I just got through reading the novel Monster Island
There’s a bit of a zombie zeitgeist at the moment and though I’m a fan of the genre this is the first zombie novel I’ve read, I’m not even sure if there are any others. The novel does give the typical zombie story a wider scope than you get in a movie much in the same way as the events in the excellent The Walking Dead comic series written by Robert Kirkman does.
Basically civilisation has collapsed and the Earth seems to be overrun with zombies. Ironically states like Somaliland which were unstable and ungoverned are now the most stable places on the planet. Dekalb an American UN weapons inspector is captured by a female Somali warlord and despatched to New York (the monster island of the title) with a troop of Somali girl soldiers to retrieve much need medical supplies from the UN headquarters there.
In addition to your standard zombie fare there are a number of new ideas and expansions on the basic themes particularly in the case of the character of Gary, a zombie that has managed to retain his human faculties and intelligence.
I first learnt of the novel due to David Wellington’s website on which he publishes his work chapter by chapter in a blog-like format that readers can read entirely for free. I read much of Monster Island there before buying the novel and as I couldn’t wait I have already started reading the sequel Monster Nation online and will no doubt start on Monster Planet the final part of the trilogy in short order.
I’m convinced that publishing like this online or like Scott Sigler who records podcast audiobooks of his own work is the future and more and more writers will adopt it as a way to promote their work and interact with their readers.
