Those Poor, Poor Bastards (written by Tim Marquitz, J. M. Martin and Kenny Soward) was published by Ragnarok Publications in February 2014. It was originally published by Nine Worlds Media in 2013.
Information about the authors:
Raised on a diet of Heavy Metal and bad intentions, Tim Marquitz writes a mix of the dark perverse, the horrific, and the tragic, tinged with sarcasm and biting humor. A former grave digger, bouncer, and dedicated metalhead, he is a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts, and fighting in general. His urban fantasy series called Demon Squad is a fan favorite and he is also the Editor-In-Chief of Ragnarok Publications. He lives in El Paso, Texas, with his beautiful wife and daughter. His website is www.tmarquitz.com.
J.M. Martin has been a teacher, an occupational therapist, a managing editor, and a graphic designer. He has written comic books and role-playing games, as well as several short stories for Fantasist Enterprises, Rogue Blades Entertainment, Pill Hill Press, and Angelic Knight Press. He recently co-founded Ragnarok Publications with Tim Marquitz and is the company's Creative Director. J.M. (Joe) lives in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, with his kick-ass, red-headed, black belt wife and three spirited wee folk he swears are pixies. You can visit www.nineworldsmedia.com to find out more.
Kenny Soward grew up in Crescent Park, Kentucky, a small suburb just south of Cincinnati, Ohio, listening to AC/DC, Quiet Riot, and Iron Maiden. In those quiet 1970's streets, he jumped bikes, played Nerf football, and acquired many a childhood scar. At the age of sixteen, he learned to play drums and bashed skins for many groups over the next twenty years. By day, Kenny works as a Unix professional, and at night he writes and sips bourbon. His fantasy series GnomeSaga is published by Ragnarok Publications. He lives in Independence, Kentucky, with two cats and a gal who thinks she's a cat. Visit him online at www.kennysoward.com.
Information about Those Poor, Poor Bastards:
The year is 1868... In the Sierra Nevada, during the expansion of the Central Pacific Railroad, Nina Weaver and her pa, Lincoln, trundle into Coburn Station with a wagonful of goods they're looking to barter. Of all the rotten luck, their world - and the future of the American West - is forever changed when a sudden swarm of zombies invades town on the hunt for some human-sized vittles.
A REVIEW OF THOSE POOR, POOR BASTARDS (WRITTEN BY TIM MARQUITZ, J. M. MARTIN AND KENNY SOWARD)
Those Poor, Poor Bastards is the first part of the Dead West dark fantasy/horror series. It's an action-packed weird western novel that contains interesting dark fantasy and horror elements.
Before I write more about this novel I'll mention that I'm not a big fan of western novels, because in my opinion most of them are badly written trash that shouldn't be read by anybody, but I enjoy reading original and well written weird western novels. One of the reasons why I like weird western novels is that the speculative fiction elements spice up western stories in a nice way and make them readable and enjoyable. Those Poor, Poor Bastards is an excellent example of a good weird western novel (it's a nice addition to the weird western genre, because it's an enjoyable and fast-paced novel).
Those Poor, Poor Bastards was a nice and pleasant surprise for me, because it was good entertainment. When I began to read this novel I noticed that I found myself almost skipping pages to find out what happens next.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Those Poor, Poor Bastards is a story about Nina Weaver who travels to Coburn Station with her father, Lincoln Weaver, to barter goods. When Nina and her father arrive to Coburn Station, the living dead - the deaduns - invade the town and they have to fight for their lives. They team up with other survivors and start to fight against the zombies...
Nina is an interesting protagonist. She's half-Indian and has to hide her looks from people in order to avoid attention. Nina is a survivor type kind of a young woman - she's brave and resourceful. Her life changes radically when the zombies invade the town and start attacking against people.
There isn't much character development in this novel, but the authors write well about how Nina feels about her father and other people. Nina's feelings are explored in an interesting way, because she has her own way of dealing with other people.
As experienced readers are aware of, tension between the survivors is an important element of zombie fiction and survival fiction. Tim Marquitz, J. M. Martin and Kenny Soward describe perfectly what happens among the survivors and how they have to try to survive together despite the lack of trust between them. The survivors can be divided into three groups: the good guys (Nina, her father etc), the bad guys (the Daggetts etc) and the others (Jasmine etc) who just happen to find themselves caught between the good and the bad guys.
It isn't often that you get to read an exciting story about zombies and wild west. This kind of a combination of zombie fiction and western story is rare, because most zombie stories take place in the modern world or in the near future. This is one of the reasons why this novel is interesting (the authors have taken a risk by combining zombie fiction with western fiction and they have succeeded in it).
I enjoyed reading about the origin of the zombies. I've noticed that there are quite a lot of authors who tend to write only about the survival of the human beings and totally ignore the origin of the zombies. Fortunately Tim Marquitz, J. M. Martin and Kenny Soward have realized that readers want to know what started the zombie attack, because it adds depth to the story. They write intriguingly about what caused the attack.
One of the best things about Those Poor, Poor Bastards is that the action starts almost immediately. The readers don't have to wait for something to happen, because the zombies invade the town at the end of the first chapter. The invasion begins in an intriguing way that immediately captures the reader's attention.
I found it intriguing that there was a touch of Lovecraftian weirdness in this story. Lovecraftian elements are seldom found in zombie stories, so I enjoyed reading about them (I'm a big fan of Lovecraftian stories and weird fiction, so the use of Lovecraftian elements usually impresses me quite a lot). The authors used these elements in a delightfully entertaining way.
I was amazed by how well the authors managed to write about the Wild West. There are plenty of authors who write about life in the Wild West in an unconvincing way, but these three authors write about it in a believable way. They have created a realistic vision of Wild West that serves as an interesting background for the weird happenings.
It's possible that Those Poor, Poor Bastards may not be to everybody's liking, because it contains quite a lot of action, zombies, gore and body parts, but everybody who likes good fast-paced zombie action will enjoy reading it. Those Poor, Poor Bastards is almost like a combination of Night of the Living Dead, The Walking Dead and The Burrowers. I think that readers who have read Edward M. Erdelac's Merkabah Rider series and The Walking Dead graphic novels will enjoy reading this novel.
Tim Marquitz, J. M. Martin and Kenny Soward have written an entertaining and fast-paced zombie novel that will be of interest to readers who enjoy reading zombie stories and want to read something a bit different. It's a delightfully gory and violent novel that's full of action and - of course - decaying bodies and rotting body parts. If you're a fan of weird western novels and zombie stories, you should take a look at this novel, because it's good entertainment.
My final words are:
This novel is good and well written zombie entertainment!