.K. Franks

Kingdoms of Sorrow wastes no time addressing one of Catalyst book one's barely-mentioned plot lines, an outbreak of a vicious pandemic somewhere in Europe/Asia that makes all the misery from the collapse of the grid just that much more miserable. We meet a whole new cast of characters, scientists and mercenaries who know a lot more about what's going on than the rest of the completely unprepared citizenry of the world. Though even they were not completely aware of what was going on.

He was on permanent assignment to Praetor, full name Praetor Paramilitary Battlegroup 9. No one used a real name or rank. He was simply Skybox-5: five for his rank, something close to a Captain in the Army, though any comparison to the normal military was irrelevant.

The ID documents they provided got him through every checkpoint without incident, and his compact go-bag included almost anything he could possibly need to move across both hostile and friendly territory with ease.

Another thought that kept creeping in was that someone at command had known the CME was imminent. The original instructions on the call had said as much by its specific travel instructions.

This disease spreading quickly becomes very familiar to fans of The Walking Dead - except the dead don't become slow, mindless shambling killing machines. They're more like the zombies of Z Nation or Zombieland.

The victims are only partially aware of themselves and their surroundings at this point. They appear to lack all ethical judgment and become filled with the desire to attack prey - an effective short-term method of spreading. The subjects experience acute rage, they attack violently . . . at times they kill, though more often it is simply to wound. Whatever, or whomever they attack are, of almost always infected in the process.

Not zombies sir," Genghis replied. "They're not brainless. They're not slow. And they're not trying to eat us, although they certainly bite. If you shoot them, they will die. You need to shoot them someplace vital, but they will die. The agent that's driving them is primitive and efficient. It wants to grow, reproduce, and survive like any form of life. Think of it more like rabies, but amped-up a hundred times. Given enough time I think it may find a better way for replication . . . and that will be worse.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S. (the above events are taking place in the middle east), our intrepid survivors from book one are fighting off marauders and when not defending themselves, they're doing their best to survive in a world without clean water, refrigeration or a very ample supply of fuel for vehicles. Book two ends with another character who is only briefly mentioned for most of these first two books making his way from the smoldering ruins of the north-eastern U.S. to his friend Scott's bastion of survival. Thing are looking desperate for all the survivors as roving gangs of murderous bandits and a disease that wipes out entire populations is making waste of the few survivors.

Oh, and one last mention-worthy tidbit - there's a very brief Hitchhiker's Guide mention...

"Pretty sure the answer to life and the universe is forty-two," Scott retorted in amusement.

I wasted no time before starting book three, Ghost Country.

Catalyst 3 Ghost Country, J.K. Franks

Our beleaguered survivors are scrambling to develop a cure of the zombie virus, fight off hordes of bandits, and take down a secret faction of the US Government plotting against them. Multiple battles ensue, people die all over the place, plots get very twisty, and the story comes to a dramatic conclusion. I'm running out of gas, so I'm not going to share any quotes from this book (most of what I'd marked sounded too spoiler-ish, anyway).

If you read the first two books (or three, counting American Exodus), you won't need my encouragement to read this one. You'll tear through it.

I'm going to ramble on about some awesome musical-type purchases I've made over the past few months in the next few days (in theory), so that's it for now. Maybe I'll even get to my Grand Canyon adventure, concerts, or any of the zillions of other things I've been planning to mention here...one of these days.



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